The confused Ezio followed Giovanni with Lu Xiao in surprise, watching helplessly as his father activated the hidden mechanism in the study and went down a staircase to the basement of the mansion.
After Giovanni lit the lights in the room, Ezio looked at the furnishings in the basement in astonishment. He had lived in the Auditore mansion in Florence for more than ten years and had never known that there was such a secret room underground.
Ignoring the surprised Ezio for the moment, Giovanni turned his gaze to Lu Xiao and glanced at the bloodstains on his assassin suit.
"Lu, you sneaked into the Patch family's market stronghold alone?"
"Um."
Lu Xiao took out the pages of the codex from his arms and handed them to Giovanni: "Fortunately, the person in charge of guarding is the rookie Vieri. If it were an experienced general, I might not be able to succeed so easily."
"Vieri?"
Ezio couldn't bear the loneliness and interjected from the side. He asked with a confused look: "What are you talking about? Sneaking into the stronghold? What are the red marks on Lu Xiao's body? These are not all blood, are they?
"
Giovanni raised his hand to stop his second son from asking questions: "Calm down, Ezio, I will explain it to you in detail later, please stay quiet for now."
Looking down at the pages of the manuscript that were still warm in his hand, Giovanni sighed softly: "I didn't expect that our understanding of the Creed is not as good as yours, a newcomer who just joined. You have worked hard for this adventure."
"However, I have something to ask you."
Giovanni looked at Lu Xiao seriously: "What do you think of Altaïr's doubts? Do you also think that there is an inseparable contradiction between the creed we have adhered to for many years and reality?"
"Hmm..." Lu Xiao scratched his head: "Mr. Giovanni, my opinion may be a bit deviant for you senior assassins."
"I believe that the most fundamental purpose of the Templars and the Assassins is to guide mankind to continue to progress. The only difference lies in the methods we and the Templars hope to take."
"Assassins pursue free will and innovative ideas. I call this style of behavior chaos, while Temple Knights advocate using power to control the hearts of the people. I call it order."
"Order and Chaos, this world cannot survive without either one."
"The lack of order will make us relive the chaos and immortal war disasters in ancient times, while the lack of chaos will also make our society lifeless and lack creativity."
"From this perspective, an overwhelming victory for either order or chaos is not a good thing for our world."
Giovanni frowned: "In other words, you think the Templars are necessary for this world, and you don't agree with the idea of total annihilation of them by some members of the Brotherhood?"
"Yes."
Lu Xiao solemnly expressed his opinion: "In the past thousands of years, my motherland has experienced many times when chaos overwhelmed order, and order counterattacked chaos."
"No matter which side has the absolute upper hand, it will trigger a new round of social upheaval, and peace will return only when the balance between the two sides is re-established."
"From the perspective of our Eastern Brotherhood, what this world needs is not pure order and chaos. What we seek is a subtle equilibrium state, which is exactly in line with the Eastern philosophical concept of 'golden mean'."
Giovanni lowered his head and pondered for a while, and finally breathed out and said: "I understand. Although I still cannot fully accept the ideas of the Eastern Brotherhood, I will try to have a good discussion with Mario."
"Perhaps Altaïr also has similar views to you, so he left doubts and reflections on Assassin's Creed in the code."
"Unfortunately, until we collect all the manuscripts, we will not be able to get a glimpse of the full concept he comprehended during his great enlightenment in his later years."
Lu Xiao smiled and pointed at the page of the manuscript in Giovanni's hand: "Isn't there just another page here? It seems that this page also contains mostly written records, maybe there will be some important information."
Giovanni finally smiled: "That's right. Thank you for your hard work tonight. For your personal safety, it is best to seek assistance from other brotherhood members before taking action in the future."
Glancing at Ezio who was almost unable to hold back, Giovanni said with a smile: "You go and rest first. I still have something to say to Ezio. This kid seems like he can't wait any longer."
…
When he was young, Ezio was reckless and dissolute. He had not experienced many experiences and was still very immature.
Lu Xiao was not interested in the conversation between Auditore and his son. He could probably guess what Giovanni planned to say to Ezio, and even Ezio's possible reaction.
Returning to his room, Lu Xiao changed out of the blood-stained assassin uniform and handed the blood-stained clothes to a middle-aged maid named Annetta to wash alone.
Annetta is also a member of the Assassin Brotherhood. She is the sister of Paola, the leader of the Florentine courtesan. She and Paola were in danger of being imprisoned because of an accusation. They survived thanks to Giovanni's rescue.
In order to repay her kindness, Annetta took the initiative to stay as a maid in the Auditore family, handling some shady items for the assassins in the family.
After taking care of a series of chores, Lu Xiao calmed down and checked the random task rewards released by the system.
"System, what is the principle of triggering random tasks? Will prompts be given only after they are completed unintentionally?"
"No, random tasks may also be released before the host takes action. As described in the direct meaning, everything is random."
"oh?"
Lu Xiao asked playfully: "In other words, the rewards are also random?"
"Yes, the reward quality will also fluctuate depending on the difficulty of the random mission."
Looking at the remaining lottery opportunity in the system panel that was above the outstanding level in this world, Lu Xiao decided to use it now.
"System, start the lottery wheel."
According to Lu Xiao's observation, the size of each square on the lottery wheel emerging from the void is the same, and there is no one who has a higher chance of winning and who has a lower chance of winning.
The lottery content includes passive and active skills, weapons and armor, medicines and props classified as miscellaneous items. There is no thank you for your patronage. It is guaranteed as the system says.
As the turntable rotated at a speed that even a clairvoyant eye could hardly catch, Lu Xiao closed her eyes and waited silently for a few seconds before speaking again.
"stop!"
The turntable slowly decelerated under Lu Xiao's command, and the pointer passed through skills such as underwater breathing, adrenaline, and primary healing potions, and finally stopped at a piece of excellent quality weaponry.
"Congratulations to the host, you have won a pair of leather boots (boot blades)."
"Boot blade?"
Lu Xiao immediately took out the prize from the prize collection space.
These were a pair of ordinary-looking leather boots, but after reading the system description, Lu Xiao's face showed a look of surprise.
"Isn't this one of the unique pocket weapons of the Eastern Assassin Brotherhood?"
The Boot Blade is an improved product of the Eastern Assassin Brotherhood on how to use the Hidden Blade. Using the same principle as the Hidden Blade, the blade can be ejected from the special leather boots to attack the enemy unexpectedly.
"Qiang!"
After putting on the boots, Lu Xiao conducted some tests indoors with great interest.
The blade hidden in the midsole of the boot sole will not have any impact on the wearer's daily walking. It will only be ejected to injure the enemy by the user triggering the pressure mechanism when necessary.
"The question now is, how do I share this sudden thing with the Italian fraternity?"