Chapter 4: Assassinate the King

After crossing into the entrance of the Illusion Realm, Zhao Haiping found himself inside an ancient palace filled with a chilling atmosphere.

Looking up, he saw the palace had a vertical drop of a hundred meters, with three stone staircases stretching upward, leading to the grand hall at the highest point.

Along the sides stood tall, cold-eyed Red-armored Guards, armored and ready, each seeming like a battle-hardened elite who had emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

However, the Illusion Realm's time-space was clearly in a frozen state and had not yet started to operate.

In front of Zhao Haiping, three cards appeared, each with different designs and colors, and with descriptions on them.

[C · Composure (White):"Your emotions are calm, allowing you to face danger more serenely."]

[C · Swordsmanship Mastery (Blue):"Your level of swordsmanship is accordingly enhanced."]

[B · Overbearing Presence (White):"You emit an aura of oppression, making enemies more likely to fear you."]

Additional notes were written below.

[Skill Levels (from highest to lowest):A B C D E F G H I J]

[Skill Rarity:White is common, Blue is fine, Gold is legendary]

Zhao Haiping carefully observed these three cards, scrutinizing their skills.

"So, the official website wasn't wrong, this game indeed has some RPG elements.

"It seems that in this Trial Illusion I will obtain different skills, and the choices I make will determine the direction of my gameplay.

"Is this like RPG games where I choose talents? I'd better think carefully then."

The so-called RPG games are roguelike games, characterized by their strong randomness, and each death is permanent, requiring a restart.

Many RPG games involve randomly drawing skills for players to choose from. After selecting skills, players also have to adjust subsequent strategies, genre development, and gameplay, which is where the greatest joy of RPG games lies.

At this moment, Zhao Haiping faced such a choice.

The effectiveness of skills was certainly variable, and selecting different skills could lead to vastly different outcomes; otherwise, there wouldn't be a need to choose.

Zhao Haiping began a careful analysis.

"The strength of a skill is clearly restricted by two factors: level and rarity. The higher the level and rarity, the stronger the skill.

"So, I can probably discard the first option and choose from the latter two.

"The goal of this instance is to assassinate the king, so I am essentially an assassin. Therefore, swordsmanship should be important, a slip at a critical moment could mean the difference between heaven and earth.

"This 'Overbearing Presence'... It's a higher-level skill and seems quite good too.

"After all, the emperor will definitely have guards around him. When the time comes and the guards swarm me, even with good swordsmanship, I might not be able to overcome so many.

"But the effect of Overbearing Presence is to make enemies more likely to fear me, which could likely help me break through the guards and successfully assassinate the emperor...

"One is rarer, one is of higher level, it's a tough choice.

"Never mind, I'll just pick one for now and see how difficult this instance actually is."

Zhao Haiping pondered and lightly touched the card labeled [Overbearing Presence], and the card immediately turned into light particles that converged into his body, while the other two cards disappeared.

At that moment, Zhao Haiping felt a very special sensation, as if he had acquired a very unique aura!

With every move he made, an aura of dominion spontaneously arose.

Zhao Haiping even felt that if he encountered some hooligans on the street at this moment, he wouldn't need to lift a finger; a fierce shout would be enough to scare them off!

"It seems there's a reason this skill's level is higher. Compared to swordsmanship, which anyone can master to a certain extent with enough practice, this type of imposing aura is harder to come by."

Zhao Haiping was quite satisfied with his choice.

The moment he made his choice, the Illusion Realm began to flow.

The guiding eunuch in front had already started walking forward, and Zhao Haiping hurriedly followed.

He noticed he was holding a wooden box in his hands, beautifully patterned, surely containing something precious inside.

Zhao Haiping was curious about what was inside, but with the Red-armored Guards watching on both sides, he dared not act rashly. Lowering his head, he followed the guiding eunuch up the long stone steps toward the main hall.

With each step he took, he felt the atmosphere becoming more oppressive, and his heart started pounding louder and louder.

By the time he arrived at the grand hall, his heart felt as if it might burst from his chest, trembling uncontrollably.

"Is this what a 100% realistic game feels like? Why do I feel a hundred times more nervous than when I went to a job interview right after graduating college..."

At that moment, Zhao Haiping truly understood the literal meaning of tremendous pressure.

Never had he experienced this in other virtual reality games.

When he first entered the Illusion Realm, he hadn't felt much since time hadn't started flowing yet, and he only saw a static scene in front of him; the palace looked majestic and somewhat shocking, but that was it.

But as he truly ascended the steps towering over a hundred meters under the watchful eyes of countless Red-armored Guards, the exceedingly somber atmosphere combined with the prolonged climb accumulated pressure within him, akin to bundles of straw being loaded onto a camel.

If this had really been a scene in reality, many individuals with poor psychological fortitude might not have even made it to the grand hall, their legs giving way beneath them.

