Chapter 1 Making Games

"Making a game requires a lot of reference material. Back when I was making this game, I was busy for a long time."

More than a month had passed in the game, but only a few hours had passed outside. After Hu Mingli and Yan Hui drank and dined, finishing their "candlelight dinner," the two even carried two portions of spicy hot pot and beer back to the office to continue eating and chatting.

"Is that so?" However, Hu Mingli felt that what he said was exaggerated.

Because this person's whereabouts this year could be considered very transparent. What he was doing at different times was basically known. He said he spent a long time, but it was unknown how long a long time was.

"Yes, I really can't stand it. I used to have a dedicated plot planner, so I didn't have to worry about these things. But later… her daughter… was troublesome, so she went home to take care of her child."

Hu Mingli couldn't help but laugh when he heard Yan Hui's complaint. A quick investigation of the other party's information would reveal that the plot planner he was talking about was the famous Federation film director Durant.

"Isn't it enough that he retired to work for you for more than ten years? It is said that many scripts afterward were also written by him for you."

"You know quite a bit."

Yan Hui glanced at Hu Mingli, knowing that the other party must have investigated his affairs a lot. Hu Mingli met his gaze and, seeing that Yan Hui didn't seem angry, continued, "Not really, it's just that your reputation is quite big in our circle."

The two grandsons of Prime Minister Mori, who were so young at the time, were attacked by the Zerg, leaving only half of their bodies alive and on the verge of death. Their bodies were quickly restored using cell culture technology, but their damaged mental power was nurtured by his game, otherwise, they might have been vegetables.

Yan Hui's technology was not a secret in their circle, but it was said that the requirements for this technology were very strict, and not everyone could be "resurrected" in this way.

If he could entrust everything to Yan Hui, he wouldn't be able to come and go here freely.

"Hmph~ Not bad." Yan Hui picked up the spicy hot pot and took a bite, frowned slightly after tasting it, and silently put it down. "Actually, you could also join Xiaoshi Spicy Hot Pot."

The taste here was still quite different from the shop opened by Sister Mei.

Being led astray by the other party, Hu Mingli didn't follow his words and only said, "This game of yours is very bold, especially in making bold guesses about the origins of those who were kidnapped in the beginning."

In Hu Mingli's impression, the star pirates had done a lot of things like raiding a place and forcibly taking slaves. There were also those who focused on early persuasion, as he said, but his story also rose to the issue of the "internal strife" of Old Blue Star, which was very unbelievable.

"Ah, I flipped through a lot of books about the past history at that time. You know, Old Blue Star still likes paper books. Hualan Star still retains paper offline libraries to this day.

There are many materials and books that have not been scanned into electronic versions for external distribution. If you go, you will see many interesting books."

Some things that were once not said to outsiders were also mentioned more or less in those books.

"If none of them are electronically preserved, once an accident occurs and they are damaged or lost… after all, Hualan Star is already being targeted by the Zerg, isn't it?"

"So, Hualan Star will not back down even more in the face of the Zerg. Weakness will be bullied and plundered. Only by being strong can they protect everything they want to protect. Their descriptions of the destruction of Old Blue Star in their books…"

Yan Hui raised his head, squinting, recalling the scenes described in the books he had read—

"It said that a group of people were crowded in a small, airtight room. Suddenly, the starship shook violently, and the entire starship's energy system seemed to fail, and all the lights went out.

The only source of light was a little bit of light from their planet outside the window. Everyone squeezed and pressed, their faces were deformed, and they still crowded towards the window, watching as the starship carrying them began to move away from the blue planet, while a ferocious 'monster' appeared on the other side of the blue planet.

Soon, they saw the blue planet visibly turn gray and white…"

"So they were really tricked into going up there because of a conspiracy?"

"Yes. In order to avoid more casualties, they chose to sacrifice themselves. The relatives of everyone who participated and stayed on the planet received a generous bonus.

They also thought about attacking the star pirates, taking the risk, but when most of them died or were injured after genetic modification, their plan stagnated."

Yan Hui recalled that among the survivors of Old Blue Star, there seemed to be a general who vaguely mentioned these things when he dictated them to the compiler. It was also because of this clue that he dared to boldly use his imagination in the plot of this game.

…

"Currently, all the gene agents have been cleared."

Guderian and his group of players who first boarded the starship were now firmly in control of the entire starship's management. After another week of screening, everyone boarded the starship and underwent genetic modification. They finally reached the final step.

"This batch of gene agents has successfully modified a total of 438,921 people. Among them, 21 people have not returned. Currently, 11 of the 21 people have confirmed that they have given up returning, and the other 10 are already on their way back and should all be able to board the starship tonight."

Faced with the extra hundreds of thousands of numbers, everyone felt happy, but then they couldn't hide their sadness.

Although Hu Yue had accepted that they could no longer save more people, she couldn't help but look at the blue planet below.

Two days ago, she saw Qi Hai Kui, who had successfully undergone genetic modification, but when the other party looked at her, the flickering look in her eyes made Hu Yue instinctively feel a bad premonition.

Finally, when she learned that Li Yuan had not survived the genetic modification, Hu Yue's mind went blank for a moment.

She knew this was a game, but she didn't expect Li Yuan to quit the game like this.

Before, she had heard Zhen Po say that some of the players who came up with them didn't survive the genetic modification. At that time, she didn't take it seriously and thought it was just a probability.

When this happened to her own people, she felt that she was really broken.

And now, after everything had settled, she stood by the window and looked at Old Blue Star below the starship, the melancholy in her heart was really hard to erase.

"Who are those 11 people?"

Someone asked curiously. Guderian and the others also generously pulled out the information of those who had given up their identities.

Most of them gave up for reasons such as family and loved ones, but a few others were—

"Ah, why did this big brother give up?!"

