Fragments

The promotional video has ended.

But the people in front of the system projection still didn't leave.

They stood there, staring at the brief black screen of the projection, their minds still replaying the scene from just now.

That Pilot of anything, from ascending to the heavens to descending to the earth.

The mechs that crashed down from the sky.

The battle scenes were beyond the imagination of countless people.

Every image kept flashing through their minds, making them itch with desire.

They had so many questions to ask.

What is that piece of equipment that lets you run on walls? Can you get it by beating the game?

What's with that mech? Can you really pilot a mech in the dungeon?

How much is the ticket for this instance? When will it be released?

Will this dungeon really live up to the visual appeal of the promotional video?

Most importantly, what exactly is the story behind Lu Xiu?

Countless people, with a bellyful of words to say, found no one around them who could answer, because everyone else was equally bewildered. So, almost at the same time, everyone did the same thing.

Bring up the System Panel and open the forum.

In a very short time, related posts flooded the forum.

[What the hell did I just see?! Can someone tell me what I just saw???]

[This is so cool! It's a mecha! A mecha that fell from the sky! Can private dungeons really make something like this?! Can dungeons really go this far?!]

[What's that thing that makes soldiers run on walls? What's that device that shoots blue flames? A jetpack? People can run on walls? That's so cool!]

[I thought the chaotic enemies and attacks in Sekiro were the limit of Lu Xiu's imagination! I never expected her third dungeon to jump straight to future warfare! What's wrong with Lu Xiu's brain? Are we really the same species!?]

[The system actually proactively played a promotional video! Promoting a fan-made version! Unbelievable!]

[He looks so handsome!!! To be honest, I got goosebumps all over after watching the promotional video!!!]

[Can you actually experience all of that in this dungeon? Can you really become that cool??? Can you really pilot a mech???]

[Seriously, what do you guys think the reward for completing the game will be? What if that equipment that lets you run on walls could actually drop?----]

[Holy crap!!! If this actually happens, it will completely change the game's ecosystem!]

[So cool! I really want to enter the dungeon! This is the first time I've ever been so eager for a dungeon to log in!]

Stop hyping it up! The dungeon hasn't even been released yet, so we don't know if it'll be fun or not. What if it's as overpowered as Sekiro?

What if the promotional video and the actual gameplay are two different things? It's too early to say anything like that now.

Even if it's as insane as Sekiro, I'm still going to fight! Didn't you see that mech?! That mech that crashed down from the sky! I've never seen anything so cool in my life!

[+1, I'd be willing to die inside a mech.]

[+1.]

[+1.]

Just as the discussion on the forum was gaining momentum.

A new post suddenly appeared on the front page.

[Holy crap! It's not over after the promotional video! The Architect is verifying the dungeon's completion! A clip of Lu Xiu verifying the dungeon's completion is playing on the projector! Go watch!]

This post was pushed to the top at an absurdly fast speed.

The replies exploded instantly.

But most people didn't even think about replying.

Countless people immediately shut down the floating System Panel in front of them.

I'm not going to browse the forum anymore.

Don't Look the post anymore.

Instead, he immediately looked up and began searching for the system projection.

On Chen Capital Pedestrian Street, the group of people who had just finished watching the promotional video and hadn't left yet regrouped, followed by another group of people who had just received the news from the forum. The crowd in front of the mall's glass curtain wall grew thicker and thicker, with people in the back standing on tiptoe, and some even standing on the flower beds by the roadside.

It was surrounded by layers upon layers of security, completely impenetrable.

On the system projection, the last frame of the promotional video, with its heavy metal-textured promotional text, slowly faded away.

Then, a new scene appeared.

The initial image is of a completely black space.

Then the outline of a planet slowly glides into the frame from the edge of the image, its atmosphere glowing with a pale blue light under the starlight, with clouds churning below.

A line of small text appeared above the planet.

[Typhon]

The scene slowly zooms in, and suddenly a piercing electromagnetic interference and hissing sound erupt from the radio.

[Militia: We've been attacked by anti-orbital defenses on Typhon!]

[Militia: The intelligence is wrong! Repeat! The intelligence is wrong!]

[Militia: IMC is on port! Take evasive action!]

The communications were cut off by a loud bang.

Against the backdrop of deep space, a massive, breathtaking interstellar warship roars across the top of the screen. Explosions rage across its hull, and huge fragments of its armor detach like meteorites, plummeting into the atmosphere below.

The information was incorrect.

The fleet was ambushed.

The Militia had no choice but to abandon their ships.

Countless Outlast pods, resembling insect eggs, were ejected from both sides of the ship, trailing long plumes of flame as they broke through Typhon's atmosphere like a meteor shower.

Firelight.

