Early the next morning after arriving in Salzburg, under the leadership of Leya, Weiran and others left the hotel where they stayed yesterday early and boarded the train bound for Bad Hofga with their three pets in their flight boxes.
Stein's sightseeing train.
??During the more than an hour-long train ride, Wei Ran and others were enjoying the beautiful Alpine scenery outside the train window, while also listening to Leya's introduction to this place.
??According to this French woman, the small town of Bad Hofgastein is located almost in the center of the Gastein Valley, and the history of this small town hidden deep in the Alps can be traced back to ancient times.
Roman period.
??At that time, it was still a gold and silver mining town. By the Middle Ages, it had become a trading center for Italy, Austria and Germany.
??But what really made this place rise was not only the long-standing gold and silver mines, but also the hot springs discovered along with the mining of gold and silver mines. As early as the early 19th century, this place became a well-known hot spring resort.
??Especially after World War II, hot springs containing radioactive hydrogen were accidentally discovered during gold mining, attracting many tourists suffering from arthritis and respiratory diseases.
??Even the Katenka sisters mentioned in casual chat that they had come here with their mother more than once during their middle school days to soak in hot springs and practice skiing and paragliding.
??After more than an hour of chatting, the train journey ended. When the group of them got off the train and left the train station under the leadership of Leya, as far as the eye could see, there was a quiet town that seemed like a paradise.
.
??"Where is that castle?" Suisui asked impatiently urging Anfisa to help.
??"On the top of the mountain on the east side of the Gastein Valley, but because of the angle, it is difficult to see the castle from here."
??Leya raised her finger and pointed in the direction, "It's about seven kilometers away from the town. Come to the office with me first, and then we'll drive up."
??"Is there an office here?" Wei Ran asked curiously.
??"certainly"
??Leya nodded, "After all, that castle is far away from the town, and there are usually no people there. People only come here every spring and autumn, so we always have to have a foothold in the town.
「
??While talking, Leya had already found a van from the parking lot, "You guys came at the right time. It happens to be the routine maintenance time every spring. In fact, I was still working here three days ago.
It was Sebastian who called me back to meet you."
??"I hope it doesn't affect your work."
??As Wei Ran said, he also opened the car door and let Suisui and the Katenka sisters, who were holding the little fox, get into the car first.
??"Of course it won't affect"
??Leya smiled easily, waited for Weiran to put everyone's luggage into the trunk, and got into the car with Beria, and immediately started the car and left the parking lot.
??First we rushed from the train station to a small town three kilometers away. Leya, who was familiar with the roads, drove the car to the door of a beautiful three-story villa with two garages and two roadside parking spaces on the east edge of the town.
, led Wei Ran and others through the courtyard where various tools were placed and walked straight into the room, greeting them warmly and sitting down.
??"This is my office. Our car is parked here. Occasionally, staff come over and rest here."
??While explaining, Leya took out the key and opened a door on the first floor, "This is my office and lounge. Please wait a moment while I change clothes."
??After saying that, the woman closed the door from the inside. When she came out again, she had taken off the formal clothes and leather shoes she was originally wearing, and put on a set of slightly worn-out jackets and pants and a pair of muddy shoes.
hiking boots.
?? He took a look inside while the other party was walking out of the room. Wherever he looked, the room was filled with all kinds of drawings and information. There was even a huge photo of the castle hanging on the wall.
??"You just said that occasionally staff members come over and they all live here?"
??Withdrawing his gaze, Wei Ran pointed to a group photo of more than a dozen people hanging on the wall of the lobby on the first floor, "Don't you live in the castle?"
Hearing this, Leya's expression changed, and she said helplessly, "In fact, since the rumors of hauntings appeared, no staff member is willing to spend the night in the castle, even if the conditions in the castle are far more comfortable than here."
many."
??"Including you?" Anfiya couldn't help but asked curiously.
??"I..." Leya's expression became more and more embarrassed, and she looked for excuses in a pale tone, "I have a phobia of living alone."
??"Is there such a disease in medicine?" Anfiya muttered subconsciously.
??"It just started," Anfiya teased with a strange expression, and then translated the conversation just now to Suisui, who couldn't understand German.
??Seeing that the female architect who kept saying that the castle was not haunted was too scared to live in the castle, Wei Ran also realized that there might be something wrong with that castle.
??For safety reasons, he used the excuse that he needed to go to the bathroom to wash his face and sober up. He took the opportunity to take out two PSS silent pistols and two spare magazines from the food box, and found an opportunity to stuff them into the Katenka sisters.
??This gun was naturally prepared in advance before leaving Kazan, so that the Katenka sisters could not only protect themselves, but also better protect Suisui.
??However, for the Katenka sisters who got the weapons, instead of wondering whether the Soviet weapons could kill the Austrian ghosts, they were actually more curious about how Weiran handed over these two items after landing in Hawaii.
The weapons given to them were brought from Hawaii to Austria so smoothly.
