Chapter 53

"Angus?" Hao Ren immediately recognized the man not far ahead from his back view. The man's short and stout figure and slightly balding back of the head left a deep impression, "Is he the one causing trouble here?"

At this moment, Angus hadn't noticed the commotion behind him. His attention was entirely focused on a dark, solid stone wall in front of him. This wall abruptly cut off the tunnel, turning it into a dead end. Angus was anxiously feeling around the stone wall, seemingly trying to find some hidden mechanism or secret passage, but it seemed to be in vain. It was unclear how long he had been struggling here.

Angus wore a miner's lamp on his head and carried a strange black box on his back, which looked like a large speaker with its own power source. It was clear that he had not stumbled into this place by accident but had come prepared. Recalling the strange noises that had come from the small chapel earlier and the fact that Angus was the one who initially reported the "haunted castle" incident, even if Hao Ren were slow, he should have figured out what was going on. He took a few steps forward, no longer trying to hide his footsteps, and finally caught Angus's attention. The short and stout innkeeper, upon hearing the noise behind him, shuddered all over and then froze as if struck by lightning. Hao Ren and his companions patiently waited for a few seconds before seeing Angus, like a wooden puppet that hadn't been oiled for half a year, turn his head tremblingly.

The beam of light from the miner's lamp swept across the dark tunnel, revealing a strange, undulating black mist in front of Angus. This was not something an ordinary person could easily accept. The innkeeper immediately let out a strange cry: "Ah—"

This sudden shout even startled Hao Ren, and it was unclear who was scaring whom. Vivianna waved for Hao Ren to be quiet, cleared her throat, and spoke in a sharp, peculiar tone: "What are you doing here?"

Hao Ren gave Vivianna a strange look, thinking to himself that this vampire had a lot of tricks up her sleeve, even bringing a voice modulator with her.

Angus, hearing the terrifying voice from the "black mist," trembled even more violently. He didn't even bother to answer Vivianna's question, just frantically making the sign of the cross with his hands, large sweat drops falling: "God bless, God bless, God bless... I haven't done anything wrong, I haven't done anything wrong... I haven't done anything wrong..."

"Answer me, what are you mumbling about?" Vivianna spoke in a demonic voice with a strong rural accent, "Hey, stop trembling, or I'll let the dogs bite you!"

Hao Ren thought for a moment, then tugged at Vivianna's sleeve and whispered, "Your English is so bad, you can't communicate with anyone."

Vivianna: "..."

"Let me ask," Hao Ren helplessly pushed the useless vampire aside. He knew it was best not to reveal his own voice, so he communicated with his data terminal in his mind, "Do you have a voice changer? Like Vivianna's."

"Voice changer? R-CH-365B plugin, here you go—done. Now no one can recognize your voice."

Hao Ren felt the air in front of him begin to coalesce in a peculiar way and silently thanked the alien technology. When he spoke, his voice echoed like a闷雷 (thunder) in all directions: "What are you doing here?"

As soon as he spoke, Vivianna poked him in the back: "Hey, is that really necessary? You sound like a villain."

Hao Ren helplessly admitted that he had no control over the alien PDA, whose functions were all problematic!

However, although the data terminal's fake voice was a bit exaggerated, the ominous and authoritative tone had a good intimidating effect. Angus immediately snapped out of his chaotic prayers and fell to the ground: "Noble spirits of the knights, I am just a small merchant in the area. I truly did not mean to disturb you... I live near Jofurde, yes, I am a Jofurde resident, and I am one of your subjects. Can you let me leave in the name of the knight's code?"

Clearly, Angus had mistaken the black mist and the terrifying voice for the real spirits of the castle—though he was the one creating the ghostly atmosphere, he himself didn't seem very brave, and he was completely at a loss in the face of the strange phenomenon.

Hao Ren felt this misunderstanding was just right, so he didn't dispel it, but continued to ask, "Is it you who has been causing trouble here? Have you been responsible for the events in the castle these past few days?"

Angus, hearing the black mist actually speak to him, felt that the "evil spirit" might be open to communication. He calmed down slightly, though he was still trembling, and managed to speak: "Yes... it's me, but I only acted above ground. I didn't mean to disturb the spirits below..."

"What are you trying to achieve by pretending to be a ghost?"

Angus wondered why the "knight's spirit" in the black mist was so curious, but he didn't dare to say more. He answered whatever questions were asked: "My inn was going out of business, so I wanted to create a big news story... but I didn't expect it to get this big!"

At this point, the truth was clear.

It turned out that the much-hyped Jofurde Castle haunting was just a hoax, a fake story concocted by a struggling innkeeper to attract tourists. Perhaps Angus hadn't initially anticipated the situation would escalate to this extent. He had clearly underestimated the idle media and the highly active "ghost hunters." A small haunting story, once it hit the TV, had been blown out of proportion, far beyond his expectations.

Hao Ren, taking advantage of Angus's cooperation, quickly asked about the situation that evening. The details of his ghostly antics gradually became clear: the "ghost lights" in the castle were just lights set up in the rock crevices, and the eerie wind sounds were simply coming from the large speaker on Angus's back... everything was so absurd.

Angus was an old resident of Brusar, having grown up there since childhood. In his youth, he was a wild boy who loved to explore. Many years ago, he often came to this castle to "adventure," and it was during this time that he accidentally discovered the underground catacombs beneath the castle—a secret known only to him.

This remote town had never seen many outsiders. A few years ago, the situation was better, but in recent years, it had steadily declined, making it increasingly difficult to run his small inn. Finally, when his business was on the verge of collapse, he decided to focus on the castle next door.

Brusar was not an economic hub, had no special products, and was not a major transportation route. The only thing that could possibly attract outsiders was the castle—if the castle became a tourist attraction, the inn's business problems would naturally be solved.

So, Angus came up with this bold idea: create a haunting, and no matter what, first stir up some interest.

His ghostly antics over the past few days had gone smoothly. He knew the castle's structure well and knew where to hide his ghostly props. He was also very cautious, always cleaning up before the "ghost hunters" who were drawn in by the rumors dared to step into the ruins. The underground tunnels of the castle provided another advantage, allowing him to move or hide from various secret doors within the castle: no one knew these things existed.

Through Angus's "diligent work," each curious person who came to check out the castle became a free advertiser, and thus the Jofurde Castle haunting spread like wildfire. Of course, another important reason for the news spreading was the public's boredom—people knew the haunted house in the park was fake, yet many still went, so why not a "real" one?

The only thing that couldn't be easily explained was the initial report of "many people seeing flames coming from the direction of the castle." That wasn't just Angus's claim, and now, in front of Hao Ren, Angus firmly insisted that he had indeed seen a massive fire that night, which had given him the "inspiration" to create the haunting.

What was the source of that fire?

The castle was several kilometers away from Brusar, and even if the route was flat with no obstructions, it would be difficult to see flames from the town. It would have to be a massive fire, perhaps the entire highland burning.

However, the details of this were unknown, and Angus himself didn't know what had happened. The only thing that was certain was that, apart from the initial report of the fire, the subsequent haunting events were all staged by the innkeeper.

But with so many people joining in the excitement, even a simple cry of "UFO" on the street could draw at least a dozen people claiming to have seen it. Angus hadn't expected his lie to go unchallenged, and thus everything had gone awry, leading to the current situation.

The innkeeper was in a bind, forced to continue the charade.

But was this really just a case of pretending to be a ghost?

(Three River votes... why are there only a few hundred votes?)

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