The Knight's Faith

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

The message was rather long. At the end, it included the address and contact number of the so-called Hangcheng Angel Baby Childcare Center. The number that had sent Zuo Yi the message was another unfamiliar one.

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 included an organization, a name, an address, and a contact number. It sounded convincing and looked quite genuine. But where had Zuo Yi gotten a daughter? Zuo Bao'er? What the hell?

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

To his surprise, it was a very legitimate institution. 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 quite a few online recommendations and reviews for the childcare center. Its reputation was quite good. This no longer looked like a scam.

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

The other party responded quickly. "That's wonderful. I'll be waiting for you at the childcare center. Just ask for me. If I happen not to be 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 find out tomorrow. Hang City was close by anyway, and he had no fear of scammers.

What he wanted to do now was sleep!

That night, Zuo Yi slept deeply and soundly.

After such a long time, he had returned to his familiar homeland, returned home, and lay in his own bed once more. The Saint Knight's body and mind relaxed completely.

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

Behind the villa lay a vast, dense forest, with a lush little hill not far away. Many small animals lived in the woods, birds being the most numerous. They often flew over here to chirp noisily in search of food.

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

Although his home lay within Riverside Town's boundaries, it was some distance from the bustling town center and thus rather secluded. However, the surroundings and scenery were the best.

Zuo Yi expertly turned into a breakfast shop and said to a woman moving steamer trays, "Aunt 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 at the sound of his voice. When she saw Zuo Yi, she was immediately surprised. "Oh my, isn't this the young man from the Zuo Family? When did you get back?"

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

Aunt Fang was the owner of the shop. Zuo Yi had often come here for breakfast in the past. Her buns tasted excellent, and having them with fried dough sticks and soy milk was simply a tremendous pleasure.

Aunt Fang sighed. "You've been gone for so long this time, several years at least. My husband was talking about you just the day before yesterday!"

As she spoke, she swiftly brought Zuo Yi his buns and asked, "Do you want the extra ones packed up?"

There were ten buns in each basket. Jiangnan soup buns were not particularly large, and Zuo Yi had usually ordered just one basket in the past.

Zuo Yi said, "No need. My appetite has grown."

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

It would just be far too shocking.

Aunt Fang looked Zuo Yi over. He was clearly much sturdier than he had been a few years ago, and she praised, "Being able to eat is a blessing."

Zuo Yi merely smiled.

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

After cleanly finishing 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 took a bus toward downtown Hang City.

He could have hailed a ride through a taxi app in Riverside Town, but he did not have much money left on him. Naturally, he would save where he could, and he was not so particular.

After the bus had traveled two stops toward the city center, another crowd of people surged aboard, men and women, young and old.

Zuo Yi saw a woman holding a child squeeze in front of him, so he stood and said, "You can take my seat."

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.

In the Sadea World, after completing their first advancement from Apprentice Knight to True Knight, knights would usually choose one or more knightly virtues as the source of their faith, then use Faith Power to cultivate.

Faith belonged to the domain of laws. The more abundant a knight's Faith Power, the faster their cultivation and the stronger they became.

Zuo Yi was an extremely rare Eight Virtues Knight. His knightly faith consisted of Order, Honor, Valor, Promise, Fortitude, Justice, Honesty, and Compassion. What had just been stirred was his Compassion Faith.

Because of his compassionate act toward the weak, the Faith Imprint linked to his Knight's Heart had returned a little Faith Power to him.

Do not underestimate that little bit of Faith Power. Drops formed rivers, and grains of sand built towers. It was precisely through his persistence in ensuring that his everyday words and actions matched, and that his actions matched his faith, that Zuo Yi had advanced to Saint-tier Knight in just thirty years—and become an Eight Virtues Saint Knight at that.

Across the Sadea World's long history of five eras, Eight Virtues Saint Knights had been exceedingly rare.

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

Zuo Yi and the woman were both stunned. The man, however, calmly pulled out his phone and lowered his head to play with it.

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

The bespectacled man pretended not to hear him. He even took out a pair of earphones and put them in his ears, wearing an expression that said, What can you do about it?

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

This was not the first time she had encountered such a situation. She was not the fierce or aggressive type and was used to letting things go.

She might endure it, but Zuo Yi would not!

Zuo Yi stopped wasting words. He reached out, grabbed the man by the back of the neck, and lifted him bodily into the air.

The bespectacled man immediately let out a pig-like shriek. "Help! Murder! Urgh..."

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

The surrounding passengers were all dumbstruck.

Zuo Yi had no intention of killing him. 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 was pounding unusually hard—this was the first time in her life she had seen such a fierce man.

So cool, so handsome, so domineering!

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

Zuo Yi did not notice her gaze. He was feeling the warmth emanating from the three Faith Imprints of Order, Promise, and Honor.

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

But the bespectacled man, who had become Zuo Yi's tool for harvesting faith, was in a miserable state. 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. In the end, under the contemptuous and mocking gazes of the surrounding passengers, he fled in disgrace at the next stop.

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

With the navigation app on his phone, he found the childcare center's location without much effort.

It was in a mixed-use residential and commercial 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.

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