Chapter 104: Exposure

When the night grew deep and quiet, Zhang Cheng began his “prison break” plan.

Actually, there wasn’t much of a plan. After coming up from underground, he would just leave the manor directly with Laity.

As for the carriage, since the target was too large and the horses were still in the stable, they wouldn’t take it along.

Fortunately, the carriage was empty. Zhang Cheng had his player backpack, and Lu Qiuchen also had a talent space. Neither of them had anything stored inside.

It was just a pity about the expensive deposit for the carriage, which was 3 gold coins and 70 silver coins—almost one-fifth the price of a warhorse.

Even with Zhang Cheng’s basic understanding of prices in the Eternal World, he knew that a hardworking farmer’s annual income was only about 2 gold coins, barely enough to buy an ordinary pack horse.

Thinking about this made Zhang Cheng feel a pang of regret, but there was no turning back now. He needed to focus on escaping. Fortunately, there were no other prisoners in the dungeon at this time. The entire underground space of the castle was occupied only by Zhang Cheng and Laity, so Zhang Cheng managed to sneak out smoothly with Laity without alerting anyone and came up to the surface.

Laity’s weapons had been taken away. Zhang Cheng knew those weapons were stored in the castle’s armory, but the armory was guarded day and night, and neither of them had any skills to hide their presence. After much consideration, they decided to break open a large hole at the back of the warehouse and sneak in secretly.

The success of this plan was also thanks to Laity being a drow mage. Although she didn’t have a wand on her at the moment, she could still expend some mental energy to cast a small soundproof barrier.

After agreeing on the plan, Zhang Cheng took on the task of chopping open the warehouse, while Laity was responsible for suppressing the noise caused by the chopping.

It was their first time cooperating, but their coordination was surprisingly seamless. After just a few perfect collaborations, they silently opened a small dog hole at the back of the warehouse.

Laity crawled inside to retrieve her belongings while Zhang Cheng stood guard outside. After Laity took out all her items and weapons, the two of them quietly slipped away.

During Zhang Cheng’s lookout, the nearby patrolling knights came close to discovering them several times, but fortunately, they were never caught.

The rest of the “prison break” went very smoothly. Before reaching the castle walls, they were still undetected, but from here on, night-watch knights were stationed ahead.

Zhang Cheng signaled Laity to hide, then slowly walked up the wall under the red moon’s light.

A knight observing outside on the wall heard footsteps behind him and quickly drew his one-handed sword from his waist, holding his shield as he cautiously faced the direction of the stairs.

When he saw it was Zhang Cheng coming up, the knight relaxed slightly, sheathing his sword and lowering his guard as he gave Zhang Cheng a slight salute.

At first, because Zhang Cheng was young but already a Guardian Knight, and his combat skills were poor, this had spread through the knights’ circle in the manor two days ago.

Though many treated Zhang Cheng politely on the surface, they secretly belittled him out of jealousy. This knight was one of them.

However, Zhang Cheng had captured the drow elf who had been playing them all around the night before at a very fast pace, and this news was confirmed personally by their lord.

Everyone knew the lord’s character, so this firmly established the truth, smashing the jealous rumors against Zhang Cheng.

Even if some still harbored jealousy in their hearts, no one spoke ill of Zhang Cheng anymore. He had earned the respect of all the knights in the castle through his strength.

After returning the salute, Zhang Cheng greeted the knight and quickly approached him.

Suddenly, just before reaching him, Zhang Cheng pulled out a greatsword from his player backpack, delivered a paralyzing strike followed by an elbow blow, knocking the puzzled knight unconscious.

He caught the knight’s body and gently lowered him, then turned to wave at Laity below the castle wall.

Everything was swift and clean. The two quickly jumped down the wall and dashed toward the foot of the mountain.

They both knew it was only a matter of time before they were discovered—better to run now.

Zhang Cheng was grateful that the castle was built on a mountain, so they didn’t have to swim across the moat like drowned rats.

They chose not to pass through the village at the foot of the mountain but instead jumped over the low wooden fence on the manor’s side and escaped through the forest.

This was the best route Zhang Cheng found using the system. After passing through the forest and heading south, they could return to the place where they had parted with Lu Qiuchen earlier.

But just as they stepped out from the edge of the manor, a red firework signal rose from the castle’s peak.

It seemed that the unconscious knight or the hole in the armory had been discovered.

Still, this was much better than the worst scenario they had feared.

The two exchanged a glance and hurriedly quickened their pace into the forest.

Delong was sound asleep but was abruptly woken in the middle of the night by his subordinates. Hearing about Zhang Cheng and the drow elf’s escape instantly wiped away his sleepiness.

