"...Seeing those two infantrymen rush up—swifter than words could tell—I threw myself into a sliding tackle! At the same time, I swung my claws just like this. With two sickening crunches, that guy and his armor were sliced clean in two!"
By the campfire.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, [Scavenger] vividly described his heroic feats on the battlefield. Around him sat a ring of newly recruited rookies from the Death Corps, each and every one listening with wide, shining eyes as he bragged.
Although his pre-ordered exoskeleton had yet to arrive, that hardly stopped Brother Scavenger from slaughtering everything in sight with his agile mouth and tongue.
"Holy crap!"
"Boss is amazing!"
"Awesome, truly awesome! Boss, can you let me ride you next time?"
Rubbing his snout with a claw, Scavenger grinned, practically floating on air.
"Next time for sure!"
Due to a series of factors including weight, body size, and the "Calloused Hands and Feet" debuff, Scavenger hadn't taken part in the airborne drop. Instead, he had charged on the frontal battlefield with the Death Corps.
And what's more, he had served as Brother Edge's mount.
Though Scavenger had refused at first, seeing the other Deathclaws crouching obediently had made him a little curious about what it felt like to be ridden, so he gave in.
However, while his in-game body was that of a lizard, his mind was still human. Naturally, his combat habits carried over from being human, which made his performance as a mount awkward in every sense of the word.
For instance, even though a forward-leaning posture with the tail cocked backward was far more suited to this body, he couldn't help standing upright and curling his tail.
This made things exceptionally uncomfortable for his rider, who had to cling flat against his back like someone scaling a rock wall.
Having listened to his bragging for half an eternity, Brother Edge finally couldn't resist calling him out.
"Your damn sliding tackle sure was fun—and then I got hurled flat on my face!"
Big Eyes in Debt, sitting nearby, chuckled and teased, "Speaking of which, why is Brother Scavenger so obsessed with sliding tackles?"
Elaina chimed in with a comical deadpan, "Maybe he's envious of other people's crotches."
"Hahahaha!"
Uncontrollable bursts of laughter erupted all around.
Scavenger's face flushed red, though on lizard skin the blush wasn't very obvious.
"Isn't it just... that I don't have... that setting? If I did, mine would definitely be bigger than yours!"
Construction Site Boy and Bricks' eyes lit up. "I believe that. I've seen it in mods for other games."
Big Eyes in Debt: "Bro, step into my office and share the sauce."
Awakened by the laughter and chatter, Neko, who had been snoozing on the ground, cracked open half an eye. Spotting that noisy little runt, she snorted contemptuously through her nostrils.
Too weak.
And he didn't even have armor.
Curling her thick tail, she rested her head beside that exoskeleton reeking of the sweet scent of blood, shifted positions, and went back to sleep.
Having had his fun, Brother Edge sighed.
"Sigh... I really should stick to my own mount. Setting aside the riding experience, it just feels weird. Even if this guy's technically a eunuch, underneath the scaly hide he's still a dude... That's the last time, brother. Next time, charge on your own."
Scavenger snapped back, "You bastard! Who was the one begging to ride me in the first place?!"
Another wave of merry laughter swept around the campfire.
At a campfire not far away.
Yaya, who had been eavesdropping on the players the whole time, clutched her stomach in laughter. Beside her, Teng Teng couldn't help smiling as she poked at the fire with a twig.
Dinner was beef and potato stew, both ingredients military rations seized from the Legion camp.
The Legion was different from marauders after all; they didn't eat human meat—at worst, they rendered people into soap. The beef in their warehouse was reasonably trustworthy.
Battlefield Guy had vouched for it: the meat had been butchered from two-headed oxen plundered from traveling merchants and local villagers.
Just then, Ye Shi came limping over from the airship, cradling a styrofoam cooler.
His Light Cavalry exoskeleton had been swapped for bandages; right now, he looked like a half-finished mummy under construction.
That he could walk without crutches was nothing short of a miracle.
"The Administrator said we're getting extra treats!"
"Food from Lord Administrator?!" Yaya brushed the ash off her hands and stood up eagerly. "What is it, what is it?"
Having frequently served as a taste tester, she was constantly fed by him. Nobody knew better than her just how many delicacies the Administrator had "stashed away."
"Heh heh, ice cream bars! Looted from the airship!"
Ye Shi popped open the cooler and handed her one. Then, glancing at Teng Teng, he bashfully passed her the biggest bar.
