Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 162 - 157: Supplementing Historical Materials (Extra - for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 162: Chapter 157: Supplementing Historical Materials (Extra Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

Lines upon lines of historical original texts appeared on the screen.

"...the enemy, divided into three chieftains, charged in three directions, with thousands of soldiers each, utterly scattering our troops. Yuan Jing took a position on a high rock and shot at the enemy; with three arrows, he struck down the three chieftains. The soldiers rallied, and the enemy retreated, all troops held him in high esteem for his courage and strategy."

"...as the enemy’s momentum peaked, provinces were drafted for troops, but no garrison city dared to loose even a single arrow against them. Yuan Jing, with his isolated force, pressed directly into the enemy camp, fighting recklessly without regard for his own life, cutting down foes with bloodied blade, until the enemy laid down their arms and knelt to surrender. He achieved victory at Taohu, thrice at Xinhe, and a complete triumph at South Bay, inaugurating the prestige of the southeast and ceasing the call to distant garrison duty."

"...when enemy soldiers advanced fiercely, overwhelming the officials’ troops, Xiang Min called his personal troops at night to attack and defeat them; only at dawn did the other camps become aware.... He often took command on the front line, standing among arrows and stones in his military uniform, supervising the battle, setting aside concerns for life and death."

"...the enemy advanced on Nanhe City, the enemy force overwhelming; the defending general, Liu Ji, wanting to flee at the sight of them, with civilians within the city scrambling to hide. Lord Governor Wang Zongchang, furious, tied Ji atop the city walls, drew his sword, and cried out: ’The enemy stands before us, advance to death, to retreat is to live.’ With the drums beaten and war songs sung, vows to give their lives were made, and thus, the soldiers’ morale surged. Ji feared and fought valiantly, breaking the enemy."

"...on the day Wang Zongchang died for his country, his possessions were gone, his funeral plain and simple. The emperor, hearing of this, granted burial rites. Men and women, old and young, diligently offered gold and stone and made inscriptions in red and green, erecting a stele as a memorial."

"...a court official, considering frequent alarms on the northern border, requested that Yuan Jing be summoned to exclusively train the border soldiers. The emperor approved. The barbarian chieftains spied other entrances for incursion, but Yuan Jing pursued and captured them and brought them back. Hence, three hundred relatives of the barbarian chieftains, pleading for death penalties and in plain clothing, knocked on the gates asking for pardon. Yuan Jing accepted their surrender, and the chieftains returned the people captured from the border, piling up swords to swear their allegiance."

"...so long as Yuan Jing presided over the town, the Northern Barbarians dared not transgress."

Among these historical texts, a small portion was information that players had already researched before, but much of the content had been added and supplemented after the movie’s release.

For example, the records of Wang Zongchang had originally contained no mention of the defense of Nanhe City, which is why players acting as Wang Zongchang were somewhat at a loss.

Another example is the burial of Wang Zongchang; it initially only stated, "his possessions were gone, his funeral plain and simple," aligning with folk rumors of "being buried wrapped in a mat."Only in the movie was the detail of Wang Zongchang defending Nanhe City and the subsequent imperial "granting of burial rites" added.

Just like the instance "Even after victory, one must wait until the coffin is sealed," after the movie’s release, these previously overlooked historical details resurfaced, appearing before all audiences, and were added to the annals of history.

After watching the entire film, Li Hongyun couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with emotion.

"Although I’ve personally experienced it many times, watching it as a movie still stirs a lot of feelings."But seeing the end always brings some regrets inevitably. It seems as though great generals seldom meet great emperors; General Deng, despite a lifetime of glory, still met a melancholic end. And as for Governor Lin, his death in prison was even more lamentable."

Chu Ge nodded, "Indeed, there are always regrets in history that are difficult to reconcile.

"But for us, to remember history, to remember the choices these people made and to give them as fair an evaluation as possible, to continually move forward under the inspiration of these heroic spirits, might be the best outcome we can hope for.

"Just like the mission of the Return Order Space, we don’t change history, but we must remember everything more clearly than anyone else."Remembering why these heroes became heroes is not only due to their unwavering determination and exceptional talent but also because they made the right choices at critical junctures."

Li Hongyun stood up, "Let’s go, to the cinema for a second viewing!"When we come back tonight, we’ll continue to tackle the new instance. I wonder what the Cavalry’s Trial Illusion will be like? I’m quite eager."Just thinking about riding a warhorse while using a firearm to attack the enemies excites me! Horseback gunplay!"