Thick smoke.

come down.

The camera focused on one of the Outlast pods.

As it slowed down and plummeted, the cabin glowed red-hot from friction with the atmosphere, and it shook violently. Through the narrow observation window, one could even see the landscape of the primeval jungle below rapidly magnifying.

Bang-

During the violent impact, the screen suddenly went black.

After a second of silence.

Then came the sound of panting.

The scene seamlessly transitions to a first-person perspective.

Lu Xiu's perspective.

The vision swayed violently, the image blurred, and the ears were filled with a piercing, irritating tinnitus, perfectly simulating the state of a concussion after a fall.

Inside the cramped Outlast pod, red alarm lights flashed frantically.

A system notification appeared at the top of the view.

[Outlast pod CPU activates medical unit - emergency medication being injected]

With this prompt and the sound of injection, my vision began to clear.

Tinnitus subsided.

Take Their Place, deafening gunfire and explosions could be heard outside the cabin.

Thump!

The twisted hatch was kicked open, and blinding starlight mixed with billowing smoke poured in.

Lu Xiu stepped out from the wreckage.

Before her lay a primeval jungle on an alien planet.

But now, this place has been transformed into a burning Shura, with the wreckage of crashed Outlast pods everywhere, and billowing black smoke obscuring the sky. Further away, a section of broken interstellar warship wreckage is stuck diagonally on the ridge, resembling a collapsed steel mountain range.

Gunshots and explosions echoed through the jungle, tracer rounds weaved between tree trunks, and occasionally rockets streaked overhead, leaving white trails before exploding into orange-red fireballs.

Lu Xiu shook his head and pulled out a standard-issue rifle with a heavy industrial feel.

A snap.

She skillfully pulled the bolt, chambering a bullet.

The HUD interface lights up one by one at the edge of the field of view, and the health bar, ammo reserve, and directional compass are loaded.

An alien battlefield so realistic it's almost indistinguishable from reality!

Thick smoke blotted out the sky! Guns roared! Whistling missiles carved deep, scorched trenches through the primeval jungle! Bullets crisscrossed the battlefield!

The ash floating in the air, the acrid smell of soil completely carbonized by the high temperature, and the lingering smell of gunpowder smoke after the explosion all seemed to emanate through the projection.

Shocking.

An unparalleled and breathtaking experience.

A single scene perfectly captures the brutality and grandeur of interstellar warfare.

Everyone standing in front of the projection instinctively held their breath.

However.

Just as everyone was stunned and shuddered at the sight, Lu Xiu, who was playing the lead role, said in an extremely relaxed tone, even with a hint of inexplicable excitement, "The legendary rifleman is here!"

Dead silence.

The crowd in front of the projector fell silent.

Everyone stared at the screen, dumbfounded, as if a long string of question marks had simultaneously appeared on their foreheads.

There was no fear, no trembling, and none of the panic one would feel upon first entering such a perilous place.

Now everyone finally knew Lu Xiu's mental state when she cleared the dungeon.

If I remember correctly, when verifying a successful completion of a dungeon, the relevant dungeon-related memories are usually removed, right?

In this situation—can one still remain so composed?!

"?"

This is a battlefield!

Why isn't she nervous or scared? She doesn't even seem to take it seriously! Her voice even sounds kind of excited!

Before the audience in front of the projector could react, Lu Xiu, without any hesitation, rushed out of the Outlast pod after saying those words.

She didn't seek cover like most people would.

Instead, he picked up his rifle and charged directly into the enemy's most intense line of fire with an extremely unrestrained and resolute attitude!

Don't even mention being nervous.

She exuded an almost impatient eagerness!

On the muddy slope ahead, a squad of IMC infantry charged out, their dense barrage instantly covering the path she had to take.

Lu Xiu didn't even flinch. While running, she suddenly bent her knees and slid forward with an incredibly smooth motion, hiding behind cover.

Then, while dodging bullets, he raised his rifle.

Da da da da!

She raised her rifle and, in a split second, precisely locked onto the enemy's head, the muzzle spitting fire.

Crack shot!

Every shot is a headshot!

During the reload, she skillfully pulled out a fragmentation grenade from her waist and threw it. With a loud explosion and screams, she wiped out the enemies and continued to advance without looking back, tearing a bloody path through the complex alien jungle with an almost savage manner.

He rolls to dodge, peeks out to aim for headshots, and precisely throws fragmentation grenades during reload intervals. He even draws a tactical knife from his thigh to engage in close combat when the enemy gets close.

There wasn't a single unnecessary movement, not a single unnecessary hesitation.

When her magazine was empty, she would simply pick up a dead man's gun from the ground and continue firing; when faced with heavy suppressive fire, it was as if she had eyes in the back of her head, always managing to slip into a blind spot half a second in advance.

