The silhouette of the Minstrel vanished just like that, along with the apparition floating in the mist around him.Erin stared blankly at the scene, unable to react for a moment, and suddenly shouted after two seconds: "Hey! What, just gone like that?! At least tell us what the Knight persists in, so next time we meet him, we can exchange words! Seriously, are you a human or a ghost, old man?!"
"Seems like this 'Lodaxim High Wall' is even stranger than we imagined... I've never seen such an entity form in any Exotic Realm," Little Red Riding Hood frowned, her voice filled with doubt, "Is this 'Minstrel' truly a real entity...?"
"Let's not think about that for now," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "Anyway, now we finally have a clue about that 'Knight.' Let's get out first, then send a message to Baili Qing to have her keep an eye on Mist City..."
He suddenly paused, turning to look at the Little Puppet on his shoulder: "By the way, are there any mass-produced versions of you in Mist City?"
"There are," the Little Puppet nodded immediately, "I've got four Special Service teams patrolling over there, each team has three mass-produced versions of me—I can directly tell their Commander, have them notify the Mist City sentry post, let loose the drones and such."
...
A cold wind blew through, causing Zheng Zhi to sneeze three or four times, his head buzzing.
Spring in Boundary City is always unpredictable; yesterday it rained, and today the temperature dropped several degrees. The evening wind was chilly, making his nose quite itchy.
Zheng Zhi rubbed his nose, watching the workers fix the new door frame into the door hole at the express station. Two others were busy shoveling the foundation sand and stone into the big pit in front of the door—meanwhile, two Special Service Bureau experts with testing equipment wandered around the pit and door hole, collecting some kind of data.
"Zheng, let me tell you, this door may look normal, but it's incredibly sturdy inside," Sun, beside him with his arms crossed, said cheerfully, "I got it for you from the arsenal, it can withstand frontal booster bombs..."
Listening to Sun's confident introduction, the image that popped into Zheng Zhi's mind was Freyia's long-reaching Light Cannon, which made the corner of his mouth twitch: "I mean, really, your bulletproof rating might not be that useful for me. It's no longer a matter of ammo caliber, do you understand..."
He spoke with lingering fear, recalling that Yu Sheng had said earlier Freyia's Light Cannon was held back. If Miss Angel really went full force, she could puncture both armor and shield of a Dark Star missile cruiser in one go...
And Freyia's actions were utterly unpredictable—she couldn't speak a word of human language; her movements had no forewarning. The only somewhat reassuring aspect was that she seemed to know not to bomb her own people.
Looking at Zheng Zhi's reaction, Sun didn't know what to say, considering the situation here.
A mass-produced Puppet had gone to the construction site to find him, delivering a message that nearly pushed his heart rate to 160—the little thing said a Living Saint had launched a cannon at the gate of No. 66 Wutong Road.
Fortunately, upon arrival, he found the situation not as severe as imagined.
A cold wind blew through again, causing Zheng Zhi to sneeze twice more.
"Zheng, your constitution isn't holding up," Sun glanced at the young man next to him, "Did you catch a cold with the temperature drop these days?"
"I'm in great health, haven't been sick for years," Zheng Zhi vigorously rubbed his nose, "Maybe it's the rising fog around here, makes my nose itch."
Saying this, he glanced up, seeing strands of mist hovering over the street. And at a sideways look, where Sun had stood, was his grandfather who had passed away years ago—the little old man bent over, the lower half of his body floating like a fluctuating shadow, greeting him cheerfully: "This silly grandson, how can fog rise at this time?"
After saying this, Zheng Zhi watched his "grandfather" spin on the spot, swirling upwards skyward—at the sky were his great-grandmothers and several granduncles.
Sun's shadowy figure stood at the edge of his vision, slowly turning towards him, an astonished look on his face, seemingly gasping, but no sound came through, only a slightly comical slow-motion.
Two workers seemed aware of Zheng Zhi's state as well, with one raising an arm towards him.
But their figures quickly dispersed, covered by the persistent mist.
The surroundings soon became desolate, with only thin wisps of mist wandering on the Wutong Road old street pavement, distant buildings crookedly looming in the fog, neon lights emitting eerie glow on the street, outlining nonsensical symbols and strange sentences.
"Look at this mess," Zheng Zhi sighed, "I was just chatting with someone..."
Muttering this, he walked to the express station door, intending to take shelter insider. But approaching closer, he noticed the newly installed door frame was riddled with thorn-like black shadows and waves of strange mist surged around the sides of the door.
He sighed again, stepped back, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a hard little card.
This was the "escape tool" Yu Sheng had given him.
