Chapter 123

"You have to let me finish talking about the upcoming game content and updates first, right?"

Hearing this, the thousands of players and streamers below couldn't help but laugh in anger.

Photos? Are we here for photos?

You are way too narcissistic.

But dealing with you after you finish your reveals doesn't seem like a bad idea.

The uproar in the venue did indeed subside a little.

Zhao Ming cleared his throat and said:

"This press conference is mainly to talk about the three game series that weren't finished at the awards gala."

"They are the [World War I Series], the [Huaxia History Series], and the [World War II Sequel] games."

"But before that."

"I want to promote our newly released app and the Polar Star platform..."

Duan Yu's livestream.

Duan Yu and his viewers had just been focused because of the three series Zhao Ming mentioned, and this guy turned around and started playing ads.

It made Duan Yu's teeth ache, and he couldn't help but say to the livestream:

"No wonder some people brought razor blades. If I were there, I'd want to throw them too."

Just as Duan Yu was speaking.

He suddenly felt movement in the game and hurriedly switched back.

At this moment, outside the alley where Duan Yu was, came the screams of several teenagers and the cursing of some big men.

Duan Yu knew exactly what was going on as soon as he heard it. He picked up the shotgun in his hand and just stayed alert without making a move.

Such things happened too often in Leningrad every day now, so often that he couldn't manage them all. He only had twenty-some bullets left; if he intervened every time, he might run out of ammo in an afternoon.

And then he would die too.

The best way was to stay silent, but the shouting outside got closer and closer as several big men and the captured teenagers passed by the alley.

One of the teenagers saw Duan Yu and suddenly shouted:

"Lev! Lev!"

"Save me, quickly!!!"

Duan Yu was stunned for a moment, then realized that Lev was the name of the NPC he was currently controlling.

The big man at the alley entrance saw this and immediately slapped the teenager:

"Shut up!"

Then the red-faced big man turned around and threatened Duan Yu:

"Kid, behave yourself."

"Otherwise, you know the consequences."

Duan Yu frowned, stood up, and picked up the shotgun:

"Say that again?"

The red-faced big man at the alley entrance never expected Duan Yu to have a gun and was stunned for a moment. At this time, the teenager who had shouted "Lev" quickly broke free and ran inside.

The other teenagers around were still tempted to move, but were held down tightly by the big man's other accomplices.

The red-faced Soviet big man looked at the pitch-black muzzle and took a deep breath:

"Fine, you're tough."

"That guy is yours."

He slowly backed away and left the alley entrance.

But Duan Yu didn't put the gun down. The teenager next to him spoke up:

"Lev, they..."

He seemed to want Duan Yu to save them, but Duan Yu said:

"I can't save them."

"My gun doesn't have that many bullets."

After a long while, Duan Yu let the teenager check the alley entrance, and only after confirming no one was there did he put the gun down. Looking at the teenager's face, he recalled and remembered that this teenager seemed to be the son of the carpenter from the beginning.

"Where is your father?"

Duan Yu asked the teenager.

After all, that carpenter was quite good. Although he had fired him, it was understandable, and he had even had an argument with his wife because he gave him money.

The teenager was silent for a moment and said:

"My parents are both dead."

"My cousin is dead too. Last month, some robbers broke into our house in the middle of the night..."

Hearing this.

Duan Yu just nodded and didn't say anything.

There was no law or morality left in the city; now, surviving depended on who was more ruthless.

It seemed that whoever died was reasonable.

Duan Yu looked at the teenager and said:

"Rest for a while, leave at night."

"I don't have much food here either."

"Try to hide outside the city; wild grass... can also fill your stomach."

The teenager was silent for a while and said:

"Okay."

The two of them stayed like that, one leaning against the wall inside the alley, the other sitting at the edge of the alley with his head down, until it got dark. The teenager prepared to get up, and Duan Yu took out half a piece of bread mixed with sawdust and handed it to the teenager:

"Eat."

persisting day and night.

Then he looked at Duan Yu, turned around, and ran toward the dark street.

Duan Yu stood there for a while, then returned to the alley, simply packed up his ammunition and a little food, and prepared to change locations.

He couldn't stay here anymore; he had to move somewhere far enough away.

After walking for a long time, Duan Yu carried his things into a dilapidated house, preparing to stay there temporarily for the night and change locations again tomorrow.

After putting everything down, he finally had time to return to the livestream.

At this time, the official Polar Star press conference hanging in the livestream had come to an end.

As soon as Duan Yu entered, he saw some CG playing and asked the viewers in the livestream:

"Where are we now?"

Comments drifted across the livestream.

[The CGs and information for the "World War I Series" and "Huaxia History Series" are all finished. Now it's playing another part of the "Cold War Clouds" CG.]

[That's right, this CG is called [Chernobyl].]

[It should be after the "Nuclear War," but I'm not sure because the background wasn't explained.]

[It doesn't look like a "Nuclear War"; there's still some order, they can organize, maybe it didn't happen?]

Duan Yu's eyes widened:

"Good grief?"

"Could it be that in that CG, that button was really pressed?"

After saying that, he watched the CG in the livestream.

It seemed this CG had been playing for a while; the low music and communication seemed to indicate that this CG was coming to an end.

