Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 320 - 223: Ultimate Trial Selection Completed! (8000 words, requesting monthly tickets!)_3

Chapter 320: Chapter 223: Ultimate Trial Selection Completed! (8000 words, requesting monthly tickets!)_3

"But does his behavior really have meaning? Does it truly have significant positive implications? He was extolled by the Old Party for several hundred years, but what did those Old Party members do when the Qi Dynasty faced peril?"

"From the perspective of an audience, Zhang Renxia’s character could also be described with the phrase ’hesitant to speak’. I don’t know how to evaluate him either, as it seems no matter what is said, in the end, one can only swallow their words in silence."

"I can’t judge whether he was right or wrong, I can only say that everything he did came from the heart. And because of this, it makes one feel an even stronger sense of disillusionment and helplessness."

"Three right men, yet none were in the right place, doing the right things. Perhaps, that’s the deep meaning of ’hesitant to speak’."

"After all this talk, the crux of the problem still lies with the emperor, with the system of ancient times."

"Why were the three right men not in the right positions, not doing the right things? Ultimately, the issue lies with the emperor."

"Why couldn’t Wang Wenchuan reform the bureaucracy? Is it because the officials’ power was too great? That’s certainly part of it. But more importantly, it’s because the emperor didn’t support him enough."

"Even the emperor himself was rebuffed by the idea of ’sharing the world with the scholar-officials’, so how could Wang Wenchuan, with his ministerial power, successfully push for reform?"

"Although the two lived in different times, generally speaking, the emperors they encountered in the Qi Dynasty were still considered reliable."

"But even so, the emperor during Wang Wenchuan’s time started with a keen initiative for new laws, but later grew estranged from Wenchuan, attempting his own reforms to no avail; the emperor during Yu Jiaxuan’s time always viewed him as a ’returnee’, never truly trusting or employing him."

"If this is the case for emperors who are merely average, what about those truly disastrous emperors?"

"One can imagine, if the emperors of Wang Wenchuan or Yu Jiaxuan had the ambitions of Emperor Taizong of Liang or Emperor Taizu of Sheng, the desire to swallow and circulate the cosmos, and the talent to manage the heavens and the earth, how dazzling would their brilliance have been?"

"So, ultimately, it’s because in the era of familial rule, the emperor controlled all under heaven, and the major affairs of the world were decided by his word alone. Yet, a Ming Jun is always rare, while incompetent and mediocre emperors frequently emerge in droves."

"This is why Emperor Taizu of Sheng could support an entire historical slice by himself, while the majority of the Qi Dynasty’s emperors are fit only to be backdrops..."

Soon, players delved deeper into interpreting the content of this instance.

Perhaps it was because this instance felt more constricting than previous ones that players’ enthusiasm for discussion was even higher.

Some also speculated about how this ultimate Trial Illusion would unfold.

The central figures in this historical slice were actually only two and a half: Yu Jiaxuan and Wang Wenchuan, with Zhang Renxia barely counting as half.

If five or six players, or even more than ten, entered, who else could they play? Are they really going to count Old Party characters like Wen Jun as options?

And while players were busy speculating, the leaderboard for the ultimate Trial Illusion was released.

Already more than ten top players had cleared this new Trial Illusion, which was somewhat surprising but still within reason.

After all, as the Trial Illusion continued to open, players were mastering more Return Order talents, the thought processes for puzzle-solving were catching up, and clearing instances was becoming smoother.

So far, the increasing difficulty of the Trial Illusion hadn’t posed too much of a hurdle for players.

But what surprised all players was the number of entrants for this ultimate Trial Illusion.

It reached 100 players!

This meant that a week later, when the ultimate Trial Illusion opened, the top 100 players in the instance clearing leaderboard would all be able to enter the historical slice of "hesitant to speak", and according to a note on the leaderboard, these 100 players could choose their identities within a certain range after entering the historical slice.

This was getting interesting.

While there had been several collective actions by players before, those were all part of Return Order Expedition gameplay.

Return Order Expedition, different from the ultimate Trial Illusion, was more like a large-scale nation battle; it leaned towards game rules, such as players being able to respawn after death, summon items by spending military provisions, and so on. The ultimate Trial Illusion, on the other hand, was more like a large-scale multiplayer instance, with players still playing roles of historical characters, unable to step outside the bounds of reality.

And now, a hundred players were going to complete a multiplayer instance together?

And they could select their own identities?

This added a lot of variety to the gameplay.

Players immediately began to discuss.

"The top 100 can enter the ultimate Trial Illion? How thrilling!"

"I feel like with a bit more effort, I could have a chance too!"

"But, 100% pain sensation for the ultimate Trial Illusion, I’m a bit nervous..."

"No worries, if you can really get in, it means you understand this instance very deeply, so you don’t have to worry about the pain at all, since most of the big guns who enter the ultimate Trial Illusion do so flawlessly."

"Focus on the key point! The highlight is that 100 people can choose their identities! You could completely choose a role that doesn’t go to battle."

"Not go to battle? Then what’s the point of entering the ultimate Trial Illusion? To be a civil official who gossips behind the scenes?"