Chapter 1051: 'Beta Test' Ends!

Chapter 1051: "Beta Test" Ends!

[Global Announcement: Lagrange Point Space Station has been captured by the Burning Legion!]

[Global Announcement: Congratulations to players "White Steed Passing Through the Gap," "Time Is Long," "Level Eight Great Gale" ... for obtaining the limited title "Savior of Civilization"! This achievement will enter the Hall of Fame!]

[Global Announcement: The beta test will conclude shortly; the public test is expected to launch with the expansion pack "Opening of New Routes," arriving with a bang!]

[...]

Three consecutive global announcements flooded the official website!

The already bustling forum now seemed doused with a bucket of gasoline!

Lagrange Point Space Station captured!

The greatest evil force on the wasteland eradicated!

Of course, these were not the main points—

What truly made players and cloud players scream with excitement was the long-awaited public test and the brand-new content!!!

The moment the announcements appeared on the official website, forum posts refreshed at a rate of tens of thousands per second, a massive torrent of information surging like an avalanche!

Tail: "Woo hoo! New route!! (?ω?)"

Level 99 Trash Picker: "Bro Guang is awesome!!! (Cracking voice)"

Professor Yang, the Thunder Mage: "Public test!!! My public test!!! (Scream)"

I Am Proud and Unyielding: "Heh, keep bragging. If this crappy game is real, I'll livestream myself doing a handstand and shitting! (Sneer)"

T-Rex Warrior: "Crying, I've gone from a middle schooler to a high schooler, and this game finally finishes testing. T.T"

Irena: "Then wait another two years, you'll be an adult soon. (Ridiculous)"

T-Rex Warrior: "Damn!"

Vine Vine: "Time flies, huh. It's been so many years already. (?′?`?)"

Crow Crow: "Indeed~"

Sisi: "Hmm, I almost forgot about the public test. Didn't expect A-Guang to remember."

Aoh Aoh Sesame Paste: "Feels like there'll be many new players. o(*￣︶￣*)o"

Meat Mountain Big Steamed Bun: "In other words, the server will be full of weird people. (o__)?"

Aoh Aoh Sesame Paste: "Ahaha... that's unavoidable."

Irena: "Like Brother Proud? (Ridiculous)"

Elf King Fugui: "Family heirloom skill, specializing in curing low blood pressure. (Ridiculous)"

WC There Really Are Mosquitoes: "Gaga ga, leave him to me, I love newbies the most. (Evil grin)"

Mole Escaping from the Canyon: "Where are the Burning Legion brothers? Why haven't they come down to show off?"

Spring Water Commander: "I heard from Old Bai they plan to take a group photo on the space station. Probably a while yet, haha."

Night Ten: "Damn! Such a good thing without me! Huge loss!!! QAQ"

Debt-Ridden Big Eyes: "Get lost! You want to take advantage of everything, that's too much! (Angry)"

Construction Site Youth and Bricks: "Exactly! You already have a starship, what more do you want!!! (Angry)"

Tail: "Starship!!! Tail wants one too! QAQ"

Sisi: "Uh, let me think of a way? (Guilty)"

Vine Vine: "(Snicker) (Snicker)"

Jiu Jiu Loves Pineapple: "You can have the starship, I'll take Dora, hehehe. (///ω///)"

Wake Up and Feel Tired: "Heard she's bigger than Crow Crow. (Dazed)"

Maka Bazi: "Two, two crows' power?"

Stop Talking Nonsense: "(Nosebleed) (Nosebleed)"

Crow Crow: "What the hell is two crows' power? Don't use me as a reference, duck!!! (Angry) (Angry)"

Midnight Chicken Killer: "Here, you're welcome. (*?ω?)-?"

Irena: "Trembling in fear. (Ridiculous)"

The forum was filled with a cheerful atmosphere, and the banter between players and cloud players continued, though the topic had already jumped from which planet the new route would open to the CP of the Administrator.

This was also a long-standing topic.

Since the alpha version test began, the official website had been gossiping about this.

After all, as everyone knew, most NPCs in this game had emotions and desires, except for the Administrator, who was the most NPC-like.

This guy seemed to have no private life, spending all his time on work, leaving most new players with only the impression of "the alliance's mascot" and nothing more.

Some busybody started a voting thread, listing the names of NPCs suspected of having shady dealings.

Besides Boss Xia, it even included Heya, Niko, Yin Fang, and the dog planner, who wasn't even in the game.

