Chapter 3: The Crashlanded

"Just take her shoes off those feet!" This time I didn't whisper but shouted in Manu's ear.

Manu still looked confused and was tugging at Kat's leg, even though the fire had started to spread over the other two bodies.

"You don't know shoes!?" My screams got louder. "Take her feet off the thing she's wearing!"

Finally, Manu removed Kat's left foot from the shoe, then the bearded man lifted her up.

However, when Manu turned around, the bag he was carrying got stuck in the door. Some of the items fell, including a change of clothes, dry food, and a kind of water bag made of leather.

"What the hell, Manu!?" I was getting frustrated, especially when I saw the bag started to burn. "Let it go!"

I knew those items might be valuable for starting a colony, but saving them all was very risky.

Manu gets away from the bag, then ran, carrying Kat's body in both hands.

Bamm!!!

There was an enormous explosion. Manu is pushed away by the Force from the explosion and falls down, knocking Kat out of his hands.

"Come on, wake up, bastard!" I cursed at the man because I saw the fire starting to spread in the grass.

Manu gets up, holding his left leg. I just realized there is a long scar on that leg. With a limp, he carried Kat further away from the place.

I ran behind them while keeping watch. Since I'm just an observer and player, my physical condition isn't simulated. I don't feel tired and out of breath.

Several times I turned my head back, seeing the fire getting bigger and the smoke rising higher. Besides being able to smell the smoke, my nose can also catch the smell of burning meat.

Shit. The immersion of this game is fantastic, but if it makes you feel this uncomfortable... I don't know what to feel.

Well. At least, from the beginning of the game, I can feel an action sequence that is quite adrenaline-pumping.

Drops of water began to fall from the sky. It was just a little at first, but then it became heavy. I suspect this is the developer's way of making things less messy early in the game. If a massive fire devoured everything, the resources would be lost, and I would have a hard time managing my colony.

I lined Manu and said in his ear. "You'd better take shelter and rest."

It's really still early in the game. I shouldn't let them catch a cold. I heard the developer of this game also pays attention to the simulation of the condition of the human body, so if they get rained on, chances are they will get sick.

Manu climbed a small hill, then stopped at a large tree with thick leaves. He put the still unconscious Kat to the ground, then sat back against the tree. The man's breath was so ragged.

I looked into the area of ​​the still-burning escape pods in the distance. We've run quite a distance. No wonder Manu was so exhausted.

Manu checks Kat's head wound. He then wiped the wound with his clothes because there really wasn't anything else that could be used. Luckily the wound wasn't too deep.

The man with long hair then took the ax he was carrying with a rope on his back, looked at it for a moment, then took a deep breath. It was the only thing he had now, apart from the clothes attached to his body.

[You must carefully observe the expressions and movements of your colony to predict their mood and condition.]

It was clear that Manu was confused right now and was probably afraid of what would happen next as his resources were on fire.

I looked at the drops of water from the sky that were falling harder and harder. Looks like I can't build a colony right away. The torrential downpour showed no sign of ending, Manu was still exhausted, and Kat was still unconscious.

A button next to the pause button below the corner of my vision lit up. The button is in the form of two arrows pointing to the right.

[You can use the fast forward button to speed up the time. You can press it several times until you get the speed you want. Fast forward will stop, and the scene will pause itself if there is an important moment.]

Then, another button lights up precisely the same shape as the previous button but facing the other way.

[This button is to reduce the fast forward speed, it can also slow down time.]

Ah, I was so immersed in all of this that I forgot that there should be such a function.

I pressed that fast-forward button several times. Everything around me moved faster, from raindrops falling, the grass and leaves swaying in the wind, to the movements of Manu, who was just sitting and shivering.

And suddenly, everything went back to normal speed. Manu turned to Kat, who was starting to whimper and writhe. Finally, the girl opened her eyes.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" Manu asked in a slightly loud voice to fight the roar of the heavy rain. His mouth held a faint smile.

Kat straightened up, looking around with her eyes half-closed. She clearly didn't know what was really going on.

When she saw her escape pod in the distance, she widened her eyes.

"Ah, that's the thing that brought you here. We call it the 'ship from the sky.' So far, I've only heard the story and didn't know it actually existed..."

The girl got up and was about to run there.

I hastily pressed the pause button and whispered into Manu's ear, "Hold her, there's no point in going there. It's better to stay here, than run in the rain."

After I pressed the play button, Manu caught Kat's hand and said, "We'll go there when the rain stops. You'll get sick if you're in a heavy rain."

I then gave an order into Kat's ear for the girl to stay there.

Manu rubbed his face. "Look, I know your two friends are there...."

"I don't know them. I joined a random escape pod which happened to have an empty spot." Kat cut off the conversation. "I just wanted to check what's in there."

Manu raises his eyebrows.

What? Why are you talking like that, Kat? Does this mean you don't care about those two people?

I looked at Kat's face, whose expression barely shows any emotion. Damn, it seems like it will be difficult to guess the girl's thoughts, even though one of the methods of playing this game is to observe the expressions of the colonists.

Have I chosen the wrong colonist candidate?

The girl then looked at her left foot, which was not wearing shoes. The leg looked red from swelling.

"Hey, did you see that?" Manu points the other way.

Me and Kat turned in the direction Manu was referring to. From a distance, someone is running in the rain. He was a man who was stark naked and covered his genitals with his hands.

Ah, our star has arrived.