mud falling painting beam empty

Chapter 1127: United Front

The shouting and killing outside the stone chamber lasted all night. Zhao Wuji leaned against the cold stone wall, listening to the screams and roars of the gluttons in the distance, his fingers tapping his knees unconsciously. Tovar had already curled up in the corner and fell asleep, snoring like thunder.

"System, what time is it now?" Zhao Wuji asked in his heart.

"The first wave of Taotie attacks is about to end, and the host will be taken out in five minutes." The mechanical voice replied, "Please prepare for the next dialogue scene on the city wall."

Zhao Wuji rubbed his temple. According to the plot, he and Tovar would be taken to the city wall, witness the soldiers cleaning up the battlefield, and then have a conversation with Lin Mei about Taotie. The problem is - he can't remember the specific lines.

The iron gate suddenly opened, and two soldiers covered in blood stood at the door.

"Come out! General Lin wants to see you."

Zhao Wuji kicked Tovar awake and followed the soldiers through the dark passage. The closer they got to the city wall, the stronger the smell of blood became. When they finally climbed the city wall, the sun had just risen, dyeing the devastated battlefield golden.

The battlements were splattered with dark red blood, and several soldiers were mopping the ground. In the distance, the female soldiers of the Crane Army lined up and neatly arranged the bodies of their fallen companions. Zhao Wuji saw a body being carried over, with half of its face missing, and his stomach suddenly churned.

“Barbarians.”

Lin Mei's voice came from behind. Zhao Wuji turned around and found that her blue armor was full of scratches and her left arm was tied with a bloody bandage, but her eyes were still as sharp as a knife.

“Now, tell me who you are.” She said coldly, “Ordinary merchants don’t know the name of Taotie.”

Zhao Wuji took a deep breath and prepared to recite the lines, but suddenly got stuck. Damn, what was the first line? Was it "We were just passing by" or "We heard the legend"?
"Uh, this," he stammered, cold sweat oozing from his forehead.

A sharp pain spread from his temple, Zhao Wuji grimaced in pain. Lin Mei frowned and put her hand on the hilt of the sword.

"We...we are here to look for Eastern black gunpowder!" he blurted out, a line that would only appear a few minutes later in the script.

Lin Mei's eyes widened slightly, and the soldiers around her immediately raised their weapons and pointed them at them.

"For leaking key plot points in advance, your stay will be extended by 3000 minutes as punishment." The system announced coldly.

Zhao Wuji felt dizzy, his knees weakened and he almost fell to his knees. Tovar looked at him in horror: "William, what are you talking about? We are not here-"

"Shut up, Tovar!" Zhao Wuji interrupted, then realized that this was not a line in the script. It was over, he was going to be punished again.

But the system did not respond this time. It seemed that only key plot points would trigger punishment. This made Zhao Wuji feel a little relieved.

Lin Mei sneered: "As expected. Take them to see my master."

On the way to the command room, Zhao Wuji tried to recall the next scene. According to the plot, they would meet the Palace Marshal, and then Tovar would try to escape, triggering a series of events?

In the command room, the white-haired commander was studying a map. When he saw them coming in, he raised his head with a sharp gaze.

"Master, they admitted that they came to steal gunpowder." Lin Mei reported.

The commander approached slowly, suddenly reached out and grabbed Zhao Wuji's wrist, and turned over his palm.

“Your hands don’t look like those of a merchant.” The old man said solemnly, “There are sword calluses and traces of gunpowder on them.”

Zhao Wuji then noticed that his hands were indeed covered with calluses and scars, which were obviously left by years of holding the sword. The sense of time travel hit him again.

“We were soldiers once,” he answered, following the lines from memory, “but now we are just mercenaries, fighting to survive, fighting to eat.”

The palace commander nodded thoughtfully and was about to speak when Tovar suddenly pushed aside the soldiers beside him and rushed towards the door.

"Stop him!" Lin Mei shouted.

