Chapter 6: Chapter 6 – Celestial Palace

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

The hitman, whom Ren Suo was controlling, must have raised suspicions. He was probably held hostage because the young man in the brown suit spotted him when he was stealing the gun.

In hindsight, the target of the hitman had been too obvious and blatant when he appeared alone behind the suspicious character to steal the gun.

Reusing the same tactic of “touch and go”, he approached another suspicious character amongst the crowd and started executing the plan that he had devised beforehand. He made use of a passerby’s drink and spilled it onto the suspicious character, causing the person to be all drenched and distracted. The hitman then approached him slowly and launched a stealthy swipe at his rump to end it all off.

[‘Beretta 92’ unlocked, 15 rounds per reload, silencer included.]

Ren Suo allowed the hitman to escape and wander around the banquet hall after getting his hands on the pistol successfully. As he loitered around while waiting for the clock to hit the 2000HRS, he realized that there were even more suspicious characters when he made physical contact with them.

When the time arrived, gunshots were fired from one side of the hall with a loud bang. Without waiting for any prompts given by the game, Ren Suo controlled the hitman and shot the assassin hiding behind the pillar dead with a single shot. He then took the spot and use his excellent vision. [Bullet time] set off on a streak of 3 consecutive kills on other assassins who were ambushed behind the pillar.

As the chaos went on in the banquet hall, the hitman took his time to heal and recharge behind the pillar. After some calculation, Ren Suo deduced that he could maintain a duration of five seconds of shooting while hiding in this safe territory, followed by five seconds of rest. Even if the assassins were able to find cover, he would still be able to launch a headshot on them just as they peek out.

‘Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!’

At this very moment, the men in black who tried to counterattack with guns were turned into lifeless souls by two rapid-fire assault rifles while making their entry into the banquet hall.

“Isn’t the basement a battle of pistols? Why are there assault rifles? And where did they even come from?” Ren Suo discovered that beside the pyramid-shaped tables where the wine glasses were placed, two assassins were standing, spraying a barrage of bullets from their rifles. After their magazines were emptied, they squatted down and took another loaded magazine from underneath the table to replenish their ammo.

They actually hid the assault rifles underneath the table!?

Before Ren Suo could even react, the assassins dispersed into three groups, one of which dashed out to secure the lift and the safety passage, while another group of six which was led by one of the gunmen, moved towards the inner hall. The last group comprised solely of the remaining gunmen who proceeded to fire at his hitman’s vantage point.

Momentarily, the carvings on the pillar and the cement within were blown off by the incoming projectiles.

The screen suddenly turned red, indicating that the hitman was injured, though he still showed signs of life. Ren Suo knew that this couldn’t drag on any longer. Just when the assassin was reloading his gun, he turned around and activated [Bullet Time].

“Pow!” Yet another assassin launched a bullet at the hitman. In order to dodge the bullet, the hitman had no option but to take cover, inevitably giving the other assassins enough time to corner him and take aim.

As the window for [Bullet Time] closed, the assassins holding the assault rifles reloaded their weapons and began firing away at the pillar.

[You died.]

The storyline replayed again, and it was yet another failed attempt at the mission for Ren Suo. However, joy and elation were written all over his face.

After entering the banquet hall again this time, the hitman not only discovered fifteen suspicious characters instantly, but also—

[[Weapon Expert] Special Notice. You have discovered assault rifle ‘Steyr AUG’.]

The assault rifles were indeed hidden underneath the pyramid-shaped tables!

Unlike the first time, Ren Suo did not attempt to steal any pistol. Rather, he circled around the vicinity of the pyramid-shaped table, waiting for 2000HRS. Just as the assassins retrieved the assault rifle, he activated [Bullet Time] and shot several bullets at the assailants, identified by the red outline on their body, at point blank range.

At once, the assassins who were approaching the table were eliminated by Ren Suo altogether. Many others who couldn’t find cover were wiped out as well.

