The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 481

Chapter 481: Door to the Other Side

 

The storm raged and the evil spirits howled. Amid the loud noise, the voice of a small mermaid would have seemed like a whisper. However, when Lil Pea sang, the soft melody penetrated the noisy snowstorm as if it possessed an infinite amount of magical power.

Lil Pea was just singing at a normal volume, like she always did at home. There were no lyrics as always. The melody was just there in her memory, but the messy tone was extraordinarily beautiful. It even caused the surrounding blizzard to fall apart in an instant.

*Swoop—*

A peculiar whistling sound came from the air, and Hao Ren could see the spirits that had been hovering around were beginning to disappear quickly. The blizzard stopped and the clouds in the sky slowly subsided. In addition, the numb sensation on his skin also disappeared. As Lil Pea’s voice continued to spread, Hao Ren saw a thin, dim layer of fog floating in the dark, snow-capped plains. The fog appeared less than a few seconds before it began to move violently as if being disturbed. The MDT screamed in surprise, “There’s turbulence in the surrounding energy field.”

Hao Ren did not dare interrupt the singing of Lil Pea, who was in his arms. So, he lowered his head and quietly asked, “What’s the matter?!”

“There’s a strange power in Lil Pea’s voice. It’s neutralizing the ‘field’ around us.” The MDT was flashing. It was recording the vengeful spirit’s reaction at that moment. “…This is the first time the surrounding ‘field’ has truly been weakened. All of our previous attacks were no match to the current neutralization process. The structure of the energy field is on the verge of disintegration. I feel like it should be captured before it completely dissipates…”

“Capture?! Capture the vengeful spirit?” Vivian was dumbfounded. “How?”

Lil Pea’s singing continued, and the surrounding fog evolved from the initial chaos to a series of violently distorted, absurd, and bizarre illusions: images of the Andrea Family’s ancestors, the Bolshevik flag, Nicholas II, carriages, cities, and towns flashed by quickly. These illusions were all events the vengeful spirit recorded during its years in the material world. Then, Nangong Wuyue suddenly screamed, “Mom…”

However, the illusion disappeared within a second.

The vengeful spirit was rapidly disintegrating. Although no one could see it, its body was a “field” that spanned a few hundred meters to several kilometers. The surrounding scene was enough to prove its presence. The MDT’s became more urgent as it said, “Coil… Or a metal cage… No, it should be something that can create a magnetic environment! Think about what you can use! We have to capture this sample, this thing is a very valuable research subject. A life form so interesting is by no means a result of natural evolution… Quick, look into your Dimensional Pocket. Did you just take 20 tons of munitions from the Aerymian elves?!”

At this moment, Hao Ren began to search through his Dimensional Pocket for anything that may come in handy. He knew that he only needed something that was capable of generating a strong magnetic field as the MDT would do the rest like commissioning, activating, and retrofitting. But the problem was, he could not even find a high-powered electromagnet. Who would have foreseen the need for this kind of stuff? An inspector was not a blue-and-white robotic cat; he could not foresee the future! And the MDT was right, Hao Ren had only taken 20 tons of munitions from the Aerymian elves.

Tons of stuff were tipped out of the Dimensional Pocket—cartons of graviton grenades, a dozen particle rifles, pounds of plasma grenades, Lil Pea’s fish tank of course, and Lily’s Spicy Strips. However, Hao Ren could not find anything useful. Just as their precious sample was about to disappear amid the Little Apple¹ melody Lil Pea was singing, the MDT suddenly shouted in joy, “That’s the one!”

Hao Ren looked at the small box, feeling flabbergasted. “Are you f*cking kidding me?”

“Who would want to f*cking kid you?” said the MDT as it turned into a ray of blue light and slipped into the box. “This box used to store golden apples! It was personally handed to you by the goddess! Even the label was handmade by Papagod! Can you imagine how magical this thing is? When you have such a sacred thing with God’s name plastered on it and blessed with God’s grace, you just need to seal it with duct tape. No demon of any kind will be able to escape!”

Hao Ren looked at the box that had been used to store golden apples. After a long while, Hao Ren asked, “Who is Papagod?”

“The big boss of the Xi Ling Celestials, the head of the gods. Hence, he’s called Papagod.”

Lily was wide-eyed. “Isn’t it supposed to be Father God?”

“Father God belongs to our neighbor,” the MDT’s was heard coming from the golden apple box. “There are three major celestials: the boss of the Xylonic Pantheon is known as the God King, the boss of the Galacticus Lords is known as the Lord Patriarch, while the boss of Xi Ling Celestials is called Papagod. We can’t help it because all the good names have been taken up by the neighbors. Well, all of you please shut up now, because I’m thinking of ways to capture part of the vengeful spirit into the box. Raise the box higher if you want to help.”

Hao Ren could not help but break out in cold sweat as he lifted the apple box up. At this moment, he felt that he had reached the most foolish pinnacle of his life: beneath the 300-year old castle, in a sacred battle with an ancient evil spirit, he was holding an apple box in the middle of the battlefield, ready to seal the spirit in. Meanwhile, the little mermaid was still hanging on to his chest happily, singing Little Apple. It was unbelievably hilarious. He felt that no amount of photoshop could have made the scene look more “normal”.