??After all, they clearly remembered that this weapon was clearly returned to Weihan before they decided to leave for Honolulu Airport in Hawaii.
??In the confusion of the two sisters, Leya, who was obviously much more relaxed after changing her clothes, used a headband to fix the bangs on her head, and then drove them out of the town, along an ever-rising road.
The winding mountain road leads to the top of the mountain.
??After passing through a small pasture and passing a particularly beautiful small waterfall on the roadside, the van also drove into a forest with beech and fir trees.
??Driving slowly along the gravel road for nearly 20 minutes in this mixed forest shrouded in clouds and mist, when the car reached the top of this seemingly bald hill, there was no warning in front of it.
A large flat land covered with roses.
??It is early spring, and although all that can be seen in this sea of flowers are thorny flower stems and workers busy building branches, it is not difficult to imagine what it will be like when this sea of flowers is in full bloom.
??Of course, compared to the horticultural rose field planted in various patterns and the ornamental trees in the flower field that are being built by several workers, the most attractive thing here is the one in the center of the roses.
The White Castle, and the windmill in the southeast corner of the castle, which is also surrounded by rose fields.
??Compared to the Elk Castle that Wei Ran was more "familiar" with, he had to admit that the magnificent building in front of him could truly be called a "castle" because - it had city walls and a castle that was integrated with the city walls.
Defense line towers.
??Seeing that Wei Ran and others were all paying attention to the building outside the window, Leya simply stepped on the brakes, asked everyone to get out of the car, and walked towards the castle.
??"This castle was first named White Rose Castle by Mr. Timov. Of course, that was when the castle still existed on the blueprints."
??"Who is Mr. Timov?" Suisui asked after listening to the translation.
??"Mr. Dominic's brother-in-law"
??Wei Ran gave a simple and clear explanation in Chinese, and then asked in German, "So this castle was actually built in compliance with Mr. Timov's last wish?"
??“According to my father, Mr. Timov was originally going to give this castle to his wife, Mrs. Sophie, and their daughter. But before he could buy the land, his daughter and his wife
They passed away one after another, and later even Mr. Timov also left this world."
??After a short pause, Leya finally concluded, "So strictly speaking, this castle was built by Mr. Dominic to commemorate the Timov family."
?? Waiting patiently for Wei Ran to finish "translating", Leya continued to explain as she walked, "The predecessor of this castle was the nobles who mined gold here in the 19th century.
??A hunting station built."
??"What is a hunting station?" Wei Ran asked Suisui the question she wanted to ask before she could speak.
??"To put it simply, it was built so that nobles could camp safely when hunting in the wild. It is a defensive building with only city walls."
??Leya sighed with regret, "Unfortunately, since Germany occupied this place during World War II, the hunting station was completely blown up by the Germans.
??But thanks to their barbaric behavior at the time, otherwise building a castle here would have been a very troublesome matter legally."
??At this point, everyone has to crane their necks if they want to see the highest point of the castle wall. Although they still don’t know what the inside of the castle looks like, looking at the thick wall from the outside, there are probably thirty
The rice goes up.
??"This castle is so beautiful." Suisui couldn't help but admired as she raised her neck as hard as she could.
??"Why do I seem to have seen a similar castle somewhere?"
?? Anfiya murmured to herself subconsciously, and Anfisa next to her also nodded, "It seems that I have seen it somewhere before."
??"You think it's normal to have seen it somewhere?"
Leia smiled and explained, "The design of this castle draws heavily on the Pierrefonds Castle in France. Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say plagiarism."
??"Plagiarism?" Wei Ran looked at the calm-looking woman in front of him in astonishment.
??"It is indeed plagiarism. When Mr. Dominic found my father, he only made one request."
??Leya cleared her throat and said in a tone of voice, "Louis, help me build a castle. It should have thick walls but not blocking the view and beautiful towers. Well, just like the Castle of Pierrefonds."
??"Then what?" Wei Ran asked curiously.
??"Then my upright father, Mr. Louis, helped him build this magnificent building with a side of 100 meters, almost exactly like the Chateau Pierrefonds."
Leia smiled and explained, "Of course, it's not exactly the same. There are also some architectural parts here that Pierrefonds doesn't have. Anyway, come with me and I'll show you around."
??Hearing this, everyone followed Leya through the open city gate between the two towers and walked into the interior of the castle paved with bluestone strips.
??In addition to the surrounding buildings that are integrated with the city wall, there is an ancient tree that looks very old in the center of the courtyard inside the castle. At this time, several workers are busy pruning it. This ancient tree is not far away.
, and a well that also looks very old.
??"This is an olive tree"
??Leya explained while staying far away, "It and the well are also the few remaining elements left from the hunting station I just mentioned. According to the measurement of the experts we invited, it has at least
The tree is four hundred years old.
??Of course, that well is relatively young. Judging from the pottery found at the bottom of the well, it is probably only two hundred years old at most. However, I have to admit that the water quality of this well is very good. "
??After speaking, Leya led everyone into the row of buildings built next to the city wall.
