Chapter 1 The Truth

If such a place didn't truly exist, most people would probably find it hard to believe that a rather large, ancient mansion would be found within this dense forest – although this old mansion was completely abandoned, having been turned into a pile of ruins by over two hundred years of time, Hao Ren could still see its past glory and splendor from its remaining structure.

To build something like this in the forest, the ideas of the rich are truly incomprehensible.

The remaining ruins of the old mansion were located on a small hill less than five kilometers northeast of the village, surprisingly close to the village. It was a large mansion with a main house and two outbuildings, but for various reasons, both outbuildings had completely collapsed. Only the eastern structure of the main house was relatively intact. However, surprisingly, there was a tall tower behind the main house, which was better preserved than the main house and even looked quite solid – from a normal architectural point of view, it was difficult to understand why a tower was built in a family mansion, and it was even built more solidly than the main house. This made Hao Ren subconsciously take a few more glances at the tower.

The mansion itself was built on a small hill, and the tower was the tallest building here. If there were no trees blocking the surrounding village, standing on the top of that tower might allow one to directly overlook the entire village.

"No matter how glorious it was back then, in the end it's just ruins," Vivian shook her head and sighed as she looked at the remains of the building, which had been completely occupied by vines and shrubs. "I just don't know if we can really find any clues here."

Hao Ren took out the data terminal: "Scan it, is there any spacetime distortion similar to that in the village around here?"

The data terminal flew over the ruins of the building and scanned the two outbuildings on both sides of the main house with beams, and then tested the main house and the tower behind it: "Weak magical energy fluctuations can be detected, but no spacetime distortion has been found. After two hundred years of dissipation, the remaining energy is too little."

Hao Ren took out the Godslayer Sword from his portable space, and the latter's noisy voice immediately rang in his mind: "Ah, this sword sees the light of day once again, but to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to this. Every time I'm picked up, it's only for killing and destruction. Why was I born as a weapon? Wielder, can you realize that this world is not only solved by killing..."

Hao Ren waved his long sword and cut off the vines and weeds blocking his path: "Shut up, I'm just using you to cut grass."

"Oh."

The ferocious weapon that once slew gods had now become a weeding tool. If those Godslayers back then knew about this, they would probably cry their eyes out. However, Hao Ren's only feeling about this was that this thing was quite easy to cut things with – soon he cleared a path through the perennial vines and shrubs and came to the front of the abandoned old mansion.

The completely collapsed part of the building had nothing left. Two hundred years of rot and weathering could turn all the exquisite decorations and high-end furniture into forest fertilizer. Among the broken bricks and tiles, only fragments of some high-end porcelain and metal decorations could be vaguely seen. The two outbuildings on both sides should have nothing to pay attention to, but Hao Ren still released two autonomous machines from his portable space to check for possible magical items or hidden mechanisms, while he himself came to the front of the relatively well-preserved main house.

The west wall of the main house had completely collapsed, and you could directly see several sections of stairs and the remains of the floor hanging in the air – Hao Ren was very curious about how these things had been able to maintain themselves for two centuries under the wind and sun. Unless the owner of this place used exceptionally expensive and sturdy materials to build the house, only the power of magic could explain it.

A vague and ethereal voice suddenly came from somewhere: "Go back... you don't belong here..."

This voice seemed to come from the depths of the earth, with a hollow echo and a creepy chill that made one's skin crawl. Hao Ren instantly retracted his leg that was about to step forward: "Did you guys hear anything?!"

"No," Lily shook her head, peering into the still-standing part of the main house. "Landlord, you're just nervous. By the way, this place looks pretty unstable, will it collapse if we make too much noise?"

"I heard someone talking just now," Hao Ren frowned. "The voice seemed to be coming from underground."

"Most likely it's some kind of undead," Vivian waved her hand dismissively. "In such a ghostly place, it's normal for one or two undead to pop up."

