[Mission rating: 81 points.]
The pale blue scoring panel appeared on the screen alongside the words "Game over."
"Not bad." Watching Li Gaoliang take off his helmet, Lu Zhou said with mild surprise, "Sixty points means you cleared the main storyline, and each side quest is worth ten. Getting eighty-one is already pretty impressive."
As he spoke, Lu Zhou clapped and gave him an encouraging look.
Although "negotiating" permission for orbital bombardment and choosing his own landing site outside the game was something of a cheat, Lu Zhou, as the game master for the entire "tabletop campaign," had also increased the enemy forces' numbers and combat strength to compensate. A rating of eighty-one was already quite high.
But that was how an ordinary player thought.
For one particular hardcore player, failing to earn the medal for a hundred-point clear with every achievement unlocked was as good as never having played at all.
"It's still not enough." Staring at the helmet in his hands, Li Gaoliang pondered for a moment before saying, "I still haven't unlocked the All Hostages Survive and First Aid Pioneer achievements... With those two, plus No Casualties, I should be able to collect every clue."
As Comrade Li Gaoliang muttered incomprehensible things, completely immersed in his own thoughts, Lu Zhou felt a headache coming on.
How had a perfectly good training exercise turned into a dungeon raid led by the regiment commander?
"Well... it's just a game."
"...Yes, you're right. It's just a game. It doesn't even count as a game, really, just a program for testing."
Looking up from the helmet in his hands, Li Gaoliang turned to Lu Zhou and said earnestly, "But to me, every soldier is a living, breathing person! Bringing everyone back is my duty as their commanding officer. If