Chapter 4 Saturday, February 4th.

Lu Zhiyao had just finished his Lazy Delivery takeaway in his hotel room.

Today was the weekend, and the crew had a day off.

Generally speaking, film crews don't take weekends off, since most movies are on a tight schedule, and the filming tasks are particularly intense. Not only weekends and holidays, but even evenings are often spent filming late into the night to catch up.

But since this was a Tenda film crew, they naturally adhered to the Tenda spirit, and weekends were for rest.

Fortunately, both Huang Sibo and Director Zhu Xiaoce were masters of time management, and they managed to arrange the filming work clearly even when taking regular holidays.

Of course, this film was basically Lu Zhiyao's one-man show, without many outdoor scenes and filled with special effects, so there was no need to coordinate the time of a large number of actors, as well as venues and props, so the scheduling was more flexible.

So far, filming for "Mission and Choice" had reached its final stage.

The previous sections had already been undergoing editing and special effects production after filming was completed. Because if the entire film was completed before editing and doing special effects, there wouldn't be enough time.

The plot of this film was divided into stages, and the connection between each stage was not very close, so it was perfectly fine to edit and add special effects separately.

After the last part was filmed, the rough cut and special effects of the previous parts would be almost done. With another two or three months of fine-tuning and perfecting the special effects, the film could be scheduled for release.

Now, Lu Zhiyao's main task was to study the script for the final stage, play the last part of the plot well, and provide a perfect ending.

He had just received the script for the last stage last night, but he was too tired when he got back, so he didn't have time to read it carefully and fell asleep.

After a good night's sleep and breakfast, Lu Zhiyao took out the script again, ready to finish reading this last part of the plot.

The previous plot ended at a very desperate juncture.

Qin Yi ushered in the "final battle," fighting with all his might to command the battle, thinking that he could finally die honorably and be freed from this difficult fate.

However, after the battle ended, he learned that this was just Aeeis' simulated final trial.

The good news was that everything that had happened before was fake, and no one had died.

The bad news was that Aeeis simulated the result of the final battle between humans and the Zerg, and the win rate was zero. The best outcome was nothing more than the commander and the Zerg Queen perishing together, continuing to select the next commander to prepare for the next final battle.

But the next battles would become more and more difficult, and humanity's chances of winning would become lower and lower. Because of the existence of the Zerg hive mind, the Zerg Queen's intelligence would continue to improve, and the Zerg's ability to replenish its forces was higher than that of humans.

If an overwhelming victory couldn't be achieved in this key battle, and all the forces couldn't be sent to wipe out the remaining Zerg while there was still a chance, then in the future, humanity would have less and less of a chance.

What made Qin Yi even more desperate was that he re-examined every decision he had made, but no matter how hard he racked his brains to analyze and use any strategy, he couldn't change the fact that the final battle was a complete defeat.

Qin Yi shouldered the fate of all mankind, but that fate was destruction.

He didn't know when this day would come, nor did he know whether his persistence was meaningful at all. Even a warrior like him, who was used to life and death, couldn't bear all of this and could only sink into despair...

Lu Zhiyao became even more curious about the ending of this story and hurriedly opened the last part of the script to examine it carefully.

...

In the hibernation pod, a close-up of Qin Yi.

There had also been such a close-up at the very beginning of the film, but the two shots were clearly different.

This time, Qin Yi's hair was disheveled, his beard was scruffy, his eyes were dull, and his expression was wooden. His haggard face and heavy dark circles under his eyes showed that he was in extremely poor mental condition.

Although he was in the hibernation pod, his eyes were staring straight ahead, blinking only after a long time, telling everyone that he hadn't died suddenly.

Unable to fall asleep even in the hibernation pod, it was clear that his mental pressure was about to reach its limit.

And this angular hibernation pod, which could just accommodate one person, looked like a coffin no matter how you looked at it.

Aeeis' voice sounded: "Commander, your mental state is extremely unstable, and your physical condition is also very poor. You need to rest."

