Under the massive Golden City, a warrior in a White assassin's robe was imprisoned on a guillotine in the rainy night, his eyes tightly shut, his body limp as he dragged himself on the ground.
At this moment, a flurry of footsteps sounded, accompanied by the pitter-patter of raindrops.
"Bang, splash…."
"Is he dead?" A child's voice was as clear as a bell.
"No, he won't die." The man bowed slightly, his eyes fixed on the assassin with his head drooping.
"Who is he, Father?"
"He is Jack, Jack Edward, one of the original assassins." The man straightened up, his eyes filled with sharpness, and he stroked the girl's head.
"What is he doing?"
"Sleeping, child, he is resting, waiting for us to awaken him."
"Are we going to awaken him?"
"Of course, my child." Jack Edward could vaguely hear the whispers of some ancient god beside his ear, or perhaps it was the sound of raindrops falling to the ground.
It was as clear as a piece of music.
"In faraway Tønsberg, Norway, there is a rich city, and some treasures from ancient times, Jack, someone has touched the coffin of the treasure, and the huge bronze door is gradually opening. The sinful hands of the Knights Templar have already invaded the essence of this World, we need you, we need you to pull the long-sleeping justice out of the darkness of the World…"
The voice seemed to float in the void of the Dharma-Ending Age, approaching and then receding, sometimes near, sometimes far…
"When others blindly pursue truth and reality." The voice suddenly became strong and clear.
"Remember, nothing is true!"
"When others are bound by laws and morals, remember!"
"Everything is permitted!"
The man's voice was like a lullaby, plunging Jack's mind into endless chaos. Earthquakes, meteorite collisions. The Sun and Moon rose together, and the massive Golden Palace let out a trembling roar.
It was as if nothing existed anymore, his consciousness, his body.
"Do you still remember your name?"
"Jack Edward." This was like a shout from the depths of a distant memory.
"No, no, no, I mean your title!"
"Ri… Ripper Jack!" It was as if a thousand centuries ago, his mind and body reconnected, and a tremendous force reversed space, transforming countless starlight into primordial data.
"He's awake! Doctor! Oh my goodness, this vegetative patient is actually awake!"
Simple dividing line
"You're awake? Can you understand what I'm saying?"
Jack, still a bit dazed, lay on the hospital bed, his unfocused eyes gradually sharpening, and a White figure appeared before him.
"Do you know how long you've been asleep?" The Nurse checked the machine's operation, pushing the small cart behind her to the bedside and taking out a syringe.
"I took over this ward three years ago, and the archives show… you were in a car accident ten years ago and have been in a coma ever since." The Nurse gently pinched Jack's arm: "Do you have any sensation?"
Jack nodded slightly, the discomfort in his body like the lack of control over oneself when life first begins.
Perhaps with more effort, he could stimulate adrenaline.
"Can you speak?"
Jack struggled to open his lips, and with the tireless efforts of his vocal cords and muscles, he finally uttered a single word: "Animus."
The Nurse frowned slightly: "What did you say?"
In a place she couldn't see, or rather, on Jack's retina, a laser-like beam quickly slid from left to right, and then, like an old television, Jack's vision was filled with static data points.
"Assassin… Animus, standing by." Like a long-lost friend, Animus greeted him with its stumbling voice: "Long time no see, Ripper, Jack Edward."
"Long time no see." Jack still seemed unable to fully control his vocal cords. In the pristine White ward, the Nurse was busy performing various physical examinations on Jack.
After all, a person who had been in a coma for over ten years suddenly waking up was an absolute miracle.
"Assassin, the system core has been damaged. I cannot connect to this World's database. Please allow me to obtain data energy through real-World interaction."
"Nurse, what year and month is it now?"
The Nurse looked back at him suspiciously and said, "June 1943. It's been about ten years since you fell into a coma." What surprised the Nurse was that this patient had been in a car accident at around ten years old, but when he woke up, there were no… emotional fluctuations.
Logically speaking, every vegetative patient who wakes up is excited, filled with curiosity and other emotions.
