"What? Only 66.5%?"
Ren Suo was stunned as he looked at the score, feeling that his playthrough was decent enough, having taken out everyone needed. How come it was merely a barely passing grade?
Next to the mission evaluation, there was a question mark. After querying, a list of scoring options appeared:
"Complete the basic objectives of the mission—60 points;"
"Kill a moderate number of enemies—5 points;"
"Rescue a small number of innocents—1-0.5=0.5 points;"
"Special Achievement · Lolicon—1 point (this score is only effective when the total evaluation is below 80 points);"
"Total score is 66.5 points, rated as barely passing."
Stroking his chin, Ren Suo wondered if there were many more scoring options in the game. The game offered a high degree of freedom, and indeed, there were many details he could optimize during gameplay. Now that he saw the detailed scores, he had already identified one area where he could gain points.
"The most important thing is, what the hell is this 'Lolicon'..."
He ordered some takeaway and continued to battle it out in the game, lying on the sofa. Ren Suo was quite pleased with the game—the freedom was satisfactory, and the enemy AI was normal; not so dumb it felt like a texture, and not so difficult that it seemed like terminators. Instead, it would adapt in response to the player's actions, with differences even among individual enemies, such as Ren Suo seeing some assassins so scared they'd run away.
Choosing the save file 0, Ren Suo had the Assassin start over from an alleyway. He tricked two security guards out with practiced ease, but this time, instead of eliminating one, he knocked them both unconscious.
Then, he proceeded with the process as usual, and this time, when he entered the banquet hall, the game created a new save file 2 for him.
This time, Ren Suo paid close attention to the Assassin's shooting. He hadn't cared much about the other escaping guests when he attacked the banquet hall last time, and in pursuit of a quick kill, he even accidentally shot a few.
By the time the English Gentleman emerged from the back room, there were still thirteen living guests in the banquet hall.
That's when his takeaway arrived, but Ren Suo just realized that this game, unbelievably, didn't have a pause option. He had to rush to get the takeaway. The delivery bag seemed to be leaking, and the deliveryman kept apologizing. Ren Suo didn't mind; he quickly brought it into the kitchen to set it down, but accidentally lifted the lid when taking it out, spilling the sauce all over his greasy, oily hand.
When he returned after washing his hands, he saw the English Gentleman and other men in black tensely pointing their guns at the Assassin: "Why aren't you leaving?"
Ren Suo hurriedly controlled the Assassin to exit the banquet hall, but due to the delay, just as the Assassin left, an explosion occurred on the ninth floor, and the game immediately popped up a message:
"Karen Lanpelucci has died. Mission failed."
Well, time to start over. This time, there were no unexpected incidents, and the number of surviving guests in the banquet hall increased to fifteen.
When the game conducted the mission evaluation, it was no surprise to Ren Suo that he received a 71% rating!
"Complete the basic objectives of the mission—60 points;"
"Kill a moderate number of enemies—5 points;"
"Rescue a moderate number of innocents—5 points;"
"Special Achievement · Lolicon—1 point (this score is only effective when the total evaluation is below 80 points);"
"Total score is 71 points, rated as decent."
"Not excellent, but just 'decent'...?" Ren Suo tugged at the corner of his mouth, "There couldn't be any more areas I could optimize, could there?"
At that moment, a game prompt appeared: "As the player has received a decent rating, fulfilling the hidden requirement, information on the hidden side mission for this chapter will be unlocked."
"Side Mission: Protect Euphy Lampeluji. The less damage the target person sustains, the higher the score you will receive."
Euphy Lampeluji?
The person protected in the main mission was Karen Lanpelucci; they must be from the same family, right? Moreover, since the Ranpelrouge Family was hosting this evening banquet, it was very likely that Karen and Euphy were together.
If the player needs to protect someone, it means that without the player's intervention, Euphy would definitely be a goner.
Although Ren Suo had never seen Karen Lanpelucci so far, it was easy for him to deduce that they must be in the back room of the banquet hall—the English Gentleman NPC had come out from there, and the ninth floor wasn't big; other than the banquet hall, there was only the back room.
And when did Euphy die?
Ren Suo immediately thought of a crucial time—20:00. At this time, gunshots would erupt in the back room, and assassins in the banquet hall would also strike, coordinating inside and out to kill the guests.
If Euphy was indeed in the back room and not in the banquet hall, then it was highly possible that she was killed in the shootout at 20:00.
After finishing his meal, Ren Suo continued to lie on the sofa and turned on the Mini-World Game Console, loading save file 2. He made the Assassin look around the banquet hall, but other than a dozen assassins whose bodies glowed so red they were almost black, he didn't see any other markers.
So, how to find Euphy Lampeluji?
Ren Suo thought for a moment and had the Assassin steal a pistol, heading straight for the back room. However, between the banquet hall and the back room, a middle-aged steward blocked Ren Suo, along with two men in black:
"Sir, that is a private area," the middle-aged steward said apologetically, "You do not have permission to enter."
The game then popped up four options:
① "I am here to find Karen Lanpelucci."
② "I am here to find Euphy Lampeluji."
③ "How can I get permission to go in?"
④ (Attack) "Eat shit."
Ren Suo chose option ②; the middle-aged steward looked at the Assassin and a hint of a smile crossed his eyes and brows, "Miss Euphie will give a speech at 20:00. Please wait patiently until then."
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The option hadn't disappeared, it just grayed out as Ren Suo chose option ③. The middle-aged steward said, "I'm sorry, only collaborators of the Ranpelrouge Family are eligible to enter... Wait, I recall there weren't any invites sent to Asians for this banquet, right? Or perhaps you are...?"
