LSDWTWHA chapter 53

Chapter 52

【The combat mission has been updated, please players immediately gather at the designated location according to orders.】

【Warning, you have exited the combat zone, if you do not return immediately, you will lose corresponding points.】

【Warning, you are approaching a dangerous area, please return immediately.】

The system’s prompt sound kept ringing in annoyance, but Su Su continued to walk forward. The supply point had no other provisions, but fuel and ammunition were always abundant. He filled up his stock in advance and set off with determination.

“White-scaled Shark? Where are you going?” 【Have No Returns】 also noticed Su Su’s unusual movement.

“I’m going to kill a mother bug.” Su Su’s bright and cheerful voice came through the communication device to all players and onlookers.

The communication channel fell silent for a moment. Although 【Have No Returns】 had anticipated this, hearing Su Su express his intent to kill a mother bug in such a lighthearted tone, as if he was just going out for a meal, still shocked him.

He paused for two seconds: “You plan to just run over there? What’s the difference between this and sending yourself to your death?”

Actually, 【Have No Returns】 would be happy to see Su Su send himself to his death, eliminating a competitor. But it couldn’t happen now.

He was the commander, and if he allowed Su Su to recklessly leave and run to the insectoid side, it would make him look incompetent as a commander. What if someone was incited by Su Su, got hot-headed and followed him, resulting in insufficient manpower for defense and failure? That would negatively affect his competition score.

“You come back.” 【Have No Returns】 commanded sternly: “Wanting to show off heroism should have its timing! With our current troops, merely holding our position already bears a high risk; a rash attack is no different from sending yourself to die.”

“Moreover, how do you plan to kill the mother bug? Do you even know where the mother bug is hiding? Even if you can find it, the mother bug will surely have the most powerful male bugs guarding it. Currently, the highest level of insectoids we have encountered is grade S, meaning the male bugs’ level could very well be higher. Your starship is only grade S; can you handle an SS level male bug?”

This was a warning for both Su Su and some players itching to join him.

“Have No Returns, are you worried about me?” Su Su’s voice carried a hint of mockery. He didn’t believe that this cat-crying-mouse behavior could come from any good intentions.

“Risk. What war doesn’t have risks? You want me to lead a team to deal with S-class insectoids without risk? Since both holding and attacking carry risks, why can’t I choose the route that brings greater benefits? If you all want to be turtles hiding and waiting for others to rescue you, that’s your business. I’ve been surrounded and attacked by insectoids; there’s no way I won’t retaliate.”

“Have you ever thought, if everyone acted as you do, disregarding safety, what would happen to our defensive line? What level of casualties would we suffer?” 【Have No Returns】 criticized sternly: “Don’t treat this as a game. Have you ever thought, if this were a real war, your departure, if it leads to a problem in the defense line, would result in real lives lost!”

“What’s there to fear in war?” Su Su got angry at this point; why should his score decrease because of his teammates dying?

When Su Su got angry, his voice raised a few pitches, becoming quite impolite: “If you can’t protect yourselves, you should honestly stay on the Imperial Star, why drag someone down by flying your starship here? Are we on the battlefield to protect teammates? We are here to kill insectoids.”

【Have No Returns】 tried to retreat strategically: “Can you not be so obstinate? Can you listen to some other opinions? How about we vote? If the majority supports an attack on the mother bug, I can allow them to accompany you to confront the insectoids.”

“Are there any? Is there anyone who supports abandoning our defense at the supply point and directly attacking the mother bug?”

All players remained silent because, after all, this was a point-deduction system. Killing a mother bug wouldn’t earn additional points, but dying on an insect star meant elimination. It was better to hold firm here; as long as they held out long enough, others would be eliminated instead.

Even 【Turn Complexity into Simplicity】 remained quiet.

In this game, the cap for monsters was S-class.

While other players were unsure of the real strength of SS-class insectoids, 【Turn Complexity into Simplicity】 knew. The strength of each level from S and above was a completely different concept. Using an S-class starship to hunt SS-class insectoids was downright impossible.

Moreover, traveling this far meant facing countless insectoids alone, resulting in enormous consumption of ammunition and fuel. It wouldn’t be easy to even confront an SS male bug.