Hao Ren was stunned, and suddenly realized that if he came to explore this haunted house with Vivian, he shouldn't expect to develop according to the normal style. What kind of eerie horror and indescribable things were all bullshit in front of this ten-thousand-year-old vampire ancestor – she had seen too much. Don't even mention coming to see a mere haunted house, even if a hundred ghosts walked at night, she would probably just watch it as a slice-of-life movie...

So this style can't adapt to the atmosphere at all!

Just as Hao Ren was sighing about this, the ethereal and cold voice came from the ground again: "Leave here, return to where you should be... The secrets ahead are not a domain that living people should set foot in..."

"I heard it this time too," Hesperides nodded. "It seems to be a ghost, and a female one."

Hao Ren shook his head. Since the ghost was unwilling to show up, he didn't intend to pay attention to the other party's mysterious warnings. After calming himself down, he directly stepped over the broken porch and came to the interior of the old mansion.

Speaking of the interior, in reality, half of the mansion's outer walls had collapsed, and the open-air, pothole-filled outer walls didn't give people much of a feeling of being indoors.

"It seems that there was indeed a fire here," Vivian observed the fragments of the wooden porch and the charred marks on the wall. "That Pierre's investigation was still quite accurate."

The dilapidated ruins of the mansion were crumbling, and even just walking on the loose, rotten floor gave people the illusion that they would lose their footing and fall at any time. However, according to the data terminal's detection, the remaining structure of the house was actually surprisingly solid, at least there was no risk of collapsing in the short term. So Hao Ren walked into the depths of the ruins while checking the scattered fragments of objects around him. A crooked corridor appeared in front of him.

This corridor should have been the central passage of the house, but now one-third of it was exposed. The gorgeous curtains that once hung in the corridor had now turned into charred fragments, and the still unweathered remnants were scattered on the ground. Hao Ren's sight was attracted by a wooden board covered with debris. It looked like it used to be a photo frame, but the portrait on it had long been weathered away.

"It's still not too late to turn back," the voice came again. "Foolhardy intruders, your curiosity will bring disaster... A forbidden secret is buried here, and this secret is too close to the evil forces on the other side of the 'border'. You will lose your footing and fall into that abyss... Turn back, while you are still standing outside the border..."

Hao Ren ignored the mystical voice and bent down to pick up the photo frame: "Terminal, restore it."

The data terminal floated over and scanned the portrait with a beam of light, extracting and recombining the remaining chemical traces. With the support of powerful computing power, it could cope with this almost impossible restoration work.

"What do you want to get?" the ghostly voice continued. "Treasures? They have already disappeared with the wind. Knowledge? It has been reduced to ashes. Money? There is nothing here... You can only find death and curses here..."

"Please take a break, if you don't want to come out and explain the situation to us, just watch quietly from the side," Hao Ren stomped his foot and talked to the mysterious voice casually. "If you really want to help, come out and let's talk face to face. I can't communicate with you when you're being so mystical."

The mysterious voice was silent for a moment, and sure enough, it responded: "Are you fearless? Many intruders have come here, but ordinary intruders should have fled in embarrassment by now..."

"Nonsense, I have witnessed the life and death of hundreds of billions of people, recorded the rise and fall of entire civilizations, and ended the fate of the stars!" Hao Ren crossed his arms. "I just don't want to damage the environment, otherwise, you know what it means to wipe out gratitude and resentment with one shot?"

The mysterious voice completely fell silent, probably because she had never seen someone who could brag so much, and she didn't know how to answer.

At this time, the data terminal floated over: "The image is not very clear, but it is clear enough to distinguish."

As he spoke, he opened a holographic projection and presented the restoration result.

A noble lady wearing a gorgeous dress from more than two centuries ago appeared in the projection. She stood there dignified and elegant, with her hands folded on her abdomen, and a head of light golden curly hair casually scattered behind her. She looked graceful and luxurious.

The mysterious voice sounded again: "Ah, I was so beautiful when I was alive."

Hao Ren: "...Are you annoying?"

"Oh, I couldn't help it just now."

Hao Ren: "..."