Zhao Wuji was stunned - this is not right! According to the script, he should have a conversation with the Palace Marshal about Taotie first, and then Tovar would run away. Now everything is messed up!
"Real world reasons? Or is it the butterfly effect?"

Two soldiers rushed towards Tovar, but he dodged flexibly. Seeing Tovar about to rush out of the door, Zhao Wuji suddenly had an idea and shouted: "Tovar, don't run! They can help us deal with the Taotie!"

Everyone was stunned, including Torvald. This was not a line in the script, but it did not seem to trigger a system warning.

"Can the real world reverse the script?"

The commander and Lin Mei exchanged glances.

"Take them to the walls," the commander ordered at last, "and show them what we are up against."

In the following days, Zhao Wuji was allowed limited activities on the Great Wall. He followed the main plot points carefully, but also made some small changes in insignificant details. For example, he gave nicknames to patrolling soldiers, or called Taotie "green cutie" - the system did not respond to these.

"I guess the system thinks I have successfully integrated into this world?"

On the evening of the third day, when the setting sun dyed the Great Wall blood-red, the horn sounded again.

"Taotie is coming again! Everyone be on alert!"

Zhao Wuji was taken to the main city wall and Lin Mei threw him a bow.

"You can shoot an arrow," she said coldly, "prove your worth."

This is an important scene in the script - William uses his superb archery skills to shoot a Taotie's eye and wins the respect of the Shadowless Guards.

Zhao Wuji took the bow, his palms sweating. He had touched the bow several times in other scripts, but his memory was so messed up that he didn't know any formal archery skills.

"System, what should I do?" he asked anxiously.

"Host, please rest assured. The system will assist you in completing the key actions." The mechanical voice replied, "But the lines must be accurate."

The first wave of Taotie had already rushed to the city wall, and they piled up like ants, trying to climb up the wall. The female warriors of the Crane Army jumped down with spears in hand, stabbing at the monsters like blue lightning.

"Shoot it!" Lin Mei shouted.

Zhao Wuji drew his bow and felt a strange force guiding his arm. The arrow flew out of the bowstring and accurately shot into the eye of a glutton. The monster screamed and fell off the city wall.

"Good archery skills!" a soldier exclaimed. Zhao Wuji breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say the next line, but suddenly he saw a Taotie breaking through the line of defense and pouncing on a lone Crane Army soldier.

"Be careful!" he yelled as he rushed over, completely forgetting the script.

“Warning! Off script!”

The severe pain came again, and Zhao Wuji stumbled and bumped into the Crane Army soldier. The two fell to the ground together, narrowly avoiding the Taotie's claws. Lin Mei arrived in time and cut off the monster's head with a sword.

"What are you doing?" she demanded sharply.

Zhao Wuji was in so much pain that he couldn't speak and could only point at his temple. Lin Mei's expression changed from anger to confusion.

“You have a headache?”

This was not a dialogue in the script, but the system did not punish him. Zhao Wuji suddenly realized that as long as improvisation did not change the key plot direction, it would not be punished in this real world.

"Yes, it's an old problem." He said, and then quickly got back on track, "Your swordsmanship is very powerful."

Lin Mei was stunned for a moment, as if waiting for something. Zhao Wuji then remembered that he had missed a key line.

"Well, I mean, I've never seen a fighter like you," he hastened to add.

Lin Mei's expression softened a bit: "Just focus on fighting."

In the following battle, Zhao Wuji tried to act according to the plot in his memory, but he still made mistakes frequently. He turned right when he should have turned left, he was too talkative when he should have been silent, and he retreated when he should have charged. Every time he deviated from a key point, the system would give him a small penalty, making his movements even more clumsy.

The worst part was the magnet arrow part. According to the script, he should have shot the Taotie with a special magnet arrow to create an attack opportunity for Lin Mei.

"Are you ready?" Lin Mei asked, standing on the edge of the city wall with a sword in hand.

