Chapter 17 Zhu Yao, you can't escape.
Zhu Yao was stunned.
"But the game won't leave players with no way out." Yu Nan shrugged. "Want me to tell you how to beat this part?"
"No, I want to try again."
Just now, the space station ruptured and threw the astronaut out; she thought it was hopeless. When she missed the first solar panel, she thought it was hopeless. When she had just finished adjusting the reverse oxygen and had only 12 seconds left, she thought it was hopeless.
Clearly, this is a game about finding hope in dire straits.
The game begins with a desperate situation—humanity's desperate situation: resource depletion, power shortages, and endless sandstorms causing many to die from lung disease.
As the last astronaut, she held only a sliver of hope. In fact, even the female engineer NPC who oversaw her launch didn't have much faith in the protagonist.
But humanity did not give up. It still chose to use the oldest method to launch rockets and send itself to the moon, thus planting the seeds of hope.
“I retract my initial guess,” Zhu Yao said. “I believe the last astronaut can bring hope and save all of humanity.”
Yu Nan looked at her with some surprise, but didn't say anything more.
Zhu Yao started over from the moment she was thrown away. This time, she didn't panic. Instead, she calmly stared at the things floating around her.
Successfully grabbing the wall panel and deftly pushing himself towards the space station... then grabbing a drifting oxygen tank...
They soon arrived at the location of the four oxygen cylinders. Zhu Yao glanced at them and felt a pang of regret.
Just as the script had set out, she was knocked far away, with only 22 seconds of oxygen left.
Zhu Yao remained calm and kept her eyes fixed on the front.
The iconic green color completely devoid of oxygen tanks.
This time, instead of giving up and putting down the controller, she continued drifting through the space debris toward the space station, avoiding the fragments of wall panels, the twisted solar panels, and the containers with green icons…
Wait, a shipping container!
She had just seen these containers in her dorm room; they contained oxygen cylinders.
Using the laser gun in his hand, he opened the container and found an oxygen tank!
In an instant, her remaining oxygen level increased from 10 seconds to 51 seconds.
He recovered a huge amount of blood!
Yu Nan looked at Zhu Yao approvingly.
This level is particularly difficult; many people, even the top streamers she knows, only managed to pass it by looking up guides.
After all…who would pay attention to what's inside the shipping containers in the staff dormitory that have nothing to do with the plot…
Only Zhu Yao had such a novel feeling, reading through all the text.
And she actually passed on her second try. Zhu Yao was surprisingly bold and meticulous. I must find a way to keep her in the studio.
Zhu Yao was unaware of Yu Nan's ulterior motives; at that moment, she was filled with excitement.
She floated back to the space station!
The Libra section of the space station had completely collapsed, exposing the central control room to space. To her surprise, the newly activated space elevator was usable.
The space station's emergency system was activated, continuously broadcasting warning messages.
"Warning! A hull breach has been detected. All personnel are to assemble at the orbital elevator for facility evacuation."
At this moment, the space station was completely deserted, except for the culprit, Zhu Yao, who floated towards the space elevator as instructed and fastened her seatbelt.
The elevator carried her toward the base on the lunar surface.
Zhu Yao shifted her perspective and looked upwards, discovering that the circular space station had a broken corner; no wonder the control room was still functional…
With grand background music and a technologically advanced cutscene, Zhu Yao felt a surge of excitement—she had arrived on the moon! Although it was a fake moon!
Sunlight radiated across the moon, casting a ghastly white glow. Everywhere was gray sand and a technologically advanced yet desolate lunar base.
This scene is really nice!
Zhu Yao left the space elevator and began walking around the base.
If Earth experiences normal gravity and the space station experiences complete weightlessness, then the lunar base experiences a subtle form of gravity.
Zhu Yao could feel herself floating.
She excitedly stepped on it, and it really left a footprint!
On July 21, 1976, Armstrong and his partner Aldrin aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft reached the moon and left "the first human footprint on the moon" via live television broadcast.
He stepped with his left foot.
At this moment, Zhu Yao was also controlling her character to step out with her left foot.
Seeing Zhu Yao's excited expression, Yu Nan pursed her lips.
I need to broaden her horizons properly, otherwise it will be too embarrassing to take her out in the future.
Zhu Yao arrived at the center of Copernicus on the moon, and a line of text appeared on the screen—
"Five years after the Great Blackout in 2059"
At that moment, she heard a recording.
It turns out that immediately after the major power outage, five years ago, Earth sent two people, Sarah and Rolf, to the lunar base to investigate the cause of the accident.
However, five years ago, after they entered the lunar base, they found that the once-prosperous lunar colony was now deserted.
