Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 76 - 71: Reverse the Slice of History!

"From what we can see now, to clear this stage in a relatively perfect way, at least the following four areas must be achieved as flawlessly as possible.

"First is the initial street battle. We need to kill more bandits before County Magistrate Tang dies in order to reduce the pressure that follows.

"In this part, Yun Ying, you will take charge. As a Ranger, you are the most capable of escaping after combat. Plus, we need you to play Gao Ze and pull together the line of summoning the local militia."

Yun Ying nodded, "No problem, I’m most familiar with this part."

Chu Ge continued, "Then there’s the line involving the petty trader and the shadow assassin.

"There’s an opportunity to carry out an assassination before the bandits enter the theater, which can weaken their living forces. But don’t linger in combat; strike and hide immediately.

"The shadow assassin on the rooftop also needs to be assassinated as quickly as possible."

Xia Ruoling volunteered, "Leave that to me. There’s no one more suitable than me."

Chu Ge nodded, "Next is the character Yang Xinyan.

"Although in the Trial Illusion, Yang Xinyan’s state was corrected, it’s unclear whether his state has returned to the tampered one in the ultimate trial. So, to ensure everything goes without a hitch, we need one of our own to play this role.

"Yang Xinyan might be hunted by a shadow assassin, so a certain combat strength is required."

Zhao Haiping looked at Meng Yuan, who showed no intention of volunteering, so he said, "Then I’ll take it. Yang Xinyan is physically strong, so his body will allow me to better utilize combat strength."

Chu Ge actually hoped that Meng Yuan would play the role, as he felt Zhao Haiping, with his highest combat ability, should lead the militia... But upon second thought, given the critical importance of the role, and indeed as Zhao Haiping said, given Yang Xinyan’s strong physique suitable for combat, he nodded his agreement.

"Finally, there’s the role of Su Xianjun. I could barely play it if I took the talent for mastery in opera, but I’d prefer not to play him and let the real Su Xianjun act freely.

"I could choose the role of a troupe member, escape with Yang Xinyan, and then help gather the militia and buff them, which would maximize my effectiveness.

"If I played Su Xianjun, the effect of the Upright and Stern might not be maximized."

Everyone nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you should go and gather the militia."

But just at that moment, the ever-silent Meng Yuan spoke up, "I’ll play Su Xianjun."

"Ah?" Even the usually strategic and composed Chu Ge was taken aback.

A Ranger player to play Su Xianjun?

Could this be a bit...

Meng Yuan cleared his throat, "Actually, I’ve played Su Xianjun several times in the Trial Illusion and prepared thoroughly.

"Moreover, Su Xianjun is a key character; it’s more reassuring to have it in our own hands.

"After all, the official site did say when introducing the ultimate trial that there could be subtle differences from the simulation trial; they won’t be exactly the same.

"What if the role of Su Xianjun has changed? It could lead to a chain reaction."

Chu Ge thought it over; the reasoning seemed quite sound.

Although he still felt that a Ranger player playing Su Xianjun was a bit unreliable, they had all earned their spots on the leaderboard with skill and knew the consequences of failure. If Meng Yuan was volunteering with such confidence, it certainly deserved trust.

"Alright, then let’s divide the tasks like this.

"Everyone has gone through rapid clears more than once and knows the specifics better than I do, so there’s no need for me to elaborate.

"Let’s each rehearse the procedure in our minds and get ready."

...

Meanwhile, the hidden Shen Shang was also prepared.

Her diminutive figure began channeling the forces of the Return Order Space and locked on to the position of that historical slice amidst the chaotic torrents of time and space once again!

Before it was a mere replication, but now it had to be real.

Her long hair and garments began to dance as she harnessed the formidable power of the Return Order Space, which directly bypassed the chaotic torrents of time and space, enveloping the historical slice layer by layer, and then started to twist it!

By drawing on the formidable power of the Return Order Space, Shen Shang could temporarily revert the historical slice to the state it was about to be invaded by monsters.

Time, space, and all related factors would temporarily revert to that specific point.

However, this state couldn’t last too long because of the massive energy consumption.

During this process, monsters would still enter the slice, attempting to alter it.

