“Ah, he is wounded!” Zi Di’s heart suddenly tensed.
The body double held the spider blade as he charged into the lizard group, beheading all that came close.
“It seems that his Lordship is injured, and it is affecting him greatly!”
“His Lordship is constantly evading; don’t tell me he can’t use battle qi to protect himself?”
“As long as the acid hits, Lord Zhen Jin will be in danger!”
“His body is injured yet he still risks death to save us, he really is a templar knight.”
“Lord Zhen Jin……just like he said, he never gave up on us.”
After rushing into the lizard group, the body double was surrounded by iron and bronze level lizards.
Seeing the body double encircled and surrounded by perils, everyone on the sand dune trembled in fear.
“No, this can’t continue, I must think of something!”
“What can I do to help him?”
“Since we are trapped on this sand dune, we can only send potions via arrows. That’s right, I made a potion to resist acid, based on the body double’s body, he definitely can use it!”
Thinking of this, Zi Di immediately fished out a potion, poured it into an arrow shaft, and refastened the arrowhead.
Next, Zi Di chose Bai Ya to fire it.
Bai Ya shot it with all of his strength, however it still landed a dozen paces from the body double.
“Quickly everyone, shout together to warn Lord Zhen Jin.” Zi Di commanded.
Hearing everyone's voices, the body double pulled out the arrowhead and drank the potion.
“Now, fire these arrows.” Zi Di took out about six arrowheads from her handbag.
After Bai Ya shot these arrows, thick green smoke cut through the sky, then slowly fell to form a temporary wall of smoke.
Following the smoke wall, the body double broke through the encirclement, climbed up the sand dune, and reunited with everyone.
In the split second the body double scaled to the top; Zi Di’s heart wanted to throw herself into his arms.
But at the next moment, the exploration crowded around the youngster, each of them endlessly excited.
“My Lord!”
“Lord Zhen Jin!”
As a result, Zi Di calmed down and was inwardly startled: “What’s happening to me?”
From childhood until now, she never had such brazen notions.
The body double’s return greatly roused the exploration team’s morale, then soon after, he pleasantly surprised everyone by intentionally drawing over the scorpion group.
With the help of the scorpion group creating chaos, the body double led everyone to charge out of the sand dune.
The body double brandished his spider blade and beheaded the lizards standing in his path.
As the person in front, the body double assumed the greatest pressure. During that, as Zi Di gazed from the middle of the pack, her mind was involuntarily attracted towards him.
They successfully broke through; however, Bai Ya fell and was surrounded by lizards.
The body double wanted to save him, however Cang Xu shouted grimly: “My Lord, don’t run after him. If we don’t leave here, the lizards will surround us again.”
This was also Zi Di’s true feelings, she didn’t want the body double to get caught up in peril again.
However, for an unknown reason, Zi Di didn’t open her mouth.
Faced with that choice, the body double was decisive: “I have said that I will not abandon anyone. Bai Ya is no exception!”
Seeing the body double duty bound to charge back, a very complex emotion grew in Zi Di’s heart.
She worried for the body double while also feeling happy.
When the body double returned with Bai Ya, everything seemed like a romantic tale.
The body double said he wouldn’t abandon anyone.
He achieved his promise.
Nothing was more persuasive than real action.
At that moment, Zi Di had a bright understanding: “After receiving War Merchant’s transformation, he really became a beastified person. However, he is still a knight, a true knight!”
After breaking away from the lizard group, the exploration team was quickly pursued by the scorpion group.
Each time this happened, the body double bravely stepped forward and fought the scorpion leader to maintain the situation.
“Your natural recovery ability is enough to heal it. However, we can’t break away from this scorpion group. My Lord, you have already fought the scorpion leader several times and you have constantly squeezed out the energy and stamina from your body. Every time you fight, you get injured, and you don’t have time to rest or recover at all.”
Zi Di healed the body double and felt very sorry for him.
The body double fought with all his strength and used his life to protect everyone and to protect her.
Zi Di discovered she became a burden on the body double.
