Chapter 64: Truly a Cowardly, Self-Preserving Man!

Chu Ge took a moment to summarize his previous attempts.

"I still got some decent gains—collected some identity points, confirmed the characterizations of Yang Xinyan and Su Xianjun, and most importantly, unlocked the playable identities of both Yang Xinyan and Wang Jinghui.

"So, the next step is simple: to play Wang Jinghui.

"According to the game's description of 'identity correction,' if you play an altered character correctly, you can restore their true nature, and their behavior will remain consistent even if you switch roles next time.

"However, there aren't many details on what constitutes 'correct' role-playing.

"Following the game's usual style, the mission of an Order Restorer is to reconstruct historical accuracy. So, 'correct' role-playing likely means embodying the true historical persona of the character.

"The closer I am to the true persona, the higher the likelihood of correction.

"Of course, players must figure out the true persona for themselves."

After analyzing this, Chu Ge decisively chose to play as Wang Jinghui.

Whether or not Wang Jinghui had been altered, playing him should reveal the answer. If he's altered, playing correctly should trigger a correction. If no correction occurs, then he's unaltered. At that point, Chu Ge could eliminate that as a wrong answer and try other possibilities.

As for talent skills, he once again chose the golden "Memory Fragment."

The trial instance began once more.

...

Playing as Wang Jinghui, Chu Ge stepped out of the theater's secret door and immediately tried to contact the militia.

He had to admit, Wang Jinghui's body was ridiculously weak—after just a few steps, he was already gasping for air.

The sky was fully dark, and Chu Ge wasn't sure where to find the gathered militia. So he wandered towards areas with more people, hoping for the best.

Just then, he heard someone call out, "Mr. Wang? Mr. Wang!"

Chu Ge looked over to see a few peasant-looking men near a residence, with one leading man gazing at him excitedly.

"Mr. Wang, you may not know me. I'm You Jiang. I was sent by Brother Gao Ze to rally the militia and avenge Magistrate Tang!"

The sudden stroke of luck nearly made Chu Ge doubt his own eyes.

To connect with the militia so easily? But it made sense upon reflection—he wasn't the only one fighting back, and many brave souls like You Jiang were also rallying the militia throughout the town. The town wasn't large, so if Chu Ge didn't meet You Jiang, he would eventually encounter someone else.

Chu Ge grabbed You Jiang's arm. "Quick, take me to see—"

But before he could finish saying "Gao Ze," he heard a sharp "thud."

A split second later, Chu Ge felt a blow to his back, staggering forward, almost collapsing.

You Jiang quickly held him up. "Mr. Wang? Mr. Wang!"

You Jiang's face suddenly turned pale.

Chu Ge, still confused, reached back and touched something wet—blood.

A cross-shaped throwing knife had embedded itself deep into his back!

Dazed, Chu Ge turned his head and saw a black-clad Eastern assassin slipping away over the rooftop.

"You son of a…"

A curse stuck in his throat as his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

...

Back to square one.

Chu Ge felt like flipping the table.

This is ridiculous!

For a brief moment, he really thought he was only one step away from completing the instance.

In fact, Chu Ge had already guessed that completing the trial's objective might require both the theater-burning plan and rallying the militia—not just one or the other.

When he played Wang Jinghui and ended up locked in the cellar, he had faintly heard battle cries outside, but ultimately failed. This likely meant that without the player's intervention, the militia alone couldn't defeat the bandits.

Likewise, the theater-burning plan couldn't rely on the cowardly theater troupe members alone.

Chu Ge deduced that if he could escape and successfully coordinate with the militia to carry out the theater-burning plan during their attack, the success rate would greatly increase.

And things had indeed progressed as Chu Ge expected—success seemed within reach.

... If not for that sudden assassin.

Unconvinced, Chu Ge muttered, "One more time!"

...

Attempt three.

"Mr. Wang, run! Run!" You Jiang yelled as Chu Ge bolted for his life. But it was futile.

The assassin was extremely fast. After dispatching several militia members who tried to block him, he quickly caught up with the gasping Chu Ge.

With a slick "thud," a bloodied sword pierced through Chu Ge's chest.

Chu Ge tried to crawl forward a few more steps, but ultimately fell short. His vision blurred and darkened again.

His last sight was the assassin flicking blood from his sword and casting a disdainful glance.

The scene reset to the beginning once more.

This time, Chu Ge didn't rush to restart. Partly because he had run out of identity points, and partly because three consecutive tries had left him questioning everything.

Too frustrating!

The first time, he'd been thrilled to find You Jiang, only to be ambushed by the assassin, dying without understanding what had happened.

The second time, he was cautious enough to dodge the initial attack, but the assassin shamelessly delivered a killing blow anyway, leaving Chu Ge to bitterly taste defeat again.

