Volume 4: Twilight Galaxy
The mouse cake, who was used as an apple stand, ended up eating two apples by noon that day. Looking at the bright red apples in the fruit bowl, the fluffy ball stroked his whiskers and finally decided to pack the apples into parcels and send them to the others.
Lie Yang, Gray, and Meng Muyu all received a parcel from Shu Xun, containing an apple and an object they couldn’t identify. Soon after, Lie Yang took a picture of the item Shu Xun had sent and shared it in the chat room.
Lie Yang: “Got an interstellar package from Shu Xun. Honestly, I was excited when I got the delivery notification, but when I opened it, there was just an apple and a piece of jade?”
Gray: “I received one too. I’ve been studying it for a while, but I can’t figure out how to use it.”
Meng Muyu: “I did a quick scan. The jade has some strange energy fluctuations attached to it, but I couldn’t detect anything special about the apple.”
Lie Yang immediately sent a surprised emoji. “Is there something special about the apple? I just finished eating it!”
Gray: “…”
Meng Muyu: “…”
The chat room fell into a brief silence. After a moment, Meng Muyu sent a comforting emoji. “It’s okay. Maybe it was meant to help your brain, but it doesn’t seem to be working well.”
Just as Lie Yang was about to retort, a familiar, infuriating scratching sound suddenly came from the light brain, making Lie Yang’s antennae stand up reflexively.
Lie Yang: “!!! Get me a mouse, my ears! My screen!”
Shu Xun: “I left some apples at home and the jade talisman too. You’ll get them when you come back.”
On the screen, the little gray wolf, who had been scratching the screen, obediently sat down and enjoyed the little mouse grooming his whiskers.
Lie Yang: “…”
Lie Yang: “So Ye Jian is this broke now? Just eating an apple makes him scratch the screen! Shu Xun, it seems he can’t afford to take care of you anymore. Do you want to come over to my place? You could eat several tons of fresh apples every day…”
Before Lie Yang could finish, the chat room was filled with more scratching sounds: krrr…krrr…krrr…
Everyone: “…” That apple was definitely not for brain nourishment—it seemed more like it was eating brains instead.
Little Bliss, who had been sitting beside Shu Xun and watching the light brain together, suddenly had a gleam in his eyes as he pondered how long several tons of apples would last. Shu Xun felt a chill run down his spine and thought that he might not want to see another apple for a while.
Shu Xun explained, “The apples are for eating. As for the jade talismans, just carry them with you. I’ve set up a few formations that I think might be useful, primarily for defense. Each of you has one and I hope we won’t have to use them.”
Shu Xun elaborated on the jade talisman’s functions. These were talismans he had crafted in the Perfect Time-Space, and they were rare, holy-grade items. Perhaps driven by an instinctive sense of danger or some peculiar intuition, Shu Xun had mailed one jade talisman to each person.
The others in the chat room expressed their gratitude and said they would keep the talismans with them at all times. At that moment, they still didn’t realize just how powerful the “light defense” Shu Xun mentioned actually was.
After making all the necessary preparations, they discussed a few more topics related to Twilight Galaxy. With Meng Muyu’s presence, they were able to get a more detailed and vivid understanding of the game, but it was limited to just that—understanding. They hadn’t obtained any more advantageous clues or data. Even Meng Muyu couldn’t gather much more information due to the fierce and powerful world consciousness. The fact that the StarPlay family managed to set up the game system within two months was already a monumental task.
Now, everything was in place except for the final push. To be in top form, they all left the chat room early to get some rest. When Ye Jian finished his work and returned home, the mouse cake was already asleep in the small hanging chair, with a rosy apple and a jade talisman placed on the coffee table.
Ye Jian gently stroked the fluffy ball’s fur with his finger and, seeing the jade talisman different from the others, a pleased smile tugged at his lips. In his sleep, the fluffy ball nuzzled against Ye Jian’s fingertip and softly snored.
On the day of “Dusk of the Galaxy’s” official open beta, Shu Xun and Ye Jian set up the room an hour before the game started and then entered their nutrition pods. As usual, they began their livestreams. Within just a few minutes, both of their channels surged to the top of the trending list, firmly holding the first and second positions.
As for Lie Yang, despite winning through the last two games rather effortlessly, it hadn’t affected his rising popularity, placing him third. Surprisingly, some of the viewers in his livestream were even mentioning Gray’s name.
The reason was simple. Even Meng Muyu, who had developed the game, had started livestreaming. Yes, despite being the game developer, Meng Muyu had once again entered the game as a player. This move sparked mixed reactions among the audience. Some felt that Meng Muyu was cheating, while others thought it didn’t matter. If “Dusk of the Galaxy” could be easily beaten with just some insider advantage, there wouldn’t be much point in watching the game.
The controversy only fueled Meng Muyu’s popularity, with the differing opinions driving the room’s heat to rise steadily. Meng Muyu himself, however, didn’t care at all and kept up his usual chatter, making the atmosphere in his live stream rather unique:
“With the Clan Leader here, we’ll beat the game in no time!”
