Chapter 9: IX. Oliver - No Last Name
Oliver, a Belfast person. Like most orphans, he only had a first name, no surname. Like most residents, he had never left the place where he was born.
Not because his home was here—he was an orphan, and to him, home was merely an unattainable concept.
"Well, it's because of home, I have a sister, uh… not related by blood, I picked her up from a trash can. Actually, just a few days before I found her, I had just decided to try my luck outside."
On the day he met Lu Li, that was how Oliver responded when questioned.
Lu Li knew he was playing the sympathy card, trying to make him feel pity and hire him. Because Oliver said he had just turned 20, and it would be another four years before his sister came of age.
That meant, Oliver had picked up his sister when he was just four years old.
At four years old, he wanted to venture outside.
Lu Li didn't expose Oliver's harmless lie, quietly listening to him narrate his life story.
Regardless, whether Oliver really wanted to leave Belfast to make his way or not, he did not leave but took on the duty of an older brother to care for this sister he'd found.
Here, Oliver briefly told of how tough it was for the siblings in their younger years. His words were brief yet touching—it was evident he had told the story many times.
Because they often alternated between starving and being full, Oliver was thin and just over five foot three. He had been in a gang for quite some time, back then his nickname was Lean Monkey.
As expected.
After mixing with gangs for a few years under a boss and realizing that he couldn't even secure a minor leadership position, let alone become a boss himself, he secretly left, determined not to let his sister follow in his footsteps.
Nobody doesn't want to improve their situation, except those already at the top.
Oliver decided to send his sister to school; he took a risk to gather the tuition fee and successfully enrolled his sister in a school in Belfast.
Clearly, tuition was not a one-time fee, and Oliver had to come up with ways to cover his sister's food, clothing, and essentials. So, until his sister grew into a towering tree that could shelter him, he had to continue providing for her.
Oliver did any work he could find, fisherman, laborer, gang member, beggar, pickpocket, even sold himself twice—though he didn't go into details, he clearly expressed, frightened, that he wouldn't do it again, especially after the terror of the second time—unless he could pick his clients himself.
Three days ago, using his connections, he heard about a new Detective Agency opening in the Sailor District. Oliver showed up uninvited outside the door, eagerly promoting how well connected he was. He even claimed that, if Lu Li wanted, he could find out what color underwear Baron Joshua was wearing that day.
Lu Li was not interested in the color of the Baron's underwear, but he was very keen to understand the world's background and why one must stay in lit areas after dark.
"Can you elaborate?"
"I can't."
"Alright. Please close the door on your way out, from outside."
"Please, my sister is very pretty!" Oliver pleaded loudly, talking about how difficult it was for him to take care of his sister.
Lu Li decided to hire him to try it out.
Without a labor contract, calling their relationship employment was an understatement; a transaction was more fitting.
Oliver helped Lu Li find clients, dealing with their finances; Oliver got a ten percent cut. Whatever Lu Li wanted to inquire or investigate, he had to pay Oliver a fee.
From the results of these few days, Oliver was doing quite well.
What Lu Li did not know was that Oliver was engaged in a losing trade.
On Lu Li's first day in the world, he first figured out where he was, then dismantled his phone to sell to collectors for a place to live, an identity, and some money. After setting his direction, he established the Detective Agency and legally began his investigative work. All this had barely taken one morning. At noon, Oliver appeared, and both agreed on a cooperative arrangement; Oliver went back to look for clients.
Counting today, it's been four days. In these four days, Oliver had run around using his connections to find fifteen cases, Lu Li had completed four, earning 30 shillings, having waived his fee for one case because the client was too poor.
At first glance, it seemed not too bad, about the same as a worker who works 10 hours a day.
But Oliver's income was: 3 shillings.
Earning just three shillings in four days, even begging would have been more lucrative, but the reason Oliver continued was simple: it was an investment.
Oliver had met many people: vagrants, sailors, nobles, professors, even the nearly extinct bards. He could boast that he knew half the names of the residents of Rodest Port. However, he had never seen eyes the color of the deep sea.
He felt that Lu Li wouldn't remain an unknown.
Thus, Oliver intended to use all his wits to make Lu Li understand his value.
"Is that why you appeared before me looking like this?"
At their agreed meeting spot, Lu Li frowned slightly.
