Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 250 - 201: The Missing Hero (Thanks to Alliance Hierarch Lu Zhi for the generous reward)_2

Chapter 250: Chapter 201: The Missing Hero (Thanks to Alliance Hierarch Lu Zhi for the generous reward)_2

Take this battle, for example, although the players inflicted some casualties with three ranks of matchlock guns against the Northern Barbarian Cavalry, it still wasn’t enough to decide the overall situation. Once dispersed by the cavalry, they would still have to engage in a tough fight.

So, the development of the flintlock gun must continue!

Li Hongyun and Cui Huowang dived back into their fiefs, pondering the development of the flintlock gun.

...

...

Seven days flashed by.

During this time, players were either catching up on lessons in the previous Trial Illusion instance or moving bricks in the Return Order Space, continuing to build.

After some discussion, Li Weiyi and other construction-focused players decided that it was best to complete the next phase of construction for Linyuan City, connecting the existing three walls, and to put the fortress construction plans on the city walls on hold for now.

They intended to accumulate more construction points and, after passing the Trial Illusion instance and further expanding the scope of the entire historical segment, would try to start terraforming and preparing for a new branch city.

...

At 10 p.m.,

Li Hongyun logged into the game on time and directly started the trial of the new instance.

He was quite bothered that his team didn’t beat "The Spirit of Heroes in the Wilds" instance before Chu Ge’s team, so much so that his status in the dorm had fallen.

So this time, Li Hongyun was determined to regain his honor.

In the seven days, he had, of course, done a lot of homework for this new instance.

To date, all players only knew the version’s name and the name of the instance, which seemed to offer little opportunity for targeted preparation, but for those who had discerned the pattern, it was possible to deduce a lot of information.

For instance, the main instance of the previous "Pacifying the Southeast" version, "Sealing a Marquis Was Not My Desire," made it clear that the objective of the instance was to complete the pacification, and the key figure in the instance was naturally General Deng, the author of the poem "Sealing a Marquis Was Not My Desire."

With such a general direction, one could cram the relevant historical materials ahead of time, and once in the game, one would not be totally clueless but be able to find a rough direction.

This instance was no exception.

However, despite having a general direction, there were still many enigmas.

The version name "Countless Affairs of Prosperity and Decline Through the Ages" and the instance name "Reluctance to Speak" both come from lines by Yu Jiaxuan, a famous poet of the Qi Dynasty.

Therefore, Li Hongyun naturally comprehended all of Yu Jiaxuan’s related historical materials as well as the general historical background of the time, doing his homework thoroughly.

But the problem was that these two lines of poetry were extremely vague in their direction.

Previous key information, such as "Pacifying the Southeast" and "Sealing a Marquis Was Not My Desire," could help guests deduce the objective of the instance, but this time, there was no starting point.

The line "Countless Affairs of Prosperity and Decline Through the Ages" itself was a lamentation about the rise and fall of dynasties throughout history.

Even with the next two lines, "Forever unceasing, like the endless flow of the Yangtze River," or considering the other contents of the full piece, it was nothing more than a present-mourning for the past, imbued with a sense of melancholy.

As for "Reluctance to Speak," that was even broader.

If looking at the content of the whole poem, the different parts write about the personal insights of youth and middle age: youth being "In youth, I did not know the taste of sorrow, composing new poems to express forced grief," and middle age being "Now, I know the taste of sorrow all too well, reluctant to speak of it."

While this certainly reflects the author’s lament over the wasted years, what could be the objective of the instance if one were to surmise from this?

Could it simply be to emulate Yu Jiaxuan, the brilliantly talented poet, waste a lifetime, and eventually die after waking from sleep and shouting, "Kill the thieves"?

If so, this instance... seemed a bit too mysterious.

Of course, Yu Jiaxuan’s life was filled with its own brilliant moments, but Li Hongyun pondered for a long time and didn’t feel that his life alone could support a major instance.

Unlike General Han Fuyue, who achieved a series of victories despite his failed northern campaign, Yu Jiaxuan had a decidedly harder time. Although he did possess military talent, he was never given significant responsibility, mainly tasked with quelling rebellions and training troops.

In other words, he was more like a firefighter than someone who truly undertook great deeds, which explained why he died shouting, "Kill the thieves," in his dreams.

Li Hongyun thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with any leads, so he could only enter the instance and see for himself.

...

In Return Order Space, Li Hongyun saw the scene that Meng Yuan had once seen.

After passing through the instance of "The Spirit of Heroes in the Wilds," the Returners could continue to advance further upstream in the river of history. After crossing a dark period dubbed "The Continent of Shenzhou Sinks" ruled by the Northern Barbarians, they finally arrived in the era of the Qi Dynasty.

Li Hongyun stepped into a historical segment called "Reluctance to Speak."

The images around him kept changing and finally froze.

The starting scene of this instance was at a river crossing by the shore.

The river before him was vast, and judging from the lush vegetation around, it was probably a crossing point on the Yangtze River. At this moment, he could see soldiers dressed in Qi Army uniforms busy around him, with many warships of the Qi Dynasty on the river as well.

Moreover, unlike previous instances, there were no selectable identity cards or talent skill cards appearing in front of Li Hongyun this time, but rather a line of prompt information.

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