Based on the body double’s strength, he could easily abandon everyone and flee by himself.
“This will soon be impossible as his body gets worse.” Despair gradually grew in Zi Di’s heart, and she couldn’t think of anything that could alter the situation.
After seeing the body double clash with the scorpion leader and healing him, Zi Di no longer treated him as a tool.
Instead, she began to feel ashamed.
“He is a true knight. Yet I always exploited him……”
Zi Di stated to her heart: “I shouldn’t have deceived him. If I die here, I will tell him the truth before I pass!”
Despite being the one under the most difficulties, the body double continued to boost the people.
“As long as we are still alive, there is still plenty of hope.”
“As long as we hold on to hope and don’t give up, then until death truly arrives, we will still have a chance for survival!”
“Only placing our hopes in external help and changes is not the act of a brave man. It is more reliable to save ourselves.”
Zi Di quietly watched him: “He is everyone’s center, without him, the exploration team would have collapsed already. He is an outstanding leader!”
The body double consulted Cang Xu for advice, perhaps killing a spear scorpion was crucial.
However, this action was considerably risky.
The group spent the night at the golden granite boulders.
The night wind slowly caressed her face.
The sprinkling moonlight illuminated the desert.
Zi Di asked the body double: “My Lord, when do you think we should hunt a spear scorpion?”
The body double was silent for a moment: “No need to rush, we will wait and see.”
This answer made the girl’s heart bounce, and she guessed to herself: “Don’t tell me this means he wants to do it alone tonight?”
“During the flying squirrel hunt, his arms transformed, I am certain that was beastification.”
“Perhaps he can already control his beastification abilities.”
“During the day, he can’t beastify in front of everyone, this would lead to misgivings. Night is suitable for his task. The golden granite boulders can shield him from line of sight!”
However, the next day, Zi Di’s expectations were fruitless.
This allowed her to realize the truth: “It seems he still can’t actively beastify! The last two times were stimulated transformations. But in fact, even if death stimulates him, he might not be able to beastify. When he fought the monkey tail brown beat, he didn’t beastify.”
The exploration team left the golden granite boulders and the scorpion group continued to chase after them.
Everyone trekked through the blazing desert, they had to endure the scorpions and the cruel environment as food and water grew rarer by each passing day.
As the situation grew worse, the wounded Bai Ya fell unconscious.
On the verge of desperate straits, everyone was agitated and had dreadful thoughts. Their subconscious anger, panic, and other negative emotions changed into words when Cang Xu raised a difficult question.
Cang Xu indifferently pointed out that the unconscious Bai Ya could serve as food in this crucial moment.
“You all have not studied enough books; I will now tell you a truth——similar beings can eat each other.”
“There is a type of insect known as the praying mantis. When a male and female mantis mate, the female mantis will eat the male mantis when night comes to nourish itself and produce offspring more successfully.”
“With regards to any lifeforms, all of them, at the basic level, exist to survive and reproduce. If we cannot ensure our survival, what is the point of mentioning laws or morals?”
These words made Zi Di fearful to the extent that her body faintly shuddered.
The thing causing her fear wasn’t Cang Xu’s words, rather it was a realization: it really was their final moments, and only by doing this could they have a chance of survival.
“Don’t tell me I also need to eat this……meat?”
“No, no!”
“If I do this, will I be any different from a beast?”
“But if I don’t eat, my chances of survival will be even more uncertain……”
“Hold on, if I die, will my corpse be eaten by the others……”
Cang Xu’s words made Zi Di understand how terrible their future was, and at that moment, the girl trembled with fear and helplessness.
She subconsciously gazed at the body double.
The body double’s brows creased with a stern expression: “Cang Xu, I ask that you take back your words. Bai Ya is not food, rather he is our companion. I will not allow the atrocity of eating our companion to happen.”
For a split second, light and warmth seemed to envelop Zi Di’s body.
The girl’s resolve firmly stood up and she vowed: “Even if I die, I won’t eat my companion’s flesh! Thank you my knight, you protected me once again……”
Persevere, clench your teeth and persevere.