"Thanks."
Teng Teng showed no awkwardness at all and casually took it.
Although she was only one and a half meters tall in the game, she certainly wasn't in the real world.
Ye Shi struggled to find a topic, so he grasped at straws. "Um... where's my sister? You know, Jiu Jiu."
Teng Teng paused to think of how to break it gently, but before she could speak, Yaya blurted out without any filter:
"Dead... Ah, it happened so fast. I'd just sensed something was off when—whoosh—an RPG rocket came flying in. The whole wall blew to pieces... and then, well, she was blown to pieces too."
Nibbling her ice cream bar, Teng Teng rubbed her temples with a headache, mumbling around a mouthful, "...You didn't need to give the family member such vivid details."
Ye Shi indeed blanked for a second, though he wasn't terribly grieved. He just waved his hands sheepishly.
"It's fine, it's fine. Looking after that little rascal... sorry for the trouble."
"Not at all. She's actually very capable and brave; you should have a bit more faith in her. Besides, anyone who gets a closed beta slot must be at least eighteen. Since she's an adult, stop treating her like a kid."
Though she adopted a teasing tone, Teng Teng couldn't help offering a few extra words of advice.
Ye Shi didn't find her nagging at all, merely scratching the back of his head like a schoolboy sent to stand in the corner, thoroughly devoid of his usual swagger.
Realizing she had slipped into lecture mode again, Teng Teng caught herself and changed the subject.
"By the way, what about Lao Bai and the others? I haven't seen them anywhere."
Ye Shi sighed and put on a helpless expression.
"Dead."
Both Teng Teng and Yaya gasped in surprise.
"Dead?"
"Lao Bai... isn't he supposed to be a professional?"
Players in this game came from every walk of life, though nobody went around flaunting their backgrounds every day. She vaguely recalled hearing that Lao Bai had served in the military.
Even if he had already been discharged.
"Hah... after playing this game for several months, who can really be called an amateur?" Ye Shi chuckled helplessly and plopped down beside the campfire. "And don't underestimate the enemy either... Those black-robed soldiers aren't pushovers. In equipment, training, and raw physique, locking horns with them is tricky business."
In an era of peace, even if training hours were maxed out, it was impossible to match this game, where opening your eyes meant staring right at death dangling above your head.
He still remembered Lao Bai telling him not to be superstitious about being a "professional," much less overconfident in it. After all, professional was a relative concept, not an absolute one.
Throw a non-swimmer into a wild river; if he flailed around and survived without getting swept away or eaten by fish, he could technically swim.
And even an elite swimmer who had undergone professional training wouldn't dare boast that no river could ever drown him.
In a bloody meat grinder with only a ten-to-one chance of survival, making it out alive was worth bragging about, but dying was hardly a surprise.
In fact, Ye Shi felt that his own survival had been a fluke.
Once a Perception-type Awakened was enhanced to the Tier 3 stage—that is, after the second awakening—their direct combat prowess was generally inferior to the Strength, Agility, and Constitution trees.
Especially in extreme close-quarters firefights, there was simply no time to prepare. Just as Yaya said, even if her Perception was sky-high and she could sense impending danger, that didn't mean she could dodge it in time.
Before parachuting, Ye Shi hadn't even dreamed he would walk off that airship alive. His specialty, after all, was sniping from mid-to-long range.
Sitting around the campfire, everyone chatted about what had happened during the battle, lamenting how if only they had done this or that, their teammates wouldn't have died.
Yet no one was genuinely sorrowful.
With resurrection available, death was hardly a taboo subject for the players. After all, they would see each other again in three days; if anything, the dead might make it back home faster than those who had to walk.
Of course...
Everyone tacitly avoided the subject of the NPCs.
War inevitably brought casualties.
Unlike the players...
When those people died, they were truly gone forever...
Squatting beside the cooler Ye Shi had carried over, Big Eyes in Debt clamped an ice cream bar between his teeth, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Holy crap, this stuff is actually pretty damn good! Can I have another?"
Ye Shi waved him off, shooing him away. "Beat it! Order some takeout when you log off. This is war spoils, one per person! I still have to distribute them to the others."
Brother Spring, who was also standing nearby chewing on an ice cream bar, couldn't help remarking, "Damn, they even have popsicles. Those big-nosed bastards sure lived the high life..."
Construction Site Boy and Bricks chuckled. "So what? It's all in our hands now, isn't it?"
