Chapter 4

Gao Wen felt his condition rapidly improving, his mind gradually clearing, and his control over his body reaching a level where he could move freely. Finally, he had the energy to pay attention to the girl who was still being held: "So... what's going on here?"

The half-elf girl had been trying hard to lower her presence, hoping that these people from the Cecil family would forget about the grave robbery in the shock of meeting their ancestor. But before she could find a chance to slip away, Gao Wen turned his gaze toward her. The unfortunate thief could only shrink her neck and look pitiful: "I just wanted to come in and hide..."

"Do you need to hide all the way to the deepest tomb chamber?" Hetti immediately glared at her and said to Gao Wen, "Ancestor, this despicable tomb raider desecrated your resting place and disturbed your sleep!"

Gao Wen was taken aback, and his gaze toward the half-elf girl became peculiar: "So... it was you who 'woke' me up?"

If not for the limitations of human anatomy, the thief would have wanted to shrink her head into her pelvis. Her voice trembled: "I really didn't do anything! I just wanted to find a safe place to hide, but after I got in, my professional habits kicked in, and I ended up in the tomb chamber. But even then, I didn't do anything..."

Gao Wen thought for a moment and said seriously: "Thank you anyway."

The thief: "Huh?"

Everyone, including Rebecca and Hetti: "Huh?"

"Cough, cough, let her go. It's not good for four men to hold a young girl like this," Gao Wen said, realizing something was off but not wanting to retract his words. "It's not chivalrous, no, it's not chivalrous."

Hetti's face showed hesitation: "But Ancestor, she..."

"I want to thank her for waking me up," Gao Wen waved his hand. "Let her go, I have no objections. What more do you want to say?"

Knight Byron looked at this "Cecil Ancestor" with a strange expression and finally sheathed his sword at Hetti's nod. The three soldiers also stepped back.

The half-elf girl looked around, confirming that this wasn't a prank before cautiously standing up and asking Gao Wen: "Hey, you're the elder, you have to keep your word, don't go back on it!"

Hetti's eyes twitched, and she suppressed the urge to beat up the tomb raider with years of noble upbringing.

Gao Wen looked at the girl curiously. From the memories he had inherited, he could tell that she was a half-elf: "What's your name?"

The half-elf girl blinked: "Amber."

Gao Wen stroked his chin: "Amber? That has a bit of a forest elf style..."

At this moment, Hetti interrupted Gao Wen's conversation with the half-elf named Amber: "Ancestor, I must interrupt you—now is not the time for idle chat, we are not safe!"

Gao Wen tried to get into his new role and looked at Hetti seriously: "What's happening outside?"

"Monsters!" Rebecca, who had been quiet, shouted. "Monsters coming from the Selin Pass and the mines! The army and the police of the territory are no match for those monsters—now the outside is probably completely occupied by them..."

"We organized resistance as much as possible and evacuated the civilians with the help of Knight Philip and some soldiers before the situation completely collapsed," Hetti added. "Rebecca and I, along with these brave warriors, fought until the last moment in the castle—until the inner courtyard gate was breached, and we had to retreat here."

Gao Wen then asked some more questions and finally pieced together the whole situation:

This was the ancestral land of the Cecil family, passed down from the first ancestor. The girl with the iron staff, who looked like a high school student, was actually the current lord of this territory. When the monsters attacked, this young lady had organized resistance as much as possible but clearly failed—the monsters ultimately destroyed all defenses and slaughtered all humans along the way. After the first group of survivors was evacuated, Rebecca and the last soldiers were trapped in the castle. They fought for a long time, but when the castle was breached, they retreated to the ancestral tomb below.

Then they met him, who had just come back to life... or rather, possessed the body.

The beautiful noblewoman named Hetti was actually Rebecca's aunt.

But these family relationships meant little to Gao Wen. They were all great-great-great-granddaughters, and one more or less didn't make a difference.

As for the half-elf named Amber, she was indeed a thief, but this time she had come to find a place to hide. However, her skills were so high that she managed to sneak all the way to the deepest tomb chamber of the Cecil family's ancestral tomb...

