The Record of Unusual Creatures

If there such a place had not existed, no one would believe that there was a massive mansion in the forest. While the old mansion had become a ruin, eroded by the weather for over 200 years. Looking at the remaining structure, Hao Ren could still see how splendid and gorgeous the mansion was in the past.

It was hard to make out what the rich were thinking when they built such a mansion in the forest.

The mansion ruins were on a hill less than five kilometers northeast of the village—a surprisingly short distance. The old mansion had one main building and two annexes. The two outbuildings had collapsed entirely, and the main building had only its east side intact. Surprisingly, there was a tower, well preserved and looked sturdy, behind the main building. It was hard to understand why the owner had built such a tower, which was much robust than the main building. Hao Ren could not help but take a closer look at the tower.

The tower was the tallest building here. If there were no trees around the village, one would be able to overlook the entire village when standing on the tower.

“No matter how grandiose it used to be, it has become a ruin in the end,” Vivian lamented and shook her head while looking at the ruins covered in vines and shrubs. “I am not sure if we can find anything here.”

Hao Ren took the MDT out. “Scan the surroundings to see if there are any space and time distortions here.”

The MDT hovered over the ruins, using its light beam to scan the two annexes, the main building, and then the tower at the back. “I have detected weak magic energy, but there is no space and time distortion. Probably after 200 years of dissipation, the residual energy is just too weak.”

Reaching into the dimensional pocket, Hao Ren took out the Godslayer, whose voice immediately sounded in his mind. “Ahh, I can see the sky again, but I am not excited about it. Every time someone picked me up, I would become a weapon that killed. Why am I born into a weapon? Oh, sword-bearer, when would you begin to understand that violence is not the only—”

Hao Ren wielded the sword to cut vines and bushes in front. “Shut up, I just want to cut the shrubs,” Hao Ren snorted.

“I see.”

Once the murder weapon that killed the goddess, the Godslayer had now become a weeding tool. Had the deicides known about it, they would be shaking their heads in disbelief. But the only feeling Hao Ren was having now was that the sword was a damn good cutting tool—he had quickly cleared a path through the bushes and came before the old mansion.

There was nothing left in the part of the building that had collapsed. Two hundred years of decay and erosion would turn any exquisite decoration and high-end furniture into fertilizer for the forest. Lying among the piles of bricks and tiles were fragments of expensive porcelain and metal garniture. There was nothing to see in the collapsed outbuildings on both sides, but Hao Ren had released two autonomous robots from his dimensional pocket. The robots would check for possible remaining magic items and hidden traps in the outbuilding ruins while he came to the front of the main building.

The wall on the west of the main building had collapsed entirely. The stairs and floor, on the verge of collapse, were still hanging in the air. Hao Ren was curious as to how these things could remain there for two centuries under the sun. If it was not that the owner had built the mansion with expensive and solid materials, then only the power of magic could hold the structure together.

A faint voice suddenly came from nowhere. “Get out. You don’t belong here.”

The voice seemed to come from the abyss of the earth. It sounded like a hollow echo with a chill that caused goosebumps to rise all over the skin of Hao Ren, who instinctively stopped in his steps. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Lily shook her head and poked her head glancing at the part of the house that remained standing. “Mr. Landlord, you are getting nervous. By the way, look at the building, it seems it will collapse at any time. We had better be careful not to touch anything.”

“I heard someone talking,” Hao Ren said with his brows knit together. “The voice seems to come from the underground.”

“Most likely ghost,” Vivian said. “Supernatural phenomena are pretty normal in ruins.”

Hao Ren froze, suddenly realizing that he should not have expected things to go according to common sense when coming to explore this haunted house with Vivian. The 10,000-year-old ancestor of the vampires would not blink an eye no however horrifying and incredible things were—she had seen enough of all of that.

So this vampire would not react like how the ordinary people would respond.

While Hao Ren was sighing, the faint cold voice came again. “Leave! Go back from where you come from. The secret ahead is not what the living should touch.”

“I have also heard it this time,” Hesperides said. “It sounds like a ghost, a woman.”

Hao Ren shook his head. Since the ghost would not reveal herself, he was not going to heed the warning. He strode past a porch and came into the old mansion.

The interior of the mansion, however, had become an open space as half of the walls had collapsed. The remaining broken walls did not help to make Hao Ren feel that he was inside the mansion.

“It seems that there has been a fire here,” Vivian said as she checked out the broken wooden porch and the scorched marks on the walls. “It seems that Pierre’s findings have gotten it all right.”

The remainder of the old mansion seemed shaky. Even if Hao Ren was only walking on the rotted floorboard, it gave an illusion that he would fall under at any time. But the MDT had detected that the remaining structure was sound and sturdy. At least there was no risk of collapsing in the meantime. So Hao Ren kept walking further into the ruins while checking the debris around him. Before long, a crooked hallway appeared ahead.

This hallway used to be the central axis of the mansion, but now one-third of it was exposed. The beautiful fabric that once hung in the corridor was now a black fragment, and some yet-disintegrating pieces were scattered on the floor. A wooden frame buried under the rubble had caught Hao Ren’s eyes. It seemed to be a photo frame, but the portrait had faded entirely.

“Turn back while you still can.” The voice came again. “You daring intruder, your curiosity will bring trouble upon yourself. A secret of taboos is buried here, which is too close to the evil forces at the other side of the boundary. You will fall into the abyss. Turn back, while you are still outside the boundary.”

Hao Ren ignored the voice. He bent over to pick up the photo frame. “MDT, can you restore it?”

The MDT flew over and scanned the faded photo with a beam of light. Extracting and reorganizing the remaining chemical traces, the MDT used its powerful processor to reconstruct the image of which restoration seemed impossible.

“What do you want?” The voice of the ghost said again. “Treasure? It has gone with the wind. Knowledge? The fire has burned it all. Money? There is none here. You can only find a curse and death.”

“Oh, come on! Give me a break! If you don’t want to reveal yourself, then sit back and watch quietly.” Hao Ren stomped his feet on the ground. “If you are sincere to help, come out to meet me so we can talk.”

The mysterious voice was silent for a moment before it responded. “Are you not afraid? There were many intruders, but they all had run away when they reached this point.”

“Stop the crap. I have witnessed the life and death of tens of billions of people, recorded the rise and fall of civilizations, and ended the fate of the stars!” Hao Ren said with his arms crossed. “I don’t want to destroy the environment. Otherwise, you would have disappeared together with this place.”

The mysterious voice was silent this time—probably the ghost had never seen anyone as boastful as Hao Ren, so she did not know how to react.

The MDT flew over and said, “The image is not good, but it is clear enough.”

While saying, the MDT presented the restored image using a hologram.

A noble lady wearing a gorgeous dress of two centuries ago appeared in the hologram. Standing elegantly with her hands folded on her abdomen, the golden-haired lady looked extremely graceful.

The mysterious voice spoke again. “Oh, I was so beautiful back then.”

“Don’t you think you’re annoying?”

“Ahh, I just couldn’t help myself.”

Hao Ren was rendered speechless.