Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 202 - 185: Turmoil and Pity (8000-word mega - , requesting monthly votes)

Chapter 202: Chapter 185: Turmoil and Pity (8000-word mega Chapter, requesting monthly votes)

After some contemplation, Yun Ying once again sought out Marshal Peng.

This time, he had learned his lesson and did not request to take all his subordinates with him.

He left all seven hundred men for Marshal Peng’s own use and only took thirty men with him.

This time, Marshal Peng did not stop him, and even praised Yun Ying for his initiative, allowing him to freely choose from the seven hundred men and generously permitting him to select some high-quality equipment to take with him.

After all, taking only thirty people with him, even if all these men took high-quality armor and each man took a warhorse, how much could that really amount to?

Compared to the seven hundred men left behind, this was already a considerable concession.

Soon, the seven hundred men that Yun Ying had painstakingly assembled stood neatly in the parade ground, waiting for Yun Ying’s selection.

Company commanders, squad leaders, and everyone responsible for logistics and other affairs in the army were all presented before Yun Ying.

"You, you, and you..."

In reality, Yun Ying was not very familiar with these men.

After all, during combat, he was always leading the charge, and his impressions were generally of those who charged alongside him.

Yun Ying believed that since these men had earned military merits and had obtained positions as squad leaders or even higher in the Rebel Army, they must certainly be talented and could surely be considered elite among the seven hundred.

Some men’s faces revealed their anxiety, continuously signaling with their eyes, indicating they wished for Yun Ying to take them away.

Obviously, with Marshal Peng watching from the side, these men couldn’t truly step forward to cling to Yun Ying’s legs pleading him to take them away. Otherwise, what if they couldn’t leave and Marshal Peng remembered them in the future?

Besides, among seven hundred men, it would be quite a scene had many of them exclaimed at once.

Thus, these men could only signal Yun Ying with their eyes, hoping he would take them away.

But the problem was, there were definitely far more than thirty people making eye signals.

Yun Ying also felt a massive headache when he truly began the selection process and realized that his decision-making difficulties were somewhat acting up.

But fortunately, after some deliberation, he still managed to select thirty elite men.

"Marshal Peng, I’ve decided on these men," said Yun Ying.

Marshal Peng was thrilled, "Good, then I’ll wish you success ahead of time! You can always come back for a visit; Chuzhou City is always your home!"

As he said this, Yun Ying knew in his heart that he would probably never return.

Later, Yun Ying saw the shot gradually widen.

In his view, the young Emperor Taizu of Sheng, with the thirty elite men, left Chuzhou City, heading towards the unknown horizon.

Yun Ying couldn’t help but show a pleased expression, "Eh, could it be that I’m the first among the four identities to clear the instance?"

What he saw was clearly a transitional CG that appeared after a plot segment concluded.

In previous trial instances, this often meant clearing the instance.

But soon, Yun Ying realized his mistake.

Because in his view, a system notification appeared that he had not seen before.

["Rebel Army" identity failure to clear!]

Just this simple line of text, without further explanation.

Yun Ying was stunned.

"Failed?

"Why did it fail...? Surely, Emperor Taizu successfully broke away from the control of Marshal Peng and set out to forge his own path...

"And moreover, I didn’t encounter the Northern Barbarian Army either?"

The system offered no further explanation, evidently leaving the reasons for failure for the player to ponder.

Yun Ying didn’t immediately restart but fell into deep thought.

"Why would it directly judge it as a failure?

"Umm... I should first consider what might be lacking.

"Militarily a failure? That shouldn’t be possible, I didn’t encounter the Northern Barbarian Army, I didn’t die like last time or suffer heavy losses. Moreover, I successfully broke away from the Rebel Army and ventured out on my own.

"From the automatic triggering of the transitional animation upon leaving Chuzhou City, this step should have been fine.

"But the system still directly judged me as a failure... Could it be..."

After some analysis, Yun Ying had a guess in his mind.

But he didn’t immediately put this guess into practice; instead, he temporarily left the game and returned to reality.

Glancing at the time, it was just past two in the morning now, and there was still plenty of time.

However, considering that time in reality seemed to flow much faster than in the game, Yun Ying didn’t dare delay and hurriedly turned on the computer to look for relevant information.

Soon, he found what he was looking for.

"Here!

"After a period of development, Emperor Taizu successfully raised a force of seven hundred men, most of whom were from his hometown.

"This was a significant fighting force, so in Chuzhou City, Marshal Peng was very pleased and promoted Emperor Taizu to be a peacekeeper.

"But not long after that, Emperor Taizu left Chuzhou City with twenty-four men and headed south to set things in order...

"These men were known as the ’Lianghuai Twenty-four Generals’, among them was the founding Great General Gu Yuan, and most of these men later became pillars of the Great Sheng Dynasty, almost all were ennobled or appointed as generals, and many later became high-ranking officials in the Great Sheng Dynasty..."

After checking the information, Yun Ying understood where his problem lay.

"The selection phase went wrong..."

Comparing both instances, Yun Ying realized his failure lay in this last phase.

Given the situation at the time, Emperor Taizu truly didn’t have more options.

Staying would have inevitably led to internal strife within the Rebel Army, and even if it didn’t, they were likely to be targeted by the Northern Barbarians for intense attacks. Developing under Marshal Peng was ultimately restrictive.