Chapter 20: After the fog clears
The quiet room was deathly silent. The only sense of safety came from the bright trio of lights and the star-like sprinkles of light outside the window.
The office window faced the mountain, not the port, and Lu Li had no way of knowing when the creeping darkness would reach here. Time ticked by second by second, and at some moment, the brightness in the room flickered a few times.
All three lights flickered simultaneously, and before Lu Li could discern the reason, the room darkened at a visible rate.
The flames on the candlesticks and oil lamp remained unchanged but no longer emitted heat, their range of illumination began to shrink, growing smaller and smaller, barely maintaining a circle less than a meter around.
The candlestick with the smallest flame quietly went out.
Dimness once again became the dominant theme of the room, the air filled with an obscure aura.
Lu Li understood that the darkness had enveloped this place now.
Picking up the oil lamp beside him, Lu Li walked closer to the window.
The window reflected Lu Li's calm face and his eyes as dark as night.
The outside world was covered with a thin veil, as though a tangible presence was swirling outside—it was fog.
A strange fog enshrouded the entire port and Belfast.
It seemed to dim the lights further, but because of the mysterious bell sounds over the city, every household added brightness and thus was not swallowed by darkness.
The hazy scenery of Belster Port flickered dimly like stars. Occasionally, a scream cut through the night sky, echoing without a known origin.
Lu Li stepped back, moving away from the window.
He vaguely felt that on the street below, some presence seemed to appear with the fog.
Having been in this place for five days, Lu Li finally faced the world's bizarreness and grotesqueness directly.
Lu Li silently contemplated whether to cancel today's plans, but just as the thought emerged, the room suddenly brightened slightly.
Lu Li stared, shifting his gaze to the oil lamp, and after watching for several seconds, realized this was not an illusion. The flame regained its warmth, the light spreading outward.
With a moment of realization, he looked outside. The hazy fog had vanished, the continuous buildings on the mountain appeared clearer and brighter.
From the engulfment by the black fog to its departure—perhaps it lasted less than a minute. The mysterious fog eerily emerged from the deep sea and just as eerily dissipated or, perhaps, withdrew.
Six bell sounds for sixty seconds? Lu Li did not know and could not ponder it further because a new change occurred in the gallery.
Step—step—step—
The sticky, wet footsteps, came from the room next door, separated by just a wall.
The wooden walls had very poor soundproofing, terribly so. A few seconds later, the footsteps ceased, and as he listened intently—one second, two seconds, three seconds…
Bang—
The loud echo of a door being kicked resonated through the hallway.
The office seemed to shake from the impact, originating from next door.
Step—step—step—
The footsteps resumed, and Lu Li could even distinguish the wet, bare feet slapping against the wooden floor, the distinct dull thud.
Step—step—step—
The sticky, wet footsteps from the room next door extended into the hallway.
It could be foreseen that in about ten seconds, the office door, like all the doors on this floor, would violently crash open.
Rustle—
A subtle sound beside him, Lu Li turned his head, the statue in the corner was still standing there, only now one arm was raised, pointing towards the cabinet by the wall.
The hint was obvious.
Interestingly, after the appearance of the fog, the statue had unexpectedly quieted down.
"No need, but thank you," Lu Li said.
Hiding until being found was not his style.
And the ghost was already outside the door.
Tap—tap—tap—
The damp footsteps neared the door, and even without reaching for the handle of his gun, Lu Li could sense a cold, sinister presence spreading from outside.
Suddenly, a chilling cold spread from his calves.
Lu Li lowered his head, only to see a dark red fetus, its features not yet fully formed and still attached by the umbilical cord, clinging desperately to his trouser leg.
The leg it had grasped felt numb from the cold.
It had noticed Lu Li's awareness of it—it opened its mouth, revealing a row of sharp teeth, poised to scream.
A hand moved faster than the creature, covering its mouth, muffling all sounds back into its throat.
Tap—
The footsteps outside abruptly stopped.
Lu Li looked down at the fetus, thought of something in a flash, quickly scooped up the infant, kicked off from the floor, slid to the window, threw the infant out, wiped the blood from his hand with a window cloth, and finally closed the window.
All of these actions were executed in one fluid motion.
Bang!
A loud noise reverberated through the entire floor, the door transforming into just an impression, blasting open with a gust of wind, teetering on its hinges.
A figure in a long white dress floated at the doorway, her brownish-red hair obscuring her face, and her resentful eyes flashed momentarily.
A swollen intestine emerged from beneath the skirt between her legs, dragging along the ground.
A voice that quickly dropped the surrounding temperature spoke, "Have you... seen... my child...?"
"I haven't seen anything," Lu Li replied, his dark eyes unblinking, calmly staring at her.
