The air conditioning was on. After finishing the takeout snail noodles in the cool living room and fetching a bottle of chilled orange fruit drink from the fridge, Ren Suo felt absolutely comfortable, from his toes right up to his tongue.
With a full belly, Ren Suo lay on the sofa and continued to tackle the "Assassin" game.
After the first mission failure, the game automatically rolled back to when he was in the alley, indicating it had an auto-save feature.
He discovered the game had an excellent degree of freedom. It was neither "I give you freedom, but you must do this," nor "I won't teach you anything; you figure it out yourself." Instead, when the character Ren Suo controlled acted, the surrounding NPCs would immediately react, providing Ren Suo with instant feedback.
Previously, after Ren Suo accidentally had the Assassin take down a security guard, he tried the other three options to enter the Black Thorn Building head-on.
With option ①, "I forgot my invitation at home," the waiter would immediately pull out a list with photos and ask the Assassin for his name. The waiter would then find the guest on the list and perform facial recognition.
Option ③, "(Attack him) Why should I report my actions to you?" needs no further discussion. Just after the Assassin snapped the waiter's neck, he was riddled with bullets from over a dozen guns within seconds.
As for option ④, "(Hand over 5 pounds) Cousin, long time no see..." this one left Ren Suo at a loss for words—the waiter took the money, immediately stepped back, and shouted, "We have a suspicious individual here!" Then, two burly security guards came over and dragged the Assassin away.
At a glance, none of these four options were viable. However, for option ①, if Ren Suo could learn a guest's appearance, he might be able to use the Clown Assassin's Skill, "Thousand Changes," to infiltrate.
Option ③ was clearly not the right choice for this scenario.
As for option ④, Ren Suo suspected the issue was insufficient money. But since the Assassin only had 5 pounds on him, there was nothing he could do.
He also tried to enter by going around to the back of the building, but was shocked to find black-clad individuals on duty in the security passageway. They were all armed. The moment a stranger approached, guns were pointed at them; the most the Assassin could manage was to take out one before being riddled with bullets.
However, after several attempts, Ren Suo had vaguely figured out a correct infiltration method. He now tried option ② again. After being turned away by the waiter, the two burly security guards once more came to escort him to the alley.
Ren Suo estimated the distance the Assassin and the guards had walked. When people outside could no longer see into the alley, he boldly made his move, having the Assassin snap one security guard's neck!
The other guard tried to retreat and sound the alarm, but the Assassin immediately rushed forward, grabbed his throat, pulled out the guard's own baton, and knocked him unconscious with a single blow.
Good heavens, I only pressed the attack button, how did the Assassin manage all those moves?
After subduing the two men, the Assassin changed into one of the guard's uniforms. Once he was dressed, the game prompted: "Do you want to pose as a Black Thorn security officer?"
Upon confirmation, Ren Suo watched the Assassin put on the guard's badge, neatly tuck his own suit away inside the security uniform, and then smear mud from the ground on his face. He then walked out of the alley towards the Black Thorn Building with perfect confidence.
The Assassin headed straight for the building. The waiter saw him and asked, "Where's Terry?"
"Him? He went to take a leak. I was just heading back..." Before the Assassin could finish, the waiter stepped back two paces and shouted, "You're not Dennis! Dennis doesn't sound like that! There's a suspicious person here!"
The entrance instantly erupted into chaos. Then, the armed black-clad men reappeared, and the screen lost all color...
This time, Ren Suo again chose to kill one guard and knock out the other. However, he didn't approach the building's main entrance. Instead, he had the Assassin change his path, circle to the side of the building, and, under the cover of the windy and rainy night, punch through a window and slip into the first floor.
Then, he headed for the security passageway. Inside, three black-clad men who were idly chatting looked at him. Upon seeing he was a security officer, one frowned and asked, "What do you want?"
"Just ran into some lunatic; got myself all dirty." The Assassin shrugged, the mud streaks on his face looking even filthier under the white light. "I need to go up and change clothes."
The black-clad men exchanged glances and, seeing no issue, allowed the Assassin to pass. "Ha!" Ren Suo clenched his fist and cheered. "Just as I thought! The black-clad men and the security personnel aren't part of the same system!"
The waiters and security guards probably all know each other, Ren Suo mused. So even when the Assassin was disguised, the waiter could still detect the difference in his voice and see through the disguise. However, these black-clad men are clearly 'equipped' with much higher-grade gear than the security guards. It seems they're part of two different systems. The waiters and security staff are employees of the Black Thorn Building, while the men in black are temporary security personnel stationed here just for tonight's banquet.
The Assassin jogged all the way to the ninth floor, where he encountered three more black-clad men at the staircase entrance. After using the same excuse to get past them, Ren Suo immediately had the Assassin enter the ninth floor. In a hidden spot, the Assassin removed the wet security guard uniform, changed into his own suit, and boldly walked through the main entrance into the dazzling, multicolored banquet hall.
A game prompt appeared: "You have entered the Ranpelrouge banquet with the identity of 'Unknown Stranger.' Save file 1 has been created. Please find a weapon capable of inflicting damage before 8:00 p.m. and mark any suspicious individuals at the banquet."
What the heck? Ren Suo thought. Are the missions in this game really this open-ended?
Ren Suo checked the in-game time: 7:48 p.m. He knew game time passed at a 1:1 ratio with the real world, so he had ten more minutes to find a weapon and mark suspicious individuals.
But what kind of weapons could there possibly be at a banquet?
Controlling the Assassin, Ren Suo had him wander around the banquet. At a table set with cutlery, he picked up a dining knife and a fork:
"Dining knife. Damage: Weak. Throwable."
"Silver fork. Damage: Weak. Throwable."
These hardly count as weapons 'capable of inflicting damage'... Ren Suo thought with disappointment.
Bored, Ren Suo had the Assassin continue to roam idly when he accidentally bumped straight into an NPC.
The Assassin had previously bumped into a noblewoman by accident as well. The lady had cried out in alarm, spilling her wine, and the Assassin had kept backing away, continuously muttering, "Sorry, sorry." Consequently, Ren Suo was now very careful in controlling the Assassin's movements.
Based on Ren Suo's experience, if an NPC got bumped, at most they would exclaim in surprise before being pushed aside. However, this particular NPC, just a moment before impact, suddenly shifted their body with surprising agility, skillfully avoiding the Assassin.
At that moment, a series of messages popped up in the lower-left corner of the game:
"[Firearms Mastery] Perk activated. You have discovered the automatic pistol 'P19C'."
"The location of the 'P19C' has been marked."
"You have discovered a suspicious individual. Their location has been marked."
Ren Suo watched a man strutting confidently around the banquet. The man's whole body emanated a yellow hue, and a red, pistol-shaped light shone at his waist. Only then did Ren Suo realize that 'finding a weapon' and 'identifying a suspicious individual' were actually the same task.
The suspicious individual has the weapon I need!