Chapter 182: 178. A Bizarre World

178. A Bizarre World

"Careful? Want me to be careful of what, careful of whom?"

An ominous feeling surged in Kelake's heart once again. He guessed that this small note was most likely written to him by Milaier, because this clothing was a gift from Milaier, the outfit he wore tonight was also chosen based on her suggestion, and she was the person who had the most contact with these clothes and was the most likely to give him a hint.

Kelake's head was throbbing. He sat on the edge of the bed, recalling everything that had happened during the day.

His memory had gaps and missing pieces. He only remembered that he was clearly on a flight heading to the Shenzhou Region, then he took a nap on the flight, and when he woke up, he found himself in a place devoid of people, with his attire and belongings all changed.

At first, he was also flustered, but he soon calmed down. He rummaged through the items he had on him and pulled a pile of things out of his backpack, among which was a notebook recording his "own" situation, as well as a pocket watch with a very slow-moving hand.

The notebook was dated in the 17th century and clearly stated the purpose of his trip—"he" was to head to a distant Count's castle. The castle was built on the edge of a cliff, surrounded by miles of uninhabited forest within a four-to-five-kilometer radius, remote and far away. "He" was a law enforcement officer seeking the truth, tasked with finding a person who had sent "him" a distress letter half a month ago from within that bizarre Gubao, which was suspected of being the site of hundreds of missing persons cases, to confirm the situation and prepare for a rescue.

Because he had no destination and could not discern the direction, he could only follow the map route to the castle stored in the crevice of the notebook.

Within an hour, he had the misfortune of encountering a snowstorm, and the weather only grew worse. It wasn't until he actually followed the route and found that so-called Count's castle that he finally believed he had truly encountered something that only happened in novels—he had transmigrated, transmigrated into a "law enforcement officer" in the 17th century.

Forced by the harsh blizzard, he had no choice but to stay in this castle, even though he knew it contained great danger.

However, there were still many things about this world that Kelake found confusing, especially in this castle. Whether it was the environment of the castle or the words and actions of the people here, he could sense a deep sense of the bizarre from certain details.

The Count's title was Bluebeard, and the image of Bluebeard was not unfamiliar to Kelake, as this person was an evil villain in fairy tales known throughout the Western world, a perverted aristocrat and wife-killer in fairy tales. In real history, there was indeed an actual figure; the person was actually a notorious child-killer who, in order to satisfy his desires, learned a forbidden demonic art that required the blood of children to activate, for which he abducted and murdered many innocent children.

As an expert in the study of Abnormal folklore, Kelake had naturally studied the Bluebeard who existed in real history, but today, upon arriving at the castle, he did not believe that the Bluebeard he was dining with was the historical figure he had once studied.

Perhaps he had transmigrated to a space-time that was completely different from his own world but possessed a similar historical background?

Kelake could not be sure, but judging by Bluebeard's various performances at dinner, he certainly fit the image of an impure aristocrat, and he indeed had the conditions to ensure that those who entered this castle never left, and that news of their disappearance was difficult to spread.

In short, Kelake felt he was destined to have a sleepless night... no, he might as well not sleep at all.

Despite having walked for almost an entire day, Kelake still felt full of energy. It wasn't that he was vigorous, but rather an inexplicable sense of fear that was constantly stimulating his sensitive nerves.

For a professional scholar of Abnormal folklore, the primary condition for a long career is a sensitive awareness of danger, because you never know when you might touch some forbidden object capable of infringing upon the mind, causing meme interference, or destroying cognition; one slip could lead to losing one's sanity, falling into madness, or even losing one's life.

And now, Kelake felt that this castle was hiding danger everywhere.

He wrapped himself in a quilt in the bedroom, sat at the head of the bed, and waited dryly, not feeling sleepy at all.

Listening to the sound of the blizzard outside that had never eased, Kelake watched the marks passed by the pocket watch's hand. Although the hand moved very slowly, for someone like him who had no other time-recording tools, this pocket watch that lagged by many beats was still a useful tool for tracking time.

He roughly calculated the actual time by counting his heartbeats and compared it to the pocket watch time, discovering that roughly one hour of actual time was equal to five minutes of pocket watch time. The time ratio was about 12:1, which meant that his arrival at the castle today, changing clothes, resting for a while, and then eating dinner had taken a total of about two and a half hours.

No wonder dinner tonight, while delicious, had been quite an ordeal; he hadn't expected it to have taken so long.

Thus, after waiting for ten minutes of pocket watch time—about two hours of actual time—to pass, Kelake felt it must be midnight, the dead of night, and decided to launch an investigation into the castle.

Knowing the castle was strange and dangerous, sitting still and waiting for death was not advisable; if he did that, he would be no different from a stupid turkey on a farm.

He put on his clothes, took the candlestick from the room, and quietly pushed open the door. Looking at the dim and silent corridor, it felt as if he were the only person left in the entire world, and his heartbeat could not help but accelerate due to the hair-raising atmosphere.

Kelake still remembered the way to the dining room and the main gate of the castle, but these places did not require his investigation. He started exploring from the rooms near his guest bedroom. For every room that was unlocked and could be opened, he would quietly try to enter, checking the sign on the door before going in.

Having signs in a home sounded a bit incredible, but once he realized this was a massive castle, it was not hard to understand.

He discovered that the rooms near him seemed to have "owners." Take the room diagonally across from him, for example; the sign on the door read "Kande's Room." The door could be pushed open, and there were indeed traces of someone having lived inside.

Opening the wardrobe, he found many sets of valet clothing. It seemed Kande was a valet in the castle, likely a gardener of some sort, as he saw many books about planting flowers and plants on Kande's bookshelf.

Kelake continued to rummage through the bookshelf, and when he flipped through a book about planting "perfume lilies," he unexpectedly discovered that the book cover was fake; inside, it actually contained a light yellow box the same thickness as the cover.

Kelake opened the box, and his hand almost failed to steady it, for inside the box lay a Stone Statue of a bizarre, harmful beast, its crouching form hideous yet lifelike.

And this image of the harmful beast was quite familiar to Kelake, because this was precisely the subject he was supposed to study before he transmigrated—the Shadow of All Things.