Chapter 1 The Million

So, this is what it means when thirty out of a million survive?

Mingmei followed the group of just over three hundred people—the survivors from the twenty thousand who had undergone genetic modification—down the corridor inside the starship. As they walked, others with similar experiences joined them from different directions.

They all seemed badly shaken.

Among the group were those with vacant eyes, those filled with anger and sorrow, and many who were simply traumatized.

As Mingmei rounded a corner, she encountered Lu Xiaoyao and Zhen Po, who had separated from her earlier. Both Lu Xiaoyao and Zhen Po were covered in blood, their luggage bags stained at the bottom.

Even when Mingmei raised a hand to greet them, they barely turned their eyes, their reactions dulled.

"What happened?"

Although Mingmei suspected they were affected by the earlier events, she felt compelled to say something to bring them back to their senses, seeing their glazed expressions.

"Just now… Wang Dian… exploded."

Lu Xiaoyao widened her eyes, staring at Mingmei. Her eyes were filled with terror as she described how Wang Dian’s head had split open before them, starting from the scar he had.

The image made Lu Xiaoyao tremble uncontrollably.

The scene replayed in her mind over and over, and she couldn't seem to stop it!

She grabbed Mingmei's wrist, seeking a bit of strength. Mingmei gripped her hand in return and asked, "What are you planning to do now?"

Hearing this, a fierce glint flashed in Lu Xiaoyao's eyes as she looked toward the robot leading the way. She was about to say something when another commotion erupted in the crowd.

Someone turned and ran back!

"I want to go home! I can't stay here; people will die, people will die!"

The person ran while muttering, weaving through the crowd, as if the robot in the lead wouldn't notice.

Some stood in place, unsure what to do. Others paused, watching the fleeing figure, and some were tempted to become the second or third to escape.

Unexpectedly, several bright, thin lines suddenly appeared along the long corridor they had just traversed.

"Aren't those cutting particle beams set up at the bottom entrance to prevent invaders from entering the starship? This starship's configuration is too good, right?"

Zhen Po recognized them at a glance.

"The starship in our last game didn't even have this feature."

Just after they spoke, they watched in horror as the fleeing person ran through the particle beams and was instantly torn apart, collapsing into a pile of flesh.

Seeing this outcome, no one else dared to think of escaping. There was no turning back now.

Turning back around, the group continued onward. Mingmei could hear faint sobs from the crowd.

Some wept over the aliens' ill intentions, while others cursed the government for its secrecy and deceit.

Hearing this, some people in the crowd frowned.

"Anyone with a brain would know this wasn't a good place, right?"

Lu Xiaoyao couldn't help but speak up. "If you had used your brain a bit and looked at the news anchors' expressions, you would have known the government's attitude. But these guys are too powerful. If we had said anything directly, who knows if any of us would have survived?"

When Lu Xiaoyao was in line, she saw many older people signing up, saying they wanted to see the world. When they saw young people signing up, they tried to dissuade them. The look in their eyes made it clear that this was a one-way trip.

"But you're here too!"

The person who had been complaining earlier, hearing Lu Xiaoyao's retort, was ready to vent the resentment in their heart. They wouldn't dare curse the aliens or robots to their faces, but they could surely curse this seemingly weak girl in front of them, right?

Thinking this, the person began to berate Lu Xiaoyao. But this time, others didn't stand by idly. People quickly "pulled" them apart.

They gently pulled Lu Xiaoyao, but when it came to the other person, they were roughly pulled away, and someone even stuck out a foot and tripped them.

It was clear who was more hated.

The person who had been tripped was about to curse, but when they looked up, they were met with the murderous gazes of several burly men who had surrounded them.

0.0 Quiet as a chicken.

After more bumps along the way, everyone finally arrived at their destination: the slave quarters.

The so-called slave quarters were mentioned in the materials some of them had read about star pirates and the places where they held captured slaves.

Normal starships didn't have such places.

They were formed through modifications.

It was still a large, empty space, with one wall marked for water and food. However, according to the educational materials they had previously studied, it was mostly just water.

There was food, but not much. Just enough to keep you from starving.

"Once you've been captured and made a slave, don't even think about human rights. You're not even human then. In their eyes, you're just livestock."

The teacher had mentioned this when discussing the chaos of the outer stars and the star pirates' and underground black market's human trafficking.

Regarding the slaves captured by star pirates.

"They just cram them together, giving each person a tiny space. You don't even have room to sit or lie down; they just make you stand there, wearing you down."

