Chapter 1
The sky was covered by black clouds. The sound of cries, death throes, rainstorm, and occasionally the sound of thunder was mixing together.
"Follow the child of heaven!"
"Follow the prince!"
"The Han is dead!"
"Long live Yellow Turbans!"
Below the sky lied the battlefield, a young man wearing a yellow headband and a full set of leather armor was charging into the Imperial army formation. Behind his back, a formation of militias, wearing similar yellow headbands and bandanas, were also charging into the opposite files of the formation.
"Zhang Tong is isolated. Surround him!"
"Stop the Yellow Turbans!"
"That monster Zhang Tong is in front. Kill him!"
"Protect the general!"
The yellow headband young man in the front of his troops was Zhang Tong. He was swinging his blade and danced into enemy soldiers dense formation, killing over a dozen men in his path. However, he was isolated from his troops. He did not make any mistake in troops commanding or fell into any trap. He purposely dove into the enemy ranks.
"Zou Jing, you coward. How long are you going to keep hiding!?"
Zou Jing, a general of the imperial force, who was being protected by his personal guards, was hiding timidly behind his guards back and was looking around for a chance to get away from this place as fast as he could. His demeanor was nowhere of that of a dignified leader of a battalion.
"Retreat! Sound the retreat!"
Zou Jing shouted as if it were his last word in his life. He crossed with Zhang Tong in the past and witnessed Zhang Tong's "magic". That "magic" still traumatized him even in his sleep. Seeing Zhang Tong within 100 meters in front of him caused his legs to go limb and all his strength escaped him.
****
"Brother, we need to help the general. Let's hurry."
"Understood, I'll be going then."
"Hah! Second brother is trying to gain more credits. I won't lose to you. I'm going too!"
Three men on the horses were leading a battalion of a thousand militia footmen in the front. Seeing that Zou Jing Battalion was in disarray and the Yellow Turbans Army had the upper hand. They decided to rush in and help. Their troops were formed for the purpose of eliminating the Yellow Turbans Army in the first place so there was no reason not to help.
The tall man in front spared no time and rushed in between Zou Jing and Zhang Tong.
"Brat. You go no further."
A tall red face man with the blue dragon halberd was charging forward and was making a bee-line toward Zhang Tong. A savage scruffy beard man and a scholarly looking man on a full set of iron armor were following behind.
'Damn it. Those three hypocrites really appear here. I thought they were in another platoon. The novel version said they would appear later to help Zou Jing but it seems they were in the same platoon from the start.'
Zhang Tong recognized the people that were coming after him. They were the important historical figures in the East Han and Three Kingdoms eras. The person in front was none other than Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei.
'I only have one bullet left. Unless I can get close to Zou Jing and kill him with my blade, I can't afford to use it on them.'
Zhang Tong clenched onto his 9mm Glock pistol in his left hand. His right hand was still holding a bloodstained blade. He was saving his last bullet for the emergency. But now he was facing his dilemma.
'I should have saved some bullets. I was too immature.'
Zhang Tong relied on his pistol too much in the past. Most of his bullets were wasted on ordinary soldiers before this battle.
'Should I change the trend of the history here and now for my benefits in the long run, or should I focus on the mission at hand.'
He glanced at his mission status in the corner of his eyes.
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**Main Mission No.20**
Clear Condition: Kill Zou Jing.
Failure Condition: You die, Zou Jing escape, or time limit exceeded.
Clearing Reward: 10,000 years of lifespan. Bonus experiences for your active skills.
Mission Failure: Your location will be shown on the system map to other players for 1 year.
Time Limit Remaining: 21 Days 1 Hour 39 Minutes.
System Note: Bowsette is bae.
******************
'No, I have to finish the mission or I'm dead. The punishment for failure is too harsh.'
Zhang Tong dreaded the other players. They were all otherworlders just like him and all of them had at least one unique cheat in their arsenal. Therefore, revealing his location on the HUD map was tantamount to a suicide.
'I wanted to kill you three idiots so bad. But it seems you are fated to live on a little longer.'
Zhang Tong looked in front of him, locating Zou Jing and his personal guards.
'Roughly 40-50 meters between the target and me. I can do it.'
"Time Stop!"
Zhang Tong shouted. The atmosphere around him suddenly paused and the world became greyscale. The raindrops and mud-water-splash on the ground paused in mid-air. Guan Yu and the horse that was charging at him stopped in mid-motion. The chaotic ambiance screams became silent. Only Zhang Tong retained his movement, the yellow clothes on him were the only color remained in the world and so his consciousness.
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**Skill Status**
[Time Stop] LV.2
- Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds.
Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan.
Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day. Skill resets at midnight.
System Note: Try activating this skill by shouting "The W*rld", you will be surprised!
[Firearms Creation] LV.1
- Create any firearm or bullet of your choice.
- Only handguns and handgun bullets can be created
Skill Cost:
1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet
50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice
Skill Restriction: Can only create one handgun a day or one bullet a day. Skill resets at midnight.
System Note: Try curving the bullet. It looks cool when you can do it. What? You can't? SHAME!
************************************
Zhang Tong ignored the paused motion of the charging Guan Yu and sprinted toward Zou Jing. Although full sprinting 50 meters in 10 seconds was easy for any healthy adults. However, in this battlefield, the ground was muddy and unleveled, and there were many enemies and obstacles blocking Zhang Tong's path. So he had to put every ouch stamina he had remain in this sprint.
