Chapter 499: Chapter 498: Chasing the Giant’s Trail Chapter 499: Chapter 498: Chasing the Giant’s Trail Although they had already received the intelligence, Fang Zheng and Wells did not change their target because of this. They continued to move forward methodically, while using the Crystal Tower to expand the territory of Order. On one hand, blindly striking out in ignorance of the situation ahead would only bring danger. On the other hand, now that they knew the cause of the Demon Beast riot, the remaining problems were naturally much easier to solve.

If the diary of the Paladin contained no errors, then it seemed that a Guardian of the Goddess had for some unknown reason activated suddenly and then began slaughtering Chaos Monsters in the area–this was not surprising. If we go by Fang Zheng’s guess, the so-called Guardian of the Goddess was very likely some kind of autonomous machine of a higher civilization, and its internal instruction code likely contained commands to annihilate Chaos. Therefore, upon encountering a Chaos Monster, the Guardian would naturally not let these creatures off.

As things stood, the Chaos Monsters were clearly no match for the Guardian, only managing to scurry away in defeat. Perhaps it was for this reason that they chose to launch a fierce attack on the Northern Fortress. After all, as things stood, the combat power of the Northern Fortress was clearly inferior to that of the Guardian. The principle of picking on the weak rather than the strong was something even the Chaos Beasts understood.

The groups of Demon Beasts that Fang Zheng and his people had encountered previously were probably advancing in their direction to avoid the Guardian’s assault. Unfortunately, they ran head-on into the fleet led by Fang Zheng–this was truly a case of finding no path to heaven and no door into the earth… One could only say that these Chaos Monsters were indeed unlucky…

However, it was regrettable that although Fang Zheng dispatched many drones to scout, they had not found any trace of the “Guardian” recorded by the Paladin, which left him somewhat doubtful. After all, according to what Wells said, these Paladins, having ventured deep into the Chaos Land without the Crystal Tower’s expansion of Order Power, would have their minds and brains invaded by Chaos. If what he had recorded was just a fantasy due to his brain being out of control because of Chaos, then their excitement would have been in vain.

But if they wanted to search faster… Nymph did have a suggestion.

“Is she the one?”

Looking at the white warship floating in the air before him, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but feel surprised. This warship was different from the others; its exterior didn’t seem to be built for combat. The white fuselage stretched out like a snake, with the most striking feature being a white ring on the tail of the warship, marked with a red stripe. Well… from the looks of it, this did not seem like a warship.

“Stesius Level?”

“It was just built a few days ago. Although its combat aspects are very average, it specializes in search and research. Currently serving as my assistant, her capabilities are assured. Plus, she’s quite good at this, and I think if I let her do it, she can find our target much faster.”

As Nymph explained, Fang Zheng saw a maid-dressed girl with long blue hair materialize out of thin air, appearing before him, her smile brimming with confidence as she stared at Fang Zheng. She then placed her hand on her chest and lifted her head proudly.

“Pleased to meet you, hello, Commander. I am the Stesius-Class Fog Cruiser Neptune. Do I seem unfamiliar? Don’t worry, from now on, you won’t be able to forget about me even if you want to… I look forward to working with you.”

“Hello.”

Looking at Neptune before him, Fang Zheng nodded. There were many kids with strange personalities in the Mind Model, and to this, Fang Zheng had grown accustomed; therefore, he did not show any special reaction to Neptune’s attitude.

“So, can we start now?”

“Of course, please leave it to me.”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Neptune proudly snapped her fingers. Then they saw several probes being rapidly fired from the sides of the white warship above, quickly flying forward before vanishing into the horizon. Neptune then spread her arms wide, and soon, a 3D holographic scan map materialized in front of Fang Zheng.

On the map, several blue spheres were slowly moving forward, with Neptune stretching out a finger at times to control their directions and zoom levels… Quickly, one of the spheres turned red, and Neptune immediately extended her hand to adjust the size of this red sphere, turning it into a red dot. Then, she summoned with her hand, and Fang Zheng saw four scanning rings begin to converge on the red dot from the east, south, west, and north, enclosing the red dot in their center.

“Beep–”
Soon after, the red dot turned yellow, and then quickly green. A map then appeared in front of Fang Zheng.