??"It's so beautiful here..." Suisui, who was standing in the corridor, couldn't help but exclaimed a similar admiration again.
??"It's indeed beautiful..." Wei Ran secretly sighed. Compared to the Elk Castle, which looks like a rough house, even describing this place as luxurious can't be overstated.
??But compared to the simple and elegant decoration, what really made him sigh was the things stored here.
??Everywhere he looked, he saw a lot of familiar and unfamiliar things. Among these things, there were both a Willys Jeep and an American muscle car. There was also a very familiar looking car in the middle of the hall.
A German dining truck from World War II. There is even a very American collectible inside - a Coca-Cola vending machine.
??Not far from the dining car, on a display table with a glass cover, lunch boxes with different names written on them were neatly placed.
??This familiar scene even made Wei Ran subconsciously think that in the next second, two young blond girls would take out spoonfuls of thick, mixed food from the big pot of the dining car.
radish
?? Pudding’s oatmeal is placed on those lunch boxes, and then sensible children line up to deliver it to the long table outside.
??But in addition, this warm room also contains items such as the BC1000 radio station of the US Army from World War II, as well as several American-style oil stoves with extensive signs of use and radiators made of gas mask cans.
??"These are the relics of Mr. Timov and Mrs. Sophie"
??Leya's voice lowered a bit, "Although I have never met them, I remember very clearly that after the castle was built, these things were flown in by Mr. Dominic."
??As he said this, everyone followed him into the second room.
??In this room, there are two huge shelves placed against the wall. On them are tubes of various paints, rolls of canvas, and packages of unpacked picture frames.
??In the bright area cast by the sunlight outside the window in the center of the floor, there is an easel and a small table with a palette.
??On the slightly severely cracked canvas, there are still faintly distinguishable paintings of boys and girls with smiling faces, and a ruins covered by weeds.
??In the lower right corner of the canvas, there seems to be an American soldier working hard to turn the switch wheel of the water gate.
??Continue to visit the third room. The walls of this room are covered with Sophie's oil paintings and a very familiar photo of Zhang Weiran. Even the paintings in those oil paintings are all those who are destined to never see the world again.
Friends I can't see.
??Continue along the spacious and warm corridor and walk on the thick carpet into the fourth room. In addition to an old-looking piano, there are also other things on the surrounding walls.
One photo after another.
??However, in these photos, basically only Sophie and Timov are left, and a little girl who looks somewhat similar to Timov and Sophie.
??Through these photos, Weiran can also see that Sophie and Timov lived a life that could be called prosperous after the war. In the background of the photos, gold mining machinery appeared from time to time, as well as the United States in the 1960s.
The scenery of each city also hints at their prosperity in career.
??However, when the little girl who grew up in the photo no longer appeared, the smiles on Sophie and Timov's faces became less and less. The background behind them gradually became just the same.
farm and easel covered with various paints.
??Sighing secretly, Wei Ran and others, led by Leya, went around the castle again, and finally climbed up to the second floor of the main building of the castle along a beautiful stone staircase.
.
??With a soft creaking sound, Leya opened a door and led everyone into a room with a glass dome and glass curtain wall. In this large room, there was a large enough swimming pool.
, at the same time, outside the window, you can also see the snow-capped peaks in the distance. And at the foot of the glass window, there is the city wall, as well as the cliff that goes straight up and down outside the city wall, and the river and a small waterfall flowing under the cliff.
??"The heating of this castle relies entirely on geothermal hot springs 1,400 meters underground. Even when the weather is bad in summer, the water temperature of the hot springs here can exceed 45 degrees Celsius,"
??Leya had already turned on a silver switch while she was speaking. Immediately, the animal-head-shaped water outlets around the swimming pool began to gush out clean water. After a while, the water flow actually began to evaporate with a faint scent.
water vapor.
?? Without closing the switch at all, Leya led them through a sliding door on the glass wall. It was only then that everyone noticed that there was an outdoor hot spring pool with a better view outside.
??"Want to take a bath in a hot spring?"
??Leya had already turned on a switch again while she was speaking, and immediately, the water outlets around the hot spring pool began to gush out steamy hot springs.
??"It will take some time to fill it up, but don't worry, when it is full, the excess spring water will flow into the river below."
After speaking, Leya waved and led them upstairs while saying, "If you really plan to stay here tonight, I suggest you stay in the room upstairs."
??"Because the scenery there is nice enough?" Wei Ran asked curiously.
??"certainly"
??Leya replied matter-of-factly, "Not only is the view good, starting from the third floor, every room can see the top of the city wall outside. In other words, from any room starting from the third floor, it is possible to see the top of the city wall."
There are ghosts at work in this castle."
??"What does that ghost look like?" Suisui couldn't help but asked curiously.
??"Krampus"
??Leya casually pushed open a room on the third floor, opened the thick red curtains and thin white gauze curtains, pointed at the city wall outside the window and said, "Have you heard of the legend of Krampus?"
