Thought It Was Hard to Believe?

Zheng Yichen looked at the seams on his combat suit. From the outside, there was nothing wrong with it anymore. Of course, the lost defense couldn't be restored, but at least it was wearable.

Humming a little tune, Zheng Yichen got ready for bed. During the night, he heard a faint noise and woke from his sleep. A shadow saw him sitting up. The hand opening the window froze, then the intruder immediately jumped out and bolted.

"What the hell? I can get robbed here, too?" Zheng Yichen watched the shadow flee and yawned. He closed the window again and went back to sleep. The thief had already run off—what was the point of chasing him?

He didn't know the area, and there was no guarantee he'd catch up even if he gave chase. This time, he put his gun under his pillow before going to sleep. Since he didn't know the area, if he ran into a thief, he could just shoot. If it wasn't a thief, why not use the front door?

The next day, Zheng Yichen got up early and began stretching. The lasting boost from the Unicorn Mule was nearly over, so he wanted to make the most of it and train more while he still could. That might give him a greater boost than the natural increase alone.

As he trained, Zheng Yichen could clearly feel a few problems. His training was less effective during this period of growth than it had been in Longcheng, where he'd felt the effects of training much more strongly.

This environmental adjustment to his physique made him uncomfortable. It was the discomfort of knowing he could improve much more, only to have that potential forcibly suppressed.

He clearly could improve further.

As for his special perception of the environment's power, he could basically ignore it. He didn't know magic or anything like that, so having a little perception was useless. At most, it let him sense approaching abnormal creatures a bit sooner. Also, in a world like this, the Unicorn Mule's tongue that he carried around was more powerful.

The Hissing Sound it gave off had a stronger effect on the mind, and its horn seemed to have gained some subtle additional properties. With his crude special perception, Zheng Yichen could sense the "air currents" around the horn. As for anything else, he couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Clearly, this was another effect of Environment Adjustment: objects that already possessed special powers could reveal their properties—or manifest them more strongly—in a more open environment.

Zheng Yichen hadn't noticed any changes in the anomaly within himself, and the Black Gun hadn't changed either. The "anomaly" he'd extracted from the Headless Knight had been heavily diluted. Of the huge gulp he'd downed, less than a tenth could be considered meat. The rest was all water.

Katrina's family was wealthy in the small town. After Zheng Yichen finished exercising, he got dressed and left his room to find that breakfast was already laid out: coffee, fine bread, eggs, and bacon. By Longcheng standards, it was an ordinary breakfast.

Any ordinary person could put together something like that with a little effort, without even spending much time on it. But here, it seemed to count as a high-quality breakfast. Katrina and her parents were all there.

There weren't many servants. After all, they were wealthy in a small town, not in a city.

Katrina's father was named Fantaso. The middle-aged woman beside him was Katrina's stepmother, Mary.

"Katrina told me you found the culprit behind the murders. Plenty of people at tonight's banquet will enjoy hearing your story," Fantaso said, sipping his coffee.

His daughter had told him that Zheng Yichen had discovered a Headless Knight. As for the existence of Headless Knights... Fantaso didn't really believe in them. It wasn't that he denied they existed; he simply thought they shouldn't appear here.

He had some of the books distributed by the Church, too. As the richest man in town, he couldn't have less than the mayor. The bestiary of Evil Creatures included Headless Knights. They were abominations against life. At least ghouls and zombies were still whole.

But a Headless Knight...

Though that Evil Creature had no head, it ranked far above most others. More importantly, Headless Knights were Evil Creatures returned from Hell. They were immortal, swift and agile, and skilled with the sword. How could such a high-ranking Evil Creature appear in a remote place like this?

If it had been a ghoul or a zombie, he might have believed it. Such creatures could appear anywhere, especially where many people had died. But Headless Knights were different. No matter how many ordinary people died, they wouldn't turn into Headless Knights.

It wasn't unreasonable to think that such a creature had once been a knight who fell into evil after dying.

"When I was young, I also liked telling people my age stories that made me sound brave."

Katrina's expression turned awkward. She looked anxiously at her father. She'd thought this would be a simple breakfast where Zheng Yichen and her family could get to know each other, but she'd never expected things to turn out like this.

How could Zheng Yichen's encounter with a Headless Knight be just a story?

"But your daughter likes hearing stories like that."

Fantaso had been maintaining an elegant expression, but now he froze, the corner of his mouth twitching. His daughter had left early the day before and hadn't returned until nearly dark. If he hadn't sent someone to check, he might have completely lost it. They'd found that she hadn't gone off somewhere private with Zheng Yichen, but had instead spent her time in a haystack in town, staring at a little square object.

His own daughter had gotten involved with an outsider whose Demon Hunter credentials were questionable at best—and on the man's very first day here, no less. If that were true, he'd be disgraced.

Now Zheng Yichen's remark left Fantaso fuming. He wanted to say more, but Zheng Yichen had already taken his bacon and bread and left.

"Stay here!" Fantaso said sharply when Katrina tried to follow him. Zheng Yichen, meanwhile, went back to his room, grabbed his Backpack, and left. In this house, Katrina was still a daughter, not the one in charge. Since her father was so hostile toward him, there was no reason for him to stay.

He went to see the mayor. After hearing that Zheng Yichen had encountered a Headless Knight, the mayor also looked unconvinced. He thought much the same as Fantaso: Headless Knights weren't ordinary Evil Creatures.

In this era, living knights were considered the very pinnacle of Martial Force. An immortal Headless Knight was the pinnacle of the pinnacle. If Zheng Yichen had really encountered one, how could he have made it back alive?

The creature rode a horse. Could someone on two legs outrun something on four? Even if Zheng Yichen had barely survived, could he have returned completely unharmed? As far as they were concerned, the claim that he'd encountered a Headless Knight sounded completely unbelievable...

He could at least have said he'd encountered a ghoul that liked chewing on heads.