Chapter 1 The Beginning

Qilan Star, night.

"Achoo!"

Yan Hui, working in his new office, thoughtfully surveyed his surroundings, then silently opened the office environment control interface for a glance.

"I thought so."

Seeing that the environment settings were different from those of his previous office, Yan Hui smacked his forehead, realizing his oversight.

The climate of Qilan Star was already drier than that of Hua Lan Star, with greater temperature differences between day and night. Although he had set the most suitable living environment, the default setting was still for the local inhabitants.

Yan Hui silently readjusted the office environment to the same temperature and humidity as in Hua Lan Star. Then, he stood up, put his hands behind his back, and looked up at the sky through the floor-to-ceiling window.

The night sky of Qilan Star was a magnificent dark purple, with a long, bright band of the Milky Way illuminating the surrounding dark purple sky. The layered purple sky dotted with sparkling stars was truly beautiful.

If only there were fewer combat starships flying in the sky.

"Number Two, has anything been happening on Qilan Star recently?"

Yan Hui queried his artificial intelligence, only to be told that everything on Qilan Star was normal.

"Is it normal for combat starships to be flying around in the sky like that?"

Yan Hui found it absurd. He knew that the Sixth Legion was a battle-crazed group, but this was too much, wasn't it?

[Master, if we calculate based on time, Miss Mingmei and the others should be arriving at the Sixth Legion soon. According to information gathered from the Star Network and special channels, the newcomers will receive "special treatment." Qilan Star will likely be a special area for this treatment.]

Number Two told Yan Hui in its emotionless voice about the possible situations Mingmei and the others might encounter. Late at night, Yan Hui looked at the starry sky with red wine in hand, listening to the Sixth Legion's hazing of the newcomers.

He seemed to recall the game he had designed for Hu Mingli. Didn't it also have a special welcome for newcomers?

Was that game difficult?

Yan Hui thought about it, but couldn't quite remember.

He stroked his chin, recalling that Hu Mingli's advertisement had brought him a lot of orders from the legions for escape games. What game had he designed for Hu Mingli in the first place?

Hmm…

He'd forgotten!

…

"I found it so strange when I signed up today. So many old people! I stood out like a sore thumb."

When Lu Xiaoyao mentioned this in the evening, Mingmei realized that she wasn't the only one who had encountered this.

"They must have seen the difficulty too. Those guys above us aren't good people." Mingmei looked at the starships looming over them through the balcony window, her tone somewhat heavy. "Although 1 million isn't a lot for H country's nearly eight billion people, but…"

Listening to Mingmei's words, Lu Xiaoyao also sighed.

"Those who see the trick don't want to go, and those who don't are pressured by those who do. But someone has to go in the end."

Mingmei stated the cruel reality.

"I saw the information on the outer net. The quota there is 200,000."

Out of the entire Blue Star, the first batch of slaves for the space pirates totaled 1.2 million, but out of Blue Star’s population of forty billion, one million of them came solely from H country.

Everyone could see that they were being targeted.

This wasn't a matter of showing national power by sending more people.

"Those idiots are still complaining about unfairness, saying why so many people have to come from here." Mingmei snorted coldly. She wasn't interested in knowing the results of the upper echelons' negotiations.

Because of this, Mingmei suddenly admired people like Hu Mingli and her second brother.

"But is this a blessing in disguise?"

Lu Xiaoyao also wore a bitter face. These numbers weighed heavily on her chest, making it hard to breathe. She kept trying to think of the good side of things, her eyes darting around as she spoke, searching for something.

As if she could find something to focus on to convince herself of what she was saying.

"No matter what, we have to survive first."

Mingmei's gaze finally landed on the news on television, which mentioned genetic modification for overseas workers…

"Hey, you didn't let me go yesterday, so what do you think you're doing, signing up behind my back and Mom's?"

"Then what do you think you were doing at the registration point?!"

Zhen Po was currently in the middle of another huge argument at home.

He had ultimately decided to sign up first, and then use the remaining time to persuade his family to join him. But he hadn't expected to run into his father.

"So what! I'm going because it's a work requirement, what do you need to go for? You're doing so well as a teacher, are you going to teach alien robots?!"

The man glared at Zhen Po, offering no explanation for his actions today, only glaring at Zhen Po, unwilling to even let his wife touch his outstretched hand.

Today, he and his son had to hash things out properly.

"Then what about you? Aren't you just drinking tea in the office every day, counting down the time until retirement? What work requires you to go?"

He had originally wanted to say that since his father had signed up, it would be great if he and his mother could go together as a family. But what happened?

His father had flown into a rage the moment he saw him signing up.

The two had argued all the way home, and now, Zhen Po had forgotten his original intention, insisting on arguing about who had the right to go.

The father and son argued red-faced, until his father couldn't help but roar, "If that place was really so good, why wouldn't the higher-ups encourage ordinary people to go instead of asking us to sign up first?!"

"I know, that's…"

Zhen Po suddenly lost his words at his father's roar. When his father pointed out that the space pirates weren't good people, all his previous "deceptive" words lost their effect.

"You—both signed up?"

At that moment, the mother, who had been standing aside, spoke softly, interrupting them. The father and son were suddenly startled, then exchanged a look, seeing the guilt in each other's eyes.

They seemed to have forgotten that his mom (wife) was there.

The father and son slowly turned their heads to look at the only woman in the house, their previous momentum instantly weakening.

Scared.jpg

The father and son had been arguing fiercely, neither willing to give in. But now, facing the only person in the family who seemed unaware of everything, they both felt a deep sense of guilt.

"Since you've both signed up, count me in."

…

"The public reaction is huge, with over a hundred million people signing up."

Looking at the data compiled on the computer, Mu Chen and his colleagues felt no emotion despite the astonishing number.

A large portion of these people would be screened out.

"We need to select young people, people from all walks of life…we need people from all professions."

Mu Chen looked at the compiled data, made a decision, then stood up and said, "Screen them like this for now. I'll report the situation to the higher-ups."

History didn't say what kind of people those three hundred thousand were. But now that they were in the game, at this point in time, and he knew that everyone would have to start from scratch, he would try his best to select people from different professions…