Chapter 1 The Afternoon

Afternoon.

Lu Zhiyao and Zhu Xiaoce arrived at the studio.

This was the same Jingzhou studio where they had filmed "A Better Tomorrow." Lu Zhiyao and the rest of the crew were already very familiar with it.

The staff were already busy setting up the scenery and props.

Some of the sets and props were clearly from "A Better Tomorrow." Since they were both science fiction, they could be slightly modified and reused.

However, compared to "A Better Tomorrow," this movie had more large-scale scenes and physical props, so the preliminary preparation work would be more extensive.

"Director Zhu, are you sure we can start filming now?" Lu Zhiyao looked at the busy staff and the chaotic set, feeling confused.

Zhu Xiaoce nodded. "Of course, we can start filming today. Let's try a set of shots first."

Lu Zhiyao was somewhat bewildered. "But the scenery and props aren't ready yet..."

"And what about the actors? I haven't even met the other main actors yet."

"It can't just be me acting awkwardly, right?"

Zhu Xiaoce smiled slightly. "It's okay, you have more scenes, and they've all been arranged for you. We'll prepare on two fronts. We'll film your scenes first, and then prepare the scenery and props while filming."

Lu Zhiyao fell silent.

For some reason, he felt like he was being tricked.

Continuing inside, Zhu Xiaoce led Lu Zhiyao to a room full of green screens. "Most of the scenes will be filmed here."

"As for what the specific scene is... take a look at this concept drawing. It's drawn very clearly."

Zhu Xiaoce pulled up a concept drawing from his phone and handed it to Lu Zhiyao.

Lu Zhiyao reached out and took it.

From the drawing, it seemed to be the interior of a spaceship in a science fiction setting. The furnishings were very simple, with only a single sleep pod and a large console.

The console had a huge screen and several smaller screens, as well as a single seat similar to a spaceship pilot's seat. In front of the seat was a large touch screen, a hemispherical instrument, and some buttons of various colors.

Lu Zhiyao turned to look at the filming location and found that there was only a finished operating platform, a single seat, and a single sleep pod. These must have been made by the props team in the past few days. All the other sets were green screens.

"Director Zhu, this..."

Lu Zhiyao looked bewildered.

When filming "A Better Tomorrow," at least the whole room was a ready-made set.

But now, in the new movie, everything had turned into green screens?

Although these things could be solved with special effects, and the more money spent, the better the special effects, the authenticity would be better with ready-made props and sets.

Could it be... Director Zhu was deliberately making more green screen special effects to scam President Pei out of money?

Of course, Lu Zhiyao couldn't ask so directly. He cleared his throat twice and said, "Director Zhu, can't we just use the stuff from 'A Better Tomorrow'? Anyway, they're both science fiction, so we should be able to modify it, right?"

Zhu Xiaoce smiled. "We can. The sleep pod and the operating platform you see were modified urgently using the props from 'A Better Tomorrow'. Otherwise, why do you think we could make them so quickly?"

"As for why the outside scenery is all green screen, it's obviously because there will be a lot of special effects here to achieve a special display effect."

"What effect specifically... don't worry, you'll know later."

"Take a look at the first part of the script first."

Zhu Xiaoce said, taking out a few sheets of paper from his bag and handing them to Lu Zhiyao.

Lu Zhiyao reached out and took them, quickly browsing through them from beginning to end.

"That's it?" Lu Zhiyao looked confused. The content on these few sheets of paper was disjointed and a bit incomprehensible.

Zhu Xiaoce smiled slightly. "Didn't I tell you before that we'll film it section by section? I won't give you the whole script. This way, you can better understand the protagonist's feelings in the movie."

"Alright, find a place to sit first, put on makeup and change clothes, and memorize this scene's script. I'll go outside and arrange their work."

Lu Zhiyao nodded. "Okay, Director Zhu. Should I wear a space suit or an exoskeleton?"

He heard that this was a space war theme, so he would definitely have to wear a cool space combat suit, right?

For some reason, he was a little bit excited.

Although things like exoskeletons would be very heavy and tiring to wear, they looked cool!

"No need, just change into this." Zhu Xiaoce called the costume designer and makeup artist over. The costume designer was holding a very ordinary set of dark gray fitted t-shirts and pants.

Lu Zhiyao: "..."

"Director Zhu, are you sure I'm wearing this? Is there a problem?"

Zhu Xiaoce smiled slightly. "No problem, just wear this. If you don't understand, just read the script again."

Lu Zhiyao was helpless and silently read the script again.

...

In the sleep pod, there was first a close-up.

Qin Yi's eyes were tightly closed, but his eyeballs were moving rapidly. His eyebrows were also frequently furrowing, and fine beads of sweat were seeping out of his forehead. He seemed to be experiencing a terrible nightmare.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open!

