Remember
Five thousand people lined up in the square.
Back row.
The second formation, the middle section of the formation preparing to enter the [Titanfall] instance, is the 109th Assault Squad of Sea City.
At the back of the line, a dark-skinned, stocky middle-aged man stood quietly, his face expressionless.
His name is Tao Sixi, he is 42 years old, the captain of the 109th Assault Squad on the Sea City front, a Rank 9 soldier, an ordinary veteran.
Tao Sixi served on the front lines for four years. During those four years, he withstood countless waves of Monster Tide, participated in six reconstructions of the defense line, and personally packed the remains of thirty-one comrades into body bags.
A warrior of iron.
This was their squad's assessment of their captain: perhaps due to too much killing and witnessing countless partings and deaths, he had even become somewhat dull-witted.
"Captain Tao."
At this moment.
A teammate who was about ten years younger than him suddenly nudged his arm and whispered something.
The team member was named Ye Chi, twenty-seven years old. He was a refined-looking guy with a bad temper, and he was considered a new recruit.
Tao Sixi didn't turn around. "Hmm?"
Have you heard?
"The Titanfall Instance features a lot of modern machinery."
I've heard about it.
Aren't you excited?
Ye Chi is a gun enthusiast. It is rumored that he joined the army because he wanted to handle guns. When he rests on the front lines, he can talk about guns for three days and three nights.
What caliber can penetrate a monster's defense? What cannon is best for clearing out enemies?
Unfortunately, Ye Chi was born at the wrong time; in the four years since the World Gamification, modern firearms have become obsolete.
He could only vent his frustration verbally.
All the soldiers on the front lines have long since switched their main combat equipment to special weapons dropped from system dungeons, mostly cold weapons or strange-looking modified weapons.
Ye Chi was indifferent to these weapons.
He only wants to shoot—a proper shot, with rifling, recoil, a trajectory, a parabola, and windage that requires calculation.
Unfortunately, his hobby could no longer be satisfied after the World Gamification.
Besides handguns.
But what's the point of a pistol?
So when Ye Chi learned that [Titanfall] was coming out—and heard that this new dungeon contained a lot of sci-fi guns—he immediately became excited.
Tao Sixi shook his head. "Not excited."
Ye Chi, being young, couldn't help but ask again, "Why? Isn't that our second life? And I heard there are mechs too! Does Captain Tao know about mechs? This is our first time clearing a dungeon like this!"
Facing the agitated Ye Chi.
Tao Sixi simply lowered his eyelids slowly.
His rough fingertips unconsciously rubbed the hilt of his battle sword at his waist, feeling its perpetually coldness. Then, looking at the countless comrades before him, he murmured, "----Those are all killing machines, inanimate objects. There's nothing to get excited about."
Ye Chi was taken aback, scratched his head, and wanted to say something, but Tao Sixi had already stood up straight.
This means he should stop gossiping.
Ye Chi had no choice but to shut up.
He was among the youngest people in the formation at that time.
In fact, most of the people who entered the instance this time were veterans.
For these people, the dungeons are just another form of training—training that happens every now and then, and the results are immediately visible and tangible.
The Lu Xiu dungeon offers the best rewards.
These veterans would want to get modern firearms to kill monsters better, but they don't have high expectations for the dungeon itself.
Even though they had seen the promotional video played by the system and the scene of Lu Xiu verifying the completion of the dungeon.
After all, the constant Monster Tide on the front lines would really force all the veterans to become pragmatists and numb them.
Dungeon storyline?
This was simply not within the veterans' considerations, and basically no one would bring it up.
"Everyone has it!"
A particularly loud roar suddenly came from in front of the square.
Tao Sixi slightly raised his eyelids and stood at attention.
Ye Chi straightened his back.
The entire 109th Assault Squad snapped to attention.
The two thousand five hundred men in the second formation straightened up at almost the same second.
Immediately afterwards.
