This Game Is Too Real

This will be an expedition spanning two hundred years of space and time, and their opponents are souls who, like them, have already died.

They, frozen in this moment, are destined to see neither the outcome of this expedition nor will anyone remember the choices they made in their final seconds.

However, even so, this expedition is not without meaning.

Just as Dr. Wu said, they cannot change what has already happened.

But they can still decide what future generations, opening the coffin, will see and discover from this dark and cold box.

That will determine the future they are heading towards.

This is the meaning.

Facing an inevitable death, they made choices completely different from those aboard the Missile cruiser of Gemini—

And what they chose to leave behind is hope.

As for the future after that.

Someone else will see it for them.

...

Zhao Tianhe is a career officer, possessing neither the talent for speeches nor the eloquence for persuasion.

He thought he would need some time to convince his comrades to accept reality and face death, but reality proved he underestimated them.

When they learned they are dead or close to dying, their reactions were unusually calm, not even as excited as when they first learned the Missile cruiser of Gemini was sunk by them.

"So this is how it is."

"Haha... Didn't expect I'm already dead."

"But didn't expect the Missile cruiser of Gemini fired at us before we did."

"How to say, maybe it's karma haha."

"How can karma come first... But I indeed feel no guilt, just relieved that we ended together."

In the bar on the lower deck, countless people gathered for their last drink here.

According to Dr. Wu, no matter how much they drink, even if they die here, everything will return to normal when space-time resets, leaving only the final memories.

"I still can't accept it..."

With arms crossed, Xiao Yong stood at the bar's entrance, shaking his head at those drinking, unable to understand, while a colleague hooked his shoulder, smiling and patting his arm.

"Think positively, buddy, do you want to carry regrets down there?"

Xiao Yong looked at him incomprehensibly, even more baffled by the carefree look on his face.

"I have no regrets about my death... But I want to ask why we don't upload our minds?"

The colleague shrugged.

"It's too late, didn't you hear the people from department five say? Those who didn't hear the explosion are already dead, like you and me."

Xiao Yong still wore an unacceptable expression, trying to argue.

"Aren't there 227 people left? They should be enough."

Just at this moment, Wu Xinghuan, drunkenly, walked over from beside the bar.

Holding a bottle of whiskey, his swaying manner was the same as before.

But unlike last time, he no longer appeared decadent and dejected.

He discovered new physics.

And personally witnessed its existence.

In this regard, he might be luckier than the esteemed Professor.

He had no regrets left.

"Perhaps, there's no need for us to do this ourselves. Didn't that child say? Two hundred years later, the Celestial Beings have already created our duplicates using some technology... Including your good buddy Luo Yi, chasing our children on this Starship, including you, and even

us... even useless me."

Upon saying this, Wu Xinghuan grinned and took a swig of the spicy yet sweet liquor.

"So the question arises... Do we really want to become another group of Celestial Beings?"

"Or, when they have done well, do you really have the confidence to replace them as a better one? As a two hundred years-old relic."

Looking at the sly grinned fellow, Xiao Yong was stunned, then after pondering for a moment, suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha! Interesting!"

Though the thought of the universe filled with youngsters piloting Spaceships, adorned with all sorts of nonsense prosthetics is still unacceptable, thinking from another angle, this might not be a bad thing after all.

The future kids are braver and more adventurous than them, more confident and enterprising, with capabilities to stand alone.

The challenges requiring three thousand people and ten departments, future kids manage with just two.

Thinking this way, seemingly there's no reason for them to linger.

Just like before, Xiao Yong snatched the bottle from Wu Xinghuan's hand, ignoring the latter's protests and took a gulp.

But this time he boldly wiped his mouth and stuffed the empty bottle back into Dr. Wu's chest.

"Let's go! Drink to the fullest!"

He smiled and hooked the shoulder of the genteel guy, firmly slapping his arm.

"Drink until we drop!"

There was still plenty of stock in the bar.

If they wished, they could drink here for a year, then leave once content and sober.

However, they did not.

That future child... all their children lay on the medical bed.

While indulging in revelry, that child might be enduring the torment of darkness and helplessness.

Medical room.

Standing beside the intensive care unit, Lin Youyou was securely watching the girl from 200 years later lying on the bed.

Although she wanted to chat a bit, it appeared she couldn't wake up.

"Will... we be like her?" A young nurse whispered.

Thinking of dying soon, her pretty face showed a hint of regret and confusion.

Lin Youyou said nothing, while the medical supervisor nodded with a complicated expression.

"Probably... But fortunately, it happens in an instant. If you don't hear the explosion, it might end without feeling any pain."

"Then I'm relieved..." The beauty-loving girl suddenly smiled, jokingly said: "At least won't see myself disfigured."

