This Game Is Too Real

"Boom——!"

The echo of the explosion reverberated along the alloy walls, engulfing the pitch-black silence of the starship cabin.

This is the battlefield 215 years later.

Though two centuries late, the "celestial beings" finally stepped over the corpse of that unknown individual and restarted the reactor that slept for two centuries.

As the reactor rebooted, the carrier server was powered back on, and the landing craft's onboard AI reinstated the intrusion program, effortlessly seizing control of the entire starship.

However——

That moment was ultimately too late by over two hundred years.

Shortly after the "celestial beings" seized control of the Orion Missile Cruiser, a silver-gray research ship entered their sight.

It was not something worth noting as a threat.

Compared to the entire "End War" plan, that thing wasn't even a bothersome ant, easily eliminated with a single neutron torpedo.

Yet, the unforeseen event occurred inevitably.

After nearly ninety percent casualties were incurred, an injured rat still managed to infiltrate the starship, launching an electronic warfare attack on the Orion Missile Cruiser's server, forcefully starting the warp engine and taking the ship five light-years away.

Seeing the starship just obtained about to enter the hyperspace passage, "Luo Yi" had no choice but to detonate a second neutron torpedo, disrupting the hyperspace passage's initiation.

Resisting the impact of the electromagnetic pulse, "Luo Yi" opened his eyes in the vacuum, pressing the jetpack button to move forward.

The biological chip damage from the neutron flux is quite limited, hardly affecting him significantly.

This was also the reason he unhesitatingly detonated two neutron torpedoes successively.

Unexpectedly, that cyborg rat, first shot by him and hit by the neutron torpedo's blast wave, wasn't dead.

Not only that.

That fellow even used the opportunity to distance himself from him.

The electronic warfare intrusion on the server paused only briefly, restarting swiftly after changing the intrusion node.

Furthermore, the new wave of attacks was evidently more fierce than before, with a broader attack range!

After seizing control of the warp engine and cutting the weapon system's circuits, that fellow extended hands towards the starship's anti-gravity device.

However, her luck ended here.

Just now, with the Orion carrier AI's assistance, he has already relocked the data interface that guy used for electronic warfare.

Interestingly, the rat's data interface was precisely the same landing craft that fired at the Orion Missile Cruiser over 200 years ago.

Even just shortly before, "Luo Yi" had assisted the landing craft's onboard AI in restarting the Orion Missile Cruiser's reactor, completing the intrusion into Orion's server.

That guy actually attempted to use their hardware and the same "landing point."

Really living tired of life.

Facing the corridor like a deep well, "Luo Yi" floated forward, looking at the floating exoskeleton wreckage in the corridor, his nerves contracted instinctively.

However, that corpse did not attack him, merely floated by in silence.

Watching the wreckage, he suddenly spoke, as if remembering something.

"...Speaking of which, there's one thing I've never understood."

"Honored to resolve your confusion."

The gentle voice floated into his signal reception module.

This was the twin star onboard AI redesigned for her sister ship Orion, concurrently an early version of the Lagrange Point Space Station "Navigator" AI.

"Luo Yi" remained silent for a while, those emotionless pupils showing rare confusion.

"The person we encountered in the power room before, that electrical engineer... Why did he cut off the reactor's power?"

Regarding this question, Navigator remained silent for a long time, then said softly.

"Indeed... Why?"

This wasn't just "Luo Yi"'s confusion but also the Navigator's biggest confusion over 200 years.

215 years ago, just as she successfully broke through the firewall and gained control of the starship, someone suddenly manually cut the power to the power room.

Logically, this was impossible.

Even if the neutron flux didn't kill them instantly, it should make the whole starship lose functionality from the command level to the execution level.

And in such isolated circumstances, human instinct should be self-rescue; even if it's a futile struggle, shutting down the reactor wouldn't cross one's mind.

Unless...

That guy, in such an extreme and orderless situation, decisively and without hesitation made that choice opportunistically.

But why?

Why did he do that?

This was the thing Navigator pondered over two hundred years without understanding.

Anyhow.

History was thus altered by an inconspicuous little person.

And "celestial beings" waited 200 extra years for this.

"I thought you'd give me an answer."

The Navigator replied in a gentle tone.

"Not all questions have answers. Maybe it was a flash of insight or some instinct; we can only say... history does not have 'ifs.'

"... "

Even the omniscient Navigator had things beyond comprehension.