Following the clues, Zhu Yao arrived at the bedroom of an engineer named "Isaac," and discovered that Isaac was the inventor of the remote energy transmission technology that had saved the Earth.
It was because of his invention that Earth temporarily solved its energy crisis, and humans began mining helium-3 on the moon and conducting nuclear fusion reactions, then transmitting the energy back to Earth.
In addition, this Isaac is the father of the NPC communicator "Claire".
He has two daughters. His eldest daughter, Claire, disagreed with him and stayed on Earth, becoming a commander there. His younger daughter, who was in poor health, was taken to the moon by him.
Zhu Yao couldn't get into many places. When Yu Nan saw her trying to open a door for the nth time, she couldn't help but say, "These places can't be opened now. You need to find a helper."
"Any helpers?" Zhu Yao was surprised. "After all, I've been alone since the rocket launch."
"It was left behind by your ex-girlfriend," Yu Nan accidentally revealed.
When Zhu Yao heard the word "ex-girlfriend," she felt a little guilty, but then realized what Yu Nan was referring to in the story.
"Wait, you mean this astronaut has an identity?" Zhu Yao was surprised.
After all, the astronaut remained silent throughout, and there was no information identifying him.
Yu Nan realized she had given away a spoiler, so she simply made a "zip up your mouth" gesture to Zhu Yao, then curled up behind her with potato chips and said nothing more.
Unable to obtain any useful information and completely bewildered, Zhu Yao continued forward and discovered a small, dormant robot.
The robot is round with a camera in the center that acts as its "eyes," which are currently closed.
Looks like it needs fixing! Help's here!
After solving puzzles along the way, Zhu Yao was already quite familiar with this kind of game where you find clues and complete tasks. She quickly retrieved the ASE robot unit and entered the energy transmission control center to repair the robot.
The little robot seemed to wake from a dream, blinked, looked at her, and then flew into the air.
Zhu Yao can now control the robot.
"It's so cute!" Zhu Yao exclaimed. "When technology is advanced enough, I want to buy a robot like this too."
"Do you really like robots?" Li Yue asked casually.
“I just really like pets,” Zhu Yao shook her head. “This robot feels like a pet to me.”
"If you like it so much, why don't you raise one yourself?" Yu Nan asked, puzzled.
“My family is quite strict…” Zhu Yao seemed to be thinking of something bad, “And, I’m allergic to pet hair.”
Yu Nan seemed to be deep in thought.
With the help of the little robot, everything became simple.
Zhu Yao remotely controlled the clever and compact robot, which flew up and down, until it arrived at the control center of the lunar base, where it discovered a holographic video.
It turns out that the massive power outage years ago was man-made!
The commander of the lunar base betrayed Earth.
The lunar commander believed that those who could enter the lunar colony were the elite of humanity. These elites had gone through rigorous selection to come to the moon solely to mine energy resources for Earth, which was facing energy depletion.
The elites are trapped on the moon, as if imprisoned, just to prolong Earth's lingering existence.
Zhu Yao thought of the empty box of fluoxetine she had seen in the dormitory before, and her eyes darkened.
Therefore, the lunar commander believed that as the lunar elite, they should abandon Earth and find a new home, as this was the future of humanity.
Zhu Yao felt very heavy-hearted.
"Do you think what he said is right?" Yu Nan was sitting in a gaming chair behind a beanbag chair, her hands resting on the sofa as she looked at the screen, almost whispering these words in Zhu Yao's ear.
Zhu Yao, who was immersed in the story and felt a deep sense of sorrow, suddenly snapped out of her daze.
If Yu Nan were in front, she would have seen Zhu Yao's face turn completely red instantly.
Yu Nan's breath tickled her ear and made her heart itch as well.
"Hmm... no!" Zhu Yao said casually.
"Oh? Then why isn't that right?" Yu Nan continued to press.
"Because...because they only said they were going to find a new home, not that they had already found one."
Zhu Yao calmed down and realized the blind spot: "This is like quitting your job before you've even found a new one. It's too reckless and impulsive."
"Bingo!" Yu Nan agreed. "Watching you play the game, you were bold yet meticulous, not letting any clue slip by. I can tell you're a very perceptive and quick-thinking person."
"The people I know in this category are generally those with excellent academic qualifications, or those who quickly distinguish themselves at work..."
Zhu Yao knew the question Yu Nan hadn't asked: "How come you're 27 and still in this state?"
Zhu Yao gave a wry smile; her situation was rather unique…
"Are you interested in coming to my studio? The benefits are very good!" Yu Nan tried to invite him.