Chapter 16 What Really Happened

Nangong rubbed the back of his head and sat up, finding himself lying on a small rise. Beneath him was barren wasteland, and above was a sky slowly brightening—the frightening scene in the underground palace seemed like a distant dream.

A throbbing pain came from the back of his head, and a choking, burnt smell filled the air. These made him frown and mutter unconsciously, "Cough, what happened to me?"

Hao Ren signaled Vivian, Lily, and Izhaks to be quiet, then slapped Nangong on the shoulder. "You're awake? Then look up and see the big news."

"Hao Ren?" Nangong was surprised to see three familiar faces and a burly, unfamiliar brute standing beside him. "You're all right? The evil spirits down below didn't hurt you? Uh, and who's this friend… Holy crap, what's that?!"

Nangong finally saw the distant impact crater billowing thick smoke. The few remaining stones around the crater and the nearby scenery were barely enough to identify it as the location of the Yoford Castle. But after just one night, the centuries-old castle was nothing more than a giant pit and a pool of slowly cooling lava. No matter how much Nangong had seen in his life, he felt his brain was failing him.

"You're not going to believe what happened, but a meteorite just fell from the sky and smashed the whole castle to smithereens," Hao Ren said with a sincere expression, not even blushing as he told the tale.

Nangong listened blankly, then suddenly touched the back of his head. "Wait, I remember being in the underground palace fighting evil spirits. You guys were behind me, surrounded by hordes of knight wraiths… then I felt a pain in my head, and I don't remember anything after that."

Hao Ren tried to make his eyes look even more sincere, even feigning a lingering fear. "Don't even mention those unlucky bastards. My legs are still shaking. It's a miracle we got out—last night, the ceiling of the underground palace collapsed again while you were bravely fighting, knocking you out cold. I was closing my eyes, ready to die, but those tin cans were all lying on the ground, not moving for some reason. Then the three of us spent a lot of effort getting you… and this old man up here. We were thinking of hitching a ride back in the morning, but this eerie place was too scary, so we tried to run as far away as possible. That saved everyone's lives: ten minutes ago, a meteorite fell from the sky, and the rest is what you see."

From beginning to end, Hao Ren pretended to be an ordinary person who didn't understand anything. He didn't even try to explain why the undead armor in the underground palace would "lie on the ground, not moving," or why a meteorite would fall from the sky and smash the entire castle into a giant pit with such precision. He just spun a bunch of bizarre stories without any mental burden, leaving the rest to Nangong's imagination.

Hao Ren's thoughts were despicable: Anyway, I'm just an ordinary person who doesn't understand anything. What are you going to do about it?

Sure enough, Nangong listened in a daze but didn't ask Hao Ren for any details. He didn't seem to believe that this ordinary-looking man and the two harmless-looking girls beside him had anything to do with the incident. The "expert" used his own logic to explain it for a long time, barely coming up with a guess: "Maybe those undead were controlled by something more central in the underground palace. You often see that in relics that are hundreds of years old… Yes, that must be it. I'm an expert, after all."

Hao Ren, Vivian, and the others secretly rolled their eyes in unison: This guy really has the nerve to say that.

Nangong slowly stood up, looking at the distant doomsday crater with considerable regret. He knew there must be countless secrets in the castle that could explain why the undead had suddenly fallen and why he had been rescued by three "ordinary people." But now, nothing was left. There was nothing even to investigate.

Hao Ren gave Izhaks a grateful look. The meteorite escape was indeed a cure-all trick. Basically, once a rock was dropped, as long as the spellcasting wasn't done in front of ordinary people, you wouldn't have to worry about anything else. No one on this planet would believe that there was a great being who could pull an asteroid from the Kuiper Belt to smash people. The only ones racking their brains would be the astrophysicists—and this half-baked ghostbuster.

Soon after, the onlookers from the town of Brushar finally arrived belatedly.

Several SUVs stopped near the former site of Yoford Castle. The heavy smoke and high-temperature lava from the meteorite impact made it impossible for anyone to get close. In fact, when Izhaks descended, the people in the town had noticed the commotion. The sky full of fire was almost identical to the first "haunted event" not long ago. The busybodies in town and the paranormal enthusiasts from out of town packed up and left the town within minutes. But there was no road from the town to Yoford Castle, only rugged stone beaches along the way. Even the SUVs couldn't drive very fast, so they basically only saw a small tail end of the whole incident: the moment the meteorite fell from the sky.

Even the most suicidal person wouldn't dare to rush forward against the might of a meteorite, so these people didn't arrive at the scene until the shockwave and the explosion caused by the meteorite subsided. Now they were gathered around the site of the castle that had disappeared, discussing it animatedly. Some were posting on Twitter with their phones, some were taking photos with the meteorite crater, some were holding paranormal sensors with a sorrowful look, and some were foaming at the mouth and convulsing on the ground, claiming that Lord Yoford had something to say—this last one was really energetic, still up and about since yesterday, and had to come and stir up trouble again this morning.

But most people were simply shocked. These ordinary folks didn't have the reasoning skills of the professionals. They just felt that such major events were happening one after another next to their rural town… They would be able to brag to a lot of people in the future.

After a night of tossing and turning, Hao Ren and the other two were physically and mentally exhausted. Even if they weren't physically tired, they were mentally exhausted. So they hitched a ride back to town. Nangong walked with the Indian monk who hadn't fully woken up yet (the old man's body really couldn't take it; the same force had kept him unconscious for so long). All along the way, the half-baked demon hunter kept repeating, "Why is this happening? Why is this happening?"

Let him think about it. Anyway, all the evidence had been vaporized. Even if Sherlock Holmes were resurrected, he wouldn't be able to attribute the cause to a demon falling from the sky.

The group returned to town. They could have taken a bus back to London directly, but Vivian suggested going to "Angus's Cottage" to see what was going on and check on the tavern owner who had experienced the big event, to make sure there were no lingering problems. Hao Ren and Lily certainly had no objections. Izhaks didn't say much from beginning to end. The great demon seemed to be preoccupied. He hadn't spoken since leaving Yoford Castle. He just nodded when others made suggestions.

But Hao Ren didn't care so much. After all, it was their first meeting, and they weren't close enough to grab him and ask questions.

The four of them quickly found the small inn on the edge of town. As expected, the innkeeper Angus wasn't smiling and greeting guests at the front desk as usual.

"The boss was sent back from outside yesterday morning. He's in very bad shape, like he's sick. He's not seeing anyone now."

The girl at the front desk (not the one from yesterday) answered honestly when asked by a guest.

Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief after leaving the inn. "Looks like he hasn't been talking nonsense and doesn't know our identities."

Vivian understood even more clearly. She had already sent out a small bat while people weren't paying attention. It found Angus lying in bed staring blankly in a room at the inn. The fat boss looked like he had been scared a lot last night, but it was just that he was scared a lot. He would probably recover in a few days. As for the truth there…

No one would ever know.

The group returned to London. This time, they didn't look for any fancy star hotels, but just found an ordinary hotel to stay in temporarily. They really needed to rest for a day before leaving—and Izhaks' entry and exit procedures hadn't been completed yet.

While staying at the hotel, Hao Ren connected with Raven 12345.