"Data synchronization… synchronization failed, Assassin. I cannot connect to the main program's database, which means many of my functions are disabled, including data upload and data synchronization."
The failure of these two functions meant that Jack could not revive from the database, which also meant he no longer had his previous infinite lives.
"One more thing, a strange message came from nearby: The Knights Templar have arrived and are preparing to kill you."
Jack frowned slightly. This was undoubtedly adding insult to injury to his current situation. It wasn't that the Knights Templar were so powerful, it was just that with his current physical condition… anyone could seriously injure him.
Plus, data couldn't be uploaded…
"System change, mission issued."
"You awaken from distant data, deeply entrenched in the World's unknown and darkness. Even if you touch the light, the tentacles in the darkness are about to drag you back into the darkness. Kill the Knights Templar who attacked you, seize the data block. Mission reward: partial system unlock, one skill point."
Jack struggled to move his arm, but his entire body felt like a piece of wood.
Animus saw Jack's current state and said, "Considering the Assassin's current physical condition, Animus will consume the last data block to unlock a skill for the Assassin. Please choose."
"Scream!" Jack didn't think much. Neither life enhancement nor other counterattacks could help him survive now.
"Assassin, without data blocks, I won't be able to help with the upcoming battle, but I can tell you that there are two injections on the medical cart, local anesthetic and adrenaline."
"I understand, Animus." Jack closed his eyes.
"Good luck, Assassin."
"Nurse Eileen, something happened to the patient in bed three."
The Nurse put down the medicine in her hand and hurried out of the ward. Now Jack was the only one left in the room.
The data plane before his eyes disappeared, replaced by a pitch-black night.
The footsteps outside the ward were noisy, and the wheels of the cart rolled on the tiles, but all of this seemed to slow down in Jack's ears.
Strange Martin boots landed on the ground, the slapping thuds growing louder from a distance, finally stopping at the door of the ward.
Everything around him became silent again. Jack could even hear his own heartbeat, blood rapidly circulating through his body, activating gate after gate.
The person pushed open the door and slowly walked into the ward.
The footsteps were light, like a visit from an old friend, but the next moment, a cold hand grasped Jack's throat. He was wearing old Preacher's robes, holding a wooden cross in one hand.
Jack suddenly opened his eyes, and a strange low-frequency sound wave emitted from his mouth.
The Preacher's heart jumped, suddenly constricting. In just one second, the blood in his body instantly stopped.
"Scream": applies a fear debuff to the target, effective for two seconds.
Pfft!
Jack swung his arm and plunged the syringe in his hand fiercely into the Preacher's neck.
The Preacher's eyes widened: "How is this possible?" He stiffly turned his head, and in his peripheral vision, he glimpsed the injected syringe on the cart.
Jack struggled to clench his fist and hit the Preacher on the nose.
The fragile nose instantly made the Preacher's tear ducts well up, and he staggered back a step or two.
"The Brotherhood… truly lives up to its reputation." The Preacher threw the syringe to the ground and turned to leave. He knew that today's assassination might have failed, but he hadn't expected that an Assassin who had just woken up from a distant era could regain control of his body in such a short time.
Actually, he hadn't. The adrenaline had just started to work, and Jack's lower body was still unable to move. Even with the stimulation to his upper body, he could only exert half of his strength.
The Preacher threw the syringe on the ground and turned to leave.
He can't just leave like that!
Animus used hidden data blocks to unlock skills for Jack. Since there were no more data blocks, Animus would fall into a deep sleep. If this released mission could not be completed, Jack would not be able to obtain new data blocks in the future.
Losing Animus also meant losing the future.
Jack picked up the syringe from the cart, got up and moved his feet, and also put the syringe from the ground into his hospital gown.
He pushed open the ward door, and countless lights converged. The noisy hospital finally allowed Jack to see the long-missed human activity.
He keenly noticed the fire escape map hanging on the wall.
"Third floor…" Jack turned and ran towards the stairwell, Doctors passing by looking at him strangely.
The hospital lights suddenly flickered.
"Power outage? What's going on?"