This had to be the most bizarre battle since the appearance of unusual creatures on Earth.

Lil Pea was still babbling and singing. She was not aware that her singing could suppress the vengeful spirit. She just happened to love singing as a mermaid. She would sing especially when it came to things she could not understand, and express in words. It was a kind of behavior humans could not comprehend. However, this behavior was now cornering the undefined spiritual creature into desperation.

Dense fog within a kilometer had begun to dissipate, and the wind had subsided. Snow fluttered and dropped slowly until everything stopped all together. The wailing of the vengeful spirit became a deep, strange noise before it also stopped completely. Everything seemed to be over.

A widely chaotic energy field dissipated as the vengeful spirit disintegrated. Eventually, it was trapped in the container by the MDT.

Hao Ren put the apple box down and looked inside, only to see the MDT lying quietly there. Other than that, it was empty.

“Where’s the vengeful spirit?” asked Hao Ren.

“It’s here, oscillating at more than 3,000 times per second in the box,” said the Data Terminal as it slowly came out. “I’ve injected a special code into its short wavelength. Now, it can no longer leave the container.”

“I can’t see anything.” Becky also looked inside the box curiously. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Try putting your hand inside.”

Becky reached into the box naively and bright sparks came off her fingertips. “Whoa!”

“The vengeful spirit is inside… Strictly speaking, it’s a remnant of the vengeful spirit. Most of its information has been broken up. The rest is only debris. But if it’s released, it’ll quickly regain its strength from the surrounding environment,” said the MDT as it projected a blue light film on the box. The blue light film was an optical filter with special frequency. “Take a look again.”

Through the film, Hao Ren saw a chaotic mist in the box. It was as blurry as ripples in the water.

“That’s the vengeful spirit? What kind of life is it? Is it a wraith, or some kind of energy creature?”

“It’s not a wraith, more towards the latter, a high-frequency energy creature.” The MDT arched over to close the apple box. “While on the outside, it appears as a ‘field’ filled with electromagnetic and optical effects. When it’s restrained, it looks a little like a complex wave, even more intangible than the wraith. And, it’s unlike any other energy creatures, it lacks structure. It’s an electromagnetic wave that can supplement itself and carry information. Other than that, I don’t see any remaining living characteristics after the natural process of evolution.”

Lily grabbed her hair and said, “I don’t understand it one bit.”

Becky stuck her tongue out. “I never got it from the beginning.”

“Anyway, since we’ve captured the vengeful spirit, we’re done here,” Hao Ren said while looking up and around. His eyes fell on White Flame, whose expression was a little shocked. Obviously, Hao Ren and his gang had very different fighting styles and strange props, so it was an eye-opener for her. But Hao Ren was too careless to explain; there were too many strange races in the dark world, and secrets that were unknown even to the Ancient Ones. It was said that the Olympians had created a magically-powered robot as well, so it was best to let White Flame work it out in her own imagination.

“Why didn’t the space collapse on itself?” Vivian looked at the snow-covered snowfields around her. She noticed a lavender haze at the border of the snowfield. Aside from this, there was no other movement. “Hasn’t the vengeful spirit been contained?”

“The spatial structure here has been changed so thoroughly that it has formed a stable structure in the crack of the real world,” the MDT explained. “I estimate that this place will remain for at least 100 years more after the vengeful spirit is gone. If we were to place a space stabilizer here, it’ll remain here indefinitely.”

Lily then instinctively asked, “Why would we want to set up a space stabilizer?”

Hao Ren turned to look at the ancient crack in space and said, “Haven’t we been looking for a ‘door’? A stable door… This is it.”

Chapter 482: Farewell, White Flame

 

Hao Ren had been looking for a door in the real world, through which he could safely travel to the Plane of Dreams—there would be no need for troublesome conversion equipment, and longer time constraints while he explored the mysterious world. Plus, he would not be held responsible for the collapse of the Wall of Reality, or the implosion of the Plane of Dreams into the real world. He was looking for the crack, which had existed way before he even began to look for it. To top it all off, it had been safely opened once. Only a crack like that was reliable. The thing he had been looking for was right in front of him.

If the vengeful spirit was like the other unusual creatures—a creature that invaded the real world from the Plane of Dreams—this lilac crack in front of him would then be the passage through which this creature came to Earth.

The passages used by the unusual creatures to cross over to Earth had disappeared over time, but no one ever thought that the passage used by the vengeful spirit would still remain!

Of course, it was not a sure thing that it was stable crack leading to the Plane of Dreams, but at least the possibility was high.

As Becky also came to her senses, she was filled with joy and she began to run around. She hugged everyone, shaked hands with them, and started saying goodbye. The only things on the greedy mercenary’s mind were her manor, titles, gold and jewelry—those things were lying in her dream home, waiting for her. All she needed was a door through which she could travel home safely!

She jumped onto the round platform happily and lunged into the light film. However, she could not cross over as expected.

