CH 22

TL: Moonlit

After the small ears flopped softly against his head, Shu Shuishui seemed to have automatically rejected the noise and fell back into a deep sleep. Gu Langu’s fingers, made of ancient bones, continued to stroke the mouse intermittently. There was no doubt that this half-mechanical being, Gu Langu, had the patience to wait until next year to discuss matters, provided that Shu Shuishui wouldn’t be completely bald from being stroked too much.

Yu Jin couldn’t help but sigh. “Is this how mice live? We plan day by day, while they plan by the year?”

Nan Ge was also very interested, but seeing Shu Shuishui fast asleep, he naturally wouldn’t wake him up to ask what was going on. His thoughts shifted from the soft and fluffy mouse biscuit to more serious matters. “Both Fei Luo and Hu Sichen want to migrate as soon as possible. There are two migration routes: one is to settle in Zone B, which means they’ll have a direct confrontation with Zone B and try to occupy its territory. The other option is to find a place to live near Zone B. It seems that Zone B has no intention of migrating, which indicates that the path of the cold wave’s invasion is not near Zone B. We should survive the winter first before making any decisions.”

Gu Langu showed no expression on her face. “And the conditions?”

Before Nan Ge could speak, Yu Jin eagerly answered first. “The condition is for our leader to act as the vanguard and the living space obtained after the migration will be distributed based on the population. They have quite the plan, thinking we haven’t heard any news. Zone B has been recruiting people since the news of the cold wave spread. Once you enter Zone B, regardless of your previous allegiance, everything will be reset, and you will obey the leadership of Zone B. Fei Luo and Hu Sichen obviously don’t want to easily give up their power, but they also want to secure a comfortable living environment in Zone B, so they found us.”

Nan Ge and Gu Langu understood what Yu Jin was saying. In simple terms, Zone B doesn’t reject outsiders from entering, but the condition is to abandon all existing resources, influence, and become an ordinary person under the management of Zone B. For leaders who have been in positions of power for a long time, this is almost impossible. This is also the reason why Zone B dares to recruit personnel extensively. Most of those willing to enter Zone B are wanderers, those with no attachments, and not only are they free from burdens, but they also possess formidable strength. As long as Zone B can provide enough food, these people will be a useful asset.

“Fei Luo and Hu Sichen dare to negotiate because they must have heard many rumors about our base. They want to enter Zone B but lack sufficient strength, which is why they came to us. And we indeed need to make a choice.” Nan Ge didn’t send them away today but instead settled them in, indicating that he had migration plans. The more manpower and resources for migration, the safer it would be.

Yu Jin shrugged. “They’re using our leader as a tool, and their requirement to allocate safe zones based on population is clearly taking advantage. Everyone knows that our base has the fewest people. In this situation, I’m not in a hurry to leave. Wherever the leader goes, I’ll go. If the leader doesn’t leave, I won’t leave either. Let’s leave it to fate.”

Nan Ge was used to Yu Jin’s impulsive and passionate nature. In comparison, Nan Ge leaned more toward factual analysis. “I analyzed the strength and equipment of Zone B. Direct confrontation might not be entirely impossible, but Zone B always has simulators at their disposal, and they likely have hidden trump cards we don’t know about. I believe we can migrate near Zone B, find a small town or something similar to settle down, and then prepare winter supplies before the arrival of the cold wave. Just before winter sets in, we’ll have another chance to receive a simulator drop.”

“Simulators,” Yu Jin couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on as he touched his chin.

Shu Shuishui had previously speculated that with the current ecological environment of Cang Zhan Star, it would be difficult to achieve self-sufficiency in food. There should be other food sources, and simulators were one of them.

The so-called simulator was a one-way transmission device, or it could be understood as a supercomputer that could only receive signals. It was the most direct connection between Cang Zhan Star and the outside world.

Simulators couldn’t send any information outward, but they could receive requests and tasks sent by the interstellar administrators outside the planet. The people of Cang Zhan Star could complete these tasks to obtain rewards, which included a large number of survival supplies and some weapons.

Residents of the Cang Zhan Star are no strangers to this type of simulator. After the emergence of the first-generation holographic online games, simulators developed rapidly and branched out into various applications.

Prison planets like Cang Zhan Star have strict regulations, allowing only one-way transportation, leading to the emergence and widespread use of one-way transmission simulators.

These one-way simulators have the unique ability to physically transport individuals, much like the irreversibility of time. They completely prevent users from transmitting signals to the outside world and escaping.

However, these simulators can extract the user’s consciousness, which is a form of energy. Through the transfer function of the simulator, the consciousness can be projected into specific locations. Unlike holographic online games, which are virtual worlds where players don’t suffer any harm even if they are injured, simulators extract the user’s complete and real consciousness and project it into an actual existing world. Therefore, any damage to the user’s consciousness is reflected in real-time on their physical body. If the consciousness dies, the user dies as well. That’s because most of the people on this planet are prisoners and outlaws.

It’s like how people in ancient times enjoyed watching others fight in difficult situations and built arenas for gladiatorial combat. Even in the era of interstellar civilization, this primitive instinct hasn’t faded away.

Since it’s destined that they cannot leave the prison planet in their lifetime, why not make use of it? That was the original intention behind the introduction of simulators, although the interstellar administrators wouldn’t put it so plainly.

By using these simulators, the people on Cang Zhan Star can not only obtain supplies but also experience a brief sense of freedom away from the planet. However, the prerequisite is that they are willing to fight for it and even be prepared to sacrifice their lives.

Therefore, every year during the season transition period, there are a few days of stable weather, which is when the interstellar management organization releases simulators into the planet. The number and locations of the simulator drops are random. Therefore, besides collecting winter supplies, acquiring simulators is also of utmost importance.

Unfortunately, Gu Langu was exiled to Cang Zhan Star at an unfortunate time and missed the chance to receive a simulator drop. This winter would be their first encounter with the simulator drop.

“After carefully studying the towns near Zone B, select the viable ones and prepare for migration.” Gu Langu made the final decision on the migration action.

In fact, when Fei Luo and Hu Sichen approached Gu Langu for cooperation, apart from the aforementioned reasons, there was also an element of testing involved. Since Gu Langu arrived on Cang Zhan Star, there have been many rumors about his ruthless killings, but nothing has been confirmed. This led many people to suspect that Gu Langu, besides losing control, might also have problems with being a half-mechanical being and has lost his combat value, which is why he was abandoned by the Gu family. This is also one of the reasons why people gradually left Gu Langu’s base half a year later.

Yu Jin and Nan Ge were mentally shaken by Gu Langu’s command, devoid of any warmth. They inexplicably felt a sense of returning to the period when they fought side by side. It seemed like the merciless and powerful war god had returned. However, upon closer inspection, it was just an illusion because the former war god was still persistently stroking the dormouse, seemingly determined to make it completely bald.

Yu Jin thought about how Shu Shuishui used to be proud of his fluffy appearance and suddenly wondered how the little mouse would react if one day Shu Shuishui was completely bald from being stroked.

The little dormouse would explode from anger HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH