Chapter 19 The Scent of the Living

"The aura of living people?" Vivian's words immediately put Hao Ren on alert. "Humans? Or other kinds?"

"Unclear, it's very faint," Vivian lowered her voice. "Let's go take a look."

Hao Ren hadn't expected anyone to be active in this abandoned area outside the town. He glanced back at the town on the other side of the fence, then at the vague silhouette of buildings in the distance. There was no doubt that no normal person would cross the fence into that dark place at this time. The first thing he thought of was the Ankatelo family, who had been active here, and the guys who might have been attracted by this incident, such as demon hunters – only these people were most likely to appear here at this moment.

After all, that's why he and Vivian had come here.

He and Vivian concealed their auras and quickly approached the dark hut under the cover of darkness, soon reaching a place a dozen meters away from the hut. He could clearly see the details of the house. It was an old building, built of bricks and tiles, with two floors, a pointed roof, and a chimney that was half-broken. Around the house, he could see overgrown weeds and potholes on the ground. The ground around the house should have been leveled and paved with bricks at one time, but now the power of wind, rain, and plant growth had completely destroyed those roads. Now, only some broken bricks were buried in the ground by mud, and overgrown weeds grew vigorously from the gaps between those bricks.

Hao Ren's gaze fell on the plants. He saw that the weeds and shrubs in front of the house showed signs of being knocked down, and the plants at the door had obviously been cleared: "Look over there, it should have just been cleared. It should be someone who came here to investigate like us."

Vivian frowned, carefully distinguishing the aura in the air, and squinted at the house. In her vampire vision, the house slowly appeared in a cold blue tone, and a little red trace was imprinted on the door of the house and the windows on the second floor. She concentrated and observed, and finally captured a fresh target with a warm, bloody aura inside the house. This target emitted a faint red light like a beating heart.

"It's a... human," Vivian's voice was a little unbelievable. "At least from the aura, just an ordinary human."

"Humans? Investigating this kind of place in the middle of the night," Hao Ren was very surprised, but he believed Vivian's judgment. "I thought it was a demon hunter."

As soon as he finished speaking, a little light suddenly appeared on the second floor of the abandoned house. The light moved slowly in the darkness, looking like the light of a flashlight. Judging from the moving speed and path of this faint light source, the person in the house seemed to be tiptoeing and moving carefully. Hao Ren and Vivian looked at each other. "Shall we go in and say hello? Or should you send a bat to test..."

Before he could finish speaking, a loud crash suddenly came from the abandoned house, followed by a scream of terror from the second floor. Seeing this, Hao Ren didn't think about testing anything. Considering that there was only an ordinary human inside the house, he immediately pulled Vivian and ran towards the abandoned house.

The door of the abandoned house was indeed ajar, and it opened with a push. After Hao Ren and Vivian entered the house, they first saw an empty living room. The only remaining broken furniture in the living room had been moved to the corner, covered with dust and cobwebs, and opposite the living room was a folding staircase leading to the second floor. When they ran into the house, the screams had stopped, replaced by deathly silence, but after Hao Ren concentrated, he still heard a faint breathing sound coming from above, as if the guy above was still alive.

He and Vivian ran to the second floor and saw a flashlight lying on the ground at the end of the dark corridor. The beam of the flashlight illuminated a man lying on the ground. The man was wearing a loose black suit and looked to be in his forties. He was lying on the ground with a pale face, painfully pressing his chest with his hand, and his face still had a look of horror that hadn't dissipated. After hearing the sound of footsteps upstairs, the man looked in Hao Ren's direction with blurred vision, and his lips moved twice as if asking for help.

Saving people was the most important thing at this time, so Hao Ren immediately stepped forward to check the man's injuries, but he found that the other party had no external injuries, so he beckoned for the data terminal to come out: "See what's wrong with him."

"No need to look, just a heart attack," the data terminal had already scanned the man. It floated over and landed on the other party's chest. "You step aside, this machine will give him an electric shock to revive him... 1, 2, 3, go!"