"As for me," Chu Ge said, "I’m more curious about what Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s solo instance would be. It must be heart-stirring and grand."I wonder if it will feature him starting with just a bowl, or personally leading his troops into battle."

The two chatted as they left their dormitory and headed to a nearby cinema.

...

Online, the popularity of the movie "A Reluctant Lord" had been growing steadily, with many netizens joining the discussion!

The initial buzz surrounding the movie exceeded that of "Even after victory, one must wait until the coffin is sealed."

Because "Even after victory, one must wait until the coffin is sealed" centered around a story in a small county, with an overall style leaning towards art films or documentaries.While "A Reluctant Lord" was about a famous historical event, with an overall style more akin to action or war movies, featuring not only intense acting performance and displays of strategy scenes but also dramatic fight scenes with stunts and life-on-the-line battles.

Additionally, it was bolstered by the topical heat of real-life events!Previously, the tomb of Wang Zongchang had been discovered, with the artifacts carefully preserved in a museum.And this convinced countless netizens that what was depicted in "Dark Sand" was indeed true history.

The players’ performance contrasted with real historical scenes offered audiences a special viewing experience.Never had history felt so vivid!

While audiences were moved by heroes like Deng Yuanjing, Lin Xiangmin, and Wang Zongchang, they also looked forward to the upcoming updates of the game.

Everyone is already itching to see more movies about heroic figures!

Perhaps those unresolved historical mysteries will finally come to light for the whole world to see.

Of course, more players are desperate to get a spot in the "Dark Sand" beta test, becoming witnesses and participants in history.

...

At this moment, Meng Yuan looked at a trending search called #MengYuanActingSkills with a grave expression.

Damn it!

Why am I trending again!

He couldn’t help but lament, "Ah, I just wanted to be a driver, to make a small contribution to the players, but I ended up standing out without even trying.

"Clearly, an outstanding person like me can’t keep a low profile, can I!

"I was just casually playing the emperor to cover a weakness, but I never expected it to accidentally become a cinematic classic."

Shenshang’s big eyes narrowed slightly; to her, Meng Yuan’s words had far too many logical holes to even start critiquing.

Of course you’d stand out with three Return Order talents, isn’t that obvious!

But upon further thought, Shenshang realized that previous Returners had never achieved what Meng Yuan did.

The reason is simple, the Returners’ skill slots are limited, they’re too busy picking combat talents to take so many auxiliary ones.

But Meng Yuan, completely unconcerned with combat, is able to use these auxiliary talents to achieve unexpected effects.

This... might be a case of a fool’s luck, I guess?

Anyway, judging by the current situation, Meng Yuan, as a Returner, has indeed surpassed those previous genius Returners in some areas.

On one hand, the method of fighting demons has changed with the addition of these top players; the Returners are no longer fighting alone, but can now more easily control the battlefield, forcing demons to show themselves first and then using the power of the Returners to eliminate them.

On the other hand is the influence on reality.

Filming movies allows all real-world viewers to understand the history more clearly, which is also very beneficial.

Because the more solid people’s historical memory is in reality, the more support the Returners can garner, and the harder it is for demons to invade reality.

This approach has an extremely high potential.

Shenshang even thought that if the storyline kept developing this way, perhaps one day, the Returners could actually counterattack the ancient historical segments and eradicate the major demons lurking there?

The thought is too beautiful, almost unimaginable.

But no matter what, ever since players were introduced as a variable, the responsibility of guarding history finally was no longer so arduous, no longer so intensely burdensome.

"By the way, have you figured out how to do the Cavalry’s Trial Illusion?" Shenshang suddenly recalled this issue.

Originally, the exclusive identity of the Returner did not include "Cavalry"; it was more like a special skill that could be obtained directly.

In other words, the Trial Illusions like Soldier and Scholar were built into the Return Order Space, but there was no specific Trial Illusion for Cavalry.

Meng Yuan could directly grant this ability to the players, but he chose not to.

Because this ability consumes a lot.

Once players become Cavalry, they can fight on horseback, but the horse consumes a great deal of the Returners’ power, sometimes even more than the players themselves.

Such a high-consumption ability naturally could not be given out recklessly; it required testing.

Thus, Meng Yuan needed to create a Trial Illusion to test the players, and only those who passed the test could become Cavalry.

Choosing the material for this Trial Illusion became an issue.

Meng Yuan could use the power of the Returners to travel freely through time-space rifts for materials, and because he didn’t need to conquer the relevant historical segments, such material selection was very flexible; he could even draw from ancient segments.

Meng Yuan gave a slight smile: "Of course, I have an idea.

"The players will be very surprised when they see it.

"It’s going to be a challenging trial indeed."