"I am Hales, so who is Hales?" Simon asked the woman.
The woman, or rather, Dr. Anseya, said softly, "Your sensibility is too strong. Perhaps you are not suited for the world of this era, but we need you..."
Simon turned around and looked directly at Anseya.
"Need me to do what? I don't even know why I'm here."
"For freedom, for the people at the bottom."
"So what are we now?"
"We are fighters."
"Excellent..."
"Go to the repair bay and replace your head cavity..." Anseya turned and left, saying as she walked, "Eden is getting harder and harder to deal with. Next time you enter the Third Heaven, put on combat suits. Don't wear casual clothes anymore, or you might not even leave a single cell behind..."
She could chatter on for a long time, until her voice disappeared into the corridor outside the door. Simon wondered if she was still talking, or perhaps she wasn't talking to Simon at all, but simply talking to herself.
Skerry walked into the room, grinning, "How about it, Dr. Anseya is still as interesting, isn't she? Compared to her, I'm a man of few words."
All his limbs had been replaced, and he was still adapting to his new electronic prosthetics.
Simon ignored him, left the lounge, and entered the equipment room. Besides various weapons, clothing, and machinery, there were also many statues here, each one of a legendary assassin from the past.
The first was Altaïr.
There was also one named Edward James Kenway, the captain who sailed the warship.
Although these legendary assassins had died, their will remained in the bloodlines that were passed down.
As long as their descendants could trace their experiences in the Animus—the virtual reality machine—they could gain their power.
Antino's ancestor was Edward, while the legendary Eastern assassin Simon inherited was not famous. He was a sword-wielding hero active during the Tang Dynasty, but his junior brother, Kongkong'er, was a household name.
The assassin's real name is unknown, and his alias was 'Luoshuangke' (Lushuangke), which is quite elegant.
During the late Tang Dynasty, there was a warlord named Dong Chang, the Jiedushi of Yisheng Army, who was extremely cruel and ruled his people absurdly.
In the second year of Qianning, Dong Chang declared himself emperor in Yuezhou, establishing the Great Yue Luoping and changing the era name to Shuntian. A year later, Qian Liu captured Yuezhou. Dong Chang escaped while being escorted to Hangzhou, and was later beheaded by Luoshuangke, his body thrown into the water.
This was not the most difficult battle, but it was certainly the most commendable deed.
In terms of martial arts, Luoshuangke was much stronger than Kongkong'er, and Kongkong'er was a master who even Nie Yinniang felt inferior to.
Nie Yinniang said, "Kongkong'er's divine art, no one can perceive its use, no ghost can track its traces." Striking once and then fleeing a thousand li, so graceful, so proud, even a fleeting description makes one yearn for it.
In contrast, Luoshuangke's broad and open sword style actually couldn't be considered that of an assassin; it was merely his background that limited him.
Standing before Luoshuangke's statue, Simon was lost in thought.
A medical robot rolled over, "Welcome, esteemed Mr. Hales. Based on your current physical condition, we sincerely recommend that you undergo treatment."
The cold, synthesized voice startled Simon awake.
He followed the robot to a metal capsule. Through the observation port, he could see many small devices extending from the cabin wall, pointing towards the center. Simon could imagine himself lying inside, being manipulated by drills and probes.
The hatch opened, revealing a soft pad contoured to the human body.
Simon turned and lay down. The soft pad was not as comfortable as he had imagined; it was even a bit hard.
A cold current of air rose from his coccyx, slowly climbing to his head, bringing Simon intense discomfort.
A tube was inserted into his neck, and a current seemed to pass through his entire body, causing a slight spasm, after which there was no other sensation.
Transparent liquid slowly rose, submerging him, flowing into his nasal cavity, into his lungs, without any neural reflex.
Simon gradually fell asleep, his eyes slowly closing. Before finally losing consciousness, he saw an intense red light.
...
The cold ceiling had a layer of grayish-green paint.
Unable to move.
Turning his eyeballs, he saw a device resembling a metal chandelier at the junction of the ceiling and the wall.
A female synthesized voice sounded in the room, "Psychological test begins. You will now see a set of questions combining images, visuals, and sounds. During the test, please answer a series of random questions, including but not limited to hallucination experiences, psychological feelings, etc. To prevent the test from causing memory structure fragmentation, please remember your passphrase. You can say the passphrase if you feel you can no longer endure it, or you can choose not to." The tone contained an unsettling hint of mockery.
"The passphrase will appear in three seconds. Three, two, one."
"Nothing is true, everything is permitted."
"The passphrase will be repeated in one second."
"One."
"Nothing is true, everything is permitted."
"The test is about to begin. Please prepare yourself."
"The test will begin in five seconds. Five, four, three, two... two, one..."
"Be..." The voice stuttered.
"Error!" An alarm sounded.
"Correction... Data correction."
The metal chandelier seemed to be shaking.
Another gentle male synthesized voice sounded.
"Memory backup file not found. Test aborted. Have a pleasant rest."
...
"Hey! Wake up, Hales!"
Simon was shaken awake, so he opened his eyes. Skerry's smiling face was so close, almost kissing Simon's forehead.
"Get lost." Simon said weakly.
"Get up, let's go visit our friends. Don't sleep all the time, like a pig."
This was a phrase Wang Tianyu often said to Simon, but now it came from someone else's mouth.
They left the safe house and got into an off-road vehicle, driving along the main road. Looking out, golden shrubs on both sides stretched into continuous ribbons, and many abandoned houses were scattered across the plain, imbued with the aura of an old era, like a series of tombstones.
They arrived in front of the distant tall buildings. Upon closer inspection, they would find that these pillar-like buildings were actually formed by small apartment units pieced together, similar to the residential buildings underground in the Third Heaven. However, unlike the slums underground in the Third Heaven, which were arranged horizontally and vertically, tightly and orderly stacked, these tall buildings were like steel and concrete monsters, growing savagely towards the sky, with many floors directly protruding from the surface, standing horizontally in the air.
"We're at the dorms!" Skerry was very cheerful, "Oh, it's so good here!"
So these were the dorms, Simon thought, wondering which room he was in.
Taking the elevator, it sometimes went up, sometimes moved horizontally front, back, left, and right, like a pinball traveling through a network of elevators.
Simon spent a full ten minutes in the elevator, suspecting he was almost breaking through the atmosphere.
When they reached Sector Gamma, floor 320, the elevator display finally stopped moving.
They exited the elevator into a floor covered with glass panels. Sunlight shone directly through, and the air was like Colored Glaze.
There was no one around, as quiet as a phantom realm.
Simon exclaimed, "We live here?" His voice echoed and amplified, making him afraid to speak loudly.
"What are you thinking? This is the simulation room, we live next door."
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Thank you for following the story this far.
If you want to read the later chapters in advance, I've uploaded more chapters to Patreon.
You can find them here: [patreon.com/Greyhounds]