It had to be said that Xiao Jinsheng's order to split up and flee had been absolutely correct. Though the female knight was powerful, she could only choose one target to pursue.
"Phew... Looks like I wasn't her first target. Did she go after the homeroom teacher?" Bai Xiaowen let out a slight sigh of relief and observed a second of silence for his chubby homeroom teacher. "Still, since she's a knight in a medieval European setting, she should believe in chivalry. She probably won't go on a killing spree, right?"
Bai Xiaowen darted into another basement off one side of the fork. Compared with the artificially excavated basements from before, this one was much narrower and lower, with uneven walls.
"This should be a basement dug out by Plague Rats."
The thought had barely crossed Bai Xiaowen's mind when a gust of wind swept past him and a dark shape lunged straight for his face! In the dimness, all he could see was a pair of glowing green eyes.
"Zombie Rat!"
Without caring about his dignity, Bai Xiaowen rolled across the ground to evade the Zombie Rat's pounce. However, the Zombie Rat's Agility of over 6 came into play. It kicked off the rock wall, changed direction, and pounced at Bai Xiaowen again!
With a ripping sound, the Zombie Rat landed on Bai Xiaowen's back and swung its claws, tearing his shirt apart. Fortunately, the machete strapped to his back blocked the strike. Otherwise, with Bai Xiaowen's frail physique, he would definitely have been injured by that claw.
Yet in that moment of crisis, Bai Xiaowen's mind was perfectly clear. He gritted his teeth against the searing pain in his back and pushed off the ground with both feet. His 4.5 Strength exploded at full force, and fine cracks even appeared in his military boots, showing just how fierce that push had been!
Bang!
Bai Xiaowen's body slammed heavily into the rock wall.
The Zombie Rat clinging to his back was nearly crushed into a patty by the force of the impact. Its Stiffened Skin was of no use against this sort of blunt damage from a Charge.
Bai Xiaowen did not fare much better either, nearly losing consciousness. Fortunately, his Spirit was relatively high. He endured the pain of his spine nearly being displaced and slowly slid down the rock wall into a sitting position. The Zombie Rat's corpse lay close beside him, but Bai Xiaowen had no desire whatsoever to move it.
"Battle concluded. Force: 5. Precision: 3. Continuity: 3. Battle evaluation: Excellent." "Your basic specialty: Combat Proficiency has increased."
Bai Xiaowen glanced at the greatly increased Combat Specialty proficiency and let out a breath. His killing of the Zombie Rat just now had been an exceptional performance. Every rating had surpassed his usual training standards.
In the data-driven Psychic Energy Era, the explosive potential of life could not be underestimated either.
Bai Xiaowen turned on his searchlight and began examining the parchment by its light.
The danger was not over. The truly terrifying threat was the female knight from the Spirit Realm. Bai Xiaowen had to learn more information, including her purpose and the source of the Plague Rat Burrow's mutation, if he wanted a better chance of escaping alive!
The writing on the parchment was in Old Latin. It was written very messily, and several pages were missing.
Old Latin, like classical Chinese, was a subject taught in regular classes.
Bai Xiaowen had studied Latin before class assignments were made in his first year of high school. With his freakish memory, he could still recall quite a few Latin words after searching his mind, though he was helpless when it came to grammar and sentence structure. Fortunately, he could still understand it by guessing from context.
Bai Xiaowen turned through the parchment page by page, slowly sorting through the information recorded there.
It was a diary. A line was written on its title page.
"I, Malgao, am incomparably honored to become the servant of Lord Farga, chief royal alchemist of the Lionheart Empire. I swear before the Lord of Light that I will forever be loyal to my master."
Only then did Bai Xiaowen learn that the dead man in the linen robe in the basement had been a servant named Malgao.
"Radiant Calendar, July 9, 1152."
"My master has been losing his temper more and more often. His Majesty seems to trust that newly arrived alchemist more, and he dismisses my master's alchemical achievements with disdain. This month alone, two servants have been beaten to death by my master with the whip of punishment. I do not wish to become the third. Lord of Light above."
"Radiant Calendar, August 11, 1152."
"Today, we went to North County Monastery to pray. This is already our third time this month. My master seems to have become much more devout lately."
"My master's temper has improved as well. He has not had an outburst all month. This must be the Lord of Light's blessing. Praise the Lord of Light!"
"Radiant Calendar, September 20, 1152."
"Unbelievable! My master is actually willing to take me on as an apprentice. What a rare opportunity! Praise my master!"
"Radiant Calendar, September 21, 1152."
"My master told me his plan and threatened to make me join him, or else silence me forever. Heavens, I would rather never have heard this mad plan. He actually intends to steal the Soul Stone sealed within North County Monastery!"
"That Evil Soulstone is guarded closely by the nuns of North County Monastery. Those terrifying nuns have abandoned money, pleasure, family, love, and every other human desire, devoting their entire bodies and souls to the Lord of Light. They are simply insane fanatics beyond reason. Anyone who dares approach the Soul Stone will be mercilessly purified by them!"
Many pages of the diary afterward were missing. From scattered descriptions, Bai Xiaowen inferred that the "Evil Soulstone" had likely been obtained by the royal alchemist Farga and his servant Malgao.
It seemed the nuns were not as terrifying as Malgao had described.
Bai Xiaowen continued turning the pages and found another relatively intact entry.
"Radiant Calendar, April 6, 1153."
"This is already our third escape. Those mad nuns actually persuaded His Majesty to send powerful royal knights after us! Though the Lionheart Empire is vast, there is no longer any place for us within it."
"We are destined to leave our homeland and head for the southern pearl of the ports—Walteren City. My master plans to find a ship there and cross the ocean to the New World. Until he masters the Evil Soulstone's power and reaches the pinnacle of alchemy, he has sworn never to return to the Lionheart Empire."
"Radiant Calendar, May 30, 1153."
"Amid this seemingly endless pursuit and flight, I have gradually noticed changes in my master. His skin grows paler by the day, like a Vampire crawling out of a grave, inspiring fear at a glance. Yet my master's strength is also increasing each day. He has become faster and stronger. Is all this the power granted by the Evil Soulstone?"
"Radiant Calendar, June 2, 1153."
"Praise the Lord of Light! Just as my master and I were driven into a corner by the royal knights, a Spatial Rift appeared like a miracle! No matter what world lay beyond the rift, we had no choice."
"At last, we can escape this eternal pursuit. I seemed to hear the furious, unwilling roar of the royal knight following behind us."
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