Zhao Wuji nodded and drew his bow. Just as he released the bowstring, a soldier accidentally hit his arm. The arrow flew out crookedly - hitting a bear soldier's buttocks.

"Ah!" the sturdy man screamed, and the magnetic arrow was firmly stuck on his iron hip armor.

To make matters worse, there happened to be a giant magnet used for maintenance nearby. With a loud bang, the poor bear soldier was sucked towards the magnet, sliding across the city wall like a human cannonball, knocking away three Taotie along the way, and finally stuck heavily to the magnet.

Everyone was stunned, including Taotie.

"Is this a new tactic?" an Eagle Army soldier asked in a low voice.

Zhao Wuji opened his mouth wide, not knowing how to explain. Unexpectedly, the system did not punish him this time.

Lin Mei looked at the groaning Bear Army soldier hanging on the magnet, then looked at Zhao Wuji, and the corner of her mouth twitched suspiciously.

“Keep shooting,” she ordered, with a hint of amusement in her voice, “but this time aim at the Taotie.”

After the battle, Zhao Wuji leans exhausted against the city wall. His "performance" is a disaster, but strangely, the main plot points seem to be barely completed.

"System, does this count as passing?" he asked in his mind.

"The key plot has been achieved, and the deviation in details is acceptable." The system replied, "But warning: The host has triggered five deviation penalties today, and the total mission time has been extended by 2000 hours."

Zhao Wuji sighed. At this time, Lin Mei came over and handed him a glass of water.

"Your performance today was very special," she said, her tone no longer so cold, "but it really helped a lot."

Zhao Wuji almost choked on the water. This was definitely not the line in the original script! But the system remained silent.

"Uh, thanks?" he responded tentatively.

Lin Mei looked at the smoke and dust that was gradually dissipating in the distance and suddenly asked, "Are there monsters like Taotie in your hometown?"

This is a dangerous question. In the original script, they did have a similar conversation, but it happened in a later scene. Zhao Wuji hesitated whether to answer it.

"Tell me, this is not the key plot." The system unexpectedly let it go, probably because of the white gloves.

“There are no Taotie,” he said softly, “but we have monsters of our own. Greed, war, disease... only they have no scales or fangs.”

Lin Mei nodded thoughtfully: "Maybe one day, you can tell me more about your hometown."

She turned and left, her blue cape fluttering in the wind. Zhao Wuji looked at her back and suddenly realized a fact - he began to enjoy this role.

That night, Zhao Wuji tossed and turned in the simple barracks assigned to them. Tovar was already snoring loudly, but he couldn't fall asleep.

"System, what will happen if I fail to complete the task?" he asked in a low voice.

"The host will stay in this world forever." The system replied, "But please rest assured, according to the current progress, it is estimated that all filming will be completed in another 37 days and 8 hours."

"Filming? For whom? Paid reading?" Zhao Wuji smiled bitterly. It all felt so real - the smell of blood, the pain, the exhaustion, and Lin Mei's sharp eyes. How could it be "filming"?
He walked to the basin in the corner and looked at the water in the faint moonlight. The face in the reflection was indeed Matt Damon's, but the eyes were his own.

“Who am I? A protagonist without a salary?”

The water rippled suddenly, and the reflection distorted for a moment. He seemed to see his face transformed into Matt Damon's, smiling at him.

Zhao Wuji stepped back suddenly, kicking the basin over and spilling water all over the floor.

"What's the matter?" Tovar asked dazedly.

"Nothing. I just had a nightmare." Zhao Wuji lay back on the floor, his heart pounding like thunder.

Tomorrow will be a more important plot - they are going to Bianliang to save the emperor. According to the script, the palace commander will be sacrificed, and Lin Mei will become the new commander. And he must play this scene perfectly, without making any mistakes, otherwise he will not have 10.

Outside the window, a blood moon hung high in the sky. The roar of Taotie came from afar, echoing over the Great Wall for a long time.