"Angus?" Kevin recognized the man not far in front of him from his back. His short and fat figure and slightly bald head made a deep impression. "Is he tinkering here?"
At this time, Angus had not noticed the movement behind him. His attention was completely focused on a dark stone wall in front of him. This stone wall abruptly cut off the tunnel, turning it into a dead end. Angus lay on the stone wall and fumbled anxiously, as if trying to find some secret passage, but it seemed to be a waste of effort. I don't know how long he has been here.
Angus wore a mining lamp on his head and carried a strange black box on his back, which looked like a large speaker with its own power supply. It was obvious that he did not enter this place by mistake, but came prepared. Considering the strange noises coming from the chapel before, and the fact that he was the first person to report the "haunted castle" incident, even if Kevin was not enlightened, he should have figured out what was going on. He took two steps forward, this time without covering up his footsteps, and finally attracted Angus's attention. The short and fat innkeeper shuddered when he heard the movement behind him, and then froze on the spot as if he had been electrocuted. Kevin and the other three waited patiently for a few seconds before they saw Angus trembling and turning his head like a puppet that hadn't been oiled for half a year.
The light beam of the mining lamp swept through the dark tunnel, and a strange black fog that was fluctuating and condensed but not dispersing surged in front of Angus. How could this scene be accepted by ordinary people? The innkeeper immediately let out a strange cry: "Ah"
This cry came so suddenly that even Kevin was startled by him, and he didn't know who was scaring whom at the moment. Wei Lili waved her hand to tell Kevin to be quiet, and she cleared her throat and spoke in a sharp and strange tone: "What are you doing here?"
Kevin looked at Wei Lili strangely, thinking that this vampire has so many tricks that he even brings a voice mixer with him when he goes out.
When Angus heard such a terrible voice coming from the "black fog", his whole body trembled even more. He didn't care about answering Wei Lili's question, but just desperately made a cross on his chest with his hands, and beads of sweat fell down: "God bless, God bless, God bless... I didn't do anything bad, I didn't do anything bad... I didn't do anything bad..."
"I'm asking you a question, what are you mumbling?" Wei Lili said in a rural voice with a female devil's voice, "Hey, can you stop trembling? If you don't cooperate, I'll let the dog bite you!"
Kevin thought about it, pulled Wei Lili's sleeve and whispered: "... You can't communicate with anyone here with your English level."
Wei Lili: "..."
"Let me ask," Kevin pushed the useless vampire away helplessly, but he also knew that it was best not to expose his voice at this time, so he communicated with his data terminal in his mind, "Do you have a voice changer function? Like Wei Lili."
"Voice change? r-ch-365b plug-in, go away. Okay, it's done. Now no one can recognize your voice."
Kevin felt the air in front of him begin to condense in a strange way, so he silently thanked the aliens for their high technology. As soon as he opened his mouth, he heard a voice with a thunderous echo spreading in all directions: "What are you doing here?"
As soon as the voice fell, Wei Lili poked him in the back: "Hey, hey, hey, do you have to be so exaggerated? You're like a villain."
Kevin helplessly said that he had no control over the alien PDA in his hand, and none of its functions worked!
However, although the false voice designed by the data terminal was a bit too exaggerated, this evil voice that sounded full of oppression had a good deterrent effect. Angus suddenly woke up from his messy prayers and sat on the ground on the spot: "Honorable Knight Heroic Soul, I am just a small businessman nearby. I really don't mean to disturb you... I live near Yoford. Yes, I am a Yoford person, and I am more or less a citizen under your rule. Can you let me leave for the sake of the knight's code?"
Obviously, Angus regarded the black fog in front of him and the terrible sound coming from the black fog as the real castle ghost. Although he pretended to be a ghost here, he didn't seem to be very brave. Facing the abnormality, he was at a loss.
Kevin felt that this misunderstanding was just right, so he didn't expose it, but just asked according to his own thoughts: "Are you the one who makes trouble here every day? Are you the one who caused the things in the castle these two days?"
