Chapter 50

The abnormal situation at the castle ruins immediately caught the attention of the "ghost hunters" in the surrounding camp. When a series of howling winds began to emanate from the pile of jagged rocks, the entire camp suddenly became lively. A group of peculiar professionals, some wielding oddly shaped mineral radios, others carrying old-fashioned cameras that should have been retired fifty years ago, and still others holding two curved copper rods, rushed toward the castle ruins, which were continuously emitting strange sounds. Their appearance was as chaotic as a group of demons, and if there were really a bunch of old spirits from hundreds of years ago under the castle, they would surely be frightened by this group of strangely dressed lunatics.

Hao Ren naturally wanted to rush out first. Seeing the "ghost masters" charge toward the castle, his first thought was, "Damn, this job is going to be tough." He was trembling with fear, worried that his new tenant might be killed by a group of clownish ghost hunters before they even met, or that the ghost hunters might be killed by his new tenant. The situation would be extremely complicated, and even hanging him on the city wall to dry for two weeks might not be enough. But just as he was about to rush forward, Vivian grabbed his neck, "Don't be hasty. Look at Nangong and that Indian monk."

Hao Ren focused his gaze and noticed that the two people who should have been most interested in the ancient castle (at least Nangong was) were standing still. Nangong watched the group of paranormal enthusiasts run up the hill with a cold eye, shrugged at the skinny old Indian monk standing beside him, and made a face, saying something that seemed to be mocking the amateurs. The Indian monk, however, remained expressionless, whether out of high-mindedness or simply being hard to get along with. He just glanced at Nangong, replied casually, and continued to fiddle with his pile of spices.

Seeing that these two were unmoved by the paranormal phenomena at the castle, Hao Ren was a bit confused, "What's wrong with them?"

"The spirits under the castle are very quiet," Vivian frowned, "We don't know what's causing this, but it's definitely not the work of real ghosts. Those two must have a way to distinguish real spirits. The skinny old man aside, Nangong has real skills, at least real equipment—his monocle's craftsmanship looks familiar, it doesn't seem to be an ordinary item."

By this time, the strange light in the castle ruins had gradually faded, but the mysterious howling wind continued to echo throughout the hill. From the wind, faint sounds of horns and hooves could be heard, just as Angus had described. The first group to approach the castle ruins had stopped at the pile of rocks, using various strange devices to scan the ruins. Those without devices simply sat on the spot, rolling their eyes and muttering incantations. No one had yet dared to enter the pile of rocks, and it seemed that even the most enthusiastic fans of paranormal phenomena were very cautious about their lives, especially since they firmly believed that there were real ghosts here, making them even more reluctant to charge in recklessly.

Nangong and the Indian monk, however, spent several minutes warming up behind the crowd before finally starting to slowly walk toward the ruins. Vivian patted Hao Ren's shoulder, "Let's go, we'll follow them."

"Are the evil spirits under the castle really coming out?"

"Not yet, but they are definitely stirring," Vivian's eyes, which had been glowing red, gradually faded. She then tapped Lily on the head, "Stupid dog, put away your ears and tail! Do you want to be discovered?"

Lily realized she was still in her werewolf form and quickly retracted her "humanoid accessories," then asked, "What if we run into Nangong?"

"Try to avoid him. We'll go around," Hao Ren pointed to a gap in the wall on the other side of the hill, "Stay away from the crowd and try to find our target without being noticed. If we do run into someone, we'll just say we're here to hunt ghosts, and we'll say the same to Nangong. We don't know him well, so we don't need to explain too much."

Hao Ren said this, but he knew that if Nangong or the Indian monk discovered them, it would be a problem. The two seemed to have the ability to detect spirits, and Hao Ren was now convinced that his new tenant was one of the ghosts here. If he met Nangong or the Indian monk after picking up his "tenant," he couldn't easily get away, so the best plan was to avoid everyone.

Fortunately, all the "ghost hunters," including Nangong and the Indian monk, were concentrated on one side of the hill. Hao Ren and his group smoothly approached the castle ruins from the other side through a gap in the wall. The ruins were large enough that even if some of the ghost hunters were brave enough to enter, Hao Ren was confident he could avoid them for a short time, as long as he was cautious and his two monster girls didn't mess up.

"Wow, this place is really in ruins," Hao Ren stepped carefully through the gap in the side wall of the castle, facing a large open area covered with rubble. This area was likely once a long hall inside the castle, but the roof and upper floor had completely collapsed, the wooden structure had rotted away, and the former hall had become an open square, with only the surrounding stone walls giving a rough idea of its original purpose.

Vivian looked around with a touch of sadness, "Time can destroy everything. When I was young, my greatest wish was to live in a castle like this—people always said vampires lived in castles, but I couldn't even afford a brick of a castle."

Hao Ren patted Vivian's shoulder comfortingly, "Don't think about the sad things of the past—now you can't afford it either."

"… Do you know how to comfort people?"

Standing in the castle ruins, they could hear the howling wind more clearly, but because of the many rocks and partially collapsed walls acting as echo chambers, it was difficult to determine the source of the wind. Lily listened for a long time before roughly determining a direction, "It seems to be coming from over there, but I'm using human ears, so I can't hear it clearly."

Hao Ren followed the direction Lily pointed and saw that it was one of the few parts of the castle that had not collapsed. It was located at one corner of the rectangular ruins, looking like an independent stone house. Perhaps because it was separate from the main structure, it had not been affected by the overall collapse of the castle.

"It's probably a small chapel," Vivian analyzed professionally, "I've seen this layout in castles before. The stone house is a small chapel. Ghost sounds coming from a chapel? That's quite a dramatic haunting scene."

Hao Ren noticed that Vivian seemed to have something to say, so he asked curiously, "What did you notice?"

"That's not urgent. Have you sensed the person we're looking for?"

"Not yet," Hao Ren was also puzzled by this question and took out his data terminal again, "Hey, what about the promised detection?"

"How should I know?" The data terminal was also in a bad mood, "This is your problem! Officer 12345 said you would be able to sense the new tenant if you were within a certain distance. If you haven't sensed anything, it means you're not in the right place. Look around, and according to the data... well, the coordinates are roughly around here."

Hao Ren wanted to throw the useless data terminal on the ground and smash it with a couple of rocks, but he was afraid it would break and there would be no place to fix it. So he could only glare at it with a very evil look and then carefully put the high-tech gadget back in his pocket.

Meanwhile, the group of paranormal enthusiasts gathered on the other side of the castle were "showing off their skills." A bearded man with a mineral radio on his back, carrying a pile of antennas and batteries like a sword tomb, and wearing headphones, was adjusting his modified "spirit detector" and suddenly shouted excitedly, "I've detected it! I've detected it! The spirit has entered my brain through the antenna, I feel it moving through my nerves!"

A well-dressed old gentleman with an old black-and-white camera immediately gave him a disapproving look, "Please be quiet, I'm trying to capture the image of the evil spirit—by the way, your headphones are leaking electricity, I saw sparks just now."

"Spirits! I see many spirits floating above the castle!" A middle-aged woman in a purple robe sat on a rock, rolling her eyes and muttering incantations, while an older witch beside her was even more professional: she not only muttered incantations but also started foaming at the mouth...

Nangong, wearing a special monocle, stood among the chaotic crowd, shaking his head in amusement. Then he and the Indian monk beside him simultaneously shifted their gaze downward—

Their gaze seemed to penetrate the thick ground, reaching directly underground.