“Master, why bother talking so much to him? If he wants to die, isn’t that more beneficial to us?” 【Five Spoons Ink】 sent a private message to 【Have No Returns】.

【Have No Returns】 rebutted: “You cannot say that. I’m now the temporary commander and responsible for the lives of everyone here. I must strive for minimal casualties and hold until the expeditionary force returns.”

The conference room was also paying attention to this unexpected development.

Indeed it was unexpected. When designing the level, no one had ever anticipated that someone would choose to raid the mother bug’s den directly.

The pilot who had previously expressed admiration for 【Have No Returns】 clapped when he heard the self-revelation from the other side: “See, I said that at a crucial moment, this person can still be clear-headed.”

The person who refuted him immediately scoffed: “That’s just flowery language. If he didn’t have some acting skills, how could he persuade so many people to serve him?”

“That’s bias.”

A few people started bickering in the conference room. Jian Cheng received a message, looked down, and quietly reported to Qi Hanyi: “The game developers have sent an inquiry; they said they didn’t anticipate the current situation. If 【White-scaled Shark】 continues to run, he will be outside the competition map. Moreover, his points from the previous two rounds are still very high, and he hasn’t lost all points yet. They want to know how we should handle this situation.”

It wasn’t surprising that the game developers hadn’t considered this; fleeing the combat zone once meant losing ten points. Ordinary players simply couldn’t handle point deductions like that. The more capable and higher-scoring players tended to be cautious. Since there were already ways to pass the level, there was no need to go to such extreme lengths, risking elimination themselves.

Moreover, their game cap was S-class, regardless of starships or monsters. They had already sent out the strongest monsters. They hadn’t expected someone to want to run to the back. All game data were modeled after real-life insectoid starships; they had no data to create SS-class male bugs.

It was certainly too late to produce a new map, and eliminating a player who could rank in the top three was too unfortunate.

One pilot suggested: “Then let him not come back. He’s reckless, but he is indeed a good seedling; it would be a shame to eliminate him like this.”

But Qi Hanyi did not adopt this suggestion; instead, he said to Jian Cheng: “Give them a copy of the SS-32 simulated battlefield map for examination.”

“What?”

“What!?”

“Which one?”

“I can’t be hearing this right?”

The pilots collectively lost their composure.

Even the usually calm Jian Cheng displayed some signs of distress: “But that… for players, isn’t it a bit too difficult?”

It was more than just a bit difficult. A group of pilots turned sympathetic glances towards 【White-scaled Shark】, hoping he would come back. This was essentially sending him to die.

The SS-32 simulated battlefield map was a special training map for the expeditionary force. It simulated the massive insect tide provoked by the migration of SS-class mother bugs. The operational mission was to infiltrate the insect tide and find and kill the mother bug.

However, it wasn’t a solo training map, but rather a team training map for an entire assault squad.

This map contained four SS-class male bugs, dozens of S-class insectoids, and countless lower-class insectoids. The other insectoids might be manageable, but anyone who had completed this map would have vivid memories of those four SS-class male bugs. Their abilities varied but combined, they were extremely terrifying; without sufficient experience, even the most skilled could falter.

When the expeditionary force assault squad was first formed, they had suffered continuous wipes on this map. Some even complained it was impossible to beat.

It wasn’t until Qi Hanyi completed this training map solo in front of all of them using a training starship that they became speechless. After countless rounds of honing and training, they finally succeeded in pushing through this map.

Later, passing through this map became a tradition for newly established assault squads. Every new team had to endure this map’s trial. Only those who could pass the map would be acknowledged by the assault squad and qualified to step onto the real battlefield.

Present were elite starship pilots from the expeditionary force, all of whom had suffered through this map.

But when they had piloted the most advanced SS-class combat starships and fought as a team, no one present believed that they could solo kill a mother bug in this map on an S-class starship like Su Su.

Of course, except for the one sitting in command.

The pilots were now feeling tremendous sympathy for 【White-scaled Shark】. They even feared that this map would leave deep psychological scars on him. After all, judging by his looks, this youth should still be quite young, at most the age of an Imperial university student.

