Chapter 197: Section 197: Is it him?


    The day had broken, and the substitute was the first to rush out of the cave.


    Soon after, Zi Di and Cang Xu escaped from the cave, the process smoother than imagined.


    This was because the substitute had attracted all the gun scorpions to him.


    Far away, the volcano was spewing massive amounts of red molten lava.


    The lava shot up very high, at least eight hundred meters by visual estimate.


    The dark smoke obscured half of the sky. The bright red lava reached its peak and began to splash downward.


    ...


    “We’re lucky we’re still on the perimeter, let’s hurry,” Cang Xu urged.


    Zi Di, however, slowed her pace, frequently turning to look back.


    “How safe I am here correlates directly with how dangerous it is for him!”


    “How is he doing now?”


    Reason told Zi Di that the substitute had likely fallen in battle. But her emotions tethered her steps, holding on to even a sliver of hope, she wanted to wait.


    Even thoughts like “To see his body would let me bid him a final farewell and bring closure” surfaced in her mind.


    Just when the girl was about to despair completely, a figure appeared in her field of vision.


    This figure, Zi Di remembered all too well.


    So much so that at first, Zi Di almost doubted her own eyes, suspecting a hallucination.


    But quickly, she cried out in surprise.


    Her knight had returned, as splendid as the heroes in stories.


    “He brought Bai Ya back, too,” Zi Di noted, her tone complex.


    “This is what a Holy Temple Knight is!” Cang Xu exclaimed genuinely from the depths of his heart.


    When they reunited, Zi Di immediately tended to the substitute’s wounds.


    During this, she saw new injuries the substitute had suffered from the gun scorpions and keenly felt that his spirit was completely different.


    “Could it be that at the moment of life and death, he was stimulated and underwent beastification again?”


    “That must be it.”


    “He couldn’t use fighting energy, only by undergoing beastification could he have overcome the swarm!”


    Though they had escaped the swarm, only the substitute, Zi Di, Cang Xu, and the unconscious Bai Ya remained in the exploration team.


    “Could this be the center of Mysterious Monster Island?”


    “Could the Alchemy Factory be here?”


    Zi Di had this speculation, but she hadn’t planned on exploring this area.


    The environment here was too perilous, with the erupting volcano, the terrifying lava, and the Golden Magical Beast Molten Giant Turtle she had witnessed not long ago…


    Also, she had no real reason to persuade everyone to delve deeper.


    She also couldn’t be certain that the Alchemy Factory was hidden here.


    Although Cang Xu had tried to persuade the substitute to give up on the unconscious Bai Ya, the substitute preferred to shoulder the burden himself rather than abandon his companions.


    Substitute: “I once said I would do everything possible to rescue everyone, not abandoning a single person. That’s my promise and my duty.”


    “Lord, your noble character makes the bright stars in the night sky pale in comparison!” Cang Xu exclaimed sincerely, “You are truly a model among the Holy Temple Knights.”


    The substitute smiled bitterly with a shake of his head.


    Seeing this expression, Zi Di became even more certain in her heart: “My guess must be the truth. He overcame the swarm by undergoing beastification, but this surely caused him distress and doubt.”


    “A Holy Temple Knight’s body should never undergo such mutations.”


    The substitute’s troubles and doubts also saddened Zi Di.


    “I should tell him the truth.”


    Last night, Zi Di had quietly made up her mind to reveal everything to the substitute at dawn.


    But when dawn came, she hesitated: “If I tell him the truth, might it disrupt him? Could it leave him with conflicting and turbulent emotions? He had to lure away the swarm, his situation was more dangerous than ours!”


    Caught in hesitation, she missed the opportunity.


    “I should tell him the truth! Even if he’s not Lord Zhenjin, not a Holy Temple Knight, he was originally a knight. That’s all I know of his original identity.” Zi Di resolved once more.


    With food severely scarce, the four returned to the desert, only holding a small lizard and a jumping rat in their hands.


    The substitute selflessly gave the precious meat to Zi Di and Cang Xu, while Bai Ya’s condition worsened, remaining unconscious and developing a high fever.


    “There’s movement.” The substitute’s face darkened slightly, “You eat first, I’ll stand guard and drive away or kill any possible wild beasts.”


