Alien Knights

Marcus carefully picked up the dagger, gently touched the pattern on it, and said something vaguely.

Rachel lowered her head and said softly to Karin: "He seems to still retain human memories, but he just doesn't know how to express them."

Karin turned around and said: "This means that he is not dangerous, right?"

Rachel shook her head and said: "No, in my opinion, his behavior is more like that of an uncivilized child. His temperament may change drastically at any time because of a small thing. I don't think this is a safe behavior."

Karin said: "In my impression, Marcus is like a gentle and humorous older brother, always loyal and patient with his friends."

Rachel closed her eyes, then opened them again and said, "Todd told me that Marcus's test should continue."

Karin: "Continue testing? How?"

Rachel made a gesture, and the knights quickly drove away the onlookers and cleared a path.

Leading Marcus toward the monastery's cemetery, Rachel used her mind to open a tunnel door hidden in the cemetery, revealing a long corridor that sloped downward.

Without any urging from others, Marcus stooped into the door and walked into the dark and long passage.

As he walked along, he knew every corner in the passage and even every pit on the ground by heart.

At the end of the corridor, a door with shining metallic luster appeared in front of Marcus.

These four sentences are engraved on the door.

"As it is within;"

"As it is outside;"

“As it is above;”

"As it is below."

Marcus stretched out his trembling hand and slowly pushed the door open.

The sculpture of the Holy Father stands high at the top of the underground hall, and the dim firelight fills the entire space with a faint warmth.

An old man with white beard and hair, wearing a gray monk's robe, looked at Marcus who walked into the room with a smile, and said slowly: "You are finally back."

Marcus stood stiffly and looked at the old man in disbelief.

The old man said reproachfully: "Did you sneak away somewhere for fun on the way? It only took you so long to deliver a letter to the Watch Castle."

Marcus opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

The smile returned to the old man's face: "Forget it, Marcus, I hope you can come back safely."

Marcus knelt on his knees and finally squeezed out one word with a cry in his mouth: "Father..."

The old man dissipated in an instant, like gravel blown to the sky by the wind, leaving no trace.

Rachel, who had not seen any old man or noticed any strange phenomena from beginning to end, looked at Marcus kneeling on the ground and whispered to herself: "Maybe Todd is right."

A figure walked out of a corner of the room. He was leaning on a cane and looked at the huge Marcus in surprise.

The figure walked under the firelight, and it was Huggins.

Huggins walked around to Rachel and asked in a low voice: "Are you sure...?"

Rachel nodded: "I'm sure he is Marcus."

Huggins lowered his voice and said, "He's a dead soul."

Rachel: "Strictly speaking, he is different from the undead outside. According to Theodore's notes, he was the only one among the first batch of test subjects to be transformed into the successors of the undead."

"After him, the process of undead transformation was gradually perfected, and only then did there come examples of Throatbone and Myris transforming into perfect undead."

Huggins stared at Marcus' back: "In other words, Marcus is the first undead, but because the transformation is not perfect, he has physical and mental defects?"

Rachel: "That's right."

Huggins asked hesitantly: "Then what does Your Majesty want...?"

Rachel: "Todd wants to test how much humanity Marcus still retains and whether there is any possibility of cooperation."

Huggins glanced at Marcus again, turned to the corner and said, "What are you hiding for? Come out."

Soon, three people came out from the other end of the room.

They are Edgar and Raglan.

These people present are all members of the San Sidro Monastery assembly and are also old acquaintances of Marcus.

Edgar, who has grown a goatee, still doesn't have the word stability in his temperament.

He picked up a branch and tried to poke the motionless Marcus.

Huggins stopped him in time and dragged him to the corner.

The Raglans took trembling little steps and hid in the middle of the knights against the wall, unwilling to take another step out.

Faced with all this, Huggins sighed helplessly, turned around and said, "Your Majesty just asked us to come, but what should we do now?"

Rachel, who was always observing Marcus, said, "Actually, you don't have to do anything, just stand here."

Huggins was puzzled: "Standing here? But..."

Before he finished speaking, Huggins discovered that Marcus actually stood up and walked straight towards him.

Putting on a defensive posture, Huggins was ready to run away at any time. Unexpectedly, Marcus just stayed in front of him and made no more moves.

Marcus looked at Huggins' face carefully, and after a long time he said intermittently: "Baker..."

Huggins smiled bitterly at Rachel, who was full of doubts, and said: "Marcus used to give me nicknames because I always have food on me..."

Marcus turned his head to Edgar again and said with difficulty: "Rabbit... son..."

Huggins explained: "It's also a nickname because Edgar runs fast..."

Marcus once again turned his attention to the Raglan couple hiding among the knights, and said slowly: "Stingy... ghost..."

Rachel stopped Huggins: "You don't need to explain this nickname. I think it's quite appropriate."

Marcus looked around, seemingly looking for something.

Huggins seemed to anticipate the other party's thoughts and asked: "Are you going to ask where the stupid guy went?"

Marcus looked at Huggins and nodded slightly.

Huggins sighed heavily and explained to Rachel: "Big Fool is little Jerry's nickname."

Rachel was also silent for a moment.

As the deputy leader of the North Island Knights, Jerry once led a fleet to sea to investigate the secrets of the undead plague, but the entire ship was infected with the undead virus.

Finally, with the help of the Valkyrie, Jerry was brought back to Muxi City, but he had already turned into a soulless undead spirit who only knew how to kill.

Huggins gestured and said to Marcus: "I will explain to you about Little Jerry in the future. Can you remember anything else?"

Rachel approached Karin and whispered: "Marcus' memory is slowly recovering, and perhaps his intelligence is also slowly improving. Could it be that the undead can gradually regain consciousness?"

Karin said: "I don't know, but my guess is that Marcus has passed the test."

Rachel closed her eyes, opened them again quickly and said, "Todd said he passed the test, but he cannot enter Twilight City for the time being, and must be supervised by someone. Apart from that, he has all freedoms."