“Abandoned Asylum” incident resolved 54: 54.
“Abandoned Asylum” incident resolved “I’m a detective and I’ve been commissioned to investigate some matters,”
Exorcism, although it operates in a semi-public state, isn’t mainstream as not everyone is aware.
The majority of the public has only a partial understanding, knowing only that if they encounter a supernatural event, they can reach out to the Detective Agency for professionals.
Whether the police officers are aware of this is beyond Lu Li’s concern.
The torch’s light dispelled the darkness on a dreary midnight.
Lightning streaked across the somber clouds from time to time.
Two police carriages and one from the hospital were parked in front of the Asylum.
The gates of the Asylum’s fence swung open, police station personnel were bustling back and forth, and medical staff in white frequently carried out corpses shrouded in white cloths from within.
The situation was more serious than Lu Li and the police had anticipated.
There weren’t just one corpse, but four, and this was only the initial result after a preliminary search.
The four corpses varied in their state of decay, the most recent being the one Lu Li had seen on the hospital bed, while the oldest was nothing but a layer of withered skin clinging to the skeleton, preliminarily determined to have been dead for over three months.
The identification of the bodies was still in progress, with the police matching them against the missing persons database.
If the victims were Belfast residents, it should not take long to determine their identities.
A police officer hurriedly ran out of the asylum mansion with the latest information: the bodies’ faces had been severely disfigured, and there were no items or clothing on them that could indicate their identity.
Also, due to the prolonged placement, the chance of identifying the three remaining bodies, besides the most recent one, was slim.
Identification could only be attempted by comparing the dates of death with the missing times.
“You just said that the killer named Richard has accomplices, are you sure?”
At the rear of the police carriage, Lu Li spoke to two officers taking his statement.
Lu Li leaned against the wall of the carriage, draped in a blanket.
Across from him, a senior officer frowned deeply.
Anna, because she was shy, had slipped back into the carriage and peered out the window pitifully towards them.
“Gang-related crime, then…
It seems we’ll only be able to start with the suspect’s family,”
Forty minutes had passed since Lu Li called the police.
The police car arrived at the twentieth minute, and Lu Li, who had already crawled back to the surface through the basement window, waited at the main gate and told the police everything except for his encounter with the chubby ghost.
The officer sighed deeply as if aged by the ordeals, “It’s getting less and less peaceful these days, this happens just after that other incident…
The last remark was directed at a junior police officer taking notes beside him.
Lu Li, unaware of what “that incident” referred to, remained silent.
A drizzle began to fall from the sky, surrounding the torches and oil lamps with a misty halo.
The other officers were still searching through the Asylum, and the medical staff from the hospital had no immediate tasks, so one nurse approached and asked, “Has someone been injured?”
Hearing this, the officer pointed at Lu Li, “He sustained a head injury.
“It’s a minor issue, just needs a dressing and it’ll be fine,” Lu Li waved off, his blood already dried and the pain subsiding.
However, a throbbing sensation occasionally pulsed at the swollen area on the back of his head with his heartbeat.
The nurse said nothing further, looked at Lu Li a few more times, then turned and walked back to her carriage.
Anna, who was hiding in the carriage, eavesdropping, realized belatedly and looked at Lu Li with her big eyes.
The officer shrugged his shoulders, gazing out into the night-shrouded Asylum, “You’re lucky to have escaped under these circumstances and to have driven off the killer.
If you’re investigating something, we might be able to help.”
The relationship between the police and detectives is complex, with detectives operating in a gray area, doing deeds that are unregulated but within the law.
Moreover, they are well-versed in police procedures, making it difficult to be discovered even when they skirt legal boundaries — yet in some situations, they can provide crucial clues to assist the police.
So the two had always maintained a relationship that was close yet distant.
They cooperated with each other and yet conflicted with each other.
The Watchmen and the Exorcists were somewhat similar in degree.
“No need, I’ve already found it.”
Lu Li pulled out the patient information he had found before the police arrived and displayed it so the other party could clearly see the writing on it.
A tense shout suddenly cut through the night sky, attracting the attention of those around.
The officer behind him, in charge of recording, pointed at Lu Li’s waist and shouted, while quickly raising his hand to unholster his baton.
However, due to his nervousness, it took him several seconds to successfully draw it.
The officer’s gaze landed on it and his pupils constricted when he saw the silver rose reflecting under the firelight.
He hurriedly reached out to stop his subordinate, “Idiot, that’s a Spirit-Calling Gun!”
He apologized to Lu Li politely, “I’m sorry, Exorcist sir, my subordinate has just joined the force and is still unclear about some rules.”
“No need to be so polite.” Lu Li nodded, put away the patient information, and covered his waist with his overcoat.
He had indeed been concerned about his Flintlock Pistol being exposed and revealing his identity, but now it seemed there was no need.
Seeing Lu Li did not flare up, the officer breathed a sigh of relief and tentatively asked, “However, since you are an Exorcist, does it mean the situation is not as you said earlier?”
“Not entirely.” Lu Li replied calmly, without any signs of panic after being caught out.
He then recounted the incident with the obese ghost.
The officer listened in silence and exhaled deeply, “Is that so…
Do you think we should contact the Watchmen?”
“To be honest, I’ve never been in contact with the Watchmen.” Lu Li recalled what Richard was doing and advised, “But I suggest you’d better give them a heads-up.”
Once the officer confirmed that Lu Li was an Exorcist and that the Asylum case was a supernatural event, he knew it was not something he could meddle with.
Motioning to Lu Li that he would contact his superiors, Lu Li was now free to leave.
Both returned to their respective carriages.
“You’re hurt?” Anna leaned over, looking extremely concerned.
“Wait for me, I think I’ve brought some medicine…”
Anna had treated this commission like a trip, and before coming out, she had packed a backpack filled with things Lu Li didn’t even know.
She opened the backpack, rummaged through it, and found a small medical kit.
She spread it out and pulled out a band-aid.
“Where should I stick the band-aid?”
Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Lu Li replied calmly, “Somewhere that doesn’t get in the way.”
“Oh!” Anna snapped the medical kit closed, put it back in her backpack, zipped it up, stood up, walked over to Lu Li, and stuck the band-aid on…
This band-aid, kept in a drawer, had been colored and patterned by Anna when she was bored some days ago: a pink butterfly design.
Lu Li said nothing, bearing the pink butterfly band-aid on his forehead, he climbed out of the carriage, sat outside the curtain to drive the carriage, and slowly left the front gate.
At that moment, a carriage bearing the Belfast Times emblem slowly came from the end of the road, brushing past Lu Li’s carriage.
However, by then the scene was almost over, and they had missed out on the hot scoop.