Logically, such a voting thread could never produce a serious result; the most absurd option would surely get the highest votes.

However, to everyone's surprise, the top spot went to a wastebasket named Xiao Qi!

The reason this result surprised everyone wasn't that it was undeserved—Xiao Qi was quite popular on the forum, second only to the alliance's true mascot, Little Fish.

What was truly surprising was that this voting result was incredibly "serious," with a staggering 99% approval rate!

As a result, the second-place planner "Xiao Qi" (with a 1% approval rate) actually had fewer points of contention.

Many people said their voting button felt like it had been ripped off, pressing it didn't stir up a single ripple.

Tail: "Giao! So many people voted for Xiao Qi? Tail voted for Boss Xia. (Guilty)"

Meat Mountain Big Steamed Bun: "I'm with you. (Muttering)"

Vine Vine: "I voted for Alisa... (Guilty)"

Debt-Ridden Big Eyes: "What the hell is Alisa?!"

Vine Vine: "But don't you think they're a good match? Both are the kind that shine... (Muttering)"

Spring Water Commander: "Rarely does this one ship a somewhat normal CP. I thought she'd vote for Yin Fang... (Forehead rub)"

Vine Vine: "That's not impossible either. (///ω///)"

WC There Really Are Mosquitoes: "Gaga ga, I voted for him! (Evil grin)"

Edge Paddling: "Pfft—"

Night Ten: "Wait, if it's Alisa, wouldn't she die? At least Boss Xia has thicker HP? By the way, I also voted for Yin Fang."

Spring Water Commander: "Cough, if you put it that way, then it has to be Frost. So, I voted for Ibers."

Edge Paddling: "???"

Debt-Ridden Big Eyes: "Wait, so who actually voted for Xiao Qi?! (Shocked)"

I Am Proud and Unyielding: "This is cheating, right?!"

(The pre-registered player "Grandpa's Pride Defies the Heavens" encountered a random forum event, was struck by a meteorite, admitted to the hospital, and muted for 24 hours.)

Professor Yang the Lightning Lord: "Wait, shouldn't it at least be a human?!"

(The pre-registered player "Professor Yang the Lightning Lord" encountered a random forum event, was hit by a falling flowerpot upon stepping outside, and muted for 24 hours.)

Tail: "!!!"

...

While the forum was brimming with a jovial atmosphere, a similarly delightful mood pervaded the distant Lagrange point space station.

Of the two thousand brothers who had made landfall, the casualty rate was a mere fifty percent. A staggering one thousand players had survived, far exceeding the initial expectations of the general staff who had orchestrated the operation.

In all seriousness, the battle to board the Heart of Steel back then had been far more grueling than this one.

Although the Celestials were more than a cut above the General MacClure of years past, the Alliance of today was no longer the fledgling entity it once was.

Having endured so many trials of blood and fire, any single member of the Burning Corps plucked at random and cast into the past would be considered a powerhouse above the absolute peak.

By contrast, although the Celestials lurking behind the scenes possessed the technology and legacy of the pre-war era, they fell considerably short of the Alliance in combat experience and the sheer resolve to achieve victory.

From that perspective, their defeat was entirely justified.

Since the landing craft bound for the Lagrange point possessed no return capabilities, the cohort had to remain here for a time, at least until the Alliance repaired the Orion-class missile cruiser parked in geostationary orbit and sailed it over.

To celebrate this hard-won victory, a portion of the players proposed a group photograph.

Consequently, a massive throng of players, carrying the Alliance flag, made their way outside the space station to strike various poses for commemorative pictures.

Yet, aside from those players keen on posturing and marking their attendance, there were also those with an insatiable urge for exploration who chose to wander about the space station.

The previous siege had been far too rushed; they had not found the time to examine this wonder of the Human Federation era closely.

Now that the battle had concluded, they finally had the leisure to rummage through every nook and cranny. A vast wave of players flooded into the various sectors of the space station, marveling at the unbelievably immense space fortress.

In the shipbuilding sector of the station, the vast, empty production area resembled a skyscraper laid horizontally—

And a skyscraper from the Ideal City, at that.

An unfinished hull lay quietly berthed within the cavernous bay.

Judging solely by its appearance, that boxy hull seemed to be merely a section of a single deck from an Orion-class missile cruiser.

It appeared that starships of the Human Federation era utilized this sort of modular fabrication technique.