The pilots were silently shouting in their hearts, using their eyes to accuse their ruthless commander: He’s just a kid; how can you do something so cruel to him!?

“What’s so wrong? A real SS-class insect nest should indeed be this difficult.” Qi Hanyi stated in his usual cold tone.

One female pilot, while still having faith in Su Su, attempted to plead for him: “While 【White-scaled Shark】 should get a lesson for being so reckless… but isn’t it overkill to use our team training map against a single player who hasn’t received specialized training?”

Her plea was interrupted as Qi Hanyi asked: “In a real war, will the insectoids show mercy just because he is alone?”

Of course not. The female pilot shut her mouth awkwardly. It seemed that the commander was set on teaching the other party a lesson.

But she soon became puzzled. Isn’t this commander the one who believes in him? If 【White-scaled Shark】 gets eliminated, then what’s the point?

“Well, although his operations are a bit rough around the edges, some of his maneuvers are quite eye-catching.”

Seeing that someone was about to be eliminated, the other pilots couldn’t help but express their regret for Su Su.

“Exactly. If he had the chance to go through a military academy system, he would definitely become an excellent starship pilot in the future.”

“My family still has a recommendation slot for the Imperial Military Academy this year; if I can find this player, I am willing to help recommend him.”

“This player has good talent and enough guts. To put it plainly, those technical skills can be taught and learned; inherent talent and temperament can’t be acquired easily.”

Listening in silence to their discussion, Qi Hanyi suddenly spoke, sounding somewhat puzzled: “Do you all think he’s about to be eliminated?”

The question left the others a bit dumbfounded. What do you mean by ‘do we think?’ Aren’t you the one personally sending him to the chopping block on a map that’s fundamentally impossible to pass?

“Notify the game developers to add a hidden reward.” Qi Hanyi slightly tilted his head, instructing Jian Cheng: “The condition is to kill the mother bug, and the reward is to skip the semi-finals and be guaranteed a spot in the finals.”

Jian Cheng was stunned momentarily, as if he hadn’t understood Qi Hanyi’s meaning: “You think 【White-scaled Shark】 has the hope of solo clearing this map and want to grant him a guarantee reward?”

“Is that inappropriate?” Qi Hanyi asked. He did indeed have his concerns, wanting to maintain fairness as much as possible, but Su Su tended to create some unexpected situations. He could disregard others’ opinions about him, but he cared about how others would see Su Su. He hoped that Su Su’s win would be regarded by all as rightful and legitimate.

“There’s nothing inappropriate; if he truly can do it, it’s reasonable to guarantee him first place.” Jian Cheng said, trying to articulate his thoughts: “But I worry that this reward probably won’t be given out.”

“That’s not something you need to worry about.” Qi Hanyi replied: “What are your opinions?”

“No objections.” The other pilots smiled ingratiatingly, thinking that if he could indeed clear the level, no one would object to him being guaranteed a place in the finals, let alone first place.

“Then it’s settled.” With a decisive tone, Qi Hanyi signaled Jian Cheng to communicate with the game developers.

Su Su had already flown out of the defense area of the supply point. After a while, he entered the instance that Qi Hanyi had chosen for him.

Due to time constraints, the spatial connection between the two instances wasn’t particularly smooth; Su Su could clearly feel a strange sense of displacement in the surrounding space, and the flow of the insect tide had subtle differences.

However, this confirmed for Su Su that he was on the right path. There were no SS-class insectoids in the game, likely because his choices had broken the original design of the game, resulting in a temporary addition of the map.

His decision to seek out the mother bug was not a momentary impulse.

Since entering the game, Su Su had been contemplating what he should do if this were a real war.

Su Su didn’t know how to arrange troops, and could not see through the defensive diagram to discern its nuances, but even he had to admit that 【Have No Returns】’s arrangements were quite reasonable.

According to 【Have No Returns】’s plans, they would hold out here for four or five hours until the expeditionary force returned. The vast majority of people here would survive; it would be a win-win outcome.

But Su Su did not like this outcome. As a military academy intern, his strength was insufficient to confront the insectoids; he could only struggle to survive under their assaults, waiting for rescue?