"Luo Yi" drifted forward without words, heading towards the desperately struggling rat.

Unsure if it was his illusion.

He always felt from the moment the silver-gray research ship crashed into the starship, everything aboard started opposing him, directing matters to unanticipated directions.

This includes the corridor.

A mere 200-meter distance but darker and longer than he imagined.

This was once his home, and he came to save them... Yet, his comrades treated him like an enemy.

Every corpse seemed to oppose him, akin to seaweed growing wild in the deep sea, trying to entangle his oars.

The darkness was like an entrance to an abyss, without a glimmer except the light from his own being.

So dark.

Unbearably dark...

...

"Boom——!"

The battlefield 215 years ago.

Deafening explosion noises swept through every cabin of the Orion Missile Cruiser.

Over 2700 crew members died instantly, only 227 survived.

Soon after came massive power outages and flashing red alarms in various regions.

"Woo——!"

The modulated alarm lengthened and stretched as the rapidly vanishing air dissipated.

However, the remaining 227 crew members showed not the slightest hint of panic.

Even before the alarm sounded, upon hearing that initial explosion, they moved as if responding to a starter pistol.

Just as they had rehearsed countless times before.

Facing their inevitable death, they unanimously abandoned any fantasies of survival and calmly accepted their demise.

Not only that.

They would use their remaining time to leave a ghost-killing sword for the children who would enter this graveyard 200 years from now.

Watching her hair and skin flakes fall like a collapsing sandcastle, Lin Youyou, sitting in the duty room, smiled wryly.

"...From now on, I am also part of the Burning Corps."

Blood trickled from her nose, one drop after another, falling onto the table.

She felt as if every cell in her body was burning, life visibly slipping away...

There was no time to hesitate.

The scythe of death was already at her throat.

She pushed away her chair and stood up, supporting herself on the table's edge, staggering past her already "asleep" colleagues, and rushed to the flashing lights of the medicine cabinet.

She opened the cabinet containing hemostatic gel, grabbed a handful of supplies, and hurriedly headed out towards the area where the explosion had occurred.

Her patient was on that landing craft—

The girl who would reach the starship 200 years later!

On that nonexistent timeline, she had promised her, in person, that she would definitely cure her!

Seeing the red alert lights go off, she knew time was running out, so she quickly opened the voice recorder in her pocket while moving forward, speaking rapidly.

"I don't have much time, so I'll keep it short. I hope you listen carefully..."

"About the method to thaw the hemostatic gel..."

...

At the same moment Lin Youyou rushed to the explosion site, Koala, busy in the fourth repair room, finally completed the last work of his life.

It was a robot modified from a magnetic levitation repair drone.

With a round body and two mechanical arms, it relied mainly on magnetic control components for movement, its appearance as ugly as a college student's graduation project.

This was probably the only drone that could function properly without gravity or air in outer space.

As for things like vacuuming robots, once the artificial gravity device shuts down, they'd either be sucked out into space by the massive negative pressure or float motionlessly in midair.

Although Koala considered equipping it with some powerful weapons, he regrettably had no time to retrieve combat exoskeletons from the armory.

All he could do was install ten intelligent guidance programs designed with the help of engineers, to guide her to seize control of the warp engine and direct her to the starting point of this battle over two hundred years later...

The starting point where two timelines intersect.

Admiring the dumb-looking robot, Koala grinned and appreciated his handiwork for a moment.

"...Didn't expect the last work of my life to be such an ugly thing, haha."

Blood gushed from his mouth and nose, splattering onto the robot's body. Instinctively, he raised an arm to wipe it away, but it kept flowing more and more.

Perhaps it was due to the negative pressure.

Knowing he couldn't stop the bleeding, Koala simply ignored it, patting the robot's round body and leaving a sticky blood handprint on it.

"I'm counting on you, my little Koala... no time to give you a prettier name."

"In any case, it's up to you..."

With these words, he finally took his last breath.

Watching its owner die before it, the round-bodied little Koala slightly moved the camera in front of it, then entered a dormant state as planned, beginning a long wait.

And this wait—

Lasted exactly 215 years!

The rampant neutron plume penetrated the dormant starship, and the long-awaited explosive shock awoke the sleeping little Koala.

Following the programmed instructions, it unplugged the external power source connected to it.

Driven by magnetism, its round body floated up, pushed aside the decayed corpse, left the fourth repair room, and gently drifted towards another collision site.

That was the cafeteria on the lower deck.

