<h4>Chapter 788: New Mission</h4>


    “How did it go?” Mark Reuss rubbed his hands as he looked at Zhang Heng with eagerness.


    Thetter swung the two Persian swords in his hands and nodded. “Not bad.”


    “I’m d you like it. I’m counting on you this time,” said Mark Reuss. “For the honor of Victor Arena, we must win the championship of this diatorial show.”


    “I will do my best.” Zhang Heng said.


    “Very well. I know I can always count on you.” Mark Reuss patted Zhang Heng’s shoulder with satisfaction, “Other than you; we also n to send Bach, Habitus, Carnero, Mulkazan, Paral, and Milo. All seven of you willpete with the diators from other schools. But of course, I ce most of my faith in you. Other than that, I have also asked Gaby to find out about the diators from other arenas and mark out the ones you need paying attention to. However, the name list won’te out until tomorrow. Oh, yes, I need you to attend to a dinner tonight.”


    Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows.


    “I know, I know, we had an agreement. But this time is different. The dinner will be held at the Dior Senate’s house. He is one of the most powerful people in the entire senate. The entire empire’s most influential people will be attending the dinner tonight, and that includes our new emperor. They want to know what the diators look like before the show. All the diators are required to attend this dinner. Later, I will get someone to get you a new set of clothes.”


    Mark Reuss turned and walked out of the house but stopped walking when he reached the door. He then paused and added, “You’d better use the remaining time to take a shower and spray some perfume on yourself. Believe me. It’s never a bad thing to make yourself popr in front of these people. What you are about to face is the most powerful group of people in Rome.”


    ...


    Zhang Heng’s ve girl was very diligent. Just as Mark Reuss left the house, she hurriedly headed to prepare items Zhang Heng needed for a good bath. But as soon as she opened the door with the wooden barrel in her arms, she could not help but yawn. And the next moment, the wooden barrel in her hand fell to the ground. Startled, she bent down to pick the barrel up, but she suddenly felt extremely sleepy. Unable to resist this drowsiness, she finally fell asleep on the ground while holding the wooden barrel.


    Zhang Heng then looked at Dadatis, who walked in from the door. Surprised to see him, he said, “Did you juste to see me in broad daylight?”


    “Don’t worry. I’m very careful. No one sees me,” said Dadatis. “You’ve kept to our previous agreement and earned the right to join the diatorial performance. I’m here to tell you your next goal.”


    “Hmm?”


    “If everything goes ording to n, you should receive an invitation to the dinner tonight. This is a rare opportunity for you. We need you to approach someone there and impress him if possible.”


    “Who is that person?”


    “Our new emperor, Commodus.”


    “So your target is the new Roman emperor?” Zhang Heng wasn’t too surprised when he heard the name. Perhaps he already knew that Commodus had been actually killed in an assassination. With Dadatis joining the diator school, many things had be self-exnatory.


    Commodus was probably the Roman emperor that liked diatorial battles the most. And he also had a weird habit—watching the fight from the stands didn’t seem enough for him. For him to fully enjoy the battle, he would descend into the battlefield and join the battle. Consequently, he died in a somewhat ironic way—death by strangtion in the bathtub by a diator.


    “Maybe, maybe not.” Dadatis’s answer was ambiguous.


    “You had better be honest with me. If my target is s Commodus, I am afraid I will quit the test,” Zhang Heng said.


    “Why?” Dadatis asked in a serious tone.


    “I may be a foreigner, but I am not stupid. I know the consequences of assassinating a Roman emperor.” Zhang Heng replied indifferently, “The conditions you offered aren’t good enough for me to take this risk.”


    Dadatis looked into Zhang Heng’s eyes, and after a while, he gave in. “Well, I can assure you that your target this time is not Commodus.”


    “Who is my target then?” Zhang Heng asked, “Are you still nning to hide it from me at this point?”


    This time, Dadatis hesitated for a long time before finally replying. “Altrus, Commodus’s most trusted advisor. He has royal blood flows in his body too. Before he met Commodus, he was a low-life in the city of Rome. And now, his fate is changedpletely. He and another young man named Clint are Commodus’s right-hand man, and they are inseparable from Commodus. He is most likely going to be the second most powerful person of the empire in the future.”


    “Why do you want to assassinate him?”


    “This is the oracle from Kreis. Our responsibility is only to execute it, not to ask why,” said Dadatis. “The n is simple. Altrus’s whereabouts have always been a secret. He knows that many people have be very jealous of him, and he’s paranoid at almost all times to prevent an assassination. Since he has to always execute Commodus’s order, Commodus bes the only person who knows his whereabouts.”


    “So you want me to get close to Commodus and get to know Altrus’s whereabouts?”


    “Yes, that’s right,” Dadatis said. “Commodus isn’t like the other emperors. He likes to interact withmoners, especially with the diators. You can use this fact to your advantage to get close to him... gradually get to know him better. Consider it as making a new friend.”


    Zhang Heng thought for a while before asking, “If Iplete this task, that would mean I pass the test, right? Can you promise me that you will not bother me again?”


    “Yes. If you get it done, you will be my sessor and be the Bnce de’s core member. As I said before, our management is actually very loose and free. Until the next oraclees, the members of the organization can do whatever they want.”


    “Until the next oracle arrives?” Zhang Heng asked rhetorically.


    Dadatis rolled his eyes and said, “I know what you are thinking. You don’t have to worry about it. You are not the only core member of the Bnce de. They will not necessarily call upon you to carry out the order. Although it is not a written rule, the same member will usually not perform two consecutive tasks under normal circumstances. However, I can’t guarantee that it will not happen in the future.”


    Zhang Heng wasn’t too worried about the future. Once hepleted his main quest, he would get to leave this dungeon. Even if the Bnce de were extremely powerful, they would not be able to cross over to the real world to hunt him down. Besides, Zhang Heng felt that Dadatis had given him his best to teach Zhang Heng everything he knew. It would not be ethical for him to ignore and abandon him. So, Zhang Heng considered it as a repayment for thebat knowledge that Dadatis taught him. He decided to help Bnce de to find the whereabouts of Altrus.


    After a while, Zhang Heng said, “Leave this matter to me.”