Chapter 1 The Abnormal Situation

The unusual situation at the castle ruins immediately caught the attention of the "ghost hunter" group in the surrounding camp. When gusts of wind howled from the pile of jagged rocks, the whole camp buzzed. A group of weird professionals, some carrying strangely shaped mineral radios, some lugging antique cameras that should have been retired fifty years ago, some holding two crooked copper rods, and some dressed like mass-produced space marines straight off a movie set, all rushed towards the ruins, which were constantly emitting strange noises, in a scene of chaotic madness. Putting aside their actual combat ability, if there really were a group of centuries-old undead suppressed beneath the castle, they would definitely be scared half to death seeing such a group of oddly dressed lunatics charging at them...

Hao Ren naturally wanted to rush out immediately as well. Seeing the "ghostbusters" heading towards the castle, his first thought was, "Crap, this mission is going to be troublesome." His legs were shaking uncontrollably, fearing that his new tenant would be accidentally killed by a bunch of bumbling ghost hunters before he even met them, or that the bumbling ghost hunters would be accidentally killed by his new tenant. Either way, the situation would be incredibly complicated. V鸦12345 would probably hang him from the city tower to dry for two weeks, if not more. But just as he was about to rush forward, Vivian grabbed his neck: "Don't rush. Look at Nangong and that Indian monk."

Hao Ren focused his eyes and realized that the two people who should have been most interested in the castle (at least Nangong was definitely very interested) were standing still. Nangong coldly watched the group of paranormal enthusiasts run towards the high ground, and even shrugged and made a face at the skinny old Indian monk standing next to him, mouthing something that seemed to be mocking those amateurs. The Indian monk remained expressionless from beginning to end, whether it was because of his superior demeanor or just his unpleasant personality. He simply glanced at Nangong, replied casually, and continued fiddling with his pile of spices.

These two were completely unmoved by the supernatural phenomena at the castle. Hao Ren was a little confused: "What's wrong with them?"

"The undead beneath the castle are quiet," Vivian frowned. "Something else is causing this, but it's definitely not real ghosts. Those two must have some way to distinguish real spirits. Leaving aside the skinny old man, Nangong has real skills, or at least real equipment—the craftsmanship of his monocle looks familiar, it doesn't seem like an ordinary item."

By this time, the strange light in the castle ruins had gradually dissipated, but the unexplained howling wind continued to echo throughout the high ground. Vague sounds of horns and horses could be heard in the wind, just as Angus had described. The first group of people to approach the castle ruins had already stopped near the pile of rocks. They scanned the ruins with various strange devices. Those without equipment simply sat cross-legged on the spot, their eyes rolling back as they chanted incantations. So far, no one had rashly entered the pile of rocks, which showed that even the most ardent fans of paranormal phenomena valued their lives, especially if they believed that there really were ghosts here. That made them even less willing to charge in blindly.

Nangong and the old Indian monk did warm-up exercises for more than ten minutes before finally starting to walk slowly towards the ruins. Vivian patted Hao Ren's shoulder: "Let's go, we'll go over too."

"The evil spirits beneath the castle are really coming out this time?"

"Not yet, but they are indeed stirring," Vivian's red eyes gradually faded. She tapped Lily on the head again. "Stupid dog, put your ears and tail away! Do you want people to find out?"

Lily then remembered that she was still in werewolf form. She quickly put away her furry accessories and asked, "What happens if we run into Nangong?"

"Let's try to avoid him, we'll go around," Hao Ren pointed to a breach in the wall on the other side of the high ground. "Stay away from the crowd and try to find our target without anyone noticing. If we do run into someone, don't panic. We'll just say we're here to find ghosts like them. If we meet Nangong, we'll say the same thing. We're not that familiar with him anyway, no need to explain too much."

