The Ancient Castle

The silver moon was hazy, the night was deep, and the vast, desolate wilderness was silent. Only a flapping sound came from high above as a vampire girl with bat wings streaked across the sky. The moonlight fell on Vivian, shrouding her in a vague halo of light, completely concealing her presence. Vivian was highly vigilant, unsure if the haunted castle here might attract real demon hunters, so she had been using the power of moonlight to mask her aura the entire way.

Hao Ren was flying through the air, held by Vivian under her arms, and felt quite excited. "Actually, when you first said you were going to carry me to fly, I refused. Because I can't just fly just because you say so. At least you should let me adapt a bit. I don't want when you hang me up..."

Vivian's voice came from above. "Speak human."

"...give me some psychological preparation, sis! You brought me this high without even asking me, normal people's hearts can't take it!"

"But you're handling it, aren't you?" Vivian looked down at Hao Ren. She had pulled him into the sky without waiting for him to react and showed no signs of apology. "You should just be happy. Ordinary people don't get this honor. Do you think we Blood Clans like carrying people? It's heavy and troublesome."

Hao Ren chuckled silently. Although he felt a bit embarrassed being flown like this by a girl, there was no one else watching, so he decided to treat it as a novel experience. He had been nervous when Vivian first grabbed him and flew him into the sky, fearing that this unreliable vampire might lose strength midway and let go. He didn't know if the physical enhancements Raven 12345 had given him could withstand such a fall. But now it seemed Vivian wasn't human, and although she couldn't match Lily's strength, carrying an adult for tens of kilometers was still quite easy.

Hao Ren looked down at the ground. They were very high up, but he could still see clearly below in the moonlight. On the wilderness covered with gravel and kitsuchi, a small, silver-white figure was following directly beneath him – it was Lily, running to keep up. To match Vivian's flying speed, Lily had transformed into her werewolf form and was on all fours the entire time. The silver-white color was her tail and long hair.

Miraculously, the werewolf girl was still asleep – she had followed them with her eyes closed. Even Vivian marveled at this silly girl's tracking ability. She could follow a flying vampire solely by scent while asleep. This proved that Lily, who appeared quite foolish on the surface, actually possessed astonishing "hunting" talent. She just wasn't motivated; otherwise, with this tracking skill alone, she would probably be one of the top hunters among werewolves.

The three of them arrived at Yuefu'erde Castle, dozens of kilometers away, in this magical manner of travel. Besides avoiding main roads and sticking to wasteland, Vivian had also kept a bat clone of hers following Angus's car from a distance to track their movements. Fortunately, the journey was smooth. The people in the car didn't notice a werewolf and a vampire traveling together so conspicuously nearby, not even the arrogant Mr. Nangong, who didn't even bother to look out the car window.

"That's Yuefu'erde Castle," Vivian's voice suddenly came from the side and above after flying for an unknown amount of time in the night. Hao Ren looked up and saw a pile of rubble appearing on a highland ahead. The castle had completely collapsed and was unrecognizable, but the scale of the stone pile still indicated its former glory. "Let's land here."

Vivian landed steadily with Hao Ren. He immediately jumped a few times to loosen his stiff limbs from being carried all the way. Although it was still summer, being exposed to the night wind at high altitude for over an hour wasn't exactly comfortable. Hao Ren felt like he would freeze if he hung there any longer. As Hao Ren rubbed his slightly sore arms and prepared to head to the castle, a silver-white shadow suddenly dashed past him like the wind, kicking up countless blades of grass and dust.

Hao Ren and Vivian stared blankly as the white figure sprinted hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye and crashed directly into a large rock in the distance...

With a loud "boom," a solid, several-meter-high boulder was pulverized as if hit by artillery. Amidst the sound, Lily's muffled cry could faintly be heard. Hao Ren quickly rushed over, only to see the werewolf girl rubbing her head and rolling on the ground in the dissipating dust and debris. Well, Lily had finally woken up completely, though not naturally.

Vivian stared dumbfounded. "That head... it's strong enough to apply for a job as a jackhammer at a quarry! Werewolves really have muscle for brains..."

Lily scrambled up from the ground in a disheveled state. Her usually alert pointed ears now had only one standing; the other drooped listlessly on her head, apparently injured from the impact. The werewolf girl was covered in dirt and grass debris. With a shake of her hair, stone fragments rained down. However, her spirits were high. After wiping her face haphazardly, she grabbed Hao Ren's arm and swayed it. "Landlord, landlord, look, I kept up – that winged one said she flew so fast, but she wasn't much faster than me!"

Vivian flicked her hair. "Nonsense, I was carrying someone. Next time, you carry the landlord, and I'll fly in the sky. We'll see who's faster."

"Stop messing around, let's get down to business," Hao Ren pressed his hands down, quieting the two superwomen. Then, he noticed some lights faintly moving towards them from below a small hill in the distance. He quickly pulled Lily and Vivian to move. "Let's leave this place first. Lily's head collision just now made too much noise; it seems to have attracted someone."

The three of them quickly left their messy "landing spot" under the cover of night and moved to another nearby hill. From here, they were closer to the castle ruins and had a better view of the surrounding area.

Yuefu'erde Castle was situated on a highland, but it wasn't as strategically defensible as other ancient castles. This was probably because the terrain was flat, and even the lord back then couldn't find a more suitable place to hold a defensive position. The castle itself had completely collapsed, just as Hao Ren had seen from the sky. On the highland, only large piles of stones were visible, barely indicating the grandeur of the structure in its prime, but offering no hint of the original castle's appearance. The cold, gray-white stones were piled up, forming a roughly rectangular ruin that looked lifeless.

Near the highland, a small cluster of lights could be seen. In the moonlight and lamplight, tents and several large carts were visible, with figures occasionally moving in the light. These were likely paranormal enthusiasts attracted by the haunted castle.

There weren't as many people as Hao Ren had imagined, perhaps only a dozen or so. It seemed that even in the middle of the night in the wilderness, the number of fervent enthusiasts looking for ghosts was still a minority, which eased Hao Ren's mind – he had expected the place to be swarming with people.

Clearly, this guy had mistaken a ghost-hunting convention for a temple fair.

"Nangong and the others have arrived too." Vivian pointed, and Hao Ren saw a pair of headlights approaching in the distance. In the night, he recognized it as the owner of the inn, Angus's SUV. Nangong was sitting in the back seat, still wearing that arrogant, expert look.

"Wait a minute," Hao Ren suddenly felt something was off. He rubbed his eyes hard and gazed into the darkness on the other side of the wilderness. "Vivian, how's your night vision?"

"Pretty good," Vivian nodded. "I'm a nocturnal creature, after all."

"Then do you see three dead trees in that direction? And under one of the trees, there's a... oh no, two large rocks."

"Yes, I can see them quite clearly," Vivian said casually, then suddenly realized, "Wait, you can see them too?!"

Hao Ren blinked. He noticed a detail he hadn't paid attention to during the journey: although the night was dark all around, and only a dim moon was shining in the sky, everything in his vision was as clear as daylight! The three dead trees in the distance were at least two to three kilometers away, but he could almost see every single branch on them!

"Is this... the payment from Raven 12345 finally coming through?" Hao Ren suddenly remembered what Raven 12345 had told him before they set off. "When conditions are suitable, the various effects of the physical enhancements will be unlocked one by one. Is this what she meant?"

Hao Ren's mood lifted. He felt that after being ripped off for so long, he had finally encountered something good.