Chapter 1 Can't You Think Before You Speak?

"Can't you think for a second before you open your mouth?"

Wang Dian gasped, watching his classmate Ye Qing apply medicine to him with a serious expression. Her words of concern resonated in his ears, stirring up ripples in his heart.

Uncontrollably, a blush crept up the young man's ears.

"I... I was doing it for their own good."

Remembering that he hadn't answered her question, Wang Dian, his face flushed, blurted out his thoughts.

"For their own good? How is it good to suggest to parents that they sign up their five or six-year-old kids for interstellar labor? They're letting you off easy by not beating you to death!"

Ye Qing was so exasperated by Wang Dian's lack of emotional intelligence that she almost poked him in the forehead.

He actually said that to the parents. If she were them, she would have slapped him across the face.

"If I don't say it, are we just going to wait for them to die? Ah!"

Wang Dian howled in pain as Ye Qing suddenly applied more pressure. Although he was telling the truth, his tactless way of saying it – suggesting that if they didn't sign up, the whole family would die – was unbearable!

"You're practically begging for a beating." Ye Qing glared at him. "Everyone knows things aren't going to be good this time!

Don't be fooled by all the flowery language online about establishing a wonderful friendship with aliens… if that were true, the TV news wouldn't be worded like that."

These days, anyone in H country with half a brain wouldn't blindly believe anything they saw online.

So, Wang Dian's attempt to persuade people to volunteer, especially children, was like pouring oil on the fire.

He might as well just ask for a head injury!

"Then what do you suggest? I see those kids, so young. Are we just… are we just going to let them die in this disaster?"

Wang Dian was genuinely anxious. After all, as a kindergarten teacher, he had spent so many days with these children. It was impossible not to feel something for them!

"I know what I said wasn't nice, but I don't have time, and I don't know how to persuade them!"

This sense of powerlessness, knowing something was going to happen but being completely unable to prevent it, left Wang Dian, in his role as a kindergarten teacher, feeling withdrawn and depressed every day after dropping the kids off at home.

He couldn't think of any solutions.

He even had terrible nightmares when he slept. Ye Qing, on the other hand, calmly watched him vent his emotions before speaking.

"Feeling calmer?"

Wang Dian didn't speak, but it was clear that he was still emotionally unstable.

However, he sensed that the person in front of him was also unhappy, so he silently swallowed the words he wanted to say.

"It's not your fault that you can't convince them. Don't think too highly of yourself. The torrent of history will never stop for the sake of one person's strength."

As Ye Qing spoke, she silently put away the medicine kit in front of her and added, "Our game mission is just to try to help more people survive this disaster, not to turn the tide and prevent it."

"But… can't we really stop it?"

"Who knows? You can try."

Ye Qing looked at his stubborn expression and sighed. She didn't deny his idea, but she didn't think it would succeed.

In this game, most players were assigned the roles of ordinary people. She couldn't quite figure out what the game designer was trying to do.

"By the way, did… did you sign up? I heard a lot of people signed up this time, and they're going to have to screen a bunch of them."

Wang Dian was at the registration desk when he got beaten up. Some students and parents happened to be passing by with their children, and when the children greeted him, he said that in passing.

And then he got beaten up.

It seemed like some bystanders joined in too =. =

Clearly, what he said was very annoying at the time.

"I didn't sign up."

Suddenly, Ye Qing's words startled Wang Dian.

"Why?"

"I'm curious."

"Curious?"

"I haven't personally experienced the destruction of a planet before."

"Are you crazy?"

Wang Dian stared at Ye Qing in disbelief. He suddenly felt like he didn't recognize her.

How could this gentle girl say something so… so cold?

Not even sparing herself?

"No, it's not like we lose points if we don't clear this game. I've saved up over a hundred points from my previous games, so this time I just want to do what I want."

Ye Qing just smiled at Wang Dian's question.

She looked at the heavy snow falling outside the window and said, "I heard my grandmother say that the planet she grew up on was destroyed just like this. Overnight, the Zerg swept through. My grandmother had only gone to another planet to study, and her hometown was gone.

She used to talk to me about her hometown all the time. My grandmother was also a painter, and she spent her whole life painting, painting the scenery of her hometown, painting the hometown she remembered, the hometown in her heart.

I never understood…"

And hurt an old woman's heart for it.

Once, she accompanied her grandmother to see that devastated planet, and as an ignorant child, she cried and asked her grandmother why she lied, why she said such an ugly planet was beautiful.

Her grandmother, on the day she died, was still thinking about the beautiful, vibrant planet in her memory.

[Qingqing, I think I see my hometown…]

…

"Wow! I got in!"

On the other side, Mingmei was in her room, looking at her phone, when Lu Xiaoyao's excited voice suddenly pierced through the thick walls and reached her ears.

She didn't look up and continued to look at the text message on her phone.

It turned out to be a text message about her selection for the first phase of the Space Labor Program.

Without her asking, she understood what Lu Xiaoyao was so excited about.

Sure enough, in less than a minute, Lu Xiaoyao rushed over to knock on her door. She was even more excited when she confirmed with Mingmei that they had both been selected.

She was even excited for Mingmei, and Mingmei just watched.

It was quite tiring to jump around excitedly like that, Lu Xiaoyao thought.

"The notice says to bring our ID cards and luggage to the designated meeting point tomorrow. That's so fast."

After the excitement, the two studied the contents of the text message, and Lu Xiaoyao quickly discovered new information.

"If nothing else, we'll be there the day after tomorrow at the latest." Mingmei pointed to the steel behemoth in the sky outside the window.

Lu Xiaoyao turned to look in that direction, thought for a moment, and then turned back to Mingmei and said, "Meimei, do you think it's possible for us to go up there and kill those space pirates?"

Mingmei blinked and thought for a moment before slowly saying, "First of all, the physical strength of the Gu Lan people isn't as high as you think."

"Well, don't the space pirates provide gene modification? I believe we can do it!" Lu Xiaoyao wasn't afraid at all and was full of anticipation. "I'll wipe them all out then! Ah, right, I wonder how many space pirates there are on this starship. What if there are too many? There won't be hundreds of thousands of them, will there?"

Lu Xiaoyao suddenly realized this problem. "Definitely! This starship can hold so many people, so they must have a lot of people themselves, right?"

"Not necessarily." Mingmei interrupted Lu Xiaoyao's wild thoughts. "What do you think it would feel like to face a million ants alone?"

"I think they could eat me alive."

Mingmei: "…"

That wasn't what she meant _(：3」∠)_

Perhaps Mingmei's speechless expression was too obvious. After saying that, Lu Xiaoyao laughed sheepishly, "Uh, just me alone, I really can't handle that many ants."

Mingmei: "…"

That wasn't what she meant either.

"Uh, uh, I understand. You mean that in their eyes, we're as insignificant as little bugs, no matter how many of us there are."

Just as Mingmei was about to give her a dead-eyed stare, Lu Xiaoyao finally understood what Mingmei meant, but the next second she said, "That's right! They'll regret looking down on us sooner or later! After all, a million ants are really scary."

Mingmei: "…"

Was that what she was trying to say?