Chapter Eighty-Nine: Never Look Back at a Corpse!

Beyond the restricted zone outside the laboratory, the guards were far more numerous than at the previous checkpoint. Stealth and assassination would doubtless be much more difficult here, and with conditions like the fastest possible kill, no mistakes, perfect synchronization, and the like, could it really be done?

Before the audience could think much further, the game screen showed Evie leaping from the train and slipping into cover behind the security cordon. The advancing train slowly came to a halt, and the guards who discovered the missing cargo on board quickly closed in.

Seeing so many guards packed together, even those viewers who knew they would soon leave were anxiously on edge. There were already this many at the start, which only proved there would be no shortage of enemies inside the restricted zone.

"Stay here and keep watch."

"If anything happens, I’ll call out."

"Good."

Once the sentries realized the train’s cargo was missing, most of them immediately hurried off, leaving only two soldiers on guard while the rest went to inspect the situation. With so many gone, it was the perfect chance to infiltrate.

"Two enemies here. Throw a knife at the fat one in front for an instant headshot!"

The words had barely fallen before Evie, having crept behind the guard in red, hurled a throwing knife and killed the fat guard keeping watch ahead. Then, just as the red-coated guard was turning to look, she drove a punch straight into his groin and finished him with a blade across the neck.

Evie’s stealth killings were far more ruthless than Jacob’s. It was either a kidney stab or a groin smash, leaving many onlookers wincing in sympathetic pain and their inner shadows growing larger still.

That is vicious beyond words.

Evie really knows men’s weak points!

The Groin-Breaking Demon!

Shouldn’t that be the Kidney-Buster?

A kidney-breaking kill!

...

As the difficulty increased, if the player still wanted to preserve the fluidity of the protagonist’s movements, throwing knives were indispensable. But without taking the initiative to loot corpses for supplies, every knife used was one less. At this level, could there really be no mistakes?

Though this stage was significantly harder, it still could not stop Luo Chen’s determination to show off his skills. He didn’t even bother retrieving the throwing knife he had just used, instead using the crane to ascend directly to the highest point.

The difference between this highest point and the earlier ones was that from here, one could...

Leap of faith.

A piercing eagle cry rang out as Evie plunged from the sky in a leap of faith, falling straight into the hay below. The impact was loud enough that even the spectators outside could hear it clearly, yet the guards nearby showed not the slightest reaction, provoking a great deal of mockery from the fans.

Although everyone knew this was a matter of game design, it still looked absurdly fake. But the movement was too smooth, and many viewers had begun treating it like a movie, nearly forgetting it was a game at all.

A long-lost leap of faith. If I never saw one again, I’d almost have forgotten it.

If I were one of the Templars, I’d absolutely fill every haystack in the city with spikes. In two days, these assassins would all be dead.

Young man, your thoughts are very dangerous!

But such a huge crash and they still didn’t react? Are these guards all deaf as hell?

Because they’re all descendants of the deaf.

Why is it that when I play, the guards all seem to have x-ray vision?

That’s because you’re terrible at the game.

...

Mockery aside, most people understood the situation. Luo Chen’s control of the protagonist made the infiltration and assassinations look easy, but in reality the difficulty was still considerable. When they played, there were plenty who failed stealth and charged in slaughtering their way forward, and there was no shortage of people who got lost in this vast map. To move this quickly was truly no easy feat.

Even if this were someday adapted into a film, the protagonist probably still wouldn’t be able to reach this level.

"Wait until the enemy ahead reaches the far end, whistle to draw the nearby one over. Once he gets beside the haystack, kill him, and you can even replenish the throwing knives you used..."

The game went on. Before the enemy lured over by the whistle could even react, Evie dragged him into the haystack and stabbed him to death with a hidden blade, conveniently refilling her throwing knives as well. In many hiding spots, enemies killed this way would automatically be looted, so no time was wasted.

"First use a throwing knife to cut the hanging barrel ahead and crush the two enemies below..."

With a full supply of knives, there was naturally no reason not to use them. Without even checking whether the throw hit, she casually launched the newly acquired knife, then turned with a sliding step to trip another guard and kill him with a hidden blade to the heart.

"Boom... ugh!"

Almost at the same time as the kill, the barrel crashed down and smashed the two guards below. After hearing the sound effect, the protagonist Luo Chen controlled did not even turn back to check the bodies, but simply continued the stealth assassinations. The originally complex terrain seemed nonexistent before the protagonist. After completing each synchronization objective, there was no need even to pause and inspect the area; he moved swiftly on to the next target location.

"The enemies under this barrel are fixed, so there’s no need to look at all. Just throw a knife to cut the rope. To confirm whether it crushed them, just glance at the prompt in the upper left..."

So sharp! A true assassin never looks back at the bodies!

Little angel, why are you so amazing?

Once the throwing knife flies, all you have to do is wait to die.

No need to look at all. That is confidence!

...

Many viewers who had played the game compared this to their own pitiful, painstaking stealth runs from back then, always needing to watch the guards carefully so they wouldn’t be spotted by the little grunts. Then they looked back at the protagonist on the screen.

This definitely isn’t the same game, right? Guards were everywhere, yet it was as if they didn’t exist. Enemies one after another came forward to die, and all the many deliberately twisted routes designed by the creators didn’t even need to be considered. He always chose the fastest route, the one most suited to infiltration. It looked as though there wasn’t the slightest bit of difficulty.

It was almost absurdly satisfying. At this rate, maybe there was no need to play games anymore. Instead of struggling through a brutal, difficult clear, it would be far more comfortable to just watch a master stream. In a master’s hands, he was the protagonist; in one’s own hands, he turned into a complete amateur. Why was the difference so enormous?

One reckless move after another, and yet success kept coming. The spectators were thoroughly entertained, and the follower count naturally kept surging. At nine million followers, they were only a hair’s breadth away from surpassing Huang Ying’s peak.

Thanks to book friend Stella Lucier and Hatsune fan for the 1,000 starting coins, thanks to book friend White Wolf Bandit for the 500 starting coins, and thanks to book friends Fate& , Summer Festival and Fireworks, Plain Years, Galaxy System Commander of the Empire, book friend 160923145648579, Thousand-Year Bridge Awaiting, Plaque-Named Friend, Unknown Younger Sister Name, and Thunder Emperor for the 100 starting coins. Thanks to a book friend for the 10 starting coins. Flowers!