My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 204 - 165: I Won’t Explain! ’Madman’ Fang Zhen

Karen made no secret of her distrust for Fang Zhen, her sharp gaze fixed on him.

The gazes of the others followed suit.

Fang Zhen narrowed his eyes slightly as he took in their scrutinizing looks.

He could tell something was off about the atmosphere. Clearly, Karen wasn't the only one who had doubts about his identity—or at least his origins. A few of the others were suspicious, too; they just hadn't voiced it as directly as she had.

The proof was that when Karen had challenged him, several others had remained silent, but their scrutinizing gazes had also turned to him.

"Karen, I don't think you should doubt Fang Zhen," Gwendolyn said. "No matter what, Fang Zhen invented the Blood Burst Secret Medicine. If he were one of the Eternal Night Council's people, he would have no reason to deliberately leak such an important secret medicine to us. The losses would far outweigh any potential gain."

After a pause, Gwendolyn continued, "Besides, when we fought together, I could feel his will to fight. He is definitely not one of the Eternal Night Council. I am willing to vouch for him."

"That's not necessarily true," Karen countered, unconvinced. "Master, I believe in your character, but I don't want to see you deceived."

"You say that giving us the Blood Burst Secret Medicine would be a net loss for the aberrations, but what if that's not the case? What if the aberrations want to completely destroy the Whig Society, so they've set an enormous trap, using the Blood Burst Secret Medicine to lure us in? Perhaps this medicine is only effective against low-level aberrations and useless against high-level ones."

"They sent Fang Zhen to gain our trust, leading us to miscalculate the balance of power between the Eternal Night Council and the Whig Society. Then, at a critical moment, the Blood Burst Secret Medicine would fail, or Fang Zhen would stop providing the Alchemy Pills, or some other hidden problem would arise."

"A big reason the Whig Society has survived until now is that, aside from a few special places like Ellick Territory, most of our members have not been exposed. Once we launch an all-out counterattack, the majority of the Whig Society's members will have to reveal themselves. At that point, the Eternal Night Council could wipe us out in one fell swoop."

"Can you say that's not a possibility?"

Gwendolyn was stunned into silence, unable to form a reply.

"This…"

Gwendolyn wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come. She likely felt, from her interactions with him, that Fang Zhen wasn't that kind of person. Yet, she couldn't find the words to refute Karen's theory, because it actually sounded somewhat plausible.

It wasn't just Gwendolyn; the others present also wore thoughtful expressions.

Fang Zhen himself was quite surprised to hear this theory.

'So I'm playing such a grand game of chess without even knowing it myself?'

'This Karen sure has a wild imagination.'

'So this Karen is one of the Curse Seal World's grand-scheme believers, a conspiracy theorist.'

But, to be fair, Karen's words did have a ring of truth to them. Aside from the fact that it wasn't true, it sounded plausible.

As everyone fell silent, Giant Stone Pat suddenly spoke up.

"I trust Fang Zhen," Giant Stone Pat said.

Pat's statement drew the attention of the others.

Karen seemed to look down on Pat, asking without even lifting her eyelids, "Your reason?"

"Instinct!" Giant Stone Pat replied, full of confidence.

Hearing this, the others either shook their heads or sighed helplessly, averting their gazes from Giant Stone Pat.

Karen sighed. "Hah. To think that a meathead like you would have any unique insight… what a foolish expectation."

"Hmph!" Pat grunted and said no more.

After a moment of awkward silence, Night Diver Tos looked at Fang Zhen. "Fang Zhen, Karen is questioning whether you're a member of the Eternal Night Council, or at the very least, that your identity is suspect."

"Do you have anything to say to this accusation?"

Instantly, all eyes turned back to Fang Zhen.

Fang Zhen's expression was calm as ever, showing no sign of panic. On the contrary, he seemed composed and at ease.

He glanced around the room and said, "Everyone, you may have misunderstood one thing."

"What's that?" Karen and Tos asked in unison.

"The thing you've misunderstood," Fang Zhen said, "is that I am not a member of the Whig Society. I have no need to prove anything to you, nor do I need you to pass judgment on my identity."

He stood up. "Let's get this straight. I am not a criminal, and I will not explain myself or try to prove my innocence."

"I came to Ellick Territory to kill the Vampire Count Ellick. My goal is to make a name for myself, to become a living legend admired by all."

"As for everything else—the trade, the Blood Burst Secret Medicine, all of you, the Whig Society—it's all just window dressing for what I'm here to do."

"If our goals align, then we can walk the same path and cooperate for a while. If not, then we'll go our separate ways. It's not like I can't do this without you."

"In short, I'm taking Ellick down. Not even the Eternal Night Council can stop me. And that's final."

"As for your accusations against me, you can think whatever you want. If you won't help me, I'll just take down Ellick by myself. I have no need to explain anything to you."

"Have I made myself clear enough? Do you all understand?"

Fang Zhen spoke these words in a calm, unhurried, yet powerful tone.

His confident demeanor, combined with his somewhat arrogant expression and attitude, stunned everyone present.

Even Karen, who had been the first to question Fang Zhen, looked taken aback, clearly not expecting him to respond this way.

For a moment, the room fell silent.

Fang Zhen glanced around at their expressions, feeling rather satisfied.

It wasn't that he was truly that arrogant.

Rather, his real-life experiences had taught him that when you're questioned or slandered, you must never try to explain yourself or prove your innocence.

