In the end, when Fang Zheng arrived in a new world, he appeared in the form of a wolf.
Because Fang Zheng really didn’t have much of a choice.
He could certainly choose some super cute and adorable appearance, but Fang Zheng’s pride wouldn’t allow him to act cute. You have to know that even if Fang Zheng transformed into Red Ponytail, he never acted cute, let alone turning into an animal and acting cute. But tigers and lions were too cliché, and don’t even think about gorillas, so he ultimately chose a wolf.
After all, how does that advertisement phrase go?
Dance with wolves, fully showcase the true hero spirit!
Hmm? Isn’t that what the phrase means?
Forget it, it doesn’t matter.
And the wolf Fang Zheng transformed into was pure white, with a size no different from an ordinary wolf, and looked rather beautiful. Of course, if it were some pampered person, they might mistake him for a big white dog. For Fang Zheng, this was naturally better. It’s just...
What kind of world is this?
Fang Zheng raised his head and looked around, first seeing the lush green forest, followed by several floating islands suspended in the air — alright, at least it’s definitely a fantasy world, because such things don’t exist in the normal world.
So next...where are the people? Who summoned me?
"Waaaahhhh!!!"
At this moment, Fang Zheng keenly captured the scream coming from above. He lifted his head and looked skyward, only to see three petite figures appear in mid-air and then fall straight to the ground. These were three girls who looked like middle school students, one with long water-blue hair, another with red hair tied into a braid, and a girl with curly yellow hair wearing glasses.
These three were wearing different red, blue, and green uniforms and just appeared from the sky, directly falling down — then suddenly, a large winged fish appeared out of nowhere, catching these three girls and flying away.
"............"
Although they didn’t fall on Fang Zheng’s side, just by seeing these three girls, Fang Zheng knew what world he was in.
So he immediately had two reactions.
The first reaction was — wow, my youth is back!
The second reaction was — wow, childhood shadow right here!
That’s right, this world is exactly the anime Fang Zheng frequently watched on TV as a child — the world of "Magic Knight Rayearth"!
As an anime, the plot of "Magic Knight Rayearth" itself isn’t really complicated. It tells the story of three girls who were summoned to Another World, then entrusted by the Grand Archmage of that world to defeat the Evil Priest who imprisoned the Princess, and subsequently save the world.
And the process is particularly traditional RPG style, where the three first search for their respective weapons, then awaken magic powers, subsequently defeat the enemies sent by the Evil Priest, and finally the three work together to defeat the Evil Priest and rescue the Princess.
You see, this is actually a story that someone skilled in RPG Maker could easily create, except for the part where these three girls as so-called "Magic Knights" drive mecha, which is truly puzzling, the rest isn’t anything particularly noteworthy.
To be sure, in the eyes of later generations, "Magic Knight Rayearth" isn’t considered an outstanding anime, but it was broadcasted on TV, something Fang Zheng and a bunch of kids watched growing up, sitting in front of the TV promptly after school every day, waiting for it...not to mention anything else, at least it’s a fond childhood memory.
As for childhood shadow, well, that’s related to the twist at the end.
At the time, Fang Zheng was still a kid, and when watching, he just hoped to see the three girls eventually defeat the Evil Priest and rescue the Princess. But what he didn’t expect was, after the three girls defeated the Evil Priest and rescued the Princess, the whole plot took a one hundred eighty degree turn — it turned out the Priest and Princess deeply loved each other, and she summoned the Magic Knights not to free herself, but hoping they could kill them!
This not only greatly surprised the three girls, but even Fang Zheng was directly shocked by this plot twist. It’s like controlling Mario to defeat the Cool Overlord, initially expecting to bring the Princess home, only for the Princess to tell you her true love is the Cool Overlord, and since you’ve killed Cool Overlord, well you might as well kill me too!!
This really is a childhood shadow...
So, when people nowadays scream at those grimdark anime, Fang Zheng always stays coldly indifferent.
That’s it?
That’s it?
And this level is called torture? Called dark despair?
You guys are still too young.
The tricks you’re praising now, I experienced when I was a kid!
