Chapter 1

The cramped room.

Smoke filled the air.

The computer screen began to play the ending CG of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14," and the speakers played "Traveler" by Mami Okada.

Holding a cheap cigarette that was becoming increasingly rare, Zhang Zhi put his feet on the computer desk, leaned back in his chair, and his exhausted face was filled with pride. He muttered, "Too easy, even the advanced difficulty of 'Chu Shi Biao' was a breeze. Anchi, can you make the difficulty a bit higher to give me a challenge?"

"Are you really willing to accept a higher difficulty challenge?"

A mysterious voice suddenly spoke, a female voice, soft and clear, as if it had not traveled through the air but directly entered Zhang Zhi's mind.

Having just completed the game without sleep, Zhang Zhi's brain was as exhausted as his body. He didn't bother to think about where the voice came from and simply replied in his mind, "Of course, no matter how difficult, the harder the better."

"Very well." The mysterious voice said, "Since you have chosen to accept, you agree to the challenge. Now, please choose the difficulty level."

As soon as the words were spoken, three green buttons appeared in front of Zhang Zhi, floating in the air. Above the buttons, from left to right, were three difficulty levels.

"Epical Difficulty."

"Infernal Difficulty."

"Apocalyptic Difficulty."

"Is this a dream?"

Zhang Zhi finally realized something was wrong, quickly put his feet down, sat up straight, and rubbed his eyes to look at the three green buttons floating in front of him. He soon realized he wasn't hallucinating; the buttons were indeed floating in front of him, moving with his head to always stay in front of him.

"Please choose, host." The mysterious voice spoke again, with an unyielding tone, "You have one minute to make a decision. If you do not choose, it will be considered a refusal of the challenge, and according to the rules, this system will eliminate you."

"Host? System? What does that mean?" Zhang Zhi was thoroughly confused.

"Please choose the difficulty level quickly." The mysterious voice urged, "You have only forty-two seconds left to make a decision."

Looking at the three floating buttons again, Zhang Zhi was skeptical and thought, "Am I dreaming?"

"Please make your choice quickly, host. You have only thirty-eight seconds left." The mysterious voice urged again, "If you do not choose, it will be considered a refusal of the challenge, and you will be eliminated immediately."

"It seems I really am dreaming."

Zhang Zhi concluded, thinking that if it was a dream, what was there to fear? So he no longer hesitated, raised his hand, and pressed the green button labeled "Apocalyptic Difficulty."

His finger touched the button, and it sank.

"Congratulations on your choice, host." The mysterious voice said, "Please accept the highest difficulty challenge from this system. The mission name is: 'The Last Han Flag.'"

"The Last Han Flag? What does that mean?"

As Zhang Zhi repeated the name, a gentle white light descended from the sky, enveloping his entire body, forcibly pulling his consciousness out of his body and dragging it into the darkness. His body slumped in the chair, losing all ability to move...

...

Dragged by the white light through the darkness for an unknown distance, a point of light suddenly appeared ahead, quickly growing larger and enveloping Zhang Zhi's consciousness. Then, a small, ancient city nestled by a mountain and water appeared below his consciousness. His consciousness continued to fly, directly to the southern gate of the city, where a short city tower stood, and a large red flag was fluttering in the wind.

Then, Zhang Zhi clearly saw that the large red flag was inscribed with a black character in clerical script—Han!

"Where am I? What place is this?"

Zhang Zhi shouted silently, looking around in fear. He immediately noticed that the surroundings were mostly mountains and forests, with only a few scattered fields in the small plains surrounded by mountains. The fields were planted with stunted rice, clearly malnourished and lacking fertilizer.

"This is the Wu Lian County of the Zangke Commandery in Shuhan." The mysterious voice explained again, "Located near Dushan County, Guizhou Province, in the 21st century."

"Guizhou Dushan? Wu Lian County of the Zangke Commandery in Shuhan?" Zhang Zhi was completely panicked, shouting silently, "How did I end up here?"

"Because you accepted the Apocalyptic Difficulty challenge, this system brought you here." The mysterious voice answered, then said, "Alright, host, please calm down. Let this system introduce the historical background of this mission to you."

"Host, you are now in the late Han and Three Kingdoms period, to be precise, the final Three Kingdoms period, as it is now 264 AD, the first year of the Xianxi era of Cao Wei, and the seventh year of the Jingyao era of Shuhan. The emperor of Shuhan, Liu Shan, surrendered to Cao Wei last winter, and the Shuhan general Jiang Wei was killed by Wei forces in the rebellion of Zhong Hui at the beginning of this year. However, because the southern regions of Shuhan are remote, they have not yet surrendered to Wei, so Wu Lian County in the southern region still flies the Han flag, and the land of China is nominally still in the Three Kingdoms period."

"But this flag will soon be the last Han flag flying on Chinese soil."

"Recently, after confirming that the emperor of Shuhan, Liu Shan, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Anle by Sima Zhao, the actual ruler of Wei, the Shuhan general Huo Yi, who oversees military and political affairs in the southern regions, has submitted a surrender document to Wei and ordered all southern regions to replace the Han flag with the Wei flag."

"According to the system's settings, after receiving Huo Yi's order, all sixty-two cities in the seven commanderies of the southern regions, except for this Wu Lian city, will choose to obey Huo Yi's order and replace the Han flag with the Wei flag..."

Hearing this, Zhang Zhi suddenly had a foreboding feeling and shouted silently like a pig being slaughtered, "Why did you bring me here?"

"To make you the lord of Wu Lian." The mysterious voice answered directly, "Refuse Huo Yi's surrender order, continue to uphold the Han flag, start from Wu Lian, reclaim the seven commanderies of the southern regions, then restore the entire territory of Shuhan, and finally conquer Central China and the Eastern Wu to unify the land."

"Start from this small city, reclaim the seven commanderies of the southern regions? Restore the entire territory of Shuhan? And then unify the land?!"

Zhang Zhi almost went mad, looking down at the sparsely populated small city and shouting, "Are you kidding me? Use this small city as a base to unify the land in this historical context? Do you think I failed history? Liu Shan surrendered, Jiang Wei is dead, even Huo Yi has surrendered. Sima Zhao of Cao Wei has already taken over most of China. This small city is surrounded by enemies, all of whom are powerful. You want me to turn the tide and unify the nation?"

"That's why this mission is classified as Apocalyptic Difficulty." The mysterious voice answered directly.

"I won't play!" Zhang Zhi quickly refused, saying, "Even a god couldn't complete this mission. I won't play; I want to go back."

"Once the mission is accepted, it cannot be abandoned." The mysterious voice said, "Also, this system reminds the host that this is not a game for entertainment; this is a穿越 (time travel). If you fail or surrender, the outcome will be only one—death."

"I won't time travel, I won't!" Zhang Zhi shouted in terror.

"The mission cannot be abandoned." The mysterious voice coldly refused, then said, "Please prepare, the mission is about to begin."

"No, no, I won't do it! I won't do it!"

No matter how Zhang Zhi shouted in refusal, it was useless. A sudden force pulled him, dragging his consciousness into the city, flying to the county office in the center of the city, passing through walls and houses, rushing into the back room, and then into a young man sleeping on a bed, directly entering his body...

"The mission has begun."