In front of him, Oliver was heavily made up, wearing a stolen dress that fittingly surprised him. But he looked strange – like a monkey dressed in human's clothes.
"As an informant, having many faces is necessary~" Oliver giggled, covering his mouth.
"Or perhaps simply because you like cross-dressing."
"Tease~ you devil~ hmmph~" Oliver stamped his foot lightly, feigning annoyance.
Passersby on the street dispersed, giving them a wide berth.
"Let's talk about the client," Lu Li spoke calmly, wanting to steer away from why Oliver was dressed that way.
In a tone that tingled Oliver's skin, he cooed, "The client is umm~ Bradley~ Tolkien~"
"Speak normally."
"The client is Bradley Tolkien." Oliver reverted to his usual self and informed Lu Li of the specifics: "Tolkien is the second mate on a fishing boat. A few days ago, his young son stopped eating and spoke in his sleep all day. Tolkien consulted other exorcists and found out his son might be possessed by a ghost. However, the exorcists' fees were too high, and Tolkien was hesitating. If your fee doesn't exceed 300 shillings, there's a good chance he might hire you right now."
"What do you think?" Lu Li asked Oliver. From the few words, Lu Li couldn't tell if this was a supernatural event or a common illness.
Oliver adjusted the slipping shoulder strap: "Well, I'm not going in."
38 Ward Street, Bradley Tolkien's residence. Tolkien was pleased to see Lu Li, not just because his son might be saved, but also because it meant saving a hefty fee.
Mr. Tolkien, enthusiastic yet worried, led Lu Li to his son's room door and pushed it open.
A detestable aura permeated the air, and whispered conversations echoed in every corner of the room.
On the bed, his son Henry's complexion was deathly pale as he looked on coldly.
"I am leaving."
Without a second thought, Lu Li turned and walked out of the room.
Chapter 10: 10. Possessed by Evil Spirits
"Exorcist! Exorcist——"
Tolkien called out loudly, chasing after and blocking Lu Li in front of the living room.
"400 shillings! Please, you must help my son."
Lu Li stopped in his tracks, his expression serious, "Mr. Tolkien, the spirit possessing Henry is too powerful, beyond my abilities to resolve. I suggest you seek a more powerful exorcist."
Tolkien pleaded desperately, "But I don't have that much money... 500 shillings! 500 shillings, Exorcist, please save Henry..."
Lu Li had no intention of taking the risk. He sidestepped Tolkien, planning to leave, when suddenly, a sensation of being watched emerged within him, and he turned his head instinctively.
At the corridor, in front of Henry's room door, a shadow retracted behind the door, its hem vanishing.
"...?"
A slight stir in Lu Li's heart.
"Exorcist?" Tolkien's voice showed surprise, thinking Lu Li had reconsidered.
Indeed, it was so. After a moment's deliberation, Lu Li spoke, "I can try, but I can't guarantee it will work."
"Then please do!"
Accompanied by Tolkien, Lu Li returned to the front of Henry's room.
The figure lying on the bed was motionless, as if the shadow Lu Li had seen earlier was just an illusion. Henry's pale lips moved as if muttering something overlapped by whispering voices echoing in the air.
"Henry... Henry..."
Tolkien softly called the name of his younger son who remained unresponsive, his eyes blankly fixed on the ceiling.
Lu Li did not rashly enter the room; he stood at the door, his gaze slowly sweeping over every corner of the room.
He found the source of the whispering, that prayer-like murmur emerging from a cabinet at the foot of the bed.
Taking a deep breath, releasing the turbid air, Lu Li walked into the room under Tolkien's anxious gaze.
Lu Li approached the cabinet at the foot of the bed, part of his attention on the figure on the bed, part on the cabinet emitting the whispering, and the last part on the curtained window.
Should any supernatural phenomenon occur, Lu Li would not hesitate to jump through the window to escape.
However, until Lu Li stood in front of the cabinet, Henry did not exhibit any strange reaction to this intruder.
The whispering became clearer, intensifying as Lu Li knelt down, almost resounding next to his ear.
In the deepest part of the cabinet, a white linen cloth covered an item, the source of the sounds. Hesitating for a few seconds, Lu Li reached into the cabinet and lifted a corner of the cloth.
