Chapter 159: Cheng Shi's Disclaimer

Cheng Shi's Disclaimer

Fang Fang Shiqing and the other two's lookout duty had not yet ended.

They hid in the wine cellar, peering at the surroundings through small holes in the overhead cover, keeping watch for the City Guard Knight Squad resting not far away.

After sufficient exchange, Cheng Shi finally clarified all the information regarding this trial.

In fact, before the trial began and before the players awoke, the war had already started.

The 【Knights of the Death Bell】 of the Twilight Church broke through the outer wall of Gasmela from somewhere, charging like mad dogs at the residential areas between the outer and inner cities.

As a unit within the outer wall guard, their City Guard Knight Squad was completely scattered by the enemy forces during their retreat, fragmenting into small groups scattered between the inner and outer cities.

The Guard Captain ordered them to fight to the death without retreating, so everyone had no choice but to follow him, gathering the remnants while resisting the charges.

Fortunately, the Guard Captain commanded well, the soldiers were familiar with the terrain, and under the morale of unity, they repelled wave after wave of enemies.

But good times did not last; on the third day of the war, the Guard Captain died.

He died silently in the trench where he was napping, died inexplicably, died unbelievably.

The squad, having lost its spiritual leader, could no longer withstand the tsunami-like enemy offensive, began to retreat, and merged with other scattered Guard Knight units, preparing to jointly reinforce the inner city.

And to achieve their own goals, the Firebearers had to stay inseparable from the Guard.

Because at such a moment, wanting to enter Gasmela's inner city and approach the experimental site, relying solely on the identity of a single Guard Knight was impossible.

The scholars would not allow scattered soldiers to enter the inner city for refuge; they would only absorb organized small squads, and then organize them into a new resistance force.

Thus, under the relentless bombardment of the Twilight Church's 【Mo Ri Fa】, and under the reckless charges of the 【Knights of the Death Bell】, the six players fought their way along with this squad, arriving beneath the inner city wall.

But only then did they discover that the perimeter of the inner city had already fallen; the flames of war had already been pushed to the Gasmela Central Academy area.

They were, once again, a step too late.

"Our mage teammate has already seized command of the squad. Along the way, we repeatedly changed routes to avoid the slaughter paths of the Knights of the Death Bell as much as possible, yet we were still found and worn down by small groups of enemies.

The fact that everyone survived until now is actually thanks to the chaos and disorder of the 【Chaos】 believers.

They did not charge in organized formations, nor did they launch concentrated strong attacks; they only indulged in arbitrary evil slaughter and uncontrolled fires set everywhere.

Although the enemies were overwhelming, each of them had Ji De Xiang Fa, which greatly delayed the Twilight Church's offensive.

But even so, Gasmela still fell..."

Hearing this, Cheng Shi already had a clear understanding in his mind.

The defeat of the Tower of Reason was not a fault of battle, but a human disaster!

It was obvious that there was a problem inside Gasmela!

This reminded him of a trial not long ago; in that "Inquisition of Blood and Fire," the Elemental Judges of the Grand Inquisition, due to erroneous intelligence, bombed the wrong location for the "Meteor Fall."

It seemed that in the end of the origin, the various forces on the surface had long been penetrated into a sieve.

The Tower of Reason could not escape this fate either.

To have two city walls broken by a group of disordered madmen within four days, no matter how one thinks about it, was an "achievement" that could only be accomplished with inside assistance!

Moreover, the people providing assistance were certainly not just one!

Traitors!

There were traitors inside Gasmela.

But it was already too late to talk about this now, because the balance of the war had already begun to tilt.

But it was not too late either; after all, the trial had not ended, and the players still had to cooperate fully with the NPCs.

And the premise of this cooperation was to first catch the traitor within the Knight Squad!

Yes, there was absolutely a problem within the Knight Squad where Fang Fang Shiqing and the others were located!

Cheng Shi could be one hundred percent certain that 【Chaos】 believers had mixed into the Guard amidst the chaos.

Perhaps their goal was not the Guard itself, but simply to infiltrate the inner city under the guise of defeated soldiers, or they had deeper plans, but regardless, this Guard unit had definitely been penetrated.

【Chaos】 could confuse others' perceptions; for them, this was the simplest thing in the world.

The Firebearers had long discovered the clues and had even locked onto some individuals.

Cui Cui Qiushi calmly observed the surroundings and recounted the identities of these suspects in a steady voice.

