1: The first building on the moon

Sun Zheng was woken up by the biting cold.

A bone-chilling frost seeped from the cold metal plate beneath him into his very marrow, making him shiver and instantly snapping him out of his daze. He bolted upright, his head throbbing as if a drill were running at full speed inside, and stars danced before his eyes.

"Where... where am I?"

He squinted and looked around. It was pitch black, save for a few eerie green indicator lights on the console blinking silently, barely outlining a cramped cockpit filled with metallic protrusions. He clearly remembered working late at the office last night, battling a bug that refused to be fixed. How did he end up here the moment he opened his eyes?

[Warning: Life Support System energy below 10%.]

[Warning: Environmental scan... Atmospheric composition cannot support carbon-based life. External pressure: 0kPa. External temperature: -170°C.]

The cold, mechanical voice lacked any trace of humanity, echoing within the confined space. The blood-red warning text on the main screen made his eyes ache.

Zero air pressure? Near absolute zero?

Sun Zheng's heart skipped a beat as an absurd and terrifying thought flashed through his mind—Space?! He scrambled to the only small window. Outside lay a cratered, grayish, and seemingly endless expanse of land. On the horizon, a massive planet with blue and white swirls hung silently in the ink-black sky.

Earth!

Damn it, I'm on the moon!

Panic washed over him like ice water, nearly making him scream. Fortunately, the resilience he had forged in that special unit years ago remained; he gritted his teeth and swallowed the cry that had almost escaped. His survival instinct urged him to scan the cockpit quickly.

A bare console and a single chair—that was it. In the center of the console was an incredibly conspicuous button that looked as if it were drawn with light, bearing two words he could recognize even with his eyes closed:

[Deploy]

Below it was a line of small text: Allied Mobile Construction Vehicle.

Red Alert? An MCV?

Sun Zheng's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. A sense of surreal absurdity rushed to his brain, actually suppressing his fear slightly. In his youth, he had been a die-hard fan of "Red Alert," commanding pixelated soldiers to raze countless enemy bases. But seeing something from a game standing right before him in such a godforsaken place made his skin crawl.

He had no choice. Staying in this iron coffin meant certain death once the energy ran out. Pressing the button might offer a way out.

He took a deep breath—it was the scent of the last bit of artificial oxygen in the recycling system, tinged with a metallic chill. With his finger trembling almost imperceptibly, he pressed down hard on the button that would decide his fate.

[Command confirmed. Mobile Construction Vehicle deployment sequence initiated.]

[Environmental scan... Complete. Location: Lunar Far Side, Von Kármán Crater.]

[Basic resource detection... Silicate and rare metal veins detected nearby.]

[Commencing deployment!]

"Boom—Cr-crack!"

The entire cabin began to shake violently. The deafening sounds of metal twisting, stretching, and colliding nearly burst his eardrums. Sun Zheng gripped the armrests of his chair tightly, watching as the surrounding walls flipped outward, folded, and reassembled like a Transformer. After several minutes, the commotion finally subsided.

The cockpit he had been in had transformed into a spacious Command Center control room. Directly in front of him was a large curved screen clearly displaying the exterior view, along with a sleek interface.

What caught his eye most was a list on the right side of the screen. The first two icons were flashing with an inviting glow:

[Allied Power Plant] - Cost: $1000 (Initial funds available)

[Function: Power supply. Without power, nothing can be done.]

Requirements: None

[Allied Ore Refinery] - Cost: $1000 (Initial funds available)

[Function: Mining, earning money, building assets. Without money, progress is impossible.]

Requirements: None

At the bottom of the interface, cold numbers were displayed: [Funds: $2000], [Power: 0/0].

Simultaneously, a massive amount of basics regarding this "Red Alert Commander System" was dumped into his mind. He finally understood his situation and realized these two buildings were his lifelines.

Without power, nothing mattered. Without hesitation, Sun Zheng selected the [Allied Power Plant] in his mind. A translucent green silhouette immediately appeared on the screen, moving across an empty patch of land outside the Command Center according to his thoughts.

"Right here!"

He chose a relatively flat area to the side of the Command Center.

[Confirm construction: Allied Power Plant. Cost: $1000. Estimated time: 10 minutes.]

"Confirm!"

The moment the command was issued, Sun Zheng witnessed a sight through the thick glass of the Command Center that he would never forget: several thick laser beams shot out from beneath the Command Center, striking the ground he had chosen. Much like a high-end 3D printer, they began to "print" the building's steel frame and various components. Robotic arms flew back and forth as steel plates were fused together seamlessly with a low, powerful hum.

These ten minutes in the dead silence of the moon passed slower than ten years. Sun Zheng didn't dare blink, staring intently at the countdown on the screen and the construction outside, his palms drenched in sweat.

Finally.

[Construction Complete: Allied Power Plant.]

Hum—!

A steady, powerful sound of operation rang out. Atop the sleek, sci-fi-looking Power Plant, massive solar panels slowly rotated, aligning themselves with the brilliant sun in the distance. The indicator light on the building's surface clicked from red to green.

The numbers on the interface changed instantly: [Power: 100/100].

An indescribable surge of excitement and security flooded Sun Zheng's heart. There was power! In this dead land, he had personally lit the first lamp!

He had $1000 left. Without a word, he immediately selected the [Allied Ore Refinery]. The same magical construction process repeated itself, and ten minutes later, a building with a large spherical ore silo stood firmly next to the Power Plant.

[Construction Complete: Allied Ore Refinery.]

Not long after the refinery was completed, a small, iconic Armed Mining Vehicle drove out from an opening on the side of the building with a muffled rumble, trundling toward the nearest mining node marked by the system. It swung its mechanical arms and began to dig into the soil for ore.

The funds on the interface began to rise slowly but surely: [Funds: 1000] → [Funds: 1005] → [Funds: 1010]... Money was coming in! Revenue had started!

Only then did Sun Zheng's nerves, which had been stretched like a bowstring, finally relax a little. He slumped into the Commander's seat, looking at the beautiful blue planet in the corner of the screen and then at the two Red Alert buildings standing out starkly against the lunar wasteland. A sense of ambition he had never felt before slowly pushed out the fear in his heart.

All the nonsense back on Earth—the office politics, the mortgages, the car loans, the empty promises from bosses... it all felt like memories from a past life.

Here, he was standing at the starting point of a planet, holding a super system capable of conjuring a vast army.

In Sun Zheng's eyes, two small sparks of fire ignited. He spoke softly toward the vast, boundless darkness outside, his voice quiet but carrying an unquestionable resolve:

"Alright then... since there's no going back."

"Then I'll start by making my mark on this moon."

"My Red Alert starts now."