Chapter 1 Apathy and Trust

Mingmei was used to Guigui's silence—one feigned ignorance, the other didn't bother to ask.

After a long while, Mingmei suddenly chuckled helplessly, "Seriously, how did the players' stories get tangled up with me? What do they mean by saying that my selling crayfish bento boxes is making trouble for them?"

As she spoke, Mingmei raised her hand, looked at the electronic lock on her wrist, and muttered, "Although the game says that players' physiques are all default A-grade, except for the necessary settings... I'm not a player, though."

Mingmei muttered to herself, then clenched her hands into fists and exerted force. With a snap, she broke the electronic lock and stood up.

Guigui: [Host?!]

Was her host this powerful?

Guigui felt like it had been deceived.

Ever since it had been bound to Mingmei, it had often seen its host in a state of laziness. Although she was sometimes clever, that didn't mean she was violent.

In addition, the elders around its host often said how pitiful, weak, and cute its host was, even Guigui couldn't help but put a "pitiful, weak, and cute" filter on its host.

But now, it felt like that filter might be shattered.

"Hmm?"

Hearing Guigui's frightened shout, Mingmei immediately responded, completely unaware of the complex fluctuations in Guigui's heart.

[W-what are you going to do?]

"Save myself, of course." Mingmei spoke very calmly. Standing in front of the door, she flashed behind it the moment she opened it, just in time to see a laser beam shooting into the room.

Guigui: [!!!]

"So," Mingmei sighed, "if these trainees put as much effort into dealing with the Zerg as they do with me, things would be great."

Mingmei rolled her eyes secretly. After confirming that there were no more ambushes, she left the doorway.

[Host, where are we going?]

"To find a way to escape." Mingmei walked cautiously down the corridor, taking out a crayfish bento box and eating it. "I don't believe there's only one bug on this starship, I need to get out of here."

This was the only time Mingmei couldn't sit down and savor the bento box. Holding the box, she ate as she asked Guigui, "Tell me honestly, is this starship still in military service? Did it escape the disaster back then?"

[There are many transport starships of this type, but narrowing down the scope, this one should be out of service. It seems to have been reported missing.]

"Oh, so this starship really disappeared in history."

After receiving the news, Mingmei began to head towards the escape pod area on the lowest level. She was probably hidden on the lowest level of the starship, because Mingmei hadn't seen a single person, not even a bug.

Mingmei estimated that it had been less than a day since the starship left Sigma Military Fortress. The speed of the escape pod was naturally not as fast as the starship, but she could still make it back before the battle.

Mingmei thought, because it was a game, she wasn't afraid of death. What she wanted more was to witness everything firsthand.

What exactly happened at Sigma Military Fortress back then.

[Host, do you want to watch the livestreams of the other two players on the starship?]

"Switch to them. It can't be that I snatched the escape pod and no one else is running with me, right?"

…

Da Yao, who was trusted by Mingmei, naturally encountered Charlie, who looked "flustered."

"Hurry! There are Zerg below!"

Charlie ran towards her with a hint of embarrassment and panic.

"Zerg?"

As soon as she heard "Zerg," Da Yao couldn't sit still. There really were Zerg on this starship!?

[Ahhhhh! Lu Xiaoyao, run! He's a liar!]

[Ahhhhh, damn! Julian and Charlie, you two bastards, are pretending to be Zerg so well that you're not even letting the NPCs off!]

[Help! Lu Xiaoyao! Run!]

The barrage exploded when Charlie's face suddenly appeared in Lu Xiaoyao's camera.

Especially after the previous exchange between Charlie and Julian, their livestream audience had already confirmed that these two weren't good people but the legendary hidden Zerg!

"Yes! Zerg, so many, I barely escaped. There's no signal here either. Let's go to the escape pod area first…"

Before Charlie could finish his sentence, Da Yao fired a shot at his slowing footsteps, warning him to keep his distance.

"Why should I believe you?"

Da Yao's eyes darkened. She naturally recognized that Charlie was a player. So, where had he been all this time?

Why hadn't he come up to meet them and exchange information?

Meeting her suspicious gaze, Charlie calmly raised his hands, but his brow was furrowed with a sense of urgency as if he was being chased. He said, "I'm a logistics procurement personnel. I've been following the NPCs on the starship today, working. Then I discovered that they applied to enter the starport three days later."

"You should know that the time to reach the starport is at most two days, right? Therefore, I became suspicious of their actions and have been investigating this matter."

Charlie explained half-truthfully, his eyes looking at the laser gun in Da Yao's hand, subtly moving his feet towards Da Yao.

Then Charlie's tone became more urgent, "I even ate the businesswoman's crayfish bento box. I suspected there was something wrong with them, so I checked, and heavens, the NPCs in the logistics department are all hidden Zerg!"

"This time, they're leaving on the starship early to cut off supplies! By the way, to pave the way for the Zerg army that will attack later. When Sigma Military Fortress falls, they can tear open a hole and go straight to Changping Starport! We have to hurry back and report the news."

…

"Guigui, scan the escape pod to see if there's anything wrong."

Mingmei, who had found the escape pod area, naturally heard Charlie's persuasion of Da Yao through the livestream. Subconsciously, Mingmei suspected that there was something wrong with the escape pod.

[Host, the escape pod has been tampered with. Once it's ejected, it will automatically decompose and explode.]

Mingmei didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this, "So, this guy is reluctant to destroy such a big starship and wants to start with the escape pod?"

After saying it casually, Mingmei suddenly remembered something. One of the half-truths Charlie said might be true.

"That, Changping Starport has been doing well all this time, right?"

[Yes, Host.]

Hearing Guigui say this, Mingmei's eyes darkened. She had a bad feeling.

If her second brother hadn't held off the Zerg attack on the fortress back then, would this starship have done as Charlie said, with the Zerg planning to… directly attack and seize Changping Starport with a ship full of Zerg?

Thinking this, Mingmei moved her gaze to the livestream again. At this moment, Da Yao's gun was no longer pointed at Charlie.

However, Da Yao was ruthless.

"Before escaping, go destroy the starship's central control room. Since there are Zerg on this starship, just destroy it."

Da Yao was doing special things in special times. She didn't even bother to verify what Charlie said and directly asked him to destroy the starship's control room.

Hearing Da Yao's answer, Charlie's face changed slightly. He looked at Da Yao with disbelief and said, "There are Zerg there, am I not looking for death if I go? While they haven't discovered us, it's best for us to escape first. Otherwise, once we're discovered, the speed of the escape pod isn't as fast as the starship."

Hearing his words, Da Yao looked like she was thinking, her gaze still suspicious as she looked at him. After a few seconds of silence, she put down her gun and raised her chin, letting him lead the way.

Seeing her temporarily trusting act, the livestream was filled with roars of "Don't go!" from a certain instant noodle head.

The audience at this time wished they could crawl into Lu Xiaoyao's clothes and shout, "Wake up, Lu Xiaoyao!"

However, Charlie was careless. When he was leading Lu Xiaoyao, he said, "Fortunately, there are two escape pods. Later, we'll each take one and separate…"

Before Charlie could finish speaking, a sense of danger made him take an action…