Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 636

Jenkins pretended to rummage through his pocket, then took out his monocle and placed it over his eye. Squinting, he peered inside and was surprised to see an extremely faint black spiritual aura.

He thought to himself, grabbing the girl's hand to leave. This was a matter best left for the Church to handle. But just then, with the worst possible timing, the door swung open.

Standing in the doorway was a woman in a loose, gray nightgown, her hair disheveled and her face grimy like a street beggar. It was, of course, Mrs. Stress, but she looked nothing like the woman he had met at the church.

Although the situation felt a bit awkward, Jenkins was the first to offer a greeting.

"Hello... Oh, it's Finney and Mr. Williams. Do come in."

Mrs. Stress looked as though she hadn't woken up properly, stepping aside to let Jenkins and Finney enter.

Jenkins remembered Finney saying that everything had been perfectly normal when she visited just last week.

He glanced down; the little girl's face was a mask of confusion and alarm.

"No, no, please, don't trouble yourself. Finney and I were just passing by, and I realized I hadn't given you your Year's End Festival gift yet."

He forced a smile and rummaged in his right pocket, finding a few lucky candies he had acquired last week.

"A bit plain, perhaps?"

As the thought crossed his mind, a lifelike ice bud bloomed in his palm.

"Here, you see. It's not particularly valuable, but I made it myself. Please, accept it."

Without waiting for a reply, he pressed the three exquisite, art-like ice flowers into Mrs. Stress's hand. Thankfully, Jenkins could feel that her body temperature was normal. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel·fiɾe·net

Perhaps shocked by the intense cold of the ice flowers, the middle-aged woman shuddered. She seemed to snap out of her daze and looked at the two of them again as if for the first time.

"Oh, you simply must come in and sit for a while. Yes, you must."

She grabbed Jenkins's and Finney's hands quite rudely, but Jenkins was much stronger than her. For a moment, the three of them were locked in a stalemate.

When her efforts proved useless, the woman suddenly let out a piercing shriek. Hurried footsteps sounded from within the house.

Jenkins knew at once that something was seriously wrong. No longer caring if he sprained the woman's arm, he wrenched his wrist free from her grasp and pulled Finney, ready to flee.

But just as they turned, Finney seemed to step on something. She lost her balance and stumbled forward, falling toward the inside of the house.

She instinctively grabbed for Jenkins, and he reached for her in turn, but somehow the girl's dress caught on a nail in the wall. The motion tore a large hole in the fabric. As she turned to cover it, Jenkins quickly pulled his hand back, but Mrs. Stress seized the opportunity and grabbed him again. With a single tug, both Jenkins and Finney lost their footing and tumbled into the house together.

All Finney had stepped on was a small twig. While it was possible to trip on such a thing, the probability of it actually happening was surely less than that of gold pounds falling from the sky.

The moment they fell inside, someone grabbed their wrists, pulling them further in as the door was slammed shut behind them. Jenkins had had enough. He scrambled to his feet, shoved the two adults and three children aside with a sweep of his arm, pulled Finney behind him, and drew the pistol from his belt, aiming it forward.

"What in the world are you doing?"

He demanded in a low voice, feeling the cat squirming inside his coat.

"Sir, the door won't open."

Finney whispered in reminder.

Before Jenkins stood the Stress family. Their warmth and hospitality during his last visit had left a deep impression on him. But now, every one of them was staring at their two guests like ravenous ghouls, completely ignoring the gun in his hand.

"The new guests have arrived."

Jenkins heard Mrs. Stress mutter, then let out a strange, crazed laugh before turning and walking deeper into the house.

Her husband and children did the same, only they seemed even more wooden and lifeless than she did.

Finney tugged at the hem of Jenkins's coat, her voice filled with worry.

He instructed quietly, his eyes fixed on the direction the family had gone. He reached back with his right hand, grabbed the doorknob, and twisted hard. It didn't budge an inch.

"Do you know how to use a gun?"

He asked a very silly question.

He got the answer he expected.

Jenkins nodded, quickly turning his head and then turning it back again. In the brief moment he looked away, he saw a faint black spiritual aura shimmer across the door's surface.

In fact, the entire house was suffused with an extremely dim black spiritual aura. The light was so faint that Jenkins hadn't been able to see it clearly until he was inside, but its sheer scale was unsettling.

"Could it be some kind of obscure Cursed Item?"

He couldn't guess what it was. After making sure the Stress family wasn't about to return to the foyer, he turned and landed a powerful kick on the door.

With a loud bang, pain shot through Jenkins's right foot, but the door remained unmoved.

"Now this is interesting."

The best way to find out what was happening would be to go deeper into the house and investigate. But Jenkins believed staying away from danger and letting the Church handle it was the better option. Right now, he just wanted to get out.

He glanced down at the terrified girl and said in a low voice:

"Finney... alright, permit me to call you that. I need you to understand that in the world we live in, supernatural forces—ghosts, evil spirits, and the like—are real. And the Church has the power to fight them. No matter what you see in a moment, please don't be alarmed."

The girl was technically an internal member of the Church. While this wasn't exactly by the book, he figured they could sort out the paperwork later. After this was over, she would have to sign a confidentiality pact, swearing to forever keep the Church's secrets.

Though the girl didn't understand what was about to happen, she still gave a small nod.

One of the few advantages of this era was that people were still "ignorant." While they feared the unknown, their acceptance of supernatural forces was significantly higher. Otherwise, Jenkins would have had to waste precious time explaining everything. And right now, time was of the essence.