The moment you start explaining and defending yourself, people may not even believe you, and it will only be followed by countless more doubts, slanders, and rumors from angles you could never have imagined.

As the saying goes, a lie spreads with a single word, but the truth must run itself ragged to catch up.

The correct approach in such situations is to turn the tables on them, or to remove yourself from the situation entirely and refuse to play by their rules.

Now, Fang Zhen's speech had left even the initially skeptical Karen speechless.

His words were so uncompromising that it actually made him seem forthright. No one could question him any further.

"Actually, I don't think what Karen brought up earlier about the Alchemy Armor can be considered a point of suspicion," said Red Viper Laura, who had been silent until now.

Laura's voice was calm, with a husky quality like that of a torch singer.

"And your reason?" Karen asked.

"It's simple. If your theory were correct, Karen, and Fang Zhen was sent by the Eternal Night Council to deceive us, then he should be avoiding any other actions that might arouse suspicion and focusing solely on his main objective," Laura said. "The deal for the Alchemy Armor was very abrupt. If Fang Zhen were one of their people, wouldn't that just be needlessly complicating things?"

"Therefore, I believe that this business with the armor, even if Fang Zhen has his secrets, is due to personal reasons and not something worth being suspicious about."

Hearing Laura's words, the others around them grew pensive.

For the first time, a flicker of doubt showed on Karen's face.

But Karen hadn't given up completely. She added, "What if the Eternal Night Council anticipated that we would think that way?"

"I don't advise endlessly extending the chain of suspicion," Night Diver Tos said, shaking his head. "If we keep thinking along those lines, it will be endless. It's not fair to Fang Zhen."

"Besides, Karen, I'm more than twenty years older than you and have fought the Eternal Night Council many times. My personal feeling is that while the high-ranking aberrations in the Eternal Night Council are cunning enough, they're not *as* cunning as you imagine. Nor do they operate on such a grand scale that they could plot a scheme to wipe out the entire Whig Society using the Blood Burst Secret Medicine."

"If they truly had such a deep-laid plot and could execute it flawlessly, the Whig Society would have been annihilated long ago. We wouldn't have survived to this day, and we certainly wouldn't be sitting here together, planning how to kill Ellick."

Karen pursed her lips, seeming to think Tos was just flaunting his seniority, but she couldn't find any other angle to question Fang Zhen from, so she fell silent.

Gwendolyn stepped in to smooth things over. "I can understand Karen's feelings. She just wants to refine our pre-battle analysis and planning, to eliminate any dangers. There wasn't much ill intent, she was just a bit sharp."

"Fang Zhen is also right. He isn't a member of the Whig Society, so we can't hold him to our society's standards."

"Everyone's goal is still the same: to kill Ellick. We just have slightly different standpoints. Let's try to understand each other."

Poisonous Jorent chimed in, "That's right. The enemy is right in front of us, and Ellick is a particularly difficult aberration to deal with. We must stay united and not turn on each other. That would only play right into Ellick's hands."

Fang Zhen nodded slightly in acceptance.

'My posturing just now had worked well. I've established a detached status, clarifying my role as an independent collaborator.'

'With this status, there will be far fewer restrictions on me.'

'And from everyone's comments, I've also picked up on a few things.'

After hearing all this, Karen let out a long breath. "Fine. I won't insist on my previous theory. Let's discuss something more practical."

"If we enter the Ancient Castle, how do we deal with the Heavy Armor Soldiers of the Earl's Guard inside?"

"According to our intelligence, there are twenty soldiers in the Heavy Armor Guard on paper, but the actual number could be double that, or even more. Even with Fang Zhen, there are only seven of us."

"We all have experience fighting Heavy Armored Warriors. One-on-one, they're no match for us. But twenty of them can form a battle formation. I don't need to tell you how terrifying Heavy Armor Soldiers are when they fight as a unit."

"Once we're inside the castle, we can't avoid the Heavy Armor Soldiers. Forcing our way through will cost us at least fifty percent of our combat power, maybe more. How do we get past this obstacle?"

"We smash through!" Giant Stone Pat declared, smacking his fist into his palm.

But no one paid him any mind.

Gwendolyn looked up at Poisonous Jorent. "Jorent, do you have any Alchemy Powder that can take out all these Heavy Armor Soldiers at once?"

"Not really," Jorent replied, shaking his head. "I have powders that can knock them out, but most of them are only effective in an enclosed space."

"Besides, ordinary poisons don't work well on aberrations. As you know, Gwendolyn, aberrations are immune to most toxins. At best, they might dislike the smell of certain powders, but they won't actually be poisoned."

"That's why the Whig Society places so much importance on the Blood Burst Secret Medicine."

"Based on our past experience, the Heavy Armor Soldiers in the Ancient Castle have likely been turned into aberrations themselves. Toxins won't have a strong effect on them. Using poison powder in an open area won't hurt them, but it might hit our own people by mistake."

Gwendolyn shook her head at this.

For a moment, the others were all lost in thought, trying to figure out how to break through the protective circle of Heavy Armor Soldiers with minimal cost so they could face Ellick directly.

Seeing that no one was speaking, Fang Zhen suddenly stood up again.

"Everyone, if you can keep the Heavy Armor Soldiers from getting close to me, I am confident I can kill more than thirty of the Heavy Armor Guards within fifteen breaths of time,"

he said.

His words sent a shock through everyone present!