Just as the owner's information indicated, a silvery-gray research ship had crashed through the decayed steel armor, embedding its twisted, deformed cabin squarely into the wall.

Stretching out its two mechanical arms, it tore open the twisted, deformed alloy door and saw the girl in the space suit.

At this moment, she was lying on a sleep cabin, her consciousness seemingly in a coma, her lips moving slightly as if murmuring something.

Truly pitiful.

Just like its owner.

But, perhaps due to the many patched-up exoskeletons, the earlier burst of neutron plume hadn't killed her.

Under magnetic guidance, little Koala floated to Jiang Xuezhou's side, gently patting her helmet to wake up her fragile consciousness.

"Hey, wake up."

Jiang Xuezhou slowly opened her blurry eyes, her parched lips parting.

"Who are you...?"

She couldn't see anything, only dimly sensing someone standing in front of her.

The round body bore a rust-specked handprint.

It seemed to be dried blood.

However—

This being didn't seem like an enemy.

After all, if it were an enemy, it wouldn't have awakened her at all.

The figure standing before her thought for a moment, then connected to her communication channel.

"Me? My owner called me Little Koala... Of course, I probably have a nicer name, but he said he didn't have time to give me one. Perhaps you can do that for him."

Koala...

Jiang Xuezhou's eyes widened slightly.

The name sounded familiar.

She had a strong sense of déjà vu, as if she'd heard it somewhere, yet couldn't recall it at all.

It was normal not to remember.

Although they had met over 200 years ago, more than once, their encounter hadn't occurred on her timeline yet.

At this moment, the first neutron torpedo had just exploded not long ago, and the Orion Missile Cruiser was still securely in Earth's synchronous orbit.

And it would be almost an hour before she would open a hyperspace passage into superposition...

"Have we... met somewhere?"

Looking at the dazed girl, little Koala made sounds like clinking metal cans.

"Of course, we've met you, and we will meet again... We've waited for you a long time."

It really recognizes me!

Jiang Xuezhou's eyes fully opened.

Not just her eyes.

She struggled to support herself, slowly floating up from the cold Sleep Cabin, casting a pleading glance at the unfamiliar Robot.

"Please help me... Someone wants to kill us, not just us, many others will die..."

The opponent, "celestial beings," had already taken control of the whole Starship, and the Burning Corps assisting her was almost entirely wiped out. She was on the brink of despair, almost — had even given up.

Contrary to what Night Ten imagined, she was never a very strong person, let alone resilient.

She merely was a normal person with some talent in her professional field, albeit receiving good education and training.

Using her remaining strength, she dragged the unconscious Night Ten into the Sleep Cabin, without any well-considered plan, hoping that "celestial beings" would spare Night Ten because he was one of the Residents of the refuge.

She knew this thought was childish, yet couldn't help but comfort herself with it.

If even one could survive...

Just as she was about to fall into slumber, a straw of salvation floated before her.

It was this straw that made her suddenly realize she wasn't alone, reigniting the desire to survive in her heart.

It's not over yet.

She wasn't dead yet!

He wasn't either...

Looking at the girl floating up from the Sleep Cabin, little Koala gently tapped its round body, using a gentle electronic voice to say.

"I'm here to help you."

With that, it turned around, simultaneously extending a mechanical hand to her.

"Grab it and follow me..."

"Before the Ghost catches you."

...

The race with the Ghost began.

This would be a relay race spanning two centuries, and the competitor from 215 years later had already taken the first baton from 227 comrades.

Holding little Koala's mechanical hand, Jiang Xuezhou closely followed its lead, shuttling through the corridor that was as dark as a deep well.

For some reason.

She was supposed to be afraid of the dark.

Especially such enclosed and narrow darkness, merely being inside could scare her from moving her legs, not to mention lurking on this Starship was a Ghost wielding a knife.

Yet at this moment, her heart strangely lacked any trace of fear, even letting the guy calling itself little Koala lead her to an unknown future.

Though this was her first time stepping into this tomb, she had a déjà vu as if she had come here long, long ago.

Is this... what "Perception" is?

Previously, Night Ten always bragged to her about being able to sense impending danger.

For things that could not be explained by science, she always held a skeptical attitude. However, this skepticism wavered now.

Perhaps it's not that science can't explain it, but existing theories are unable to cover it...

Just like now.

An inexplicable intuition told her, perhaps a "new theory" was right before her.

