Chapter 1342 - Garden of Seclusion (3) (2/2)

But such peaceful days made him sick. He would rather be caught up in some bizarre event than stay idle all day long. He had pretty much turned the place upside down but hadn’t found even the slightest trace of anything odd. Of course, the only two suspicions for him were that the noble lady and maid were as though corpses after they fell asleep, which also gave him the impression that they were both command-controlled robots that would only act after inputting commands. After the commands were completed, they would return to their original state.

For that, Rhode purposely repeated the story that he told yesterday and found that they didn’t have any memory as if it was their first time hearing it. Not only that, but he was also stunned by the fact that in the impression of these two people, he wasn’t a guest who stayed here for two days, but one who just moved in yesterday instead. In other words, to these two people, no matter how long he lived here, he would always be ‘a traveler who just moved in yesterday’.

This is literally an infinite loop!

This can’t go on.

After once again watching the maid escort him back to the guest room and left in exactly the same manner as yesterday, Rhode made up his mind to find out the key to this mental world. Now, he was aware of the fact that these two mental projections perhaps had no hold on Shira herself at all. Because he could neither see the elegance of a noble lady nor the respect and obedience of a maid in Shira. In that case, it meant that maybe the personalities of these two mental projections were formed by Shira a long time ago and were later abandoned, which was, in fact, a normal occurrence in everyone’s growth.

It was like all teenagers in elementary school fantasizing about being able to turn into Ultraman[2] and save humanity. However, no one would ever see a man in his thirties wearing a suit and holding his right hand up in anticipation and screaming: ‘Transform!’. That was what normal meant and Shira’s ‘growth’ probably fell into that category as well. That was why Rhode was sure that nothing good would come out of the situation if he stayed here any longer.

But… Since there are no clues inside, the only thing to do next is to go outside and look for them.

Rhode clearly remembered the noble lady warning him that it was dangerous on the outside and it was best not to head out. And before that, Rhode was just focused on the indoors only. After all, most secrets were carried out in shady places like this. But now, since he had no luck in the western-styled manor house, he had no choice but to go outside and take a look.

Squeak…

The heavy entrance door wasn’t locked as he had expected, so he pushed it open effortlessly. He walked out of the hall quietly and took a look outside. The place had barely changed from when he arrived earlier; the bright moonlight shone on the woodland and lake around him, as well as the forest in the distance. Everything seemed so peaceful and serene. There were neither mysterious monsters haunting the area nor wolves or dogs heard howling and barking.

But now, there was nothing he could do but to continue his exploration. In the spirit of movies where the culprit would either be in the secret chamber or back garden, Rhode first went to the latter, which was overgrown with weeds, to check things out. But to his disappointment, although there was indeed a dilapidated shed that looked like a clue to the case, after digging around in the dust and dirt, he found to his dismay that it was really just a dilapidated shed with nothing hidden in it, and there was also no strange presence around. As a result, his efforts were in vain after searching for clues for half a day. What made him even more depressed was that at that moment, rain also began to pour.

Pitter-patter…

Upon hearing the sound of the rain pouring on the outside all of a sudden, Rhode sighed helplessly, pushed open the door of the shed, and walked out. But at that moment, he raised his eyebrow and looked toward the place where the sound of rain came from. Then, an incomparably bizarre scene appeared before his eyes.

Half of the manor house was enveloped in a rainstorm, including the location of the parlor, while the rest of the place was devoid of even the slightest trace of water. Even the shed where he stood was the same; it was dry, and there was no sign of rain at all!

“This is…!”

Upon looking at that scene, Rhode remembered the noble lady mentioning that it was raining heavily outside. But he recalled when he woke up, he didn’t feel any traces of rain at all. And now, it seemed like this was all because of the ‘location’ as the guest room was located on the other side, so he didn’t notice the heavy rain in the slightest. In addition, the soundproofing of the western-styled manor house was also wonderful, so much so that he didn’t notice anything unusual before.

But now…

Rhode raised his head, looked at the direction of the rainstorm, and saw an incomparably massive watering that covered the entire sky. At that moment, the watering can poured water out of its spout from above, creating a rainstorm-like presence that drowned the manor house. Upon witnessing this scene, Rhode was speechless. He went silent for a moment, before taking a few deep breaths and yelling out.

“I know you are there, Shira!”

“Shira…”

“Shira…”

Rhode’s call echoed far away and vanished quickly. But at that moment, the ground rumbled, and immediately before his eyes, a bizarre scene appeared. A gigantic female head, occupying half of the sky, emerged from the other side of the horizon. She widened her mouth into a fanatical smile. Her messy and disheveled hair draped over her shoulders, while her pair of eyes were filled with wildness and insanity.

Along with the emergence of this massive head, Rhode felt the scenery around him changing quickly. In just the blink of an eye, the deep, dark night was gone, while the bright moon turned into a fluorescent pebble. The entire manor and its island transformed into a small and delicate model, and he became a part of it. As he looked up, he saw a dilapidated, cobweb-stained tomb, as well as piles of white bones around it. Clearly, this was the place that fit the image of Shira.

“Hoo-hoo-hoo… Hoo-hoo-hoo… Is this fun, Master?”

Just like that, Shira opened her mouth wide and raised a question to Rhode.

[1] A 1998 American psychological science-fiction comedy-drama film.

[2] A fictional superhero and the first ‘live-action film’ hero launched by the Ultra Series.