A total of nine corpses (four women and five men) found on the first and second floors of the castle have followed an inexplicable pattern of decay. In particular, the best-preserved corpse, Nine, was a Quaternary remains dressed in a distinctly asymmetrical style. The corpse showed no signs of decomposing, only slightly shriveled, with atrophied and dry muscles, sunken skin, and a full head of brown hair, although dull, rough and brittle, but indeed well preserved.

Douglas could even discern the cause of death of the Quaternary man from the corpse: the corpse's eyeballs were missing, and several horrific lacerations spread from both eyes, almost splitting the corpse's head in two, and if you peeked into the inside of the corpse through this huge wound, you could see that there was nothing in the cranial cavity.

He crouched in front of Corpse Nine, feeling that it was more like a specimen than a corpse, including all the corpses he had found before. Some of them were completely reduced to bones, some were half-decomposed, and some of their bodies were swollen and covered with blisters, but all of them were in a frozen state. They don't emit a strange smell or are covered in maggots, like a developed photograph frozen at a certain point in time.

This made Douglas eager to slice the corpse Nine, cremate it, or remove it from the castle to see if it would change as a result.

However, in the face of anomalies with obvious interference by extraordinary forces, the normal way to deal with them is to find the root cause or solution of the problem without attracting attention as much as possible, so as to avoid rashly breaking the inherent environment and causing extraordinary forces to counterattack.

The best way to deal with this is to flee and call the police, rather than undressing and pole dancing in front of the killer to attract his attention.

Prioritizing targets with taunt abilities is a virtue that even seals can have.

So Douglas didn't move Corpse Nine, but silently went through the extraordinary abilities he knew in his head. However, he also knew that the extraordinary abilities he had seen and experienced were basically not at the level of demigod or above, and this kind of investigation was only to help him sort out his thoughts while checking and filling in the gaps.

Although he didn't know the principle and didn't know the purpose, the conflict between the time of the corpse's death and the degree of decomposition allowed him to make reasonable guesses about the extraordinary power that might exist here.

Perhaps during the Quaternary period, the extraordinary power here was still at its peak, and the corpses could be "frozen" shortly after the death of the invaders. However, this power gradually weakened over time, and the corpses No. 1 and No. 2 in the foyer were obviously Fifth Age humans, and the skeletons were slightly decayed before they were "frozen". Even in moist, acidic soils, bone decay takes at least years.

Of course, the cause of death of these people is still a mystery, and No. 1 to No. 8 are not even able to find obvious external injuries due to the extent of the decomposition. Moreover, all corpses do not have extraordinary properties or magical objects around them, either because they were all ordinary people during their lifetime, or because someone or phenomenon "took away" the extraordinary properties.

"Friendly reminder, you'd better make a decision quickly, whether to give up or continue."

Vanna walked up and down beside him, showing limited patience. It's not that she ignores these obvious anomalies, but she also feels that she can't judge useful information from the existing clues and the knowledge reserves of the two, so it is better to be vigilant, improvised, and not delay for too long.

After sweeping the second floor, they found that the third floor of the main building was extremely damaged, but from the terrace on the third floor there was access to a relatively intact tower on the east side, where there was still value for exploration.

It's just that the decision is in Douglas's hands, and Vanna can only walk around and spin around......

"Okay, don't turn around, I'm dizzy when I look at it." Douglas stood up and moved his numb legs and feet, looking at the east tower, "Let's go." ”

At the moment they are not in real danger and are in good shape enough to try more.

Then again, the Quaternary site seems too safe, which is also an anomaly...... On the way to the tower, Douglas and Vana briefly discussed, not expecting to draw the right conclusions, but simply relying on experience to speculate on what might happen and be prepared for it.

Pushing open the dilapidated door, the air that accompanied the influx of the two of them blew up a large amount of dust. The stone and metal clad towers are more robust than the main towers, which are mostly wood-clad and provide natural sunlight through the long, overhung windows. The cross-sectional area of the tower is equivalent to a small meeting room, and the floor they enter is relatively empty, with some furniture scattered and toppled. After a brief search, Douglas led the way up the stone steps.