Everyone left the desert and entered the volcanic zone.
Despite the environment being even more dangerous, everyone saw it as an opportunity to finally deal with the scorpion group.
In the cave of a possibly active volcano, Zi Di used a potion to corrode the cave walls, molding it into a advantageous battlefield for the humans.
In that battlefield, the exploration team fiercely fought for their lives and suffered disastrous casualties.
Only the body double, Zi Di, Bai Ya, and Cang Xu remained trapped in the cave,
Passing through Zi Di’ tests, she determined the scorpion meat wasn’t edible, thus the four people only had two water bags left.
“Nothing, I can’t think of anything to do.” Zi Di’s state of mind crumbled.
The body double comforted her: “This place where low level magic cannot be used has always been too arduous on you.”
“No, I am the one who got you involved, Lord Zhen Jin. If it were not for my suggestion, we would not have snuck aboard that ship. And we would not have ended up on this island. During the encounter with the lizard and spear scorpion group, you could have abandoned me and survived alone.”
Saying this, Zi Di suddenly realized something——
Her chances of living were uncertain; however, the body double was different. He still had the strength to escape alone!
Consequently, she appealed: “Escape, my Lord. Don’t care for me anymore! You can leave this place.”
After their journey together, the girl no longer treated the body double as a tool or a beastified person.
She acknowledged that the youngster before her was a true knight!
She was the wrongdoer
She deceived him!
Despite War Merchant being the main culprit and her being forced in this affair, she was the one who awakened the body double when the blue dog fox wolf compelled her to take a risk.
Of course, the girl wanted the body double to eliminate the scorpion group and escape this island with him.
But reality was not a fairytale.
“I don’t want to be a burden on you.”
“Death is my foreordained conclusion; how can I drag you down with me?”
“In this string of affairs, you are the most innocent.”
“I’m sorry for deceiving you!”
Her heart’s guilt gave Zi Di the urge to reveal everything.
Nevertheless, the body double faintly smiled, and with a trace of love, he brushed Zi Di’s hair from her eyes: “You are my fiancé, and I am your knight. Protecting you is my duty. I will protect you, till my life’s end.”
At that moment, Zi Di felt her heart melt.
The youngster finally made up his mind: “I will leave at dawn. After I leave and attract as many scorpions as possible, you guys will seize the opportunity to leave separately.”
This plan was simple, crude, and had a small possibility of success, but what else could they do?
“At dawn, I will tell him the truth!”
“This night should be the last night in my life, I must enjoy the beautiful time I have left.”
Small selfishness appeared in the girl.
Lying on the body double’s chest, Zi Di peacefully slept.
Late into the night, Zi Di was awoken by Cang Xu’s words.
She shrank in the body double’s chest; however, she didn’t immediately open her eyes as she quietly listened.
Cang Xu requested that the body double eat his fill to increase his chances of survival and also asked that he fulfill his dying wishes.
But the body double always refused.
Zi Di opened her eyes and promised Cang Xu: “If I escape, I will help you realize this final wish.”
Then she took out some letters: “Actually, I think Bai Ya also gave us his final wishes.”
She hoped the body double would eat something to strengthen his stamina and increase his odds of survival. But it was very hard for her to blurt out this advice.
She hoped the body double would transform into a beast, break out, and save himself. However, at the same time, she hoped he would hold fast to his knightly spirit and moral character, and not become depraved.
Ultimately, the body double still shook his head: “I will not treat humans as food!”
His regretful gaze shifted towards Zi Di.
That gaze instantly stabilized Zi Di and eliminated all of her hesitation.
She shook her head and smiled: “My Lord, we are one, anything that you do is what I will do.”
Notes
Although I find the Zi Di flashbacks interesting for their emotional depth and interesting thoughts, I have to admit that their introduction into the story was very awkward. I don’t know what the best way to include them was, and based on how much Zhen Ren put into writing them, they are very important for the story, but I think they should have been positioned better in the overall story. Then again, due to Zhen Ren’s massive commitment to quality, he’s still editing book 1 and making my job way harder than it needs to be.