Chapter Eight: Interlude Between Life and Death

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[Esteemed Lord Harlan Campbell:

The bottle of Pokya wine you ordered has been replaced with poison, and the intended victim is none other than the Grand Duke of Bavaria.

If you trust my warning, please come to the cellar of the Cairns Hotel in person.

— The Night Watchman, Rhine]

Indeed.

Although Su Wen had never heard of the Night Watch organization, he could gather some clues from the “Time-Space Traverse” game.

The Night Watchers were a lawful faction among the supernaturals, established to respond to disasters.

Moreover, Campbell himself had already awakened extraordinary abilities.

Therefore,

upon learning of the “Zero-Sum Game” conspiracy,

for the morally flexible Su Wen, the best choice was to find another organization to clash with those anti-social elements,

as long as he stayed uninvolved.

He sat before his computer,

watching the game’s plot prompt:

[Your warning has made Mr. Harlan Campbell cautious yet more prudent.]

[He decides to meet with you, but secretly calls in his security detail hired from the Duchy of Suargail.]

[Your next move will determine whether you can infiltrate the Overreach Act as a member of the Lawful faction.]

[Choose:]

[1. Warmly approach this young noble to discuss classical poetry, building rapport and a private connection.]

[2. Empathetically explain the situation and the implications of the Overreach Act.]

[3. Leave a few cryptic, enigmatic sentences to prepare for joining Gotham City as the Riddler.]

Option three.

Su Wen was speechless.

Whenever he played story-driven games, his biggest annoyance was those mysterious old men who would drop incomprehensible hints,

only to slump over and die before he could ask questions.

Only after finishing the game would he realize those cryptic words were just fragmented background exposition, unrelated to the main storyline.

Could the Riddler please just stay out of Gotham?

Determined to be thorough, Su Wen decided to try option one first.

[After Mr. Harlan Campbell arrives at the cellar,]

[You engage in a serious discussion about Percy Bysshe Shelley, the most talented lyric poet in British literary history,]

[and deeply analyze a passage from “To Wordsworth”:
“Ode to the poet of nature, who once wept to see things pass away, never to return:”]

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[Ten minutes later, you are in high spirits.]

[A waiter at the Cairns Hotel, unable to find the missing Master Samuel, chooses to report to the authorities.]

[You, as the most conspicuous stranger in the banquet hall, are immediately executed.]

“I’m executed just like that?”

Su Wen watched the game’s auto-generated death scene caused by this lousy plot device.

He finally understood why he was chosen as the lead player.

The AI was just too poor.

Also,

Harlan, my friend, we were just having a pleasant conversation—couldn’t you spare me for Shelley’s sake?

What a plastic friendship.

So brittle.

Though dumbfounded, he decided to proceed with plan two.

[After Mr. Harlan Campbell arrives at the cellar,]

[You relay the intelligence you have gathered.]

[And your Night Watch identity is not doubted.]

“Mr. Rhine, are you saying someone intended to poison the Grand Duke of Bavaria with the precious wine I delivered?”

“Exactly. You may not believe me,”

Rhine was the alias Su Wen adopted,

“But the ‘fake Master Samuel’ lying on the ground is perhaps the clearest proof.”

Harlan was skeptical.

Then, his last doubt was dispelled after his men tested the wine.

“Chemical analysis confirms the wine is tainted, containing trace amounts of mutated lily of the valley toxin—highly poisonous.”

“We must inform Duke Reinhardt immediately.”

Upon hearing the situation, Harlan realized this was a crisis, but also an opportunity.

As for Su Wen,

he was waiting just to hear those words.

As an impostor Night Watchman,

he needed a stronger witness—

a duke’s heir.

Harlan Campbell, entangled in an assassination plot, needed to clear his name.

[Because your interests align, he neither cares nor has time to verify if you are truly a Night Watchman.]

[You have successfully persuaded the noble Harlan Campbell (heir of the duchy).]

[The situation is urgent; proceed immediately to the main banquet hall to protect “Joseph Reinhardt” and “Sophia Reinhardt.”]

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At that moment,

an ordinary assassin, previously concealed in the banquet hall by cognitive alteration, was detected by security after the death of the psychic supernatural affiliated with “Zero-Sum Game.”

“The disguised target is dead; commence the assassination immediately.”

Hearing this prompt in his earpiece,

the remaining assassins hidden in the hall understood it was their last chance.

They emerged from their hiding spots; the exposed assassin fired at the crystal chandelier illuminating the banquet hall, then others prepared to strike at Duke Reinhardt amid the ensuing chaos.

The professionalism and coordination of the assassination team were formidable.

As a result, Su Wen died over a dozen times in rapid succession.

[Load saved game: sixteenth attempt.]

[Save point: ten seconds after entering the banquet hall.]

To clear the “Protect Duke Reinhardt” mission, he had to repeatedly memorize enemy spawn points.

When the massive glass chandelier crashed down,

Su Wen calmly took cover and executed the plan.

First, he eliminated the assassin disguised as a translator near table three at the corner.

[Identification: Dark web assassin hired with a high bounty from “Zero-Sum Game.”]

[BANG!]

One shot, instant kill.

Next, an assassin disguised as a cleaner feigning escape toward the emergency exit.

Su Wen rolled and kicked a nearby stool precisely along the perfect vector, striking the assassin and unbalancing him, then fired a silenced Glock bullet squarely into his forehead.

Finally, two assassins dressed as guards attempted a close-quarters ambush on Duke Reinhardt.

Su Wen charged forward,

using his body, which had twice the normal human endurance,

to block a deadly dagger aimed at the seasoned duke.

He then fired two shots in quick succession, finishing off the attackers despite being wounded.

Just in the banquet hall alone, he eliminated four of the deadliest assassins.

As the heir to the duchy, Harlan was no coward either.

His supernatural leadership traits granted him exceptional battlefield awareness and command ability.

Armed with nothing but a silver dining knife picked up on the spot, Harlan Campbell engaged in close combat, dispatching an assassin mingling in the crowd.

Though they failed to locate the third supernatural operative from “Zero-Sum Game,”

Su Wen looked at the Nordic European hereditary duke standing nearby, his formal attire stained with blood yet still commanding and composed,

and knew the game was mostly won this time.