Chapter 470: Battlefield Commander (Eighth Update)

PS: It has been a long time since I last played StarCraft, and I subconsciously felt that StarCraft II and Diablo II belonged to the same era. After all, they both share that number two...

As it turns out, it was just the author being silly. When it comes to StarCraft, it is still far more appropriate to start from the very first game.

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"StarCraft?!" That name was harder to comprehend than The Matrix!

"Is Diablo in this one?" Jiang Xiaoyue asked curiously. After all, she had spotted the Blizzard logo, which appeared on both Diablo II and its official novels.

In fact, even the likes of Wang Xie and Yue Bai had read the official Diablo novels, finding the train of thought quite unique.

Just as seeing the Softstar logo would evoke thoughts of the Legend of Sword and Fairy series, seeing the Blizzard logo now made Jiang Xiaoyue instinctively wonder, "Could this be just like Legend of Sword and Fairy 3? A sequel or a prequel to Diablo?"

"It doesn't look like it..." Besided her, Yue Bai sat on the sofa, holding the official Diablo novel and turning to the opening page. "Diablo speaks of humanity surviving in the cracks between angels and demons..."

"Look over there." Everyone stared at the large screen, where a vehicle brimming with metallic grit floated in a vast, dark void of nothingness, surrounded by stars shimmering with faint starlight. "This seems to be... the starry sky?"

It was nowhere near the setting of Diablo.

Everyone wore a puzzled expression. "Could this be the sky at night?"

Well, it had to be night. After all, how could daytime be this dark?

The opening cinematic of StarCraft differed from other games; it was a macroscopic prologue, chronicling the first crossing of paths between humanity and another intelligent species in the universe—the Protoss.

The Protoss were purifying a human colony infected by the Zerg, and a group of unfortunate humans just happened to be watching the scene unfold firsthand.

Above the vessel, a colossal shadow cast down, blotting out the sun and covering the sky. Looking up, if that thing overhead was a warship, its massive bow—capable of eclipsing the heavens—already filled their entire field of vision.

It was like a tiny fish gliding along the bottom of the deep sea, suddenly looking up to behold the legendary Leviathan.

"What is that...?"

"What a massive Dharma vessel!"

"It looks even more colossal than the Sky-Patrolling Dharma Vessel in the academy!"

Beneath the hull, a brilliant blue light suddenly erupted!

The entire grand screen turned into a sheet of destructive, deep azure!

The black-robed Daoist Zhou Mo cried out, "From which clan is that cultivator, to actually forge such a terrifying Dharma vessel?!"

At the Jiuhua City shop.

At this moment, a crowd of people gathered around the sofas in the leisure area as well.

A white-robed old man was leisurely enjoying a stick of spicy gluten.

"Brother Gongshu, how does this compare to your Gongshu family's armored battleship?" someone beside him asked casually.

"..." What a curse! Halfway through his snack, he slammed it heavily onto the table, his face entirely dark.

StarCraft featured a total of three races.

The Terran system relied primarily on technology, supplemented by mental and psionic energy (the Ghosts).

The Protoss were also known as the God Race. This race bore similarities to cultivators or magical civilizations; centered around the Templars, they possessed formidable mental and psionic energies within themselves—forces akin to magic or spiritual power. At the same time, the Protoss could cast spells and utilize close-combat systems, possessing extremely potent individual combat capabilities.

The combat style of the Zerg mostly adhered to the way of insects and wild beasts. Their greatest advantage lay in their sheer numbers and an absolute lack of fear toward death. Because the Queen of Blades was originally human, she wielded a combat style that incorporated both mental and psionic energies.

Fang Qi entered the selection interface to take a look. The system version of StarCraft split its operation into two distinct modes:

The first was Commander Mode, which served as the primary operational style. One assumed the role of a commander during a campaign to see it through to completion, and player-versus-player battles could be conducted as well.

The second was the Single-Soldier Role-Playing Mode. In certain campaign missions, players would not be provided with a command center base or workers for independent development, or the pace of development would be restricted, leaving them with only a single squad or a few units without reinforcements. Under these circumstances, one could participate in the campaign as a single character. Examples included Jim Raynor (the Terran protagonist), Sarah Kerrigan (the Queen of Blades), Zeratul (the Protoss Dark Templar) during the battle to assassinate the Cerebrate, or even Marines, pilots, other High or Dark Templars, and Hydralisk pack leaders within the campaign.

Among these, the Queen of Blades only accepted female players, while Zeratul and other Protoss only accepted male players; anyone else could only complete those campaign missions from a commander's perspective.

Naturally, the most classic operational style remained Commander Mode.

As Boss Fang selected the Terran campaign, the game officially entered its starting phase.

Campaign background: Because a certain colony had been destroyed previously (in the opening cinematic), the player was now dispatched in the capacity of a commander to protect another colony named Mar Sara.

Unlike the original game, where the map layout was rather sparse—consisting only of a single base, a few SCVs (workers), a barren patch of land, and a few mineral patches, built entirely upon the most basic framework of StarCraft—

Things were different now. Upon entering the game, Fang Qi could see a relatively prosperous human colonial base stretching before his eyes. From the outside, the design of the main base was significantly more complex than the original, while the interior housed a vast expanse of space.

The exterior featured all kinds of buildings, streets, and even flora, intricate and varied, resembling a small-scale town (reminiscent of StarCraft II).

All around were modern-style streets, where several Marines wearing heavy armor and cradling massive firearms patrolled the thoroughfare.

The ash-white, thoroughly modernized room was precisely the colony magistrate's office, where the adjutant lady stood to the side, reporting on the overall situation of the colony.

As for the operational style, Fang Qi glanced at the screen before him; commands could be executed via electronic directives and verbal orders. The electronic directives were somewhat similar to the original game but boasted far more complete functions. Combined with verbal commands, they could thoroughly recreate the process of commanding a real war.

Of course, this was merely the operational process for the Terrans; Fang Qi still had no idea whether the operations for the other two races would differ. The opening tutorial required him to eliminate a small detachment of Zerg in the vicinity—a single squad consisting of twelve Marines. Fang Qi casually ordered them into a simple wing formation.

Fang Qi discovered that as long as he told them to maintain formation, they would hold that arrangement regardless of whether they advanced or turned, rarely acting chaotically under normal circumstances. This was unlike the original game, where units would fall into disarray the moment they bumped into obstacles.

After marching out of the colony in formation, they soon encountered a small pack of Zerglings lingering outside the settlement.

Evidently, these creatures had also spotted the Marine squad, and they rushed toward the soldiers at extreme speed.

"Center wing, fall back! Flanks, encircle them!" With a dazzling display of micro-management from Boss Fang, the Marines in the center fought while retreating, while the flanking Marines swarmed in from both sides, causing the dozen or so Zerglings to rapidly dwindle in number.

Just as the last Zergling lunged right before them, Boss Fang had already issued an order in advance, pulling the position of the Marine dead center off to the side.

Almost simultaneously, the Marine who received the order swiftly retreated several paces laterally. The remaining Marines opened fire nearly at the same instant; the Zergling instantly pounced on empty air, crashing powerlessly to the ground.

Gunsmoke drifted across the entire battlefield. Amidst a fluid sequence of advances, retreats, and attacks, the enemy forces were entirely annihilated without a single casualty on his side.

The controls and commanding felt exceptionally smooth.

"Is this game about commanding soldiers in battle?!" Everyone stared intently at this game on the big screen. Not only could one play as the protagonist, but one could actually act as a commander too?!

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