Fortunately, he could see various game information in his field of view, constantly reminding him that this was all taking place within a game, and he was merely playing a character, which greatly eased Zhao Haiping's mind.

At last, he arrived in front of the main hall.

A Red-armored Guard stepped forward for one final pat-down.

After being roughly searched from head to toe, Zhao Haiping was allowed to pass.

Just before leaving, the Red-armored Guard gave him a couple of extra cautious glances. Although Zhao Haiping was already somewhat frightened and wobbly on his legs, the guard remained on high alert.

This was probably the effect of that "Overbearing" skill.

However, this also provided him with an opportunity to see the name above the head of the Red-armored Guard.

Previously, although the sides of the main hall were also lined with Red-armored Guards, Zhao Haiping dared not look around, let alone read the names above their heads, which were too far away and unclear.

Now, he saw it clearly: Great Yan Red Armor Army.

Zhao Haiping's brain whirled, coming to many conclusions.

"That's right, seeing all these guards in red, I should have associated it with Great Yan. As the first dynasty in the Nine Provinces to unify the nation, valuing the virtue of fire, they favored the color red; the Red Armor Army is even the most elite force of the Yan Dynasty.

"That's not right, though, since he's the ruler of the Yan Dynasty, he should be a positive character, right? Why, as an Order Restorer, do I have to assassinate the king?

"Could it be...

"Am I currently reenacting the scene of assassinating Emperor Yanling?"

Zhao Haiping once again looked at the wooden box in his hands. Although there was no explicit information about it, its size and shape undoubtedly matched Zhao Haiping's guess.

Though Zhao Haiping wasn't particularly well-versed in history, this event was highly renowned and widely known; it was almost impossible for him not to know it.

Emperor Yanling was historically known as a tyrant, notorious for his exploits and brutal taxation, making life unbearable for the people. The chivalrous Nie Rang seized the opportunity during a tribute presentation to assassinate Emperor Yanling. Although he died in the attempt, the succeeding king abolished the malpractices, extending the life of the Yan Dynasty by another century or so.

Of course, at the time of presenting the tribute, Nie Rang was a nobody. It was only after he assassinated Emperor Yanling that he was acclaimed as the greatest swordsman of the time, later honored as the foremost among the top ten assassins.

In any case, in history, Emperor Yanling was a true antagonist, and playing the part of Nie Rang to kill the tyrant king was considered an act of eradicating a common nuisance.

"So, the method to clear this instance is pretty clear now.

"I am to play the role of the chivalrous Nie Rang, reenacting the scene of assassinating Emperor Yanling.

"The item in this box is probably that so-called auspicious creature, the Black Jade Kirin."

Zhao Haiping now somewhat understood why the initial beta testers' recruitment emphasized the need for historical knowledge.

If someone was completely ignorant of history, entering this instance, they probably wouldn't even guess what the main quest was, utterly clueless; how could they possibly clear the instance?

The eunuch quickly scurried up to the emperor enthroned in the grand hall and spoke, "Your Majesty, Nie Rang, who presents the auspicious Black Jade Kirin, is waiting outside the hall."

Emperor Yanling, tall and imposing, laughed heartily, "Oh? Then let him enter the hall to present the tribute! My nobles, accompany me to welcome the auspicious creature!"

The eunuch immediately called out loudly, "Announcing, Nie Rang's audience!"

Zhao Haiping knew it was his turn and hurried, head bowed, into the grand hall.

At that moment, the civil and military officials of the Yan Dynasty were positioned on both sides; Zhao Haiping felt an even greater pressure, sweat beads forming on his forehead, but he forced himself to calm down. Like the scenes he had seen in many films and TV dramas, he knelt on the floor, hands lifting the wooden box high above, "This humble subject pays homage to Your Majesty!"

After waiting for a while without any response,

Zhao Haiping grew suspicious, wondering if there was a bug in the game? Why had it frozen?

He subconsciously looked up and discovered Emperor Yanling aloft, squinting his eyes and watching him with suspicion.

"Look up to the king's face? You truly intend to assassinate and overthrow the mona...

"From the moment you entered the hall, you were filled with murderous aura; I saw at a glance that you must be a ruthless thug without a father or a ruler!

"Where are the guards? Take him out and behead him!"

Zhao Haiping was baffled, "Damn it!"

Before he could react, two Red-armored Guards quickly stepped forward and seized him without further ado.

Zhao Haiping wanted to resist, but the guards firmly gripped him, making it impossible for him to break free.

Before Zhao Haiping could even argue, he had been dragged outside the hall by the guards, and with the raising of a sword, his life was ended.

If it had been any other emperor, there might have been a process before executing someone, but Emperor Yanling, notorious in history as a tyrant, never delayed in putting someone to death.

Zhao Haiping only felt a chill on his neck and darkness before his eyes, with just a half mumbled complaint escaping from his disgruntled severed head.

"Damn it..."