He shifted his gun holster to his back and his hand grasped the handle.
"Have you... seen... my child...?" the ghost repeated eerily.
"No," Lu Li's tone was even, his expression calm.
His gaze briefly passed over her dress—this type of white dress was not suitable for work, but ghosts always seemed to retain some ghostly attributes; he could understand that.
"Have you... seen... my child...?" the ghost asked hoarsely once more.
Lu Li's lips pursed slightly, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
The envelope had said nothing about this spirit repeatedly asking the same question like a broken record—in fact, it hadn't mentioned encountering a baby ghost either.
Had the situation become different from before...?
"I've seen him," Lu Li suddenly nodded and said, "Is your child this tall, this big, with a dark red skin tone still attached to an umbilical cord?"
Liu Li described the baby ghost he had thrown out the window, the red glow in the female ghost's eyes intensified as he spoke.
Lu Li pointed to the ground, maintaining his composure, "Walk out of the door, turn right, and keep going straight past two blocks—I saw your child there not long ago."
Before this exorcism session, Lu Li had made a note of the nearby Police Station just in case.
The ghost turned around blankly, unaware of Lu Li sitting behind the desk; her figure disappeared at the doorway, the damp footsteps receding.
He hoped she would never come back.
Lu Li let out a heavy breath, tilted his head slightly, and noticed a sculpture shrinking into a corner, its body faced inward, immobile.
He slightly opened his mouth to ask it something; Lu Li suddenly widened his eyes and quickly turned his head towards the door,
A nauseating malice and chilling cold drifted into the office from outside, a young girl ghost in a green lace dress appeared at the doorway, her eye sockets hollow.
Her lace dress was stained with a swath of blood, a pungent bloody smell wafted from her dress.
Without a doubt, another one had arrived.
Lu Li held his breath, keeping quiet. He hoped that just like the envelope had said, this ghost still couldn't see.
Lu Li's luck couldn't be that bad.
Probably.
Chapter 21: Twenty-one. Transfer Catastrophe
Holding his breath and concentrating, Lu Li's gaze followed the movement of the ghost.
But it seems that the more you don't want something to happen, the more likely it is to happen.
The girl's hollow eye sockets turned towards Lu Li as his playful laughter echoed in the room.
"Have you seen my eyes?"
It certainly wasn't talking to itself.
As expected, there had been a new change with the ghost, simply maintaining silence was not enough to avoid its perception.
"I haven't seen them," Lu Li replied.
The aura of the ghost underwent a change, turning into a dense malevolence. Lu Li did not want to fight, and after hesitating for a moment, he slowly spoke, "It doesn't matter that you've lost your eyes, I am willing to be your eyes."
The girl looked as if she had seen a ghost and in an instant, all turned to malice, and she let out a cold, mocking laugh, "Tsch... fool!"
"It seems there's no talking to you."
Lu Li muttered softly and suddenly raised the muzzle of his gun, pulling the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
To tell the truth, Lu Li indeed had the intention to kill her to silence her.
The sound of gunfire, like the roar of a dragon, echoed, apocalyptic flames and black smoke burst forth from the barrel as the black powder ignited, emitting thick smoke and the gun's report shattered the moisture condensed on the windows, the blast spreading through the entire gallery.
Hearing the shrill, miserable screams near his ear, Lu Li didn't check the result but, without wasting a second, loaded the silver-plated bullets into the gun chamber.
Lu Li felt a wisp of spiritual energy merge into the flintlock pistol, making it stronger.
Because of the gunfire? Or because it hit the ghost.
Four seconds after firing, Lu Li loaded the bullet, closed the breech, and took his hand off the grip.
All around him, the presence of numerous malevolent beings eager to act vanished into thin air.
"Have you finished shooting?"
A cold, ghostly laugh sounded, turning into a spiteful roar, "Now it's my turn!"
Suddenly, Lu Li's vision uncontrollably and forcibly settled on the female ghost; the next moment, endless darkness enveloped him, his eyes felt a piercing, excruciating pain, and as if in a daze, something seemed to flow down his cheek—
Lu Li subconsciously reached out for the oil lamp, the continuing warmth transferred to his palm through the lampshade.
The flame was still there, the light hadn't gone out... Doing his best to ignore the severe pain in his head, Lu Li kept alert and felt for his eyes, which were still there.
Was it some kind of ability to shield vision?
"Did you take my eyes?"
Lu Li calmly spoke, trying to lure the ghost into revealing its position by talking.
"I will take your life as well," the spiteful cold laughter came from in front of him.
Locating the source, Lu Li gripped the handle of the pistol again, ready to raise his hand when a strong gust of wind came smashing towards his face!
