Chapter Twenty-Four: I’ve Got It in This Lifetime!
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【Ding! You have died. A wrong choice has led to a wrong ending...】
【Your life was a refreshing one!】
【In the past, whenever you encountered the darkness around you, you were always powerless to resist. Even if you staked your life, you could only crash into a pitch-black wall, unable to strike even a single spark.】
【But this time was different. Through your exquisite micromanagement, you seized the rare opportunity provided by the remnants of the rebel bandits to blow the situation wide open. You startled the high-and-mighty Imperial Secret Police—the lackeys of the God-Emperor—and then, by exploiting their insatiable greed, successfully spread the faint flames of rebellion throughout the entirety of Shaanxi!】
【Under the ferocious blaze ignited by these lackeys of the God-Emperor, no one in the Shaanxi government could withstand a single round...】
【The Shaanxi officialdom stumbled upon the Imperial Secret Police, and those greedy, monster-like officers were impossible to defeat, no matter how hard you tried!】
【You: Not a mere stumble!】
【As the saying goes, "Use the opponent's own methods to defeat them." Although you didn't know the Murong family’s "Great Shift of Heaven and Earth," you understood a thing or two about official infighting. Thus, through refined manipulation, you used the internal forces of the Ming Dynasty to destroy the entire Shaanxi administrative system. In one fell swoop, your record was perfect.】
【Although you ultimately paid the price with your life, you have no regrets.】
【Combat is exhilarating!】
【Ding! Rewards for this session are being calculated...】
Zhou Liang: Haha!
"What a guy, playing memes even when death is at the door!"
Zhou Liang’s mouth twitched.
Not to mention the act of hanging himself with a hemp rope to cosplay as the Chongzhen Emperor, let alone that final poem:
This poem, titled "Farewell to Yunjian," was the death poem of Xia Wanchun, a loyalist martyr who resisted the Qing in the early transition from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty.
Though Xia Wanchun died at only twelve, he was a quintessential loyal subject of the Ming. Even after Li Zicheng’s rebels toppled the Ming and the Qing army from the Northeast entered the pass, his family remained loyal to the Southern Ming until they were hunted down and slaughtered by the brutal Qing forces.
The lines, "Endless tears for the mountains and rivers, who says the world is wide," were his perfect summary of the Ming-Qing transition.
However, since he was not a famous historical figure like an emperor, those without some knowledge of Ming-Qing history would likely be unfamiliar with him or the story behind his final poem.
Clearly, "Zhou Liang" knew the story, as he adapted it masterfully. Compared to the original context, his usage added an even greater sense of irony:
Because "Zhou Liang" died at the hands of the Ming authorities, and while this timeline lacked the massacres of the invading Qing army, it featured the massacres of the God-Emperor as he exacted revenge on the world!
Compared to the Qing slaughter, the God-Emperor’s actions were "terror upon terror," killing more people and razing more cities than the Qing ever did. It unexpectedly complemented the shattered landscape Xia Wanchun experienced; the line "Endless tears for the mountains and rivers" fit seamlessly...
What’s even more absurd is that "Zhou Liang" never had to worry about the original author coming for royalties, because Xia Wanchun’s home was in the Suzhou and Yangzhou region, where the wealthy merchants and landlords frequently resisted taxes during the Chongzhen era—and were long since slaughtered by the God-Emperor during his vengeance...
A loyal Ming subject, killed by a Ming emperor, and then having his death poem adapted by an anti-Ming rebel—truly, there is no one else like him...
Zhou Liang shook his head, sighing:
"It’s all Chongzhen's fault... Wouldn't it have been better to just hang yourself on that old crooked-neck tree early on? Not only would that have helped the loyal subjects of the Ming leave their names in history, but it would have also earned you the beautiful reputation of 'The Son of Heaven guards the gate; the monarch dies for the state,' allowing later generations of filial descendants to mourn you, and perhaps even write a few sour poems if they felt inspired..."
"Now look at this mess. You didn't die; you became a god, slaughtering everywhere, leaving the loyalists of the Ming with nothing to praise you for..."
One can only say that dying at the right moment is a technical skill.
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"Enough, bring out the rewards already!"
【Ding! The reward for this session is: "The Spirit of the Sacrificed!"】
Zhou Liang: ?
"Wait, why is it this thing again?"
Zhou Liang looked bewildered:
"Didn't I already get this last time? I was waiting for some weird, quirky title as a reward..."
【Except for titles, all other rewards can be obtained repeatedly. Furthermore, simulation rewards are calculated based on the host's experiences during the simulation. Since you sacrificed your life to achieve your goals both this time and last, you have received the same reward twice in a row.】
"I see..."
Zhou Liang understood vaguely. Though he hadn't fully grasped the specific reward mechanism, he understood the phrase "rewards depend on the simulation plot." He had sacrificed his life twice, so he received "The Spirit of the Sacrificed" twice.
"Alright then, claim it!"
As soon as he spoke, a familiar crimson light surged into his soul from thin air.