Hao Ren yelled behind her, “Calm down. We have to find a way to reactivate this thing first.”

Becky was disappointed as she squatted by the side, her head hung low.

“You think this door could lead to…” Vivian whispered to Hao Ren. “But, it’s closed now. Do you know how to activate it?”

Hao Ren scratched his chin while he thought about it, pretending to be an expert. Nonetheless, he managed to come out with an idea. “I think it has something to do with the ‘stones’ that you gave to the two human menials.”

Vivian twisted her eyebrows. “How do you know? I tinkered with the stones and studied them for a long time, but the door didn’t move an inch.”

“Maybe you were doing it wrong,” said Hao Ren. “And even if it’s impossible to open the door, it’s worth studying. What’s more, it fell out of the crack, so it has to be related to the vengeful spirit. We should go back and see Igor. He would not have thrown away something left behind by his ancestors just like that.”

“Do you think he’ll just take out the stones without any resistance?” Vivian looked at Hao Ren suspiciously.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Hao Ren as he looked at Vivian. “His ancestors addressed you as the boss. You should show your power as the witch. We have a portrait to back it up. You should know some secrets about their ancestors, right? By then we’ll find ways to convince him of your identity.”

Vivian thought about it for a moment and nodded. Meanwhile, Hao Ren had walked around the black platform. Since the vengeful spirit had been contained, the strange weather surrounding the circular platform had long subsided, and the dark, snowy plains were back to silence. The only activity in the area came from the lavender light film above the circular platform. It was emitting a buzz like an electrical current flowing through a transformer.

This ancient space crevice hid a huge secret and Hao Ren decided to dig it up at all costs.

They decided to leave the strange space for a while and seek one of the two stones from Igor. Before they went, White Flame suddenly stepped forward and said goodbye to everyone. “I’m not going with you guys. I’m just here to hone my skills a bit. Now that the vengeful spirit has been contained, I should go back.”

Hao Ren smacked his forehead in realization. “Oh yeah… I almost forgot that you’re not with us!”

Everyone stared at Hao Ren. Even Lily was wagging her tail. “You seem to be more naive than me, Landlord.”

Hao Ren gave them a wry smile. He had totally forgotten. As White Flame was a lone demon hunter working with them, she had to be cooperative. Because of that, they worked in a seamless manner during the battle. What was even better, as an orthodox demon hunter, she did not show the slightest discomfort in working along with a group of unusual creatures. She did not even say anything beyond what was necessary. This reduced her sense of oddity and presence to the lowest level. If she had not mentioned anything, Hao Ren would not have expected this girl to leave in the end.

However, right after White Flame said that she was leaving, something suddenly crossed Hao Ren’s mind. “Wait a second, you’ve heard and seen things that you’re supposed not to…”

Although White Flame was not really familiar with how things worked in the world, she was not stupid. When she decided to say goodbye she had anticipated that there would be problems—in fact, she had even worked out a counter-attack strategy in case they decided to silence her. But now, it seemed like she did not need it. She smiled slightly and said, “I just came here to hunt. And after a long and fierce battle, the target has been eliminated. Apart from that, I’ve never met anything else. I didn’t even know there was a stable alien dimension beneath the ancient castle, much less a witch.”

White Flame looked very indifferent. She did not even appear evasive as she said that. This in turn had Vivian amazed. “You know what this means? This alien dimension, this crevice in the alien dimension… I know the demon hunters’ rules. You’re required to give a report on any supernatural phenomenon you’ve seen.”

“I know.” White Flame nodded. “But, there isn’t anything left here, right? Besides, you guys don’t seem to be the kind of otherworldlings that would do harm. When you’re kind enough to help the ordinary people expel evil spirits, you’re better than my stubborn mentors. I think I should close my eyes to all of this,” White Flame said as she sighed.

“I’ll ponder about these things… They’ve been on my mind before, but after meeting you guys, I’m beginning to think about them even more—about aliens, and demon hunters…”

Hao Ren looked at White Flame for a while, but he did not know what to make of the situation. So, he just nodded. “Well, we shall not persuade you further then. After all, the team is still a bit sensitive about it. But, we’ll see in the future?”

“Perhaps.” White Flame grinned. “Your odd weapons and your peculiar style of fighting are all very interesting. Although I know that everyone has their own secrets, I do hope when we meet next time, given the chance, you’ll talk about them. I should go now. We’ll part here.”

As her voice trailed off, she turned into a pale flame, and disappeared before their eyes. Nangong Wuyue activated her Mist Barrier, sensing their surrounding atmosphere. After White Flame’s vibe completely dissipated, she turned to look at Hao Ren. “Are you really letting her go just like that? You believe the words of a demon hunter?”

“No, I don’t.” Hao Ren shrugged indifferently. “I’m not a child anymore. How could I trust an outsider? But letting her go is the best option now. She’s a celebrity demon hunter. Her mentors and protectors must have known that she came to Andrea’s Castle. If for some reason she doesn’t make it back, do you think this place will be left unturned by the other demon hunters? The secrets underground will then be exposed, so why don’t we take a chance and see if the demon huntress will keep her word.”

