Detective Bennet [Comprehensive novel]

There is not only one person who does not believe in mysterious power.

September eighteenth.

Peavy and Ethel got up early, had a big meal, and followed Kelsey and Bono to the Harvest Oak Manor, which had been abandoned for many years.

The carriage was parked outside the manor.

It wasn't the crumbling iron fence that blocked the carriage, but the plants in the unattended manor grew wantonly, and the vegetation swallowed the driveway like a green monster.

Dozens of oak trees, like giants covering the sky and the sun, stretch out their thick branches with teeth and claws.The trees were covered with moss, and the mud was covered with fallen leaves.Sugar cane and weeds are all over the gaps, as high as walls, blocking the road.

Even in the daytime, it was a bit gloomy, and it always felt like there were monsters with malicious intentions hiding in the bushes, but the huge manor only had the annoying sound of insects chirping.

Because the forest vegetation is too dense, walking in the plantation forest of the manor rarely feels direct sunlight.

Small flying insects are running around, and occasionally animal droppings can be seen.

However, he said that the continuous rain in early September a few days ago destroyed the traces left by the visitors in the oak forest.

Bono said, "I searched the plantation forest several times, but I didn't find the footprints left by Juul."

Kelsey held a branch in one hand, and gently swept away the chaotic leaves in front of her. After turning around a few times, she didn't see anyone. "You also went to look inside the house. Didn't you find Jule's footprints?"

"That's a bit difficult."

Bono said so, and when the four pushed open the door of the mansion, they intuitively felt why it was difficult.

This three-story mansion covers a large area, and its internal structure is very strange.

Not any kind of conventional design, which can be described as a mess.More vivid, like a twisted magic castle.

Some rooms are not even parallel to the ground, and the stairs are intricately wrapped around, and the wall design is even more illogical, and you may bump your head if you are not careful.

The entrance hall, or the only place where people can see at a glance.

On the dusty ground was a pile of footprints, layered upon layer, indicating that many investigators had visited the manor, all of which were male shoe prints.

Jules is of average build and has an unremarkable shoe size.

Judging by the freshness of the shoe prints, the latest two pairs make their way up the spiral staircase.

"This is the road I walked last time."

Bono pointed out the footprints left by him, and he followed another pair of footprints up the stairs on the right, "Go to the second floor, it's like a maze, I lost my footprints soon."

Like a maze, you have to go to see it.

Kelsey and Bono walked in front, as if chatting, she asked Pee Wee and Ethel behind, "You two saw the situation of the manor. If you really took pictures of this land, how would you clean up such a messy house? ?”

"It's blown up." Ethel didn't even think about it, "It's troublesome to demolish this place, just blow it up and build a new house."

Peavy looked at the internal structure, but felt a little regretful.

"If it blows up, what if there are antiques hidden in the house? It's not all destroyed. But it's also troublesome to find, just a few people can't do it."

This is not possible because the interior terrain of the mansion is too complicated.

Even though the four of them followed the footprints, they disappeared in about 10 minutes after entering the second floor.

It disappeared before a wall, as if someone had passed through the wall without leaving a trace of the return journey.

There is no agency.

At least I've searched for 10 minutes now, but I haven't found any mechanism.

Kelsey also knocked on the wall, and heard the sound that there was no passage behind it.

What can we do now?

Impossible to leave immediately, can only choose a direction by luck.

Kelsey handed over the choice, not because he didn't believe in his luck, but because he wanted to see what the other three could choose.

On the issue of route selection, Peavy and Ethel did not reach an agreement.

One wants to turn left, the other wants to turn right, plus Bono makes some suggestions from time to time.The three of them had to argue for a while before deciding which door to open.

The rooms here are like nesting dolls, enter one door, go out another door.Sometimes it is a one-way entry, and there is no way to return according to the original route.

The same is true for passing through several bedrooms, which makes people suspect that the person who designed the house has a brain.

Kelsey actually visited a similar mansion in her previous life.

It is a haunted house in Silicon Valley, the layout of more than 160 rooms is very strange, and it is very easy to get lost without a guide.It is said that the original intention of its construction is that the weirder the better, because it is a residence built for the dead to rest in peace.

"It's really evil here."

The unbelieving Pee Wee finally couldn't help complaining, "Why did Shaft build a house like this!"

Shafter was the former owner of the manor.

According to the news from the wizard Tilan, the Shaft family has been mainly engaged in planting and shipping business for generations, and sold the planted sugar cane and oak trees to the Spanish and French in Central America.

After many years of sailing in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, this special layout that can ward off evil spirits was created.

It's hard to say whether it can make the undead retreat, but it does hinder the footsteps of outsiders.

"It's been just an hour since going up the stairs to the gate."

Kelsey didn't feel impatient at all, but he didn't encounter any attackers when he went around the maze.

Ethel raised her forehead, "Oh no! It's been an hour! We've walked so much that no one has ever walked. There must be no Jules here!"

The voice did not fall.

Peavy, who was observing the sculpture, suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! It can move!"

What moved?

