Chapter 53 (1/2)

“Angus?” Hao Ren recognized the man ahead from his back. His dumpy figure and the slightly bald patch on the back of his head had left a deep impression on Hao Ren. “He’s the one creating all this mess?”

Angus had yet to notice what was behind him. His attention was fully focused on the dark, stone wall in front of him. The towering stone wall blocked the tunnel, turning it into a dead end. Angus was anxiously leaning on the stone wall, groping for any hidden buttons or exits but it all seemed like a waste of effort. It was unclear how long he had been struggling there.

Angus was wearing a headlamp and carrying a strange black box on his back, which looked like a self-powered stereo. He was obviously not there by accident. He was in fact, entering the place for a purpose. Angus was the first person who reported the incident of the strange sound coming from the chapel. It was so obvious that Hao Ren immediately associated him with the incident. He walked two steps forward without covering up his footsteps and finally got Angus’s attention. The tubby boss shivered furiously when he heard the movement behind his back and froze like he was just shocked by electricity. The three of them waited patiently for a few seconds. Angus finally turned around like a stiff puppet, still trembling.

When the beam of his headlamp swept across the dark tunnel, the owner saw a dark cloud of undulating fog swarming before him. He was shocked and let out a piercing shriek. “Ahh!” This was definitely not a scene a normal man could take.

The sudden screams of the lodge owner frightened Hao Ren. Now, both of them were frightened by each other. Vivian waved him quiet with her hand. She then cleared her throat, speaking in a sharp and weird tone, “What are you doing here?”

Hao Ren threw Vivian a weird look and thought, ” Such a crafty vampire. You even got an audio mixer in you.”

Angus was shivering even more when he heard the scary sound coming from the dark fog. He forgot to answer Vivian’s question but kept making the sign of the cross. He was sweating heavily while saying, “God, protect me. God, please save me… I didn’t do anything bad… I did nothing bad…”

“I’m asking you. What are you jabbering about?” Vivian spoke with her devilish voice in an uncouth manner. “Hey, can you please stop trembling? I will release the dog if you don’t cooperate!”

Hao Ren thought for a few seconds and pulled Vivian’s sleeve as he whispered, “…You can’t communicate with anyone here with that level of English.”

Vivian was silent.

“Let me ask him.” Hao Ren could not help but push the silly vampire aside. He knew that it was better to disguise his voice as well. Therefore, he communicated with the Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) in his head and asked, “Can you alter my voice? Like Vivian did hers.”

“Alter your voice? R-CH-365B plug-in installed. Now, nobody can recognize your voice.”

Hao Ren felt the air in front of him was condensed in a strange way. He quietly thanked the advanced technology of aliens and said, “What are you doing here?” His voice echoed through the tunnel like a dull thunder.

After finishing his sentence, Vivian poked his back and said, “Hey, do you have to exaggerate so much? You sound like a villain.”

Hao Ren helplessly expressed that he could not control the alien digital assistant. None of its functions actually worked well!

Even though the fake voice created by the MDT was a little too much, the coercive evil voice successfully frightened the lodge owner. Angus was pulled out of his incoherent praying right away. He sat on the floor and begged, “O honorable souls of the knights, I’m just a small businessman living nearby. I didn’t mean to disturb you… I live near Yorkford. Yes, I’m from Yorkford, under your reign. Can you please let me go by virtue of The Knight’s Code?”

Evidently, Angus took the dark fog in front of him and the horrible voices coming from it for the real ghosts. Though he was the man behind the scenes, he did not look daring at all. He lost his head easily when faced with an unusual situation.

Hao Ren thought it was all just a misunderstanding at that moment. Therefore, he did not expose himself and continued asking, “Are you playing tricks in the castle everyday? Were you the one responsible for the mess in the castle during these past two days?”

Angus was surprised that the dark fog could talk to him. Although he was still trembling, he became calmer when he found that the ‘evil ghost’ could possibly communicate with him. “It was… It was me but I did it inside the castle. I didn’t mean to alarm the souls beneath…”