The second command came.
"Open the System Panel! Enter the dungeon - Titanfall!"
Tao Sixi raised his hand, summoned his System Panel, and then opened the copy library.
In the square, countless blue lights lit up simultaneously.
soon.
Tao Sixi found the target instance, and his finger landed on the button to enter the instance. Just before clicking, he glanced at Ye Chi beside him.
Ye Chi pursed his lips, his eyes shining, though he tried his best to suppress it, a little bit still slipped out.
Tao Sixi sighed softly to himself.
Young people.
Being young is great.
It's good that I can still get excited about something.
He glanced at his scarred hands, then at the details page of the dungeon in front of him, and shook his head slightly.
It's been four years.
His feelings about dungeons had long since been summed up in just two words: quests.
Just going through the motions.
Beat the game.
Claim your reward.
Return to the front lines.
That's all he expected from the dungeon.
Bai Guang appeared.
Tao Sixi's vision blurred in the Bai Guang.
The last image is of Ye Chi's face—a young man—with his lips pursed, feigning seriousness.
But soon...
That face disappeared too.
Countless Bai Guang lit up simultaneously in the square.
Tao Sixi came to his senses and found himself in a cockpit, where an old soldier seemed to be adjusting something for him.
After adjustments.
The veteran looked at him and said in a strong voice, "Rifleman Cooper, let's go."
Tao Sixi was taken aback.
----The place where dreams begin.
The dungeon has started.
Actually, just like Resident Evil, the Titanfall Instance isn't particularly difficult for these frontline soldiers who crawled out of the Corpse Mountain, Blood Sea.
The only slightly troublesome thing is the Jump Kit and driving the Titan.
However, the instance also allowed them ample time to familiarize themselves with the content and prepare; for example, there was a simple battle right after BT was awakened.
As for firearms, needless to say, it's only been four years since the game was released. Given their battlefield skills, in infantry combat, the enemy IMC soldiers are practically like receiving freebies compared to the monsters on the front lines.
Tao Sixi was pushing the process forward with almost maximum efficiency.
He adapted to the ballistics of those futuristic firearms in a very short time, and just like he mastered a new type of armored vehicle, he mastered the Vanguard-class Titan codenamed BT-7274.
For a long time, Tao Sixi did indeed treat BT simply as a piece of equipment.
A dead object with heavy firepower, thick armor, and somewhat intelligent voice prompts.
Until that inanimate object began to reveal something different.
Until that inanimate object shoved him into the cockpit, protesting the Militia leader's demand to replace the Pilot.
It wasn't until that inanimate object in the sea of fire led him to his survival kit.
In the end, the light of the Ark engulfed everything, and the inanimate object hurled him violently toward the path of life with its enormous mechanical hand.
Four hours later.
In the square, many Bai Guang lit up at the same time, and then receded like the tide.
Tao Sixi's gaze refocused. There was no smoke of gunpowder, no fallen Titan mechs, only a gray sky and the wind blowing across the concrete.
He maintained the same upright posture he had before entering the dungeon.
I cleared the level.
The system's prompts unfolded before his eyes.
He completed the task perfectly and received the reward.
Everything was the same as every previous instance.
Tao Sixi instinctively took a deep breath, then habitually said, "BT, next task—"
only.
His dry lips moved, but he only managed to utter a few words before the sound caught in his throat.
This is reality—not a dungeon.
And BT was also destroyed.
He subconsciously turned his head to look behind him, at the spot where, in the dungeon, a huge steel body always stood amidst countless hail of bullets, but it was empty.
Now there are only soldiers from the neighboring squad and his own comrades there.
Comrades----
A gust of wind blew by.
Tao Sixi stood there, stunned.
He suddenly felt as if something Heavy Pressure on his chest, and he couldn't help but gasp for breath.
He had been on guard for three years.
