At this moment, Song Ren was utterly stunned.
The upheaval had arrived as swiftly as a tornado.
One moment, he was pondering why all the people he delivered letters to were speaking in such a Riddler-like manner.
Now, the entire family had been shattered?
Every male member of the household except him had been thrown into prison?
And his mother had suffered a mental breakdown due to the soldiers' attacks and the family's sudden disaster?
"Don't worry, the game has only just begun."
"We must trust Mr. Chen!"
Despite Mr. Chen's many past transgressions, Song Renâwho had experienced immense joy in the previous game Unchartedâchose to place his faith in him once more.
When night fell, Song Ren controlled Ezio as he climbed to the tower window where his father was imprisoned and spoke with him.
However, what surprised Song Ren was that Ezio's father seemed to have anticipated this imprisonment all along.
He instructed Ezio to return home, where a hidden chamber contained evidence that could save themâevidence to be delivered to the Magistrate, Uberto.
That same overweight man who had once visited Ezio's home.
"So that's how it is! Everything is going according to plan!"
After the conversation ended, the quest information refreshed, and Song Ren's face lit up with sudden understanding.
Everything had unfolded as intendedâit was just a false alarm.
Chuckling to himself, Song Ren returned home, and in the game, Ezio unlocked the Eagle Vision skill, using clues to locate the hidden chamber.
Upon opening it, he discovered a box inside.
Within the box lay a letter and a set of Assassin's equipment.
A longsword, the Assassin's uniform, and throwing knivesâthough the hidden blade from the promotional trailer was missing.
"Wait, so Ezio's father was an Assassin too? An Assassin family!?" Seeing this, Song Ren had an epiphany.
This explained everything!
It all made sense now!
The next step would be rescuing his father and inheriting the family's Assassin legacy.
Passing the torch from Ezio's father to Ezio himself.
Perfectly logical!
To the tune of the Background Music from his earlier climb with his brother, Ezio equipped the Assassin's uniform and weapons from the box.
It had to be saidâclothes truly made the man.
Though Ezio had always been a handsome young man, his previous appearance had been more akin to a well-off delinquent.
But donning this Assassin's uniform instantly elevated his coolness factor by several notches.
Even his walk now carried an air of effortless swagger.
"So now I just need to deliver this evidence to that Uberto guy and rescue my family, right?"
Observing the quest objective, Song Ren spun in place a couple of times before setting off for the marked location to deliver the letter and clear his family's name.
Just as he was about to leave, two soldiers appeared at the manor gates, intent on killing Ezio for good.
"Finally, a proper weapon fight!"
Entering the combat scenario, Song Ren felt a flicker of excitement.
Though he'd already engaged in several brawls, they had all been fistfights.
Now, an entirely new weapon system had been unlocked.
Drawing the straight sword from his waist, Song Ren swung at the two Assassins before him.
Unlike the original version from his previous life, Chen Xu had made significant modifications to Assassin's Creed's combat.
The movements were far more fluid compared to the somewhat stiff combat of Assassin's Creed II, where players could only fight enemies one by one when outnumbered.
Of course, the full range of combat Skills hadn't been unlocked yet.
For instance, the Parry mechanic was still unavailable since Ezio hadn't repaired his hidden blade. Additionally, the kill streak system hadn't been introduced at this stage eitherâafter all, Ezio wasn't yet an Assassin.
Even so, the combination of dodge steps, Regular blocking, and combo attacks made the combat feel very satisfying to Song Ren.
It also solidified his belief that Assassin's Creed wasn't an overly difficult game.
And indeed, simply Clearing the Game wouldn't pose much of a challenge.
But the game featured a unique settingâthe synchronization rate.
The true difficulty lay in achieving perfect synchronization, which was where Assassin's Creed truly tested players.
Without much effort, Song Ren swiftly dispatched the two minor foes before him.
Throughout Florence, aside from Regular civilians, there were numerous hostile factions.
These weren't city guards but rather remnants of Vieri's family.
Before obtaining weapons, Song Ren had avoided these enemies at all costs. Now, armed with Assassin gear, he sought them out deliberately, charging into crowds.
After cutting down over a dozen enemies, Song Ren reached the quest marker and handed the letter to the portly Uberto.
Yet something felt offâthis Uberto seemed anything but trustworthy, his smile dripping with cunning.
His final remark, inviting Ezio to "sleep at his place" since his home was "quite spacious," felt particularly sinister.
The ensuing story confirmed Song Ren's suspicions.
The next day, Ezio blended into the crowd at the Piazza della Signoria, where Uberto was presiding over the trial.
Ezio's father proclaimed his innocence, declaring that the evidence lay within the letter Uberto had received.
But Uberto flatly denied ever receiving any such letterâclearly, he had betrayed Ezio and his father.
And so, at just 17 years old, Ezio could only watch as his father and brothers were hanged.
"Damn it! Theyâre really dead!?"
Watching the execution, Song Ren was utterly bewildering.
What happened to the happy family reunion?
The game had barely started, and three of Ezio's family members were already gone!?
But there was little time for lamentationâEzio was now being hunted down by soldiers. Worse still, during the cutscene, his sword was shattered, leaving Song Ren unarmed.
Fortunately, with the help of one of his father's thief friends, Song Ren narrowly escaped and found refuge at "Seeking Fragrant Roses," a brothel run by Paola, a relative of their housemaid.
"Great. Mr. Chen is starting to show his 'love' again!" Song Ren sighed, observing Ezio's family temporarily sheltered at the brothel.
Recalling their earlier conversations, every word had been a setup for tragedy!
After the warmth displayed in Uncharted, this new work Assassin's Creed had stabbed players in the heart without warning.
Despite being in the early game, the story had gone out of its way to showcase the family's closeness.
Climbing towers with his brother, fetching feathers for his pushoverâall just to twist the knife deeper later?
While it wasn't as soul-crushing as watching Arthur Morgan slowly wither away on that hillside in Red Dead Redemption, it still left a bitter aftertaste.
Sighing twice, Song Ren refocused on the game.
Paola, the madam who had taken them in, revealed that Ezio's father had once saved her life, and she owed him a debt.
Thus, she began teaching Ezio small tricks for blending in and hiding.
She also directed him to Leonardo da Vinci, who repaired the Assassin's hidden blade using a coded message.
From Paola, Ezio learned that Uberto would attend the unveiling of Verrocchio's latest work that evening at the Basilica of Santa Croce's cloister.
"So now I head to the Basilica of Santa Croce and stab that traitorous fatso?"
Reading the quest prompt, Song Ren took a deep breath.
Though the death of Ezio's family had hit him hard, he was eager for what came nextâespecially after recalling scenes from the Assassin's Creed promotional video.
After all, the game was called Assassin's Creed.
Stealth and assassination had to be core Gameplay elements.
Now, the real drama was about to begin.
Assassin's uniform? Check. Hidden blade? Check. All that remained was the kill.
Taking a deep breath, Song Ren guided Ezio as he pushed open the brothel's doors.
Thenâthe screen abruptly cut to black, shifting to the Animus interface with a notification:
[Trial content concluded. Stay Tuned for the official version!]
(End of Chapter) <