Chapter 156: Not a Complete Disaster
Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Addis
When Yu Zhen saw the attachment, he immediately sent a message to his assistant. His recent project was related to civil aviation systems, which involved extensive research and testing during the investigation phase. System security issues were a top priority. The starships, a key component of civil aviation, were also within the scope of study. The assistant would send him progress reports every three days, but this time, an unexpected document had been included.
The document was titled “Unknown Exploration β2 Star Domain,” also known as the “Cold Winter Star Domain.” It was the site of a starship disaster involving researchers over a decade ago.
He opened the attachment and read through it carefully. He lost track of time until he heard someone calling him, which suddenly brought him back to the present.
“Brother?”
Yu Zhen turned around and saw that the summoner was still at the initial position. The mismatch between the voice and the character pulled his thoughts back. Su Mo had not entered the game; the summoner was his account.
“Did they leave?” Yu Zhen closed the email.
“A few of them did. They went to watch the post-match broadcast,” said Melon. “We were about to ask if you wanted to practice in the arena tonight. We called out to you for a while but thought you were AFK.”
Some teammates had already gone for the post-match interviews, while others had left the “Arena of Debate” scene, leaving only a few scattered individuals behind.
Su Mo could no longer see Yu Zhen. After the official perspective was closed, the live stream had switched to the post-match interview interface, and he could only gauge the situation in the game through the sound.
“Just had some urgent work to handle, so I won’t be practicing in the arena today.” Yu Zhen glanced at ZenSlasher and said, “If the official sends out a notice, please let us know. I’m logging off now.”
ZenSlasher nodded, “Alright.”
Once the array master and summoner had logged off, Melon looked at ZenSlasher with surprise. “As expected of a big shot, he had no interest in hanging around at all. He finished the game and logged off right away. I would have thought he was just clocking in and out of work.”
“Momo wasn’t online, and it seems he didn’t play for too long either,” ZenSlasher said, not thinking much of it, and then opened the official website to keep an eye on the news from the “Arena of Debate.”
Melon just responded with a few “ohs” and then casually opened the live stream to watch the broadcast.
***
When Yu Zhen opened his eyes, Su Mo was sitting beside him, wrapped in a blanket, with one hand hidden under the covers holding his hand. He removed the headset and pulled Su Mo into his embrace. “Didn’t I tell you not to talk too much?”
Su Mo replied, “My throat doesn’t itch anymore. Want to watch the live stream?”
The virtual screen was showing the live broadcast. The previous arena god view had been switched to a casual live streaming room. In the modern, high-tech room, the game commentary and player images looked somewhat out of place. However, the live stream’s chat messages were still numerous and densely packed at the back.
“Should I turn off the chat?” Yu Zhen asked.
“Yeah, it’s a bit noisy.”
Su Mo raised his hand to turn off the chat. He had turned it off once while watching the match, but it had popped up again after the scene changed. He had glanced at the chat content earlier and found some messages difficult to understand. Even though he was familiar with StarNet-related news, he still felt a generation gap compared to many of his peers.
In the past, he hadn’t understood many of the memes and references. It wasn’t until he became familiar with people like ScarletFruit that he gradually learned about many new things from them.
The people who came for the interview were not only ScarletFruit but also ClearWind, FireworksAndLanterns, and Apple. The fans were initially disappointed that it wasn’t Momo and UnchainedWanderer, but they quickly became captivated by the playful atmosphere among the four. ClearWind, who was also a livestreamer, helped create a relaxed vibe for the post-match interview, which was far less serious than those of major tournaments, quickly energizing the audience.
The post-match interview was an opportunity to learn about interesting moments from the game. The map difficulty for this match was quite high, and the maze’s five-element mechanism was still not fully understood by the viewers. Apple recounted Momo’s analysis and explained the map’s mechanism in the Five Elements Temple.
[fuck! Is it really like that?]
[Wait! So Momo understood the mechanism from the first match?]
[That reaction was so fast, immediately noticing the buff order and mechanism.]
[This is incredible, CloudTraveller lost but it was worth it.]
FirstUnderHeaven asked, “The double Swordsman lineup in the third match was quite risky. Had you practiced with this double Swordsman lineup for a long time?”
“No,” ClearWind replied directly, “This kind of coordination was something we tried for the first time today. My big brother said, if we can’t win 1v1, we can at least win 2v1.”
Apple added, “That’s true. We were at a significant disadvantage in a 1v1.”
FirstUnderHeaven said, “So you planned for 2v1 from the start and went straight for CloudTraveller?”
Apple looked at his old rival with a somewhat exasperated expression and replied, “Of course. We had already figured out the map, so we were definitely going to engage. But their luck was terrible; the blood loss buff was right in the middle.”