“I just want to ask—can you honestly say that you don’t have more information than any other player?”
“Oh my god, it’s been three hours since the stream started, and the Clan Leader has been talking non-stop without even taking a sip of water. And it looks like he’s not going to stop until the game starts!”
“I think I might be poisoned because I actually find the Clan Leader’s rambling to be very reasonable. I’ve been listening attentively for three hours…”
The live stream chat was flooded with various comments. What made the audience even more excited was that, unlike other popular streamers, Meng Muyu actually responded to the chat comments. And because of his talkative nature, the chances of him replying were quite high. At this moment, Meng Muyu was looking at the chat on the light screen with great interest, completely carefree.
“To the friend who asked if I can honestly say I feel no guilt, I can very honestly tell you that I do have more information than other players. What are you going to do about it? Get StarPlay Entertainment to ban me?”
“To the viewer who feels ‘poisoned’, you’ll need to listen for another three hours to detox. Seriously, I just realized that the best place to talk is during a livestream, because there’s always someone listening.”
“To the viewer asking if I’m cheating, even if I did cheat to beat the game, there’d be no rewards. Or are you suggesting you want to give me an extra reward? If your reward is better than what StarPlay Entertainment offers, I might just give cheating a try.”
“…”
And so, under the playful banter of someone who wasn’t afraid of stirring up controversy but rather feared having nothing to say, the chat in the livestream exploded. Whether they were praising or criticizing him, everyone was fired up by his provocations. Meng Muyu’s livestream quickly shot up to the fourth spot. At this point, the viewers couldn’t understand why Meng Muyu seemed so carefree as if he had thrown all caution to the wind, indifferent to their opinions, and almost capriciously doing whatever he wanted.
Most members of this team intending to clear the game had started their live streams, and barring any unexpected events, they were likely to join forces again as a squad in “Dusk of the Galaxy”. Among the viewers following the livestreams were also some highly analytical individuals, so there were already speculations on the “Dusk of the Galaxy” official site linking the invaders to the Phantom Clan. However, due to limited perspectives, the speculated results were naturally not as clear as what Shu Xun and the others had figured out.
The topic of the invaders had indeed gone viral and was causing a stir across all major races. After all, with invaders of such high mental power, if they weren’t dealt with, no one could guarantee that they, as fellow evolved beings, wouldn’t be the next target. Even the Phantom Clan, which was at the center of the controversy, surprisingly claimed to be unaware of the invaders and announced that they would take the “Dusk of the Galaxy” open beta seriously.
The military and relevant authorities of various races also issued statements that they would be sending professional military teams into “Dusk of the Galaxy”. Even if they weren’t investigating or resolving the invaders, they still had the responsibility to rescue survivors. However, given the often complicated situations of these doomed worlds, no one could predict the outcome until the game ended.
As Shu Xun and the others continued their live streams, Gray’s lack of one made him stand out. More and more viewers began to remember the shy, stuttering yet skilled dead-leaf butterfly. Eventually, Lie Yang couldn’t resist the viewers’ demands and connected to Gray’s communication channel. The moment Gray’s voice came through Lie Yang’s livestream, a brief silence fell over the channel. Whether it was due to shock or something else, Gray, for once, didn’t stutter but instead replied clearly, “There are some things happening on my end. I’ll be in the game shortly.”
The boy’s voice was soft but exceptionally clear, giving those who heard it a pleasant sense of ease. The viewers were almost in disbelief that someone with such a clear voice could be the same person who usually got so nervous that he stuttered when speaking.
In the live stream chat:
“Lie Da! Did you get the wrong person?!”
“Gray’s voice is surprisingly nice when he’s not stuttering!”
“It feels like someone who doesn’t talk often has a sort of indescribable clarity in their voice; I can’t find the right adjectives.”
“It’s like a small stream flowing under the pine forest of a summer night in the mountains, refreshing and comfortable.”
“Impressive, upstairs! Are you a writer?”
Due to Gray’s voice, his popularity unexpectedly surged, even gaining a small fanbase. In fact, since “Winter’s End”, Gray had consistently performed well, but his presence was low due to his infrequent speaking. Now, with his unique voice, he naturally attracted a portion of audio-centric viewers.
Gray had no intention of livestreaming, and Lie Yang didn’t press the issue. After learning that Gray would join the game shortly, Lie Yang ended the communication. As slow as he was, Lie Yang completely failed to notice anything unusual. This was also because, in their real-life interactions, Gray would occasionally lose his nervousness and stop stuttering, and Lie Yang had become accustomed to it.
Unfortunately, Shu Xun was also live at that moment and didn’t see Meng Muyu’s stream or Gray’s communication with Lie Yang. Otherwise, given Shu Xun’s keen perception, he might have noticed the subtle emotional shifts between the two.
