Chapter 52: The Haunting
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren was sure he had taken a good look. He had gauged that he was manageable distance away from solid ground before taking that leap of faith. It did not take long for the glorious "Fuuuuuuc―" to echo throughout the place. His brash action caught both Vivian and Lily by surprise. Lily quickly stuck her head through the entrance and yelled, "Mr. Landlord, Mr. Landlord, are you okay?"
"I'm... fine! It's a giant cavern down here!"
Hao Ren yelled back as he squinted to adjust his vision. His voice was overcome with amazement.
It was pitch black down there, way darker than it was outside. Except for the faint moonlight that came through the entrance, there was no other source of light in the cavern. It was difficult for Hao Ren to make out the place even with his night vision ability. Only by fully concentrating was he able to see with any form of clarity.
It seemed that his night vision ability was still bound to normal optical limitations and he had a long way to go before he could visually scan the area using just his mind. Well, that in itself was a long shot. He was not even sure if his current ability would evolve with time or mastery.
Hao Ren landed on a ledge after he leapt. It was probably made so that whoever needed to use the passageway had an easier way to get back to the surface. Ahead of the ledge was a slight slope leading into something which amazed Hao Ren; tunnels, giant tunnels.
The castle was built upon solid ground and the vast cavern was more than proof enough of the fact. In fact, it was so vast that Hao Ren could only gawk in awe. It was much much bigger than the usual underground structure one would see in normal castles. Hao Ren stood in front of a tunnel fork, with each of the three tunnels leading into another equally vast area. The tunnels appeared to have been built using giant boulders and pillars made out of unknown material. It was even more surprising that they actually stood the test of time.
As an amateur in construction engineering, Hao Ren was awed. Each tunnel could have easily fit a car in it. Their ceilings were about three meters high from the ground, with the tunnels converging into a T-junction in front of him. Needless to say, there were probably grander and larger areas further in.
It looked like the chapel was a convergence point where many tunnels crossed each other.
Hao Ren was still staring at the tunnel structure when Vivian and Lily came up behind him. They had taken his lead and followed him using the same slope to his location.
"Wow... the Lord of Yorkford was definitely something... This underground structure is beyond normal." Vivian knew from experience that the scale of the tunnels did not match the structure above ground at all. "Could it be that this castle was under a long siege before? And the amount of refugees wereso great that he needed such a big space? There's even a junction..."
Hao Ren looked at Vivian quizzically. "I thought you’ve never been to England after 1190? How do you know about the architecture of English castles built after that? I’ve been wanting to ask you this since just now..."
"...Yes, I wasn’t in England for a while but, I was around continental Europe..." Vivian gave Hao Ren a bitter look. "Yes, I was poor but it wasn’t because I couldn't afford the toll that I didn’t visit England for almost a millennium... I was visiting somewhere else! The castle structure and layout in this region is almost the same anyway. The only difference is probably the scale but still it's not that foreign to me."
By then, Lily had already circled the area, sniffing for clues. She suddenly sprinted towards one of the tunnels as she caught the scent of human. She eagerly called for the two, "Over here, there's someone’s scent here!"
Hao Ren felt that he was no different than a K-9 officer with Lily as his sniffer dog.
The three of them followed the trail of the scent in what could be called an underground castle (the scale of it was simply huge). Hao Ren was worried that the air would thin out the deeper they got into the tunnel but, the air was surprisingly fresh and a slight breeze could be felt from time to time. It did seem like there were pockets of air tunnels leading to the surface that were still open. This added to the mystique and awe Hao Ren had towards the lord’s effort in creating the underground fortress.
Vivian was busy analyzing the place. " I thought the castle lord was just your run of the mill noble but it does appear like he wasn't someone to be trifled with. The building of this underground structure would have taken an enormous amount of resources. However, this area is located on a flat plain and it’s not a strategic military location. It really boggles me as to why the Lord of Yorkford would painstakingly build this..."
"Was it because of a betrayal that the castle had to be abandoned?" Hao Ren mused. "Or because of a series of civil wars that led him to build a fortress like this?"
"Oh, you ignoramus..." Vivian glared at Hao Ren. "You think it's easy building something like this a few hundred years ago? It would have taken generations for it to get to this scale. I think the Lords of Yorkford had been expanding and reinforcing this place for at least 200 years. Besides, this is England not China, where peasants could be mobilized in the millions to build a wall. A lord of a normal English holding would have had very limited manpower at his disposal... How did he do it? Hmm..."
Vivian quickened her step as she took lead. By then, the darkness around them was absolute and Hao Ren's night vision was totally rendered useless. He dug his pouch for the MDT and used the screen as a makeshift torch. The area around them was lit up instantly by the bright screen. Curiously, a red line ran across the screen of the MDT as the device protested " Usage error... Usage error... I would suggest that you look for a more conventional approach..."
Hao Ren ignored the MDT and moved forward.
After a few minutes, Hao Ren felt that they were slowly descending, as though the path they were on was leading into a deeper part of the labyrinth. He had totally forgotten about Nangong and the bunch of supernatural enthusiasts above ground. Somehow, the total darkness underground was a good thing. He was far away from the crowd and if he ran into the target there, it would make things much simpler.
"So... is it true that this place is haunted? Lily uncharacteristically approached Vivian to ease her boredom. "I wonder who it could be? Is it true that there are ghosts underground?"
"Hmm... the one trying to spook us is definitely human. I can't quite fathom why he would want to do this though." Vivian shrugged nonchalantly. "As for ghosts... eh. Why are you shivering, Mr. Landlord?"
Hao Ren could not help but cry, "You guys just f*cking reminded me about the ghosts down here! I was trying to keep them out of my mind but now... gosh!"
Vivian cynically patted him. "Oh, don't you worry. Meeting one will be part and parcel of your job."
Lily, who was now taking point started sniffing again. "Just ahead, there's someone near us! He seems to have stopped moving."
The straight stretch that they had been moving in finally came to a bend and a faint glimmer of light could be seen around the corner. Hao Ren wanted to go in head first but was restrained by Vivian. "Wait up, I think it's better if we put on a cloak of invisibility. Better to hide our identities if we run into a commoner."
A swirl of mist rose around Vivian as she spoke. Since Hao Ren had a weird immunity to magic, she was unable to cast her illusion spell on him and had to rely on an area-of-effect spell to hide themselves. Hao Ren looked at the swirling black mist around them and really felt like they were the ones best suited to haunt the place.
Vivian softly reminded the two. "Stay within the mist. And you, doggie, stop wrinkling your nose. This mist is actually minty, you know! I also got rid of the blood scent just to shut you up so, no complaints!"
Under the cover of the illusionary mist, they slowly approached the bend and caught a glimpse of someone's back.
It was a short, stocky man with a mining lamp over his hard hat. He was lugging a strange box and milling about in front of a stone wall.
It was Angus, the lodge owner.