The scene that came into view was a grayish color. The perspective looked down from high altitude, and eerie blue light shot out from the wreckage of a building burning with a great fire, bringing a mysterious and dangerous feeling.

The raging fire burned everything around it into liquid.

In the sky, helicopters circled, dropping boron and sand onto the burning building trip after trip. Firefighters stepped off fire trucks to fight the fire, while Soviet workers carried shovels to dig underground.

Because he hadn't seen the beginning, Duan Yu was still confused:

"What are they doing?"

"Putting out the fire?"

There were those in the livestream who understood, but they were silent watching the CG, not knowing how to say it. A moment later, they slowly typed in the comments.

[They are fighting nuclear radiation with their physical bodies; it's precisely because I understand that I find it hard to believe.]

[Many people might not understand nuclear radiation, because it's an obsolete energy source on the Blue Star, but if placed in the background of "Earth," this is a fatal existence.]

[Given the explosion range in the scene and the data on the instruments in the CG...]

[The air alone has already reached 20,000 roentgens per hour, and 500 roentgens per hour is fatal.]

[It's equivalent to saying that those firefighters fighting the fire might not live for an hour.]

[You might even just stand there and your body would rot and you'd die in excruciating pain within minutes.]

[In such a high-radiation environment, even machines can't last 10 seconds.]

[But there was a cut in the scene just now... A Soviet youth drank a few gulps of vodka, grabbed a shovel, and rushed up to shovel sand for 10 minutes. I can't imagine what kind of willpower that takes.]

After this viewer finished speaking, the livestream fell silent.

Duan Yu also watched the scene in the video with a solemn expression.

The helicopter dropping boron and sand in the scene let out a mournful cry, and the steel body actually collapsed like soft mud, its propellers spinning as it crashed into the huge sea of fire below.

As it fell, the gloves and clothes of the firefighters in the helicopter were visibly eroding and melting, and their skin was rapidly rotting.

BOOM!

The flames engulfed everything.

But the horror of nuclear radiation had been deeply imprinted in the minds of the Blue Star viewers.

Because that wasn't just a little bit of rotting, but visibly, in just a few seconds, the whole person...

Due to the chain reaction caused by the accident, workers rushed in from all directions to support. Human bodies fighting nuclear radiation seemed crazy to the Blue Star netizens, but they couldn't say anything mocking.

Perhaps this was their only way...

A feeling of desperate suffocation rushed over them. Such an accident had no good solution even on a planet with advanced technology like the Blue Star.

What would they do on "Earth"?

And the people on "Earth" didn't seem to have any good solutions either.

The scene switched from the helicopters, firefighters, and workers constantly putting out the fire to outside the burning building, where the surrounding soldiers were still busily fighting the fire.

An official in a suit walked over and said to a general:

"Get your men as close to the fire as possible."

"Give them enough protection."

"But... even so, they will still be killed by nuclear radiation."

The general opposite him was silent for a moment, looking directly at the official:

"Then I'll go myself."

The familiar Soviet military uniform, the familiar leading the charge—even though he knew the CG in the scene wasn't the Soviet Union of World War II.

There was still a feeling of transcending time and space.

The scene changed abruptly.

Inside the dim building, workers were gathered below. The general from before appeared wearing a protective suit, looked at these workers, and said with a smile:

"Alright, ready."

"Comrades, the political commissar and I have already been up, and I can tell you."

"I saw death up there."

"But it's nothing to be afraid of. Two shovelfuls each, then come down as soon as possible."

"Remember the protective essentials, ten people per group, no more than 40 seconds."

"I'll go up first, then the political commissar, the party members, and the Communist Youth League members."

"Vacations and sanatoriums in the Black Sea are already prepared."

"For the Motherland, go."

After speaking.

The general in the protective suit picked up a shovel and led the people toward the building above without looking back. The screen slowly dimmed.

The Blue Star viewers watching couldn't help but tremble inside.

And the result?

What happened in the end?

Are you really not human? You're cutting the plot at a time like this?!

At this time.

The screen slowly brightened, and a sorrowful background music played.

The raging fire in the sky disappeared, and one could vaguely see the remaining building being pressed down by thick cement, with a fire truck and firefighters in thick protective gear spraying something.

The scene ended here.

The crowd of Blue Star netizens watching couldn't help but feel stifled, their eyes going dark.

What the f***?!

What's the result? I want the result!!!

You cliffhanger-loving jerk!!!

Zhao Ming's smiling voice sounded:

"Alright, the CG information for [Cold War Clouds] ends here."

"For those who want to know the result, the same thing applies~"

"We'll talk about it after World War II ends~"

"Next, let's talk about our update plan for the [World War II Series] in the second half of the year."

"First is the [Battle of Midway], which will be launched after this press conference ends."

"As well as the national war instance [Stalingrad] opening on 'Celebration Day' next month, and the permanent instance [Stalingrad Urban Warfare], and at the same time, a new game video contest will be opened."

"Players who have brilliant combat performances in the [Stalingrad] campaign are welcome to submit their entries~"

But.

?

The Blue Star players at the scene couldn't listen anymore; their minds were full of "Where is my knife?!!!!"