Although I can understand Elena's desperate approach, I was still slightly stunned after seeing the family members she brought.
Elena actually brought twenty-one people, both men and women. Not only were they no more than forty years old, but most of them were young people in their twenties. What surprised me even more was that these people were in very good physical condition. If Elena hadn't reminded them, I would have even regarded them as a group of active soldiers.
Arthur, who was standing in the crowd, was the first to come out: "Mr. Wang, we meet again!"
I stretched out my hand and shook it: "Are you also from the Blood Tulip family?"
"No!" Arthur shook his head and said, "I just accepted Miss Anne's employment."
I could tell that apart from Elena, the Tulip family members were vaguely headed by the girl named Annie.
In terms of temperament, Anne is more aristocratic than Elena, and her movements are elegant and calm. Even if she is only wearing sportswear now, she still cannot hide her noble temperament.
On the contrary, Elena makes people feel more like a cunning warrior than a noble.
A tall young man in the team took a step forward and said: "Elena, are these the mercenaries you invited to escort us? A group of Chinese people, I can kill them all by myself."
Elena told me that although Bloody Tulip has become a noble, she still has not changed the ferocity of the pirate in her heart. The noblest pirate and the fiercest noble have always been the creed of the Tulip family.
To this day, members of the family must undergo rigorous military training and even serve in the army. Therefore, there are many fighting masters among them, and they also have a pirate-like rebelliousness in their hearts.
As soon as the young man finished speaking, someone laughed and said, "I can deal with them with one hand without you."
Someone laughed and said, "Maybe, without using one hand. Look, can they beat a goat? Otherwise, let's release a goat and try."
As the laughter of several people stopped, Ren Tianqing suddenly appeared, slapped everyone on the face, and stood back to his original position as if nothing had happened: "Gentlemen, there is a saying in China: If you show off, you will be punished. A slap in the face. I don’t speak English very well, so I just need to use internationally accepted body language to explain our strength to you gentlemen. I hope you don’t mind.”
It was the first time I heard Ren Tianqing curse, and I couldn't help turning my head to look at her face. When Ren Tianqing saw me turning around, she quickly stuck out her tongue and stood aside with a blushing face.
After Lu Xinyao translated Ren Tianqing's words, the people who had been slapped in the face suddenly became angry and rushed forward at the same time.
Just as Ren Tianqing was about to meet the enemy, four daggers with scabbards shot out from Li Xiaomao's hand, hitting the opponent's leg without mercy. The four people knelt on the ground at the same time, and the four daggers were It flew back to Li Xiaomao's hand silently.
Standing far away, Annie's pupils couldn't help but shrink suddenly. It is not difficult to use a dagger as a hidden weapon to attack four targets at the same time. What is difficult is to make them fly back to their original places. This is beyond the scope of ordinary people's cognition.
Elena stepped forward and said: "Okay, the joke is over, it's time for us to set off. Mr. Wang Huan, please come here."
According to Elena, the Dark Castle is hidden in an inaccessible mountain. The bus we took can only reach the mountain pass. The members of the Tulip family skillfully took out the firearms and equipment from the car, and in less than half a minute, they Form a small army.
Elena said with a serious expression: "This operation is not only related to your lives, but also related to the continuation of the family. All actions within the scope of the castle must obey Mr. Wang's command. Anyone who dares to act without authorization will be punished by me." Wring his neck with your own hands."
Elena's words were unceremonious, but no one in the Tulip family raised any doubts or expressed dissatisfaction. Very orderly queue, waiting to go.
Arthur came up from behind: "Do you want to send someone to investigate first?"
"No need!" Elena shook her head and said, "There are family warriors in front of us to support us. Anything can happen in the Cursed Land, so try not to scatter as much as possible."
Elena, Arthur and I walked in front and went deep into the forest, following the trend of the mountains to the top of the mountain.
Elena stood on the top of the mountain and pointed to her feet: "Going down from here is a cursed place. You should be careful."
When I looked in the direction of the other person's finger, the first thing I saw was a basin covered with trees. According to common sense, the growth rate of trees on the shady hillside should be relatively slow, but the vegetation under the hillside is not only towering. Moreover, it seems to grow spirally in a clockwise direction. Looking down from a high altitude, the entire basin is like a huge black whirlpool, forcibly grabbing my attention.