Ren Suo inwardly cursed at the turn of events, but just then a young gentleman wanted to enter the inner hall, drawing the steward's attention, "Sir, you are...?"
"I am Anger Ricall, here to celebrate Miss Karen's birthday on behalf of my father," Anger said with a slight smile, "I just got my clothes dirty and changed into a new set here, sorry for being late."
Only then did Ren Suo realize for what reason this banquet was actually being held.
"Ah, Master Anger Ricall of the Ricall Family, it's an honor to meet you for the first time," the middle-aged steward stepped aside, "Please, come in."
Ren Suo looked around and realized it seemed impossible for him to get in without resorting to using force.
However, after thinking it over, he recalled that Euphy's death was supposed to happen just before 8:00 PM. If he could get the assassin to rush in during that moment, perhaps he could still save her. So, Ren Suo patiently waited until 7:59 PM before instructing the assassin to attack the guards and the middle-aged steward at the passage!
Ren Suo succeeded—the assassin, proficient in Combat Technique, took down the three unguarded individuals with ease.
But he also failed—upon seeing the assassin attacking the guards in the passage, the hidden assassins hesitated for a couple of seconds before suddenly drawing their guns and initiating a surprise attack!
The guards immediately assumed the assassin was with the attackers and two more guards from the passage started shooting at him. Ren Suo immediately activated "Bullet Time" and exchanged fire with them, but then the assailants from behind shouted:
"He's not one of ours!"
Whizz, whizz, whizz, the assassin was shot to death from behind.
'You're dead.'
Entering the save game interface, Ren Suo calmed himself down and realized that trying to force his way through was not feasible, at least not for the assassin under his control.
If it were the 'Clown Assassin', Ren Suo might have been able to disguise himself as the English Gentleman he had seen before, but the 'Bald Assassin' only had expertise in combat, so a more clever approach was needed.
So Ren Suo reloaded save file 0, starting from the alley once more. This time, he didn't send the assassin straight to the building, but had him wait patiently by the side of the road outside the building, waiting for his target.
"Hm?"
Ren Suo was momentarily startled as he saw a silhouette approaching from a distance, with a bright blue nail floating above its head and a blue light radiating from its body like a breathing light, as if it was a signal for Ren Suo to pay attention.
And this person was indeed Ren Suo's target in his plan—Anger Ricall, whom he had seen in the previous game cycle.
"This NPC didn't have such a marker in the game before..." Ren Suo found it strange: "Why does the game automatically tag him the moment I think of going after him...?"
Ren Suo didn't ponder for too long and instructed the assassin to approach. He was ready to subdue Anger directly, but a dialogue option popped up:
① "Mr. Ricall, I am a steward of the Ranpelrouge Family, and it seems your clothes are dirty. Please come with me to change into a clean set."
② (Attack) "This is my road, I've planted this tree. If you want to pass by, you must pay a fee."
Ren Suo hesitated for just a moment before quickly choosing option ①. Anger laughed and said, "Ah, what a hassle... You know I am Anger Ricall?"
The assassin smiled slightly: "As a steward of the Ranpelrouge Family, it's natural to memorize the details of our guests."
How fun!
Ren Suo stood up, now firmly convinced that the game had a feature to 'remember past story events'—there was no other way to explain why the game would auto-tag Anger or why the assassin knew about Anger's dirty clothes and his surname.
"How is this feature even achieved? Are programmers these days that powerful?" Ren Suo was ecstatic as he had the assassin lead Anger to a secluded spot, swiftly knock him out, strip him of his ID and invitation, then stride confidently toward the Black Thorn Building.
This time, the doorman immediately smiled and led him up the elevator, and when the assassin reached the banquet hall once more, the in-game prompt that popped up was entirely different—
'You have entered the Ranpelrouge banquet, identity as 'Anger Ricall', save file 3 created.'
'Please find a lethal weapon before 8 PM at the banquet and mark any suspicious individuals.'
Then Ren Suo controlled the assassin to enter the inner hall, with the identity presented to the middle-aged steward naturally being Anger Ricall—as for why Ricall had an East Asian son, the steward's lips only curled into a slight, curious smile without any question.
The assassin passed through smoothly and entered the inner hall!
The game popped up another prompt, and even the mission had changed:
'You have entered the ninth floor, second hall of the Black Thorn Building, save file 4 created.'
'Please protect Karen Ranpelrouge.'
The inner hall wasn't much different from the banquet hall, but it had fewer people, all sitting on sofas and chatting. In the center of the crowd, Ren Suo finally saw the target he needed to protect—
A tall girl wearing a white cinched waist gown with orange-red hair, and a cute little girl with fiery red hair holding a teddy bear. Nearby them, Ren Suo saw the familiar English Gentleman attending to one side.
Hovering above their heads were golden inverted pyramid markers, signaling to the player that these were the individuals to protect.
Ren Suo controlled the assassin to approach the crowd surrounding the two girls and said, "Miss Karen, your beauty makes even the Radiance lose its luster."
The little girl clutched the hem of the tall girl's dress and timidly looked at the assassin, while the tall girl smiled and said, "Thank you for your compliments towards my sister, but it seems she prefers words like 'cute'."
What? Ren Suo was startled and looked at the little girl behind the tall girl.
Wait, Karen Ranpelrouge is actually a little loli?
At that moment, Ren Suo suddenly remembered the 'special achievement: Lolicon' from previous mission ratings.
He also recalled the strange expression on the faces of the guards when the assassin said he admired Miss Karen.
"This game truly knows my heart..."
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