Detective Agency of the Bizarre-Chapter 1361 - 201: Continuing to Grow

The unfortunate Labor Demon miserably lost the Void Ring, lost the town mayor’s identity, and had to convey messages for the Plunder Demon. But as a trade-off, it was not killed by the Plunder Demon.

"What did it say?"

Lu Li and the Flowing Demon thought it would be threats or curses, but it was unrelated to malice.

"They must eat one soul a day to maintain the shape of a cat."

The message conveyed by the Plunder Demon through the Labor Demon was about how to take care of the cat colony.

"Does each cat eat a soul, or is it combined?"

"Combined."

A silent Lu Li quietly watched the "Labor Demon," and the "Labor Demon" returned the gaze.

The Flowing Demon initially did not understand why they were silent until it suddenly realized something and fearfully backed away from the "Labor Demon."

"You’re still alive."

Lu Li and the Labor Demon, or rather the Plunder Demon, spoke.

The genuine value of humanity obtained after killing the Plunder Demon... then who is the Plunder Demon before him?

Or perhaps the only thing he killed was that body.

With its identity revealed by Lu Li, the "Labor Demon" no longer maintained the false pretense of fear. Its face, full of creases and scars, grew calm: "I can plunder the souls of all Demons, including my own..."

"So are you planning to repeat it?"

Lu Li looked at the three or four meters tall Plunder Demon standing before him.

"No, I just came to tell you to take good care of them."

The Plunder Demon left as its misty ring of fog brushed against Lu Li’s forefinger. The body of the Labor Demon, maintained by unconsciousness, collapsed.

The Flowing Demon cautiously leaned back towards Lu Li. It confirmed that the Labor Demon was dead, thus growing more in awe of Lu Li— for the Plunder Demon did not even dare to seek revenge after being killed by him.

As the Plunder Demon departed, it was now time to collect the spoils— the Flowing Demon directed its underling Gravel Demons to approach the truck brought by the Plunder Demon. Inside was neither a trap nor a curse, merely filled with goods.

The Gravel Demon approached Lu Li, saliva seemingly flowing from its body as gravel fell from its decomposing form: "Master, the truck is filled with goods."

Undoubtedly, Lu Li possessed ownership of the truck. He handed it over to the Flowing Demon, with 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the goods going to it.

With the incident over, the caravan resumed its journey, heading towards the next small town hundreds of miles away.

The events of the following days were not particularly eventful. As the caravan passed through two towns along the way, the Flowing Demon hoped Lu Li would not enter, using the excuse that "your approach will drive the Demons crazy."

The Flowing Demon was somewhat wise. It knew that this established trade route was valuable; Lu Li destroying a small town might yield substantial souls temporarily, but the trade point would be permanently lost— it understood the difference between earning a one-time gain and long-term profits.

Rather than targeting small towns, the Flowing Demon hoped Lu Li would attack other caravans— they carry valuable goods and are its competitors, fewer caravans mean the value of its goods would increase.

However, Demons who become merchants are usually not fools. They eye the peculiar, soul-like presence following the caravan, but they don’t wish to be the first to provoke.

The unknown represents terror— this rule holds true even in Purgatory.

Upon leaving the second town passed after Citrus Tanuki Town, the Flowing Demon completely unloaded the goods and truck delivered by the Plunder Demon, and Lu Li gained about 3,000 souls.

This was the only major gain for Lu Li in the past few days.

In the first two days after entering Purgatory, Lu Li acquired over 340 fragments of humanity, but in the three days since, he only garnered about 50.

Not insignificant, but certainly not plentiful, with the acquisition rate significantly slowing down.

The more he cleared the Weird Lairs encountered along the way, yielding meager fragments of humanity, the more he missed the bountiful gains from resolving a small town.

When the inverted pentagram brand heated for the sixth time, with a countdown of nineteen days remaining, Lu Li summoned the Flowing Demon at the front and pointed to the map.

"Why doesn’t the caravan pass through Terror Ball Town?"

The next trade point on the route was Remnant Fire Town, but it deviated considerably from the trade line. A small town named Terror Ball Town instead lay directly on the path to the next small town and Abyss City.

It’s not that Terror Ball Town had disappeared or was a map error; the Flowing Demon told Lu Li that there was indeed a small town, but it was a forbidden zone for caravans— a Demon nest named as a small town, rife with chaos and disorder, just like Rift Valley Town.

"Change the route, we’re going to Terror Ball Town."

Lu Li and the still hesitant Flowing Demon said, "10% of the proceeds go to you."

"Kids! Raise the sails!"

...

How much wealth does a town hold?

This might be glimpsed from Rift Valley Town and Citrus Tanuki Town.

Also a lair small town, excluding the town mayor and the townspeople themselves, Lu Li harvested 7,700 souls from the spoils at Rift Valley Town. However, considering Beauty Lake Town’s purchase of the spoils at relatively cheap prices due to a lack of souls, and many spoils left in Rift Valley Town yet to be looted, the true harvest would be more substantial.

As for the gains from Citrus Tanuki Town, it amounted to 5,300 souls, but this was merely from ransacking the Town Mayor Mansion and the sale of the town mayor’s 15,000 souls which Lu Li exchanged for the Void Ring.

In any case, the harvest from Terror Ball Town wouldn’t be less than those of the two towns.

And for the caravan, perhaps the harvests from a place like Terror Ball Town alone would exceed the entire yield from this trade line.

The Flowing Demon excitedly instructed the caravan to change direction, leaving the familiar trade line and heading towards Terror Ball Town.

Riding on the back of the Purgatory Demon, Lu Li kept a distance from the caravan. Before reaching Terror Ball Town, he wanted to grow as a Dreamwalker once again.

The dreamscape unfurled, forming a vague, mutable halo the size of a room behind Lu Li.

The halo did not maintain its size, beginning to spread around, like the Mist of Strangeness swallowing the land at dusk, silently devouring the Inferior Demons charging at Lu Li.

This time Lu Li infused enough humanity; his own humanity dwindled to 290 fragments, and correspondingly—when the Flowing Demon, made uneasy by the strangeness behind him, turned back, he was horrified to see the terrifying halo rise like a small mountain, dots of indescribable light flickering within the vague shifting hues.

Also seen was Lu Li and his mount, the Purgatory Demon, at the core encased by the halo.

"It’s a star..."

The Flowing Demon’s underling ghostly souls stood, dazedly looking up at the replaced world: "I saw those when I was alive..."

But in an instant, the starry, mysterious, magnificent halo vanished, and the land returned to its original barren and blazing state.

Lu Li infused 99 fragments of humanity into the Dreamwalker, extending the dream radius to a hundred meters.

Though describing it this way might offend the wise Old Flame Demon, when Dreamwalker is fully unfurled, the Old Flame Demon’s survival time depends on how long it takes for Lu Li to approach it.

After all, it is akin to the Evil Spirit Ritual, powers of a Cursed Title that operate like world laws. Unless the Cursed Title itself is suppressed, numbers mean nothing to it.

The only difference between one Old Flame Demon and a hundred Old Flame Demons is the time they take.

Compared to it, perhaps the Fire Demons capable of merging with one another pose a greater threat to Lu Li.