Chapter 1 The Game, Sixth Army Base

"Where to?"

Just like the veterans said, once they returned from a mission, their lives were confined to the base.

Tianma was even surprised that the Sixth Army seemed unafraid of them learning any secrets, fully revealing their life to him.

Even though he grew up in a place like the Outer Star Sea, he still yearned for the identity of a soldier.

And then—Tianma felt the soldier filter in his heart shatter into pieces.

Every time he was chased around the world by guys like Chi Yu from the security bureau, he couldn't help but think, "Why do people from places like this imitate the thugs outside and pretend to be cops? Who are they trying to disgust?"

"We've got a job. I heard there have been some Zerg sightings outside the Outer Star Sea recently."

As he spoke, several veterans patted him on the shoulder and said, "If we catch one and sell it, hahaha..."

Everything was contained within that wild laughter.

"Isn't it dangerous?" Tianma wiped the sweat from his recent training. Even he, who was from the Outer Star Sea, knew the danger of the Zerg. How could these people's eyes light up when they mentioned the Zerg?

"Dangerous, yeah, but according to the observation reports, it's just a small group. It doesn't look like a large-scale deployment. Who knows what they're up to? We'll grab them first, torture them for information, and then sell them. It'll be a huge profit!"

When Waldo and the others talked about this, their faces were animated as if they could already foresee getting a large sum of money.

"Didn't they say the Major General went to the Imperial Star? Shouldn't we cause fewer troubles?"

Tianma still remembered what Waldo and the others said before they came back, about preventing those people from saying they were dishonest, causing trouble for the Major General to get military funding.

"It's okay. Doron sent a message back saying that Rui'an said the Zerg have been rampant recently, and there's been activity on the Imperial Star side. They won't say anything if we do something to the Zerg at this time."

Of all the things Waldo said, only Tianma was curious. The Zerg's reputation wasn't very good throughout the universe, and they were in a life-or-death situation with humans.

He also learned about what Mei Qiu did last year through special channels, and it was unbelievable that the Empire and the Federation had endured the Zerg's actions for so many years before finally taking action.

He even found the movie *Blood War Dawn*. The movie, with Mei Qiu as the protagonist, showed him single-handedly wiping out the entire Zerg army, including the Zerg Queen. Although the movie was exceptionally bloody, these bloody scenes were different from the daily killings in the Outer Star Sea.

The former made people feel excited and tearful, while the latter would make them feel disgusted and nauseous.

"The Zerg... sometimes they appear near the Outer Star Sea, but why have they suddenly targeted it again?"

"Do they?"

The moment Waldo was suspicious, Tianma's heart skipped a beat. He forgot that although the Zerg often appeared in the Outer Star Sea, those Zerg were usually small and of higher rank, possessing intelligence.

They would usually conceal their tracks when they arrived in the Outer Star Sea.

And what Waldo mentioned about discovering their tracks was clearly not right.

"I mean... although the Zerg were only recently discovered near the Outer Star Sea, it's possible they've appeared many times before."

Tianma explained dryly under Waldo's suspicious gaze, but he already had a faint guess in his heart.

The ones that the Sixth Army could find were clearly not the batch of Zerg that frequented the Outer Star Sea.

But this kind of thing... whether they were discovered or not, Tianma didn't know why he couldn't help but remind them.

Clearly, he was from the Outer Star Sea, and their lives had nothing to do with him. Anyway—

Just as he was thinking this, Tianma suddenly remembered something.

"What's the date today?"

"Are you stupid?"

After entering the game, Tianma thought it was just a game that simulated real life. But some of the things that had happened these days, if not a 100% match with what had happened in real life, at least overlapped with some of the information he had previously gathered.

"Today is April 21st. What's wrong?"

"April 21st?"

Tianma's eyes widened, and he kept muttering the date. He suddenly looked around and remembered something!

"That's right, what about Senior Feng Shu?! Why haven't we seen Senior Feng Shu since we came back from the Guangyu Star Region?"

Seeing Tianma's sudden panicked appearance, Waldo and the others laughed even harder, saying, "Of course, he went to see his girlfriend."

Waldo and the others winked at Tianma and laughed, "If you had pursued that host, you might have been able to keep Senior Feng Shu company. His girlfriend is there too.

His girlfriend and he were together in school. Later, there were some disagreements when they were assigned to the army. Although they are far apart now and don't see each other often, their relationship is still good."

"I also heard that they seem to be getting married next year, right? Feng Shu has taken all his annual leave this year, and he's said to be planning to look at a wedding house in Haiyuan Star on the side~"

"Damn, this news is that he ran away with his wife after getting married? Buy a wedding house in the Guangyu Star Region?"

"What's wrong? Take off your filter. The Guangyu Star Region is indeed better than us, whether it's the economy, education, or scenery. Of course, when people get married, they have to consider their wife!"

Tianma couldn't hear the gossip around him. His mind was filled with the scene of the Sixth Army forcefully breaking into the Outer Star Sea to arrest people.

The moment the giant starships and combat mechs opened the dome of the underground city, with the harsh and dazzling light from outside, those warships were like gods of death descending into the world.

Even though those people in the Outer Star Sea were so angry later and went to provoke the Sixth and Third Armies, they were still somewhat guilty in their hearts.

It was their own fault for getting involved in the war between the Zerg and humans.

Because of these people, Haiyuan Star, the main star of the Guangyu Star Region, was destroyed, and countless people were killed and injured...

Tianma's eyes became a little dazed as he thought of all this. He had been with these people day and night for these days, and the senior who had always taken care of him like an older brother was now in Haiyuan Star.

He stayed there under the guise of personal leave.

"No, no, Senior Feng Shu has to come back... No, that's not right, we have to go rescue them, we have to go save people!"

……

Outer Star Sea, Black Market

"Give me two boxed lunches." Mingmei, wearing a veil, looked at the unfamiliar face of the player in front of her. While agreeing to the transaction, she quietly asked, "You look very unfamiliar. Are you from the underground city or a new guest from above?"

Facing the "NPC's" greeting, the person on the other side did not let down their guard, deliberately lowering their voice and saying, "I've lived here for a long time, but I just don't come here often."

Mingmei listened to the person who seemed to be deliberately altering their voice and looked at the face under the black robe thoughtfully. It wasn't until the person took the boxed lunch away that Mingmei withdrew her gaze.

"Was that person disguised?"

Mingmei asked Guigui about the doubts in her heart.

[Yes, it is.]

"Is it someone I know?"

[Not necessarily, everyone is just a newbie.]

"Oh, that's strange, they're even wary of the mysterious merchant..." Mingmei muttered. She rarely saw such a player.