"Death ah..." the on-duty doctor sighed, pressing his index finger to his temple, "Speaking of which, all sections have work... isn't there anything we can do?"

The group exchanged glances, and Lin Youyou, who hadn't spoken, suddenly began.

"There should be..."

Seeing everyone looking at her, Lin Youyou closed her eyes and pondered for a moment before continuing.

"Is there a way to extend the shelf life of the hemostatic gel until 200 years later?"

The doctors exchanged looks, until finally, a slightly older doctor raised his hand.

"I heard freezing works... but you need utmost caution in defrosting, preventing crystallization sediment."

This is quite niche knowledge.

Since most stock is processed and replaced by newer ones before the end of its shelf life.

He knew this knowledge point because he researched a related topic during his Ph.D.

Lin Youyou's eyes brightened, showing a smile.

"Is it frozen storage? Are there specific operational methods for defrosting?"

The slightly older doctor cautiously replied.

"I can teach you the method, it shouldn't be hard for you, but even if you remember it, isn't it meaningless?"

"How could it be? As long as there's a way. I will record the procedure... before I breathe my last."

While speaking, Lin Youyou looked at the unconscious girl on the medical bed.

With love, she reached out, gently stroking the few remaining strands of hair on her forehead.

It should have been a beautiful face.

Even if the smooth skin had decayed already, she could still see through the pure soul buried beneath the radiation dust.

"...You will survive."

"Your comrades, he is a brave child... and his courage is no less than any one of us."

"I believe he will surely heal you, using the method I leave behind."

...

The final banquet lasted for three days, followed by rehearsal enduring almost half a month.

In this non-existent time, everyone clarified what they needed to do.

Whether the deceased.

Or the living.

Finally, at the moment of departure, all crew members tacitly returned to their respective positions.

That was their position when entering the Hyperspace Passage, also where they were during the neutron bomb explosion.

Except the three units of Space Combat Squad warriors.

Before returning to their positions, they had to do one last thing.

That means returning to the scene of the accident, placing the sleep cabin that doesn't exist in this space-time back into the landing craft, and covering up the overturned "box" again.

Two soldiers in power armor carried the coffin-like sleep cabin across the quarantine zone.

Looking at the spaceship lying in the gym, Xiao Yong grinned and said.

"It's really strange when you think about it..."

Luo Yi asked.

"Strange about what?"

Xiao Yong replied with a smile.

"We are all dead, yet we can still carry out missions with the 'living'. "

"Are you referring to me, or the kids from 200 years later?"

"Both, I guess."

Watching the teammate walking ahead, Luo Yi thought for a moment and gave an ambiguous answer.

"It is indeed a strange experience, but I believe since it happened, there must be a reason for it to happen."

He wasn't a physicist and couldn't give a reasonable explanation in terms of physics.

If one has to say why.

Perhaps it was because they all believed.

Facing adversity, they all unconsciously planted the seeds called hope.

This itself isn't very hard to explain.

The two carried the sleep cabin into the room, placing it back into the twisted, deformed landing craft.

Then, they closed the cabin door, left the room, and withdrew the security tape outside the room... as if they had never been there.

In the duty room, returning the equipment, Xiao Yong took a deep breath, exchanged a military salute with Sergeant Luo Yi, and then strode out.

From the moment he returned to his room and closed the door, everything would return to the initial starting point.

Stagnant time would continue to move forward.

Their bodies would decay in radioactive dust, and their souls would move to the Battlefield 200 years later.

It would be a duel of ghosts against ghosts.

Using the hands of the living.

No matter the final victory or defeat, they would not let their children face the ghosts from the old era alone.

They would fight side by side.

On the bridge of the Orion Missile Cruiser, Zhao Tianhe, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, adjusted the officer's hat on the top of his head, then cast his gaze toward the deep Star River ahead.

"I suddenly found... the stars outside seem to have stopped a long time ago."

Although the stars seen in the universe don't flicker as frequently as those inside the atmosphere, they aren't completely motionless and also alternate between red and blue lights.

Especially when their relative distance changes.

Also gazing at that brilliant Star River, Wu Mengke smiled softly.

"Actually, I noticed earlier, but then I understood, it wasn't that they stopped, but that we stopped..."

Zhao Tianhe smiled, squinted and said.

"It seems there are still many things hidden in this universe that we don't know..."

In a vague sense, his eyes seemed to see that frozen Star River flickering once more.

And it was different from before.

It was a brilliance he had never seen.

"It looks like time is almost up."

"Colonel."

Upon hearing the voice from the side, he slightly turned his face, moving his gaze away from the twinkling stars.

He saw his old friend whom he had worked with for many years at that moment placing her raised right hand on the edge of her hat brim.

