Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 269 - 208 Two Solutions

Chapter 269: Chapter 208 Two Solutions

At 6 a.m., Li Hongyun woke up on time from his bed.

Recalling the "clever capture of Ma Anbang" from last night, Li Hongyun was still feeling excited and couldn’t wait to share it with other players.

Previously, Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s instance had a team cooperation element, it wasn’t a solo challenge, so everyone wasn’t very active in sharing strategies. But this time, the instance returned to the solo format, and many players’ desire to share was once again ignited.

Li Hongyun opened the forum on his phone while looking at Chuge.

"How did your progress go last night?"

Chuge said, "Not bad, I should have cleared the first stage, I think. I chose the identity of Zhang Renxia and after successfully passing, I entered the second stage, nine years before the Battle of Niuzhu.

"And you?"

Li Hongyun chuckled, "I knew it!

"I chose the identity of Yu Jiaxuan, and I even replicated the feat of fifty riders raiding the camp.

"So, playing as Zhang Renxia, what was the main challenge of the first stage?"

Chuge thought for a moment, "There wasn’t really any special challenge, just solving cases."

Li Hongyun was somewhat surprised, "Solving cases? Like in TV dramas?"

Chuge nodded, "Pretty much, it actually felt quite similar to the previous role of playing ’Emperor’ like Emperor Taizu of Sheng, dealing with various cases.

"Zhang Renxia’s position at the time was the legal advisor in Guangzhou State, meaning he had to handle all criminal and civil cases in Guangzhou State and report them to Wang Wenchuan for approval.

"If you make a severe mistake in handling these cases, you fail the challenge and have to start over.

"The difficulty is there, because there’s a high randomness to the appearance of these cases. I’ve handled dozens of cases and haven’t encountered any repetition. Moreover, these are minor cases that won’t be recorded in history, so you have to judge them according to the ’Qi Criminal Law’ regulations of Qi Dynasty."

The two quickly compared their situations in the instance, then entered the gaming forum to share their experiences with other players.

...

Very soon, there was a lot of discussion about the new instance on the official "Dark Sand" forum.

"This instance feels a bit chaotic, can someone sum up simply what we need to do?"

"The goal is quite clear, isn’t it? It’s to use the controllable historical character you’re playing to prepare well and win the Battle of Niuzhu within ten years. It feels chaotic probably because historical figures from different periods are mixed together, causing some confusion?"

"Historical figures from different periods mixed together? How can you tell? Isn’t this the individual instance of Yu Jiaxuan?"

"Play as Zhang Renxia and you’ll know. Zhang Renxia lived a hundred years before Yu Jiaxuan, they’re not from the same era at all. This instance has combined the military resistance against the Jin represented by Yu Jiaxuan with the domestic reforms represented by Wang Wenchuan."

"Historical figures from different eras appearing at the same time? That... the historical slice distortion is severe, we haven’t encountered this kind of situation before."

"After all, the game’s difficulty has been increased, the further we trace back in history, the more alterations there will be."

"But this makes it even more inconsistent with the real historical memory, isn’t that bad?"

"What’s bad about it? I think it’s good. It means that the game’s freedom is increased. Originally we could only recreate key events from history, but now, with two historical figures from different periods together, there will definitely be friction between them and some things might happen that never actually took place in history. Players can do more things now."

"But isn’t this tantamount to altering history?"

"Of course not! We players are correcting historical slices, correcting character behaviors. After clearing the instance, real history will unfold before us. Plus, in the process of role-playing, we can better appreciate these historical figures’ traits and personalities. Don’t you find it interesting to hypothesize ’what if someone else did something, would they do it better’?"

"OK, let’s not argue about this anymore. Can the experts please hurry up and share some strategies? The first stage challenge for Yu Jiaxuan has already got me depressed! How the hell do we capture Ma Anbang?"

After all, they were battle-hardened players, and after a night of intense gaming, most had figured out the basic structure and objectives of the instance.

While some were uncomfortable with key historical figures appearing wrongly placed or outright missing from different eras, most players accepted it as the "Dark Sand" game’s update had forewarned them.

Moreover, more chaotic historical slices meant higher freedom, which was also more fun for the players.

Soon, the discussion among the players shifted to strategies for clearing the first stage.

Li Hongyun eagerly shared the entire process of his "clever capture of Ma Anbang" with everyone.

"Yu Jiaxuan’s fifty riders kidnapping Ma Anbang couldn’t have been a direct confrontation, it must’ve involved some kind of scheme. And my analysis is that this scheme was mostly about exploiting the relationship between Ma Anbang and other Rebel Army leaders, creating the illusion of other Rebel Army forces coming to join, which allowed them to successfully infiltrate the camp..."

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