"Waking up to such a mess..." Gao Wen rubbed his forehead, thinking about how to solve the crisis while searching his inherited memories for useful information. "So, those monsters have completely occupied the outside, and going out is a dead end. Speaking of which, what exactly are those monsters?"

"I suspect they are a sub-species of demons," Hetti said. "But demons haven't appeared in the material world for many years, and certainly not on such a large scale. I'm not sure."

Rebecca, holding her staff, looked at Gao Wen with hopeful eyes: "Ancestor, can't you deal with the monsters outside with your power?"

Gao Wen was taken aback: "Me?"

"Yes! Aren't you the strongest knight in the Kingdom of Ansu, and even the entire Northern Continent?" Rebecca's eyes almost sparkled. "It's said that you once killed the barbarian grand marshal Gurg with a single sword strike..."

Gao Wen quickly searched his memories and was shocked: Gao Wen Cecil was actually a legendary hero!

He was the greatest hero of the Ansu Kingdom's pioneering era and one of the earliest pioneers of the "Second Expansion" period.

In the dark ages after the collapse of the ancient Gondor Empire, when the remnants of the empire returned to chaos and the light of human civilization was gradually swallowed by the chaotic tide of demons spreading from the heart of the continent, Gao Wen Cecil and a group of other heroes led the surviving humans away from the ruins of the collapsed empire and advanced in four directions. One of these groups, which moved north, were the ancestors of the Ansu Kingdom, and Gao Wen Cecil was among them.

His life was short but glorious: at the age of fifteen, he set out and became the youngest pioneering knight of his time. He and other pioneering knights, along with the first Ansu king, spent ten years establishing a new kingdom in the north and bringing humanity back to civilization and order. After the founding of Ansu, he became one of the seven generals, guarding the southern border and repelling numerous attacks from the chaotic tide, never losing a battle...

However, such a glorious life was like a candle that burned too brightly, and the legendary figure Gao Wen Cecil died at the age of thirty-five in the final battle against the chaotic tide.

The inherited memories ended there.

This was the life of the great hero.

Gao Wen felt his temples throbbing.

He had possessed a formidable person!

He didn't feel elated or overwhelmed. After a brief shock, his main reaction was... uncertainty.

Rebecca was looking at him hopefully, as was Amber, and even the mature and steady Hetti looked at him with expectation and trust.

But they were looking at Gao Wen Cecil, not Gao Wen.

Gao Wen looked at his hands, the hands of a warrior, broad, thick, and calloused, but he didn't know how much power he could control with this body.

However, this uncertainty didn't last long because his own memories became active, spanning tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years. Although the content of these memories was not substantial, they were enough to quickly stabilize his mindset and give him confidence.

He admitted that he was shocked by Gao Wen Cecil's legendary life, but in this situation, he needed firmness, not shock and hesitation.

The source of his confidence was simple—

He had been watching this world since the intelligent beings on this continent couldn't even walk upright!

He knew these memories wouldn't provide practical help, but at this moment, he just needed to boost his morale.

Then, with this morale, he would find a way to survive.

And once he calmed down, solutions would naturally come.

He quickly found some useful information in Gao Wen Cecil's memories.

"Breaking through is not realistic," Gao Wen stroked his chin and said seriously. "I've been asleep for too long, and I'm not sure how much strength I can muster. We also don't know how powerful the monsters outside are, so the best way is to find a path to bypass them and reach a safe place."

Rebecca: "But the drawbridge is destroyed, and the other paths are blocked..."

Gao Wen waved his hand to interrupt his great-great-great-granddaughter: "Underground. The Cecil territory was once part of the southern defense of the kingdom, and there is a secret tunnel system here. It was blessed by earth elementals and won't collapse even after a thousand years. The entrance to this secret tunnel is below the castle."

"Such a thing exists?!" Rebecca's face lit up with surprise. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's find the tunnel! Ancestor, lead the way!"

"But there's a problem," Gao Wen spread his hands. "I only know the way from the castle, but I don't know the way from the tomb."

Rebecca looked surprised: "You lived here for so long and didn't know the way?"

Gao Wen: "..."

Knight Byron and the soldiers: "..."

Hetti's face turned pale, thinking that the ancestor might be so disappointed by this unambitious descendant that he would die of anger...