Chapter 75: The Decade-long Promise_l
A moment later, someone cautiously typed, “Tang, I know that writing is a job with a lot of psychological pressure. If you’re tired, why not go out and take a break? You can continue writing after you come back.”
Tang Mo: “Are you speaking human? I think that’s doable. You’ve also played ‘The Nameless,’ and experienced the high degree of freedom, as well as the game’s strong artificial intelligence. So, why can’t we give it a try?”
“But it sounds a bit far-fetched. Telling others future events, modern knowledge, and geography through the protagonist, can such a thing really work? ‘The Nameless’ is brilliant, but is it that amazing?”
“Hard to say,” a loyal fan of Fang Cheng games said, “I’ve been playing since ‘The Forest’s Second Son,’ then ‘Towards Death and Life,’ ‘Princess Dungeon,’ etc. I’ve found that Fang Cheng likes to embed easter eggs in their games.”
“I remember, after that guard was defeated in ‘The Forest’s Second Son, the easter egg that appeared. I’ve even seen Wang Say Games explain it. ‘Towards Death and Life’ also has an Al named Alpha. But these are just small easter eggs; there couldn’tbe one as big as this, right?
“…Hard to say.”
Tang Mo: “Regardless, let’s just give it a shot. I’ll start a live stream and look for others from my history group. With everyone’s collective wisdom, let’s see if we can uncover something new.”
With a try-and-see attitude, Tang Mo restarted the game, going back from the beginning.
The result was unexpectedly good.
So good that Tang Mo began to think that this was how the game was meant to be played.
In the opening scene, as the wounded soldier appeared, Tang Mo followed the plan made by the group members and directly asked the soldier, “Are you from the Protectorate of Anxi, are you going to deliver a message to the Tang
Dynasty?”
“How do you know that!” The wounded soldier was shocked.
If it weren’t for the fact that The Nameless was just a twelve-year-old child at this time, he would have considered slitting the other’s throat to eliminate
future troubles.
Tang Mo was well-prepared for the soldier’s question.
In the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism and Taoism were prevalent, to the extent that even princesses and noblewomen identified themselves as Taoists.
Manipulating his motion sensor device, Tang Mo executed a respectful bow, then said, “I am an Immortal of reincarnation, reborn specially to restore glory to the Tang Dynasty, and I have come here to save you.”
Calculating with his fingers, Tang Mo said, “You come from the Protectorate of Anxi, you have seven people in your family, Tubo has taken six of them, and you are the only one left. You’ve been separated from your companions, but if you stay here for three days, travel southeast for twenty miles on the fourth night, you will surely find them.”
Tang Mo’s words made the soldier both shocked and overjoyed.
Shocked by the other person’s youth yet mature words, which sounded like those of a thirty-year-old man.
Overjoyed that the other person could precisely state his background, even predicting details of his family.
Hence, the soldier half-believed Tang Mo’s self-proclamation as an Immortal.
Three days later, he stealthily left the main character’s straw hut and traveled twenty miles southeast, only to be astonished to find his companions
encamped there.
The reunion of brothers naturally led to boundless joy, and after hearing about the protagonist’s miraculous deeds, the Squad Leader pondered for a moment, then took the soldier back to where the protagonist was.
Those who receive the task of delivering messages are naturally the elites of the Protectorate of Anxi, very skilled in stealth.
They returned quietly; not even the village dogs barked, and the village guards did not notice them as they passed by.
But upon reaching the protagonist’s residence, the Squad Leader and the injured soldier were stunned to see the door open and the protagonist standing at the doorstep, giving a standard military salute and whispering, “Cheng An, long time no see.”
The Squad Leader, whose real name had been spoken, shuddered.
How long had it been since he last heard that name?
Looking at the other person, Tang Mo also felt quite emotional.
Cheng An is a renowned character in ‘The Nameless,’ known to almost every player.
He too was a messenger, but not long after setting out, he encountered Tubo soldiers; he got captured while covering for his comrades to escape.
Three years later, after a grueling escape from the Tubo army camp, he returned without his left leg and blind in one eye, only able to be in charge of logistics at the Protectorate of Anxi.
However, he was naturally magnanimous and unconcerned about his disabilities, instead continuously training new soldiers, serving as an older brother to every player who joined the Protectorate of Anxi.
Now, seeing Cheng An unharmed, Tang Mo was deeply moved.
He did it!
Just a simple act of deception had changed the course of the game’s storyline; some people met ahead of time, and some events could also be changed.
Indeed, my guess was correct!
After adjusting his emotions, he directly revealed Cheng An’s origins and then said to the astonished Cheng An, “Let’s go.”
“Where to?” Cheng An asked, puzzled.
“The Protectorate of Anxi.”
Seeing that Cheng An still wanted to speak, Tang Mo immediately interrupted, “I know you still want to deliver the message, but it’s useless to do so now. I am proficient in the art of alchemy and the Way of Divination; I knew beforehand that you would fail. It would be far more useful for you to escort me back to the Protectorate of Anxi than to deliver any message.”
Noticing that the other party was still hesitating, Tang Mo continued, “If I return to Anxi, within ten years, granaries will be filled to the brim, weapons will be plentiful, and the soldiers will be strong and horses robust. I will be able to predict every move of Tubo. Such a person as myself is worth more than a thousand troops! Cheng An, what are you still hesitating about!
His words struck like a bolt from the blue, making Cheng An make a decision.
Turn around; back to Anxi!
Without delay, the messengers carefully protected Tang Mo as they embarked on the journey back to Anxi.
Looking back at the small cabin behind him, Tang Mo left with Cheng An without hesitation, his emotions surging incredibly.
He was right!
He was thankful to the other players who had recorded the life stories of everyone in Anxi in advance, allowing him to play the role of a Prophet and to deceive Cheng An.
Beyond that, he was grateful for the maps the other players had drawn and the historical events they had summarized in the game, which enabled him to persuade others more effectively.
And his online friends were continuously devising strategies, acting as advisers by the thousands, bolstering his confidence to change history.
The thought that he could do the same things as the characters in his novels excited him so much that he trembled all over and resolved to change everything here.
Therefore, he stopped updating.
In his live stream sessions, he and a bunch of buddies were making grand plans in the world of “The Nameless”.
They were altering history, predicting the future, mining iron, gathering refugees, saving slaves.
The thrill of farming made Tang Mo forget his home, and the idea of updating became irrelevant.
The readers didn’t rush him to update either; instead, they confessed in the live streams that this was more entertaining than his writing.
To the NPCs of the Protectorate of Anxi, Tang Mo was regarded as an Immortal-like figure.
Astronomy, geography, mathematics, fortune-telling, medicine, spirits… he was proficient in everything, knew everything—so much so that there were suspicions he was the reincarnation of Zhuge Liang, earning him the nickname “Little Zhuge”.
Even if he didn’t know something, he just had to shout, “Baidu, add points , and then everything would be resolved.
It must be some sort of Immortal Law that ordinary people couldn’t understand.
After the continuous planning and strategizing of a group of people, and the tireless efforts of the NPCs, ten years later, the Protectorate of Anxi had completely transformed.
It had become incredibly powerful.
With the ten-year period coming to an end, it was time to return to the Tang Dynasty.