ClearWind said, “Yeah, exactly. We thought it would be a tough battle. I suggested they buy some lucky gear from my good buddy. Not every team is as lucky as we are.”
ScarletFruit nodded and added, “Yes, yes. If you want to buy lucky gear, feel free to visit the StarNet forum trading section and search for the ScarletFruit trading post… Stock is available at the ScarletFruit specialty store in Sunset City’s marketplace.”
SkilfulEmptyHand quickly shifted the topic to avoid turning the interview into a sales pitch and asked, “The final match where you surrounded CloudTraveller was outstanding. How did you manage to corner him into the blood loss area? Both of you have high movement speeds; didn’t Momo’s instructions get confusing when navigating the maze?”
ScarletFruit responded, “Of course not. That match was directed by my big brother and Brother Wanderer. Our team also has dual commanders, so once we understood the map, it became quite easy for us.”
The topic quickly shifted back to Momo and UnchainedWanderer.
Since the quest arena started livestreaming, many skilled players have emerged. The more mysterious they were, the stronger the viewers’ curiosity grew. Among the remaining four teams, the most enigmatic players were Momo and UnchainedWanderer. The former was a renowned summoner known as the Archdemon, and the latter was an impressive attack-type array master. Both played niche roles, and there had been no posts from them on the StarNet forum.
Moreover, with the recent unveiling of divine weapons, two awakened divine weapons from other sects had been released, but their performance still paled in comparison to the exceptional weapon forged by momo.
Originally hoping to learn more about these two prominent figures through the interview, the hosts found that momo and UnchainedWanderer had no interest in participating. Given the high demand from the livestream viewers, FirstUnderHeaven and SkilfulEmptyHand could only rely on their teammates to gain insights into what these two individuals were truly like.
“Why hasn’t Momo appeared on the field?”
This was a question many players were concerned about. Even though Archdemon Momo had not been on the field for many matches, he had not personally participated even against strong opponents like CloudTraveller.
ScarletFruit wore a mysterious expression and said, “Top players don’t need a reason to be on the field.”
FirstUnderHeaven was left speechless.
Could you stop talking nonsense?!
“Regarding UnchainedWanderer, many players are curious about something. The way he countered the assassin seemed very similar to the tactics used by ReturnToSimplicity. In this match against the fully powered first assassin ChatMasterWu, he didn’t fall behind at all.” SkilfulEmptyHand had also done his homework and was naturally curious about the questions that netizens were asking. “I heard that ReturnToSimplicity and UnchainedWanderer are good friends. Is this true?”
As soon as these words were spoken, ScarletFruit and ClearWind paused for a moment.
Apple and FireworksAndLanterns hesitated to speak.
“During the Global Boss raid, momo used the ReturnToSimplicity account for both front-line and back-line kills. At that time, UnchainedWanderer’s attitude towards the ReturnToSimplicity account was quite casual, almost as if they were just friends. Now, their counter-attacking tactics are very similar. Although the array master and marksman have different operational styles, UnchainedWanderer’s array master is quite flexible and even has a bit of a marksman’s touch…”
ClearWind and ScarletFruit were left dumbfounded. Damn, even netizens can figure this out!
They had never heard Brother Wanderer mention such a close relationship with ReturnToSimplicity!
“Well, they are good friends, I suppose.” Apple coughed twice. “It’s not surprising that someone with an understanding of marksman would be a bit flexible; they probably discussed things privately.”
SkilfulEmptyHand continued to ask, “So, their relationship among the three is really good, huh?”
FireworksAndLanterns replied, “Of course, their relationship is very good.”
Apple responded vaguely, “More or less.”
ClearWind said, “???”
ScarletFruit added, “……?”
***
Su Mo looked at his two teammates who were bewildered in the live stream and couldn’t help but laugh. He asked someone nearby, “Aren’t you going to tell them about your main account? I remember you mentioned that Apple and the others already knew.”
“I thought I had been pretty obvious,” Yu Zhen added. “But they didn’t ask me directly. It seems that Apple and the others hadn’t mentioned it to ClearWind and the others.”
It had been quite obvious; apart from not bringing it up, they had almost never hidden the matter in front of ScarletFruit and the others.
“I’ll tell them later,” Yu Zhen said as he got up. “I’m going to make dinner. You can rest here for now.”
Seeing Yu Zhen pick up the terminal, Su Mo glanced over and said, “Weren’t you handling work earlier? Lele has already gone to work and said it wanted to cook a big meal and needed your input.”
Yu Zhen smiled, “Oh? No problem, I’ll go check it out.”
He added, “While I’m in the kitchen, if you’re bored, you can watch some other streams.”
Apart from the sounds coming from the live stream, the only other noise in the room was the hustle and bustle from the kitchen.
