Hades did not answer the question. He got under the bar and made a sound of rummaging. Ten seconds later, he emerged holding a candle that was as pure as butter and completely white.
This seemed to be some kind of rare item, which could be seen from Hades's attitude towards it - Lu Li only showed a similar expression when he saw Shilling.
Hades removed the protective cover of the oil lamp nearby, poured out the white candle, and ignited it.
A weak firelight glowed faintly, and the intertwined color of light yellow and light red was no different from ordinary fire. The wax around the fire melted, but did not drip. Instead, it turned into steam like water vapor, curled up, and dissipated into the void.
Lu Li stared at the flames, and suddenly felt some indescribable feeling in his heart.
The weak candlelight seemed to have dispelled some kind of omnipresent fog, revealing the most essential truth in the eyes. It was as if the mist covering the eyes was suddenly wiped away, and everything became clear.
"It's called the Broken Candle. It allows you to see things you can't normally see, just like a psychic gun. But it won't have any negative effects." Hades whispered with some distress. He stared behind Lu Li, as if there was something there
There is something. "Now look around you."
Hades might blow out the candles when Lu Li turned around, or take the 1,000 shillings and run away, because that was his style. But Lu Li still obeyed Hades's wishes and turned his head.
The gloomy and rainy weather was even darker than the fog of the previous days, and the windows were glowing with weak light. The oil lamps and candles on the bar only illuminated a few meters around them, and the round tables and chairs further away were only black outlines.
Lu Li was sure that those seats were empty when he came in. But after looking back, he saw that the originally empty tables and chairs were crowded with black silhouettes of different shapes.
These dark shadows reveal an ominous and rich dark outline, and it is difficult to tell what they are just from the silhouette. Some silhouettes seem to be similar to human structures, but there are obvious differences.
It looks like a black silhouette of grass magnified several times, with tentacles dancing like seaweed. It looks like its ankles are dragging an iron ball, but its head is a humanoid outline like the spire of a bell tower. It seems to be densely packed with hundreds of people.
A slender limb extends from the torso, a black sphere like a sea urchin. It looks like a pool of ooze, but its shape is constantly changing, like a viscous liquid like water on a beaten drum.
These existences are like things that children inadvertently made out of soft sand on the beach. They are strange and specious, as if they are something that people are familiar with, but they carry a frightening strangeness that goes straight to the deepest part of their hearts.
They are in the seats, under the round table, on the ceiling, in the gaps between the stairs, around us, everywhere.
This tavern-style detective agency suddenly became extremely "busy".
"This is……"
Lu Li's expression gradually became serious.
"What you've always wanted to know, the nature of the world."
Hades grinned and said with a cruel tone.
"That's what's in the dark."
Lu Li didn't answer. He quietly observed these black silhouettes.
There are some black silhouettes moving. Occasionally, black silhouettes will leave the "tavern", but new black silhouettes will also appear.
Some are simply moving, while others slowly fade and disappear into the distance.
Lu Li tilted his head and cast his gaze on the corner of the bar two stools away.
A black silhouette sat there. It was one of the few silhouettes that had an almost complete human outline.
It was holding something unidentifiable in its hand, which it would raise from time to time and raise its head at the same time, as if it was drinking.
Lu Li observed it quietly, until at a certain moment, the silhouette's head turned and seemed to be facing Lu Li.
"Don't keep staring! They can sense you!"
A sharp shout suddenly sounded in my ears!
Lu Li's dark eyes regained clarity, and he instantly retracted his gaze and turned his head.
The two of them remained silent at the same time, observing the black silhouette in the corner of the bar with their peripheral vision. Fortunately, it did not move or notice anything. Instead, it turned its head back and repeated its previous actions.
After surviving the incident without any danger, Hades breathed a long sigh of relief, and the sound of his heartbeat could be heard clearly even by Lu Li opposite him.
"What are they?" Lu Li asked. He started to observe the black silhouettes behind him again, but he no longer kept his gaze like before, but kept wandering and moving.
Hades shrugged: "I don't know, our theoretical research on the inner world has just begun. Oh, the inner world is what we call that space. Some people also call it the spiritual level, the void world, the spiritual space, etc... There is no official name, so
You can call me whatever you want."
"Can they sense this is a tavern?"
"I need to remind you that this is a detective agency." Hades straightened his face and seriously corrected Lu Li's cognitive error, and then answered the question: "Why not? We are at the material level, and they are at the spiritual level. We
Whatever changes happen, they will also change. In other words - we and they are the surface and the inside of this world, but we usually can't touch each other."
"But the night brings opportunities." Lu Li added.
"That's right."
"what are they?"
"I don't know. Evil spirits? Evil gods? Unspeakable things? This is a question you shouldn't ask an ordinary exorcist who has no characteristics and is greedy for money."
Hades crossed his shoulders, his words revealing his self-knowledge.
"Are they all outside?"
Hades shook his head, trying to break Lu Li's innocence: "Don't you understand? Our world is crowded with these gadgets. It's just that the daytime is our world, and the darkness is their world."
"So as long as you stay in a place with light, you are safe?"
"Yes, at least it was like this before the first fog appeared."
"fog?"
Lu Li asked, his thoughts returning to the strange bell he encountered that night in the gallery office, and the mist that enveloped the sea and lasted for dozens of seconds.
"That's it. They wander in the dark, and we just need to avoid the darkness. But if there is fog, they will appear directly around us - and cannot be driven away by light."
Hades noticed Lu Li's memories and snapped his fingers.
"If you still don't understand, I can give you an example."
"During the day, we are ordinary tourists in the circus. We are not in any danger. At best, we scare ourselves. At night, we are ordinary tourists standing in front of the lion cage. As long as we stay away from the lion cage, we are still safe. But we in the fog
…”
Lu Li's black eyes suddenly became deep-set. He lowered his eyes, raised his head again, and continued.
