Interlude Between Life and Death

[To the Esteemed Helun Campbell:

The Bokeya Wine you ordered has been replaced with poisoned wine, and the target of the poisoning is none other than the Grand Duke of Bavaria.

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

—Rhine of the Night Watch]

Indeed.

Although Su Wen hadn't heard of the Night Watch organization, he could glean relevant clues through the Time Travel game.

Within the Transcendent community, the Night Watch is an organized faction that emerged to deal with disasters.

Moreover, Campbell himself had already awakened his Extraordinary Trait.

Therefore...

After learning of the 'Zero-Sum Game' plan.

For Su Wen, whose moral bottom line was flexible, the best option was to find another organization to clash with those antisocial individuals.

As long as it had nothing to do with him.

He sat in front of the computer.

Looking at the plot prompts given by the game:

[Your warning has made Mr. Helun Campbell cautious while remaining skeptical.]

[He has decided to meet with you, but also secretly summoned security forces hired from the Sua'gair Duchy.]

[Your next actions will be crucial in determining whether you can enter the Transcendence Act as a member of the lawful faction.]

[You choose:]

[1. Enthusiastically approach this young nobleman to discuss classical poetry, build rapport, and establish a personal connection.]

[2. Empathetically explain the current situation and clarify the subsequent impact of the Transcendence Act.]

[3. Mysteriously leave behind a few ambiguous sentences, preparing to play the Riddler in Gotham City later.]

Option three.

Left Su Wen utterly speechless.

Whenever he played story-driven games, the thing he hated most was having characters like mysterious old men leave him with ambiguous hints.

Then, before he could even ask questions, the old man would keel over and die.

Only to find out after beating the game that those inexplicable words were just a fragmented background introduction, completely unrelated to the game's content.

Can the Riddler just get out of Gotham?

Su Wen, with his attitude of meticulous study, decided to try option 1 first.

[After Mr. Helun Campbell arrives at the wine cellar]

[You earnestly discuss Percy Bysshe Shelley, the most talented lyric poet in English literary history, with him.]

[You also deeply analyze the passage from To Wordsworth:

"Thou wilt lament to find the place

Where thou wert nurs'd an infant boy, And sigh to think of what is gone, And feel thy heart oppress'd with woe."]

[Ten minutes later, you are getting along famously.]

[A waiter from the Cairns Hotel comes to the hotel and, unable to find Master Samuel who has gone missing, chooses to call the police.]

[As the most obvious stranger in the banquet hall, you are shot dead on the spot.]

"I'm just shot dead like that?"

Su Wen looked at the plot-killing CG caused by the game's automatic deduction feature.

He finally understood why he had been chosen as the lead player.

The AI's level was too low.

Also.

Helun, old buddy, we were getting along so well, couldn't you have saved me for Shelley's sake?

What a plastic friendship.

So plastic.

Speechless, he decided to complete it according to the original plan 2.

[After Mr. Helun Campbell arrives at the wine cellar]

[You tell him the information you know.]

[And your identity as a member of the Night Watch is not questioned.]

"Rhine Mr., are you saying that someone wants to use the valuable wine I sent to poison the Grand Duke of Bavaria?"

"That's right, you don't have to believe what I say."

Rhine is the name Su Wen calls himself.

"But the 'fake Master Samuel' lying on the ground is probably the clearest proof of all."

Helun was dubious.

Then, the last shred of his doubt was eliminated by the results of his men's analysis of the wine.

"According to chemical analysis, there is indeed a problem with this bottle of wine. Trace amounts of Mutated Lily of the Valley Venom, which is highly poisonous, were detected."

"We must tell Duke Reinhardt immediately."

After Su Wen explained the situation, Helun realized that this was a crisis, but also an opportunity.

And Su Wen...

was waiting for him to say that.

As a fake member of the Night Watch.

He also needed a more powerful vouch.

A Duke Heir.

Helun Campbell, who needed to clear his name after being involved in an assassination attempt.

[Because your interests are aligned, he doesn't care and doesn't have time to verify whether you are a real Night Watch member.]

[You have successfully persuaded the nobleman Helun Campbell (Duke Heir).]

[Emergency situation, please proceed immediately to the main hall of the banquet hall to protect 'Joseph Reinhardt' and 'Sophia Reinhardt'.]

At that moment.

An ordinary assassin, originally hidden in the banquet hall due to [Cognitive Correction], was found to be acting strangely by the hall guards after the death of the 'Zero-Sum Game' Psionic Transcendent.

"The Disguiser is dead. Please carry out the assassination mission in a timely manner."

Hearing the prompt in their earpieces.

The remaining assassins hidden in the hall understood that this was their last chance.

They emerged from their hiding places. The assassin who had already been exposed first shot at the crystal chandelier illuminating the banquet hall, and then the others prepared to assassinate Duke Reinhardt in the ensuing chaos.

This assassination team was highly professional and well-coordinated.

So Su Wen died more than a dozen times in a row.

[Sixteenth save]

[Save location: Ten seconds before entering the banquet hall]

To complete the [Protect Duke Reinhardt] step in the game, he could only try to clear it by constantly recording the previous locations of the enemies.

The instant the giant glass chandelier crashed down.

Su Wen calmly leaned against cover and proceeded with the cleanup operation according to the planned procedure.

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

[Identification: Dark Web Assassin, hired for a high bounty by 'Zero-Sum Game']

Bang!

One shot, one kill.

Next, an assassin disguised as a cleaner, pretending to take refuge while rushing towards the emergency escape route.

Su Wen rolled and kicked a nearby chair. In a perfect physics-calculated trajectory, the chair struck the assassin, causing him to lose his balance. Then, a silenced Glock bullet accurately hit him between the eyebrows.

Finally, two assassins wearing guard uniforms were preparing to attack Duke Reinhardt up close.

He rushed forward.

Using his body, which was [twice as thick as a normal person's in terms of hit points], he blocked the fatal dagger assassination aimed at the veteran Duke.

Then, he fired two shots in succession, finishing the job despite his injuries.

In the banquet hall alone, he eliminated four of the most deadly assassins.

And Helun, as the Duke Heir, was not a coward either.

The Extraordinary Trait (Leader) gave him powerful battlefield analysis and command abilities.

With just a silver dinner knife he picked up, Helun Campbell also engaged in close combat with an assassin who had infiltrated the crowd.

Although he didn't find the third Transcendent belonging to 'Zero-Sum Game'.

But Su Wen looked at the Northern Europa hereditary Duke, who was so close, his formal suit stained with blood but still dignified and composed.

He understood that this game was mostly completed.