“An abandoned village horror story? I quite like that genre, but don't worry, these Red Butterflies will protect us.”
The Black Dress Girl pointed to the Red Butterflies filling the sky around them. The fluttering, translucent butterflies seemed to respond to her, all wanting to land on her fingertips:
“As long as we don’t leave the Red Butterflies, you—I mean, we—won’t be in danger.”
Xia De looked at her, and after a long moment, he nodded:
“Alright, I’ll go into the village with you, but I still have something to do at the mountaintop later, so let’s be quick.”
“No problem, I can go with you to your destination later. I know there’s a shortcut in this village that goes directly to the mountaintop.”
She smiled, took Xia De’s hand, and walked out of the eerie forest into the black mist, officially entering the village, which was enveloped by the black mist and seemed to be in perpetual night.
“Outsider, you have once again entered the interior of a location-type relic.”
“I know.”
The whisper element grew thicker, and the terrifying black mist, laden with a strong curse, surged towards the two. Even distorted faces could be seen within the mist. But surrounded by the swirling Red Butterflies, not a single trace of the black mist could reach them. On the contrary, the mist seemed to fear the Red Butterflies, gradually thinning around Xia De and the Black Dress Girl.
“What a powerful curse.”
Xia De looked around with lingering fear. If he were alone, he definitely wouldn't have come in.
“Sir, do you also study curses? Yes, this is a curse born from resentment, hatred, regret, and the disaster from deep underground. We’d best not touch them too much.”
The Black Dress Girl said, showing a deep understanding of the place.
Countless Undead roamed the dilapidated mountain village. These souls within the relic were invaded by the whisper element, transforming into twisted monsters even more terrifying than evil spirits. Walking through the abandoned village, there seemed to be no enemies around, but Xia De’s keen intuition could sense the malevolent souls lurking nearby, almost blending into the environment, watching them.
But encircled by the Red Butterflies, no enemy dared to appear proactively. As a result, when Xia De and the Black Dress Girl strolled through the village, all they saw were buildings that had been abandoned for who knows how many years.
It was clear that this place had once prospered. Although it was an old mountain village, apart from a few prominent houses at the village entrance, most of the other buildings had been renovated before being abandoned. The ground in the village was also very flat, and the few buildings in the center of the village looked like mansions only a town mayor or sheriff could live in.
Perhaps, this village had an additional source of income.
The Black Dress Girl, who claimed to be a student of Middirburg Mechanical College, knew a lot about this village. As the two walked along the only path in the dilapidated mountain village, she recounted the story that had once unfolded there.
This was a story from a long time ago. The small mountain village was nestled in a remote mountainous area, and its villagers had lived there for generations, rarely leaving to make a living or marry far away. But their peaceful days ended with an earthquake.
The earthquake did not cause much damage to the village, but afterward, people discovered a gold mine beneath the cracked village well. The villagers unanimously decided to keep it a secret and, using the excuse of “building a tower in the village,” hid their secret excavation beneath the tower from villagers in nearby villages and nobles in the town below.
“So, what did they dig up?”
Xia De asked, looking at the houses standing in the darkness. Most of these houses had locked doors, likely requiring a key to open them.
“No one knows what it was. Perhaps it was an entrance to so-called hell, or perhaps the lair of a sleeping Ancient One.
In any case, when uncontrolled desire drove the villagers to strike the final blow at the deepest part of the mine shaft, black mist continuously seeped out from the irreparable fissure, corroding the land, summoning the Undead, and preventing the villagers from leaving. Only by sacrificing two children under ten years old to the fissure every ten years could the black mist’s encroachment be slowed.”
The Black Dress Girl said. Xia De looked around through the gaps in the Red Butterflies:
“From the looks of it, they failed.”
The Black Dress Girl nodded and led Xia De to the base of the village tower. The village was quite small, so they hadn't walked for long.
“Look, this is the tower. Such a small mountain village doesn’t really need this kind of building, so its purpose wasn’t planned when it was first built; it was just claimed to be constructed as a clock tower.”
Xia De looked up at the gray stone clock tower. It was already completed, but its height was only about four stories. It looked like the other buildings in the village, abandoned for a long time, but the clock tower’s main door was tightly shut.
“Should we look for a key?”
Xia De asked, looking at the nearby buildings:
“The key might be in the village chief’s house, or in the village sheriff’s house. We might have to solve some past mysteries, or encounter some terrifying Undead, defeat them, and after listening to their past stories, we might find the key in a strange corner or the village cemetery.”
“That certainly sounds interesting.”
The Black Dress Girl laughed:
“But it doesn’t have to be that troublesome. Mr. Hamilton, since you’re a Detective, opening this door shouldn’t be a problem.”
Two translucent Red Butterflies stopped on her shoulders. When her black coat was illuminated, it remained only black.
Xia De nodded:
“Yes, of course I can pick locks, it’s my specialty. However, please let go of my hand first.”