Lily’s ears twitched as she asked, “What if she exposes everything about the castle and whatever’s beneath it?”

“This crevice may be a leakage point of the Plane of Dreams and the Surface World,” said Hao Ren as he looked at the lilac light curtain. With his mouth slightly tilted up, he added, “If it’s really threatened, I can always call for more advanced firepower, or even let the goddess intervene personally. Don’t underestimate this crevice, it may even affect the safety of the entire universe. Once we know how legit this thing is, I won’t have to worry about what will happen here anymore.”

After half a year as an agent of the goddess, Hao Ren finally began to look like a veteran. He knew what he was doing!

Nangong Wuyue rubbed her chin and said, “Why does is it feel like deja vu? Is it like ‘the dragon’s been contained under the old tree in the village, and the village chief just handed you a bronze dagger to save the world’?”

Vivian glanced at the box next to Hao Ren’s foot; the vengeful spirit was sealed in that very box. It was invisible, but it actually existed. She could not help but sigh. “This is probably the first vengeful spirit that has ever been captured. I’ve defeated several vengeful spirits, but never have I understood so clearly about what was being destroyed. It’s not even some kind of light, it’s an energy field.”

Hao Ren also grinned. “I can’t believe we accomplished this feat with the accompaniment of Little Apple. What’s going on with Lil Pea?”

Lil Pea poked her head out from his furry collar, waving happily and saying, “What’s going on! What’s going on!”

“If you want her to explain, she won’t be able to say it clearly.” Nangong Wuyue looked up at the dark sky and sighed. “Let’s get the hell out of this creepy place. This place is freaking cold… I feel like hibernating now!”

Chapter 483: I Know Your Ancestors

 

A tense atmosphere filled the ancient castle of Andrea. All the servants had received strict instructions and they were ordered to stay in their rooms. The deep roaring and weird wailing that could be heard beneath the castle painted a picture of hundreds of beasts killing each other in an evil, bottomless abyss. The noise penetrated the walls, floors, and barriers of the heavy velvet carpets. It pierced, and reverberated in people’s heads.

People shivered and hid in their rooms, wrapped in heavy quilts or blankets. A weird cold wind had been hovering around the castle for hours. Despite the castle’s thick walls, the strange wind still broke into each room and turned the castle’s interior as cold as the outdoors. Some servants even witnessed snowflakes in their rooms. The horrified servants were transferred to the hall on the second floor. This weird phenomenon was unlike the many horrific events that had taken place in the demonic castle. People immediately thought of those “exorcists” who went underground to fight the evil spirit earlier. They knew that this supernatural phenomenon had to have something to do with their underground battle.

Cold winds and snowflakes penetrating through the wall had weakened several times, and increased in intensity again. With an uneasy feeling, people connected these weird happenings to the underground battle. Whether these phenomena increased or decreased, it was kind of a comfort for them. It at least proved that the fight was still on, and those exorcists had not failed; the fighting had entered a stalemate.

For the poor folks in the castle, the evil spirit had always been synonymous with invincibility. As long as someone could fight it to a stalemate, it gave them a morale boost.

While most people stayed in their rooms and did not dare to come out, Igor, the owner of the castle, stood in the courtyard behind the main building. He was clad in a thick fur coat, which was covered in a layer of snow. The chill pierced straight into his bone marrow, but his eyes remained fixed on the door of the chapel.

The zombie-faced butler stood beside him, shivering, but he still carried out his duty. He stood upright and tried to persuade Igor, “Master, let’s go back to the room, at least it’s warmer inside.”

“No, let’s just wait a little longer,” Igor murmured as if he were talking to himself. He glanced up at the high wall behind him. The walls of the castle were gradually being covered with a layer of frost, a scene that never happened for the past 300 years.

Due to the vengeful spirit’s existence, the castle was always the most special place in the land of snow. Snow from the natural world never entered the area within 100 m of the castle. However, a snowstorm from this twisted nightmare was now rising up from the ground, gradually freezing the fortress. He noticed that the massive rocks were being covered with large ice sheets, and snowflakes were rising up from the ground as if they were consciously circling and covering the outer walls of the fortress. At the same time, there were also snowflakes penetrating the wall and drifting out into the sky: those snowflakes were flying out of the rooms. This bizarre phenomenon was reflected in Igor’s dark brown eyes. He seemed to have a vision of an old and powerful spirit rushing up violently to the surface of the earth, and behind this spirit, there was another more powerful being chasing it. The powerful weird being possessed a wonderful melody. It was light and peculiar, like a song…

Song?

Igor shook his head. He knew that the vengeful spirit had invaded his consciousness again. He was probably seeing the vision deep underground through the vengeful spirit. But, what about the song?

While Igor was busy feeling puzzled, the bottom-up snowstorm suddenly stopped.

“Is it over?” Igor extended his already frozen hand to catch the snowflakes that were falling back down to Earth. The snow passed through his palm like a shadow. The butler next to him naturally asked, “Master, who won?”

