The Knight's Faith

"Hello, Mr. Zuo. I'm Teacher Wang Juan from Hangcheng Angel Baby Childcare Center. Your daughter Zuo Bao'er's full-day childcare period at our center is about to expire. Please be sure to come to our center to handle the follow-up procedures. Otherwise, after it expires, we can only arrange for her to be placed by the relevant state agencies in accordance with regulations. We appreciate your understanding."

The message was quite long. At the end, it included the address and contact number for the so-called Hangcheng Angel Baby Childcare Center. The message had also been sent to Zuo Yi from another unfamiliar phone number.

Zuo Yi guessed that the sender was probably someone he had previously blacklisted as a scammer. Unable to contact him directly, they had switched to another phone number to send him a message.

The message contained the institution's name, an address, and a contact number. Its wording was firm and convincing, making it seem very real.

But where had Zuo Yi gotten a daughter? Zuo Bao'er?

What the hell?

Zuo Yi did not reply right away. Instead, he used his phone to search for the Hangcheng Angel Baby Childcare Center online.

To his surprise, it was a very legitimate organization. It had its own official website, and the address and phone number matched perfectly. He even found Teacher Wang Juan's profile on the site.

There were also plenty of recommendations and reviews for the childcare center online. Its reputation was quite good.

This did not seem like a scam.

After thinking it over, Zuo Yi replied, "I'll come by tomorrow morning."

The other party responded quickly. "That would be wonderful. I'll wait for you at the childcare center. Just ask for me. If I'm not there, please call this number. Thank you!"

Zuo Yi put away his phone and temporarily suppressed the doubts in his heart.

Whether it was a scam or not, he would know once he went there tomorrow. Hangcheng was close by anyway, and he feared no scammer.

What he wanted to do now was sleep!

That night, Zuo Yi slept soundly and deeply.

After such a long passage of time, returning once more to his familiar homeland, returning home and lying in his own bed, the Saint Knight's body and mind were utterly relaxed.

The next morning, Zuo Yi woke to the crisp chirping of birds.

Behind the villa lay a large, dense forest, and not far beyond it stood a lush little hill. Many small animals lived in the woods, birds being the most numerous. They often flew over here to noisily forage for food.

After getting up and washing, Zuo Yi left home and walked into town.

Although his home fell within Riverside Town's boundaries, it was some distance from the bustling town center, making it rather secluded. However, the surrounding scenery and environment were the best.

Zuo Yi familiarly turned into a breakfast shop and said to a woman moving bamboo steamers, "Sister Fang, give me three baskets of buns, two fried dough sticks, and a bowl of soy milk!"

The middle-aged woman in a blue cloth apron turned around at the sound of his voice. When she saw Zuo Yi, she was immediately startled. "Oh my, isn't this young Zuo? When did you get back?"

Zuo Yi smiled. "I just got back yesterday."

Sister Fang was the owner of the shop. Zuo Yi used to come here often for breakfast. Her buns were delicious, and eating them with fried dough sticks and soy milk was pure bliss.

Sister Fang sighed. "You were gone for such a long time this trip—several years! Just the day before yesterday, my husband was talking about you."

As she spoke, she deftly brought Zuo Yi his buns and asked, "Should I pack the extras?"

There were ten buns in a basket. Jiangnan soup buns were not very large, and in the past, one basket had always been just enough for Zuo Yi.

Zuo Yi said, "No need. My appetite's grown."

Knights were all terrifyingly big eaters. As a Saint-tier Knight, Zuo Yi could go years without food or water under extreme circumstances and remain perfectly fine. But if he truly let himself eat freely, let alone three baskets of buns, he could easily finish thirty.

It would just be a little too shocking.

Sister Fang looked Zuo Yi over. He was clearly much stronger than he had been a few years ago, and she praised, "A good appetite is a blessing."

Zuo Yi merely smiled without replying.

That was right. Being able to eat the delicious food of his hometown again truly was a blessing.

After wiping out three baskets of buns, two fried dough sticks, and a bowl of soy milk, Zuo Yi paid and left. He then went to the town bus stop and caught a bus toward downtown Hangcheng.

It was possible to hail a ride through an app in Riverside Town, but Zuo Yi did not have much money left on him. Naturally, he would save where he could, and he was not particularly fussy.