Lu Li glimpsed the true nature of the item, the murmuring in his ears as though emanating from a gloomy forest, exuding a disconcerting malicious atmosphere.
Atop the item, black thread-like appendages resembled the tentacles of an obscure creature, the sharply defined deep brown shape nastily sprawled, splitting open in the middle like a frightening chasm.
It was a vacuum tube radio currently broadcasting.
Kael'thas Cathedral channel, which broadcasts the mass prayers from the church at noon daily.
So it was...
Lu Li let go of the cloth, covering the radio again, and stood up to open the drawer.
A few envelopes quietly lay inside the drawer.
"Exorcist?"
At the doorway, Tolkien asked in a lowered voice, unable to comprehend the sequence of Lu Li's actions.
"I need to understand why Henry is possessed by a spirit, whether it's through some medium or a direct possession."
Lu Li picked up the stack of envelopes, his peripheral vision lingering on the cot.
A gaze silently watched from the bed.
"Mr. Tolkien, has Henry exhibited any unusual behavior recently, such as..." Lu Li casually opened one of the envelopes and unfolded the letter inside. The elegant handwriting filled with utterances of adoration, with Henry's name interspersed among them.
"...whether he has had overly close relationships with the opposite sex."
Mr. Tolkien paused, seeming to think of something, but before he could speak, a burst of hysterical, frantic laughter suddenly rang out in the room.
"You'll all die! Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!!!"
Henry laughed sharply, his eyes rolling back to reveal disturbing whites, convulsing on the bed as if struck by epilepsy.
"Exorcist sir! My son... my son!" Mr. Tolkien exclaimed in horror, seeking help from Lu Li.
"I saw it." Lu Li closed the drawer but did not put back the stack of envelopes, and calmly said to someone outside the door, "Then I shall begin the exorcism, Mr. Tolkien, please wait in the living room."
With worry, Mr. Tolkien closed the door and left; Lu Li silently waited several seconds until Henry's convulsions slightly subsided before speaking, "Tell me why you pretended to be possessed by a ghost."
As his words fell, the room plunged into silence.
"Hehehehehe... you will die! You will all die!" Henry shrieked, his mouth contorted.
Wham—
A stack of envelopes was thrown by Lu Li, hitting Henry, one envelope smacking right onto his face.
"Because Tolkien disapproves of your affair with Evelyn?"
Lu Li's casually spoken words made Henry halt all his actions. After a few seconds of silence, Henry, bewildered, removed the envelope from his face, "How... how did you know...?"
"Tell me the details, and maybe I'll be persuaded not to tell your father."
The previously fierce and frenzied Henry now looked like a just-grown young boy, hesitantly explaining his reasons to Lu Li.
Henry and Evelyn had met by the seaside, and like most young men and women, the surge of hormones soon drew them hopelessly in love. However, trouble also arose; before Henry had the chance to tell his father about his girlfriend, his father had hastily arranged a fiancée for him.
Of course, Henry was unwilling, but Tolkien was domineering at home, and the younger son, Henry, naturally had no right to argue. After consulting with Evelyn, he decided to pretend to be possessed by a ghost.
"Why pretend to be possessed by a ghost?" Lu Li asked.
"That way my fiancée might get scared and call off the engagement..."
"And then?"
"I succeeded!" A hint of joy surfaced on Henry's pale face.
"But you didn't think about what to do next, leading Tolkien to call me here."
Lu Li's words plunged Henry into silence.
A moment later, Henry lifted his head, pleading, "Will you tell my father?"
"Will you do this again?" Lu Li countered.
"Never again, I swear!"
"I will keep your secret," Lu Li replied.
This solution was ideal for both; Lu Li received 500 shillings, and Henry escaped his parental-imposed engagement.
Except for Tolkien.
If the stingy Tolkien knew that his younger son had pretended to be possessed by a ghost, causing him a loss of 500 shillings, he might end up with only one son.
The commission concluded, and with no reason to stay, Lu Li turned off the radio in the cabinet and headed towards the door.
The door was nearly closed when Henry suddenly smiled coldly on the bed—
The barely closed door swung open again, and Lu Li reappeared at the entrance, having returned.
"Is there something you need, Exorcist sir?" Henry asked, looking up bewildered.
"Nothing."
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