In front of me is a statue of a deep-sea fish that is as tall as a person. It has a big mouth full of fangs.The whole statue is made of stone, but the eyes and teeth of the deep-sea fish are inlaid with precious stones.

Pee Wee had an occupational disease, and when he saw jewelry, he subconsciously tasted it.

As soon as I stretched out my hand into the mouth of the sea fish, I touched a sapphire, and I was able to press it down.

Only the ground creaked.

The entrance to the secret passage appeared suddenly, as if it didn't take much effort at all, it broke into the field of vision.

Four people surrounded the entrance, and the bottom was pitch black and there was no light.

It's like a bottomless black hole.

In a manor with a strange layout, it is hard to say what will be in the secret passage.

Kelsey didn't intend to go down immediately, not because she was afraid that there might be traps below, but because she was worried about the three people around her.

"I'll go down first."

Bo Nuo broke the silence, "You all stay up there, in case something happens, I will come back immediately."

Peavy and Ethel exchanged glances, but they didn't let Bono explore the way alone.

"No no, I'll go first." "Yes, I'll go first too."

The two actually fought to be in the front row, so that Bono and Kelsey were separated from the rear.

"Hey……"

Before Bono could talk about his plans, he saw two people in their 40s running fast. Pee Wee and Ethel went down the secret passage with a lamp and an escalator.

Bono looked at Kelsey helplessly, "Mr. Bennet, what do you think?"

"Follow."

Kelsey looked normal, and suddenly smiled again, "The deep-sea fish statue that opened the secret passage is inlaid with gemstones. Maybe those two gentlemen think that there will be more treasures underground, and they want to see them quickly."

Treasure hidden underground is one of the rumors of Harvest Oak Manor.

It is said that the undead, who linger all year round, have been guarding the undiscovered secret treasures in the manor.

Regardless of whether there is a hidden treasure or not, the road chosen by the four people has never been seen before, and no footprints of those who came first have been seen.

The wave that came first refers to the explorers in July.Coincidentally, unlike those unlucky ones, today's trip to the manor didn't even see a single ghost.

There is no change in the downward direction.

The four of them walked down the winding stairs and sank to a depth of about ten meters, confirming that they had arrived at the basement of the manor.

The terrain ahead is still a labyrinth.

I could only choose the direction by luck again, but within a quarter of an hour, familiar footprints appeared on the ground.

It's the footprints I lost before.

"Like the shoes Jules wore."

Bono cannot be 100% sure that Juul entered the basement just because the shoe size and sole pattern are the same. It can only be said that the possibility of Juul is very high.

"Hope the shoe prints don't disappear halfway."

Ethel muttered, "I haven't figured out why the pair of shoe prints disappeared in the corner of the wall before. It can't be because of the wall penetration technique."

This time the shoe print did not disappear, and following it, the four of them followed to a spacious room.

Entering the door, the four of them were stunned.

There was no extra furniture in front of him, only five large stone tablets placed in a semicircle against the wall.

"Oh! God! They are not ordinary stones, they are emeralds!"

Walking in and taking a closer look, Peavy found that each stone tablet, which is more than one meter long and two meters high, is an incompletely polished black jadeite.

From the perspective of jewelry value, the quality of these black jadeites is not good, but the content engraved on such a large piece of jadeite is very intriguing.

There are no words, and the five steles are all abstract paintings.

Kelsey can read the general meaning of the painting, telling a story of treasure digging.

The first piece symbolizes the pattern of the Mayan civilization, the second, third, and fourth pieces are maps, and the fifth piece is engraved with the coming of bad luck.

Lightning filled the sky, huge waves set off in the sea, and the big ship capsized and was about to sink to the bottom of the sea.The people on board had nowhere to escape, and monsters with huge wings flew from the sky, and they were tearing humans apart with their sharp claws.

It's hard to say whether the fifth stele is warning future generations not to dig for treasure, or reminding people of the difficulties that must be overcome in the process of digging.

"The location is Central and South America."

Kelsey is temporarily unsure of the exact location of the treasure, because he doesn't know much about the terrain in that area.

Immediately, Kelsey looked casually at how the other three reacted to the stele.

Peavy and Ethel looked at the first four steles, trying to restrain themselves but couldn't completely hide the excitement on their faces.

It should be known that the treasure in the picture is not only the treasure buried by the predecessors, but also a mine hole marked.Judging from the five emerald steles in front of him, the minerals in the cave are most likely related to this type of gemstone.

Before the two of them suppressed their excitement, when they glanced at the fifth stone tablet, their expressions froze.

The expressions of excitement and stiffness were mixed, and for a moment, the expressions of the two of them were a little distorted.

However, Peavy and Ethel quickly regained their composure, as if nothing had happened.

"This symbol is very similar to Kamazotz's curse."

Bono's gaze also fell on the fifth stele.Below the pictures of natural disasters and monsters haunting, a pair of giant wings are engraved.

It is similar to the wings of a bat, but the body of the bat is not drawn in the middle of the wings, but it looks like a flint knife.

