Traps and Conspiracies

"You are..."

"My name is Fang Zheng. I'm a Guardian Knight Trainee from the Holy Temple of Starmoon City. I came here with Great Knight Stone to assist you."

"From Starmoon City... You mean Great Knight Stone came too?"

Yet to Fang Zheng's surprise, rather than looking pleased upon hearing his answer, the Knight's expression changed drastically.

"This is bad. You shouldn't have come here! This is a trap. Damn it, we've all been fooled... Cough, cough...!"

Perhaps because he was too agitated, the Knight started coughing up blood before he could finish speaking. Seeing this, Fang Zheng stepped forward and pressed a hand onto his shoulder. After carefully examining the Knight's condition, he quickly discovered a deep wound across his waist.

"All right, don't get so worked up. We're already here, and you can't exactly send us back now... In any case, let's treat your injuries first."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng raised his hand and cast Holy Light Flash on the Knight. A pure, warm white radiance enveloped the Knight's body. Under its glow, the bloody, mangled wound at his waist rapidly healed, and before long it had completely recovered.

"So fast?!"

Feeling that comfortable warmth and watching his injuries heal so quickly, the Knight looked rather astonished. He was only an ordinary Knight, not as strong as a Grand Knight like Stone. Still, after fighting for the Holy Temple for so many years, he had plenty of experience. He could tell that Fang Zheng's healing spell had far surpassed the level of the Acolyte Priestesses in the Holy Temple. Ordinary healing spells could close wounds, but they could not restore one's strength. Yet the healing spell this young man had cast not only healed his injuries in such a short time, but also made him feel his strength rapidly returning—this was at least a bishop-level healing spell!

Just who was this young man?

The more the Knight faced Fang Zheng, the more confused he became. He had indeed seen the insignia Fang Zheng wore, bearing the Holy Temple's mark, so it could not be fake. If Fang Zheng had been a priest specializing in healing, he might have accepted it. But Fang Zheng had also displayed formidable combat power in the battle just now, which made the Knight find it hard to believe. A Knight who specialized in both combat and healing, and was so young besides? Why had he never heard of him before?

"Looks like there's no problem now."

Fang Zheng had no idea what the Knight was thinking. He merely glanced at him, and after confirming that his injuries had mostly healed, held out a hand.

"Can you stand?"

"Of course. Thank you, young man."

Hearing Fang Zheng's words, the Knight froze for a moment before smiling and reaching out. He took Fang Zheng's hand and stood up.

"My name is Conan. I'm a Knight directly under the Thirteenth Bishop Brigade... Uh, why are you looking at me like that?"

"No, it's nothing..."

Faced with Knight Conan's question, Fang Zheng smiled and shook his head. Then he let go of Conan's hand and quietly took two steps back. It was not that Fang Zheng intended to do anything to the Knight before him. That name was simply too terrifying; the moment he heard it, his heart instinctively skipped a beat... He had no idea what the hell was going on, but Fang Zheng felt it would be better to keep some distance from this man.

After all, in his world, that name was also famously terrifying—responsible for countless deaths and enough to make people shudder at its mention...

"By the way, where are the others? Why are you the only one here?"

"Sigh..."

Hearing Fang Zheng's question, Knight Conan let out a long sigh before finally speaking.

"It happened like this..."

The cause of the matter was not much different from what Fang Zheng had expected. These Knights were among the pursuers of the body he now inhabited. Williams had already been an enemy of the Holy Temple, and after Fang Zheng had inexplicably fought him and killed several of his Knights, the grudge had naturally deepened. The others had then searched everywhere for clues about Williams to avenge their comrades.

Since Fang Zheng had used the Lich King's power in the wilderness, these Knights naturally believed that the Cultist must have been connected to undead monsters such as Necromancers. Thus, they had searched and investigated all the way. Later, they received a lead from an old farmer in a town—undead creatures had frequently appeared in Shadow Canyon recently, and there even seemed to be an immensely powerful and terrifying Lich among them! That Lich had been appearing and disappearing throughout the canyon lately, abducting children everywhere. Children from many villages and towns had already vanished without a trace! After obtaining the information, the group immediately reported it to the Holy Temple and waited for orders from above. Although they had already suspected that this Lich was likely the culprit who had killed their comrades, as Knights of the Holy Temple, they still had to act under orders.

But while the group was waiting for the Holy Temple's reply, the old farmer who had provided them with the information came to them in tears, begging them to save his grandson. Faced with the old man's desperate pleas, the Knights could not possibly refuse him coldly. Moreover, they were eager for revenge themselves. In the end, the Paladins decided to venture deep into Shadow Canyon to investigate. Even if they did not clash with that Lich, gathering more clues would still be worthwhile.

What they had not expected was that everything had been a trap from the very beginning. The old farmer who had given them the information was actually a Cultist as well!

He led them into Shadow Canyon, winding this way and that until the Knights soon lost their way. By the time they realized something was wrong, the old farmer had long vanished without a trace, and they had already stepped into the enemy's encirclement!

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of undead creatures surrounded the Knights from every direction. Realizing that the situation was dire, the Knights naturally fought with all their might to break out. But there were simply too many enemies, and someone had also cast a restriction that sealed the teleportation routes, leaving these unfortunate Knights unable to escape this damned place at all. Their main force had already been split apart and surrounded by the undead creatures. Knight Conan, who stood before Fang Zheng, was one of those scattered when the undead creatures charged them. He had desperately tried to escape, but ultimately failed and was blocked by the undead creatures. If Fang Zheng had not appeared in time, he likely would not have escaped death either.

"I see."

After hearing Conan's account, Fang Zheng finally understood what had happened. He frowned and began to think. Knight Conan glanced at him, then looked around in confusion.

"No matter what, we should meet up with Great Knight Stone first... Mr. Fang Zheng, didn't you say that you came here with Great Knight Stone? Right, the space here has been sealed off. How did you get here?"

"We were teleported here through Starpath. As for why we aren't together... I don't know either."

At this point, Fang Zheng sighed helplessly. The few teleportations he had experienced since being reborn into this world all seemed rather unreliable. In the Dark World, he had been sent directly in front of a BOSS, and this time, three people had clearly been teleported over, yet no one knew where the others were... Forget it. There was no point dwelling on it.

"What do you plan to do now?"

With that thought, Fang Zheng decisively tossed those troublesome matters aside and looked at Knight Conan beside him. This was clearly not something he could solve on his own. All he could do now was hope that the other two had been teleported to the same place. If they had also been separated like he had, Great Knight Stone would definitely be fine. As for that girl named M... Well, Fang Zheng would remember to burn incense for her on this day next year.

"This..."

Faced with Fang Zheng's question, Knight Conan seemed somewhat hesitant as well. He frowned and thought for quite a while before finally speaking.

"Originally, after escaping the pursuit of those undead creatures, I planned to find the Commander and rendezvous with them. After all, this is Shadow Canyon. With the space sealed off, acting alone is not a good idea. And with my strength alone, I can't leave this place either..."

"Do you know where they are?"

"Of course. Before we were scattered, we were retreating toward Blood Sandbar. If they managed to break through the undead creatures' encirclement, then we should meet up there."

"Good."

Hearing this, Fang Zheng nodded. Then he sheathed his sword and gestured to Conan.

"Then let's head to Blood Sandbar."