Su Mo leaned against the sofa, his attention no longer on the live stream. His gaze drifted to the kitchen not far away. In the open-plan kitchen, he could see the man busy at the counter, adding a splash of vibrant color to what had once been a monotonous and quiet life.
The sofa beside him still seemed to hold the warmth of the man who had been there. This home, once just him and Lele, now included another person. Su Mo had never imagined this possibility before, but once it happened, his future suddenly seemed to be filled with new significance.
Over the past year, he had met many people, and life was no longer just about Lele and experiments. The path ahead seemed to open up more.
He felt truly grateful to be alive. The suffering of the past years had somehow led to today’s blessings.
“Today is a healthy day; I could live a hundred years,” Su Mo mused as he watched the questions from his friends in the chat group, who were still chatting during the interview. He glanced at the person in the kitchen and agreed with FireworksAndLanterns’ comment that “their three relationships are very good,” while his mind drifted to thoughts about the house.
Would the house be too small? Should he clear out the storage room?
Maybe he should make space in the guest room, though his bed wasn’t small…
At that moment, the man in the kitchen stepped out and went straight to the window, seemingly engaged in an urgent terminal communication. Su Mo glanced over with curiosity but quickly looked away. Recently, Yu Zhen had indeed been very busy, and even during his rest time, work interruptions were common.
The call was from Yu Zhen’s assistant, regarding a reply about the email attachment.
After hearing about Su Mo’s parents, Yu Zhen had looked into the incident involving the B2145 ship. It was a confidential project conducted by the Capital Planet Archaeological Institute and other research institutes. The ship had encountered trouble during a jump in the Vicinity of the Cold Winter Star System after three days of cruising. This incident had caused a stir within the community, with missing persons being key researchers from multiple institutes, so the news was immediately sealed and kept from public knowledge.
“What did they say?” Yu Zhen lowered his voice, glancing at the young man sitting on the sofa playing with his terminal. He spoke to his assistant, “Is what was mentioned in the email true?”
The assistant responded, “Yes. Because recent investigations into the safety systems of B-type ships involved this issue, the research team also conducted an investigation into that model of ship. Initially, the focus was on the significant safety hazards associated with the failure of B-type ship jumps, but after verification, we found that this assumption had substantial inaccuracies, leading us to conduct a more in-depth investigation.”
The B2145 ship had been equipped with the most finely tuned safety systems for its time, with a jump failure probability of only 0.023%. Their research team, consisting of many elites, delved deeply into the issue, aiming to enhance the safety systems. Analyzing a ship disaster from over a decade ago with current technology was much easier than before, so they quickly noticed a detail that had been overlooked back then.
“A researcher in our group, who had extensive data on star system coordinates and jumps, pointed out that a setting in the B-type safety components could be re-positioned using modern technology. Our investigation uncovered a significant issue, though it is also possible that our researcher made a judgment error.”
The assistant continued, “The deputy team leader immediately sent the information to the research institute involved at the time. Over the past three days, they have been analyzing and testing this issue comprehensively. The Star Alliance military has also dispatched a starship to the site of the accident in the Vicinity.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Zhen could no longer maintain his composure. “What did they determine?”
“It’s too early to tell; we need to wait for news from the military,” the assistant replied. “The ship wasn’t completely lost; it’s possible that some of the researchers aboard are still alive.”
Yu Zhen’s pupils constricted suddenly.
The window wasn’t fully closed, and a cold breeze entered the room.
Su Mo felt a chill on his nose and glanced at the man standing by the window, who seemed to be bathed in a white, misty light.
Noticing his gaze, Yu Zhen ended the call and turned around.
Su Mo waved him over and asked, “Brother, come here.”
Yu Zhen walked over, carrying an aura of chill with him.
Su Mo had never seen this side of Yu Zhen—both cold and stern. He furrowed his brow and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing; it’s just a bit cold by the window,” Yu Zhen hesitated to say more but eventually didn’t. He shifted the topic and said, “It’s snowing outside; you should go out less these days.”
“Snow control on Capital Planet always comes quite late,” Su Mo remarked.
He handed his terminal to Yu Zhen and said, “Brother, pick one.”
Yu Zhen looked down and asked, “Pick what?”
Su Mo replied seriously, “Choose a bigger bed.”
As soon as he said that, Lele, who happened to be passing by, overheard.
The innocent robot asked, “Su Mo, didn’t you say you weren’t going to change it?”
Lele had always advised against changing to a smaller, more comfortable medical bed, despite Su Mo’s preference.
It had recommended options for a long time!
Author’s note: When it came to changing the bed, Lele eagerly recommended to the owner—
Option A: Medical Bed Option B: Medical Bed
Width: 1.5m.
Lele: This one is very good.
momo: Oh.
Yu Zhen: Hmm.