Under the tip of the knife, there are three small dots, like blood dripping.Around the periphery of the wings, there are extremely small XO△≈ symbols arranged in irregular combinations, like a kind of secret code.

"Kamazotz?" Kelsey asked Bono. "A monster mentioned in Mayan mythology?"

Bono nodded, "It means dead bat in Mayan. It appears in the Mayan holy book Popol U, saying that it has a humanoid body, a bat head, and a nose like a flint knife."

In mythology, Kamazoz is a terrible demon who is used to attacking human necks and beheading people.

"There are many rumors about bats in Central and South America, and the curse of Kamazotz is at the top of the list."

Bono tried to describe it objectively, without using modifiers.

"Kamazoz is as tall as a human, and when it spreads its wings, it is several times the size of a human. It will follow the cursed human at low altitude, and the last person will be sucked dry and die. As for how to be cursed, as long as you have seen The graphics on the stele are right."

Hearing this, Peavy suddenly opened his mouth and retorted in a bad tone: "That's just a legend! There is no such thing as a bat monster. It's already 1879, can't you believe in science!"

Ethel nodded heavily, and also questioned Bono, "You are not engaged in paleontological research, why are you talking nonsense about the curse of the bat monster?"

From disbelief in the curse of the voodoo doll in the threatening letter, to disbelief in the curse of Kamazotz on the stone tablet, the denial attitude of Peavy and Ethel seems to have remained unchanged.

However, Kelsey caught the difference in mentality between the two. They really didn't care about the threatening letter before, but now they seem to be relentless when cursing the stele.

This change of mind is a bit odd.

The threatening letter was actually sent to me.It means that some kind of existence is watching you closely and knows your dynamic situation.

The curse of the stele, it is said that you can hit it just by looking at the pattern, but it is hard to say exactly how it hit it.None of the four people touched the stele, could they be cursed just by an invisible force?

Kelsey blinked. Normally, shouldn't normal people be more afraid of the former?

At this time, Bono explained that he was not superstitious about the existence of the Bat monster curse, but that the latest research discovered the reference animal of Kamazoz.

"Vampire bats have always existed in Central and South America. Recently, giant vampire bat fossils have been discovered. Perhaps in some corner of the world, there are vampire bats that are larger than humans. Their diet is not livestock, but larger animals. ?”

"That way, the myth becomes reality."

Kelsey remembers that the vegetarian Malayan giant flying fox can spread its wings nearly two meters. If there are vampire bats of similar size, it is indeed possible to live on human blood.

The faces of Peavy and Ethel were completely dark, and the joy of discovering the treasure map just now disappeared.

"Whether it's a curse or a myth that comes true, let it go."

Kelsey didn't want to study species diversity. The purpose of coming here today is to find Jules. "Follow your footsteps and keep going."

"Wait for 10 minutes."

Peavy recovered quickly, took out his notebook and followed the same pattern, and wrote down a few maps according to his own understanding.He said while painting, "Don't worry about the monsters, don't you want to go treasure hunting? Anyone who sees it will have a share, and then it will be shared equally."

"No, I don't want to walk through the rainforest."

Kelsey refused first.Judging from the treasure hunting experience a few years ago, there is no such thing as a pie in the sky, there must be some twists and turns, and she doesn't want to get rich again.

Bo Nuo was a little hesitant, not interested in the treasure itself, but curious about the surrounding situation.

"Since there are monsters engraved on the stele, will there be unknown creatures near the treasure? Or some undiscovered animal fossils?"

"Stop, stop, please don't talk about unknown creatures, and don't mention dead ones."

Ethel didn't want to bump into any weird beings during the treasure hunt, so he also took out his notebook and compared the pictures.

The treasure hunt map drawn by the two of them did not match the original inscription. I am afraid that only I can understand it, and said that I will come to the manor with a camera in two days.

Regardless of whether the basement can be found in the maze-like mansion next time, the four of them feel that they are walking up as they follow the footprints on the ground and go farther and farther.

"It's nearly two kilometers away from the main building of the manor."

Kelsey estimated the direction. They left the abandoned house along the tunnel, and a thick stone wall appeared in front of them again.

The footprint ends in front of the wall.

Unlike the encounter at the entrance on the second floor, there is a gate switch on this wall.Press it down hard, and the stone door will move sideways and open.

Fresh air, oncoming.

"Ouch!" "Ah——"

Peavy and Ethel stared wide-eyed, stumbled back a few steps.

After Shimen, it is indeed an exit.

It is a relatively shallow cave, and the midday sun illuminates half of the cave wall.

The other half was shadows, and in the shadows crouched a corpse.

It's Jules, his eyes wide open.

His head was tilted, his face was extremely pale, and there were two obvious small holes on his neck.

In this scene, it seemed that Jules was sucked dry by a vampire!

No, it cannot be called a vampire here, but the Kamazotz bat monster that appeared from the stone tablet.

The author has something to say:

① In 1988, the fossil of a vampire bat was discovered in Venezuela, which was 25% larger than modern vampire bats, commonly known as giant vampire bats.The time and place are fictitious in the text.