"A horror story about a deserted village? I actually like this kind of theme, but don't worry, these red butterflies will protect us."
The girl in the black dress pointed at the red butterflies all around her. The fluttering translucent butterflies seemed to be responding to her, and they all wanted to land on her fingertips:
"As long as you don't leave Red Butterfly, you, I mean we won't be in danger."
Xia De looked at her and nodded after a long time:
"Okay, I'll go into the village with you, but I have something to do at the top of the mountain later, so hurry up."
"No problem. I can go with you to the destination later. I know there is a shortcut in this village that can lead directly to the top of the mountain."
She smiled and took Shade's hand, walked out of the gloomy jungle and into the black fog, officially entering the village shrouded in black fog that seemed to be in the eternal night.
Outsider, you have once again entered the interior of a location-type relic.
"I know."
The whispering element became thicker and thicker, and the terrible black fog with a strong curse swept towards the two people. Even hideous faces could be seen in the fog. But surrounded by the flying red butterflies, the black fog could not see them at all. On the contrary, the fog seemed to be afraid of the red butterflies, and gradually became thinner around Shade and the girl in the black dress.
"What a powerful curse."
Xia De looked around with lingering fear. If he was alone, he would definitely not come in.
"Sir, have you studied curses? Yes, this is a curse that was born from resentment, hatred, regret, and the disaster deep underground. We'd better not touch them too much."
The girl in the black dress said that she knew this place very well.
Countless undead souls roamed in the ruined mountain village. These souls in the relics were invaded by the whispering elements and turned into twisted monsters more terrifying than evil spirits. Walking in the deserted village, it seemed that there were no enemies around, but Shade's keen intuition could sense that the evil souls hiding around and almost blending into the environment were watching them.
But surrounded by red butterflies, no enemy dared to show up. So when Xia De and the girl in black skirt walked in the village, they only saw those buildings that had been abandoned for who knows how many years.
It can be seen that this place was once prosperous. Although it is an old village in the mountains, except for a few conspicuous houses at the entrance of the village, most of the other buildings were renovated before being abandoned. The ground in the village is also very flat, and the few buildings in the center of the village are houses that can only be lived in by the mayor and sheriff of a small town.
Maybe, there is extra income for the village.
The girl in a black dress, who claimed to be a student of the Mechanics College at Midhill Castle, knew a lot about the village. As the two of them strolled along the only path in the dilapidated mountain village, she told Shade the stories that had happened here.
This is a story that happened a long time ago. The small village is located in a remote mountain. The villagers have stayed here for generations, rarely going out to make a living or marrying far away. And the peaceful days disappeared with an earthquake.
The earthquake did not cause much damage to the existence, but after the earthquake, people found gold mines under the cracked village well. The villagers unanimously decided to keep it secret and used the excuse of "building a tower in the village" to conceal the villagers of the nearby village and the nobles in the town at the foot of the mountain, and secretly excavated under the tower.
"So, what did they find?"
Shade asked, looking at the houses standing in the darkness. Most of these houses were locked, and they could only be opened if they found a key.
“No one knows what it is, maybe it’s the entrance to the so-called hell, or maybe it’s the lair of some sleeping ancient being.
In short, when the uncontrolled desire prompted the villagers to make the final blow in the deepest part of the mine, the black fog continued to seep out from the irreparable cracks in the ground. It corroded the earth, summoned the dead, and prevented the villagers from leaving the area. Only by sacrificing two children under ten years old to the cracks every ten years can the invasion of the black fog here be slowed down. "
The girl in the black dress said, and Xia De raised his head and looked around through the gap between the red butterflies:
"It seems that they have failed."
The girl in the black dress nodded and brought Shade to the tower in the village. The village was small, so they didn't walk for long.
"Look, this is the tower. This kind of small mountain village doesn't actually need this kind of building, so there was no planned use for it when it was first built. It was just claimed to be built as a bell tower."
Xia De looked up at the gray stone bell tower. It was already completed, but only about four stories high. Like other buildings in the village, it looked abandoned for a long time, but the door of the bell tower was closed.
"Should we look around for the keys?"
Xia De asked, looking at the building next to him:
“The key may be in the village chief’s house, or in the village sheriff’s house. We may have to solve some puzzles from the past, or encounter some terrible undead. Only after defeating them and listening to their past stories can we get the key here in a strange corner or mountain village cemetery.”
"That does sound interesting."
The girl in the black skirt smiled and said:
"But don't bother. Mr. Hamilton, since you're a detective, it shouldn't be a problem for you to open this door."
Two translucent red butterflies landed on her shoulders, and after being illuminated, the black coat was still just black.
