Chapter 4: Chapter 4 – This Game’s Pretty Interesting (2)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation  Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Ren Suo turned on the air-conditioner and finished his take-out Luosifen (Chinese noodles) in the cool of his living room. Then, he took out a bottle of chilled orange juice from his refrigerator. He was in total comfort, from top to toe.

Having had his fill, Ren Suo slouched on the couch and continued attacking this game – Hitman.

After his first mission failure, the game automatically restarted with him back in the alley where he had first started. It looked like it had an auto-save function.

He realized that the game’s degree of freedom was optimal. It wasn’t “you-may-be-free-but-you-gotta-do-this”; neither was it “I’m-not-telling-you-anything-go-figure-out-everything-yourself”. When Ren Suo controlled the movements of the character, the NPC around him would react immediately, giving Ren Suo immediate feedback.

Earlier, Ren Su had accidentally killed a security guard. When he tried using the using the other three options to enter Blackthorn Tower and selected ①”I left my invitation at home”, the usher would take out a name list with photos and get the hitman to identify his name. The usher would then verify his face based on the name.

③ (Attack him) “Since when do I take instructions from you?”needed no further guesses. The hitman was shot a dozen times a few seconds after he snapped the usher’s neck.

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④ (Take out 5 pounds) “Cousin! It’s been such a long time…”– this option made Ren Suo tear up in laughter. The usher took the money, then stepped back and yelled, “Suspicious character here!” Then two muscular security guard came and dragged him away.

Surveying all these options, Ren Suo realized none of them would work. But in option ①, if Ren Suo knew the appearance of a certain guest, he could then use the Clown Hitman’s ability [Shapeshifting] to get in;

Option ③ would never get him past this scenario;

and as for option ③; Ren Suo suspected it was because his bribe was too small. But seeing as the hitman had only five pounds on him, there was nothing Ren Suo could do about it.

He also tried sneaking around the back of the tower. But there were men in black suits standing guard in the fire exit. They were all armed and would train their guns on any stranger who approached. The hitman could at most kill one before being shot to death himself.

However, after multiple tries, Ren Suo seemed to find the right way to sneak in. Now, he tried using option ② again. As expected, the usher stopped him and two muscled guards dragged him into the alley.

When Ren Suo saw that the distance was about right such that people outside the alley could not look in, he struck. The hitman snapped the neck of one of the guards!

Just when the other guard was about to raise the alarm, the hitman rushed up and choked him, while pulling out his baton and smashing it on his head.

Ren Suo had pressed only one button. Only heaven knows how the hitman executed so many moves.

After dispatching the two, the hitman put on the guard’s clothes and tidied himself. The game prompted: [Disguise yourself as a Blackthorn security guard?]

Ren Suo clicked confirmed. The hitman put on the guard’s documents, kept his own suit in the guard’s clothes, then smeared mud over his face and walked out of the alley towards the tower.

The hitman made a beeline for the tower. When the usher saw him, he asked, “Where’s Terry?”

“Him? Oh he went to pee. So I came back first…” But before the hitman could finish, the usher took two steps back and shouted, “You’re not Dennis. Dennis doesn’t sound like that – suspicious personnel here!”

Pandemonium broke out by the entrance. Then the armed men in black suits appeared and the screen faded into black and white…

This time, Ren Suo still killed a guard and knocked out the other. But before walking to the entrance of the tower, he controlled the hitman to go around the side of the tower. In the heavy downpour, he punched through a window and crawled into the first story of the tower.

Then he walked towards the fire exit. Three men in black suits, chatting idly by, looked at him. When they saw that it was a security guard, they frowned and asked, “What do you want?”

“I met a lunatic earlier. Made my clothes all dirty,” the hitman shrugged. Under the white light, the mud smeared all over his face made him look all the more filthy. “I need to go up and get changed.”

The men in black suits glanced at each other, and let him pass.

“Ahah!” Ren Suo punched his fist in the air. “I was right! Those men in black aren’t with the security guards!”

The ushers and security guards probably knew each other. So even in disguise, the usher could still expose the hitman because of his voice.

These men in black, on the other hand, were armed with much better gear. Ren Suo concluded that they belonged to different factions. The ushers and guards were employees of Blackthorn Tower, while the men in black were special guards stationed here because of tonight’s banquet.

He moved briskly to the ninth story. Three men in black stood guard by the stairs on the ninth story and the hitman got past them with the same excuse. Ren Suo then controlled the hitman up on to the ninth story and got him to change back into his own suit in a concealed corner. Then he strode into the colorful banquet through the main doors under broad daylight.

[You have entered the Lamerouge Banquet as ‘an anonymous stranger’. Saving under Save File 1.] The game prompted further: [Please find a lethal weapon in the banquet by 2000HRS and tag all suspicious characters.]

Huh? Was the game’s mission so open-ended?

Ren Suo looked at them time in game – it was 19HRS 48MIN. He knew that the passing of time in the game matched that of the real world. That left him with ten minutes to find a weapon and tag the suspicious characters.

But what weapon could there possibly be in a banquet?

Ren Suo walked the hitman around in the banquet. On a cutlery station, he picked up a knife and fork.

[Knife – low damage; can be thrown.]

[Fork – low damage; can be thrown.]

They didn’t seem like ‘lethal weapons’…

Ren Suo was walking the hitman around in boredom when he accidentally knocked into a NPC.

Earlier, the hitman had knocked into a fine lady, who jumped and spilled her drink. The hitman had apologized profusely and backed away. So Ren Suo maneuvered the hitman very carefully.

Based on Ren Suo’s experience, this NPC would jump too after the hitman knocked into him. Yet just right before the hitman knocked into the NPC, the NPC swerved away in the nick of time and dodged the hitman.

Immediately, a series of messages popped up in the bottom left corner of the screen.

[[Weapon Expert] ability activated. You have discovered Automatic Pistol ‘P19C’]

[‘P19C’ location tagged.]

[You have discovered 1 suspicious character. Suspicious character tagged.]

Ren Suo stared at the man milling around in the banquet. A yellow silhouette now glowed all over the man and a red pistol-shaped outline was visible on his hip. Now Ren Suo realised that finding a weapon and looking for suspicious characters were his missions.

And the weapon he wanted was right on the suspicious character’s hip!