"I have arranged an extra two hours of rest for you. Please fall asleep as soon as possible."

"Your body doesn't just belong to you, it also belongs to all of humanity. If you die suddenly before the final battle, then humanity will completely lose its last hope."

Qin Yi didn't answer. Instead, he stretched out his trembling hands, supported himself on the wall of the hibernation pod to stand up, and sat down on the floor with his back against the hibernation pod.

He gently closed his eyes and rested for a moment.

He knew very well that the final battle between humans and the Zerg could come at any time. This time didn't depend on humans, but on the Zerg.

Qin Yi chuckled and said mockingly, "What difference does it make whether a doomed fate comes sooner or later?"

"Oh no, there is a difference. If it comes later, I'll have to suffer a few more days of torment."

Aeeis: "Commander, your mental state is very detrimental to the upcoming battle."

"If you agree, I will inject you with sedatives and nutrients so that you can rest fully and remain calm before the final battle arrives."

"After resting fully, I hope you can resume training as soon as possible. You have not had any simulation training for 53 consecutive hours, which may exacerbate human casualties in the battle..."

However, before Aeeis could finish speaking, the entire space began to flash red warnings again!

"Commander, a large number of Zerg are gathering underground. The Zerg's general offensive is about to begin!"

"In any case, please return to the control console immediately to command the battle!"

Qin Yi closed his eyes slightly, ignoring Aeeis. After a moment of silence, he said with a cold face, "I want to talk to everyone in the joint fleet."

Although Qin Yi was the commander, the commands he issued were only to issue attack orders to each fleet. The specific commands were all carried out by Aeeis.

Aeeis was silent for two seconds, as if trying to analyze the true intention behind Qin Yi's words, but it was clear that it had failed.

"I'm sorry, Commander, you do not have such permission."

"Please return to the control console immediately to begin commanding the battle, otherwise Aeeis will take over command of the joint fleet."

Qin Yi remained unmoved, his expression indifferent: "If you think that the life and death of mankind is more important than this call, then do as you please."

"I only need five minutes."

Aeeis fell silent again.

Qin Yi didn't urge it, but continued to stare blankly ahead, not knowing what he was thinking.

The red alarms in the space were still flashing constantly. Through ansible communication, Qin Yi could clearly see dense swarms of Zerg gathering on the surface of the planet. War was imminent!

After a moment, Aeeis' emotionless voice sounded again: "Commander, your actions are meaningless. The amount of information that Aeeis' real-time communication can transmit is tens of thousands of times that of human language."

"Humanity's inefficient information transmission and emotional expression may have the opposite effect. When some truths are known by everyone, humanity will fall into chaos and infighting. The Joint Fleet Executive Committee does not want to take such a risk."

"Commander, please remain rational and do not make such meaningless attempts again."

Qin Yi said coldly: "Aeeis, I'll say it one last time, I want to use the control console and ansible communication to speak to all the soldiers of the joint fleet. If you obstruct me, then you, me, and all of humanity can perish together."

"You are just a stupid robot who tries to solve everything with data. If you could solve the Zerg, the Joint Fleet wouldn't have chosen me as commander."

"I'll say it one last time, I am the commander. Fulfill my request!"

In the midst of the constantly flashing red alarms, it took nearly a minute before Aeeis said again: "Commander, you can use the control console to speak to all the soldiers of the joint fleet."

"The fate of humanity rests on your shoulders. I hope your speech has been carefully considered."

Qin Yi supported himself to stand up from the ground, slowly walked to the control console, and then sat down in his seat.

Here, he could see the deployment of all the forces of the human joint fleet.

Through ansible communication, Qin Yi randomly observed the personnel situation inside several starships, confirming that what he said could indeed be heard by everyone.

He could see bewilderment, apprehension, fear, and confusion on the faces of the soldiers inside the starships, which indicated that what he was seeing was a real-time image, because Aeeis shouldn't be able to imitate the expression of every human being so realistically.

At the same time, this also showed that all the soldiers were very surprised that the commander suddenly wanted to speak to everyone.