If the Return Order Space’s agents successfully stopped the monsters and allowed the historical slice to develop according to its original history, then the slice would be fixed, and the monsters would lose their foothold completely; on the contrary, if they failed, everything would revert to the state after being tampered with.

Given the current strength of the Return Order Space’s agents, they could only perform this kind of twist two or three times at most.

Canopus was unsure whether these players could succeed in their first attempt, but since matters had come to this point, apart from trusting in Meng Yuan’s judgment and believing in the players’ abilities, there were no other choices.

The entire historical slice seemed to be presenting a state of counterclockwise rotation!

Within the interior of the historical slice, within this small city, however, another scene was unfolding.

At this moment, the place was swarming with Eastern Barbarians, and a large part of these barbarians was inhabited by demons.

But before they realized what had happened, the whole world had already begun to rapidly reverse!

The barbarian thieves rose to their feet one after another, retreating out of the county; the civilians who had been killed were resurrected, and the altered characters returned to their initial states...

Finally, as a stone on the city wall rolled back into position, everything returned to the original state of this historical slice.

Outside the city, a band of over a hundred thieves was preparing to invade.

They had obtained the city defense map of this county city from Households Commander Xu and knew the vulnerabilities of this county city.

It was just that when the General and the Wandering Warrior exchanged glances, they both detected a trace of doubt in each other’s eyes.

Everything before them felt oddly familiar, as if they had experienced it before.

The other thieves didn’t feel this way at all because the General and the Wandering Warrior were actually possessed by demons.

But their doubts didn’t last long; they quickly cast them aside and stopped questioning.

"Prepare to invade the city!"

...

At this point, the Returner’s Space also began to shake!

The palaces suspended in the air seemed to tremble, the clear sky began to be shrouded by dark clouds, and within those clouds, one could faintly see dark red stormy clouds churning continuously!

Not only that, but the Returner’s Space also seemed to be enveloped in a special chaotic time-space flow, like a giant ship braving the winds and waves.

Then, a rippling crack appeared before everyone, and a familiar face stepped out from it.

Above the young man’s head was a line of text: "Beichen, a mediocre Returner who did not pass the trial."

Everyone felt a bit surprised: "Persuader Bro!"

Beichen’s face showed satisfaction: "I didn’t expect you to actually make it this far.

"But next, you will enter the historical slice and face the demons head-on. I fear you still do not fully understand how arduous a task this is.

"Now, if you want to quit this terrifying nightmare, this is your chance."

Everyone laughed inwardly.

Persuader Bro, you’re sticking to your old ways, eh?

It was just one game where you persuaded us to quit, so how come, even though we’ve pushed the plot to the ultimate trial, you’re still trying to persuade us?

Enough already, the only reason we haven’t spammed "skip" is because the game doesn’t allow skipping over cutscenes, otherwise we wouldn’t give you the chance to nag.

Seeing that no one was paying attention, Beichen could only nod: "Okay then, take out your jade pendants, and I will imbue them with new power."

Everyone took out the jade pendants that they had received when they first entered the Returner’s Space and met Beichen.

The jade pendants were colorful and vaguely formed a spiral.

Beichen’s hand burst into a special radiance that enveloped the jade pendants everyone held.

Moments later, both the jade pendants and the people seemed to be protected by a special power.

Actually, including Beichen and the jade pendants, all steps had been arranged by Meng Yuan; the formality wasn’t strictly necessary, but if they directly gave the Returner’s power to these people, it might seem too abrupt.

So it had to be packaged a bit.

Mainly for the sake of the ritual, to make the whole process feel more like a game, and to prevent these players from doubting.

"Well, the portal through the chaotic time-space flow to the historical slice has been opened.

"Although the probability is small, I still wish you success."

Beichen then disappeared.

And as everyone turned their gaze forward again, they saw a new portal appear where there had been empty space before.

This large, rippling portal, still located at the same position as the "Death is Inevitable" portal, was noticeably different in design, larger and more imposing, making it feel like a massive rift had appeared in the very fabric of space, even giving off a sense of extreme danger!

"It’s finally here, everybody, let’s do our best!"

After briefly encouraging each other, they stepped into this authentic historical slice, one by one.