Screwllum quickly said his goodbyes and left the Herta Space Station; he still had to plan the route to Beta Star based on its coordinates.
There were still many, many things he needed to be busy with.
For example, after connecting to the Star Net, the impact on the local civilization, and how to integrate Beta Star with the interstellar community—all these required Screwllum's help.
Bai Luan, who used to get headaches just thinking about these things, understood perfectly how much a nascent civilization needed to do.
Although Bai Luan was painfully numb when facing these issues, Screwllum seemed very happy.
This made Bai Luan feel quite relieved.
Who, after all, could be more reassuring than a genius from the Genius Society?
And one whose expertise matched perfectly?
Heh heh…
It was truly perfect.
Speaking of which, having met Screwllum, he had pretty much met all the members of the Simulated Universe Project team.
Except for Stephen Lloyd; he was too busy being lazy to show his face.
He was probably one of the few people in this world who knew multiple members of the Genius Society?
Not bad.
In the following days, Bai Luan's life seemed a bit more ordinary than before.
Besides helping 343 and its kind establish themselves, Beta Star yielded other gains.
Namely, a pile of discarded war machines that had become part of the ruins.
Bai Luan planned to replicate a few and give them to the Defense Department staff to play with.
Considering the limited activity space of the Herta Space Station, and that too many heavy firepower nodes were not suitable for deployment within the sections.
So, Bai Luan ruled out those exceptionally large Titan mechs.
After much thought, Bai Luan decided to create several exoskeleton heavy gravity body armors, each over three meters tall, standard-equipped with chainsword and machine guns.
They also allowed for the addition of different weapons.
For example, the armor could be thickened, simultaneously carrying a giant ammunition backpack, with Gatling guns mounted on both arms and a cannon on the shoulder, at the cost of being incredibly slow.
There were many other armaments: aerial flight backpacks, gleaming physical greatswords, ion-cutting light blades…
There was a wide variety, and after Bai Luan made them, he handed them over to the Defense Department.
The little guys in the Defense Department could familiarize themselves with them, and when the Antimatter Legion arrived, it was uncertain who would win in terms of individual combat capability.
Of course, the Defense Department's duty was to protect its personnel, and all combat was certainly for the protection of its members.
These weapons also received Wonderful Item Enhancement, though the effects were not strong; generally, they merely offered a small boost to one of the following: faster charging, self-repair, or increased lethality.
After the weapons were given to the Defense Department, the staff looked at Bai Luan as if he were a deity.
They were just short of acknowledging Bai Luan as their foster father and erecting a statue to worship him.
Of course, besides them, there was another group of people who regarded Bai Luan as a deity.
That was the mechanical engineers who had lost Xiu.
When they saw such formidable gear arrive at the Defense Department, their eyes lit up, and they all wanted to join the Defense Department.
They now realized that as long as Bai Luan didn't leave the Herta Space Station, they would never lack ceiling-level items to pilgrimage to.
So, Station Master, please don't leave…
We beg you, Station Master, what would we do without you…
Looking at them, Bai Luan even wondered if he should update their attire, giving them a set of Warhammer mechanical engineer outfits.
After some consideration, he decided against it; if they were truly recruited by the Emperor, his sin would be too great.
Bai Luan's phone vibrated, a message from Silver Wolf, who had been silent for several days.
Silver Wolf: My Vanguard-class Titan Mech BT-7274 is missing. Do you have any idea?
A smile played on Bai Luan's lips; it seemed Silver Wolf had finished the main story.
Hmm, very fast.
Bai Luan: I don't know.
Silver Wolf: What about the sequel? The helmet easter egg at the end, surely you can show it to me?
Silver Wolf: A spoiler, is BT-7274 still around?
Bai Luan: Is it possible I just wanted to leave you with something to remember?
Silver Wolf: …
Silver Wolf: Are you even human?
Silver Wolf: Why would you tell me this?
