Charles was about to cry: “Walker, my good friend, not everyone’s physical fitness is as good as yours. To be honest, I read some information before that said you were a programmer, but I don’t think that’s right—you must be a rugby player, and a star one at that, right?”

No wonder Charles thought so. This mountain path was actually quite rugged and poorly maintained, overgrown with wild grass and shrubs. Walking on it was hardly different from climbing a mountain. But the Lord’s Heart provided him with a constant source of energy, subtly improving his organ function and strengthening his muscles, so climbing was nothing to him.

The Southern Alps are the tallest mountain range in New Zealand, running through the central and western parts of the South Island. The highest peak, Mount Cook, is 3,764 meters above sea level, and the range stretches 320 kilometers in a northeast-southwest direction. The starting point of this range is roughly within the territory of the Land of the Never-Setting Sun. Coincidentally, the castle was built halfway up the initial peak of this range, at an elevation of over four hundred meters.

After climbing four hundred meters, Charles felt half dead. By the time he finally reached the castle, he sat right down on the wild grass, gasping for breath, completely disregarding his manners.

Robert Walker was also panting, but only to avoid letting Charles notice anything unusual. In reality, he still had plenty of energy!

Standing in front of the ancient castle, Robert Walker looked up at his own fortress. From a distance, the stone-built castle looked imposing and majestic, but up close, he realized it was very old and dilapidated, filled with a sense of desolation and ruin.

The stone walls were ten or twenty meters high, with wild grass growing in the cracks and vines like ivy and Virginia creeper climbing up the walls. The outer walls were rough, like the weathered skin of an old farmer, and there were many holes in the stone, like age spots on skin.

Seeing Robert Walker interested in the castle, the resting Charles began to introduce it: “So, buddy, isn’t it impressive? I’ve read about the castle’s construction. It’s said that the Roberts family used 500 tons of cement, 2,000 cubic meters of lime, and 150,000 bricks to build it. As for the stones, since they were sourced locally, there’s no way to count them!”

“If you knew how backward technology was back then, you’d understand how hard it was to build this—especially halfway up a mountain! They had to use steam cranes to haul materials up, then transfer them to various relay stations with special vehicles that could tilt and dump their loads, and finally use precisely calculated pulley systems to get everything into place. Pretty amazing, right?”

After hearing Charles’s introduction, Robert Walker was indeed shocked. He asked, “So how much did it cost to build this castle? Wasn’t there a labor shortage in New Zealand at the time? How did the Roberts family hire enough workers?”

Charles said, “Back then, the Roberts family had just fled England and were still quite wealthy, but even so, they nearly spent everything they had to build this castle.”

“To be honest, they miscalculated. They thought New Zealand would become a second Europe, where nobles could fight and seize land. The Roberts family painstakingly built this castle on the mountainside, hoping to use it as a base to rule the South Island. But looking at it now, that idea was really foolish!” Charles sneered.

Chapter 8: The Haunted Castle

The castle’s main gate was a wooden door assembled from long planks, resembling a fence. It was about five or six meters high and ten meters wide, battered and shabby, fastened with a thick iron chain, and secured with an old-fashioned black iron lock.

Robert Walker took out the keys. The key ring looked like a hand bell, with about forty or fifty keys on it. The largest key was as big as a chicken drumstick—obviously the key to the main gate.

He thought the rusty iron lock would be hard to open, but after inserting the key, it turned easily. Charles explained, “Actually, the castle has only been closed for less than half a month. The old lord was living here until recently.”

Robert Walker pushed open the door and joked, “So someone just died in there. Aren’t you scared?”

Charles snorted, “I’ve seen more dead people than you’ve seen living ones…”

At this point, he fell silent, probably realizing even he didn’t believe his own bragging.

From the outside, the castle looked grand, still retaining some of its former glory despite its age. But once inside, it was clear the place was filthy, chaotic, and in utter disrepair:

After entering the main gate, there was another inner wall, lower than the outer one, forming an alley between the two. Only after passing through the inner gate did you truly enter the castle. On either side of the inner gate were small rooms like guardhouses or sentry posts. The entrance faced a small square, overgrown with weeds, with only half a statue remaining in the center.

On the east and west sides of the square were several trees and buildings. The trees were tall but withered, and the buildings varied in height and unknown purpose. Charles pointed them out, saying this was the granary, that was the bakery, over there was the hall, and that was the chapel. He knew quite a bit, but the buildings were so dilapidated it was impossible to tell their original use.

The only thing that stood out was the massive building directly facing the square—the main stone tower of the castle, about forty meters high, grand and imposing, as immovable as a mountain!

With a sense of reverence, Robert Walker pushed open the door. Just as he was about to enter, he suddenly heard a muffled sentence in English.