Why should he? He wasn’t truly unable to fight back.

Who was the prey and who was the predator? Why should he be trapped in attacks from the insectoids waiting for someone to save him?

This was a battlefield; they were wearing the expeditionary force’s combat uniforms. At this moment, didn’t they exist here as the expeditionary force?

Why wait to be saved? Only the weak allowed themselves to fall into passivity. What if rescue didn’t come? Of course, this was a game; they would certainly be saved, and if worse came to worst, as long as enough people were eliminated, the last hundred would also advance.

But Su Su did not want to wait.

When 【Have No Returns】 took over control, Su Su finally found his answer. He did not want to entrust his fate to a distant expeditionary force, nor would he adhere to the arrangements of a player who had betrayed him multiple times.

He wanted to resolve this insectoid attack at its root by himself.

Since being tricked by the Thousand-Legged Shield Bug last time, he had been secretly catching up on lessons, and his understanding of insectoids was no longer limited to cosmic giant bugs.

He learned about the existence of mother bugs and understood that every insectoid army had a mother bug controlling them quietly. It would choose an energy-rich planet to build a nest and drain its energy, continuously giving rise to offspring until the energy of that planet was exhausted.

At this point, the mother bug would lead its offspring in search of a new planet to infest.

What they were facing was probably an insectoid army migrating towards their defensive line, and the mother bug was certainly hiding somewhere at the back of the army.

As long as they killed the mother bug in the group, the insectoid army led by that mother bug would disintegrate.

“Su Su, come back. If you are unsatisfied with the task assigned to you, there’s no need to throw a tantrum in this way.” 【Have No Returns】 continued to persuade him through the control channel.

But Su Su knew he wasn’t persuading; he was merely using the guise of dissuasion to misconstrue his departure as a tantrum. He was scared, afraid of influencing other players and even inciting them to leave with him.

Yet his concerns were evidently unnecessary; no other player imitated Su Su’s “death-seeking” behavior this time, and Su Su did not intend to seek help from anyone.

However, he disliked 【Have No Returns】’s characterization and felt it necessary to correct him: “I’m not throwing a tantrum, and what you arranged wasn’t bad. My philosophy just differs from yours.”

“I was just thinking, if we were a real expeditionary force, did we come this far just to guard points and survive? Wouldn’t it be better to hide on a planet instead?”

“We aren’t real expeditionary forces; in terms of equipment and strength, we are far from it…” 【Have No Returns】 attempted to seize back the pace.

But Su Su wouldn’t give him the chance to interrupt and continued: “The reason our expeditionary force pilots starships, travel millions of star distances, set up supply points in the vastness of space isn’t to passively defend when the insectoids come. Rather, it’s to take the initiative in the war against insectoids.”

“The essence of an expedition is precisely this; we are not the shield guarding the Imperial Star, that’s the space station’s job. We are the expeditionary force, the spear of the Imperial Star aimed at the insectoids. We shouldn’t fear strong enemies nor need to weigh life and death; all we need to do is attack. Attack is the best defense.”

After finishing, Su Su directly cut off communication on both sides, and once again lost points for shutting off command communication. His points were almost depleted, leaving only a pitiful three points.

But no one mocked his recklessness anymore.

The conference room fell silent; the pilots who had just expressed sympathy and doubt towards 【White-scaled Shark】 were now quiet.

Su Su’s recent statements resonated with everyone who had participated in expeditions to some extent. Discussions about the expeditionary force had been rife, particularly due to the enormous military expenditures and the significant casualties and losses each year, leading to constant debates. Even suggestions for disbanding the expeditionary force occurred from time to time.

Yet 【White-scaled Shark】 understood them. He understood their defensive-to-offensive mindset, their bravery in facing challenges head-on, and their unwavering determination even unto death.

He understood everything, so he made the choice that an expeditionary force member should make.

Everyone was watching 【White-scaled Shark】 in the live broadcast, the silver arc cut by the swift swallow in the pitch-dark universe was so striking. No one noticed that the usually stoic figure in the command seat had a slight upward curve of his mouth, and the expression in his eyes could be described as proud.