"What is it? Since you've accepted this identity, you should know that the Zerg were unavoidable, right?" Mingmei frowned. The person's tone earlier hadn't been good, and now they were suddenly snapping at Mu Chen. Mingmei spoke up to defend him.

"Afraid of seeing the Zerg? You're no different from how you were in the last game," Mingmei mocked lightly.

"You! Aren't I thinking of everyone here? In our current state! How can we fight the Zerg?!"

"The way you say it makes it sound like I'm leading you to your deaths."

Suddenly, Mu Chen chuckled, surprising everyone around him. They turned to look at the mech arguing with Mu Chen and his group. The other pilot denied loudly, "I'm not! I'm just stating the facts!"

"Huh?"

Lu Xiaoyao couldn't help but exclaim, her voice full of disbelief, "Seriously? Do you even know who he is?"

Mingmei: ?

Mu Chen: ?

When Lu Xiaoyao pointed at Su Bo while praising him, Mingmei and Mu Chen exchanged glances inside their mechs.

"Who are you (I)?"

Mingmei and Mu Chen muttered at the same time.

"He's a big shot in our class, one of the top players with the fewest deaths in the school's highlight reels!"

Speaking of the death榜 (death board), many schools had them. Every month, when game players' death videos were compiled, Mu Chen and Mingmei's near-zero death rates were especially noticeable!

Mingmei was selling boxed lunches, and there were no death videos to be found.

In the school's student list, the only one without a death compilation stood out.

Mu Chen was similar. Apart from a few games where he intentionally tried to die, he had basically no death highlights.

As a result, they were both very famous in school.

But Mingmei felt her face burning when Lu Xiaoyao specifically pointed it out.

She knew that Lu Xiaoyao was praising Mu Chen, but she felt like Lu Xiaoyao's words implied more.

Just as she thought this, she heard Lu Xiaoyao continue, "Do you know who his girlfriend is?"

"Who?"

The person even played along with a setup line.

Mingmei: Here it comes, the social death is finally here!

"His girlfriend is also amazing. She's the face model for the in-game boxed lunch merchant NPC, a super player with a zero death rate! General Mei Qiu's younger sister!"

Clearly, the person hadn't been paying attention on the starship, or they would have known Mingmei's identity already.

Mingmei still felt incredibly embarrassed when Lu Xiaoyao said it so brazenly!

"Pfft~"

Seeing Mingmei like this, Mu Chen couldn't help but laugh. Mingmei glared at Mu Chen, and he silently suppressed his smile again, clearing his throat seriously. "Alright, those who want to leave with us can leave together. If not, feel free to do as you please."

As Mu Chen spoke, he looked at the player who seemed humiliated by Lu Xiaoyao. However, the other person was actually quite tough. Upon hearing this, they snorted and turned to leave.

After that person left, a few others who had been remaining also left. Only Lu Xiaoyao, Dong Lei, Hu Yue, and Li Yuan remained.

The small-faced guy who had been chatting with them on the starship about his sister had unfortunately been ambushed by several Zerg and logged off earlier.

Mu Chen had already anticipated that some people would leave. No matter where you are, people tend to stick together.

Those few clearly weren't willing to be with them.

Like the silence of those people after the job assignment earlier, Mu Chen could hear occasional, seemingly resentful noises of discontent.

Mingmei and Mu Chen were both prepared for some people to leave, but Lu Xiaoyao was very angry and puzzled about it.

"Hey—if you leave, what will you do if something happens?"

Lu Xiaoyao shouted after the departing figures, unwilling to give up.

Although she didn't think much of these people's behavior, it was still better to have more people right now. It would be best if she could persuade them to stay.

"No need to worry, we'll take care of ourselves." One of them, who was still able to maintain composure, politely declined upon hearing Lu Xiaoyao's words. The others didn't even turn their heads.

It was as if Lu Xiaoyao and the others were going to their deaths.

"These people…"

Lu Xiaoyao was so angry that if she wasn't floating in space, she would have stomped her feet on the ground dozens of times to vent her anger!

"They don't appreciate good intentions!"

Lu Xiaoyao hadn't expected everyone to be like this.

"It's human nature. Everyone's not familiar with each other, and if they suddenly have to listen to Mu Chen's instructions, it's normal for some to be suspicious. However, some people might just not like being controlled. After all, no one is born to take orders from others."

Hu Yue said, "We shouldn't waste any more time. Let's follow Mu Chen to the place he mentioned to rest."

After speaking, Mu Chen, who hadn't commented on those people's reactions, began directing Lu Xiaoyao to lead the way in the front with a defense. Their mechs and Li Yuan's mech followed closely behind.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

Inside the mech cockpit, Mingmei whispered to Mu Chen.

"Say what?"

Mu Chen's attention returned from the three-dimensional map.

"Those people, I think they're kind of ridiculous. It's like we did something wrong." Mingmei had also pondered over their conversation earlier.

Did those people think that their earlier departure was a mistake, and that their return to save the day was just a belated effort to fix things?

Then, they questioned and resented Mu Chen's final decision to take command.

"They'll only understand once they hit a wall themselves…"

After Mu Chen finished speaking, the corner of his mouth curved into a smile. "Do you remember the direction they left in?"

"Hmm…" Mingmei thought for a moment. "It seems like it was the direction we came back from. Are you saying they want to take the path we took?"

"That's right. The path we've already walked should be relatively safe, at least for a short time. After all, we've already been through it."

"Heh, they're hiding pretty well," Mingmei said, touching her chin. She had to admit that these people weren't completely stupid.

However, she caught a playful smile on the corner of Mu Chen's mouth.

"What's wrong?" Mingmei asked, knowing that Mu Chen was hiding something.

"When we blew up the starship earlier, a capsule escape pod flew out."

"Huh?" Mingmei was stunned for a moment, and then immediately understood. "A hidden Zerg escaped?"

"Yes."

"Seriously? Those bugs are that reactive? Who figured out your later moves? And it ran away on its own? That's even more outrageous!"

Mingmei didn't quite understand why only one Zerg had escaped.

In her opinion, it didn't seem like something those old soldiers would do.

Leaving their teammates behind and running away, what were they thinking?

Besides, she had been verbally provoking those people at the time, and everyone was eager to come out and fight her. Did someone really notice something was wrong and sneakily run away?

"Yeah, maybe it didn't get along with the others?" Mu Chen remembered the person who had run away when Hu Yue boarded the starship to "massacre" in the last game.

Maybe it was just a coincidence?