Xia De nodded:
"Yes, of course I can pick locks. This is my specialty. But please let go of my hand first."
He tried to pull his hand free.
"certainly."
The girl in the black dress extended her hand and said jokingly:
"So sir, can your lock picking skills open all the locks?"
"Of course not. For example, the locks on girls' hearts cannot be opened easily."
As he spoke, he stretched out his right hand to touch the rusty black iron door. When he tried to rotate his wrist, he felt a huge force rushing towards him from the direction of the door.
The huge force almost caused Xia De's feet to fly off the ground, but fortunately, the group of flying red butterflies spontaneously came behind Xia De, and gently embraced Xia De like a giant red net.
Obviously, this door is the key to the core of the relic, and the power of the relic prevents Shad from opening the door by any means other than the key.
"It seems we still need to find the key."
Xia De shrugged, but the girl in the black dress still shook her head:
"Detective, come here, I'll help you."
She took a step back and moved behind Shade, then almost hugged Shade from behind. Her right arm passed through Shade's armpit, and her soft arm circled around Shade's arm. Then her white hand pressed the back of Shade's right hand, and inserted five fingers into the gaps one by one... Miss Aurora also did similar actions to Shade.
The girl behind him seemed to be breathing heavily, but her voice was very soft. She was completely close to Xia De, tiptoeing, her head gently resting on Xia De's shoulder, and whispered in his ear:
"Come on, detective. I think you're also curious about what's inside the tower."
"Yes."
This uncivilized posture made Xia De very uncomfortable, but he also knew that the girl in the black dress behind him would never be pushed away by him.
Both hands reached out to the iron door of the clock tower, and the dense red butterflies had wrapped around both arms. When the palms touched the cold, burred metal, the force of pushing outward appeared again, but was easily offset by the hand of the girl in the black dress.
"You are really strong."
Shade praised.
"While I wait for my sister to return, I have to live on my own. Having more strength is just to protect myself."
She whispered in Shad's ear.
Two hands pressed on the door and rotated together. With the effect of the spell door key, the red butterflies flapped their wings to provide power for the lower part. The whispering element fought against the whispering element, and the power of the deserted village was obviously no match for this group of red butterflies.
Then, the iron door of the clock tower was opened silently.
There was a crack in the iron gate, and a strong stench of corpses blew out from the gap, which was even worse than the stench of corpses that permeated the mountain village.
"Let's continue with the story we just told. Every ten years, two children under the age of ten are sacrificed to suppress the black fog in the gold mine. How did this fail?"
Xia De asked, hesitating for a moment:
"The two children who were sacrificed escaped?"
"That's only one aspect. On the other hand, outsiders came here and couldn't stand the cruel things that continued to happen here, so they stopped the sacrifices and caused this place to become like this."
The girl in the black dress behind him said, then walked aside and stood side by side with Xia De.
Xia De nodded. This made sense. Although this world was not full of extraordinary people, the number of witches or ring sorcerers was not small in general, whether in the Fifth or Sixth Epoch. This was a relic, so the accident must have happened in the Fifth Epoch. So it was not impossible that a kind-hearted witch passed by.
"The one who passed by that year was..."
"A pair of black and white twins came with the Red Butterfly. Because they ran into two children who ran away that year, 9-year-old twin sisters, they promised to put an end to it all. The church called the black and white twins the Red Butterfly Twins. They are girls of unknown origin wandering in the material world. Although their ages change over time, they always follow the cycle of 22 years. Although they are twins, they rarely appear at the same time."
Xia De looked at the red butterflies all around him and didn't know what to say for a moment:
"That pair of twins should be very powerful, right?"
The girl in the black dress smiled slightly:
"Before I went into the mountains, I got some information from my church friends. The Red Butterfly Twins are known as angel-level relics, and they are suspected to possess some of the power of the old gods, the Twin Gods. Every time they appear, twins are always born around them. The black skirt brings a curse of fate to the twins, and the white skirt brings the blessing of the relics to the twins. When they appear together, it will definitely bring disaster. Therefore, they are also called the Disaster Twins, the embodiment of disaster."
"I see..."
Xia De pursed his lips and looked at the iron gate in front of him:
"So does the church record say...how they've been doing over the years?"
The expression in those blue eyes seemed to become softer in an instant:
"It doesn't matter whether it's good or bad, life is just a big empty dream. Maybe they just haven't woken up from the dream yet."
The last sentence was almost a whisper.
Xia De's mood suddenly turned bad. He turned his head slightly to look at the girl beside him, only to find that she had been looking at him. Red butterflies surrounded her in the sky. With the wings flashing and the red spots of light falling, she really became a little unreal.
"I... ... "
"gentlemen... ... "
Chapter 729 Deserted Village