Because since the war began, all commanders had commanded troops through the artificial intelligence Aeeis. The soldiers could only communicate with Aeeis and had no idea who the commander was, what he looked like, or which ship he was on.

But this time, they not only heard the commander's voice, but also saw the commander's appearance.

Only a very few people in the Asian Fleet who knew Qin Yi recognized him.

And the vast majority of the Joint Fleet's soldiers only saw a man with a scruffy beard, heavy dark circles under his eyes, and in extremely poor mental condition on the screen. This was completely different from the image of the commander they had imagined.

Qin Yi's gaze swept across the faces of many soldiers again.

He knew that every person he controlled in the war was actually a living, breathing life.

In the future, in the final battle between humans and the Zerg, there would definitely be people who disobeyed orders, ran away in extreme terror, or made mistakes. These people might be on the starships at this moment, waiting to hear him speak, perhaps one of these young faces.

Qin Yi's first sentence stunned everyone.

"I was Qin Yi, the captain of the As-371-45 squad that successfully carried out the decapitation mission, and I am also the current commander of the Joint Fleet."

"Before humanity perishes, I want to tell you some truths."

"The Zerg are preparing for their final offensive."

"And according to Aeeis' calculations, the win rate for the final battle between humans and the Zerg is zero. Even in the best-case scenario, it will only be me and the Zerg Queen perishing together, and humanity will eventually perish in a protracted war of attrition."

"In the past fifty-plus hours, I have tried countless methods, but no matter how I try, the final result will not change."

"I believe that all of you, like me, are tired of concealment and deception."

"In order to fight the Zerg, every commander has been trying to train humans into Zerg, deceiving humans with various methods and making them die with false beliefs, just like the Zerg."

"Perhaps we have won in this way in the past, but this is definitely not humanity's belief and way of winning!"

"So, even if we all die in the end, I hope you can all die with beliefs!"

Qin Yi's eyes suddenly widened, and he, who had been so decadent before, suddenly seemed to radiate a strong brilliance: "You can choose to desert and disobey orders, to survive a few more hours; you can have ten thousand reasons to convince yourselves that in the face of hundreds of millions of Zerg, your death is meaningless; you can also blame the Executive Committee, the commander, or anyone else after repeated failures."

"But the final result will be the same."

"The Blue Star will be swallowed up by the Zerg, and you will watch helplessly as your home is destroyed by war and turned into Zerg fodder! A few of you will drive your ships away in a panic and drift in the vast universe like a stray dog! You will look back at the Blue Star, that once beautiful blue planet, which has become riddled with holes, and all traces of humanity's existence will be completely erased by the Zerg's claws and fangs!"

Qin Yi's voice became high-pitched, almost shouting at the top of his lungs: "At that time, you will regret why you didn't die on the front line, why you didn't die on the battlefield with the Zerg! Those who choose to live in disgrace, even if they live, will live in eternal regret and remorse!"

"You will regret why you didn't use these few hours of living in disgrace to exchange for an opportunity, an opportunity to prove the value of human belief!"

"That's right, for everyone, things after death are meaningless, because what awaits us will be eternal nothingness. But our death is meaningful to the living, to our relatives, friends, and compatriots!"

"Aeeis calculates that the final win rate is zero, but I will never agree with this result. Because artificial intelligence can never calculate the value of human belief!"

"If we lose this battle, then humanity will perish, our civilization will disappear forever in this universe, and all evidence that we existed will be completely erased!"

"But if we win, then your death will be remembered by civilization, by history!"

"Behind us is the Blue Star!"

"In this last battle, we will give meaning to all the sacrifices that humanity has made before! We will die heroically, we will be drowned in endless swarms of Zerg, we will be reduced to ashes in explosions, and our corpses will be lost under the Zerg's claws!"

"But our belief will remain in this starry sky forever, as immortal as those ancient stars!"

"Human belief will never be extinguished!"

"Warriors, join me, wager everything for the fate of humanity, and die generously!!"