Yuan Tong
Chapter 42 Demon Hunter!
"You're looking for a place called Yoford?"
The unfamiliar, lanky man asked as if casually, but Hao Ren and Vivian tensed up in an instant. The latter, with her years of self-control, managed to keep her expression in check, but Hao Ren couldn't hide the surprise on his face: "How do you know?!"
At this point, Hao Ren was ready to draw his sword and splatter blood five steps away—even though there was no sword nearby, he could grab a chair and make do. In truth, there was no need for him to be so nervous, but he had been watching too many blockbusters lately. Ever since he accepted this mysterious mission from Raven 12345, he had cast himself as James Bond. As an ordinary citizen, it was his first time encountering such a "classified mission," and it would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous. Hao Ren was currently in a state of high alert, with every upright, breathing creature within two hundred meters of him considered a potential enemy...
However, the stranger just chuckled and pointed to Lily, who was still gorging herself: "That young lady over there was asking around for Yoford, but she was speaking Chinese. Aside from the waiters here and me, no one could understand her. I'm just curious what you're looking for there?"
Hao Ren immediately glared at Lily—who was staring at the vegetable salad on her plate and didn't even notice. But it wasn't Lily's fault for acting so boldly, because Hao Ren and the others could now almost confirm that "Yoford" wasn't a place name that existed on the current British map. They could only roughly determine its location and distance from London based on the vague information provided by Raven 12345. To find that place, there seemed to be no better way than to ask the locals.
It's just a little hard to understand why this idiot was asking for directions in pure Chinese. Did she think the data terminal's translation function was still team-shared?
"We're tourists," Vivian, who had been trying to maintain an elegant eating style, stopped to help Hao Ren out of the situation, "but I don't like those tourist attractions that have been seen too much. I like to find small places that few people have visited, like exploring. We learned about the place name Yoford in a book some time ago, and since our travel route happened to include a stay in England, we decided to detour and take a look. But it seems like no one knows exactly where this Yoford is?"
Hao Ren secretly gave Vivian a thumbs up: This useless vampire was finally useful for once, and the lies came right out, and look how well she made it up!
Vivian, in turn, made a victory gesture under the table without making a sound: She had been sensible since humans carved cuneiform on clay tablets, and she dared not say anything else, but her ability to fool people was still slightly passable.
The stranger looked at the three of them and didn't seem to suspect anything. He looked enlightened: "Oh, tourism, that's right. That place has been a bit famous recently, but you definitely won't be able to find it by looking for the place name 'Yoford'."
"You know that place?!" Lily's ears perked up suddenly, and she raised her head with half a green vegetable in her mouth, almost splattering salad dressing on his face. "Are you going there too?"
"Looks like we can travel together," the lanky man laughed. "Yoford was the name of that place a long time ago, at least several hundred years ago. Nowadays, no one remembers the place name anymore. You can only find it in relatively professional geography books or reference books. I don't know how you saw that name. It used to be the fief of a noble who was granted a title, but it was abandoned for a while. Slowly, a new small town sprung up next to the old fief. That town is called Brusal—if you want to see Yoford, the closest location should be Brusal. It's south of the old Yoford site, and I'm going to pass by there too."
"I'll go... that's so roundabout..." Hao Ren couldn't help but click his tongue. "How much of a pit can that white-haired witch be? A place name from hundreds of years ago, and the old site is now abandoned..."
Vivian also shook her head and complained: "Outdated information, really unreliable."
Hao Ren glared at her: "Shut up, you who only speaks Old English from eight or nine hundred years ago."
Vivian immediately lowered her head in embarrassment, and Lily, with a mouthful of vegetable leaves, curiously looked up and asked, "Old English? What Old English?" The idiot werewolf was in a sleepwalking state when Vivian dropped the ball earlier, so she couldn't remember what happened at all.
"Eat yours, that many vegetables can't block your mouth," Hao Ren pressed Lily's head back down, then looked at the stranger across the table with a little surprise. "This is really a coincidence, I didn't expect to meet a fellow traveler, and I was still worrying about how to find that place. What are you going there for? Also traveling?"
Hao Ren was really a little surprised. He originally thought that it might take him a whole day to find out where this "Yoford" was tomorrow, and he might not even be able to find it, but he didn't expect to meet a fellow traveler who was also going there so quickly. To be honest, this good luck was almost like falling from the sky, so coincidental that it was a little suspicious.
According to the stranger's introduction, Yoford was an old noble territory that had been abandoned hundreds of years ago, a place that could be said to have almost disappeared in the dust of history. Even the small town built on the old site was south of the old Yoford site, and in fact there was no longer any cultural or historical inheritance between the two. Such a convoluted clue, to slowly inquire through normal methods, or to check the data without any goal, he didn't know how long it would take to find out. This person in front of him... was it really a coincidence that he was passing by?
Hao Ren calmed down from his initial surprise and had some doubts about the stranger in front of him, but he didn't show it this time, just still maintaining the enthusiastic look on his face. The lanky man in front of him also looked completely unguarded, and he pointed to himself: "I'm because of work. My work is more special, I have to travel all over the world, specializing in finding places with history and stories."
Hao Ren's mind twitched: "Are you a grave robber?"
Then he felt Vivian stomp on his foot with all her might.
"My job..." the lanky man deliberately wanted to play it up, "Speaking of which, you're going to Yoford, so do you know what news has come out there recently?"
"What news?" Hao Ren's heart jumped, because he knew that no matter what news came out of that place, it meant that his mission was about to encounter a pit! He was going to pick up an "abnormal creature," that place must not attract attention!
"The most famous thing in Yoford is an abandoned ancient castle, which was left by the old noble back then, and now it's almost completely collapsed," the lanky man said in a mysterious tone. "Originally, it should have been abandoned like this, without even the value of being a tourist attraction, but recently news suddenly spread from the locals that there were strange movements under the ancient castle, and at night, people saw mysterious fires burning in the sky above the castle, and strangers wearing knight armor running in and out of the castle at dusk—in short, some people said that the old nobles and knights of that year had turned into vengeful spirits and returned, and that place was haunted... and its reputation is growing."
The lanky man rendered the atmosphere very well. Although the wording was very ordinary, he managed to outline a gloomy atmosphere in a few words, but Hao Ren was also a person who had been with werewolves and vampires day and night without changing his face, so he wasn't very scared. He just suddenly thought of a possibility: Could it be related to his new tenant?
Hao Ren slowly pondered: If the rumors of the ghost castle are not false, then his new tenant is most likely... damn it, can't that white-haired witch send him some normal customers!
Thinking about it carefully, it's really not possible... how could a normal person live in his current home.
"Then what is your job?" Hao Ren curiously glanced at the lanky man. The other party must have a reason for emphasizing the haunted news, which should be related to his reason for coming here.
The lanky man smiled, a little embarrassed on his face: "You might feel absurd if I say it, but I'm actually a demon hunter, specializing in exorcising ghosts all over the world..."