Ren Suo also figured out that the table would be a good shield for the hitman to seek cover and reload his weapon before subsequently activating [Bullet Time]. Activating it seemed like a good choice, regardless of whether the assassins exposed their cover or not.

The damage caused by the assault rifles was significantly larger than that of the pistol. Previously, the pistol was unable to cause much damage to the assassins hiding behind the pyramid-shaped tables. However, the bullets from the assault rifle could now seem to pierce through every line of defense the assassins had, forcing them to be hunted down.

Even though there were over 20 assassins, they were faced with the challenge of withstanding the attack of the hitman with [Bullet Time], [Weapon Expert], and the strongest firepower in the banquet hall. Moreover, the assassins were unable to take control of the lift and the safety exit this time, thus allowing the men in black to enter and save the day.

There were also a few gentlemen holding guns that appeared in the banquet hall, and under siege, the assassins were swiftly annihilated in no time at all!

“Is the stage finally cleared?”

However, even before Ren Suo could catch his breath and heave a sigh of relief, the men in black suddenly took aim at him!

At this moment, a wrinkled English gentleman pointed his gun at the hitman and raised his voice. He yelled, “Put down your gun! Identify yourself. I remember that there weren’t any Asians on the guest list for the banquet!”

This time, three options popped up on the screen as the timer began the ten-second countdown.

1. “Me? I’m just an admirer of Miss Kallen. I had devised a plan to take on that bunch of assassins after I found out by chance, that they were actually trying to harm her.”

2. “I was just tasked by somebody else to protect Miss Kallen Lamperouge.”

3. “I have never answered to anyone or explained my actions.”

The first two options seemed relatively polite, but the third option could have come across as the hitman trying to pick a fight and was too aggressive. Hence, Ren Suo decided to choose option 2.

Unexpectedly, the Englishman frowned as he ordered, “Hmm, who knows if you are actually an assassin trying to infiltrate us. Tie him up and lock him in the toilet! And make sure he doesn’t follow us!”

“What!?” Ren Suo was in utter shock as he saw the restrained hitman being dragged to the washroom. One of the men in black took the chance and knocked him out with a karate chop, right at the back of his head.

[Miss Kallen Lamperouge was killed while you were unconscious. Mission failed.]

Going through the storyline again, Ren Suo chose option 1 after killing all the assassins.

Even from the screen, Ren Suo could tell that the men in black had weird expressions on their faces. He could tell that the gaze in the old gentleman’s eyes instantaneously changed as he said with a frown, “Are you telling the truth…”

“It’s a hundred percent the truth. I am willing to sacrifice my life for Miss Kallen.”

The man approved of him and conceded, “Alright, you can tag along with the Blackwater Squad to lead the way. Miss Kallen must stay at the back. It’s safer that way. The Poker assassins have gained control of the first floor after they dashed in and killed our security officers. They are headed our way and are moving through the safety passage.”

“We must leave the ninth floor now, they are highly likely to plant bombs underneath!” The Englishman scanned the banquet hall and hurriedly called out the surviving guests, “Miss Chris, Sir Morris…leave with us now!”

The armed men in black progressively walked out of the banquet, and Ren Suo wanted to take a glimpse of how Miss Kallen Lamperouge looked like. However, she was sandwiched in between the men and was completely not visible. All that could be seen was an inverted gold arrow floating behind the men in black.

“That should be where she is located…” he murmured.

The hitman picked up his assault rifle as he wiped out everyone ahead of him, clearing the entire path, starting from the safety passage. When they arrived at the seventh floor, a gigantic blast could be heard coming from the ninth floor as the building trembled and quaked.

The assassins lined up their defenses on the second floor, but how would they even stop the hitman on a roll? As the hitman utilized [Bullet Time] to terminate the assassins, one of them actually managed to toss up a grenade.

“Boom!”

[You died.]

Load the file again!

This time, when the hitman arrived at the same spot, he jumped over the barriers and landed on the assassins. Using the 5 seconds of [Bullet Time] that he had, he managed to cause a ruckus and a stir to break out amongst the assassins and as that particular one got his grenade ready, he was instantly killed by the hitman.