Since the stairs spiraled up against the whitewashed walls, Douglas was already visible to part of the upper floor halfway up. At this moment, he was greeted by the tops of several tall bookshelves. The shelves are clearly of good quality, with delicate carvings on both the top decoration and the doors set with large pieces of clear crystal.

Douglas slowed down and leaned sideways against the wall to make sure he was always facing the unknown room, step by step, gradually getting a glimpse of the room......

He was almost so frightened by what he saw that he jumped straight into the spirit realm.

It may have been a library, with solid wood bookshelves lining its walls, and a large number of tomes with gold and precious stones encrusted with spines — but it wasn't the books that were of great physical or intellectual value that struck Douglas, but the ...... in the middle of the room. Alone.

It was a young-faced, long-haired, half-white man; His facial features are not bad, but he has a short black beard on his cheeks, and these physical features make him look both youthful and old.

He leaned back and sat quietly with his eyes closed, his hands folded on his abdomen, his legs stretched out naturally, as if he were resting in the afternoon sun.

It was a few dozen seconds before Vanna, who was also frightened, let go of her hand—she was clutching Douglas's arm and almost bleed. The two silently and cautiously exchanged glances.

Although the seated person was very lifelike, after not moving for so long, both of them invariably thought of the nine corpses they had found before.

It's a great preservation...... Thinking so, Douglas didn't let his guard down, grabbed Vanna's shoulder with his backhand, and motioned for her to test the distance first.

Before the two of them actually set foot in the library, there was the wall of the tower behind them, and he was sure to leave the tower in an instant by "opening the door" and "traveling".

Vanna nodded imperceptibly, and with her left hand, she nimbly pulled a sticky note from her pocket. With the blessing of extraordinary ability, the paper instantly became as sharp as a sword, and with the flick of Fanna's wrist, it flew lightly and quickly towards the person sitting in the middle of the room.

But at the moment when it was about to touch the target, all the power exerted on it dissipated at once. The sticky notes swirled down from mid-air, and then were gently pinched.

The seated man slowly opened his eyes and glanced directly across from him, to where Douglas and Vana had stood.

Now there is not a single figure there.

“……”

The person sitting upright tilted his head, and there was no emotion in his pure black eyes. He fiddled with the sticky note, and countless gray mist filled the surroundings at some point, forming a large, slowly surging vortex, exuding a certain selective attraction.

And Douglas, who jumped into the spirit world with Vana at the moment when the sticky note paper lost power, also saw the seemingly endless gray mist.

The spirit world is supposed to be empty and vast - although all kinds of spirit creatures and mottled color patches can be found everywhere, the lack of orientation and overlap with reality determines that the spirit world has a huge space beyond imagination. But now, the original black or red, rich color patches were infected by the mist and turned into lifeless gray and white, and there was not a single spirit creature to see.

If it weren't for the seven lights of the Spirit Realm hanging high above his head that were not affected and still exuded a faint glow, Douglas would have wondered if he had jumped the wrong Spirit Realm.

He wasn't very familiar with the spirit world in the first place......

At the moment of his astonishment, the gray mist was already surging like boiling water, engulfing the two of them. Strangely, despite knowing in his heart that the situation was urgent, Douglas found that his spirituality did not reject the gray mist, but was eager to get in touch with more.

Vanna, who was next to her, had an extreme urge to merge with the mist. In fact, after entering this gray mist, Vanna had a strange feeling, and she looked around, her expression gradually changing from blank to thoughtful. She took two steps forward, passed Douglas, and pulled him forward.

Douglas was taken aback again, especially after discovering that the action was led by Vanna and not himself - Vanna had no means of "traveling"! He was about to recite the honorific name of Ulorius and began to beg his grandfather to tell his grandmother to wait for a favor, but at this moment he was pulled and staggered forward, and his words were interrupted at once.