“This is?”

Looking at the map before him, Fang Zheng was slightly taken aback as it displayed a massive underground space! Moreover, from the looks of the items constructed from lines, it was not a natural space, but rather seemed to be man-made! Not only that, but from the scan, the space appeared to have collapsed for some reason, leaving a large hole on the surface.

“Looks like some type of factory or maintenance facility…”

Muttering to herself, Neptune once again moved her fingers.

“I will dispatch a probe to search and see if any clues can be found.”

Following Neptune’s gesture, one of the probes quickly entered the depths of the earth through the hole, while the other probes continued their own tasks.

Unfortunately, after that, Neptune still could not find the vanished giant; however, the good news was she found a series of traces of the giant’s movements and was able to determine its size through these traces.

“Approximately 80 meters tall, weighing about two thousand tons. Currently, it’s unclear what technology is being used, but based on analysis of the traces of the battlefield and the radiation level, it should be an unknown energy.”

“In that case, let’s explore the underground space first.”

After receiving the intelligence, Fang Zheng quickly made a decision. Now that the Giant of Light had not appeared, it would be better to first figure out the situation at hand. Based on their current pace, they could reach their destination in just one day, so Fang Zheng was not too concerned. Of course, this was something he still needed to discuss with Lord Wells.

“Ancient ruins?”

Sure enough, upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, the old Knight Commander Wells became so excited that he practically jumped up.

“Are you certain, Your Excellency Fang Zheng?”

“Of course, I’m not certain, if I were, why would I need to investigate?”

Fang Zheng helplessly spread his hands, looking at the old man in front of him. It seemed that religious fervor truly was intense, even a composed elder like Knight Commander Wells got somewhat carried away with excitement upon hearing the news.

“Then, may I accompany you?”

“This…”

Faced with Wells’s inquiry, Fang Zheng hesitated.

“I recommend that you should not take such a risk, Lord Wells, especially since no one knows what lies below. If anything were to happen, we might be able to escape, but it would not necessarily be the same for you… Besides, the army above needs you to manage and command. What I wanted to ask was, do you have any intelligence or clues about this place that you could provide me with? This place must have been a land of civilization before being swallowed by Chaos, perhaps there are rumors or clues about those ruins?”

“Hmm…”

This time, Wells did not immediately answer, but instead fell silent for a moment before looking at Fang Zheng.

“Your Excellency Fang Zheng, I heard… that you had participated in the operation in the Dark Marsh before?”

“That’s correct.”

Fang Zheng was not surprised that Wells knew about this. Even if the Knight Commander didn’t know who he was before, after spending so many days together, they certainly would have learned about each other.

“Then, how much do you know about the origins of the Dark Marsh?”

“I remember… it was when the Kadra Empire attempted to annex a small nation called Samor, and the citizens of that small nation would rather die than submit. In the end, they set the Gates of Hell Array in their capital, connecting to Hell and bringing warfare and death…”

Fang Zheng remembered the details quite clearly, as the battle to close the Gates of Hell in the Dark Marsh was the first task he undertook in the Main World after arriving in this world. It was since then that Fang Zheng started to suspect that the system he had created might have some inexplicable connection with this world…

“That’s right.”

Wells nodded in response to Fang Zheng’s answer.

“In fact, the land we are on now was once the territory of the Kadra Empire… The Kadra Empire was indeed a very advanced nation at the time, but I think there are some things that Your Excellency Fang Zheng might not be aware of. According to historical records, the advancement of the Kadra Empire far exceeded our imagination. Although not reaching the existence of your Azure Fleet, in fact, much of our current technology, including Magitech Warships and Magic Energy Engines, originated from the Kadra Empire.”

“Oh?”

Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but be taken aback.

“There’s such a thing?”

“Yes.”

Wells continued, his voice growing lower.

“Moreover… according to the intelligence at the time, the Kadra Empire claimed that their tremendous power came from the Gift of the Goddess, and their rule over this continent was the will of the Goddess…”

“Oh ho…”

Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes. Wells’s words were not long, but they contained a great deal of information, and combined with the mysterious underground ruins… Hmm, could it be that there really was a problem?