Igor felt the voice, which had been occupying his mind for decades slowly receding. For the first time since that nightmarish sixth birthday, he finally felt an indescribable calm. “Maybe… the evil spirit is finally dead.”

After a while, he heard a loud noise within the chapel. The butler could not help but feel nervous. However, when he saw the door being pushed open and a human stepping out, he was relieved.

Hao Ren was surprised to see Igor standing at the door, waiting for him. Judging from the thick snow on the old man’s body, he knew Igor had been standing there since the very first moment.

“Things down there have been dealt with.” Hao Ren nodded at Igor. “The vengeful… evil spirit has been captured. We’ll take it away.”

When Igor finally heard that everything was over, he wanted to give Hao Ren a hug. As he stepped forward he staggered and almost fell to the ground: the old man’s legs were frozen.

“Thank you, thank you… I don’t know how to express my gratitude. No one could lift this curse off of us for 300 years. I never thought the Andrea Family’s nightmare would end in my generation…” The middle-aged butler held Igor as he staggered toward Hao Ren. “I…”

Hao Ren waved at him and said, “Let’s talk about that later. I have something more important to ask you now. Do you still remember the gift your ancestor received from the witch? Is it a stone?”

Hao Ren deliberately appeared to be serious. As a result, Igor became nervous. “Yes… Is there any problem with that stone?”

“It’s related to the ‘curse’,” said Nangong Sanba. He came up and solemnly said, “We need you to give it to us.”

Igor was hesitant. He quickly calmed down from his joy of breaking free from the curse. Apparently, the stone was of great significance to him, and more important than releasing the Andrea Family from the painful, 300-year haunting of the evil spirit. “That-that stone is the foundation of the Andrea Family…” Igor said.

“A stone is more important than the curse of an evil spirit?” Becky could not help but murmur.

Igor forced a smile and said, “The ancestors warned us: the stone was a gift from the witch and it’s something the future generations can enjoy. However, we must not lose or destroy it. Otherwise, we’ll receive a more severe punishment from the witch—I’m not saying that I don’t trust you, but I also believe in my ancestors. After all, we’ve been punished by the witch once, via the evil spirit that is.”

Hao Ren looked at Vivian and smiled wryly. “You left such a mess behind…”

Vivian looked away, innocently. “What does that have to do with me? People back then were all superstitious, and an absolutely normal words when passed down three generations, just happened to turn into something surreptitious. How would I have known that?”

Bewildered, Igor looked at Hao Ren and Vivian, who were conversing in Chinese. The old man had no clue what they were talking about. Soon, Hao Ren turned to him. “So, you’re talking about the witch, right? Look at this one here.”

Hao Ren pushed Vivian forward. “This is the ancestral witch you’re talking about.”

Vivian rolled her eyes. “What do you mean by ‘ancestral’?”

Igor was utterly shocked. “Huh?”

Hao Ren repeated his words. Igor shook his head, his smile was bordering on crying. “Please don’t make jokes like this. I know that all masters are a bit odd, but this joke…”

Hao Ren did not argue any further. He reached into his Dimensional Pocket and took out a giant portrait from it. “This is the portrait of the witch we found underground. Your ancestors left it there. Your ancestors haven’t entered the crypt in 200 years, so the portraits in there are still in their original state. You can see for yourself.”

Igor’s jaw almost dropped to the floor when he saw Hao Ren yank out a painting out of thin air. But when he saw the portrait, his jaw complelely dropped to the ground. From the very first glance, he knew that the painting was genuine, and that the style was very similar to the other portraits of the witch in the castle. Yet, he still could not believe the content of the portrait—the witch in the painting looked exactly like the girl in front of him.

“This looks…” Igor stared at the portrait of the witch and the hole with scorch marks. “This hole…”

Lily scratched her head in embarrassment—she was now in human form, so she could not wag her tail, only scratch her head. “I poked it by accident, but that’s beside the point.”

Igor was silent for a long while as he stood in front of the portrait. There was a fierce ideological struggle within his head, and he could not ignore it. “I can’t believe that the witch has appeared so suddenly… And why did the lady not mention this earlier?”

Vivian looked at Igor with both arms folded across her chest. “Because I didn’t think of it. Who would have thought that the silly boy back then would become a rich man, and that later generations would get embroiled in this mess? It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not. Just touch your own eyes.”

Feeling strange, Igor rubbed his eyes. “What?”

“Your eyes weren’t dark brown at birth, but grayish blue. But after a few months, they gradually turned into this color.” Vivian managed to regain her memories, and found enough evidence to prove her identity. “Do you have a mirror?”

The middle-aged butler who stood next to him silently handed Igor a small hand mirror. Vivian snapped her fingers, an Igor was horrified to see the brown color in his eyes gradually fade into a grayish blue hue, which only newborns had.

“I was the one who gave you your current eyes.” Vivian smiled. “I left a mark on the two menials because I had a bad memory. It was getting especially worse at that time, so I was worried that if they got separated and met again, they would also forget each other. Hence, I left behind a mark in their blood.”

Lily snapped, “Then you forgot what you left behind. With such a bad memory, there’s no point for you to do anything.”

