Although it was still two weeks away from the Lunar New Year, the bar was already warming up in advance, with decorations hanging on the windows and walls.
In the lounge on the second floor, the bartender placed a small ornament on the bar counter. Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows. "A Maneki-Neko?"
"It's the Year of the Dog. When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
The bartender chewed on her gum while fiddling with her New Year's special drink.
It was the first day of February, and the lounge looked empty. During the first half of each month, there were very few players. Since the dungeons were randomly drawn, every time players entered a dungeon, they would be as nervous as taking a closed-book final exam. Of course, everyone was more than willing to spend more time studying. Hence, the end of the month was usually the peak period for players.
However, Zhang Heng had already started his winter vacation last month, and it would last until the beginning of the next month. He had already booked a ticket home in advance, and he would be leaving in a few days. Although he could also find other game checkpoints in his hometown, he wasn't as familiar with them as he was in Sex and the City. Besides, he needed to spend more time in the dungeon to erase the marks left on him by his ten years as a pirate.
Hence, Zhang Heng decided to use up his game entry for this month in advance. However, he would have to postpone his plan to return to the previous dungeon.
"Happy New Year." Zhang Heng came to the booth, set the alarm, and placed it in front of his chest.
"Happy New Year. Have a good trip." The bartender did not look up. She threw the dry ice on the tongs into the cocktail glass, and soon, white smoke rose from the glass.
About a quarter of an hour later, the time set on the alarm clock arrived. Zhang Heng felt that familiar dizziness again, and at the same time, a system notification rang in his ears.
[Verifying player's identity …]
[Verification successful. Randomly selecting the fifth dungeon for player 07958 …]
[Selection complete — Current dungeon is the Apollo Program Training Camp.]
"Some people will ask, why, why the moon? Why did you choose that place as your goal? Naturally, they will also ask, why did you climb the highest mountain? Why did you cross the Atlantic 35 years ago? We chose to go to the moon! We chose to go to the moon and achieve other goals in this decade, not because they are easy, but because they are difficult. Because this goal will make us do everything we can to organize and measure our abilities and skills. Because this challenge is what we are willing to accept, what we do not want to delay, and what we must win. "
[Mission Objective: Try to look at Earth from a different angle.]
[Mode: Solo Competition]
[Time flow rate: 240] (1 hour in the real world is equivalent to 10 days in this game. The player will be forced to return to the real world after 60 days.)
Friendly reminder: The game will officially start in five seconds, please be prepared.
…
This time, the quest was filled with information like never before. The Apollo Project was just too famous. When he first heard about the Mannerheim Line of Defense and New Providence, it took him quite some time to react. After all, the Soviet-Finnish War and the Nassau Pirates were unfamiliar to most people, but the Apollo Project was something everyone knew.
As the first human to land on the moon, Armstrong's name and ambition were recorded in the history of the world's space exploration. He was known to people along with Gagarin, the first astronaut to enter space.
Although the space race had a complicated political and historical background, it was undeniable that it played a considerable role in the development of human technology and space exploration. After that, many technologies were converted from military use to civilian use, and satellites changed everyone's lives.
More importantly, this period of history also showed human's fearless courage and never-ending spirit of exploration. It also inspired China, India, and other countries to join the team of space exploration. The passage in the quest's background was an excerpt from Kennedy's famous speech on the moon landing in 1962.
However, Zhang Heng's attention was not on that for the time being. Instead, he was looking at the words "Solo Competition" in the mission mode.
Unlike most players who preferred to play in teams, Zhang Heng had always played solo in all the quests. However, he was the only player in the previous four games, and the mission mode was only a single player.
Now that there was a "Solo Competition", did it mean that he would encounter other players for the first time in this quest?
Five seconds was a very short time, and Zhang Heng did not have time to think too much about it before the game began.
The first thing he saw was a beam of white light. It was a little dazzling. Zhang Heng moved his eyes away from the spotlights above his head and noticed that he was standing in a sealed building. Beside him were six people in the same blue uniform as him.
Zhang Heng looked down and saw the NASA logo on his left chest, and his black ID card on his right chest. A name was written in English on it.
[David]
Zhang Heng was not surprised. The organizing committee had always done a good job of protecting the players' privacy. When other players appeared in a quest, they would inevitably make some changes to their names. If he was right, his appearance should have been altered to a certain extent. However, he did not have a mirror with him now, so he could not confirm this.
Zhang Heng could also feel that his body was basically the same as before, and there were not many changes in his strength and agility. This was good news.
Zhang Heng did not have time to observe the other players around him because his attention was now attracted by the huge and strange instrument in front of him.
"— Multi-Axis Trainer (Multi-Axis)
The design of the instrument will simulate the situation where the three axes can be rotated at will. This training ritual is to help you familiarize yourself with the possible situations in space in advance. Once the pilot sits on it, it will start to spin wildly. If you still don't understand, you can imagine yourself as a cat and being thrown into a high-speed drum washer. Your task is to stabilize the instrument before you faint. " On the other side, an instructor who was also wearing a blue uniform said. After that, he glanced at the seven trainees in front of him and paused.
"First victim, Anderson."
When the seven of them heard this, they lowered their heads and looked at the identity cards in front of their chests. In the end, the expression of a fatty with the name Anderson changed.
"It can't be, right? It's so fierce right from the start. What the hell is this? Doesn't it even have an instruction manual?"
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