Lu Li rolled to the side to dodge, crashing into tables and chairs with a clatter.
"The same trick won't work on me a second time!" the ghost laughed loudly, manipulating countless objects to fly and crash towards Lu Li.
"Is that so?"
Lu Li answered while dodging, his palm firmly gripping the flintlock pistol.
The malevolence surrounding him became more pronounced, but it also allowed Lu Li to sense the location of the female ghost, even without relying on sight. However, just before he was about to shoot, Lu Li detected another presence outside the door.
At the same time, an ethereal voice came from the doorway.
"Have you... seen... my child..."
The female ghost Lu Li had tricked into leaving reappeared outside the door.
The attacking ghost froze, motionless.
Lu Li took notice of this.
Their relationship seemed to be bad, or rather, the ghost was afraid of that female ghost.
At that thought, Lu Li loosened his grip on the handle and responded, "I have seen your child."
Two ghostly pupils looked towards him at the same time.
"Was your child this tall, this big, with dark reddish skin and still with the umbilical cord?"
Lu Li repeated the words he had spoken before, then raised his hand and pointed at the female ghost, "I saw with my own eyes your child being carried away by her, handed over to a stranger, who gave her a hundred Shillings, as if he bought your child."
The ghost was shocked and angry, her hollow eye sockets filled with resentment as she stared at Lu Li. The next moment, a voice as if from the Netherworld whispered in his ear.
"You... saw... my child...?"
"I didn't see!" The ghost panicked and dodged away while the ghost of childbirth clung to her back like a festering wound.
She let out a hysterical scream, and rolling waves of energy burst forth like tides, sweeping through everything in the office.
Lu Li, who was orchestrating all this, stood at the edge, enjoying the spectacle.
"Then... give me... your... child!"
The ghost of childbirth let out a chilling roar, her hands coming together, sharp fingernails an inch long stabbing into the ghost's lower back.
"Get lost! I don't have a child!"
The energy waves erupted wildly as the ghost furiously tried to break free from the ghost of childbirth. Caught in the aftermath, Lu Li struggled to fend off the flying objects in the office, but at the same time, his vision cleared.
"Ahhhhhhh! Let go ahhhhhhhh!!"
The ghost's roars quickly turned into piercing, miserable screams, echoing throughout the entire gallery.
Her struggles were futile. Visible to the naked eye, the aura belonging to the ghost was rapidly dissipating, with a corresponding increase in the female ghost's aura.
The female ghost was sucking the life out of the ghost.
The ghost's screams gradually weakened, her once solid body becoming scattered, her face filled with panic and fear. She was as powerless before the female ghost as mortals were before ghosts.
Lu Li pondered, so there was also a difference in strength between ghosts.
Crack—
At that moment, a book flew through the air, passing through the two ghostly figures and scattering on the ground.
The book caused no damage, but it was enough to draw the attention of the two ghosts involved.
"It's not much use looking for trouble with her now," Lu Li withdrew his hand, scooped up the Flintlock Pistol with its holster, and tucked it back into his waist, "The priority now is to quickly find the person who bought your child and to rescue the child."
"He's probably not gone too far yet. If you go now, there might still be time."
The female ghost's eyes flickered with murderous intent, her hands slowly withdrawing from the ghost's lower back.
"Child... Child..." The female ghost, dragging her intestines, stepped out of the office one step at a time.
The ghost collapsed powerless on the ground, her chest heaving with rapid breaths.
A pair of black leather boots appeared in front of her. The ghost was taken aback, and the owner of the boots had already squatted down in front of her.
Her tone took on a few indescribable nuances, "Why did you save me..."
Could it be that he likes me? There are so many stories of people falling in love with ghosts, could he be thinking the same? Although I am a ghost, I don't look bad, and there should be many who fancy this type, maybe I should stay with him for now and wait for a chance to kill...
All her thoughts abruptly ceased with the explosive burst of flames and the sound of a dragon's roar.
Lu Li's action told her the answer: it was to steal a kill.
The illusory female ghost became as if she had a solid body, the silver-plated bullet embedded in her forehead. Dense blood-red bubbles spread from the wound towards the edge.
"You..."
The blood-red bubbles at the edge of the wound muffled her voice, rapidly multiplying and spreading across the ghost's entire body. Her soul evaporated like water droplets exposed to high heat.
Clang—
The bullet hit the ground with a clear, bouncing sound.
Only a lingering phrase echoed in the now empty office.
"Bastard..."
The floating items in the office fell to the ground as if the water had lost its source.
Lu Li's dark eyes filled with a hint of confusion.
What did she mean by calling him a bastard just before she died?
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
5 Power
stone 
Paragraph comment