Chapter 54

Angus's act of pretending to be a ghost failed for the first time today. He never expected that the small chapel, which he thought was blocked by a boulder, would be broken into. Normally, without a crane or a few kilograms of explosives, who could move those rocks? The sudden appearance of a powerful wolf girl completely disrupted his plan. In his panic, he didn't even see who opened the door of the small chapel. To avoid exposing himself, he didn't even think about turning on his flashlight to look. When Lily moved the first stone, the alert innkeeper entered the underground passage through a hidden tunnel. Considering the possibility that the tunnel might be discovered, he didn't stay in place but moved directly toward the outside of the castle according to his memory.

But the originally clear underground passage was now blocked by a stone wall.

"Did you say this place was originally open?" Hao Ren, after hearing Angus's explanation, felt a bit surprised. "Are you sure you didn't get the route wrong?"

"I've walked this path many times; I can't possibly have gotten it wrong," Angus, who had been in a state of panic, finally calmed down after talking to the "ghost" in the black mist. He began to feel that something was wrong. "Hey, aren't you the ghost of the castle? Why don't you know what's happening down here?"

"That's none of your business. Just think of me as a neighbor from the graveyard who came to visit. Do ghosts not have personal lives?" Hao Ren bluffed. "So, you've been pretending to be a ghost all along?"

"Ah... yes," Angus secretly observed the mass of writhing black mist in front of him through the light of his flashlight. This was the first time he had seen a real "ghost," and it didn't quite match his previous imagination. "I didn't mean to disturb the spirits down here. I was just using the ruins above for my own purposes, with no ill intentions. People do this kind of thing all the time these days. Using historical sites to make money isn't a bad thing. From another perspective, I might even give this ancient castle a chance to be restored..."

"You sure can talk," Hao Ren thought the innkeeper's mind was quite sharp, fitting for someone who could create a big story. He turned to Vivi and lowered his voice, "What do we do now? How do we deal with this fat uncle?"

"Have you finished asking him?" Vivi confirmed, then pointed to Angus not far away. "This will do."

A faint red light split from the black mist and instantly entered Angus's body, causing him to collapse silently.

Hao Ren immediately jumped up: "Hey, I just said to get rid of him, not to... you know."

"I just temporarily knocked him out," Vivi looked at Hao Ren strangely. "What are you thinking? Did you watch a vampire movie last night? I told you those things are too misleading and you should avoid them."

Hao Ren had no response, glanced at the fat uncle lying on the ground, and felt it wasn't right to leave him there. He waved to Lily: "Take him up, find a safe place. Oh, and keep an eye on those 'ghost hunters.'"

"Sure thing!" Lily nodded, picked up Angus lightly, and ran off.

Hao Ren watched Lily leave, shaking his head with a mix of amusement and exasperation: "This is... all it took? This fat innkeeper is quite creative."

Although Angus's ghost act had deceived many people, Hao Ren didn't have much resentment. After all, it wasn't a major offense, and there were plenty of tourist attractions and theme parks with bigger gimmicks. Angus's act was nothing special. Hao Ren just found the whole situation a bit absurd. The much-hyped haunted castle turned out to be a marketing ploy by a fat innkeeper, and it had gone on for so long without anyone figuring it out. This truly proved the saying: "Life is too damn fun, because life always plays tricks on people!"

Of course, Angus's act couldn't last forever. More and more paranormal enthusiasts would come, and among them might be some experts or retired scholars from science programs. The innkeeper's trick would eventually be exposed. Hao Ren could see that the fat innkeeper was in a "can't stop" mode. The haunted castle brought him a steady stream of customers, and it didn't seem like it would be exposed anytime soon. Even TV crews were helping to boost ratings, so how could he stop? He could only keep the haunted events going periodically.

Exposure was inevitable—look, it happened today, didn't it?

"Pretending to be a ghost... huh," Vivi turned away, curious about the stone wall blocking the tunnel. "The strange phenomena people see on the surface might be illusions, but down here... there's something real."

Hao Ren immediately remembered his main task and the unexplained stone wall. He became curious: "The fat innkeeper probably didn't lie. This stone wall appeared suddenly—where did it come from?"

"It didn't fall from the ceiling above," Vivi pointed to some marks on the wall. "These are scratches. It must have slid down from the side recently. This is a designed structure, specifically to block the path when needed."

Just as Hao Ren was about to say something, he heard footsteps coming from behind. He turned to see Lily. The wolf girl had run back, and as soon as she saw them, she excitedly reported: "I took the fat innkeeper up! And those ghost hunters seem to have left!"

"They left?" Vivi was surprised but then understood. "Oh, right. The 'paranormal phenomena' ended. They probably wandered around the castle ruins for a while and found nothing. After all, they're just enthusiasts, not professional demon hunters."

"Did you just leave the fat uncle in the wilderness?" Hao Ren looked at the scatterbrained wolf girl. "There aren't any wild animals out here, right?"

"No problem. When I took the fat innkeeper up, he was just starting to wake up, so I threw him into an old man's truck who was taking down a tent. He should be on his way back to town by now," Lily transformed into her wolf form and wagged her tail. "Don't worry, landlord. No one saw me. I'm as swift as the wind! And this bat's magic isn't very reliable. It's only been a few minutes, and he's almost awake."

Vivi immediately defended herself: "It's more mysterious than you swinging a brick, right? And I deliberately suppressed the spell's effect, or I might have put him to sleep for too long. Do you know how hard it is to control it precisely?"

Hao Ren looked at Lily's wagging tail, thinking that while being as swift as the wind was debatable, the tail was definitely stirring up dust behind her.

"Will Angus say anything when he gets back?" Hao Ren muttered, a bit worried. Vivi, while studying the stone wall, showed disdain: "You worry too much. What he says when he gets back has nothing to do with us. At most, it will just add another ghost story. He didn't see our faces... Oh, I found something."

Hao Ren immediately stopped worrying about Angus and quickly moved to Vivi's side: "What is it?"

"Here," Vivi pointed to the upper part of the stone wall. "See these letters and symbols?"

Hao Ren squinted for a long time: "Those are letters? They're almost unrecognizable. Wait, they don't look like English. They're a bit like Egyptian..."

"They're not Egyptian, and they're definitely not English. This isn't a human language," Vivi narrowed her eyes, and her eyes glowed red. "These are 'Leta Runes,' once used by demon hunters and the church. They originated from a very ancient demon hunter family and later became a secret weapon of the church to combat 'aberrations.' The biggest feature of Leta Runes is that ordinary people can use them. However, as human power grew, these runes gradually fell out of use. I haven't seen Leta Runes in over two hundred years."

Hao Ren swallowed: "What are they used for?"

He already realized that this castle was strange and that there were real ghosts down here. He was sure that these runes and the suddenly appearing stone wall were not just for show; they must be significant.

"They are used to suppress devils, demons, evil spirits, and 'evil items' that carry impure power but cannot be destroyed," Vivi pointed to the rows of runes almost eroded by time. "This door blocks the source of all evil. The power of evil cannot penetrate. When this door falls, all guards withdraw."

(Competition for the Three Rivers list is fierce, and "Abnormal" is still striving to climb the ranks. The Three Rivers list is crucial for a book, so I hope everyone will vote and support it. Let's give this second book a good start and help the Hiling series grow. For specific voting methods, you can check the tutorial in the forum. Additionally, clicking on the Three Rivers channel will show you the link to claim and cast your vote. It's very simple.)

Page flip, AD starts

Page flip, AD ends