    The substitute disappeared briefly and then hurried back.


    “He seems a bit different,” Zi Di sharply noticed a change in the substitute.


    Zi Di and Cang Xu were holding back their skewers of meat, pushing them towards the substitute.


    “Do you want me to break my oath? To tarnish the honor of my knighthood?” Lord Zhenjin’s expression became very solemn.


    Zi Di and Cang Xu looked at Lord Zhenjin, feeling his whole being radiating a sacred light, both were emotionally shaken and remained silent.


    “Burp.”


    Just then, the substitute couldn’t help but let out a loud burp.


    Cang Xu, Zi Di: ??? Sear?h the N??elFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Zi Di widened her eyes, thinking: “What did I just hear?”


    “A burp?”


    “Is he full? What did he eat?”


    “No, that’s impossible. He’s a knight; he wouldn’t eat alone without us. Maybe it was just indigestion, not a burp.”


    “But if he really did eat something, could it mean… beastification?”


    Morning came, and the four set out again.


    Seeing the gold mica stone cluster again, the substitute left the team early and ventured deep into the cluster. Soon after, he returned successfully, sharing how he had dealt with the lizards in the cluster.


    Under his guidance, Zi Di and Cang Xu also arrived at the recent battlefield.


    Cang Xu couldn’t help but praise continuously, while Zi Di quietly surveyed the battleground.


    Her gaze briefly hardened, focusing on the impact marks on the gold mica stones and the suspected scorpion tail-forged stone caves.


    In such a short time, the substitute’s clean-up of the battlefield was actually limited.


    “His recount didn’t include a gun scorpion; could it be that he turned into a scorpion tail through beastification and defeated the lizard group?” Zi Di pondered.


    Her eyes swept around, then suddenly sharpened again, her heart raced, and her cheeks quickly heated up.


    She saw the hole in the trousers at the substitute’s rear.


    The hole was vaguely visible because the substitute had let out the hem of his shirt, the motive to cover it up was very clear.


    “All the clues add up!”


    “Wait, he burped last night. If it was lizard meat, based on his character, he would definitely have brought it back to share. But he didn’t… He must have a hidden dilemma.”


    “His food must be gold mica stone!”


    “He can transform into a scorpion tail, and probably beastify even more. After beastifying, he can use gold mica stone as food.”


    “But he can’t share gold mica stone, because normal people can’t eat that stuff.”


    Zi Di continued to ponder, recalling how the substitute had specially sought information on how gun scorpions digest food from Cang Xu before leaving last night.


    “He was prepared in advance, which means, before he left, he knew he could beastify, turn into a gun scorpion, or part of a gun scorpion.”


    “But he wasn’t sure whether he could really eat gold mica stone. So, he asked Cang Xu.”


    “That means, he is able to beastify at will now.”


    “Perhaps because he has beastified many times, he’s become adept at it. Or maybe the intense fight with the gun scorpion this time allowed him to break through and freely control his beastification ability!”


    Having guessed the substitute’s secret, Zi Di’s heart filled with tender emotions.


    “This fool…”


    “Would rather risk eating rocks himself, to give us the meat skewers.”


    “He must not want to beastify, because he believes he is Lord Zhenjin, a Holy Temple Knight!”


    “But he has no choice but to do so, compelled by circumstances, and to protect me…”


    At that moment, Zi Di felt an urge to tell the substitute the truth, to stand by his side, take his hand, and share his worries and woes.


    However, as this impulse reached her lips, Zi Di lost her courage.


    All she could do was gaze at the substitute with her purple crystal-like eyes and gently said, “My lord, you don’t have to take such risks in the future. Often, we can plan things out over a longer period.”


    The substitute did not know that the girl before him had already seen through his secret, he nodded, “Don’t worry, I have it figured out. In fact, since we shook off the scorpion swarm, I’ve been feeling refreshed. I feel as though I’ve made a breakthrough, and yet, not quite. Now when I fight, my thoughts are clearer than before, I’m more aware of my body’s state, and I know what I can and cannot do.”


    He needed to lay some groundwork.


    He deliberately kept it vague, to create some impressions for those around him.


    In the future, when he used the Heart Core to defeat a threat, he wanted to ensure that others wouldn’t find his increased strength bizarre and abrupt.


