Chapter 864: Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted
The middle-aged assassin’s battle continued.
The white-clad assassin walked into the crowd of Templars as if no one else existed.
But he was like a phantom, passing straight through the Templars’ bodies without even stirring a ripple.
Those Templars paid him no heed, still roaring and howling as they charged at the middle-aged assassin surrounded in the crowd.
But just as the white-clad assassin’s figure brushed past the middle-aged assassin…
The middle-aged assassin seemed to see him.
His gaze was hidden beneath his hood, but from his brief pause and slightly puzzled expression, he had clearly spotted this white figure.
Confusion.
Bewilderment.
At that moment, a passage seemed to echo in his ears.
Many assassins, many voices, speaking together in unison.
“When others blindly seek the truth, remember—”
“Nothing is true.”
“When others are bound by morality or law, remember—”
“Everything is permitted.”
“We walk in the darkness.”
“But serve the light.”
“We are…”
“Assassins!”
This momentary hesitation created a fatal flaw in the middle-aged assassin’s defense. The Templar’s greatsword struck precisely at the weak point of his hidden blade.
“Clink!”
A crisp sound, and the hidden blade snapped.
The middle-aged assassin lost his balance and fell to the ground. The Templars immediately swarmed in, surrounding him with a forest of spears.
And the white-clad assassin’s figure had vanished completely.
The Templars dragged the middle-aged assassin onto a high platform. The bald commander, his face twisted with malice, fitted a noose around his neck.
But just then, the middle-aged assassin saw the white-clad assassin’s figure once more.
They stood on different wooden platforms, yet their movements were eerily identical.
The Templars also looked toward the white-clad assassin’s direction, but there was nothing there.
In the instant the noose tightened, the middle-aged assassin spun around!
His elbow slammed viciously into the commander’s right cheek, then he whipped the rope around, wrapping it tightly around the commander’s neck.
A leap into the air!
“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”
The noose tightened with a grating sound, but it wasn’t the middle-aged assassin being strangled—it was the Templar commander on the platform.
The nearby guards quickly cut the rope to save their commander, but the middle-aged assassin had already landed gracefully, free once more.
The middle-aged assassin stood up, calmly pulled his hood back on, and walked toward the camera.
The screen went black, and a massive logo appeared.
*Assassin’s Creed!*
…
…
This promotional video immediately sparked heated discussion among players!
A major reason was that the video was too long—a full five minutes.
Other games’ promotional videos were typically between one and three minutes. After all, CG was about “concentration being the essence of quality”—just enough to get the job done. Making it too long risked feeling drawn out.
But *Assassin’s Creed*’s new promotional CG, at five minutes, didn’t feel dragged out at all, because the content was incredibly rich.
Still, many players were baffled about what the CG actually meant.
“Whoa, the protagonist here is so cool! Feels even cooler than Bayek!”
“Yeah, Bayek was more like a berserker, right? This one’s a real assassin—kill a man ten steps away, leave no trace for a thousand miles; finish the deed and vanish, hiding both deed and fame!”
“Appearing and disappearing like a ghost, killing in one strike—man, that’s just awesome!”
“But the plot leaves me totally confused. What’s this supposed to mean?”
“Right? The white-clad assassin killed someone earlier, but then he turned into a phantom. Is he even real or not?”
“Poor handsome middle-aged guy got screwed over by him…”
“Could this *Assassin’s Creed* have a dual-protagonist mode? Can you switch freely?”
“Possible! Maybe there’s even a co-op mode?”
“…You guys are overthinking it. I get the feeling these two aren’t even from the same era.”
“And that earlier part was cool too—switching between modern and ancient, reality and virtual—super stylish.”
“I think that modern segment felt abrupt and unnecessary. It’s clearly an ancient story, so forcing in that part felt weird.”
“This trailer is so long, and I still don’t understand what story it’s telling…”
Many players were confused. From the trailer’s content, both the young white-clad assassin and the middle-aged assassin had plenty of screen time, but they were clearly two different people.
Many speculated: was this a dual-protagonist mode?
But judging from various clues, the middle-aged assassin saw the white-clad assassin as a phantom. Based on their clothing and surroundings, they didn’t seem to be from the same era.
Also, this was the first time *Assassin’s Creed*’s CG included modern elements, leaving many scratching their heads.
Still, this CG finally touched on the game’s theme: the Assassin’s Creed.
The CG mentioned the so-called creed in voiceover: “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
But it didn’t offer much explanation of what that phrase meant.
Regardless, this CG was cool enough—and that was enough!
*Assassin’s Creed: Origins*’ Egyptian setting added a lot of charm, but it had to be admitted that, by many players’ aesthetic standards, Bayek wasn’t a particularly cool protagonist.
In contrast, the two protagonists in this CG took “cool” to the extreme.
They didn’t have Bayek’s longbow, blunt weapons, or complex gear like spears—just hidden blades. But this close-quarters combat style perfectly fit the assassin identity, with an elegant beauty like dancing on a blade’s edge, captivating many players.
Countless players declared: Buy, buy, buy! Not buying means you’re not human!
Coolness is a lifelong pursuit. Just for this outfit, I’m buying it without hesitation!
…
In truth, this promotional video wasn’t a single one but three combined, drawn from *Assassin’s Creed: Identity*, *Assassin’s Creed 1*, and *Assassin’s Creed: Revelations*, with the creed introduction woven in between.
The protagonist wasn’t one person but three: Desmond, Altaïr, and Ezio.
Of course, the original protagonist of *Assassin’s Creed: Identity*’s trailer wasn’t Desmond—just an ordinary player—but his design was very close to Desmond’s. Chen Mo simply borrowed it, merging these three CGs into one to introduce the new *Assassin’s Creed* content.
And the plot of this CG deliberately blurred the timeline, creating suspense for players to puzzle over.
Through Altaïr’s white-clad image, it successfully linked the modern protagonist Desmond with Ezio from *Assassin’s Creed: Revelations*, crafting a brand-new promotional CG tailored for the new *Assassin’s Creed* content.
Even if players didn’t understand it now, it didn’t matter. Once they finished the related storylines of Altaïr and Ezio and looked back at this CG, they would definitely have an “aha!” moment.