Lu Xiaoyao shouted first, and everyone who saw the person in the information that Lu Xiaoyao was surprised about was also shocked.

This person had fought with them a week ago.

Among the NPCs, he was a super-skilled one, wearing a military police uniform, with bright eyes and a righteous look in his ID photo, which was no different from when he stood in front of them.

"Why would he leave?"

Lu Xiaoyao couldn't understand, and neither could the others.

Guderian silently opened his mouth and said, "He asked me about some things before he left."

"Hmm?"

This time, Mingmei also looked over. What did that NPC ask Guderian to do?

"He asked me if the mecha in the starship could be opened."

"Damn, what does he want to do?"

Everyone almost forgot that there were still several mecha in this starship.

Although they were not A-class, they were also B-class mecha with good performance.

"He said… he wanted to fight for his country to the last moment."

Knowing that it was a path with no future, the other party still chose to leave.

As soon as these words came out, the surroundings instantly became quiet. Someone cleared his throat and said, "Then did you give him permission?"

"Yes, I gave it to him, and I also taught him the basic operations. As for the others…" Guderian sighed, he couldn't teach much in such a short time.

Moreover, he was not the kind of combat mecha personnel, so there was really not much he could teach.

"He, is that NPC also a historical figure?"

Mingmei now suspected that any abnormal NPC or one that brought them a great shock was a great figure in the history of Hualan Star, but this time Mu Chen shook his head. He clearly remembered that in the memoirs of Hualan Star's historical records, there was no such person among those who participated and left information.

However, there was another one who never showed up.

But—Mu Chen raised his eyes and looked at the other players in the corner who came up in the second screening. They were not screened but directly "recommended."

One of them seemed to be related to another NPC who never appeared here.

[I am very lucky and honored to see the birth of Hualan Star, but I also regretted it. In my long life, I did not have time to accompany my wife well, to give enough education when my children were naughty, and to say goodbye to them in this way…

I don't think I am a born great person either. If I had known everything in advance, I think I would have given up these and sent my children away.]

Ji Junyuan was excited when he first boarded the starship, until he didn't wait for the person who sent them here, and then he realized that the person had given up the opportunity and sent himself and his friends up…

Ye Qing leaned against the starship and stared blankly out the window, ignoring Ji Junyuan, who was always following behind her, crying and almost turning into a crybaby.

She ultimately did not stand on that planet to experience the entire process of destruction, and she became an observer once again.

It's just that this time her experience has indeed deepened.

The sound of crying around her, even when she arrived at the control room full of players, the cries of those NPCs still poured into her ears.

The sadness of leaving home and the imminent separation from loved ones made her heart always feel blocked.

"Grandma…"

Pressing her head against the glass, Ye Qing whispered softly and closed her eyes.

Time passed quickly. After the last person who successfully underwent genetic modification returned to the starship, Guderian manipulated the starship to fly up.

Unlike the panicked departure when the Zerg appeared in history, they left Old Blue Star earlier. Before leaving, Guderian even preserved a complete three-dimensional image of Old Blue Star.

"Where are we going next? What else do we need to do?"

Driving the starship, Guderian habitually asked Mu Chen, who was standing silently beside him.

"Send a distress signal to the Empire."

Guderian was only slightly surprised when Mu Chen said this, but he quickly understood and even looked at Mu Chen with a knowing gaze.

Mingmei was also a little curious and didn't understand where Mu Chen had hit the other party's point.

"Why not ask the Federation for help?"

Although everyone present was from the Empire and felt that it was understandable for Mu Chen to mention the Empire at this time, why not look for the Federation just in case?

Wouldn't it be better to have two backups?

If one didn't come, there was still another one.

"The star pirates don't have the ability to have such a starship themselves." Mu Chen didn't say it directly, but gave such a sentence.

Not everyone present was stupid. Hearing this and the meaning of the other party's words just now, what else was there not to know?

"Damn? Is this recorded in the history of Hualan Star?" Another player also instantly realized what Mu Chen meant and widened his eyes incredulously. "Is this something that can be said?"

"Damn, the Federation and the star pirates…?"

The other players were also afraid of getting into trouble with their words. How could such a thing be directly explained in the game!

"Yes."

Mu Chen nodded directly. Lu Xiaoyao couldn't help but gasp. It was too bold to say it directly, wasn't it?

"Is this also recorded in the history of Old Blue Star? Or is it just your own guess? What if this starship is not from the Federation…"

"You wouldn't want to say it's from the Empire, would you?"

One player questioned, but he didn't expect that he would question the Empire. How could that be allowed?

"I didn't mean that…" The player probably realized that what he said seemed inappropriate and quickly looked at Mu Chen, the person who first turned the topic to this.

"First of all, the source of this starship." As Mu Chen spoke, he directly asked the expert on this matter, Guderian, to explain. Although many people present had discovered the problem with the starship, they only knew some superficial things.

For example, the star pirates' ability to get this starship might be the result of reaching an agreement with a certain force.

After hearing Guderian talk about the origin and history of this starship, as well as the detailed records of each starship's service and retirement in the Empire over the past few hundred years,

And according to what happened when Old Blue Star was, these starships were all in service. Because each legion in the Empire only had one, they treated it like a treasure. There was no information about any losses or robberies at that time. No matter how you looked at it, it wouldn't come from the Empire.

"But, actually, I was wondering if it could be a mistake by the game planner?"

However, Guderian didn't dare to say it for sure. If it wasn't the Empire, they couldn't directly say it was the Federation, could they?

Guderian looked at Mu Chen nervously, wanting to see if Mu Chen had anything else to say, but Mingmei silently added from the side, "If there are no problems next, why do you think our game hasn't ended yet?"

Everyone: ???

Your answer is very incisive!