Mingmei's mind recalled what the teacher had said in class. She saw that the robots were indeed filling the space with people until the density reached a certain point. Then, it stopped letting people in, turned around, and took the remaining people to another place.

At that moment, Mingmei noticed that several people had taken advantage of the robot’s blind spot at the moment it turned around and slipped away...

That person's back...

Mingmei hadn't recovered from seeing the backs of the people who had left when the door to the space closed again.

She seemed to have seen Mu Chen.

If it was indeed Mu Chen, then his absence must be for some mission.

Mingmei quickly understood this, withdrew her gaze, and turned her attention back to the room, observing the various reactions of the group that had just been "reborn."

Most of the ordinary people who had been selected were now in a state of mental collapse.

Having dared not to shout, cry, or resist earlier, they could finally wail loudly now that the situation seemed to have temporarily settled down.

"Waaah, have we been sold?"

"How could this happen? Weren't we supposed to have friendly relations?"

"Waaah, I knew these things weren't good! Why did I sign up for this like a fool?"

Mingmei crossed her arms, slung her backpack over one shoulder, and watched the people weeping and wailing without saying a word. There were others in the room, too.

Some were infected by the emotions and wept loudly, some sobbed quietly, and some, like Mingmei had observed earlier, seemed to have come prepared with a mission, standing without saying a word, their faces grim and their eyes fixed on the door that had just closed.

As if waiting for something.

But whatever they were waiting for, Mingmei thought, it was probably just the group that had quietly left earlier.

...

"Are you really not leaving with us?"

On the other side, Mu Chen and Hu Yue, at the entrance of the last slave quarters, had exploited a weakness in this model of robot and completely dismantled its circuit board.

Next, the robot's disappearance would surely raise some suspicion, and people or other robots would be sent to investigate. They just had to wait quietly.

"I need to go to the starship's control room."

"Holy crap, are you crazy? The main control room is..."

"It's the maintenance area, not the main control room."

Mu Chen shook his head. After their starship had been modified by the robots, Mu Chen had followed Gudelian, a specialist in mech and starship repair, all over the place.

The other man had told him a lot about starship maintenance. Whether it was a large starship, a small combat starship, or a starship for carrying people and goods, they all had special entrances for maintenance.

Although hidden, these entrances were easy to find for students specializing in starship maintenance.

Unfortunately for them, Mu Chen, with his incredible memory, had remembered everything Gudelian had said.

"What are you going to do? You don't want to sabotage this starship, do you? If you destroy it, then if something happens…"

Hu Yue seemed to think the other man was going to take action, which was unacceptable.

They were counting on escaping quickly when the Zerg arrived. If he destroyed the starship, how would they escape?

"Cut off some unnecessary defensive systems. How long do you think it will take the star pirates to realize something is wrong with what you're doing? And after they find out and come to capture you, how many of you can escape? On the way, haven’t you learned enough from what happened to that person earlier?"

What Mu Chen said made sense to the NPCs who were following along and were not players. But they were puzzled by one thing: "Why do you know so much?"

"I'm good with computers; I hacked their system."

Mu Chen said this without batting an eye. Anyway, the NPCs couldn't just stop him like that, right?

Sure enough, after hearing Mu Chen's outrageous explanation, the other man nodded in agreement and even praised Mu Chen for being amazing.

Hu Yue looked at the other man as if he had seen a ghost!

No way?

That works?

Are you exploiting a bug here?

The thing was, Mu Chen wasn't the only one exploiting a bug.

On Mingmei's side, she was carrying her insulated lunchbox and noticed that everyone else's luggage was stained with blood, while she, it seemed, was untouched.

She looked down at the bottom of her shoes, then at the others' shoes. It seemed she really didn't have anything on hers.

[Why?]

[Because you're an NPC this round! Have you forgotten? Don't forget you're not a person just because you've been playing with them for too long, right? An NPC's image can't be changed so easily.]

Mingmei: ??

Are you calling me names?

[So, are you saying that as a mysterious merchant NPC, I don't have to follow these rules?]

[What…what rules are you referring to?]

Gui Gui suddenly had a bad feeling.

[Like leaving here? It's embarrassing for a boxed lunch seller to be trapped in one place. And also, the star pirates shouldn't do anything to me, right?]

Gui Gui: ???

Mingmei was met with Gui Gui's long silence. After a while, Gui Gui finally spoke slowly: [Host, are you trying to exploit a bug here?]