Bai Luan: Because you asked.
Silver Wolf was silent for a long time.
Bai Luan guessed she was going crazy.
Bai Luan showed a mischievous smile; why not add fuel to the fire?
Bai Luan: Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot.
Bai Luan: Trust me.
Silver Wolf: That's enough, don't say another word, you demon.
Watching Silver Wolf's continuous messages, Bai Luan revealed a joyful smile.
He himself had suffered quite a bit when he played through this part of the story, and now seeing others experience the same, he felt much better.
Silver Wolf: Why didn't you make 3?
Bai Luan: Because I didn't make 1 either.
Silver Wolf: Why not make up for all of them?
Bai Luan: Wouldn't that just make you guys happy?
Silver Wolf was silent again for a long time, likely having been hit by a second weak point.
Alright, I won't tease you anymore.
Bai Luan: The main story is over, but there are other ways to play.
Bai Luan: I made such a huge world for you all, isn't that enough for you to play?
Bai Luan added a lot of plot, and also added player PVP.
When the pilot you control wanders to a certain node in the open world, if there are players currently engaged in PVP there, single-player players will see a prompt asking if they want to join the battle.
There are many combat modes: free-for-all, 3V3, 6V6—choose freely.
There's even a 1000 vs. 1000 planetary battle mode; whether you defend a planet with a Titan or attack a planet with a Titan is up to you.
Players' Titans can be freely customized. Note that this free customization isn't just about the system giving you modules to modify yourself (although Bai Luan designed module equipment for non-hardcore players), but you can truly get hands-on and modify them yourself.
As long as you can figure out the wiring and it conforms to real-world logic, you can modify it however you want; you can even turn your Titan into a Transformer.
As for pilot gunfights, they were naturally incorporated. Bai Luan also considered pro players, even allowing players to use pilots to fight Titans.
There will always be pro players.
With this level of playability, Bai Luan didn't believe it could be finished in a few days.
Silver Wolf: I've played it.
Silver Wolf: Constantly slaughtering everyone is not very interesting.
Bai Luan: ?
Silver Wolf: Very easy.
Bai Luan, not believing it, opened the leaderboard and found that the first place was Silver Wolf.
Well, just talked about pros, and here's one right in front of him, and she's number one on the leaderboard.
You really did turn the tables on me.
Then Bai Luan glanced at the play time.
Hmm, 105 hours.
The game was only released a little over ten days ago, right?
Isn't she completely addicted?
Bai Luan casually banned Silver Wolf's account for ten minutes.
Silver Wolf: ?
Silver Wolf: ??
Silver Wolf: ???
Bai Luan: Play fewer games, it's not good for your health.
Silver Wolf: You can't do this to your players!
Bai Luan: Just teasing you, I've unbanned you.
Silver Wolf: You'll definitely lose quality players like me this way.
Bai Luan: Then will you still play if I release a new game?
Silver Wolf: …
Bai Luan: Haha, no more messing around. Thank you for earnestly playing the game I brought. Looking forward to our next meeting.
Silver Wolf: So when is the next game coming?
Bai Luan: I have an idea, but I won't be making it anytime soon.
Silver Wolf: A spoiler, what's it called?
Bai Luan thought for a moment, then typed and sent the name of the next game to Silver Wolf.
Bai Luan: Cyberpunk 2077.
Silver Wolf: ?
No,
You chose a game theme from my home?
A look of anticipation appeared on Silver Wolf's lips. What kind of game would you come up with?
Silver Wolf: Looking forward to it. When do you expect to finish it?
Bai Luan: Hmm, when it wants to be made by me, it will be made by me.
Silver Wolf: You're not just making up a name on the spot to fool me, are you?
Bai Luan: Eh heh.
"You 'eh heh' your ghost!"
Silver Wolf looked at the message Bai Luan sent, her fists clenched, wishing she could punch him twice.
Just don't let me catch you in real life…