"Akade, a City Guard Knight we dug out from the outer city ruins on the evening of the second day; he is a warrior of 【Truth】, a combat expert, yet he has used injury as an excuse and has not gone to the front lines since.

Yesterday, while on lookout, I discovered bloodstains he dropped during the march, suspected of sending messages to the outside.

Jijiali, a resident who broke into the alert zone on the early morning of the third day while being chased by a small group of Knights of the Death Bell; he claimed to be a Wind-Taming Ranger, yet we have never seen him transform into wind.

Allen, the deputy squad leader who joined us yesterday with a small detachment of City Guard Knights; he is a Learned Scholar, who should have been the spearhead defending Truth and resisting enemies, yet he was solely intent on persuading us to flee to the Central Academy.

And there are also..."

With every name heard, Cheng Shi's brows furrowed tighter; later, hearing so many, he simply gave up thinking and remembering.

"Now, in your squad, are there more people who mixed in later than teammates who have been fighting side by side with you all along?"

Fang Fang Shiqing nodded with a solemn demeanor.

"Yes, we could not refuse the addition of these soldiers, because our strength was also very weak; if we did not gather the remnants, we would die even faster."

The logic was sound, but this made the situation even more troublesome.

Because amidst the chaotic army, a ragtag force composed of people from different sources and different compositions was almost full of loopholes.

Calling it a sieve was already flattering this squad.

This couldn't even be called a sieve, because it didn't even have a sieve surface; everything leaked!

Cheng Shi frowned deeply, pondered for a moment, and asked again:

"Then are there any people you can trust? You don't need to completely rule out suspicion; five-tenths trust is enough."

"Five-tenths?" Bailin was stunned and asked back, "Then how can we trust?"

Cheng Shi smiled:

"Five-tenths is already the maximum trust I can give; how can it not be trusted?"

Fang Fang Shiqing's gaze turned to Cheng Shi, and she gave a complicated nod.

"Griffith, the quartermaster of our squad — he's a surrendered soldier naturalized from the nation of 【War】, and he's a Battle Chaplain."

A Battle Chaplain?

A quartermaster is a military post, while a Battle Chaplain is one of the faith-based classes.

This is a priest of 【War】 — as the name suggests, a class that can rally soldiers on the battlefield.

When a soldier buckles under the strain and breaks formation, the Battle Chaplain only needs to lash his long whip hard across the bodies of these defeated troops, and he can convert damage into healing, restoring these grievously wounded soldiers to vigor and sending them back to the battlefield.

Put simply, while others use blades to kill, he uses his blade to save.

Because once a Battle Chaplain activates his talent, his damage becomes healing.

But there's one thing to note: when receiving treatment from a Battle Chaplain, you must make sure he has already activated his talent.

Otherwise, not only will the Battle Chaplain fail to send the soldier back to the battlefield, he may very well send off a "deserter" on the spot.

Cheng Shi, hearing that their squad had a Battle Chaplain, was briefly stunned. "Doesn't that mean you've got a priest?"

At his question, the three people present all looked awkward.

Cheng Shi took one look and understood — they had one, but not one of their own.

Perhaps right now they were still discussing whether they could trust this quartermaster called Griffith, but in fact, he was also sizing up whether the three of them were worth trusting.

Until they earned the healer's trust, naturally they wouldn't get a single drop of healing.

That's perfectly reasonable.

Because Cheng Shi himself had done exactly the same thing.

Looks like the Torchbearers' situation is pretty miserable, he sighed, then asked:

"I've listened to you all talk for so long now — whether credible or not — and you haven't mentioned your other three teammates.

What, these three can't even give fifty percent trust?"

Fang Fang Shiqing gave a bitter smile at those words.

"Aside from that silent prisoner, the Polymath and the Elemental Arbiter want the same thing we do......

Calling them teammates can only be temporary."

Cheng Shi clicked his tongue and nodded:

"Understood.

I'll go back with you. I'll disguise my identity as a surviving knight from a city guard patrol we happened to run into — at a time like this, that cover may not be worth much, but it should still hold up.

The situation is too complicated; I won't have a way to crack it without seeing it with my own eyes.

Still, let me give you all a friendly heads-up first — if things get out of hand in a bit......

Please bear with me."

Huh?

The adoration in Seeing Bai Ling's eyes froze, and Fang Fang Shiqing's smile stiffened on her face.

Even the vigilant Cui Cui Qiushi couldn't help turning back in disbelief, looking at the smiling Cheng Shi, muttering inwardly:

Sister Qing, this 2400-point reinforcement......

Is he reliable?