The third time, Chu Ge didn't bother hiding. The moment he saw You Jiang, he screamed "Help me!" and fled as fast as he could.

That actually worked better—he managed to run over two hundred meters, with You Jiang and a few other militia members holding off the assassin for a while. But Wang Jinghui's body was simply too weak and slow, and the assassin eventually caught up.

Hence, that frustrating scene repeated.

Despite the anger, Chu Ge quickly calmed himself down.

His professional gamer mindset stopped him from raging aimlessly. Instead, he analyzed the situation anew.

"If I leave the theater as Wang Jinghui, I'll be killed by the assassin regardless of my speed.

"That means the assassin wasn't just wandering around; he was specifically targeting me!

"With Wang Jinghui's feeble body, fighting back is out of the question, and running doesn't seem viable either. Even a warrior player with combat talents would struggle in this frail body.

"So, am I just stuck?

"Wang Jinghui can't get the message out, so how is anyone supposed to execute the theater-burning plan?

"The bigger issue here is…

"I've played Wang Jinghui three times now, doing my best to embody the patriotic poet persona.

"But according to the system's description, character correction isn't directly tied to instance completion. In fact, completing the instance probably requires character correction.

"Yet I haven't received any correction prompts.

"Sure, one could argue he's a coward or traitor, but maybe he was just unlucky, killed by the assassin while trying to escape.

"To clarify, I'll need to switch to another character and follow him after he leaves the theater, to see what actually happens."

Chu Ge's gaze shifted to Yang Xinyan's identity card.

...

Upon entering the trial instance in Yang Xinyan's body, Chu Ge's first thought was, I feel so strong!

Compared to a typical theater troupe member, Yang Xinyan was significantly more robust—let alone when compared to Wang Jinghui.

Frankly, big and strong Yang Xinyan could take on ten Wang Jinghuis.

This strength was thanks to Yang Xinyan's years of training as a martial-role actor. His grueling training and solid foundation made him far stronger than the average person.

But no matter how physically strong, his timid nature remained.

Like Su Xianjun and Wang Jinghui, Yang Xinyan's starting point was inside the theater.

Initially, Chu Ge considered causing some chaos, like directly mentioning the theater-burning plan to Su Xianjun.

But on second thought, he decided to follow the script this time without any side antics.

The memory fragments had confirmed that Yang Xinyan was inherently a timid, ordinary person, and Su Xianjun had already been disappointed in him. Acting out of character might provoke an unpredictable response from Su Xianjun.

Plus, game time was running out, and Chu Ge's priority was to leave the theater and observe Wang Jinghui's actions.

So, avoiding unnecessary complications was best.

After leaving the theater, Chu Ge pretended to walk away, then doubled back to hide in the shadows, following Wang Jinghui at a distance.

He soon saw Wang Jinghui cautiously checking his surroundings before sneaking towards the town gate.

Chu Ge was speechless.

"Truly a coward!"

Chu Ge felt utterly deceived.

When he'd played Wang Jinghui, he'd confirmed that neither the militia nor the oil stores were in that direction.

Wang Jinghui was heading for the city gate, clearly intending to flee.

"Well, that settles it. No need to waste more thought on him. Another wrong answer eliminated."

Still, Chu Ge felt a tinge of regret.

As a scholar, he'd naturally felt a bit of affinity for Wang Jinghui, hoping the man was secretly noble or perhaps had been altered from his true self.

Despite initial suspicions from many players online, Chu Ge had willingly spent considerable identity points on him.

All for nothing.

After trailing him a bit longer to confirm Wang Jinghui was indeed escaping the city, Chu Ge turned back, disappointed.

But just then, he heard Wang Jinghui's voice.

"Wait, don't kill me!

"I have valuable information—don't kill me! Ah!"

A scream followed.

Startled, Chu Ge turned to see Wang Jinghui collapsed on the ground, while an assassin flicked fresh blood from his blade.

Wang Jing

hui's pleas meant nothing to the assassin, who didn't understand his language.

Then, the assassin turned his cold gaze towards Chu Ge.

Danger!

Chu Ge was shocked. He hadn't expected Wang Jinghui, seemingly so crucial, to die so abruptly.

Even more urgent was the assassin advancing toward him with a bloodied blade.

Thankful for his evasion skill, Chu Ge bolted.

But he quickly realized he'd overestimated his chances.

Eastern assassins could scale walls with ease, and no basic-level white talent could make up for such a mobility gap.

A final, deadly stab pierced Chu Ge's chest.

This time, however, the trial instance didn't reset. Instead, white mist began to envelop him, signaling his return to reality.

As he fell, Chu Ge suddenly had an epiphany.

"If I play as Yang Xinyan and leave the theater, going directly to find the militia instead of trailing Wang Jinghui, I should have enough time.

"Could it be… I've been stuck in a misunderstanding all along…"

Chu Ge's mind raced, formulating a new hypothesis.