Stuff like "Magic Knight," stuff like "Magic Maid," stuff like "This Beautiful and Ugly World"... But the things you’re praising now, they’re nowhere near those!
Especially "Magic Maid," which was a huge childhood shadow deep in Fang Zheng’s heart. After all, at the end of each episode, there was a friendly reminder that "there are XXX days until Mahoro’s functions stop," but at that time Fang Zheng didn’t care about this at all, just thought it was a special end preview.
It was only at the last episode when Mahoro’s functions completely stopped that he realized what the countdown meant—this lead character was bound to face demise, but poor young Fang Zheng didn’t see it coming, and thought a few hundred days was a long time!
What does "knife hidden in laughter, shit wrapped in sugar" mean? The childhood shadows of their generation can hardly be compared to the current pursuits of "dark despair."
True dark despair is this kind where you laugh until the last episode, only to be stabbed in the end, and by the time you realize it, they’re gone with full ratings and money, unlike now when you can vent anger online. Back then, by the time they realized, the anime was over, the production team disbanded, and they couldn’t find the responsible party...
Aside from that, there was another game that was also a childhood shadow for Fang Zheng. The game itself was essentially a common GALGAME setup, where the main character is a 20-year-old company employee who likes building robots. He encounters a female robot, and the game’s main task is for the protagonist to work and earn money, then raise the female lead’s affection through various events, ultimately leading her to understand a human’s heart.
Sounds beautiful... Most thought it was such a story, where the female lead understands the human heart and successfully ends up with the male lead.
However, it was not.
Fang Zheng’s final outcome was that the female lead was displayed as a robot specimen in a school exhibition, leaving him baffled, thinking he got a bad ending. He replayed the outcomes several times, even used cheats to skip work and focused solely on building relationships with the female lead.
The result remained the same.
This left the student Fang Zheng puzzled until he grew older. One day, he randomly checked online and discovered—actually, the display in school was the good ending, BAD END was that the female lead failed and was discarded in a trash heap...
The HAPPY END meant that the male protagonist helped the female lead understand the human heart, she became a remarkable robot, and hence was exhibited. Fang Zheng only wanted to curse out loud at which screenwriter was so deranged to write such an ending for him?
Okay, drifting topic aside... back to reality.
Fang Zheng shook his head, forcibly suppressing the boiling emotions in his mind, and began to think again.
Fang Zheng knows the situation of this world, Sifiro is a world of will, and the rescue target "Princess Aimino" is its pillar. Simply put, Aimino can only have this world in her heart; she must pray tirelessly for this world to remain peaceful.
But if Princess Aimino becomes angry, sad, or emotionally turbulent, then changes occur in this world, triggering disasters like storms, earthquakes, and gales.
So isn’t a princess at all, they’re more suitable for putting in a nunnery as a nun.
Spending all day eating vegetarian food, chanting Buddhist sutras, speaking of Six Senses Purification where emptiness is form and form is emptiness...
However, Princess Aimino is not a true nun, so she naturally fell in love with the cleric beside her, Shagatu. Of course, once in love, don’t expect to maintain a state of tranquility, and thus the world began to face destruction.
This puts Princess Aimino in a dilemma; she isn’t a robot, and her love for Shagatu devours her. On the other hand, Aimino doesn’t wish for the world’s demise, so with a resolute heart, she summoned three Magic Knights from Another World, hoping they could kill her, for the legend states only Magic Knights possess the power to kill Aimino, the pillar. Since she was stuck between love and the world, she decided to end it once and for all, eliminating the need to choose between love and duty.
But clearly, Shagatu is unwilling, so he decided to imprison Princess Aimino, standing guard outside, determined to block and eliminate the three Magic Knights, protecting his beloved.
This is the truth behind "Evil Cleric imprisoning Princess."
And to solve this dilemma, one must first eradicate the absurd premise of a person’s will supporting an entire world... frankly, unless it’s a robot, anyone would eventually crumble.
Even Yuki Nagate circles into August hundreds of times before a BUG appears.
As for solving this issue...hmm...
Fang Zheng lifted his head, gazing at the sky in the distance.
Perhaps it’s best to first talk to Princess Aimino.

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