Vivian could only remain silent.

Igor looked at his eyes, which slowly turned brown again. He began to recall the stories he had heard about the family’s eyes, stories that had been passed down from generation to generation. He finally realized who this person standing before him was.

The old man suddenly passed out.

Chapter 484: One of the Stones

 

Seeing Igor falling backwards and getting held up by the butler, Hao Ren could not help but turn to look at Vivian. “Why didn’t you mention that you left a mark earlier? I wouldn’t have taken the portrait out if I knew about this. Now I have to return it to him.”

“I just remembered,” Vivian said. “And what do you want to do with this painting? If you like, you can always look at the real one.”

Hao Ren looked at the portrait regrettably. “This painting looks very valuable, unfortunately Lily ruined it.”

At this time, Igor regained consciousness. He looked at Hao Ren and the others, then at Vivian. “The witch?”

Vivian nodded and looked at Igor, who seemed like he was about to pass out again. She quickly said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to punish you. Easy. Take a deep breath. Your ancestors were much calmer.”

Of course, Vivian was lying. When his ancestors saw her, they keeled over immediately.

Igor grabbed the buttons of his coat tightly. His knuckles turned pale, because he had used too much force. It seemed that he did this to confirm what he saw was real, and also to avoid blacking out again. He was trembling and his face was disturbed. “Then, the purpose of your coming today is…”

“To help you get rid of the evil spirit.” Vivian waved her hand. “I didn’t know you were the descendants of that boy I met.”

Igor was nervous. “Not because our ancestors violated the covenant?”

Not waiting for Igor to finish, Vivian waved her again and smiled. Although it did look like she was about to cry. “Forget it. You guys have misunderstood this thing for 300 years. For God’s sake, this whole situation isn’t what you think it is. The curse of the evil spirit has nothing to do with your ancestors. I won’t bring down any punishment. In fact, I even feel like I’ve wronged you… Okay, let’s leave the details of this matter for another time. Now, it’s important that the stone is still here, I hope you haven’t thrown it away, or else I’ll really get mad at you.”

Igor quickly waved his hand and said, “Of course, of course… I mean, of course it’s not lost. It’s kept in a room on the highest floor of the castle. Let me take you there.”

Igor walked back towards the castle with the group. Hao Ren looked up at the 300-year-old ancient building before he entered it. He saw large swathes of ice and snow on the castle’s gray-black exterior. They were gradually breaking up and dissipating in the air, making the castle look like it was waking up from a nightmare. The entire castle looked sublime while covered in the layer of broken crystal. Under this wonderful but strange sight, the depressing vibe that enveloped the Andrea Castle gradually faded away. The vengeful spirit had left, and the strange magnetic field as well as space phenomena it produced had also retreated back underground. The sunlight that shone on the castle at a sloping angle brought warmth and a splendid feeling for the first time.

The servants in the castle already learned about the evil spirit’s defeat. They came out of their rooms, still a little scared. But feeling the cold receding, and the strange vibe, which had been lingering in the castle vanishing, these servants who had been serving the Andrea Family for many years began to immerse in joy.

In the hallway, servants were walking around and sharing the news. A thin figure suddenly ran down the stairs and weaved past the crowd towards them. It was Anna. The poor girl had finally gotten rid of the nightmarish voice in her head. She was feeling exhilarated. When she saw Igor, she rushed towards him. “Daddy, the voice! The voice! The voice is gone!”

“I know, I know.” Igor could not hold back his excitement too, but he still tried to keep his composure in front of Vivian. He placed his hands on Anna’s shoulders and said, “It’s over, honey. The evil spirit won’t come back again.”

Anna stared at Hao Ren and the others, wide-eyed. Her face was still pale, so she appeared a bit scary to them. “You guys really killed that evil spirit? But how is this possible?”

When Hao Ren saw Anna, he could not help but think of the strange things she had mentioned—Tannagost, the high-energy polymerized body, sublimation and stuff like that. He suddenly realized that the quaint knowledge in Anna’s head may be the key to uncovering the secrets of the vengeful spirit. “Anna, do you still remember the vengeful spirit… The things it told you? What’s Tannagost?”

When Anna heard the term, she could not help but shiver. But as the whisper in her mind was gone, she was not affected by the fear. The quirky knowledge was just an incomprehensible piece of memory to her now. “Probably… a little…”

Vivian looked at Anna and said, “Recall whatever you can. I hope you can tell us everything you know about the evil spirit. Of course, it doesn’t have to be right now. You can go back and get some rest to regain your strengh.”

Anna looked at Vivian, feeling confused, and she glanced over at her father curiously. With a serious face, Igor quickly said, “Just listen to her, honey. She’s the lord of the Andrea Family.”

Anna was astonished, but she did not ask why. Igor then allowed her to go back to her room.

“By the way, go and see Akim. Let Dr. Freeman take a look at him,” Igor said to Anna. “He may need some time to fully recover. Don’t try to remove the chain yet!”

“She’s not so scary now,” Lily muttered. “She was so strange from head to toe when I saw her earlier.”

