Capítulo 22: Chapter 22:The Haunted House of Evil Spirits
"Better head back for a bit."
It had been two and a half days since he had entered the space-time portal. Although his supplies were still sufficient, he had been missing from the real world for too long, and that could cause some problems.
Finding a secluded spot, Rod opened the space-time portal.
Whoosh!
The portal appeared, and Rod stepped through it.
After a moment of disorientation, he found himself back in his familiar room.
Rod leaned back and collapsed onto the bed.
"Nothing beats being home," he murmured.
After resting for a while, Rod went to the kitchen and cooked two steaks. Satisfied and full, he was just about to take a break when there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Who could that be?"
Looking at the slightly darkening sky outside, Rod frowned. Who would visit him at this time?
He opened the door, and three figures came into view.
Rod saw a middle-aged couple and a young girl standing before him.
The couple appeared to be in their early to mid-forties, while the girl looked no older than seven, dressed in a cute white dress.
The man was tall and slim, wearing a neat uniform, and from his demeanor, he seemed to be in a high-paying profession, perhaps a doctor or a lawyer. The woman was dressed in loose, comfortable clothes, with long golden wavy hair cascading down her shoulders. Her figure wasn't overly curvy but well-proportioned, with fair skin and a pair of healthy, toned legs. Despite not wearing any makeup, her natural beauty was easily an eight out of ten. Due to the lack of undergarments, her chest naturally sagged slightly.
It was a typical housewife look, common in suburban families.
"Do you need something?"
Rod glanced at them and then looked away, his face showing confusion. He didn't recognize them.
"Hello, we're your new neighbors," the middle-aged woman said warmly. "We just moved in today, so we're bringing a small gift to introduce ourselves."
"I'm Tasha, and this is my husband, Brewer," she added, gesturing to the man beside her.
"Rod," he responded, nodding as he took the gift she handed him.
He then extended an invitation to the new neighbors. "Would you like to come in and sit for a while?"
"Oh no, we still need to visit the other neighbors," Tasha replied with a smile. "But feel free to stop by our new home anytime."
After watching the friendly couple leave, Rod suddenly felt that something was off. The houses in this area had been fully occupied for a long time—where could new neighbors have come from?
The only empty house nearby was that house.
Rod's gaze shifted to the distance, where a three-story mansion stood.
It was a classic, luxurious European-style building with an independent yard and even a swimming pool. Other than the fact that it hadn't been cleaned in a long time, making it look a bit rundown, the house was perfect.
For most people, this kind of historic house was highly sought after in the real estate market.
But this mansion had a notorious reputation as a haunted house.
As far as Rod knew, in the last three years alone, the house had changed owners three times, with at least four or five people dying inside. And if you looked even further back, the number of deaths in that house was even higher.
After all, the mansion had a history spanning over a century. Who knew how many people had died in there?
With so many deaths, the police had naturally conducted investigations, but the results were always the same: all the previous owners had died from accidents.
But to the neighbors, the place was clearly haunted by malevolent spirits.
In the past, as a staunch materialist, Rod would have scoffed at the idea of haunted houses or evil spirits.
But now, he wasn't so sure. If werewolves existed, why wouldn't evil spirits?
Although this was a different world, the principles might still apply.
Back in his room, Rod looked at the gift in his hand. Even though he wasn't fond of interacting with strangers, it felt rude not to return the favor when someone had come by to introduce themselves.
"What should I prepare as a return gift?" Rod wondered, rubbing his chin.
The gift didn't need to be expensive—typically, homemade snacks were enough. But he didn't know how to bake or make snacks.
"Haunted house…" Rod muttered, as an idea popped into his head.
In the potions he had recently learned, there was one that could make spirits appear or drive them away. And it was relatively easy to make.
As for ingredients, he had everything he needed in his personal storage, thanks to the generous contributions of the old witch.
"After all, it's a matter of life and death," Rod muttered under his breath, deciding to make a few protective charms for his new neighbors.
"Mugwort, garlic, lemon, a few drops of holy water…"
All the ingredients were fairly common, except for the holy water, which could be a bit tricky to obtain. Holy water, in essence, was just purified water blessed and stored in sacred silver vessels at a church. With divine blessings, it gained the power to ward off evil spirits.
In ordinary churches, the so-called holy water wasn't particularly effective. Only in large churches could one find real holy water.
But for Rod, this wasn't a problem.
He took out a silver cross necklace and soaked it in water.
The cross was a sacred silver artifact imbued with holy power, and the water it touched naturally became holy water.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder