Detective Agency of the Bizarre-Chapter 1360 - 200: The Auctioned Mayor

The Devil’s Daughter tasked Lu Li with becoming stronger in twenty-five days.

Humanity is the only path to strength, but it doesn’t inherently strengthen Lu Li—it is merely a consumable, a fuel for burning the Cursed Title.

There is no difference between a Cursed Title released with one humanity and one released with a hundred humanities.

It is constant.

But Cursed Titles aren’t unchanging.

Just as the Phantom of Annie, the Speaker of the Trees, grows over time, so too should the Dreamwalker and other Cursed Titles.

On the third floor study, Lu Li stood by the window, looking down on the street and gently stroking the gray cat on the windowsill. Dreams unfurled behind him, paused, and the edge of the halo extended slightly beyond the window frame.

Can humanity as fuel make the Cursed Title burn more intensely?

So Lu Li infused about 0.1 humanity into the Dreamwalker.

Compared to his gains in hell, this attempt was insignificant, yet it clearly manifested change—the edge of the halo quietly extended outward by a circle.

Lu Li then directly infused the remaining 0.9 humanity, resulting in the Dreamwalker doubling in diameter, forcing him to step back from the window to prevent the dream’s halo from manifesting outside the wall.

The Dreamwalker can indeed grow... but the consumption of humanity is also increasing.

Lu Li temporarily restrained the Dreamwalker, then continued to test—was the range increase from 1 humanity temporary or permanent?

The bizarre dreamscape emerged again, stopping when it expanded to the width of the window frame.

Is it only temporary...

Lu Li frowned in thought, suddenly recalling something, controlling the Dreamwalker, and the halo quietly spread outward.

The expansion brought by humanity was retained.

Lu Li’s eyes lowered slightly, he stepped over the cats at his feet to the center of the study, and directly poured 4 more humanities into the bonfire called Dreamwalker.

The flames burned fiercely, the expanding dreamscape devoured the study’s space, halting at the wall’s edge.

The halo exhibited indescribable, ineffable patterns, enveloping Lu Li in a dream-like, bizarre glow, making him appear like an actor before a grand curtain.

The increase in range was genuinely valuable, meaning that dealing with large enemies such as Fire Demons would no longer waste much time, and powerful entities would take longer to invade the dream and approach him. However, correspondingly, humanity was consumed at a rate five times faster.

The growth of the Cursed Title wasn’t documented in related knowledge, nor were there any legends—it was Lu Li’s first discovery.

Unfortunately, no one can afford to waste valuable humanity on growing the Cursed Title, not even Lu Li. Before arriving in hell, his humanity always hovered in the "just enough" range.

He restrained the Cursed Title, and Lu Li returned to the window.

The clamor on the street did not end with the mayor’s auction.

Silently watching the confronting demons below, the Flowing Demon returned to the study door, informing Lu Li that demons had a dispute.

Because the purchase of the mayor’s position with a Void Ring was by a merchant leader.

The demons participating in the auction clearly divided into two loose camps: merchants and residents. The former leaned towards the luxurious auction items, the latter were less interested but needed the mayor’s role.

The auctioning demons abided by this tacit understanding until a merchant bought the mayor with a Void Ring.

The Flowing Demon didn’t dare come closer, standing at the door, offering a stone box containing souls and the Void Ring.

A pair of pale, ethereal arms appeared behind Lu Li, picking up the stone box and the Void Ring, presenting them to Lu Li.

Like hands presenting an artwork, the hands cradled an unknown ring, seemingly flowing with mist, while Lu Li, momentarily dazed, focused on the pale hands. The left hand naturally dropped, while the right slipped the ring onto his middle finger.

"Mr. Soul, should we do something?"

The Flowing Demon’s inquiry roused Lu Li, and the manifested hands vanished swiftly with the drawing back of the dream.

Lu Li caught the ring as it fell.

Retake the mayor’s position and sell it again?

No demon would fall for it again. They follow chaos, not the mere instincts of Inferior Demons.

The mayor is an intangible authority, and all Lu Li could do was leave the demon guards with the demon.

Instructing the Flowing Demon to bring the demon guards, Lu Li said, "Now the new mayor is—"

"Labor Demon, the merchant who bought the mayor." The Flowing Demon answered.

"—Labor Demon, you must listen to it going forward."

Because the demon guards only listen to the mayor, Lu Li didn’t split them up for auction.

"Won’t you take it with you?" The Flowing Demon asked.

"No."

Lu Li couldn’t maintain the Cursed Title day and night, nor could he trust the demon guard made by the Plunder Demon.

The Flowing Demon took the demon guards downstairs to hand over to the new mayor while Lu Li observed the mist-flowing Void Ring on his finger.

There was nothing inside the Void Ring, so Lu Li casually grabbed a few books from the desk, threw them in and took them out, with no change occurring.

Lu Li wore the ring on his right hand, touching the tabby cat at his side. The cat vanished instantly, and the space vacated at his feet was quickly occupied by other cats, until soon the tabby reappeared from the void and squeezed into the cat group.

Having confirmed that living beings could indeed survive in the Void Ring, Lu Li used the ring, exchanged for over a hundred humanities, to store the cats one by one.

Altogether, there were thirty-three cats.

The study, once filled with cat meows, finally fell silent as the cats were all stored. Lu Li didn’t put the Light Core, formed from the Heart Demon after its demise, inside because the cats might consume it, and he did not trust the devils.

Though devils are synonymous with order, one must know it is the devils’ order—

Even a soul-bound devil can add traps to every nook and cranny, let alone an unrestrained Void Ring.

The stone box contained 5300 souls, which Lu Li exchanged for humanity, now totaling 340.

Lu Li waited a moment longer in the study, and the Flowing Demon returned to the third floor.

The noise on the street had disappeared.

"Mr. Soul, it’s resolved."

"What’s the outcome?"

"Labor Demon won because it promised to halve future trade taxes in Citrus Tanuki Town, so the merchants chose to support it."

Gathered merchants were no match for gathered residents, except the residents truly gathered—the ones vying for the mayor were just one faction of the town.

Lu Li and the Flowing Demon returned to the hall and left the town along the street.

The demons all knew that the enticing soul was the mastermind behind the auction and also knew that the previous mayor, the Plunder Demon, was killed by him, so Lu Li and the caravan’s departure faced no obstruction.

A few hours later, the caravan of Flowing Demons along the wilderness trade route was overtaken by a merchant troupe with only one cart remaining.

This should have been the Labor Demon appointed as the mayor in Citrus Tanuki Town.

When the Flowing Demon asked what was going on, it brought news of the Plunder Demon’s resurrection, reclaimed the mayor’s position, and conveyed a message for Lu Li.