Then, learning that the armory had been robbed shocked him even further—his mithril armor was kept there!

This set of mithril armor was exchanged for an entire mithril mine, extremely precious—no, it might even be unique in the Southern Continent!

Given the armor’s value, Delong had prepared himself mentally never to take it out unless it reached legendary status.

But he was also confident in his own talent. As long as his family cultivated him fully, it was very possible for him to reach legendary rank before the age of fifty.

Currently, the Knights’ Council had only entrusted him with the first two pieces of the full armor set—the most important breastplate and waist guard.

These two parts were secretly stored in the castle armory, and no one else knew their exact location.

Delong had always feared that if others discovered he possessed mithril armor, they would turn his castle upside down.

That was why he didn’t store the armor in the main building but hid it in the frequently visited armory instead—what was called the darkness beneath the lamp.

But he never expected the armory would actually be robbed.

He immediately got out of bed and ran to the armory without properly dressing.

As soon as he entered, Delong’s heart sank. The corner of the room, which used to be filled with cabinets and sundries, was now completely emptied.

He stepped forward to examine the floor carefully and saw a hidden trapdoor beneath.

Delong’s face darkened as he drove everyone else out and nervously opened the trapdoor.

Below was already empty.

“Childers!” Delong shouted angrily.

This was all a scam. Someone had found out about his mithril armor and, working with the drow, staged a play to fool him, gaining his trust and then stealing the armor.

None of this mattered as much as his greatest anger—that he had naïvely believed that traitor.

“Sir! Captain Lais has found their trail and is pursuing them! They ran toward the forest!” a knight called from outside, waking the enraged Delong.

“They can’t get far without horses. Prepare mounts! Get ready to depart!” Delong shouted and rushed out of the armory.

He wanted to catch those two traitors and torture them badly.

He had been foolish enough to develop genuine feelings for a liar, believing Childers was an excellent knight and promising talent, even thinking of recommending him to the Royal Knights!

This almost became the greatest shame of his life and would disgrace the entire Cohen family.

Soon, a squad of knights set off from the castle. Delong didn’t care about sparing his precious warhorse. The mithril armor was the real priceless treasure.

Before long, Delong caught up with the panting Great Knight Lais and asked about the direction Zhang Cheng had fled.

Lais pointed toward the depths of the forest and said, “My lord, they ran south. I’m sorry I lost them here…”

Delong immediately realized their destination and dispatched a few knights to search south through the forest, while he led the rest down the main road.

But the anxious Delong didn’t notice Lais’s face change once Delong’s figure disappeared from sight.

Lais immediately turned and ran back to the castle.

“I am Lais! Open the gates quickly!” he shouted below the castle’s main gate.

“The baron hurried off in armorless haste to chase the bandits. The bandits are nearly his equals in strength. I’m very worried for his safety. Prepare two fast horses! I need to send his armor!”

The knights at the top confirmed Lais’s identity and let him in.

After a while, Lais set off from the castle with a set of armor on his back and two fast horses, speeding down the mountain.

Zhang Cheng and Laity continued fleeing south. By dawn, they were almost at the small fishing village.

But before leaving the woods, Zhang Cheng suddenly stopped.

There were already knights ahead on the road. Zhang Cheng cursed his luck—how were they so fast, and how did they know for sure that they’d come this way?

Zhang Cheng looked around. To the left-front was the road, to the right an open meadow, and beyond that, the beach.

Fearing that the knights would search the woods, Zhang Cheng started backtracking to change positions.

But no sooner had they gone back a little than they saw several rather disheveled knights slowly approaching from behind.

They would meet soon. Because the enemy outnumbered them, and they weren’t confident they could take out all of them at once, the two fell into a dilemma with no way forward or back.

Laity muttered softly and pointed to the trees above.

Zhang Cheng looked up and nodded.

With little time to choose, they each quietly climbed a leafy coconut tree and hid beneath the large fronds, hoping to evade the pursuers behind them.

But luck was not on their side today. Just as Zhang Cheng settled into the tree, a strong gust of wind swept through, rustling the forest noisily and drawing the attention of those outside.

This also exposed Zhang Cheng up in the tree to everyone’s sight.

“There!” a knight shouted, pointing at Zhang Cheng, and nearby knights immediately gave the rallying signal.

“Damn this blasted wind!” Zhang Cheng cursed and jumped down from the coconut tree.

Since they had been discovered, they might as well break through by force!

At that moment, Zhang Cheng suddenly longed for the bipedal wyvern.

If the wyvern were still here, he would have already flown far away with Laity by now.