His eyeballs were bloodshot, and his eyes were filled with horror.

The camera quickly pulled up, the sleep pod automatically opened, and Qin Yi sat up, his chest heaving. He pressed his hand to his forehead and took a long time to recover.

Countless terrifying memories flooded in. Qin Yi subconsciously looked at his right forearm. There was a hideous wound that completely pierced his arm, almost tearing it apart, but it had already scabbed over.

He vaguely remembered that it was when he was deep in the Zerg nest and wanted to use a pistol to destroy the miniature reactor through the gap in his combat suit, but he failed. The wound was left by the Zerg's chitinous claws.

"I'm still alive?"

Qin Yi felt lost. He thought he had died in the Zerg nest.

But then, the scenes before his death flooded into his mind.

Xu Kaile, Meng Yu, Zhao Yongxiu, Wu Shaojun... All the members of the As-371-45 squad except Qin Yi had died in the Zerg nest.

He still remembered their voices and smiles, but in the blink of an eye, they were gone forever.

However, Qin Yi quickly broke free from this painful emotion and regained his composure, standing up from the sleep pod.

He saw the large screen, the seat, and the console not far away, but he didn't go over. Instead, he first came to the edge of the room and tried to leave.

The spaceship's space capsule didn't have a fixed exit. With permission, the walls on all sides could become doors.

But Qin Yi tried to push the wall and found that there was no reaction, which meant that he didn't have permission to leave.

"Captain Qin, I'm sorry, you have not yet been authorized to leave here." A gentle female voice sounded.

Qin Yi turned to look and saw a holographic projection of a female space soldier in the center of the room. She was a typical Eastern woman, with a gentle smile that had some feminine beauty and the heroic spirit of a soldier.

Qin Yi was silent for a moment. "The war isn't over, is it?"

The holographic image of the female soldier nodded. "Yes."

Qin Yi slumped on the sleep pod, covered his face with his hands, and let out a long breath.

The holographic image of the female soldier tried to walk towards Qin Yi, but Qin Yi's face quickly turned cold, and he said in a deep voice, "Aeeis, return to the initial image."

The holographic image of the female soldier stopped and gradually became transparent and disappeared.

Then, a light blue data stream appeared in mid-air and converged into an audio image that fluctuated with the sound.

Aeeis's voice became a cold, emotionless electronic tone. "Captain Qin Yi, perhaps you are very angry now, but humanity needs you to continue to fulfill your mission as a soldier."

Qin Yi's voice was low, suppressing his anger. "The Zerg Queen is dead, but the war isn't over. Why? I want to know the truth."

Aeeis: "Because of the reserves and the Zerg Hive Mind."

"The Zerg Queen is a higher life form with advanced intelligence. She has safeguards in place to avoid a population crisis due to her death. The Zerg Queen will produce secondary queens hidden in various Zerg nests. Once the Queen dies, one of these secondary queens will randomly become the new Queen."

"The Zerg Hive Mind is the basis for the Zerg Queen to rule the entire Zerg. In simple terms, it is telepathy, consciousness uploading, and consciousness connection. The Zerg Queen can control all the Zerg because of the existence of the Zerg Hive Mind."

"At the moment of the Zerg Queen's death, she can transmit her entire consciousness through the Zerg's consciousness network, and then in a corner of the Zerg swarm, a secondary queen obtains the Queen's entire consciousness and resumes the command center."

Qin Yi's face became gloomy. "Was this information known before the decapitation operation, or after the decapitation operation?"

"I want to hear the real answer."

Aeeis was silent for two seconds. "Before."

Qin Yi took a deep breath. "So we saw the fragments of the Skylark II combat suit during the process of going deep into the Zerg nest."

"You deceived everyone. You knew that this was an operation that was almost impossible to succeed, and even if it succeeded, it would be meaningless, but you still sent hundreds of squads to their deaths?"

"Was this your decision, or the decision of the Supreme Executive Committee, or the decision of the commander?"

Aeeis did not answer directly. "This operation was of course meaningful."

"The scope of the Zerg Hive Mind is very wide, but not infinite; it also takes time for a secondary queen to be nurtured into a new queen. During this time, we achieved fruitful results on the main battlefield."

"Everyone's sacrifice is for the final victory."

Qin Yi said coldly, "As a soldier, I can accept sacrifice, but I cannot accept deception!"

His right hand clenched in anger, but he soon released it in frustration. The faces of his teammates flashed before him again, but he was powerless.

"I am applying for three months of leave to return to Blue Star, and then return to the fleet after three months."

"At that time, I will sacrifice as you wish."

Aeeis: "I'm sorry, Captain Qin, I cannot approve your request."

"The Blue Star United Fleet Supreme Executive Committee has appointed you as the new commander to command the battle against the Zerg."

"Blue Star still needs you to save it."