[You have received a fragmentation grenade.]

The clean and swift job done by the hitman brought the men in black endless surprises as it just seemed way too perfect to be true. The Englishman said, “What a scary Asian….Are you an ancient assassin from the country of cherry blossoms? Or are you an ancient swordsman? A normal human being would definitely not be this impressive, are you actually human?”

At this instant, the time paused as a pop up appeared on the screen with the words: “I am a hitman from Naisser_Ren.”

The words “I am a hitman from” were fixed while the word “Naisser_Ren” could be edited. Ren Suo sighed. “I can actually create my own conversation…?”

“Wait a second, isn’t Naisser_Ren my game ID? How can it turn into the hitman’s background?”

Ren Suo scratched his head. However, without much thought, he edited as he pleased. He typed: [I am a hitman from the Celestial Palace.]

The Englishman was obviously stunned as he said in a profound manner: “Celestial Palace? Are you from the Land of Mystery?”

This time, another game prompt appeared: [Explain Celestial Palace.]

“What in the world? It’s actually asking me questions! Surely there is a GM chatting with me?” Ren Suo snickered, and he typed, “Celestial Palace is a secret organization in the Land of Mystery. I am just one of their normal hitmen of average level.”

The Englishman nodded as he politely replied, “The Lamperouge would be immensely grateful towards you if you would protect us with the best of your abilities.”

Following this, the hitman dashed into the hall located on the first floor as he activated [Bullet Time]. He threw the fragmentation grenade at the crowd, and with a deafening bang, a few men were left dead and laid lifelessly on the ground. The hitman then hid inside the safety passage as he waited for [Bullet Time] to be unlocked again. He started shooting down the assassins in five second intervals whenever he could activate [Bullet Time].

With the hitman who was taking the lead by killing more than ten men, somebody from the back shouted, “Legendary shooter! The police have arrived! The SAS helicopter!”

The assassins simultaneously fired a few more shots at the hitman, as though they had just received an order, and most of them sped off in their vehicles, leaving only a small number of people to ensure their escape.

The police alarm sounded. The sound of wind from the spinning propeller enveloped the sky. The police surrounded the complex as the special forces members who were armed with rifles, stormed into the building. They broke in through the windows and rapidly apprehended the remaining assailants.

“This stage is definitely cleared. Right?” Ren Suo said, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he looked out of the window. The sky had turned dark completely.

“It’s already past 6pm? I’ve actually played this game for over 6 hours?” Ren Suo was shocked as he felt that he had only gone through a few storylines and he hadn’t even spent much time on the game.

However, Ren Suo thought of how the enemy’s AI was too overpowering, and a single shot to the vital points would have caused the hitman to lose his life. Despite being in [Bullet Time], he still had to plan each and every move. The moves could only be executed when the enemy temporarily ceased fire.

Furthermore, he had to wait for his skill to cool down, and as the time compounded, it really did cause him lots of time.

Just as Ren Suo wanted to call for food delivery, the game suddenly gave him two options which popped up on the screen, with the same 10 seconds countdown:

1. Take a cigarette, inhale a puff after lighting it, make a smoke ring and say with a smile, “Goodbye everyone.”

2. “Help me express my greetings to Miss Kallen Lamperouge and tell her that I look forward to our next meeting.”

It seemed that the options did not affect much of the gameplay. Hence, without hesitation, Ren Suo picked option 1. The hitman in the game asked for a cigarette from the Englishman, then made a thick smoke ring before saying the following to the men in black: “Goodbye, everyone.”

The very next moment, the screen froze and condensed into black and white colors.

[Mission Accomplished.]

[Score: 66.5 (Barely Qualified); High Score: 66.5 (Barely Qualified)]

[Do you choose this ending as your final result to be uploaded? You will receive the merit award equivalent to your grading after the upload is successful.]

[After the report is uploaded, this chapter would be completely closed.]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep