Chapter 867: Many Questions
That’s right, it was a modern building’s ceiling.
A blonde girl in a white lab coat leaned in with some concern and asked, “Are you okay?”
Old Song sat up abruptly, gasping for fresh air like a drowning man.
To be precise, it wasn’t Old Song, but someone else.
The moment the scene appeared, Old Song really had the illusion of “Did I just time travel?” because everything around him was completely modern, and the scene’s detail was extremely high.
However, as he sat up and the game’s perspective shifted, Old Song finally understood what was going on.
Desmond, wearing a white coat, sat up from the Animus machine. Clearly, Old Song had been controlling him just moments before.
But why, in *Assassin’s Creed*, had he jumped to the modern day? This was a question that baffled Old Song immensely.
Soon, though, the plot explained it.
The character Old Song played in the game was named Desmond, and the two people in white lab coats in front of him were affiliated with Abstergo. They had kidnapped Desmond and were conducting an experiment.
On the surface, Desmond was just a bartender, but in reality, he carried the bloodline of an Assassin. These lab coats needed to use Desmond’s genetic information to travel to the past, back to his ancestors, to find some information.
To be precise, it wasn’t time travel, but a reenactment of ancestral memories. The doctor in the white lab coat even took the time to explain the principle of the Animus to Old Song—reading genetic memories.
However, most of the ancestor’s memories were locked. When Desmond entered without being “ready,” he would be kicked out of that memory. So Desmond had to start with more stable memories first, and by continuously achieving synchronization, he could unlock new memories and obtain the information he needed.
Clearly, Desmond had been kidnapped. He was just an ordinary person, powerless to escape even if he wanted to, so he had no choice but to obediently enter the Animus.
After that came a tutorial segment, the “Consciousness Control System” tutorial.
Desmond entered the Animus and became the white-robed Assassin, then learned Assassin techniques, including stealth, assassination, combat, hiding, blending into crowds, and so on.
All the tutorials were conducted within the Animus interface. Although this kind of teaching seemed a bit stiff, after being wrapped in the Animus’s packaging, it unexpectedly fit the plot setting perfectly. After all, Desmond’s current state was very similar to Old Song’s—both were essentially “playing a game.”
“I see, no wonder the promotional CG had a modern person in it. That must be the main character, right?”
“They made a whole modern storyline just for the Animus? Classy.”
“So that explains all those bugs earlier. They were really effects made to show the Animus’s unstable condition, huh?”
“It’s like a two-layer story. First you play as Desmond, then Desmond plays as the ancient Assassin? Neat.”
Because Old Song had played *Assassin’s Creed: Origins* first, and Chen Mo’s version didn’t have a modern storyline yet, seeing the modern plot in *Assassin’s Creed: Revelations* initially left Old Song a bit confused.
But thinking about it carefully, it actually made sense. The most obvious advantage was that it naturally explained some of the game’s basic settings, like what the Animus was, how it worked, synchronization rates, consciousness control guidance, and so on.
After completing the synchronization and finishing the Consciousness Control System tutorial, Desmond entered his ancestor’s memory again, and Old Song was essentially experiencing that memory as Desmond.
This was an Assassin named Altaïr, the white-robed Assassin from the promotional CG.
In the earliest mission on the memory timeline, Altaïr acted alongside two other Assassins, but his actions were questioned by one of them because he killed an innocent person, exposing himself to the Templars.
Altaïr kept emphasizing the Assassin’s Creed: “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” But the other Assassin retorted: Assassins must not kill innocents, must not expose themselves, and must not endanger the Brotherhood. Clearly, Altaïr wasn’t listening at all.
In the end, because of Altaïr’s recklessness, the mission failed. Not only that, but the Templars pursued them all the way to the Assassin headquarters in Masyaf, leading to a chaotic battle. Although the Assassins ultimately won, the Assassin Mentor couldn’t tolerate Altaïr’s actions and stabbed him fiercely with a dagger.
This was the first chapter of the ancient storyline, essentially a tutorial chapter.
Besides familiarizing players with the controls, this opening scene immediately raised a key question.
What exactly is the Assassin’s Creed?
The answer had already been given in the promotional CG: “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” But if everything was allowed, why was the Mentor so furious when Altaïr killed that innocent old man?
Clearly, many players, when first hearing “Nothing is true, everything is permitted,” fell into the same misunderstanding as Altaïr, thinking the Assassin’s code meant they could do whatever they wanted.
But in the first act, the plot directly refuted that idea, essentially using the characters’ actions in the story to prove that viewpoint wrong.
After that, the modern and ancient storylines progressed in tandem.
Desmond realized he seemed to have been caught up in a conspiracy. He was originally a member of the modern Assassin organization, living on a “farm,” but he grew tired of that isolated life and escaped, only to be found by Abstergo because of his motorcycle license.
Desmond thought it was all absurd. Abstergo was supposedly just a pharmaceutical company—how could they find him and kidnap him just based on a motorcycle license?
Clearly, this Abstergo company was definitely not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
…
Altaïr didn’t die. The Mentor gave him a chance at a new life.
Altaïr was confused and asked, “Isn’t the Assassin’s Creed ‘Nothing is true, everything is permitted’?”
The Mentor rebuked him: “You don’t understand the true meaning of those words, child! They are not a license to act as you please. They are knowledge, a guide for reason.”
The Mentor stripped Altaïr of his rank and equipment, making him rejoin the Assassin order as a novice, starting everything from scratch.
In Masyaf, Altaïr was ordered to investigate a traitor. After completing the mission, the Assassin Mentor gave him a list with nine names, all belonging to the Templars. Altaïr had to assassinate these nine people to complete the Mentor’s task.
Old Song didn’t rush to advance the plot. Instead, he first took a good look at the scenery in Masyaf.
The Mentor’s room, the high platform for the Leap of Faith, the surrounding villages…
Masyaf continued the high standard set by *Assassin’s Creed: Origins*. In the village at the foot of the mountain, people were busy with their own affairs, and Assassins were leaving Masyaf one after another to carry out missions elsewhere.
Everything felt so real, like history that had truly existed.
Old Song was a bit puzzled. Clearly, the story in the plot CG should have taken place in Masyaf. The high platform the middle-aged Assassin jumped from was obviously where Altaïr performed his Leap of Faith.
But why was Masyaf occupied by a group of Templars back then?
Or was this storyline, as some people said, set in a different timeline?