Once a set of modules was completed, it would be moved horizontally or vertically along fixed tracks as a single unit to the "U-shaped port" outside the station, where it would be assembled with other modules, ultimately completing the casting of the entire starship like building blocks.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this modular design that the Gemini, which crashed on Alpha Centauri, had splintered into dozens of fragments.

Yet, even with modular craftsmanship, the size of a single module here was astonishing.

All the space stations on Earth combined could not match a single gantry in this place.

Gazing at the armored hull secured to its scaffolding and the dense rows of robotic arms, Corner Camper, holding his rifle, could not help but sigh with emotion.

"I just don't get it... The Human Federation was so powerful. How on earth did it perish?"

Walking beside him, Fang Chang glanced at him.

"Why are you still asking this question even now?"

Corner Camper: "Aren't you curious?"

"Curious I may be, but you cannot discuss two logically unrelated matters in the same breath."

Fang Chang sighed, explaining patiently.

"Power does not equate to immortality. Even the sun has a day when it burns out, let alone a regime existing within a specific historical period. When it can no longer satisfy the interests and demands of its internal social strata, it naturally reaches the end of its life. The Legion was so, and the Kingdom of Bharata during the Abishek period was so as well... And when that time comes, its power, far from helping, becomes an incredibly massive hidden peril."

Corner Camper scratched the back of his head, looking utterly blank.

"Why?"

He could not comprehend it.

Fang Chang thought for a moment and said.

"A ton of black powder and a ton of metallic hydrogen—which explosion is more powerful?"

Corner Camper chuckled helplessly.

"Metallic hydrogen, of course. But that... isn't that an inappropriate metaphor?"

Fang Chang replied casually.

"It is precisely the most appropriate metaphor. You'll understand if you use your brain a little."

Because the Human Federation was so powerful, it could absolutely never fall.

When everyone, without exception, thought this way, it was often the very beginning of the end for the Era of Prosperity.

For beneath the notion of "absolutely never falling" lay another hidden implication—

That meant one could act as recklessly as one pleased.

This so-called "recklessness" did not refer to a specific action by a certain high-ranking official of the Human Federation, but rather to the bottom-up and top-down divergences across different strata of the entire society.

The power of the Human Federation was not a castle in the air floating in the sky; rather, every stratum within the Federation possessed unparalleled strength.

When the divergences among all parties reached a critical point, and this unparalleled strength was no longer used for creation but to eliminate those divergences, the Human Federation's "Minsky moment" arrived.

At that point, unless a greater external force intervened to forcibly suppress the exploding powder keg, no one could prevent its detonation.

Evidently.

No such powerful entity existed alongside the Human Federation.

The Academy, which lorded over the wasteland, was nothing more than a loose academic organization during the Federation era.

Fang Chang himself was no historian; it was difficult for him to analyze the specific causes of the Federation's collapse, nor could he assert the exact moment it happened.

However, based on his past work experience, he could judge with absolute certainty that the Three Years' War was merely the fuse that ignited the contradictions, or rather, the straw that broke the camel's back.

"...If even you can't analyze it, then it seems this part is destined to remain a blank in the background lore."

Corner Camper gave up with a sigh, a hint of lingering regret on his face.

Indeed, upon reflection, it made sense.

If the Human Federation had truly collapsed because of a single failed campaign or the erroneous decision of a single individual, then no matter who that person was or what they did, that immense power would seem far too fragile.

In truth, to say nothing of the Human Federation.

Even Boulder City, with a population of a mere few hundred thousand, was not an entity that could be summarized in a few sentences.

For a Human Federation with a population numbering in the hundreds of millions, to truly explain the reasons for its collapse and dissolution clearly, one would probably have to start from before the Era of Prosperity and write an entire book.

And the thickness of that book would undoubtedly be far greater than the history of the Alliance.

Looking at the regretful Corner Camper, Fang Chang smiled faintly and said in a casual, nonchalant tone.

"When the whale falls, a myriad of things flourish. There is nothing to be regretful about. The wonders left by the Human Federation have already surpassed the miracles created by any organization that ever existed in the Classical Age, and that century which has long receded might well be more splendid than the changes this planet underwent over the past tens of thousands of years combined..."

"Even if their era has ended, it does not alter the fact that they were once giants."

"Furthermore, we have indeed not failed the high hopes they placed in us; we have risen anew from the ruins."

With that, he patted Corner Camper on the shoulder, smiled, and turned his gaze toward the next ship bay.

"It is time to look ahead."