As the data terminal's voice fell, a small arc of electricity burst out from the machine shell, and the black-clothed man convulsed violently, but the color of his face visibly improved. Soon he opened his eyes and nodded to Hao Ren and Vivian with a grateful expression: "Thank... thank you, I owe you a life."

While this man was recovering from his confused state, the data terminal slipped back into Hao Ren's pocket without anyone noticing.

Hao Ren picked up the flashlight that had fallen on the ground, helped the black-clothed man to a pile of debris in the corner so he could lean against the wall, and then asked: "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The black-clothed man had just escaped death, and was rescued by Hao Ren, so he was in the easiest state to ask questions. So, even though he glanced at the man and woman in front of him with suspicion, he nodded and replied: "My name is Pierre, I am a... freelance detective, just here to look for some clues."

"Looking for clues? A detective?" Hao Ren didn't expect this place to attract even this kind of person. "Can I ask what kind of clues you're looking for?"

The freelance detective who called himself Pierre hesitated a little. He looked at Hao Ren and Vivian: "Can I ask what you do first?"

"Oh, we're also detectives," Hao Ren said casually. "But we don't know if what you're investigating is the same thing as what we're investigating."

Pierre's face immediately showed a guarded and cautious expression. He slowly said, carefully considering his words: "I'm here to investigate a missing person case, but out of professional ethics, I can't tell you too much, I'm sorry."

This person wasn't telling the truth.

Even without Vivian's reminder, Hao Ren could tell at a glance that this Pierre was trying to hide something.

He could understand the other party's caution and concealment: investigating this key place at this key time, if it wasn't a coincidence, then it could only be aimed at the Ankatelo family. If it was the latter, then things related to the otherworld must be handled very carefully. There were some ordinary humans who knew about the existence of the otherworld. They lived in the shadows of human society and the supernatural society, living extraordinary lives like in horror novels and supernatural stories. Hestera's human servants and a small number of hermits in the church were such people. In addition to this, there were also those "individual households" who had accidentally entered the world of the otherworld or demon hunters. Such people would be more vigilant. This Pierre in front of him might be the latter.

Hao Ren looked into Pierre's eyes, clearly expressing his attitude of getting to the bottom of things: "You're lying."

Pierre rubbed his hands awkwardly: "I'm very grateful that you saved my life, but I really can't reveal secrets. And even if I tell you some things, you'll probably think it's the ravings of a madman."

The other party's words were equivalent to acknowledging something, and Hao Ren immediately followed up with a question: "Are you investigating... some kind of supernatural power?"

Pierre's eyes widened suddenly.

"Then that's considered an admission, right," Hao Ren's expression became serious. "Are you here for the Ankatelo family?"

Pierre's face showed a look of doubt that didn't seem fake: "Ankatelo? I don't know what you're talking about. I am investigating some surreal things, but it has nothing to do with the family you mentioned."

Hao Ren frowned. He didn't know if this man really didn't know or if his acting skills were excellent, but since the other party knew about the supernatural field, many things would be easier to handle. He gently patted Vivian's shoulder: "Put on some special effects."

Vivian immediately understood. Her eyes instantly turned blood-red, and a cold, visible blood aura surrounded her. The vampire's fangs slowly appeared in the darkness: "What exactly are you investigating?"

Vivian was usually gentle, but after all, she had more than ten thousand years of experience, so she had the ability to scare people, and this display was very effective: Pierre had another heart attack on the spot...

After finally rescuing this "freelance detective" again, Hao Ren said from the bottom of his heart: "To be honest, your physical fitness is really not suitable for doing this – this is the first time I've seen someone with a heart condition investigating supernatural phenomena."

But Pierre didn't bother to listen to what Hao Ren was saying. He stared blankly at Vivian in her vampire state, and suddenly confessed everything in a trembling tone: "Please forgive my concealment – I said, I said everything, I'm here to find the legendary Golden Manor..."

Hao Ren was stunned: "The Golden Manor?"