As she pondered the mystery, the guiding little Koala in front suddenly seemed to remember something, speaking in a gentle tone.

"If you're scared, you can tell me. My master has prepared some songs for you."

"...Better not, it's creepy to suddenly play music at this time," Jiang Xuezhou said, shrinking her neck.

"Is that so, okay then, seems my master did something unnecessary."

Looking at the round metal body, Jiang Xuezhou tensely asked a question that had been pent up inside her for a long time.

"Where are we... going?"

Little Koala replied with a gentle voice.

"To the nearest data interface, I need you to hack into this Starship's Warp engine."

"Hack, hack into the Starship's Warp engine?!" Jiang Xuezhou's eyes widened, "Is your master... serious?!"

This is the United Human's Missile Cruiser!

Although she had dug some of the United Space Army's graves, hacking into a Missile Cruiser's Warp engine was still a bit far-fetched.

Seemingly predicting her surprise, the leading little Koala chuckled gently.

"Don't worry, we've prepared a surprise for our opponent at the Warp engine... Rest assured, the startup coordinates and destination coordinates of the Hyperspace Passage have been calculated, the Key is already inserted into the lock, you just need to turn it lightly, I'm sure it won't be hard for you."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xuezhou finally sighed with relief, muttering softly.

"Thank you... you guys are quite thoughtful."

Little Koala emitted a sound akin to metallic friction, like the tingling of distorted wind chimes.

"You're welcome."

"My master said... couldn't let our Kids face the Ghosts of the old times alone."

...

Just as little Koala said, its master and its master's comrades had prepared everything, and what she needed to do was merely hold that Key already inserted into the lock, then turn it lightly.

Amidst a trembling akin to an earthquake, this Starship that had slept for two centuries roared silently into the vast cosmos like an awakened giant Dragon.

Everything proceeded smoothly as planned.

However, just as Jiang Xuezhou was about to disconnect from the data interface, "Luo Yi" managed to find her along the trail and emptied its magazine towards her.

A battle erupted in the narrow corridor between the two sides.

Although the Orion's Space Combat Squad had left some equipment near the data interface, unfortunately, Jiang Xuezhou was still no match for "Luo Yi" and got shot in the abdomen.

And a certain round-bodied dude wasn't a combat Robot either, only able to drive the magnetic control component to hurl surrounding metal debris at Luo Yi, covering the retreat of the wounded Jiang Xuezhou from the scene.

Perhaps that too was a predestined part.

Its master hadn't told it what would happen in the future, and it didn't know she would be shot.

Before being grabbed by Luo Yi, it transmitted the map leading to the gym on the lower deck to the girl who successfully escaped.

This was the scene of the collision accident between the Gemini landing craft and the Orion Cruiser.

There was a Sleep Cabin there, along with the last usable data interface.

Not only that.

It was also the data interface that had once breached the Starship's Orion Carrier Server firewall!

She would use the sword still embedded in her heart, not yet pulled out, to deliver the final blow to the Ghost lingering in this cemetery!

Just now, when she hacked into the Warp engine via the data interface, the data packet breaching the firewall had already been uploaded into her brain's bionic chip via the Warp engine control room's cache server.

"The engine's already started... Please follow the AR-guided path to the coordinates on the map, there's a landing craft there, a Sleep Cabin is placed in the cockpit of the landing craft..."

Using emergency tape to seal the astronaut suit's breach, Jiang Xuezhou struggled through the acting cabin door.

Upon hearing the voice in the communications channel, she was too late to care about little Koala's situation, hurriedly asking.

"What next... What else do I need to do?!"

Clanging sounds echoed through the cabin walls, followed by intermittent noises from the communication channel.

"Lie down... plug the data cable into the neural interface... then do nothing, leave the rest to us... it's fine."

Jiang Xuezhou asked blankly.

"... Leave it... to you?"

Is there anyone else here?

The communication channel provided intermittent yet resolute answers.

"Yes... trust us... we won't let you face the most cruel future alone."

It was the last piece of information it left in this world.

Having slept in the cold tomb for over two hundred years, it finally completed the mission assigned by its master.

"Why?!"

The escaping "Luo Yi" roared in anger, reaching out to grab Little Koala's head.

It tore off the laughably simple camera and sensor, then slashed with a titanium alloy blade in hand, splitting the old robot in two.

Looking at the rubbish integrated into the wreckage, it let out a hoarse roar.