The longer one stares at the whirlpool, the more dizzy one feels. The swirling forest sea seems to forcibly pull out the soul of those who look down, dragging them into the bottomless darkness. No wonder this place is called a cursed place. Just the horror brought by the endless darkness is enough to make people feel chilled all over.
Elena took out a sheepskin map: "The Dark Castle is in the center of the Cursed Land. This is the only way to the Cursed Land."
I picked up the map and took a look: it not only drew a road leading to the castle, but also clearly marked the possible dangers on the road. I frowned slightly and said, "Is this parchment an antique? Whose hands did it originally come from?"
"It is said to come from a nobleman who sold his soul to the devil." Elena said: "Before the Middle Ages, black magic was extremely popular in Europe. In order to gain powerful power, many people would sell their souls to the devil. To obtain what they had Everything needed.”
"Legend has it that the nobleman signed a contract with the devil for the glory of his family and sacrificed the old castle where he lived as the devil's habitat. His original intention was just to sacrifice the old castle. However, the devil told him , sacrificing the castle is tantamount to dedicating everything in the castle to the devil. This includes his family."
Elena said: "The devil played a word game with the noble and took away everything that belonged to him. But he didn't expect that the knight's resentment would trigger a very advanced black magic, sealing off the entire castle. .”
"No matter who they are, as long as they enter the castle, they cannot leave. Even if they are taken away by force, they will eventually return to the castle. The devil made the noble lose his family, and he also imprisoned the devil in the castle forever."
Elena's voice paused and said: "This is the story of the nobles and the devil, and it is also the reason why the castle can cut off the curse."
I pondered: "Is it true that no one came out of the castle afterwards?"
Elena said: "As far as I know, there has never been one. Legend has it that during World War II, there was a group of German soldiers who wanted to explore the secrets of the castle. As a result, the fully armed army also disappeared into thin air after entering the castle."
"The commander at the time thought it was a secret stronghold of the resistance organization and shelled the center of the cursed land. Legend has it that after the shells exploded, a strange human face appeared in the smoke. More than a dozen artillerymen collectively fired at the same time He died violently. The commander was also sent to a military court and was eventually thrown into prison as a madman."
"That's the only record I can find about a large-scale search for the castle. As for the Adventurer's Guild's statement, I don't think it's credible. There are too many exaggerations."
I pointed to the map in Elena's hand: "Then where did this map come from?"
Elena said: "I don't know. There is a saying that it comes from adventurers. They marked the road to the castle, but no one ever brought out the map inside the castle."
"Another theory is that the map comes from the castle itself. It is a bait automatically released by the dead souls of the nobles. It lures adventurers into the castle for him to devour."
Elena said: "But one thing is certain, that is, the cursed members of the family entered the castle according to the map. So there is no need to doubt the authenticity of this map."
When I was about to speak, a family member stood up and said: "Mr. Wang Huan, I don't know what you are suspecting, but I want to say that we are wasting time. After dark, the Cursed Land will be more dangerous. For To complete the mission as soon as possible, shouldn’t we set off early?”
I turned around and said, "When adults are talking, children should not interrupt."
The man was about to have a seizure but was stopped by Anne beside him. Then I crossed my shoulders and looked into the depths of the forest: "Is there only one map like this?"
Elena nodded and said: "Yes, there is only one. It has always been kept by the patriarch himself."
I raised my chin towards the roadside: "What's going on with that dead man over there? Is he also a guard of your family?"
Elena followed my gaze and looked over: "What's over there? Did you see it well?"
I quickly walked to the edge of the grass and used a knife to open up the turf on the ground, and a human-shaped protrusion suddenly appeared underneath.
The murderer apparently laid a man's body flat on the ground, followed the outline of the body with dirt, and buried him in the ground.
I squatted down and said, "The murderer is very interesting!"
I say the murderer is interesting because the mounds of soil on the ground seem to have been carefully carved. Every part has been carefully processed. From the outside of the soil layer, not only the facial features of the deceased are distinct, but also the wrinkles on the clothes and weapons. The screws are all very clear.
What's even more amazing is that the murderer also used blades of grass to camouflage the mound, as if covering the body with a layer of camouflage. If you don't look carefully, you won't find a person buried here even if you get closer.
When I looked at Elena, the latter's face was pale. A person next to him asked in shock: "How did you see it?"
I smiled and said, "If I didn't even have this bit of vision, I wouldn't have to hang around in the hands of Tan Shen."
To be precise, if I hadn't practiced the secret technique of ghost eyes, I wouldn't have been able to see that there was a corpse buried here.