After the bus had gone two stops toward the city, a large group of people boarded all at once, men and women, young and old.

Zuo Yi saw a woman carrying a child squeeze in front of him, so he stood and said, "You can sit here."

The woman looked grateful. "Thank you."

Zuo Yi smiled.

He felt a trace of warmth from his chest. It was the Faith Imprint of Compassion reacting.

After the knights of Sadea World completed their first advancement from Apprentice Knight to True Knight, they would usually choose one or more knightly virtues as the source of their faith, then use the power of faith to cultivate.

Faith belonged to the domain of laws. The more abundant one's power of faith, the faster a knight cultivated and the stronger they became.

Zuo Yi was an exceedingly rare Eight Virtues Knight. His knightly faith consisted of order, honor, courage, keeping promises, fortitude, integrity, honesty, and compassion. What had just been activated was his Compassion Faith.

Because of his compassionate act toward someone weaker, the Faith Imprint connected to his Knight's Heart gave him a small amount of power of faith in return.

Do not underestimate even a little power of faith. Drops made an ocean, grains of sand built a tower. It was precisely through his persistence in matching his words with his actions and his actions with his faith that Zuo Yi had advanced to a Saint-tier Knight in only thirty years—and an Eight Virtues Saint Knight at that.

Throughout the five-epoch history of Sadea World, Eight Virtues Saint Knights had been few enough to count on one's fingers.

However, what Zuo Yi had not expected was that just as the woman holding the child was about to sit down, a bespectacled young man beside her swiftly snatched the seat Zuo Yi had given up first.

Both Zuo Yi and the woman froze. Yet the other man calmly took out his phone, lowered his head, and started playing with it.

Zuo Yi said in a deep voice, "Move. That seat isn't for you."

The man with glasses pretended not to hear. He even took out earphones and stuffed them into his ears, wearing an expression that said, What are you going to do about it?

The woman holding the child said weakly, "Forget it."

This was not the first time she had encountered something like this. She was not the fierce and fiery sort, and she was used to letting things go.

She might be able to endure it, but Zuo Yi could not!

Zuo Yi did not waste another word. He reached out, grabbed the back of the man's neck, and lifted him bodily into the air.

The man with glasses immediately let out a pig-slaughtering shriek. "Help! Murder! Urgh..."

Zuo Yi had sealed off his airway, leaving him unable to make another sound. In an instant, his face turned purple-red, and his eyes rolled upward.

The surrounding passengers were all dumbstruck.

Zuo Yi had no intention of killing anyone. He carried the man aside and set him down, then said to the woman, "Sit."

The woman holding the child swallowed and obediently sat down.

Her heart pounded wildly—this was the first time in her life she had seen such a formidable man.

So cool, so handsome, so domineering!

She could not help sneaking a glance at Zuo Yi, a blush quietly spreading across her face.

Zuo Yi did not notice the woman's gaze. He was feeling the warmth from the three Faith Imprints of order, keeping promises, and honor.

Because Zuo Yi had upheld order, kept his promise, and defended honor, he received the feedback of all three faiths.

But the bespectacled man, who had become a tool for harvesting Zuo Yi's faith, was miserable. He clutched his throat and coughed until tears streamed down his face.

He had wanted to wash away this humiliation, but after weighing the difference in strength between himself and Zuo Yi, he did not dare retaliate at all. At the next stop, under the contemptuous and mocking stares of the surrounding passengers, he slunk away.

When the bus reached the stop closest to Angel Baby Childcare Center in the city, Zuo Yi got off as well.

With the help of the navigation app on his phone, he found the childcare center without much effort.

It was in a mixed-use commercial and residential building.

Following the address in the message, Zuo Yi took the elevator to the seventeenth floor.

When the elevator doors opened, he immediately saw the Angel Baby Childcare Center's sign mounted on the wall opposite him.

There was also a reception desk.

Zuo Yi walked over and said to the receptionist, "Hello, I'm looking for Teacher Wang Juan."

The receptionist gave him a sweet smile. "Hello, are you Mr. Zuo?"

Zuo Yi nodded.

By this point, he felt that the possibility of this being a scam was extremely small. Could someone have made a mistake instead?

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