264: Chapter 265 New Year's Day

At dusk, the setting sun was like blood.

A heavy passenger shuttle returning from the Prison Planet landed steadily on the starport.

Praise Ming Shen, Liver Emperor, Miracle Walker, Wanna Sleep with Slaanesh, and several other core veteran high-level players of the Scourge Legion walked down the gangway of the shuttle.

When they looked at the massive, bustling starport teeming with people before them, their eyes all widened in shock.

"Good heavens!"

Liver Emperor gasped, "So many people? And look, they're all our players!"

On the starport, which covered hundreds of acres, The Fourth Calamity were everywhere, having rushed back from other regions, looking travel-worn.

Moreover, the cold, Gothic-style metal buildings of the starport were now covered in red lanterns and inverted 'Fu' characters hung by players, and some were even playing the festive BGM of 'Good Luck Coming' on the big screens!

It was truly bustling with excitement.

Miracle Walker looked around and asked suspiciously, "Eh? Where's that kid Flash? He's usually the most eager to join in the fun, why don't I see him?"

Liver Emperor shrugged, "Where else? He's off with his wife buying New Year's goods and taking the kids to her parents' home."

Miracle Walker nodded in understanding and didn't ask further.

The group didn't rush to Shelter plaza, but instead stopped to examine the changes around them with great interest.

They had been busy in outer space testing spacecraft engines for over half a month and hadn't returned to the base camp for a long time.

Seeing the scene before them now, they were greatly shocked.

In the outskirts of the starport.

The desolate Gobi desert, which was originally full of radioactive dust, had already changed completely.

Wide, smooth roads crisscrossed the ground, filled with roaring fuel trucks;

And a bit higher in the air, there were well-planned express lanes for hovercars.

On both sides of the roads were ten-meter-wide green belts, interspersed with pedestrian streets for people to stroll.

And at the edge of the green belts were clusters of massive glass-curtain buildings, towering into the clouds, often over a hundred meters high!

High in the sky, shuttles and massive cargo ships passed by alternately.

Neon lights flickered, and advertisements projected colorful lights into the night sky.

This was literally a standard cyberpunk future city scene!

Liver Emperor rubbed his eyes and complained, "Good heavens! Aren't we playing a game with a dark Gothic style like "warhammer 40,000"? How did the art style suddenly change to Cyberpunk 2077 after not coming back home for a few months?"

Ming Shen laughed and explained, "A while ago, a guild of life-skill players who love building infrastructure got an abandoned recipe from Gorgon and synthesized a very useful, fast-drying, high-strength building material."

"Once that material is poured into a mold, it solidifies into walls harder than reinforced concrete in just a few minutes. This has significantly improved both construction speed and structural strength. These buildings were created by those infrastructure maniacs in the past month."

"They've got something there!" Liver Emperor gave a thumbs up.

However, after walking along the main road, the group realized that while these skyscrapers looked high-end on the surface, there were actually very few people inside.

Most of the buildings were just empty shells, and there were no fun entertainment facilities.

Thus, they lost interest in exploring and took a public transport tram by the roadside back to Shelter area.

They traveled along the way.

At this time, Shelter plaza was brightly lit and bustling with noise.

It had been transformed by life-skill players into a massive night market for street food!

The streets were lined with various snack stalls with distinctive Earth Chinese characteristics.

Things like Changsha stinky tofu, donkey burgers, meat-filled pancakes, Shandong grain pancakes, Jingzhou guokui, Inner Mongolian stomach-wrapped meat... everything was available!

The air was filled with the rich aroma of various spices and grilled meat, making people drool uncontrollably.

Besides snacks, the stalls selling staple foods and hearty dishes to fill your stomach were even more crowded.

The signboard for Longjiang pig trotter rice was shining, the mixed noodles and wontons from Shaxian International were fragrant, and there were Jiangxi stir-fries, Chongyi dumplings, and Lanzhou ramen, with the clanging sounds of frying spoons echoing continuously.

After eating the main course, dessert stalls were naturally indispensable.

Bubble tea, coconut sago, and there were even a few players pushing a tricycle selling the legendary cut-cake.

Just as Ming Shen and his group passed that cut-cake stall, watching the player boss raise a large knife, chop down with a 'clack', and cut out a solid, incredibly thick slice of cut-cake, the player next to him preparing to pay instantly turned green.

"Old Ming! Over here!"

A loud, energetic shout suddenly came from a distance.

Ming Shen and the others turned their heads to look for a while, and finally saw a BBQ stall set up by players in the bustling crowd, with a few down-to-earth small plastic square tables placed beside it.

And Flame Fist, Nicotine Truth, Player Pi She, and Wang Shouyi 13-Spice, along with a few other acquaintances, were shirtless, sitting on red plastic stools, eating grilled meat skewers while drinking beer from large mugs.

Ming Shen and the others approached with a smile.

Flame Fist and the others immediately and skillfully pulled over an empty small square table from the side to join them, enthusiastically inviting everyone to sit down.

