Zhu Yao had just caught her breath when she shook her head.
The puzzles she had been solving along the way had left her feeling aesthetically fatigued, and she no longer had the same sense of wonder she had felt when she first encountered the game.
“Playing games…is much more immersive than reading novels or watching movies.” Zhu Yao stared blankly at the screen. “I haven’t been this nervous in a long time.”
Thanks to Yu Nan and the game, Zhu Yao, who was bored out of her mind, has probably found a new way to entertain herself.
“Of course, games involve participation, while movies and novels don’t.” Yu Nan opened a bag of potato chips and handed one to Zhu Yao’s lips. “Come on, calm down.”
Was I being fed to someone?
Zhu Yao instinctively reached out to take it, but Yu Nan stopped her.
"You still want to use the controller?" Yu Nan looked at Zhu Yao's reddened ear tips with interest.
After hesitating for a moment, Zhu Yao took a bite of the potato chip, turned her head to stare at the screen, and decided not to look at Yu Nan. She silently prayed: Please don't feed her anymore...
"Initiate launch procedure"
As soon as the NPC finished speaking, a 15-second countdown appeared on the screen.
Hey! She can't fly a rocket either!
Wait a minute, isn't this exactly what's on that piece of paper in the staff dormitory? Yu Nan said there would be a hint later.
"It's on the left side of the screen," Yu Nan prompted.
Zhu Yao then found the text hidden on the left screen and quickly pulled the handbrake.
Ground launch sequence initiated.
"Auxiliary power unit started"
"Recovering Gaseous Oxygen - Arm"
...
Zhu Yao frantically followed the NPC's commands and the prompts on the left side of the screen, afraid that she might accidentally cause the rocket launch to fail.
Starting a car only takes four steps, but launching a rocket takes a full ten!
The NPC announced, "Prepare for the countdown."
"Is that all?" Zhu Yao looked at the screen with a blank expression, like a student who hadn't recovered from the exam atmosphere after arriving in the capital for the imperial examination.
"five…"
"Four…"
"three…"
"two…"
"Main engine started"
"one…"
On the screen monitoring the tail of the rocket, a firework-like image appeared. Zhu Yao heard the sound of a motorcycle starting up, followed by the handle starting to shake.
NPC: "Launch successful!"
Zhu Yao felt as if she had just gone through an exam, and was now collapsed in the cockpit, completely exhausted.
"Not bad, you can fly a rocket now." Yu Nan handed her another potato chip. "Come on, let's celebrate."
Zhu Yao accepted the food without hesitation this time, and accidentally touched Yu Nan's finger.
Yu Nan's hand visibly recoiled slightly, and she froze for a second.
Zhu Yao saw Yu Nan looking stunned and chuckled inwardly.
The kid's reaction was quite interesting.
While you were wishing your older sister could pretend to be straight and flirt with girls in college, you were still preparing for the college entrance exam!
The rocket shot into the air, sparks flying everywhere, and the scene on the screen and the controller in Zhu Yao's hand began to shake violently.
Suddenly, the scene outside the window changed from a sky full of yellow sand to a deep blue atmosphere, and then turned black as it shook violently.
"The rocket has entered the thermosphere, and you are on your way."
Everything returned to calm; the howling wind disappeared, and a deep background music began to play.
Zhu Yao changed her perspective and looked out the window; it was a desolate, yellow Earth.
"A hundred years ago, when the first astronauts landed on the moon, they must have been stunned by the sight before them..." The NPC's voice rang out at this moment.
"Once, the Earth they knew was teeming with life... but now only sand remains..."
"It's like watching a sci-fi blockbuster," Zhu Yao said, amazed by the scene change. "It truly lives up to its reputation as the ninth art; I've finally experienced the charm of games."
"This game has only just begun," Li Yue stretched and casually draped her arms over the beanbag chair behind Zhu Yao.
The Earth on the screen grew farther and farther away. After the NPC finished explaining all the quests, radio communication became intermittent due to the interference of a storm.
"Please be sure to... fly to the moon."
The communication fell silent, and no NPC responded to Zhu Yao anymore.
From now on, I'll have to rely on myself for everything.
"Let's guess what will happen next," Yu Nan said. "Let's make a bold prediction."
Zhu Yao thought for a moment, "It's probably going to be a tragic, heroic space epic? Five years after the blackout, even the last astronaut couldn't change humanity's tragic fate... unless it's like Interstellar, where they enter some strange place and have a miraculous adventure."
