Ji Zhao did not look at the computer screen. He lowered his voice and kept it as level as he could. "Who are you?"
"I'm the same as you." The white-haired man lifted his chin slightly. "Or rather, I'm your senior. I was the player of the last game... To explain it properly, even an hour might not be enough. I would still advise you to finish this game first."
He paused, then went on. "You went off to the hospital partway through and then wandered about outside, so you missed the most important stretch of development time. This save probably isn't walking out of Anchun County tonight. Even so, he can still do some pathfinding, some 'observing' — and that may well bear on how your true self walks out of Anchun County on this night... Don't grieve over it. We will have time enough between us to talk and make everything clear. You should spend your time on things of greater worth."
"Of course, if you insist on talking now, that is fine too. It makes no difference to me."
Ji Zhao's gaze rested on him. That phrase — how your true self walks out of Anchun County on this night — had already given away a great deal, and at this point there was no sense in weighing whether the man was lying to him. He turned back decisively and sat down at the computer.
"It doesn't matter if he dies?"
"Mn, it doesn't matter. Or rather, only once he dies can you 'start over'... Do you understand? You are the real Ji Zhao."
"We can talk while I play."
"If time were short, then putting the kettle on while you wash the cups would indeed be the sensible choice. But as I said, we have time enough ahead of us... Ji Zhao, focus your attention. Remember every street and the position of every Black Cavalry bandit. This bears on more than your own life."
Ji Zhao sobered at that and concentrated. It was night in the game now and everything around was pitch black, and Ji Zhao, being the protagonist, possessed the mysterious ability to go without sleep: he stood in the courtyard in the dead of night, waiting for Ji Zhao's next command.
"You were unconscious a long while." The white-haired man's voice was low. "A good many story scenes went by in the game. I arrived late and saw only the last part: that Han Yi turned traitor and let the Black Cavalry army in. The Ji Zhao in the game does not know it yet, though... Barring surprises, he is about to."
As though to bear out the white-haired man's words, the picture shook.
【Ji Zhao: "Wh... what was that sound?!"】
— By this point Ji Zhao had voice acting, and needless to say, it was the voice of Ji Zhao as a youth.
Ji Zhao hurried out of the courtyard, only to see, at the far end of the street, a band of men filing in one after another — weapons in hand, dressed as roving bandits, black cloth bound about their arms. Who could they be but the Black Cavalry?
At the same moment a deep, muffled bell rang out across the night sky... and in an instant the whole of Anchun County broke into chaos.
【Ji Zhao: "The city has fallen — how could this be?!"】
The Ji Zhao on screen paced two anxious circles on the spot before it suddenly came to him.
【Ji Zhao: "I am the only man in this household... I must stay calm. First find Second Sister, then see if there is any way to find Eldest Sister."】
Ji Zhao headed for the room of Ji Tan, whom he had laid eyes on exactly once at the start of the game. But when he pushed the door open, Ji Tan was lying on the floor with a dagger buried in her chest and blood spread across the ground beneath her.
【Ji Zhao: "Second Sister...!!"】
Ji Zhao rushed forward and lifted Ji Tan up.
【Ji Zhao: "...She isn't breathing. How could this...?!"】
With that, and never mind what hour it was, he buried his head and wept bitterly — and this weeping truly did go on for a long while. Had the Ji Zhao outside known the scene would take this long, he would certainly have seized the time to exchange a few words with the white-haired man beside him.
After a very long stretch, Ji Zhao finally stood up.
【Ji Zhao: "Second Sister, I will avenge you, I swear it!"】
As the words fell, Ji Zhao suddenly noticed a sheet of letter paper left on the table. He stepped over quickly and picked it up. It was in Ji Tan's hand.
【"I have read the heavens by night. The Qi Dipper flickers and the Lianzhe wavers; I fear the hope of life is faint, and that even were I to live, I would surely suffer humiliation upon humiliation... More words serve nothing. If you see this letter, do not grieve for me."】
【Ji Zhao: "She took her own life...? Why would she do this..."】
Never mind the Ji Zhao inside — even the Ji Zhao outside was badly shaken.
What became of young women after a city fell hardly needed spelling out. Many a commander on the defending side would cut down his own wife and daughters as the walls broke, to spare them the dishonor, and there was no shortage of women of fierce virtue who ended their own lives when the moment came, let alone those who did the same afterward in utter despair. But someone who did it before anyone had even arrived... that was a first.
...
At this point in the story the picture cut abruptly to the city gate, where a burly man close to seven chi tall walked in with a mace in his left hand and a whip in his right, a man in a blue-green robe following at his side... Needless to say, this was the Whip-and-Mace Fiend Liu Wei, and Han Yi, eldest son of the Han family.
【Han Yi: "Commander Liu seems to dislike me a great deal?"】
【Liu Wei: "Not 'seems.'"】
【"Commander Liu is a forthright man indeed, to say such a thing aloud... Forgive this Han for asking why. I did spare the commander a great many dead brothers."】
【"You know perfectly well."】
【"Heh heh... Commander Liu, the Duke of Sacred Might carries the great momentum of the age; all that stands between him and success is a little of the people's hearts. This Han has come to submit in all sincerity. The commander should not, for a moment's satisfaction, do what grieves his own and gladdens his enemies."】
【"I know. Someone gave orders about that... I have something to ask you."】
【"Please speak, Commander Liu."】
【"You should have a younger brother named Han Shou."】
【"...How does the commander know of this?"】
【"I heard it from the strategist. That Han Shou is a man our strategist has his eye on, and he gave express instructions: if Anchun were taken, this man's life was to be spared without fail... Where is he?"】
【"..."】
【"Why have you gone quiet?"】
【"That is a long story, Commander Liu... Barring surprises, that brother of mine is most likely dead by now."】
【"Dead? Who killed him?"】
【"I will not hide it from the commander... it was this Han."】
【"Why kill him?"】
【"Heh. The commander is no child of three; why ask such a thing? For what other reason would I kill him?"】
【"He is your brother, and you killed him?"】
【"It is precisely because he is my brother that I killed him."】
【"Did you see him die with your own eyes?"】
【"That I did not. But he was locked up in the county prison, and I doubt he could have fought off the men I sent."】
【"Take me to him. Alive or dead, I must give the strategist an account."】
TL Note: Seven chi — roughly six feet by the measure of the day; a man of unusual size, not merely a tall one.