Flame Fist shouted at the top of his lungs toward a huge beer stall in the distance, "Brother Kun! Over here, two more barrels of ice-cold draft beer!"

Ming Shen and the others looked in the direction Flame Fist was calling.

They saw that standing in front of the crowded beer stall was none other than ikun True Fan!

At this moment, the eight thick mechanical servo tentacles on ikun's back were spinning wildly.

Hearing Flame Fist's call, he immediately used two mechanical tentacles to skillfully lift a heavy alloy beer barrel and strode over.

"Bang!"

The barrel, weighing dozens of catties, was slammed steadily onto the table.

ikun used another tentacle to accurately hit the brass faucet, not even having time to say hello, and turned around to rush back to the stall to pour beer for other customers, his eight tentacles so busy they were almost creating afterimages.

Ming Shen watched this scene and shook his head with a smile.

He took a plastic cup, turned the faucet to pour a cup of ice-cold beer, and took a big gulp.

"Whoa! Not bad!" Ming Shen's eyes lit up, "I really couldn't tell, this guy ikun who tinkers with machines all day, actually has the special skill of brewing his own beer!"

"Hehe! That's right!" Flame Fist took a bite of a large beef skewer and said proudly, "We have plenty of talented people in our server."

After chatting for a few sentences, Flame Fist leaned closer to Ming Shen, lowered his voice, and got to the point, "Old Ming, your Scourge Legion's expedition fleet is about ready, right? Which route do you plan to take for this voyage?"

Ming Shen put down his beer mug, thought seriously for a moment, and replied, "We discussed it within our guild and decided to play it safe and take the western route."

The route the two were talking about was the Golden Age Warp route map that Lin Li had obtained from the underground B7 level, left behind by Dr. Z before the war!

The coordinates on these routes were all mature and safe paths explored during the human Golden Age.

Unfortunately, after tens of thousands of years of war and technological regression, most of these precious charts had long since lost their records in the current Imperial Navy archives.

Therefore, when those native navigators who had just joined the player fleet saw the route maps Lin Li issued to the players, they were all so shocked they couldn't close their mouths!

These charts even clearly marked a legendary route that could perform an ultra-long-distance jump from the Black Port in the Ghoul Stars directly to Holy Terra!

However, it was precisely because the era was so far in the past.

The currents and storms in the Warp had changed countless times.

The route coordinates would inevitably have some fatal shifts.

Therefore, even with the Golden Age charts, navigators still needed to be highly focused and careful when jumping.

"West?" Flame Fist rubbed his chin, "There are indeed many human worlds in the Empire's records that are relatively safe and populous; it's a good route. To be honest, our guild discussed it, and we want to go south!"

"South?" Hearing this, Ming Shen frowned slightly, "Impressive! I remember the star map indicates that the south is very close to the radiation range of the Warp rift, the Maw of Demons. The storms there are terrifying; you have to be careful, don't get lost in the Warp as soon as you leave and get sucked into the storms."

Flame Fist took a sip of wine, his eyes showing a sense of fearlessness. "Small problem, at worst we'll just wipe and start over."

Flame Fist said seriously, "We chose the south mainly because, in terms of game lore, most of the planets there have been ruled by Chaos Space Marines and cultists. I feel we have an obligation to sail our warships there and liberate those suffering natives!"

Hearing this surprisingly righteous statement, Ming Shen couldn't help but look at Flame Fist with newfound respect.

"I couldn't tell." Ming Shen raised his glass and clinked it, "You kid, playing a game, actually have this kind of revolutionary sentiment of caring for the world?"

"Hehe! Must have!" Flame Fist downed the wine in his cup.

Ming Shen turned to look at ikun in the distance and asked casually, "What about ikun and his guild? Which route did they choose?"

"Them?" Flame Fist pointed his thumb to the north, "They're planning to chew on the hardest bone in the north."

Ming Shen's brow furrowed even deeper, "North? I remember the north is the territory of those sleeping Necrons, right? And it seems to be the territory of the Flayed Ones dynasty?"

"Right!" Flame Fist nodded, "Those metal skeletons who love to drape human skin over themselves."

After hearing this, Ming Shen looked at this group of brothers who all picked hardcore hell difficulty and shook his head helplessly.

"You guys doing this makes me feel very awkward." Ming Shen smiled bitterly, "So it turns out only our Scourge Legion picked the safest soft persimmon to squeeze?"

Just as the group was teasing each other and the atmosphere was lively.

A huge commotion suddenly came from the center of the crowded plaza in the distance.

The crowd automatically parted to the sides like Moses parting the sea.

The group leaned over to look.

They saw, surrounded by the searchlights of dozens of servo-skulls.

The Supreme Leader Lin Li, wearing a crisp and gorgeous leader's military uniform, accompanied by Frannie and Hong.

Surrounded by Iron Man 73, 999, Vaughn, and others, slowly ascended the festive high platform in the center of the plaza.

The leader had arrived in person, clearly prepared to deliver a New Year's greeting to all the Fire Seed players on this special day!