"Let's keep playing." Yu Nan didn't say anything, just smiled mysteriously.
The astronaut had a radio navigation system embedded in her left arm, and Zhu Yao followed the steps outlined inside to complete her mission.
First, it docks at the space station.
At this moment, her spaceship is drifting in space, with the docking port of the space station standing high on the moon in front of her.
The moment to test your micro-management skills has arrived...
Zhu Yao carefully moved the controller, aiming the crosshair in the center of the control screen at the space station docking port.
"Your hands are so steady!" Yu Nan's eyes lit up. "Have you practiced calligraphy, painting, or learned a musical instrument?"
"I probably learned piano for a few days when I was little...? But I've forgotten it all long ago." Zhu Yao answered as she steered the spaceship forward, and with a "snap," it successfully docked.
Zhu Yao then asked, "So, does the game test micro-management skills?"
"Some games emphasize skill and test micro-management," Yu Nan nodded. "But in story-driven games like these, once you've progressed a bit, they'll force you to finish..."
As for how she knew... Yu Nan just casually went through the motions when she played it back then...
The player is the last astronaut on Earth, humanity's only hope; he has to get through it, even if it's forced upon him!
Yu Nan's inner thoughts: After I finish this game, I'll pick a Souls game for Zhu Yao and let her experience the malice of game developers, hahaha.
Finally, Zhu Yao entered the space station.
The Pearson space station is circular in shape and connected to the lunar station below by a tall elevator tower. The building, which should be full of technological sense, now looks like a sleeping steel behemoth standing on the moon, reflecting the sunlight.
There was no one there. There was no oxygen or electricity in the space station. Everything was lifeless, and a countdown timer for the remaining oxygen level appeared on the screen.
Zhu Yao, flashlight in hand, quickly entered the control center of the Libra area, located the backup power source floating in mid-air, and activated the life support system.
As the lights came on and the countdown disappeared, Zhu Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's so quiet here... even the NPCs aren't talking," Zhu Yao murmured. "I feel like the only survivor on this deserted island."
Yu Nan: "Do you have claustrophobia? If you feel uncomfortable, please stop for a moment."
"No, not at all." Zhu Yao put down the controller. "But I felt a little dizzy in the 3D environment when the space station was weightless."
Yu Nan laughed, "If you get dizzy at the beginning of 3D, and you only get dizzy now that you're in the space station, it just means you can't be an astronaut."
“Yes, we’re just ordinary people, we don’t have any lofty ambitions or great ideals.” Zhu Yao stood up and stretched.
"We've been sitting for too long, let's go exercise," Zhu Yao said with a sweet smile to Yu Nan. "Perfect timing, don't you have a gym at home?"
Yu Nan looked surprised.
She shouldn't have installed a gym in her home in the first place!
Chapter 16 Want to take a walk in my bedroom?
At 3 a.m., in the basement of Yu Nan's house, in the gym...
"You... you can't handle this?" Zhu Yao's eyes widened.
It's worth noting that Yu Nan had just been walking briskly on the treadmill at a very slow pace, for no more than five minutes in total.
Yu Nan clutched her chest, pretending to be exhausted and about to collapse.
“It hurts here,” Yu Nan pointed to her heart. “I can’t move at all.”
"Can't you even walk slowly?" Zhu Yao was shocked. She hadn't expected Yu Nan to be so frail. She regretted forcing Yu Nan to exercise.
Yu Nan sat down and slowly exhaled.
"If staying up late can lead to death, and exercising can make your body stronger, what happens if you stay up late to exercise?"
Zhu Yao had heard this joke: "You'll get a healthy corpse."
“No!” Yu Nan smiled mysteriously. “I think that if we want both, we can only compromise on both.”
"So it is—unhealthy, and half-dead."
Zhu Yao was amused by Yu Nan's lame joke.
"Then at least walk around a bit. Sitting for too long can cause a herniated disc." Zhu Yao was still unwilling to give up. When she signed the contract with Li Yue, she promised Li Yue that she would make sure Yu Nan exercised moderately.
Li Yue also mentioned that Yu Nan used to be very healthy and ran 3200 meters every day during her senior year of high school.
Unlike the guy in front of me, who was lying on the yoga mat, completely still and limp.
Otherwise, Zhu Yao wouldn't have dragged someone with heart disease who couldn't exercise to the gym.
"I can't get up," Yu Nan said pitifully. "Can you help me up?"
Zhu Yao resignedly went around behind Yu Nan, intending to reach her hands under Yu Nan's armpits and scoop her up.