"What do you pick? I'll let you choose first."
"I pick the Zerg," Neo said. "Because they're like a virus. I like that."
"Then I'll go with humans," Ben replied. "I'll disinfect everything."
The main storylines of the Zerg and humans all depended on the crew at the Antarctic base. It was like a war simulation, like a game of chess, or even like playing a round of StarCraft. They could command huge armies and decide the balance of power between the two factions inside Mecha Infantry.
They were the true controllers of the game.
"Ben, I'll turn all your land into my nests. My Zerg are unmatched and unbeatable."
"Don't forget the mecha infantry are the real stars of this game. You're doomed to lose." Ben wouldn't back down. He had studied military strategy. To him, fighting the Zerg was just like fighting the Chitauri.
Normal players were playing an RPG, but Ben and Neo were basically playing a strategy game.
The two entered the game, summoning troops with pride and confidence.
So the very first large-scale battle began just one hour after launch. While most players were still stuck on beginner quests—running around for a gun or some medicine, circling the same maps—the real clash had already started in a place they couldn't reach.
Area A.
The Zerg rained down from the sky. Players were stunned as they looked up to see a meteor shower streaking through the clouds, crashing toward the locked region of the map.
"What the hell is that?" They had no clue what was happening. But the sight was so magnificent it left them speechless. Too bad you couldn't record unless you had a camera—and cameras weren't part of the game's system. You had to bring one in from real life.
Zhou Tong had already entered the dangerous new area. From his view, the scene was even more overwhelming. Every falling streak was actually a Zerg soldier.
Area A was where the human mining site was located. If the enemy took it, the rest of the game would spiral downward. It had to be defended.
"Anti-air cannons, fire!"
Flames shot up from the ground, roaring as they blasted toward the Zerg drop forces.
The battle had begun. Zhou Tong instantly realized he shouldn't have come. A clash of this scale meant he wouldn't get much out of it. Survival alone would be an achievement. He was just a newbie without even a mecha suit. Should he press forward?
But soon he decided: yes. 'It's just a game. What's death, anyway? At least I'll see it for myself.'
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The sky burned. Explosions lit up overhead as Zhou Tong pushed on.
"We must hold the line. We can't lose the mine!" voices roared from the comms.
But the Zerg were fully prepared. Their numbers dwarfed the humans. They slipped through gaps in the anti-air defense, hammering into the ground. The shockwaves rattled Zhou Tong flat, dust choking his mouth and nose.
He squinted through the dirt, but instead of fear, a surge of adrenaline hit him. 'This is it. This is what a real game feels like.' That mouthful of sand felt like a stimulant, jolting his spirit awake. He had to see this legendary battle unfold.
Finally, Zhou Tong climbed a ridge. Below, the sight was breathtaking—over 300,000 troops clashing, Zerg versus humans.
The Zerg's crawlers and flying beasts pressed the assault, while humanity's mecha infantry and tanks fought to the death to defend the mine. The two forces tore into each other, mountains and seas colliding in a brutal tug-of-war.
Zhou Tong's legs froze. Even though it was a game, the battlefield was so grand, so real, so crushing that not even movies had ever captured such a scene. He was stunned.
Neo's control of the Zerg was vicious. Just like he said, the Zerg spread like a virus, countless in number, forcing the human lines back again and again. Ben's forces were far too few.
"This can't go on—we're going to lose!"
"Hahaha, I told you, you can't beat me. I still have a trump card."
Zhou Tong saw the strongest point of the human defense suddenly break. His eyes were sharp, but even he couldn't make out the details. Why did the human line suddenly collapse? What did the Zerg unleash?
'If only I had binoculars…' Zhou Tong cursed.
Ben was cursing too. He hadn't expected Neo to summon a Zerg hero.
"Detected: Level 12 psionic unit. The Queen of Blades has arrived."
Luckily Zhou Tong had a comm unit, or he wouldn't have known. The Queen of Blades had joined the battle.
Zhou Tong didn't know what she looked like, but the name alone sounded terrifying. Clearly, the Zerg had pulled out a superweapon to shatter the human defense in one strike.
The Zerg were too strong. Zhou Tong even felt tempted to defect.
"Hahaha, kid, you're too green. War needs both real and feints. You're hopeless like this, so let me give you a lesson," Neo laughed, already seeing victory.
"You cheated! How could you bring the Queen of Blades here?" But no rule said he couldn't. Ben regretted it bitterly. If he'd known, he would've summoned a human hero unit too. But now it was too late. He didn't have time.
As Zhou Tong watched the human mine fall, a new light split the sky. Curious, he looked up and saw a floating crystal mountain.
Untouched by smoke, unstained by dust, the crystal stood apart from the world, proud and pure. It glittered, refracting rainbows of color across the battlefield.
Then portals flickered open around the mountain, and a new race emerged. Golden armor wrapped beings of pure spirit, life without flesh, noble and elegant, rendered perfectly in the game. The Protoss.
"So beautiful." The savagery of the Zerg, the technology of the humans—now the Protoss, dazzling in their majesty. Zhou Tong no longer wanted to side with the Zerg. He wanted to join this new race.
"It's the Protoss! The Protoss are here! Our allies have arrived!" Zhou Tong realized humans weren't alone. They had allies. But that also meant the Zerg were so strong that even a human-Protoss alliance struggled against them.
Ben laughed, relieved. His master really was timely.
For a moment, the battle froze. Neo sighed, thinking, 'With Liu A'dou interfering, the mine's lost. And I've already spent a fortune trying to take it.'
"You can't just play like this," Neo grumbled, annoyed by Liu A'dou's move.
"Youngsters are always too rash," Liu A'dou said. As a teacher and partner, he couldn't watch anymore. He had decided to give them both a lesson, so he made the Protoss intervene.
The Protoss were a hidden faction, never meant to appear before the global release. But since no players were in this area yet, he could throw them in.
"Neo, you cheated. You dragged a dungeon hero into the main battlefield—how's Ben supposed to fight that?"
"And Ben, your deployment was a mess. You left no reserves, throwing every unit straight onto the line. Large-scale battles aren't like skirmishes. You need backup forces, not an all-in rush."
He scolded them both at once.
The war ended without a result. Both sides withdrew, leaving only the Protoss shining in the sky, a vision for Zhou Tong to marvel at.