Igor brought them to the top of the castle where no servants could be seen and only four guards dressed in black were guarding the two entrances. Apparently, those four were the Andrea Family’s best elite bodyguards. Even when the castle was previously shadowed by supernatural phenomena, they did not leave their posts. Igor greeted the guards and pointed to a metal door, which looked very heavy. “It’s just behind this door.”

After entering a complex set of passwords, iris and fingerprint scans, the door of the treasure vault slowly opened to reveal a brightly lit room inside.

There were only a few racks in the room, on which the most valuable collections of the Andrea Family lay. Two ancient swords, some unknown books, and an unassuming, triangular grayish black “stone”.

“Oh, this is it,” Vivian had spot the small stone in the center of the room with just a glance. Igor lowered the bullet-proof glass that enclosed the stone with a security alarm system. Vivian beckoned the stone and it flew to her.

“Oh, well, that’s why you thought it was just a stone 300 years ago,” said Hao Ren, taking the stone and turning it in his hand. “This is obviously something man-made.”

It was a device the size of a cigarrette pack. Its texture was that of stone and metal. It also had a few raised ridges on one side and a few pits on the other. Hao Ren had never seen anything like it before, but judging from its uniform polished lines, there was no doubt it was made using very advanced processing technology.

This was the so-called “stone” that Vivian gave to the family’s ancestor 300 years ago.

“Yeah, it’s looks man-made at first glance, but nobody knew what it was back then. That’s why it was called a stone,” Vivian said, turning her head and looking at Igor. “You said this thing brought great fortune to the Andrea Family. How?”

“It’s gold,” Igor took over the little device, stroking its ridges in a certain order. “I can still demonstrate the opening of a dimensional exit, but everything in it has been taken by my ancestors. That’s where the wealth of the Andrea Family came from…”

As Igor’s voice trailed off, a purple ray shone out from the device and opened up a crack in space. It was about one meter in length in the air. Igor put the little device on the table, walked over and put his hand into the space crack. His face was full of reverence. “An unexplainable supernatural phenomenon. I can put my hand in, take something out or store something inside. It was full of gold back then—the treasure of the witch.”

Astonished, Vivian stared at the little device, which she had given to the humans. Her face looked blank and dead. “…I was almost rich…”

Hao Ren patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t think too much! It probably wouldn’t have lasted three days in your hands.”

Vivian was almost in tears. “Why didn’t I study it a little longer?”

Lily bluntly pointed out. “Because it’s just who you were. You wouldn’t study for even a minute. Even if you really studied it, you wouldn’t have found the password. You wouldn’t have been able to become rich. It’s destiny.”

Vivian was speechless.

Chapter 485: It’s a Small World

 

The longer Hao Ren knew the vampire maiden, the more he found the girl to be a miracle of the cosmic’s malice. The things that were happening in front of him further convinced him that.

While Vivian was extremely poor herself, the bat who dropped off her body had transcended and become rich. Her landlord, who was working for God already had a billion followers; even the menial whom she had given a broken piece of stone had garnered tons of gold and given birth to the Andrea Family. This girl was like a propitious ornament, if used properly, she could bring health and prosperity to others at the expense of herself.

Of course, this auspicious “ornament” seldom brought a positive effect. Most of the time, she was better at bringing bad luck to the people around her. Those close to her who had low bad-luck resistance would either lose money, choke while drinking, suffer toothaches after a sneeze and stuff like that. Even the Romans and Egyptians back then had something to say about this matter. Hao Ren felt that the people of Troy could have thrown a pan at this auspicious bat, who worked like a double agent back then.

Perhaps the Andrea Family had less resistance: they gained amazing wealth from the gifts left behind by Vivian, but they were tortured by a terrible evil spirit for a full 300 years. These 300 years of torment may have cost more than the value of a few tons of gold.

Lily patted Vivian on the shoulders, not letting any chance of teasing the bat slip away. “Your clone is doing better than you are. Now, even your teammates have surpassed you. I think the greatest value of your existence is to serve as a foil to others.”

“Is this a dimensional storage device?” Hao Ren move forward and picked up the triangular gadget. He quickly swiped his fingers over the several ridges and the opening in space closed. It seemed like it still worked perfectly after so long.

The MDT flew over and studied the device. “Dimensional storage function would be more accurate. This module is only one of three parts. The rest are in standby mode and the whole thing will only work when this is in resonance with the other devices. It’s like a wireless device.”

“Another stone…” Hao Ren looked up at Vivian. “Where’s the other stone now?”

Vivian shrugged. “I don’t know. I just found out that my first minion became the ancestor of the Andrea Family, but the second minion, I don’t know whether he’s still alive or not. The other ‘stone’ looks different from the one in your hand. It may not have brought wealth to its owner. The second minion was probably not as lucky as Andrea, and he may have died in the snow of Siberia.”

“Did you know that?” Hao Ren turned and looked at Igor, briefly telling him about the two humans who followed Vivian in Siberia. “There were two people following the witch. Aside from your ancestor, there was another guy who also received a ‘stone’.”

