"Welcome to Wutun."

Just as interstellar world Shen Yu was taking in the environment of outer space, a voice suddenly tapped straight into everyone's communication systems.

This kind of connection meant military command authority.

And this person was indeed the supreme commander of the entire Wutun base.

"I am the supreme commander of Wutun. My name is classified, my appearance is classified, and of course, even this voice is fake." The commander's synthetic voice sounded gruff, almost blending in with the harsh environment. "Let me tell you about the first thing you'll encounter after arriving at Wutun: from the moment you step out of the wormhole, you are already on the battlefield. That's right, all of Wutun—everywhere—is a war zone! Rookies, maybe hiding just around you, a Void Spirit is right now mocking you, thinking about new ways to torment you!"

Words like these, as expected, sparked more than a little unrest.

The new recruits, who had been bursting with excitement, started showing clear signs of panic.

Some even began to steer clear of the people around them, consciously keeping their distance.

Until the supreme commander's voice came again: "But, hey, don't worry too much. Ever since we figured out how to kill them, those Void Spirits have become much more behaved, hahaha! They have no clue whether among the new arrivals there might be some carrying weapons that can spot and eliminate them."

The tension and terror that had just seized the recruits began to ease a little.

But before they could fully relax, another message came through.

"Of course, there will always be some Void Spirits who're tired of hiding, who can't stand to see us get cocky. All the new recruits gathering together, what a golden opportunity! There's never been an arrival without an ambush, not ever!"

Intersellar world Shen Yu could only roll his eyes as he felt the wave of anxiety ripple again through the recruits.

He was certain—the supreme commander was doing it on purpose.

From the start, he was just stirring up the rookies' emotions, over and over?

Shen Yu tapped into the Goddess of Hope to pull up information on this commander.

Name: Xiu'Er. The number of cybernetic augmentations in his body was very low, all by personal request. Outwardly, he actually looked pretty young and fresh-faced. The rough voice was absolutely an artificial disguise.

But his record was enough to make anyone pause.

He'd been stationed here for ten years.

That's right, one of the earliest soldiers to hold the line here—a batch with survival odds less than one in a hundred. At the very start, he had survived, back then, just as another rookie.

Once, he'd been directly struck by a Void Spirit memetic attack, and his mind had nearly collapsed entirely.

But he toughed it out.

This wasn't unheard of in all Human Civilization's war history, but the odds were slim—less than one in one hundred thousand.

And most people who made it through ended up deeply traumatized.

But Xiu'Er was different.

Not only did he not break—not a trace of lingering trauma—instead, his mind grew stronger, step by step, clawing his way through a hopeless war, until now, becoming Wutun Wormhole's seventy-third supreme commander in ten years.

"A mind of steel, war records that shine." Shen Yu couldn't help but sigh.

And now, this commander whose résumé was enough to make anyone shiver, spoke up again: "Nervous? No need. Honestly, there's no need. Let me teach you the secret to surviving Wutun: from this moment, treat every minute and every second of your life as a gift from fate. Be prepared to die at any time, then get used to it, ignore it, learn to live with it. You'll soon realize that war isn't a big deal—it's just enjoying life in a new location. I've been here ten years; you can do it too."

When the ten years was mentioned, a wave of astonished chatter rippled through the new recruits.

Even if they never heard of Wutun before, once they prepped for deployment, stories of the battlefield meat grinder always caught up.

Hearing "ten years" out of nowhere—yeah, that left an impression.

Shen Yu wasn't planning to hang around any longer.

He'd already spotted the veterans assigned to welcome the greenhorns. All of them had huge grins, not even a hint of someone wading through the cruelest battlefields, and that smirk—definitely a touch of mischief, like they'd spotted some fun new toys.

The warriors stationed here—maybe just as Xiu'Er said—had long since become numb to death, learned to ignore it.

But Shen Yu was here to change all that!

"Send me your coordinates—I'll teleport over directly." Shen Yu didn't even bother wasting time on the trek.

Guided by the Goddess of Hope, he quickly arrived in an empty sector.

He burned some Gray Mist, as usual.

The destination was another deserted spot.

But at the next corner, he saw a bunch of soldiers huddled together, playing a game that's survived all these centuries of interstellar civilization.

—cards.

Obviously, it wasn't just your run-of-the-mill poker. This was all projection-based, with flashy animations—a real entertainment game.

Hundreds of years of history, constantly improved, now with gameplay more fun than ever.

Xiu'Er, the supreme commander himself, was right there in the crowd, blending in perfectly—no different than any other grunt.

Or, maybe, in here, he was just another grunt.

No one could imagine: spending every day together—playing cards, running missions—and Xiu'Er was actually commander of the entire Wutun sector.

Right then, Xiu'Er suddenly glanced up from the crowd, locking eyes with Shen Yu.

Shen Yu knew at once—the Goddess of Hope had signaled him.

"You guys keep playing, my friend is here," Xiu'Er said with a laugh, patting the shoulders of two nearby soldiers and heading over to Shen Yu.

Laughter rang out from behind them.

"Pretty sure he's not from our sector."

"Don't go spreading mimetics around."

"Xiu'Er, if you die, leave me all your cards, okay?"

"Bullshit! Xiu'Er's cards are mine—I've been waiting forever for those."

"What the hell are you arguing about? If Xiu'Er dies, is there anyone left in our sector? All the cards go to the next sector anyway!"

"Speaking of which, that previous sector—everyone died and they still didn't leave us their cards! Outrageous! And they called themselves our brother sector? Some brotherhood, huh."

"..."

Shen Yu listened to all the raucous laughter, watching them joke about death without a care—he felt something he'd never experienced before.

"They're not always like this," Xiu'Er said, coming up to Shen Yu, smiling. "It's just that everyone's fired up lately. You know why—because of those rumors about killing Void Spirits."

"Is the news about retaking Wutun still classified?" Shen Yu asked.

Xiu'Er was caught off guard.

But before he could respond, Shen Yu explained: "Don't stress. No Void Spirits around, and no one else can overhear this conversation."

Xiu'Er glanced back, confirming that nobody nearby was paying attention.

At this range, normally you'd hear everything.

"The Wutun recapture op isn't something a researcher would usually know about. Looks like the Goddess of Hope kept you in the dark." Xiu'Er studied Shen Yu. "From my brief, you're deeply involved with anti–Void Spirit tech R&D, and you pack advanced combat skills. You're at the front to document weapon performance and test new tech. Just be careful what you say—don't give away key data by accident. Our brains aren't exactly secure."

It was obvious—he was curious, but he had zero intention of prying.

Even with the casual language and laid-back demeanor, you could tell—it wasn't completely relaxed.

Shen Yu glanced again at the warriors, laughter echoing behind him, and suddenly asked: "When you first learned we were planning a counteroffensive, how did you feel?"

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