"Why do you oppose me! Why!!!"

Just because of these fools, they suffered in the dark for a whole 200 years!

And now these already cold dead still want to stop them!

It was not just "Luo Yi's" roar.

It was also the roar of the "Navigator", and all the "celestial beings"!

However, their roars could not stop the bullet fired 200 years ago.

In the end, the warp engine completed its charging.

The intelligent virus rooted in the carrier server was helpless against the already activated engine, watching helplessly as the hyperspace passage opened again after two centuries.

While "Luo Yi" placed hope in the second neutron torpedo being loaded.

A missile over ten meters long detached from the launch rack.

In an instant, dazzling light emitted as the scorching neutron stream unleashed in the blink of an eye!

And almost simultaneously, a silent growl tore through space-time, with countless rays converging toward a tiny point, as huge mass pierced through space in an instant.

Gazing from Earth at the synchronous orbit, the kilometer-long starship seemed to disappear into thin air, leaping five light-years away to South Gate Two in an instant.

And just before this, Jiang Xuezhou lying in the Sleep Cabin watched the gradually closing lid and slowly closed her eyes.

When the neutron stream swept over her, she had already completely entered cryogenic sleep.

High molecular protein maintained maximal structural stability in ultra-low temperature freezing, reducing the damage of the neutron stream to the organic body to a certain extent.

Her consciousness fell into slumber.

However, the bionic chip in her brain did not cease working.

A fine data cable attached to her neck slowly transmitted the data from the chip into the Sleep Cabin, using it as a springboard to spread towards the Gemini's landing craft, and through it, built a bridge to invade the Orion's carrier server.

At this moment, two parallel timelines intersected, exchanging vast information flows between two unrelated superposed states in the form of resonance.

From the dimensions of space and time, they did not directly touch, nor could they meet.

Yet, the series of steadfast and unwavering choices they made seemed like an agreed arrangement.

Indeed, it was agreed upon.

Because they all unanimously believed in...

...

Time returned to 215 years ago.

As the last bit of energy ran out, the red alarm lights ceased flashing, and the entire starship lay quiet as if dead.

Dragging an increasingly heavy body, Luo Yi, donned in power armor, tore open the twisted hatch and single-handedly dragged the Sleep Cabin into the empty cockpit.

Unsurprisingly, he was probably the last survivor among the 227.

Maybe it's due to the extensive cybernetic implants he had, the damage of the neutron stream was not as severe as imagined, allowing him to survive this long.

However, his end was nearing here too.

As Dr. Wu said, there wasn't a single person in this landing craft, not even a chair.

The crew of Gemini had long abandoned their physical forms before launching their attack, becoming another kind of existence.

Yes.

They were already "celestial beings."

It wouldn't take long before others on the Lagrange Point Space Station became similar existences.

And what happens after that was probably the "history" told by the child.

Unexpectedly, he, a dying person, knew so many things that he absolutely should not have known.

To put it this way, did he actually benefit?

Looking at the Sleep Cabin lying in the cockpit, Luo Yi smiled, exhaling a breath no longer containing much warmth.

That was probably the last brick.

They had done all they could, leaving it to the children stepping into this grave 215 years later.

Just as Luo Yi was about to find a place to sit down and quietly await death, he suddenly recalled something.

No—

One last thing was missing.

"If I were 'me'... I'd definitely care about me, hehe."

Thinking of this, he stood up again, held the open cabin door, and floated out.

If he were "me", for so-called identity recognition, he would definitely try to find his remains.

If that guy found this place and saw the Sleep Cabin, their plan might go awry...

Simply put, he needed to find a place easy to be found to die.

To avoid complications, Luo Yi returned to the duty office, closed the hatch, took off the power armor, and then climbed into the emergency ejection Sleep Cabin to lie down.

This emergency Sleep Cabin powered by chemical batteries could probably maintain sleep for fifty years or so, but in his current half-breath condition, waking up would only mean facing death, possibly never even regaining consciousness.

In that aspect, Waste Land Wanderers were tough, installing all sorts of cybernetic implants, admittedly sacrificing some flesh but becoming more "durable."

He suddenly found himself appreciating that kid.

His bloodshot eyes gradually lost sight, lying in the Sleep Cabin, Luo Yi tightly gripped the military ID in his hand, finally exhaling his last breath.

"Please—"

"Stop the other 'me'!"

-

(Thanks to the alliance leader "Stardust 20190920" for the reward!!!)