When he took two steps and found that he was not hurt by the fog, Douglas temporarily suppressed the urge to recite the honorific name, looked at Fanna's back and wondered, "You, how can you ......?" ”

Vanna didn't look back, her steps racing. After a while, her voice came in a low voice: "This is the 'fog of history', it does not belong entirely to the spiritual realm. ”

Nouns you haven't heard of...... Douglas moved his left hand wearing "squirming hunger", his arm tensed, and he pulled Vana with his physical advantage: "Wait! Vanna, turn to look at me, where are you going to take me? ”

The latter stopped because of his obstruction, and Douglas could feel her hand gripping her palm trembling slightly. But Fanna still didn't turn her head, just whispered: "Only by following me can you get out of the 'fog of history'." ”

“…… Why? ”

"Because I'm the 'key'."

Vanna said this, squeezing Douglas's hand as if pleading: "Trust me, follow me...... You see, there's a door there, and it's safe to walk through that door. ”

Door? Douglas looked over Vanna's shoulder, and indeed saw in the depths of the gray mist, uh, lots of faintly flickering points of light.

Those points of light resemble the starlight hanging in the velvety night in the real world, but the color is duller and the flickering is more intense, but the number is not inferior.

The closer points of light gradually merge in irregular, uninterrupted floating, and begin to outline a door-like outline.

At this moment, Douglas's heart is at war between heaven and man, and he is entangled.

But before he could come up with a result, the atmosphere around him suddenly changed. Some dark shadows appeared in the depths of the originally uniform gray mist, and these shadows shook wildly, like the hissing letters of a frightened poisonous snake, making people intuitively feel that something terrifying was quietly approaching under the cover of the mist!

The original passive spiritual intuition finally moved, and the buzzing sound echoed in Douglas's head. Vana pulled hard and rushed forward with him, and Douglas, who had no choice, gritted his teeth and rushed into the pile of gathered points of light!

A feeling of weightlessness like stepping on an empty staircase in a dream instantly hit him, but it only lasted less than a second. The surrounding scenery changed, and the gray fog quickly faded.

Douglas blinked. He sat in a hard chair with a long table in front of him. The plain white tablecloth was unwrinkled, and silver plates, knives and forks were scattered on it, and the glassware at hand was rippling with the blood-red liquor.

He wasn't alone at the table. Douglas was alert to the "wriggling hunger" under the cover of the long table when he suddenly saw Vanna. Her seat was not next to him, but the fourth counted from the other side. Vanna's face was a little pale, and feeling Douglas's gaze, she quietly raised her hand and put her index finger to her lips, signaling him not to act rashly.

At the same time, a hand put on his shoulder from behind: "You...... It smells of Amun. ”

The voice was very close, and the cold breath blew on the back of Douglas's neck, making him shiver involuntarily, and only felt the hairs on his back stand up.

"Sit down, you don't need to do anything here." The person behind him pressed him like this, and said in a lackluster tone. After a brief moment of panic, Douglas suddenly realized that the other party was using the language of the giants and not any lingua franca of the Northern Continent.

In view of the mention of Amon, he decided to be obedient for the time being, and honestly placed his left hand on his knee. At this time, Douglas began to observe his surroundings more, and found that there were thirteen people sitting at the long table, men and women, with different expressions, and some of them looked a little familiar for some reason.

Before he could find the source of that familiarity, the man in the center of the thirteen stood up, raised the wine glass in his hand, and bowed slightly to the people on either side.

As he turned his face, Douglas was stunned again.

A long chestnut hair with slightly curly ends was scattered over his shoulders, and under the thick sword eyebrows were a pair of extraordinarily cold blue eyes. The man had a well-rounded appearance and a faint sense of majesty, and the brown mustache on his lips trembled as he spoke.

"Gentlemen, ladies," said a shallow, fleeting smile on the man's face, "congratulations on finding my secret treasure. ”

The others were agitated for a while, and then, for some reason, who took the lead, everyone raised their glasses and responded to the man's words.

And at this moment, Douglas's eyes were straight, and he only wanted to ask the soul:

This isn't a diary-loving fellow Russell. Gustav?!