Chapter 1 A Stranger's Perspective

As an "outsider" who had only arrived in this world a short time ago, Hao Ren couldn't fully understand Nolan's thoughts. He could barely imagine the profound impact that thousands upon thousands of years of continuous reincarnation would have on a person. But one thing he was sure of was that the world in Nolan's eyes had long lost its color—everything was illusory, everything had lost its meaning. When the whole world became a stage play that could be withdrawn and changed at any time, it was difficult for her to have any real feeling about the things of this world. In each reincarnation, she constantly accumulated experience and knowledge, and at the same time, a thick shell was built up in the depths of her heart. She was right, if the world could be reset at any time, then there was really no value in retaining feelings for everything in the world.

The things you cherish, hate, and trust are all temporary, all arranged. It is possible that they will change their identities when you wake up, or even that a friend will be set as an enemy right in front of you. After experiencing such a long period of time, Nolan learned to survive in the most efficient way and became ready to give up everything at any time, including the Gray Fox Mercenary Group that she had built up with her own hands.

But now Hao Ren and the zombie terminal had become an exception in her eyes: for the first time in thousands of years, she had found someone who could retain the memory of reincarnation like herself. The significance of this to Nolan was beyond doubt. She felt that she finally had a partner, a partner in the true sense.

That's why she was generous in telling Hao Ren everything she knew, even ignoring Hao Ren and the zombie terminal's somewhat strange words and deeds. Now, for her, the most important thing was to let her two compatriots understand the situation quickly, which meant they could live better.

The sun had already completely sunk below the mountains, and two small moons rose one after the other from below the horizon, the dim moonlight coating the outside of the cave with a layer of silver. Nolan came to the entrance of the cave and carefully checked the outside situation again: "It seems that the battle at the launch base is really over, and I didn't hear any self-detonation sounds... it should have been controlled by the Imperial Marines before it was detonated."

"Speaking of which, no one should find this place, right?" Hao Ren walked up from behind, turned his head and glanced at the cave. The zombie terminal was curiously studying the cold light stick hanging on the car, and the light emitted by the light stick leaked out of the cave entrance, "Those soldiers won't pass by this road when they evacuate, will they?"

"This place is very safe, I've surveyed it... surveyed it in my memory," Nolan nodded, "As long as you don't light a bonfire, it's fine. The Imperial Marines' remote infrared detectors are still quite sensitive."

Hao Ren said "oh," raised his head and looked at the sparse starry sky above, a group of unfamiliar stars twinkling in front of him. The next detection plan was swirling in his mind, and he casually said, "The stars are so beautiful..."

"Yeah, they're beautiful," Nolan raised her head as well, her eyes widened slightly, as if she had suddenly realized the stars above her head, "I really miss it... I haven't seen the stars for more than a decade. It seems that this script isn't too bad, at least the sky is open."

"It's hard to imagine that six hours ago, this world was still shrouded in decades of dust and fog, and the air was full of the smell of tar," Hao Ren sighed, suddenly remembering a question, "By the way, does the starry sky change in each reincarnation?"

Nolan shook her head: "The starry sky doesn't change much, probably because it's too far away from humans, and humans can't even touch them. The 'director' behind the world doesn't seem to have bothered to create a more exquisite starry sky. And I haven't seen humans develop to the stage of extraterrestrial colonization even once after so many reincarnations."

Hao Ren fell into thoughtful silence until Nolan tugged at his sleeve: "Let's go back, eat something, rest early tonight, we have to hurry tomorrow."

The two returned to the cave, and the zombie terminal waved to Hao Ren: "Yo, partner, you're back from picking up girls?"

Nolan glared at Hao Ren: "...What kind of relationship do you two have?"

She couldn't figure out the relationship between Hao Ren and this blonde girl at all. There was no way, if you forcibly twisted the style from a touching love tragedy to *Apartment of Love*, even a sociologist wouldn't be able to figure it out!

The zombie terminal was quite free and easy, patting her chest with a smug look: "This unit and my partner are comrades in life and death!"

