Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

Hailing from a city just a level below Emperor Star City, Starfish City is said to be modeled after a famous coastal city called Sea Blue Star. It’s a bustling city with a charming seaside vibe, filled with many players strolling along the streets.

Using the map, Ruo Manni quickly located the mech manufacturing guild. To her surprise, there were dozens of players in the guild hall, and quite a number of them had chosen the mech manufacturer as their auxiliary profession.

Ruo Manni’s special outfit with the veil certainly attracted many curious glances, especially from the young male players, who were eyeing her with interest.

The boys in the youth group were all underage, and who wouldn’t be drawn to a beautiful girl? Particularly one whose face was obscured but gave off an undeniable aura of beauty, sparking their curiosity even more.

In this world’s network, as long as you used a holographic gaming pod, the 99% realism allowed for intimate interactions in private settings, provided the players were over twenty years old.

But there was one thing better than reality: both parties needed to consent; otherwise, the other person couldn’t even touch you.

So, it didn’t matter what those young players were thinking; they couldn’t just pull off her veil to see her face.

Ruo Manni directly ignored the players’ gazes and walked straight to the assessment area, applying to take the test.

As expected, with the game’s automatic speed-up effect, she completed the level one mech manufacturing assessment smoothly in just twenty minutes.

If the NPC overseeing the assessment had independent thought, it would surely be curious why the girl player, who completed the level one mech manufacturing assessment in record time, appeared not just unhappy but also exuded a profound sadness.

Ruo Manni slowly regained her focus and wanted to apply to continue learning level two mech manufacturing. However, when she saw that it required 100 gold coins to learn the basic level two mech crafting skills, she looked at her pitifully low amount of gold coins and sighed.

Although she could exchange information points for gold coins, Ruo Manni planned to earn everything in the game by herself, without converting credit points into game currency.

“Get lost if you have no money, and don’t get in the way of others,” a disdainful female voice came from behind her.

Ruo Manni was thinking about how many days it would take to earn 100 gold coins to learn level two basic mech crafting and hardly paid attention to others.

However, sensing the hostility from the person behind her, she turned to look.

“What are you staring at?” The girl rudely shoved Ruo Manni aside with her shoulder, using considerable force, clearly indicating she was a skilled fighter.

In the city, players cannot engage in PvP combat. Although the girl with the ID “Feihua Rumo” had crossed a line, her actions didn’t trigger any attack value. Ruo Manni couldn’t be bothered to even glance at her and turned to walk away.

“Hmph, as if covering your face makes you a beauty,” Feihua Rumo scoffed from behind. “Can’t even afford the five gold coins for the learning fee, what a poor wretch.”

“Alright, Feihua,” a boy interjected to stop her. “Let’s collect the materials first.”

Ruo Manni ignored the woman’s insults and left the mech manufacturing hall without looking back. With only a few minutes left before the logout timer, she planned to stroll around the city to relax.

Shortly after Ruo Manni logged out, the operations hall for the game War World on the tech planet was also at ease. All the data had been running smoothly for seven hours straight, indicating that the game had launched successfully.

According to the data, the number of players entering the game from the Gus Empire was five percent higher than predicted, which relieved the staff—this was a good start.

As everything went smoothly, the non-operational staff in the operations hall began to leave after a sleepless night. The young man referred to as “Your Highness” exited the hall through a secure passage and boarded a hover car, preparing to return to the hotel to rest.

At this point, dawn had broken, and the bright light of the stars illuminated the planet. The young prince and his aide had not rested for two consecutive days. While the aide showed some signs of fatigue, the young prince remained upright and composed, revealing no signs of weariness.

“Your Highness, Assistant Chen has sent information regarding 01,” the young aide leaned in slightly and said, his expression somewhat peculiar. He spoke in a mysterious whisper:

“Your Highness, I just browsed through it and noticed some anomalies in 01’s genetic sequence, but I lack the authority to cross-reference it with the genetic database.”

The young prince looked at his aide and sensed the depth of his unusual expression. He granted him temporary access to the Gus Empire’s genetic database. With the authorization password in hand, the aide eagerly opened the relevant information.

“Your Highness, indeed, look at this—how could this happen? How is it possible…” The young aide said excitedly, his breath becoming rapid.

The young prince glanced at him. This companion, who had followed him since childhood, was not an ordinary person; in fact, he was his cousin, six months older.

Though he was a prince, his cousin’s status was also significant—he was the future heir of a prominent family, with power and influence only slightly less than his own. Therefore, seeing such an expression on his cousin’s face indicated that the situation was quite unexpected.

The young prince immediately opened the genetic comparison chart sent by his cousin. Upon seeing it, his expression turned serious, and he felt a twinge of disbelief. “Are you sure all the information is correct?”

His cousin nodded. “No doubt about it. I compared it three times, even cross-referenced it with my father and uncles and aunts. My uncle… has the highest probability, but it can’t be right. There must be some mistake.”

The young prince’s mind raced as he pulled up his own genetic code for comparison. The result left both cousins staring at each other in shock. Despite their extensive knowledge, the sheer coincidence of the situation was surprising enough for them to suspect that there was more to it than mere chance.

After a moment of deep thought, the young prince said, “Have you recalled any clues?”

His cousin tried to remember for a while and then recalled a long-buried incident. He looked at the young prince and asked, “Do you remember what happened sixteen years ago?”

The young prince squinted as he recalled some distant events, taking a while before he spoke, “We need to investigate this thoroughly. And until the time is right, only those involved should know about it.”

His cousin was momentarily taken aback but quickly understood. Indeed, it was best to keep things that way, but completely withholding information…

“Should we let Uncle know…?”

“No, we can’t do that yet. At most, we can let your father know.” The young prince said firmly, “This is not just about your family; it concerns our situation and the future of our empire. The empire comes first, and I want the most secure approach.”

“Understood,” his cousin replied seriously.