...
The night deepened.
Aside from the players assigned to patrol duty, the players who had lain down in camp logged off one after another.
And as these logged-off players brought battle reports back to the other world, the forum grew as lively as a festival.
The settlement of campaign rewards would face a slight delay, as it had to wait until the inventory of spoils was finished. But having brought down such a massive airship, the payout was bound to be substantial.
The Administrator's rewards had never disappointed them.
They only hoped that when the flood of currency poured in, the value of silver coins wouldn't plummet too hard.
Although the rewards had not yet cleared, the campaign scores were already out.
The group with the highest score was the Burning Corps.
Whether blowing up the gun bay or seizing the 400mm main turret, their actions had proved decisive to the outcome. With the enemy completely stripped of long-range firepower, the Alliance's rocket artillery had been able to maintain consistent fire until the very end.
The Best Pilot went to Luo Yu.
In both flight difficulty and mission complexity, his performance throughout the campaign was plain for all players to see.
In particular, that extreme-deceleration Cobra maneuver at the end had stunned not just the players, but NPCs on both sides as well.
Of course, the transport pilots, including Pig Brother and his crew, were equally outstanding; without their smoke-laying dash covering the approach, the Burning Corps' airborne drop wouldn't have just lost over half its strength—barely twenty percent would have landed safely.
As for Best Commander, there was no suspense.
Drafting a detailed battle plan, coordinating integrated air-ground command, and maximizing the efficiency of supporting artillery, this accolade naturally belonged to none other than Commander Spring.
Because the scale of the campaign exceeded ten thousand participants, with each individual carrying out different tasks and holding different combat positions, the game officials no longer designated an "Overall MVP."
Instead, each corps would select its own MVP based on its members' performances in local engagements and mission efficiency, deciding who received bonus rewards.
This was similar to the decisive battle of Pine Valley previously.
As for the mixed thousand-man units and NPC corps, their MVPs were assigned by the official system based on point totals.
Tail: "Oh! It's finally over, that was so exhausting! Even though I didn't get MVP, it was still super nice!"
Meat Mountain Steamed Bun: "I was the one who suffered, okay?!"
Sisi: "Oh, thank you for your hard work, Rou Rou. Carrying Ah Wei so far... Next time please remember not to run so fast; none of us could keep up."
Aoao Sesame Paste: "Hahaha... Rou Rou seemed scared out of his wits, but compared to before, he did so much better."
With their corps commander serving as supreme commander and unable to oversee the front line directly, while their fiercest fighter, Battlefield Guy, went off playing "pangolin," the Storm Corps had effectively functioned as a guard company on the battlefield. Consequently, their performance wasn't as conspicuous as some other corps.
Nonetheless, their achievements were still remarkable.
Of course, the most dazzling record without question belonged to the Burning Corps.
Fewer than two hundred had landed safely. Facing marines ten times their number who knew the terrain inside out, they had traded at a casualty ratio of nearly one to three—an extraordinarily fierce performance.
Especially fighting to the last man.
Their sky-high morale and fighting spirit had utterly baffled and broken the enemy, which was precisely what allowed the Jungle Corps to execute a rapid assault on the airship's lower decks.
Having watched the official battle reports and the combat recordings Ye Shi uploaded, the popcorn gallery on the forum showered the thread with praise, calling it epic and exhilarating.
Wasn't this infinitely more thrilling than a Hollywood blockbuster?!
Naturally, trolling and nitpicking were inevitable.
Ye Ao Nai Wo He: "Five hundred men only took out 751? Heh, and you dare call that elite? My uncle ran missions in the Golden Triangle. A squad of just four wiped out an entire compound! Killed nearly a thousand, terrified all of Southeast Asia. Later, nobody claimed the bodies, and nobody ever brought it up again. Those who know, know."
Ye Shi: "Is your uncle Iron Man or Batman? [funny]"
Elaina: "Good thing your uncle went to the Golden Triangle and not Wa State. Forget special forces, even the Buddha would lose a sacred relic there. [funny]"
Elven King Fugui: "Even Mike Tyson would get beaten into a toy poodle there. [funny]"
WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Brother Guang, I'm begging you, just give Brother Ye Ao a beta slot! His 'Pre-registered Player' badge has been hanging there for a whole year! T.T"
Lao Bai: "What are you trying to do to our forum mascot? [smug]"
Kuang Feng: "Brother Guang says: 'Kids shouldn't play this game, wait a few more years.'"