Her expression was unprecedentedly solemn.

"Thank you..."

"It is an honor to work with you."

Looking at the solemn Wu Mengke, and those people standing with her, a comforting smile appeared on Zhao Tianhe's face, as he raised his hand to return a salute.

"The honor should be mine, being able to work with you is the greatest honor of my life."

"Thank you all for years of sincere cooperation."

"See you at the cemetery."

...

In the silent universe, a dazzling light suddenly burst forth, unnoticed by anyone.

At the moment when the Orion Missile Cruiser exited the hyperspace passage, the raging neutron burst pierced through its indestructible armor, followed by the explosion's shockwave spreading through every cabin via the fractured steel.

Just as Dr. Wu said.

It was an event happening in a flash, so rapidly that there was no time to react; among the 3000 crew members, over 2700 perished with only 227 surviving.

Even the 227 survivors were without exception severely injured.

High-energy neutron radiation destroyed the cellular structure of their organs and tissues, along with the macromolecular proteins floating between the cells. Fortunately, their bionic prosthetics were only affected by electromagnetic pulses, temporarily pulling them back from Hell's Gate.

However, the crisis wasn't over.

The exploding neutron bombs not only killed the crew on the Orion but also heavily damaged the starship itself.

Without rescue, there wasn't even a faint chance of survival or self-help.

Death was only a matter of time!

Meanwhile, the intelligent program aboard the landing craft started to work.

Taking advantage of the Orion Missile Cruiser's chaos, the landing craft's onboard AI relentlessly launched electronic warfare, vying for control of the Orion.

Under normal circumstances, the ten information security engineers and AI experts would never let it succeed.

But now, the number of surviving engineers from the ten departments wouldn't even overflow one hand, making it nearly impossible to win against the prepared electronic warfare invasion.

The smart virus from the missile cruiser of Gemini would inevitably break through the Orion's firewall, and by the time the survivors aboard the Orion came to their senses, it would already be too late.

The intelligent program, carrying the collective will of the entire crew aboard the Gemini Missile Cruiser, would take over the entire starship, and use its onboard server to "return to life," continuing to execute the plan known as "End Battle."

The entire plan was flawless to the point of perfection.

Even five light-years away, this bullet had already hit the target!

However, the spark of civilization did not extinguish but instead burst into an unprecedented brilliance.

On the lower deck's power room, an engineer, collapsed on the ground, pushed along the floor with his elbows, crawling forward arduously.

Blood unceasingly seeped from his mouth and nose, mixed with clotted chunks, trailed across the alloy floor, leaving a shocking drag mark made by his chest's clothing.

His legs were incapacitated, only his two prosthetic arms could move.

Even so, enduring the burning pain all over his body, he crawled into the control room of the power room.

This starship's fusion reactor was a wall away from him, and the power source was right before his eyes.

Like a ghost crawling out of the abyss, covered in blood, he mustered all his strength to lift half his body, stretched out his trembling right hand, put the bloodstained key into the lock, turned it forcefully, and opened the protective cover on the safety switch.

The person who designed the Air and Space Army starship operation safety handbook probably never imagined that the 27th regulation he painstakingly wrote would unexpectedly save all Earth's people.

According to regulation 27, before entering the Hyperspace Passage, at least two electrical engineers must remain in the reactor to confirm the core's operating condition and report to the department at any time.

And he was the surviving one, also one of the 227 survivors!

The trigger was already in his hand, he was about to fire the first shot of the last-ditch counterattack!

"Want my spaceship...??"

He grinned, coughed up blood, then exerted all his strength, and fiercely pushed down the handle of the disconnect switch in his hand.

Accompanied by a light "hum," the originally stable operating reactor instantly shut down, and the entire power room soon flashed with overwhelming red alerts.

Reactor shutdown.

The entire starship's power facilities quickly switched to backup circuits, entering power-saving mode.

In power-saving mode, the onboard server providing informational services was the first facility to shut down, and soon the only usable communication device aboard would be the wired-connected intercom.

The buddies on the Gemini probably couldn't even fathom that their old friend had an unplugging trick; it seemed that no hacker, however skilled, could hack into an unpowered server.

The engineer exhaled in relief.

And with his stretched-tight nerves finally relaxing, his barely conscious mind started to blur.

But it didn't matter.

His task was complete.

The next part would depend on the remaining 226 brothers, and the comrades 200 years into the future -

They agreed on it.

As the anti-gravity device shut down, he felt his body float off the floor, drifting with the floating work tablet and office chair toward the corner of the room.

Watching the key floating away from his fingertips, a hint of defiant smile appeared on his blood-stained face.

"Want it..."

"Then go… take it from my corpse…!!"