He tried to pull out the hand she was still holding.
“Of course.”
The Black Dress Girl released his hand, then teased:
“So, sir, can your lock-picking skills open all locks?”
“Of course not. For example, a lady’s heart lock isn’t something that can be opened so easily.”
As he spoke, he reached out his right hand to touch the rusty black iron door. As he tried to twist his wrist, he felt a huge force suddenly rush from the direction of the door.
The immense force almost lifted Xia De off his feet and sent him flying, but fortunately, the fluttering Red Butterflies spontaneously came behind Xia De, like a giant red net, gently catching him.
Clearly, this door was the key to the relic's core, and the relic's power was preventing Xia De from opening it by any means other than a key.
“It seems we still need to find a key.”
Xia De shrugged, but the Black Dress Girl still shook her head:
“Detective, come, I’ll help you.”
She took a step back and moved behind Xia De, then practically hugged him from behind. Her right arm passed under Xia De’s armpit, and her soft arm coiled around Xia De’s arm. Then, her fair hand pressed against the back of Xia De’s right hand, her five fingers inserting one by one into the gaps between his fingers. Miss Aurora had also done a similar action to Xia De.
The girl behind him seemed to be taking deep breaths, but her sound was very soft. She was completely pressed against Xia De, standing on her tiptoes, her head gently resting on Xia De’s shoulder, and she whispered in his ear:
“Hurry up and move, Detective. I imagine you’re curious about what’s inside the tower too.”
“Yes.”
This very undignified posture made Xia De very uncomfortable, but he also knew that the Black Dress Girl behind him would absolutely not be pushed away by him.
Both hands reached for the iron door of the bell tower, and at some point, countless Red Butterflies had wrapped around their two arms. After their palms touched the cold, prickly metal, the outward pushing force appeared again, but it was easily neutralized by the Black Dress Girl’s hand.
“You’re really strong.”
Xia De praised.
“During the days I waited for my sister to return, I also had to live on my own. Being strong is just for self-preservation.”
She whispered in Xia De’s ear.
Both hands pressed against the door and turned together. With the effect of the spell 【Key of the Door】, the Red Butterfly swarm flapped their wings, providing power to Xia De. The whisper element contended against the whisper element, and the power of the abandoned village was clearly no match for this swarm of Red Butterflies.
And so, the bell tower’s iron door opened silently.
The iron door opened a crack, and a strong stench of corpses wafted out from within, even more severe than the corpse smell pervading this mountain village.
“Let’s continue our story. Sacrificing two children under 10 every ten years to suppress the black mist in the gold mine—how did that ultimately fail?”
Xia De asked, hesitating for a moment:
“Did the two children meant as sacrifices escape?”
“That’s only one aspect. The other is that Outsiders came here, and because they couldn’t bear the cruel things continuously happening here, they stepped in to stop that year’s sacrifice, which made this place turn into this state.”
The Black Dress Girl behind him said, then moved to stand beside Xia De.
Xia De nodded; that made sense. Although this world isn’t exactly teeming with supernaturals, whether in the fifth epoch or the sixth epoch, the number of witches or Ring術士 is generally not small. This is a relic, so the incident must have occurred in the fifth epoch, and it’s not impossible for a kind-hearted witch to pass by this place.
“The ones who passed by back then were…”
“A pair of black and white twins, accompanied by Red Butterflies. Because they encountered the two children who escaped that year, nine-year-old twin sisters, they promised them to end all of this. The Church calls those black and white twins the 【Red Butterfly Twins】; they are mysterious maidens who wander the material world, and while their age changes with time, it always follows a 22-year cycle. Although they are twins, they rarely appear simultaneously.”
Xia De looked at the Red Butterflies filling the sky, momentarily at a loss for words:
“Those twins must be very powerful, right?”
A slight smile appeared on the Black Dress Girl’s face:
“Before entering the mountain, I obtained some information through a friend at the Church. The 【Red Butterfly Twins】 are referred to as an angel-level relic, suspected of possessing some power of the Old God 【twin gods】. Whenever they appear, twins are always born nearby. The black dress brings a curse of fate to the twins, the white dress brings a blessing of relic to the twins, and their simultaneous appearance inevitably brings disaster. Therefore, they are also called the Disaster Twins, the embodiment of calamity.”
“I see.”
Xia De pursed his lips, looking at the iron door in front of him:
“Then, do the Church’s records state whether they’ve been well all these years?”
The expression in those blue eyes seemed to soften even more for a moment:
“It doesn’t matter if it’s good or not; life is but an empty dream. Perhaps, they just haven’t awakened from their dream yet.”
That last sentence was almost a whisper.
Xia De’s mood suddenly turned sour. He slightly turned his head to look at the girl beside him, only to find that she had been looking at him. The sky full of Red Butterflies surrounded her, and as their wings flickered and red light points fell, she truly seemed to become somewhat unreal.
“I…”
“Sir…”
