51 Ghost Rider

The trio watched that spectacle until the doors were fully restored with them inside. The mansion itself didn't look much like a haunted house. The interior was in a pristine condition. Even the glowstones were giving off a dim light. It looked more like a posh old-style aristocratic house if a bit darker. In fact, it really had been a posh aristocratic house some 70 years ago, when it was somehow copied into this world.

But the depressive atmosphere prevalent in this world was extremely strong here. And the scanner showed the black haze of death energy around every surface of the house. Because every object was permeated by it, the scanner could not create a 3d model of the building. Only the central chamber where the concentration of the death energy was too high shone like a dark beacon.

There were also some relatively stronger ghosts inside and now they were moving towards them. It looks like the owner of the mansion decided to test them. But still, the decision to leave most of the ghosts outside the mansion was a dumb idea. Inside the building, they would have been a much more serious threat.

When half a dozen ghosts appeared in the hallway they were in, the girls threw a few remaining lightning explosive stones at them and activated them. Small electric sparks appeared. The ghosts that were hit by them wailed in pain and continued their way after the sparks died down.

"Attack them with your weapons. Lightning attacks are suppressed here."

They quickly killed the ghosts and continued on their way. Even with their most effective method against ghosts being suppressed, ghosts were still too weak for them. Also, ghosts couldn't pass through the walls here. The entire building had a ghostly energy form. The closer to the epicenter effect was even stronger. Objects were more energy than matter there. And the type of energy was also strange. Nie called it death energy because it was very similar to it.

If Nie Li had to explain his impression of this phenomenon, he would say that someone tried to create the Law of Death in this world, but had no idea how to do it. So they experimented with the death energy and created a poor resemblance of it. And the experiment was still ongoing. The owner was trying to turn this world into some death realm.

But Nie Li also didn't have the full knowledge of how Laws worked, so all of this was just his hypothesis. And the Laws of the world must be distinguished from the Power of Law only the Tiny world has. This entire world was a great mystery and Nie Li wanted to learn all of its secrets. It may be the solution to many of his current problems.

When they were walking through the corridor that led in the direction of the dark chamber, killing any ghost they met on the way, the scanner detected some changes occurring in the design of the house in front of them.

"Careful! Something happening in front of us." Nie Li alerted the girls. The trio slowly walked up to the corner behind which the changes were detected. They carefully turned the corner expecting anything, from traps to portals.

"Stairs to the basement?" Ye Ziyun asked. She was right. The only notable thing in this corridor was the stairs leading down. All other sides were covered by walls. Not even a single door.

They were trying to find a way to the basement because the dark chamber was located in the basement.

"It looks like the owner is inviting us." Nie Li said.

"Will we take their invitation?" Ye Ziyun said looking at the dark basement.

"I think we should. Our target is there anyway." Nie Li said.

"Maybe we should try to find another way?" Xiao Ning'er offered.

"I'm not sure we can. There are changes happening in the corridor behind us as well," Nie Li showed them scan results, "Since the owner has such control over this mansion, it will be difficult for us to avoid his invitation. And spending more time in this world could be dangerous for us."

"No deal. Since coming to this world, we have not seen any animal, bird, or even an insect." Ye Ziyun said gloomily.

"Don't worry. We will find a way out of this hellhole." Nie Li said hugging Ye Ziyun around her shoulders. She didn't resist, instead, leaning toward his shoulder. "If us appearing in this world was not intentional we ask them to send us back, if it's intentional then we will make them pay."

"Yes, we will," she sighed. "Sorry that I started spreading my dark mood to you two." Then she let go of him and taking Xiao Ning'er's hand in hers said, "Let's go Ning'er, to teach that crook why he shouldn't have played with fire."

"Hey wait! At least let your man clear the way first." Said Nie Li seeing her enthusiasm.

"Yes, our man, go ahead," she motioned him towards the stairs as if a princess ordering her servant.

Xiao Ning'er smiled seeing their acting. Actually, she was scared as well, but she was not open with her feelings as Ye Ziyun. Nie Li walked past them slightly squeezing her shoulder showing his support. They followed behind Nie Li.

After walking some time Nie Li stopped. "There's something strange ahead of us," he said looking at the scanner. "Follow my steps carefully."

They passed through the doorway and entered a long hall. Trio sighed.

Both sides of the hall were filled with metal cages and most of them had human corpses inside.

"It looks like we were not the first guests here," Nie Li said. Why did the owner want to lead them through here? To intimidate them?

"They could be the preserved corpses from 70 years. I think this world preserves everything. Trees, flowers everything we saw, feel like they had been frozen in time" Xiao Ning'er said.

"No," objected Ye Ziyun. "You see that guard over here? His uniform is new. My family changed the design of the uniform of City Guard about 50 years ago. They had a different uniform 70 years ago."

"Yes, and do you see the position of the bodies. All of them hunched over from the pain. And they had black veins and sutures all over their bodies. It looks like someone has been experimenting on them." Nie Li stated, getting close to one of the cages.

Inside was a corpse of a young girl in commoner clothes. Her face and limbs were covered in black veins. Her hands were tied behind her back and her expression showed how much pain she was in before her death. Nie Li scanned her with his spiritual senses. And noticed the remains of that strange death energy in her body.

"Girls, activate your armors' full defense mode. And wear your helmets too, the defense field itself is not enough. I think I know why the owner needs alive humans for his experiments."

Full defense mode was the method of overcharging the defense measures of the armors he made. They will last somewhere around 20 minutes until the loss of power. It can even withstand the attacks of one or two-star Black Gold rank cultivator for almost 2 minutes. Nie Li hoped that this would be enough because the recharge time after the armors were discharged was too long. And he couldn't leave the girls somewhere safe too, because there weren't any safe places in this world.

He activated his armor's full defense mode as well and wore his helmet. It had its own air supply and didn't allow any kind of foreign energy inside. When they were ready, they continued on their way to the dark chamber. It was not far from them and they reached the black heavy metal doors quickly, which started opening on their own. They took the owner's invitation.

After they entered the chamber, the doors slammed behind them with a loud bang. The chamber was large and brightly lit. There were many things littering the ground. It must have been the treasury chamber and where the patriarch of the Mo clan tried to refine that artifact.

Speaking of the Mo clan's patriarch, at the other end of the chamber on a large throne sat the Ghost Rider! The figure resembled that fictional figure the most. Its face was burned almost to the bones and black-red flames covered its body. Its red glowing eyeholes were staring at them balefully.

But the most important thing in the chamber was a glowing dark red orb embedded on the top of the throne's back. The scanner was showing it as the source of the black hole that was releasing huge amounts of death energy. And behind the throne was a white tree with black leaves and fruits. 'World core and Yin Origin Tree' thought astonished Nie Li. No wonder this family had been hunted down.