[Time remaining 3 seconds…]
[Time remaining 2 seconds…]
'Just a little more'
Zhang Tong managed to bypass all soldiers along the way and stood directly in front of Zou Jing. He hurriedly swung his blade, loping off Zou Jing's head in midair. Then he used the remaining seconds to run off a distance from the troops. He needed that distance to protect himself from Zou Jing's soldiers in the case they wanted revenge.
[Time is up. The flow will be resumed. Good luck you mofo.]
The world regained colors and motions. The chaotic shouts continued as if it were never paused. However, Zou Jing troops discovered that Zhang Tong suddenly disappeared from his previous spot.
"What!"
"How the hell!?"
"It's that magic again!"
The soldiers were confused for the moment before another commotion broke out in another location.
"General!"
"Lord Zou Jing!"
Zou Jing's head that was loped into the air resumed its motion and dropped itself on the ground. Zhang Tong also reappeared in the distance with his bloodstained blade.
Even Guan Yu and co. were shocked. Their eyes were opened wide as if they were about to pop out of its socket. Zou Jing's soldiers were worse. Some of them had clashed with the Yellow Turbans under Zhang Tong's lead once before and they had witnessed the same magic happened. Their face lost all of their blood and despair were showing in their eyes.
**Ding**
[Mission Accomplished. You are rewarded with 10,000 years of lifespan and 50 skill experience points for each of your active skills.]
[Time Stop has increased to LV.3]
[Firearms Creation has increased to LV.2]
[The next mission will be issued after all players completed their missions. Please stay tuned. *Wink* *Wink*]
'Still obnoxious as ever. This goddamn system.'
Zhang Tong cursed in his mind. There was no happiness shown on his face after he completed his mission. They were more like a torture to him but entertainment for the higher up above the skies. He knew that the next mission would always be harder than the previous one. After all, this was not the first mission he completed.
'It would be best if the next one won't involve other players. For now, I have to solve the major issue at hand.'
Zhang Tong glanced at Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei, who were keeping distance on vigilant.
Guan Yu felt a chill running down his spine. He had never witnessed something this supernatural before. And now one of the supernatural things appeared in front of him as his opponent. The bravery he had shown just now disappeared from his mind like smoke. He had heard the rumor that Zhang Jiao was a sorcerer, and now his son just shown his "magic" in front of him.
"Didn't you lots want a piece of me? Where is your bravery now? Oh right, there was an old saying that only a brave man can become a soldier, but I'm seeing no soldier. Hell, I doubt there were even men in front of me."
Guan Yu and Liu Bei frowned. They didn't exactly understand what Zhang Tong was talking about. But they sensed that they were indirectly cursed somehow.
"Bah! You think you are a god with that parlor trick. A child of heaven? Kaak! Ptui! Your father is just a delusional scholar! He was so delusional that your mother abandoned you for a new man in hell!"
Zhang Tong frowned. He knew he wouldn't be able to provoke the three brothers into a fight easily after showing his "magic". So he had attempted to buy time and tried to rouse Zhang Fei into a one on one fight. He got cursed back and it pained him. He wanted to tear Zhang Fei into shred but Zhang Tong had to calm down.
Zhang Tong desperately needed time to catch up his breath. He also needed his troops to catch up to him. Once his troops came close, so he could announce that Zou Jing was dead, and could bluff Zou Jing's remaining troops into surrender or retreat. But if he were to announce it now, he would definitely get himself killed by the revenge of the remnant soldiers. Zhang Tong was still isolated within Zou Jing Army after all.
'I need one more magic to seal the coffin. It has to be flashy. The impact should be so severe to the point that they can get scared shitless. If I could lure one of them over and finish it with a bang…'
'I hope the Glock can still work in this heavy rain, or I'll be doomed.'
Zhang Tong had another risky plan in his mind. He breathed deeply and started speaking.
"My father, Zhang Jiao, maybe a bit silly, but he fought the corruption for his people! For that, I'm proud of him. My mother left the world with a smile on her face. She died to give me life, so I'm proud of her and grateful to her. But you … you … and you"
Zhang Tong slowly pointed at Zhang Fei, then Guan Yu and Liu Bei. Then he slowly shouts at them word by word.
"When the people were suffering from famine and disease, you became a bandit, tormenting us."
"When the commoners bled from the corrupted official and high taxed, you were still a bandit, bleeding us further."
"When we, the commoners, the victims, fought back, you sided with those corrupted officials."
"When we were branded traitors, you guys were celebrating in the peach garden."
"Your parents must be proud of you as well. They raised you so well that one of you became a bandit, another one of you was a psychopath murderer and the biggest one of you became so delusional to the point that you thought of yourself as the old emperor's descendant even though you were just a straw shoe seller!"
Liu Bei and Guan Yu's face turned ugly. Although they were annoyed by Zhang Tong sarcasm, they held themselves back. They were still afraid of the "magic". If Zhang Tong were to blink again, who knew which head would fly.
They didn't know anything about the story behind the Yellow Turbans. All they had heard were all from the officials, that the rebellion was plundering villages and rob innocent people. It made them think back about the hidden story behind the rebellion and which information was more believable.
"I want your life!"
Zhang Fei shouted and charged at Zhang Tong.
"Yide, NO!!"
"Brother wait!!"
'Gotcha.'
A smile appears on Zhang Tong's face as he raised the pistol, aimed at Zhang Fei, and pulled the trigger.
BANG