When Angus heard that this black fog could actually talk to him, he immediately felt that "evil spirits" could also communicate. He calmed down a little, and although he was still trembling, he could speak properly: "Yes... it's me, but I'm just moving around above, I didn't want to disturb the souls below..."
"Why are you playing tricks?"
Angus was wondering why the "knight ghost" in the black fog was so curious, but he didn't dare to say more at this time. Anyway, he answered whatever the other party asked: "My hotel can't be opened anymore, so I want to make a big news... but I didn't expect it to be so big!"
At this point, the truth was revealed.
It turns out that the much-talked-about haunted incident at Yofold Castle was just a hoax, a fake news released by a small hotel owner with poor business to attract outsiders. Perhaps Angus did not expect that things would ferment to this extent at first. He obviously underestimated those bored media and the highly motivated "ghost hunters". He did not expect that a small haunted incident would be magnified into the current situation after being on TV.
Kevin took advantage of Angus's cooperation and hurriedly asked about the situation tonight. The details of the other party's ghost tricks became clear little by little: the "ghost fire" in the castle was just a light set in the cracks of the rocks in advance, and the whistling sound of the wind echoing everywhere was even simpler, coming from the large speaker on Angus' back... Everything was so funny.
Angus is an old resident of Brushal. He grew up here and was a wild boy who liked to run around when he was a teenager. Many years ago, he often came to this castle for "exploration". It was also at that time that he discovered the underground palace system under the castle by chance. This is a secret that only he knows.
This remote town has never had many outsiders passing by. The situation was better a few years ago, but it has been getting worse in recent years. As a result, Angus's small hotel business has become more and more difficult. Finally, when the business was about to fail, he set his sights on the castle next to it.
Brushal is not an economic center, there are no special products, and it is not a major transportation route. The only thing that may attract outsiders here is the castle. If the castle becomes a tourist attraction, the business problem of the small hotel will naturally be solved.
So Angus came up with such a bold idea: haunted, no matter what, hype up the popularity first.
His haunted tricks have been going smoothly these days. He is familiar with the structure of the castle and knows where to hide his ghostly props. He is also very cautious and always cleans up everything before the "ghost hunters" who are attracted to the castle dare to step into the ruins. The secret passage under the castle is another favorable condition for his activities. Even if someone runs to the ruins to investigate the situation, he can always move or hide through the secret doors in the castle: no one knows that these things exist in the castle.
Under Angus's "diligent work", every curious person who comes to the castle to check the situation will become a free promoter, so the haunted incident of Yoford Castle has spread from one person to ten, ten to a hundred, and has become a sensation. Of course, another important reason for the fermentation of the news is the boredom of the people. So many people go to the haunted house adventure in the park even though they know it is fake, not to mention that there is a "real" one here?
The only thing that is hard to explain now is that when Angus first called the police, he mentioned that "many people saw the fire coming from the direction of the castle". That was not just his statement, and now in front of Kevin, Angus also patted his chest to confirm that he definitely saw the fire that day, and it was because of the bizarre fire incident that night that gave him the "inspiration" to play ghosts.
What exactly is the fire?
The castle is dozens of kilometers away from Brushal. Even if there is a plain along the way and nothing blocking the view, it is unlikely to see the fire in the direction of the castle in the town. How big a fire would be needed? I'm afraid the entire high ground would have to burn.
However, the details of this matter are really unknown, and Angus doesn't know what happened. The only thing that can be confirmed now is that, except for the initial fire alarm, the rest of the haunted incidents during this period were all pretended by the fat boss alone.
But there are so many people joining in the fun these days. Even if someone shouts "see UFO" on the street, at least a dozen people will come out and claim that they saw it with their own eyes. Angus didn't expect that no one would expose his lies, so everything has come to this day by accident. The innkeeper is in a dilemma and can only pretend to be a ghost. But is this really just a case of pretending to be a ghost?