33: Chapter 33 Is this your manor?

Ballard asked in surprise, "Shaun, is this house yours?"

Shaun thought for a moment.

Legally speaking, this house wasn't sold to him, so of course he couldn't say it was his.

But practically speaking...

This house was his.

So, Shaun replied, "It should be."

Ballard fell silent.

For a full five seconds.

That Renee Ballard, who was always expressionless, always calm, and could keep a straight face even when facing a witch, was silent for five seconds.

"You, an ordinary cop transferred from Los Angeles, who couldn't afford a run-down apartment in New Orleans even with three months of salary combined... have a manor?"

Shaun thought about how to explain it.

In the end, he gave up on explaining.

It was really hard to explain, so he just nodded and left it at that.

Ballard scanned the hall.

Moonlight shone in through the windows, casting a hazy glow over the entire room.

Those antique pieces of furniture, the carved staircase banisters, the oil paintings on the walls—everything was quiet. There was nothing eerie or terrifying; it was just how an old house should look.

Seeing this, Ballard breathed a slight sigh of relief, but asked, "When did you buy it?"

Shaun was silent for a second, then said, "Just last night."

Ballard turned her head to look at him; her gaze became even more complex, and then she took a deep breath.

Shaun could tell she was trying to digest this information.

A cop, overnight, had a manor.

Anyone would need a moment to digest that.

Then, Ballard asked a slightly cliché question: "How much?"

Shaun thought about it: "It didn't cost anything."

Ballard fell silent again, this time for even longer, so long that Shaun began to worry if she had been scared silly.

But Ballard was, after all, Ballard.

She took a deep breath, exhaled, and then the expression on her face returned to normal.

Then she uttered one word: "Fine."

Shaun was taken aback: "You're not going to ask anymore?"

Ballard glanced at him and said, "If you don't want to say, asking is useless."

She walked to the window, looked at the moonlight outside, paused, and said, "And... it's much better than your dog kennel."

Shaun: "..."

Ballard turned around and looked at him.

There was suddenly a hint of a smile in her eyes, but she asked, "Are there guest rooms?"

Shaun nodded: "Upstairs, all on the left."

Hearing this, Ballard didn't stand on ceremony and walked toward the stairs.

After walking a few steps, she stopped and said without looking back, "Shaun, this house of yours is... more interesting than I thought."

Having said that, Ballard went upstairs.

Shaun stood where he was, watching her back disappear around the corner of the stairs.

In his mind, the golden book gently opened a page.

【Renee Ballard Favorability: 12 → 25】

【Note: You have a manor +5】

【The manor opens its own doors +5】

【You just got it last night +3.】

【Current Favorability: 25/100】

Good grief!

Seeing the favorability go up so much, Shaun was also speechless.

It's just having a manor, can it really add so much favorability?

However...

That said, ever since returning to the manor, Shaun had felt a sense of security.

...

Two o'clock in the morning.

Hill Manor stood quietly in the moonlight.

Three black SUVs stopped at the entrance of the manor.

The headlights went out.

The car doors opened, and eight people stepped out.

All in black suits, carrying baseball bats and machetes in their hands.

The moonlight shone on their faces; those faces were rugged, their eyes cold—they looked like the kind of people who had blood on their hands.

The leader was a man in his forties, with a scar running from his brow bone to the corner of his mouth.

He stood in front of the rusty iron gate, staring at the pitch-black, three-story building in the distance, and asked coldly, "Is this the place?"

A lackey next to him leaned in: "Yes. That male cop and that female cop entered this house at night and haven't come out."

Scarface stared at the house.

Under the moonlight, the windows of Hill Manor were pitch black, like countless eyes staring at them.

The vines on the walls swayed in the wind like countless hands beckoning.

A lackey swallowed and cautiously leaned in: "Boss, this place... I've heard people talk about it."

Scarface didn't turn his head: "What did they say?"

"They say this house is haunted." The lackey's voice dropped even lower. "Decades ago, no one dared to come. Few who went in were able to come out."

Scarface finally turned his head, looked at him, and said coldly, "Do you believe it?"

The lackey didn't dare to speak.

Scarface withdrew his gaze and looked at the house again.

The night wind blew.

The scar on his face looked particularly ferocious in the moonlight.

Yet he said, "Those two cops dared to go in, what's there to be afraid of?"

Saying this, he walked forward.

The eight of them pushed open the rusty iron gate and walked into the front yard. The weeds were ankle-deep, and the mud underfoot was soft; every step felt like stepping on something.

Someone paused, lowered his head, and took a look.

The flashlight shone on it; it was a dead crow, half-rotted, with only two black holes left where its eyes should have been.

The man cursed, kicked the dead bird away, and continued walking.

And the closer they got to the main house, the stronger that eerie feeling became.

It wasn't cold.

It was the feeling of being watched by something...

From every window, from behind every pillar, from within every shadow.

Someone started slowing down unconsciously.

"Boss..."

Scarface ignored him; he had already reached the entrance of the main house.

The door was closed.

He raised his foot, preparing to kick it open.

Then... the door opened by itself.

Silent and soundless.

Scarface's foot stopped in mid-air.

It was pitch black inside the door; nothing could be seen.

But he could feel it... something inside the door was watching him.

"Who's there?"

Scarface shouted.

No one answered.

Only the night wind blew out from the door, icy and bone-chilling.

...

Second floor.

Shaun opened his eyes abruptly.

【Primary Magic Passive Trigger: Intruder detected】

Shaun sat up from the bed.

That feeling was too clear!

There was someone at the manor entrance, and not just one.

They had entered and were walking toward the main house.

Shaun threw off the quilt, preparing to go downstairs, but as soon as he moved, he immediately stopped.

He felt another thing.

It was nothing else but the manor itself!

Hill Manor had come alive!

Shaun stood where he was and closed his eyes.

Immediately, his consciousness connected to the entire house.

Those things that were sleeping in the dark after he devoured them, those remaining soul fragments, those lingering grudges after purification, those dark memories that hadn't dissipated yet—all of them woke up.

But they weren't attacking him; they were obeying him.

They... were waiting for Shaun's command.

"Turn on the lights!"

Shaun's heart stirred, and the lights turned on one by one.

The chandelier in the foyer, the wall lamps in the hallway, the footlights on the stairs—with a "click," they all turned on.

Then a few "soul bodies" drifted out.

Shaun tried to communicate with them, but perhaps due to his own Magic Power limitations, he couldn't connect yet.

However, although he couldn't connect, he could issue a "resist invasion" command...