Jieyan: "Hahahahaha."
The forum was brimming with merriment. Unfortunately, as usual, Brother Ye Ao bragged and ran, leaving no opportunity for further roasts.
Fang Chang: "Speaking of which, Lao Bai, how did you get wiped out too?"
Lao Bai: "Isn't that totally normal? It's just a shame about the gear... Sigh, heavy losses."
Brother Edge: "What's there to worry about? Corps equipment comes from Alliance stockpiles, kept separate from personal gear. [grin]"
Kuang Feng: "True enough, but whether there's any inventory left in stock is another matter. [side-eye]"
Brother Edge: "Uh, fair point. Those exoskeletons of yours didn't look cheap."
Fang Chang: "It's not even a money issue; restock probabilities are up to fate. By the way, Lao Bai, your contribution must have broken a hundred thousand by now, right?"
Lao Bai: "Yeah, should be enough after this battle."
Commander Spring: "Awesome! Bro, once you get that Dragoon, let me touch it."
Lao Bai: "What's so special about it? It's not factory-fresh, just a battle-damaged piece. I bet it might not even handle better than an exoskeleton."
Brother Edge: "Holy crap! If you don't want it, give it to me!"
Ye Shi: "That's way too much humblebragging!"
Lao Bai didn't think he was humblebragging.
If it were genuinely that amazing, would the Lord Administrator not be wearing it himself?
The other players knew that too, but since it was the server's very first suit of power armor, they couldn't help feeling envious.
And deeply impressed.
Contribution points and silver coins operated on completely different mechanics.
When a player's base was small, missions might award more contribution points than silver coins. However, as levels increased, while silver coin rewards scaled up accordingly, contribution point rewards barely increased at all.
Rewards of four digits or more were virtually impossible to earn from ordinary missions, usually appearing only during major wars or the discovery of special ruins.
100,000 contribution points—a full six digits.
Even for someone who had been playing continuously since the server launched, it was an astounding achievement.
This honor was even more dazzling than a medal.
A true, bonafide hero of the Alliance.
Just as the players were abuzz with discussion, Planner Ah Guang's account and post suddenly surfaced on the forum.
Moreover, it was pinned and highlighted right at the top of the homepage.
Ah Guang: "Thank you all for supporting the expansion campaign! Our server has safely weathered its most perilous hour. The Triumph Celebration and Commendation Ceremony prepared for our brave warriors will take place in five days! At that time, the new expansion, 'Ten Thousand Miles of Yellow Sand,' will also be released. Stay tuned! [grin]"
"In addition, to commemorate another victory for our Alliance and the server's first ten-thousand-player campaign, the Wasteland Online operations team has unanimously decided to erect a monument on Falling Leaves Ridge, right next to our new outpost, Falling Leaves Camp!"
"All players who sacrificed their lives in the operation up to the moment it concluded may have their names carved onto the monument."
"However, for the sake of game authenticity and the immersion of fellow players, names left on the monument will be subject to length and formatting restrictions; special characters, emojis, and numerals are strictly prohibited. These names will be recorded as 'Memorial Titles' and can no longer be used as game nicknames."
"Furthermore, players may not submit the nicknames of other players for the monument. If you choose to use your own nickname, you will forfeit that nickname by default."
"The calculation of campaign rewards will be completed within one day, and the points lottery will take place during the celebration in five days."
"Let us raise a toast to victory! Even if drinking in broad daylight seems a bit improper. [smile]"
After the post went live, the comment section below exploded instantly.
A monument!
And right at the starter area for the future open beta?!
That sounded... pretty damn cool!
Jieyan: "Wait, what does 'can no longer be used as a game nickname' mean?"
Escaped Mole of the Canyon: "It means if you put your name on the wall, you can't use that in-game name anymore, and new players can't register it either. Simply put, that name is dead."
Fang Chang: "Understood! It's a Name Change Card! And a Golden Legendary one at that! [funny]"
Jieyan: "Wait, what, what, what?"
Fang Chang: "Take it literally! If you leave your name on the wall, you'll have to pick a new one for yourself. You can't very well have your name up on the memorial while you're still walking around alive under it, can you?"
Big Eyes in Debt: "Holy crap, you can do that?!"
Tail: "Ooh! That sounds so fun! Can we use our real-life names?"