Hao Ren did not have high hopes, until Igor actually nodded his head. “…There’s a mysterious man living in St. Petersburg. He should be the descendant of this person you’ve mentioned.”

Hao Ren was somewhat surprised. “Mysterious man?”

“For 300 years, the Andrea Family has always had intermittent contact with another hermit family.” Igor rubbed the button on his chest, which seemed to be a habitual gesture when he was thinking or nervous. “It’s unclear what the circumstances of the other family are. We don’t know whether they are poor or wealthy. This intermittent contact has been a ritual passed down from our ancestors. We normally exchange news about our current conditions, like whether the family members are healthy, whether some ‘dark forces’ have signs of getting out of control… Aside from that we don’t reveal much. The letters we receive usually sound vague, and sometimes we ourselves weren’t very sure about the contents of the letters—this was to avoid triggering the curse of the evil spirit. At any one time, the other party will only send a representative to exchange letters with the Andrea Family. All we know about the hermit family is limited to that one person—a very mysterious person that is.”

“Isn’t that troublesome?” Nangong Wuyue could not wrap her head around it. “Why not make direct contact? Since both are descendants of the witch’s minions, is it necessary to be so mysterious?”

“They’re also plagued by another curse, perhaps their behavior is related to the contents of their curse,” Igor said. “This was the habit of our ancestors. Although our respective ancestors worked together 300 years ago, since the terrible curse took effect, our ancestors chose to livein isolation from each other. Their descendants didn’t know why but still followed the tradition diligently. When there’s an evil spirit hanging around, you have to always be careful.”

Then Igor took a pile of letters out from another small room nearby. “These are the letters.”

As the evil spirit in the castle had been expelled, Igor was no longer afraid of angering the evil forces.

The letters were well-preserved though some looked old. From the level of yellowing on the paper, one could almost tell the era it was from. The oldest letters even had the coat of arms from the Catherine period. Hao Ren picked up a letter randomly and read it, but the words were hard-to-understand. It was full of obscure idioms and metaphors.

“…Friends from afar, our situation is steady. The dark voice has never left, but it has also never spread to the outside beyond the nightmare. This year will has been more difficult than the previous years, and the winds in the North have been giving out an ominous vibe. Two of the family’s juniors may not be able to survive this winter: their bodies are gradually becoming empty as an indescribable darkness is slowly replacing their souls. I can’t say for sure if their skins will still be their own when the next month comes along…”

Again, Hao Ren took another letter. It was written more than 10 years ago and it seemed to have been sent from St. Petersburg.

“To my friend from afar, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Ogyust and I will replace my father in keeping contact with you. My father has left this miserable world and the nightmare has finally left him. I hope that the dark forces will not continue to harrass his soul in the other world. My situation is a bit worse now as the hungry voice has started to sound during the day, but this may be because I’m not skilled enough…”

Hao Ren randomly picked up several more and found that they were basically filled with the same obscure, nonsensical stuff. When mentioning the evil spirits, the writers of the letters were very cautious, and tried not to reveal too much details of their circumstances. Their fear could be felt when he read between the lines. However, Hao Ren felt that something was out of place. He asked Vivian, “How many vengeful spirits are there?

“One.” Vivian pointed down. “The one we’ve just captured.”

Nangong Wuyue frowned. “If there’s only one vengeful spirit, then what’s haunting Ogyust’ family?”

“We’ll find out when we find him.” Hao Ren held up the last letter, which was written a few months ago. “At least we have his address. Let’s find him and ask him to return the stone. Igor, could you help contact him?”

Igor rubbed his hands with an embarrassing expression on his face. “Maybe I can write him a letter… Apart from that, I’m afraid there’s not much I can help you with. Ogyust and I have completely relied on this obscure communication method for more than 10 years. We know little about each other’s family, and we’re unable to have a deeper personal friendship. Due to the forbiddance handed down from the ancestors, our families have never met. But if the witch was to reveal her identity to him, I guess it might work.”

However, Vivian thought otherwise. “Don’t pin your hopes on this completely. He may not necessarily be the same as you…”

Nangong Sanba suddenly chimed in, “Wait a minute, I need to figure out something; Igor, didn’t you say that Ogyust is living in St. Petersburg? Is his full name Ogyust Futoryak Rakikh?”

Igor nodded in surprise. “Yeah, how do you know?”

Wuyue looked at him, surprised. “Brother, you know this man?”

“It’s a small world.” Nangong grinned. “Ogyust, I helped him perform a soothing ritual three years ago. He was about 50, a lone wolf, living in an old house on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.”

Everyone was astonished. Igor also found this turn of events incredible. He eagerly asked about the other family who used to serve the witch. “How is the Rakikh Family doing? Their family…”

“Family? They no longer have a family.” Nangong Sanba shook his head. “Just as Vivian was worried about, the other person is unlike you: Ogyust is an old man who lives alone in the countryside. He has no relatives or friends. I didn’t see anything related to the witch in his house. I’m afraid the family has already come to an end. It’s difficult to say whether he even knows of the witch.”

Igor’s eyes widened, and all his emotions turned into a long sigh.