Stone wall

Angus's attempt at deception failed for the first time today. He never expected that the small chapel, already blocked by a huge stone, would be forcibly entered. Under normal circumstances, without a crane or several kilograms of explosives, who could move such a pile of rocks? The sudden appearance of the mysterious force completely disrupted Angus's plan. In his confusion, he did not see who opened the door of the chapel. Moreover, in order to avoid exposing himself, he had no intention of turning on his mining lamp to take a look at the door. When Muyun moved the first stone, the alert innkeeper entered the underground passage from the secret passage. Considering the possibility of the secret passage being discovered, he did not stay in place but directly moved outside the castle according to his memory of the route.

However, an unexpected stone wall appeared in the originally clear underground passage, blocking his way.

"So, this was originally connected?" Lin Feng, surprised by Angus's account, asked, "Are you sure you didn't forget the way?"

"I have walked this path many times, it is impossible for me to forget," Angus, who had been in a panic before, finally gradually realized the situation after conversing with the "spirit" in the black mist for a while. He felt that something was wrong, "Hey, aren't you the spirit of the castle? Why don't you know what's going on down here?"

"This has nothing to do with you. Just think of me as someone who came over from the neighboring cemetery to visit. Spirits aren't allowed to have private lives," Lin Feng casually retorted, "So, does this mean that all the haunting here was staged by you from start to finish?"

"Ah... yes." Angus secretly looked at the constantly wriggling black mist in the beam of his lamp. This was the first time in his life that he had seen a real "spirit." He felt that the other party was different from the ghosts he had imagined in the past, "I really didn't intend to disturb the heroes below. I just wanted to borrow the ruins above, with no malicious intent at all—people often do this in this era, making money from cultural relics and monuments is not a bad thing. Looking at it from a different angle, I might even give this castle a chance to be restored..."

"You sure can talk." Lin Feng felt that this innkeeper's mind was quite clever, worthy of being someone who could create a big sensation. He turned to Vivian next to him and lowered his voice, "So, what now? How do we deal with this fat man?"

"Done asking?" Vivian confirmed, then pointed to Angus not far away, "That's it."

A faint red light split from the black mist, blinking and disappearing into Angus's body. Without a word, he fell to the ground and stopped moving.

Lin Feng jumped up, "I just meant to send him away, not... "

"I just temporarily knocked him out," Vivian looked at Lin Feng strangely, "What are you thinking? Did you watch vampire movies again last night? I've told you that those things are too misleading, try to avoid them as much as possible."

Lin Feng was speechless, looking at the fat man lying on the ground, he felt it wasn't right to leave him here. He waved to Muyun to come over, "Take him up and find a safe place. Oh, and watch out for the movements of those 'ghost-catching experts.'"

"Got it!" Muyun nodded, gently picked up Angus, and disappeared in a flash.

Lin Feng looked in the direction Muyun had left, shaking his head with a wry smile, "Is this really... all there is to it? This fat boss is quite creative."

Although Angus had deceived many people with his tricks, Lin Feng didn't blame him much. After all, it wasn't a serious offense. Moreover, nowadays, tourist attractions and theme parks everywhere are trying to attract more attention. Angus's actions were just not significant enough. Lin Feng just felt that the whole thing was a bit speechless. The widely publicized haunted castle event turned out to be an idea concocted by a fat innkeeper to attract customers. Moreover, no one discovered the mystery behind it after so many days. This... truly confirmed the saying: life is so interesting because life is always playing tricks on people!

Of course, Angus's deceptive methods could not last long. With more and more enthusiasts joining the excitement, it was uncertain whether there would be any powerful experts or retired scholars from the "Approaching Science" program among them. The innkeeper's tricks would eventually be ineffective. Lin Feng could see that the fat boss was simply in a rhythm of "can't stop at all." The haunted castle had brought him a steady stream of customers, and for a while, it seemed that he would not be exposed. Even the TV station's program team was boosting the event for ratings. How could he stop? He could only stage the haunting event every now and then.

Exposure was inevitable—didn't it happen today?

"Fooling around..." Vivian turned away without commenting, curiously examining the stone wall blocking the passage. "The strange sights people see on the surface may be illusions, but down here... there are real things."

Lin Feng suddenly remembered his original purpose, and that the situation of this stone wall had not been explained yet, so he became curious, "The fat boss shouldn't be lying. This stone wall suddenly appeared—where did it come from?"

"It didn't fall from the top of the cave." Vivian pointed to some marks on the stone wall, "Scratches. It seems to have slid down from the side recently. This is a designed structure, specifically for use when needed to block this path."

Lin Feng was about to say something when he heard footsteps coming from behind. He turned his head and saw Muyun. The wolf girl had run back all the way and reported happily, "I've sent the fat boss up! And it seems like those 'ghost-catching experts' have left!"

"They're gone?" Vivian was surprised, but then she realized, "Oh, right, the 'paranormal activity' has ended, they probably wandered around the castle ruins for half a day without finding anything, after all, they're not professional demon hunters, just enthusiasts."

"So, you just left the fat man alone in the wilderness?" Lin Feng looked at the wolf girl, "There are no wild beasts out here, right?"

"It's fine, when I sent the fat boss up, he was already half awake and confused, so I just threw him into the cart of an old man who was dismantling a tent. By now, he should be on his way back to town with the tent," Muyun turned into her wolf form, wagging her tail vigorously, "Boss, don't worry, no one noticed me, I come and go like the wind! And this bat magic is really unreliable. It's only been a few minutes, and he's about to wake up."

Vivian immediately defended herself, "It's still more mysterious than you swinging bricks, right? Besides, I deliberately suppressed the spell's effects, otherwise, it would have put people to sleep forever. Do you know how difficult it is to control it so precisely?"

Lin Feng looked at Muyun's tail, thinking that leaving aside her swift movements, at least her tail was actually creating wind. "Will Angus say

 anything after he goes back?" Lin Feng muttered worriedly. Vivian, who was studying the stone wall, expressed disdain, "Why are you worried? What does it have to do with us what he says when he goes back? At most, he'll come up with another set of ghostly rumors. He didn't see our faces... uh, I found something."

Lin Feng immediately lost interest in Angus's affairs and hurriedly leaned over to Vivian, "What is it?"

"Here," Vivian pointed to the upper part of the stone wall with her finger, "Can you see these letters and symbols?"

Lin Feng squinted at the almost eroded symbols for a long time, "So, those are letters? It's hard to make out the edges. Wait, why doesn't it look like English? It looks more like Egyptian..."

"It's neither Egyptian nor English, it's not a language used by humans," Vivian squinted, her eyes flashing red, "This is the 'Leta Runes' that demon hunters and the Church used to use. It originally came from a very ancient family of demon hunters and later became an important means of the Church's secret forces to fight against 'abnormals.' The greatest feature of the 'Leta Runes' is that ordinary people can use them. However, as human strength has grown stronger day by day, these runes have gradually faded into the background. I haven't seen 'Leta Runes' for over two hundred years."

Lin Feng swallowed, "What is this thing used for?"

He had realized the strangeness of this castle and knew that there were real spirits down here. Therefore, he was certain that these runes and the suddenly appearing stone wall were definitely not placed here as decorations: they must have a significant meaning.

"It's used to suppress demons, devils, evil spirits, and 'evil objects' with unclean powers that cannot be destroyed," Vivian pointed to the almost completely corroded runes, "This door blocks the source of all evil, and the power of evil cannot penetrate it. When this door falls, all guards must withdraw."