Fang Chang: "Uh, while revealing private info in a game isn't recommended, there are so many people with the same name in real life, and it's not like you're posting your national ID number, so it probably doesn't matter."
Construction Site Boy and Bricks: "Asking for a friend, is it too late to go throw my life away right now?! T.T"
Lao Bai: "Forget it, wait for next time. Besides, I doubt deliberately throwing your life away gets you on the wall anyway. [grin]"
Jieyan: "Insane!! This game actually released a Name Change Card!"
Scavenger: "Decided! My new name is Wu X-zu."
Ye Shi: "Damn! Aren't you afraid he'll sue you for infringement?! [funny]"
Everyone chatted excitedly about the memorial.
Ever since the game launched, players had frequently suggested adding a nickname change function, but the official team had never adopted it.
Now that the feature was technically here, hardly anyone seemed genuinely willing to change their name.
Even though many had chosen their handles on a whimsical lark—like "Makka Pakka" or "Cut the Crap"—after using them for so long, there was a certain attachment.
With Xiao Qi's help, Chu Guang quickly tallied the submitted names.
Yet when he saw the list, his brow twitched uncontrollably.
Li Lei, Han Meimei... these were relatively normal.
Using celebrities' names skirted name-rights issues, but another world was hardly governed by Earth's laws, so turning a blind eye was acceptable.
As for bizarre submissions like Lao Liu, Lao Ba, Ultraman, and Aoligei, they were simply taking things too far. Chu Guang had Xiao Qi stamp them with a "Review Failed" label and bounce them back to make those frivolous jokers rewrite them.
Working deep into the latter half of the night, Chu Guang finally produced a more detailed roster.
2,934 "fallen" vault residents, detailing their biographies, heroic deeds in battle, and causes of death.
This list would serve as journalistic material, published across Alliance media outlets such as the Survivor Daily and Dawn City Daily, as well as edited and broadcast over radio stations like the Voice of the Alliance.
At the same time, this would serve as proof when seeking compensation from neighbors and allies.
Chu Guang figured Boulder City might not be eager to fork over hard cash directly.
Yet for the sake of long-term interests, Enterprise on the East Coast would surely pitch in something.
After all, an ally who "actually dares to step up when trouble strikes" and "wins when they do" was someone anyone in their position would want to favor and support.
One couldn't let such allies feel disheartened.
Besides the players, the three mercenary thousand-man units, the First Corps, and the Guards Corps had also suffered considerable casualties.
Especially the artillery company of the First Corps.
The thirty 100mm artillery pieces deployed on the Alliance's eastern artillery positions had been nearly wiped out, with artillery crew casualties exceeding sixty percent.
The equipment was no great loss, as much of it had been captured from the Bone Chewer tribe.
What pained Chu Guang were the soldiers who had perished. Many of them had followed him for a long time, some even veterans promoted from the original militia guards.
Yet in this world, there was never a way to have it both ways.
War had been like this since ancient times.
Had it not been for the "Singularity"-tier morphogenetic field inside Shelter 404, which could project the players' consciousness into new bodies, even the most exhilarating victory would have been overshadowed by the grim toll of casualties...
...
While Chu Guang was tallying the casualties, captured Legion engineers worked under floodlights on the airship's wings, using crane towers to hoist the sheared wing section and anchor it onto the fracture reinforced with steel rebar.
These repairs were merely emergency stopgaps; the patched wing's durability naturally couldn't compare to a fresh one.
A complete replacement would have to wait until they returned to Dawn City.
The Legion engineers promised Chu Guang they would have it operational within five days, guaranteeing at least that the airship could move at a cruising speed of twenty knots.
At twenty knots, flying back to Dawn City would take only five hours.
If it could be repaired within five days, making it in time for the Triumph Celebration five days later would be easy.
Chu Guang planned to return aboard the airship.
As for the other players, they were free to choose whether to hitch a ride on the airship, head back on their own, or travel in groups.
Outside the bridge's floor-to-ceiling viewport.
The night-cloaked ground retained only scattered patches of lamplight, while the distant skyline faintly traced a gray contour.
Before he knew it, he had worked through the entire night, and dawn was breaking outside.
Sitting beside a control terminal, Chu Guang stifled a yawn against mounting exhaustion and, under Xiao Qi's guidance, connected a VM to the console.
"Can you control it?"
Xiao Qi's voice sounded from the VM.