He closed himself off, preventing himself from forming deeper bonds with any of his comrades, because people were dying every day on the front lines. Before the Resident Evil scenario, it could be said that people were dying every moment.
He didn't want to experience that pain of putting his brother into a body bag again.
He thought he had become numb and used to it.
But in the dungeon, he once again experienced that pure camaraderie.
Although the other party is just a machine.
He thought it was nothing, that it was just a copy, just some virtual data, although he felt a sense of familiarity during it, and he felt happy for the first time in a long time at the Beacon level.
But it's just a machine, some virtual characters, isn't it?
It's okay.
but why----
Why did the last, cold machine in the instance make the exact same choice as its fallen comrades? Leaving a way to live while keeping death for itself?
Why did I yell at the last moment, and why did I want to change the ending of the game?
Didn't you clear the level?
Didn't you receive a reward?
no----
Tao Sixi couldn't think straight anymore; his rough hands began to tremble slightly uncontrollably.
He didn't wail or break down on his knees; instead, he buried his face deeply in his rough palms, utterly exhausted and suppressed.
His shoulders were heaving violently and silently beneath his uniform.
The thick barrier that had shrouded his heart for four years finally shattered in this silent moment.
It turns out I still remember.
He still remembers the feeling of fighting side by side, and he still remembers those who died, whom he had deliberately buried deep in his memory.
----My own comrades.
beside.
Ye Chi, the gun enthusiast who had been obsessed with firearms before entering the dungeon, has now left.
He didn't make a big fuss about the recoil of the R-201 rifle, nor did he reminisce about the thrill of the Smart Pistol's head-locking mechanism.
The hot-tempered young man stood there blankly.
He looked at his empty hands, then suddenly sighed, his eyes gradually reddening.
It's not just them.
The second formation, consisting of over two thousand elite soldiers, all fell silent.
Especially the veterans.
No one cheered for getting their weapons back.
Many people even covered their faces with their hands.
The vast square fell into a deathly silence.
The front.
The officer at the front also sighed deeply, raising his hand to give an order, but paused before speaking, finally lowering his hand and simply saying, "Each squad, prepare yourselves for ten minutes, then test the new equipment!"
Top floor of the watchtower.
Yan Fushou quietly looked at the square below. There was no commotion of receiving new equipment, nor the joy of clearing the level, only a vast expanse of deathly silence, with many veterans covering their faces.
He paused for a moment, then said, "They've really worked hard. I hope it's effective."
"It will definitely have an effect."
Li Shengkai stood beside him, also looking at the square. "Staying at the front lines for too long really makes you numb. It's good to be able to release the pressure now."
Having spent years on the meat grinder-like front lines, the soldiers have long since become accustomed to protecting themselves with numbness.
They used unfamiliar weapons, took the sacrifice of their comrades for granted, and even regarded themselves as expendable Consumable that could be added to the defensive line at any time.
This is an invincible army, but their hearts are already riddled with holes.
A person who has lost the ability to feel pain and doesn't care about their own life or death will have no will to live in a truly desperate situation.
Have you rediscovered the tenderness and passion of being human?
Yan Fushou seemed to sense something, muttered something, and then looked down again.
Only by experiencing pain again can one truly remember the weight of their comrades' sacrifice.
Only when a soldier thinks of things worth protecting with his life will he grit his teeth and fight desperately to survive on the battlefield.
Perhaps this is another reward from the Titanfall dungeon.
Thinking of this...
Yan Fushou let out a long sigh, looked in the direction of Maple Leaf Avenue, and said with great anticipation, "This is truly an unexpected delight. I hope Lu Xiu can create more similar dungeons in the future."
1
at the same time.
Chen Capital, Maple Leaf Avenue.
Lu Xiu sat on the sofa and murmured, "How about another horror game— Silent Hill, Layers of Fear, or Outlast?"
"Wrong."
"Perhaps we could also try something like Dark Souls?"
"Hey, some online games would be good too!"