Hao Ren thought for a while and was surprised to find that this thing was right, especially the words "life and death"...

Nolan rummaged through the supplies in the car. In the memories that fell from the sky, these things were what she had replenished in the town at the foot of the mountain twenty-four hours ago. She threw two packs of compressed dry food and two bottles of water to Hao Ren and the terminal: "Eat something, don't eat too much, it will reduce your vigilance."

Hao Ren said "oh" and took the food. Before he had time to tear open the packaging, the zombie terminal next to him secretly tugged at his sleeve: "Hey, can this unit eat things?"

The familiar headache immediately came, and Hao Ren looked at the blonde girl next to him with twitching eyes: "Why don't... you try drinking some water first?"

The zombie terminal awkwardly twisted open the water bottle and took a sip, smacked her lips, and whispered, "It feels like it fell directly into my stomach, and then it seeped away in all directions."

"...You better not eat, your esophagus is broken," Hao Ren said while thinking that this topic was really heavy, "And you don't need to go to the toilet, you haven't eaten or drank for so long and you don't seem to be weakened, maybe you don't need to replenish energy."

Hao Ren knew that his reasoning was a bit unscientific, but after knowing that this world was likely to be fake, he didn't care about these things at all: perhaps the data terminal caused a bug when it crossed over, which formed such a body that didn't conform to scientific common sense. As for the principle... the world is fake, who cares about the principle.

Nolan looked at Hao Ren and the blonde girl whispering secrets there, not knowing what the two were talking about, but still asked casually, "By the way, I haven't had time to ask, what's your name?"

She was talking to the zombie terminal. As soon as these words came out, Hao Ren and the terminal were dumbfounded. The latter stared at Hao Ren and whispered, "Damn it! Think of a name quickly!"

It seemed that even this thing knew that the words "data terminal" didn't sound like a person's name.

Hao Ren quickly started racking his brains to make up a name, but everyone knew his naming skills, which were as useless as Old Ge's second son under normal circumstances, let alone in such a tense moment. Before he could speak, the zombie terminal quickly interrupted in the spiritual connection: "Don't say anything, you can't count on you in this situation—let this unit think of one itself."

Nolan looked curiously at the two of them "exchanging glances." Just as she was a little confused, the zombie terminal suddenly opened her mouth: "Oh, oh, this unit... My name is Patty Ann, you can call me Patty."

Nolan said "oh" and didn't ask any further questions. Hao Ren asked the terminal in surprise in the spiritual connection: "You're good, how did you suddenly think of such a name?"

"pDA, duh."

Hao Ren: "...It's really simple, crude, and easy to understand."

The night grew darker, and soon it was time to rest. Nolan climbed into the car and took out a sleeping bag and a thermal plastic tarpaulin, and said while setting up, "Someone has to stay up tonight. You guys go to sleep first, I'll take the first watch."

Hao Ren looked at the starlight shining into the cave and waved to Nolan: "You go to sleep first, and... Patty and I will take a walk outside."

"At this time?" Nolan stopped what she was doing, "Wasting physical strength is not wise, especially wandering around in such an unfamiliar place after nightfall."

"Don't worry, I'm a professional too," Hao Ren said as he walked to the entrance of the cave, the zombie terminal limping along beside him, "I'm going to confirm the surrounding safety, nothing will happen—have you forgotten that short staff?"

Hao Ren said, pointing to the sentinel staff hanging on Nolan's waist: "I have something more powerful than this thing, I'll explain it to you when I have the chance."

Nolan looked at the mysterious weapon on her waist, and then remembered that Hao Ren also seemed to have a lot of secrets. But she still held back and didn't ask so many questions, just nodded: "Be careful."

After reaching a relatively open place outside the cave, the zombie terminal asked, "What are you going to do? You don't really plan to play comrades in life and death with this unit, do you?"

"I have to get you checked out after we go back. Your chip must have been burned out by this abnormal crossing," Hao Ren said as he looked up at the sky, "I'm going to go up and take a look—to see how big a range this world has simulated."