"Wu wu... I'm sorry, Master. The digitization here is too rudimentary. I can only interface with the radar and shield systems. I can adjust the output power of the energy system, but shifting gear modes seems to require manual operation..."
Although this was expected, Chu Guang still let out a sigh.
"That's fine. Just interface with the radar and shield systems for now."
Xiao Qi responded with full enthusiasm, "Roger that!"
Once the systems were linked, Chu Guang ran a brief check on the Heart of Steel's radar, discovering that the contraption was actually far more advanced than he had imagined.
As a mobile radar station, its maximum detection range could reach up to 1,200 kilometers. However, at that extreme distance, signals became heavily degraded—likely capable of detecting only massive targets, virtually useless against small aircraft.
Even so, on the wasteland, this was already no small feat.
Radioactive clouds drifting along monsoon belts carried natural ionization effects, generating immense clutter capable of drowning out radar returns.
Although radiation was not the primary threat on the wasteland, and nuclear weapons were not the main culprit behind the wasteland's creation, that did not mean the planetary impact of nuclear weapons was nonexistent.
Beyond environmental interference, runaway satellites in low orbit and electronic jamming devices reduced the Heart of Steel's "effective detection radius" to a mere 100 to 150 kilometers.
Improving this figure wouldn't be particularly difficult—simply dismantling a gun bay and converting it into a radar array would suffice.
However, doing so seemed rather pointless.
Most survivor factions across the wasteland lacked aircraft entirely, let alone beyond-visual-range strike capabilities. The Heart of Steel only needed to watch out for unexpected exotic tech.
Just as Chu Guang was tinkering with the radar with keen interest, Xiao Qi's voice chimed in from the VM once more.
"Master, the airship's communication system has received an unidentified transmission request. The signal origin is due east... Shall I patch it through?"
East?
Chu Guang paused in slight surprise, then felt a flash of delight. "Connect immediately!"
The channel opened.
Accompanied by static and crackling electrical noise, an intermittent voice came through the transmission frequency.
The other party's signal quality was atrocious, who knew what makeshift contraption they were using as a relay node, yet Chu Guang could still make out the words.
"...This is Enterprise."
"If you retain even a shred of respect for the ancient covenant, cease your invasion of our ally immediately and release the Pioneer and its crew. Otherwise, this will be deemed an act of war, and we will respond with war without mercy."
The ancient covenant?
Chu Guang's brows knitted slightly; this diplomatic phrasing struck him as rather unusual.
It seemed that two centuries ago, something had transpired that he knew nothing about.
Still, that wasn't the main point.
Upon hearing the second half of the statement, serious as the atmosphere was, his furrowed brow couldn't help relaxing into an amused smirk.
"Deemed an act of war"?
Things had already escalated to this pitch, with both sides practically clawing at each other's throats—was this not considered formal warfare already?
Yet the tycoons on the East Coast actually referring to him as an ally was quite unexpected.
Neither side had signed a mutual defense pact; the Alliance led by Shelter 404 was, strictly speaking, merely a perpetual partner of Enterprise.
Regardless of their motives, in the face of the Legion's threat, they had indeed treated the Alliance as an ally on the same front and exerted deterrence against the Legion.
Even if only verbally.
Chu Guang looked at Xiao Qi on the screen and asked, "Can we transmit a reply?"
Xiao Qi replied helpfully, "We sure can, Master! Just speak directly; I'll record it and transmit it over!"
Looking at the indicator light lit up in the upper left corner of the tablet, Chu Guang cleared his throat and spoke in a solemn, clear voice:
"...This is the Alliance. You are a step too late."
"To prevent the situation from deteriorating further, we had no choice but to launch a preemptive strike. The airship is already in our hands."
On the other end of the communication channel, nothing remained but the buzzing hiss of static.
Whether they were struck dumb in disbelief or hadn't heard was unclear.
Chu Guang glanced at the screen and saw Xiao Qi display an emoticon giving an "OK" sign, confirming the other side had indeed received it.
Gathering his emotions for a moment, he continued in a heavy, somber tone:
"However, we have paid a grievous price of thousands of lives."
"Even if not for us, who were dragged into this conflict against our will, even if not for the survivors of Sunset and River Valley Provinces, then for the sake of Shelter 0, for the sake of those shipwrecked crew members—"
"If you can hear our voice, while you still can hear it, please dispatch reinforcements at once!"
Chapter 406