Once the people were gathered, the haunted house was filled with tourists, so crowded that it ruined the atmosphere and no one would feel scared.
This was the case now. The two brothers were surrounded by over a dozen bodyguards, so they felt no fear.
Everyone walked slowly, descending the stairs.
The steps were still covered in dust.
The environment remained silent.
The surrounding darkness seemed to deepen.
The sound of dripping water could be heard, as if from falling stones.
A peculiar smell filled the air.
Kyle walked down the stairs, descending further, and then he felt something was wrong.
Weren't these stairs a bit too long?
A basement… would anyone really build a basement that required so many stairs to reach?
"How many steps have I taken?"
Kyle slowly began to count.
He remembered to count the steps.
To him, these stairs already felt very long.
How much distance, how much height had he descended?
"Two hundred and thirty steps!"
"We've descended at least sixty meters!"
Said the younger son, Hall.
Kyle had only just remembered to count the steps now.
But the younger son, Hall, had been counting since they entered the stairwell.
As he counted, his fear grew.
Sixty meters, what did that mean?
That was equivalent to the height of twenty floors.
A basement reached by descending stairs for twenty floors, and still not there?
Hall's unease grew.
The old man's condition seemed to be related to the Fountain of Youth, or magical artifacts that extended life.
But now, he felt that the situation was not about the Fountain of Youth, but about a supernatural event?
Hall now understood why the first bodyguard hadn't returned after ten minutes.
With such long stairs, it was perfectly normal not to get a response after ten minutes.
This matter was quite horrifying.
If Hall hadn't come alone, but with over a dozen bodyguards.
If Hall hadn't been so eager to find the old man's method or secret for extending his life, knowing there would be immense gains.
Great profits.
Under normal circumstances, Hall would have left long ago, too afraid to enter.
But now, the hidden profits in this matter had overshadowed his fear.
Throughout history, no one had achieved immortality, nor had anyone found the true Fountain of Youth.
Yet the old man had genuinely recovered his physical functions from being near death to those of a middle-aged man.
Whatever the cause, he had indeed found a "Fountain of Youth" in a sense.
Such immense profit was enough to drive people mad. Hall and Kyle were both nearly forty years old. Although they possessed vast wealth, it could only sustain their health, not grant them immortality.
Forty years old, though still far from death, and not as desperate as the old man had been, if asked if they wanted to live forever, their honest answer would be that they wished to live forever.
Now that the two brothers had almost seen the hope of immortality, although they felt a little uneasy, this seemingly supernatural phenomenon made them realize that the clue they had found was definitely related to the old man's longevity.
The old man must have found something deep within these stairs, acquired some mysterious power, to extend his life.
Because of this, despite their fear and unease, the two brothers did not retreat but continued to walk.
They wanted to see where these stairs led.
The dripping sound seemed to grow louder.
In the depths of the quiet stairs, the sound of dripping water could be heard.
And also…
"Bats?"
Kyle saw a black shadow flash by, almost startling him. In such a silent environment, the most frightening thing was the sudden appearance of living creatures.
And now, exactly what Kyle feared had happened, making him feel a strong urge to flee back up and give up.
Fortunately, when he shone his flashlight upwards, he saw not a woman's ghost, but a bat.
This relieved Kyle, but his expression quickly became serious.
"My dear brother, how many steps have we taken now, and how many meters have we descended?"
Kyle hadn't spoken to Hall like this in a long time. Their relationship was one of life and death, wishing the other dead. The only impression of friendly times seemed to be from their ignorant childhood.
Now, in such a gloomy atmosphere, Kyle's address, representing a reconciliation of their relationship, would shock some members of their family.
But Hall wasn't paying attention to that now. Instead, he counted and said, "Over five hundred meters…"
"We've descended the height of nearly two hundred floors."
"Over two hundred floors."
This figure, when spoken, startled everyone around.
The height of over two hundred floors.
This mountain was only tens of meters high.
Far from five hundred meters.
How deep underground were they?
"Keep going!"
The two brothers commanded.
They had already come so far.
Was there any reason to turn back?
They were determined to uncover what this mysterious phenomenon was!
The further down they went, the more the two brothers felt as if they were heading towards hell.
It seemed to be a path leading to hell, and even to the abyss.
Faint, chilling sounds echoed in their ears, perhaps the cries of bats, or the dripping of water from a flowing river.
There were more and more bats.
Almost in flocks.
The two brothers looked at these bats with cautious eyes.
Fortunately, these bats were still creatures of the Blue Star as they knew it, without any supernatural abilities.
Otherwise, the two brothers might not have been able to endure.
However, the increasing number of bats also created trouble for their continued exploration.
During the descent, seeing dozens of bats flying in the air, some even approaching them.
This was something that no one could find pleasant.
The more than a dozen bodyguards carried firearms, as well as flamethrowers.
While firearms had some effect on bats, flamethrowers were more effective.
The dozen bodyguards initially used their firearms against the bats, but later, finding them ineffective, switched to flamethrowers.
Many bats hit by the flamethrowers let out tragic cries, then fell from the sky, meeting their death in flames.
The dozen bodyguards walked ahead, clearing a path.
Although troublesome, with modern technology, it only wasted a little time. The bats were not an insurmountable obstacle.
Trouble was trouble.
An obstacle was an obstacle.