Chapter 40

"Are you looking for a place called Jofold?"

The tall, thin stranger asked as if it were a casual question, but it instantly put Hao Ren and Viviyan on edge. The latter, with years of composure, managed to keep her expression in check, while Hao Ren couldn't hide his surprise: "How do you know?!"

At this point, Hao Ren was already prepared to draw his sword and fight to the death—if there were no swords nearby, he could always grab a chair and make do. Honestly, his nervousness was unnecessary, but he had watched too many action movies. Ever since he received this mysterious mission from Raven 12345, he had been imagining himself as James Bond. For a regular civilian, encountering such a "confidential mission" for the first time, it was impossible not to be nervous. Hao Ren was currently in a state where he saw enemies in every blade of grass and tree, considering every breathing, upright creature within a 200-meter radius as a potential threat...

However, the stranger just laughed and pointed to Lili, who was still stuffing her face: "This young lady was asking about Jofold earlier, but she spoke Chinese, and only the waiters here and I could understand her. I was quite curious about why you're looking for that place."

Hao Ren immediately glanced at Lili—she was staring at her plate of vegetable salad and didn't notice. But it wasn't entirely Lili's fault for acting so boldly, as Hao Ren and the others had almost confirmed that "Jofold" wasn't a place on the current British map. They could only roughly determine its location and distance from London based on the vague information provided by Raven 12345. To find the place, asking locals seemed to be the only viable method.

But it was a bit hard to understand why this airhead was asking for directions in fluent Chinese, as if she thought the data terminal's translation function was shared among the team.

"We're tourists," Viviyan, who had been maintaining a graceful dining demeanor, paused to defuse the situation for Hao Ren. "But I don't like the usual tourist spots. I prefer finding small, rarely visited places, like an adventure. We recently read about Jofold in a book, and since our travel route includes a stay in the UK, we decided to make a detour to see it. But it seems no one knows exactly where Jofold is?"

Hao Ren secretly gave Viviyan a thumbs-up: this useless vampire was finally useful for once, lying effortlessly and convincingly!

Viviyan, meanwhile, subtly made a victory sign under the table: she had been around since humans were carving cuneiform on clay tablets, and while she might not be good at many things, her ability to bluff was quite developed.

The stranger looked at Hao Ren and the others, seemingly without suspicion, and nodded in understanding: "Oh, tourists, I see. That place has become a bit famous recently, but you won't find it by looking for 'Jofold.'"

"Do you know the place?!" Lili's ears perked up, and she looked up with a half-eaten vegetable in her mouth, almost splattering salad dressing on the stranger. "Are you going there too?"

"Looks like we're traveling companions," the tall, thin man laughed. "Jofold is the old name for that place, at least a few hundred years old. No one remembers it now, except in some specialized geography books or reference materials. I'm not sure how you came across that name. It used to be the fief of a noble, but it fell into disuse for a while. Gradually, a new town called Brusall grew up near the old fief. If you want to see Jofold, the closest place is Brusall, which is to the south of the old site. I'm heading there too."

"Wow... so complicated..." Hao Ren couldn't help but exclaim. "That white-haired witch must be really messing with us, a place from hundreds of years ago, and the old site is abandoned now..."

Viviyan also shook her head in agreement: "Outdated information, not reliable at all."

Hao Ren glared at her: "Shut up, you who only speak Old English from nine hundred years ago."

Viviyan immediately lowered her head in embarrassment, while Lili, with a mouth full of vegetables, looked up curiously: "Old English? What Old English?" She had been in a sleepwalking state when Viviyan had a moment of weakness, so she didn't remember anything.

"Keep eating, you can't keep your mouth shut even with all that food," Hao Ren pushed Lili's head back down and then looked at the stranger across the table with a mix of surprise. "What a coincidence, I didn't expect to meet someone going the same way. I was worried about how to find the place. What are you going there for? Also a tourist?"

Hao Ren was genuinely surprised. He had thought it might take a whole day to find "Jofold" tomorrow, and there was no guarantee he would succeed. But now, he had unexpectedly met someone heading to the same place, which seemed like a stroke of luck, almost too coincidental to be true.

According to the stranger's introduction, Jofold was an old noble fief that had been abandoned for hundreds of years, almost forgotten in the dust of history. Even the new town of Brusall, built to the south of the old site, had no cultural or historical connection to it. Finding such a convoluted clue through normal inquiries or aimless research would have taken who knows how long. Was this really just a coincidence?

Hao Ren calmed down from his initial surprise and became more suspicious of the stranger, but he didn't show it, maintaining his enthusiastic expression. The tall, thin man seemed completely at ease, pointing to himself: "I'm going for work. My job is quite special; I travel the world looking for places with history and stories."

Hao Ren's mind raced: "Are you a tomb raider?"

He felt Viviyan stomp on his foot with all her might.

"My job..." the tall, thin man paused, as if building suspense, "Speaking of which, since you're going to Jofold, do you know about the recent news there?"

"What news?" Hao Ren's heart skipped a beat because he knew that any news from that place meant trouble for his mission. He was supposed to pick up an "abnormal creature," and the last thing he needed was for the place to attract attention!

"The most famous thing about Jofold is an abandoned old castle left by the old noble. It's almost completely ruined," the tall, thin man said in a mysterious tone. "It was supposed to remain abandoned, with no value as a tourist attraction, but recently, locals have been spreading rumors about strange noises coming from under the castle. At night, people have seen mysterious lights burning above it, and strangers in knight's armor have been seen running in and out at dusk. In short, some say the old noble and the knights have returned as vengeful spirits, and the place is haunted... its reputation is growing."

The tall, thin man created a very atmospheric scene, despite using very ordinary words. But Hao Ren, who had faced werewolves and vampires without flinching, wasn't particularly afraid. Instead, he thought of a possibility: Could this be related to his new tenant?

Hao Ren pondered: If the haunted castle rumors were true, his new tenant was most likely... damn it, couldn't that white-haired witch send him some normal clients?!

But then again, normal people couldn't possibly live in his current home.

"So, what is your job?" Hao Ren looked at the tall, thin man curiously. There must be a reason he emphasized the haunted news, and it was probably related to why he was there.

The tall, thin man chuckled, a bit embarrassed: "You might find it ridiculous, but I'm a demon hunter, traveling the world to exorcise ghosts..."