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

Fortunately, all the "ghost hunters," including Nangong and the Indian monk, were concentrated on one side of the high ground. Hao Ren and the others successfully approached the castle ruins from a breach in the wall on the other side. The ruins were large enough that even if some of the ghost hunters were brave enough to enter, Hao Ren was confident that he wouldn't run into them head-on in a short time—as long as he was careful and the two demon girls by his side didn't screw up.

"Heh, this place really collapsed badly." Hao Ren stumbled through a breach in the side wall of the castle, and was immediately met with a rubble-strewn open space. This should have been the long hall inside the castle, but now the roof and the upper floor had completely collapsed. The original wooden structure had rotted away, and the former hall had become an open square. Only the surrounding remnants of stone walls could give a rough idea of its former use.

Vivian looked around with a hint of sadness: "Time can destroy everything. My biggest wish back then was to live in a castle like this—people always said that vampires lived in castles, but I couldn't even afford a single brick."

Hao Ren patted Vivian on the shoulder comfortingly: "Don't think about the sad things of the past—you still can't afford one now."

"…Are you even trying to comfort me?"

Standing in the castle ruins, one could hear the echoing wind more clearly, but because there were boulders everywhere, and many walls that had not completely collapsed were acting as echo chambers, it was difficult to determine where the wind was coming from. Lily pricked up her ears and listened for a long time before roughly determining a direction: "It seems to be coming from over there, but I'm using human ears now, so I can't hear very clearly."

Hao Ren looked in the direction Lily was pointing and saw that it was one of the few parts of the castle that had not collapsed. It was located in a corner of the rectangular ruins and looked like a separate stone cottage. Perhaps because it was independent from the main structure, it had not been affected by the overall collapse of the castle.

"It should be a small chapel," Vivian analyzed professionally. "I've seen this kind of castle layout, the stone cottage is a small chapel. Ghost sounds coming from a chapel? This haunting scene is pretty dramatic."

Hao Ren sensed that Vivian seemed to be implying something, and asked curiously, "Did you notice something?"

"That's not important right now. Can you sense the person we're looking for?"

"Not yet," Hao Ren was also puzzled by this question. He took out the data terminal again. "Hey, what about the sensing ability you promised?"

"How would I know?" the data terminal said irritably. "That's your problem! Officer 12345 said that as long as the new tenant is within a certain distance of you, you should be able to sense them. If you haven't sensed them yet, then you haven't stood in the right place. Look around for yourself. According to the data… hmm, the coordinates are roughly around here."

Hao Ren wanted to throw the useless data terminal on the ground and smash it to pieces, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to repair it if it broke. So he could only glare at the thing with a venomous look before carefully putting the high-tech treasure back in his pocket.

At the same time, the group of paranormal enthusiasts gathered on the other side of the castle were also "showing off their skills." A stubble-faced man holding a mineral radio, with a pile of antennas and batteries on his back that looked like a sword mound, and wearing headphones, was adjusting the modified "spirit sound pickup" bit by bit. Suddenly, he shouted excitedly, "I sensed it! I sensed it! The soul entered my brain through the antenna, I feel it wandering through my nerves!"

An old gentleman in a meticulously tailored suit, carrying an old-fashioned black and white camera, immediately looked at him disapprovingly. "Please be quiet, I'm trying to capture the image of the evil spirit—and I'd like to remind you that your headphones are leaking electricity. I just saw sparks."

"Souls! I see many souls floating above the castle!" A middle-aged woman in a purple robe sat on a stone, her eyes rolling back as she chanted incantations. Another old witch next to her was even more professional: not only was she chanting incantations, but she had even started foaming at the mouth...

Nangong, wearing his specially made monocle, stood in the middle of this chaotic scene and simply shook his head with amusement. Then he and the Indian monk next to him simultaneously shifted their gaze downwards—

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

( *Abnormal* has reached the Sanjiang list. This is my first time on the Sanjiang list, so I'm trying my best to climb the ranks. After reading, please vote for me? Also, please give me more recommendation votes?)