She seemed to have been born for this battlefield filled with gunfire and the smell of burning metal.

He's like a god of death!

Everyone who saw it was stunned.

"Holy crap----"

In front of the projection screen on Chen Capital Pedestrian Street, a man with a thick beard stared in disbelief. "---- The Coordination Bureau really needs to thoroughly investigate what this Architect did before, right?"

In the scene, Lu Xiu, with extremely professional individual combat tactics, directly broke through the defense line.

But soon, after advancing another distance, she seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up.

The sky suddenly darkened.

The clouds were violently torn apart by a terrifying momentum, accompanied by a sharp, almost ear-piercing sound of air friction. A heavy Titan, like a real meteorite, slammed heavily onto the ground in front of Lu Xiu!

boom-

The earth cracked open, and shockwaves carrying soil poured out in all directions.

Lu Xiu was also thrown into the air.

A sense of oppression.

After landing, the enemy Titan casually raised its massive mechanical foot and crushed a nearby Militia soldier to death as easily as stepping on an ant.

That despairing, oppressive feeling unique to steel behemoths gripped the throats of all viewers through the screen.

This moment.

The powerlessness of flesh and blood in the face of steel behemoths is vividly portrayed.

At this time...

The enemy Titan noticed the protagonist, played by Lu Xiu, lying on the ground not far away, approaching with heavy steps.

Everyone's heart was in their throat.

The screen suddenly went black.

The video feed cuts out.

The small gold text in the upper right corner that read "[Architect In-Game Verification Screenshot]" flashed twice and then disappeared completely.

The system projection once again displayed that cold, impersonal system announcement.

[The large-scale civilian war instance "Titanfall" is coming soon, stay tuned.]

?

Whether it's the corridors of the Coordination Bureau, the streets of Chen Capital, or the logistics department on the front lines.

Everyone who witnessed this scene remained stunned and silent for nearly ten seconds.

Then, a series of thunderous curses erupted.

"Holy crap!!!"

"No! Don't go black! Keep playing!"

"I'd already taken my pants off, that enemy Titan had just crashed down on me, and you cut me off?! This system really knows how to torture people!!!"

Please, just let me see it! Just one look!!!

"No way! Who taught the system to work like this?!"

At the same time.

Chen Capital, Coordination Bureau, Conference Room.

This meeting, convened urgently because of the Titanfall trailer, now seemed to have the trailer itself become the least important thing.

On the projector in the center of the conference room, Lu Xiu's solo killing spree, which could be described as an art form, was being played in holographic format.

Then it stopped at the spot where the Titans descended from the sky.

Dead silence.

The entire spacious conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

They specifically chose a conference room with a projector just in case, but they never expected to see something so new—something that would completely shatter their preconceived notions!

That scene was undoubtedly pure war! And it was a future interstellar war with a technological advancement that skipped several eras!

This is precisely the type of copy that is currently most lacking and most desired in China.

The frontline military representative sitting on the left side of the long table stared intently at the now-darkened system projection, his calloused hands trembling uncontrollably.

The shocking war scenes from just now were still replaying in his mind.

If—if the soldiers on the front lines could get the weapons from the dungeon, and the Jump Kit that lets them scale walls like in the trailer, how many fewer people would die every day?!

The thought of the situation on the front lines...

Thinking back to the hail of bullets on the alien battlefield just now, and the promotional video from not long ago...

This frontline representative, who had fought for four years and remained calm even when Mount Tai collapsed before him, finally snapped.

Clang!

He stood up abruptly, and in his haste, the chair behind him was knocked over, the heavy solid wood chair hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Then, amidst the astonished gazes of everyone in the conference room, he strode across half the room and rushed directly to Yan Fushou.

Then, grabbing Yan Fushou's arm, he shook him violently, his voice distorted with extreme excitement. "Did you just see that?! It was a war-themed piece! And extremely excellent! The reward is very likely something the front lines desperately need!!"

"Director Yan! Do you know what this means?"

"Get Lu Xiu online in the dungeon as soon as possible! We need to confirm immediately whether those weapons and that Jump Kit can be brought out!"

"Whatever she wants— Survival Points, resources, military rank—the front lines will give her everything!"

"The only requirement is speed!"

"I know! Don't get too agitated! Calm down."

Yan Fushou was shaken so badly his head was about to spin. He felt like his arm was being clamped by an iron clamp. This frontline representative's strength was clearly no joke, "Old Wang!"

"The other party is probably verifying the completion of the dungeon right now! She's inside the dungeon! Don't even mention me, even if the sky were to fall, there's no way anyone could contact her!"

"Calm down!!!"