Honestly, Zheng Zhi wouldn't like to use it unless absolutely necessary, as the passage opened by the Pre-made Door was unstable, making him feel dizzy as if dead each time...
But amidst this hesitation, a faint metallic clashing sound suddenly echoed into his ears.
It didn't quite sound like the entities that would appear in the old urban area of Mist City.
Zheng Zhi was quite familiar with the entities formed in this area.
Ding ding clang, sounded more like swords clashing against armor.
Zheng Zhi frowned, hesitated for a while, then bravely walked towards the direction the sound came from.
One hand remained in his pocket, clutching the card tightly, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.
Then he suddenly saw a shadow shifting in the fog—a monster's outline first appeared under the neon lights. The creature was over three meters tall, standing upright like a human, yet its head and upper limbs bore a lizard-like structure. In its terrifyingly distorted claws, it tightly gripped a rough stone club, the tip of which looked unsettlingly dark red, as if soaked in blood countless times and dried.
Opposite this eerie "Lizard Giant" was a figure clad entirely in iron-gray armor.
It's the "Knight"—at this moment, he held a large axe, tensely confronting the lizard giant.
"What the hell...?"
Upon seeing the knight's figure, Zheng Zhi couldn't help but exclaim softly.
And in that instant, the lizard giant suddenly acted—it swiftly turned its head, eyes landing on Zheng Zhi.
"Hey, no way, how can this lure the monster..."
Zheng Zhi's heart shouted, instinctively he took out a talisman card, but almost at the same moment, he saw the knight wielding the axe also moved.
The knight charged forward, positioning himself between Zheng Zhi and the lizard giant, raising the axe to confront the monster.
The massive sound of metal clashing echoed through the street, as if shockwaves dispersed in circles in the fog. The knight was knocked back half a step by the lizard giant, yet he stubbornly halted his form, pushing back against the monster's claws inch by inch.
The next second, the giant suddenly withdrew half a step sideways, then lashed its hind part, sending its scale-covered, fiercely spiked tail towards the knight's back.
The knight, unprepared, was knocked sideways, flying out, his armor scraping against the ground in a loud noise.
Accompanied by a dull grunt.
Yet even so, the knight, in the moment of being knocked down, threw a flying knife at the monster—a fragile weapon unable to penetrate the monster's scales, only striking a string of dazzling sparks on its chest, causing it to stagger slightly.
Zheng Zhi was momentarily overwhelmed with thoughts, but upon seeing the knight downed, he instinctively rushed over.
He knew everyone was seeking this knight—both the Special Service Bureau people, Yu Sheng's group, and the entire Fairy Tale Organization.
The lizard giant also rushed over, its heavy footsteps beating like drums on one's heart.
Zheng Zhi raised his head, noticing the murky dark yellow eyes devoid of reason and mercy.
He clenched the talisman card in his hand, his mind set in motion...
The card showed no reaction.
Zheng Zhi's eyes widened, finally realizing it wasn't the Teleportation Gate card marked with the travel agency emblem, but rather a promotional card that had somehow been stuffed into his pocket.
"...Damn, wrong pocket!!"
The young Special Service Bureau officer exclaimed, but it was too late to retrieve the teleportation rune from the other pocket, as the monster had already leapt towards him. In desperation, he reflexively swung his hand—
He felt himself catching a cold mist.
In the corner of his eyes, he saw the mist shimmering with a faint glow in his hand, as if something was rapidly forming within the fog.
It was his lovely great-grandmother.
The Spiritual Energy condensed into an illusory figure, revealing a toothless smile to the dumbfounded Zheng Zhi, then the elderly lady's smile twisted, her mouth gaping wider, expression growing more exaggerated.
However, Zheng Zhi's motion to swing out his hand couldn't stop, in the next second, the cold and increasingly uncontrollable spiritual body was already hurled towards the monster.
Great grandmother whirled against the monster, transformed into a giant dentures, ferociously gnawing at the Lizardman, actually chomping off its scales, tearing gashes in its seemingly stone-hard flesh.
The Lizard Giant let out a horrifying roar, retreating while struggling to shake off the dentures crazily crawling and biting over itself.
Zheng Zhi was already stunned, he lowered his head, staring blankly at his right hand, still felt the chill lingering.
"What the hell is this... a familial connection?"
He had just muttered this when a familiar voice came from behind.
"Holy great-grandma's blade slash!"
Zheng Zhi turned his head, seeing a patrol team from the Special Service Bureau hurrying over from somewhere, mingled with three Erin mass-produced puppets.
The exclamation clearly came from one of those puppets.
After all, the quality education received by the Special Service Bureau officers wouldn't allow them to utter such uncouth sounds.