    Lizard meat had saved the four of them, provided them with enough food, and now they needed to replenish their water supply.


    According to Cang Xu’s speculation, there had to be a large water source near the lizard swarm, likely an oasis.


    Soon, the group discovered the oasis and entered it.


    Here, they saw Lan Zao and Huang Zao.


    Huang Zao was already dead, his face pallid, his body battered, and the sight of blood and exposed bones was horrifying.


    Following them, Cang Xu and Zi Di suddenly stopped in their tracks.


    “Ugh.”


    Caught off guard, Zi Di retched, nearly vomiting the gastric acid in her stomach.


    “It’s me… it’s me…”


    “It’s my fault he died, I killed him.”


    “I killed Huang Zao, I killed my own brother.”


    “I killed him, I killed my last relative in this world!”


    Lan Zao wept bitterly, and Zi Di also felt a fear towards the beast-like Lan Zao.


    By the campfire at night.


    Zi Di urged the substitute, “We’ve all seen Huang Zao’s body. Lan Zao has admitted to his crime too. Such a cruel person, how can we keep him?”


    Yet, Cang Xu had a different opinion, causing a dispute with Zi Di.


    The substitute’s expression struggled, clearly in difficulty.


    In the deep of the night, Zi Di heard faint prayers from her doppelganger.


    The long confession ended.


    A gentle night breeze brushed past the young knight’s ears.


    Everything went as Zhenjin had expected—the gods did not respond.


    The young knight sighed sadly.


    Zi Di also sighed in her heart.


    The moment was perfect to tell the truth, but she lacked the courage, truly lacked the courage to speak.


    She was very afraid.


    Previously, she feared the substitute would get overstimulated, release his beastly nature, and harm her.


    But now, after enduring many hardships, she had lost count of how many times he had saved her. Even if his beastly nature led to killing her, it could only mean giving back the life he had saved.


    What she feared was how the substitute would see her, she feared seeing his utterly disappointed expression.


    “If he isn’t Zhenjin, then I’m not his fiancée anymore…”


    Although she knew that the substitute was not her fiancé, she wished he believed it was so.


    The sun rose, marking a new day.


    The substitute, Zi Di, and Cang Xu once again strived for survival.


    Zi Di constructed a small tent woven from palm leaves.


    She knelt on the ground, her upper body burrowing into the tent, it seemed she was adjusting the palm leaves inside. Her lower body remained outside, with her tan boots now visible beyond the magic robe due to her posture, and the robe clung to her buttocks delineating an alluring curve.


    The substitute was inadvertently drawn to her, watching for quite a while.


    “He was just watching me!” Zi Di realized, her heart fluttering with shyness and joy.


    The substitute left again, and Zi Di continued setting up the tent, during which Bai Ya awoke.


    “Are you awake?”


    “Lord Zi Di, thank you…”


    “Don’t thank me. All the credit goes to Lord Zhenjin, he is the one who saved you. We had actually given up on you.” Zi Di told Bai Ya the details, with a touch of pride and a hint of boastfulness.


    A group of lizards came to draw water, and a swarm of Fat Ball Flying Fish appeared, causing a crisis.


    “Run, back to camp. Staying here would burden me!” The substitute’s expression changed slightly, and he yelled in a low voice.


    Cang Xu and Zi Di immediately turned and ran with all their might.


    The substitute killed some Fat Ball Flying Fish, then morphed into a gun scorpion, drawing away the remaining fish.


    “Where is he?” Standing on a slope near the camp, Zi Di looked around, full of hope and concern.


    Suddenly, her gaze was inexplicably drawn to a white Silver Spear Scorpion.


    She watched the Silver Spear Scorpion as it plunged into the running group of lizards.


    The gun scorpion clearly attracted a huge swarm of fish, putting the lizards in trouble.


    “Is it him? Is it him?”


    Strangely, in that moment, Zi Di recognized the true identity of the gun scorpion! Even though she had never imagined before that the substitute could completely transform into a gun scorpion.


    Zi Di was enthralled.


    In her eyes, the image of the gun scorpion gradually changed, transforming into the substitute; he was galloping on horseback, clad in white armor, wielding a cavalry lance, and maneuvering deftly on the battlefield.