The stacking of two "Spirits of the Sacrificed" made Zhou Liang’s soul, already solid and powerful, instantly stronger.
He even tried to pick something up. Previously, his soul could not touch material objects, but after two consecutive enhancements, he was now strong enough to lift a ceramic shard from the tea set he had shattered when drinking the poison!
Although it was a struggle, it was quite encouraging:
"At this rate... perhaps I don't need to overwrite the current reality with the simulation world. I could just single-handedly kill the God-Emperor and create my own perfect world with my own hands!"
He had only died twice, and he could already lift a shard with his soul. If he died a few hundred or a thousand more times, wouldn't he reach the pinnacle of primordial spirit, capable of moving mountains, filling seas, and plucking stars like the protagonists in those Xianxia novels?
When the time came to face the God-Emperor, he would certainly have a fighting chance...
Thinking this, without further ado, Zhou Liang immediately continued his simulation career:
"Continue!"
【Ding! Simulation detected. Would you like to return to the last life choice point to continue the side-line simulation, or return to the birth node to start over?】
Return to the last node, or start from scratch?
Zhou Liang frowned:
"The last node? Wasn't the last node when I gave him the idea to report it to the Imperial Secret Police? If I jump back there... there’s really nothing left to do, is there?"
By using the power of the Imperial Secret Police to wreck the entire Shaanxi officialdom, his record was already brilliant enough. Even under known conditions, it was unlikely he could achieve a better result.
After all, under the God-Emperor’s violent rule, the social hierarchy of the Ming Dynasty was already solidified. The upper class remained upper, and the lower remained lower. Even if a commoner achieved social mobility through the imperial examination, they would never touch the core of power.
What is the core of Ming power?
Naturally, it is the royal clans, the nobility, and the great families!
You, a lowly commoner, want to sit at the table and discuss politics with princes, dukes, and the great lords?
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On what basis? Because you are good at taking tests? Because you are a "small-town test-taking machine"? Because you are a self-abusing "Hengshui exam-crushing king"?
Don't be silly...
Just like the unlucky Administration Commissioner "Liu Yizhao" and the various prefects this time—Liu Yizhao and his ilk were not small-town test-takers; they were military warlords who followed the God-Emperor around, slaughtering cities and suppressing peasant uprisings.
With that background, if they hadn't been tied to the "unspeakable" rebel bandits by the Imperial Secret Police, these regional governors would never have fallen!
So, Zhou Liang could guess that if his simulated self gave up on reporting and focused solely on the imperial exams, he would likely never become a high official, and certainly wouldn't achieve the glorious feat of overturning the entire Shaanxi officialdom...
"Rather than wasting time, it’s better to start over. The range of choices will be much wider... however..."
Zhou Liang thought for a moment, then shook his head:
"However, since there is a path I haven't tried, I might as well give it a shot. Who knows, there might be a chance to defy fate... Besides, compared to defying fate immediately, I actually need more information about 'divine power' and the internal workings of the Ming court."
Having never seriously stepped into officialdom, Zhou Liang was blind to much of the information. For instance, the "increase in divine power" he discovered this time—with his current information, he couldn't explain it at all.
So, after much deliberation, Zhou Liang decided to honestly mix in officialdom, solving puzzles and broadening his knowledge in hopes of eventually overthrowing the God-Emperor’s rule...
"Then return to the previous life node!"
【Ding! Returning to the previous life node...】
【...】
【...After failing to report to the Xi'an Prefect and the Administration Commissioner, you, trapped in the darkness of reality, cannot help but feel lost about the future, unsure of what to do. You choose: (?) Please formulate your own strategy!】
If he doesn't report it to the Imperial Secret Police this time, what should he do?
After organizing his thoughts, Zhou Liang wrote down his strategy:
【You choose: (Endure for a moment to find peace, take a step back to see the vast sky... So what if the test papers were swapped and you didn't pass the provincial exam? Just go back and keep studying; the rebels are just trying to scare you. As long as you don't actively report them or provoke them, they won't actually do anything to you...
As the saying goes, "Third year to build the foundation, fourth year to get into a top university!" If you can't pass this year, just take it again! Of course, not the kind of "second attempt" that a certain failed art student made...
Of course, besides taking the imperial exams, your task is to try your best to explore various knowledge regarding "tyrannical divine power," in order to provide an information base for the next restart and clear the fog of war...)】
【Feeling a blur before your eyes as you hung yourself, you suddenly returned to the day before you reported to the Imperial Secret Police.】
【Thinking of how spectacularly you died before, you couldn't help but sigh... Then, you thought about how there were so many things in this life you hadn't experienced personally, and would it not be a waste of life if you didn't go see them?】
【Thus, you gave up the old path of being the "Master of Denunciation," and instead threw your remaining life into the script of a "small-town test-taking machine," looking forward to one day making something of yourself...】
【A small-town test-taker plus a Hengshui exam-crushing king—this life is set!】
……
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