It was supposed to be a casual game, but the Long March dungeon brought tears to everyone's eye

Kuang Ge nodded. "Understood!"

"Before, on the snow-capped mountain, we just relied on sheer willpower to get through it."

"But on the grass, just having air isn't enough; you need brains."

"Hmm." Her soft voice had a heavy nasal tone. "We still need to be prepared."

The next day, at 6 PM.

The three members of the Mad Brother team entered the game.

A flash of light, and the familiar feeling of weightlessness followed.

When they opened their eyes again, they were still surrounded by that endless green "ocean".

The air was filled with the fishy smell of grass and the dampness of the soil.

In the distance, the silent, ragged procession was slowly moving forward.

The three of them quickly followed and soon found themselves at the back of the group.

"Old squad leader!" Crazy Brother shouted subconsciously.

This is the third time he has called the old squad leader like this in the Grassland episode.

The old squad leader turned around upon hearing the sound.

He looked at Kuang Ge, Ying Yan, and Ruan Ruan running towards him, and a trace of confusion flashed in his cloudy eyes.

Then that sense of bewilderment became somewhat subtle, somewhat indescribable.

It's like watching three clueless kids who have come back from the dead.

"You guys..." The old squad leader opened his chapped lips.

He stared intently at the three of them, especially at the empty cooking pot behind Kuang Ge, his eyes seeming somewhat dazed.

"Last night..." the old squad leader paused, his voice low, "I had a dream."

"I dreamt that you bunch of silly kids were all asleep in a mud puddle."

"They were all ice-cold, and we couldn't wake them up no matter how we called them..."

"I also dreamt that...you lost Old Li's pot too..."

The three men, including the Madman, froze on the spot, stunned by the explosion.

That's how they died the first time.

Ruan Ruan fell asleep in the cold mud and never woke up again.

Hawkeye slipped and fell into a mud pit.

As for Kuang Ge himself, before his consciousness faded due to lack of oxygen to the brain, the last thing he saw was the old squad leader carrying the pot that he had left behind...

These are all their real experiences when they failed their first game. How could the old squad leader know?

Hawkeye also opened his mouth.

Did that old scoundrel Luo secretly update the AI ​​module?

Or did they implant scripts containing the player's previous failures into the core NPCs?

No, that's not right!

If it were just a script, the old squad leader's reaction shouldn't have been like this!

The look in his eyes at that moment, a complex mix of sadness, confusion, and a sense of destiny, was something that no program could simulate!

It's a look... watching someone close to you walk towards a predetermined tragedy time and time again.

"Old...Old Squad Leader..." Ruan Ruan's heart broke under that look. "We..."

She didn't know what to say.

We can't just say they came back, but they couldn't stay with the old squad leader until the end.

Kuang Ge stared intently into the old squad leader's cloudy eyes, trying to find a trace of "data" within them.

But he failed.

There was only an overwhelming sense of weariness and sorrow in it.

"Squad leader, the pot... the pot is still here."

Kuang Ge spoke with difficulty, patted the cooking pot on his back, and tightened the pot on his back.

If they could do it all over again, the old squad leader would still be the same old squad leader who had just survived the snow mountain arc, and none of them would be so emotionally affected.

But their reopening was like a deep dream for the old squad leader, leaving the three of them speechless.

The old squad leader seemed not to hear what Kuang Ge said. He just slowly shook his head, then turned around, started walking again, and caught up with the team in front.

A hoarse voice, seemingly from a distant time and space, drifted into the ears of the three.

"Keep up."

"This meadow...it's really creepy."

"Once you fall asleep, you really won't wake up."

The three stood there, looking at the old squad leader's hunched back, exchanging glances before quickly following him.

In the live stream, millions of viewers also realized what was going on.

"…Holy crap, am I hallucinating? The old squad leader…he remembers?! He remembers how Kuang Ge and the others were wiped out the first time?!"

"'I saw you sleeping in the mud puddle'... Damn, I got goosebumps. This knife is colder than anything on a snow-capped mountain!"

"This is no longer a game; it's a cycle... Sergeant, did he watch wave after wave of 'new recruits' die on this grassland in the same way?"

Meanwhile, Kuang Ge and his companions simply lowered their heads and stepped slowly onto the soft, damp meadow.

If NPCs possess memories of reincarnation, then the players will face immense pressure.

Because every failure, every death, could leave a new scar in the old man's "dream".

"Hawkeye," Crazy Bro whispered.

"Um."

"This time, we can't die again."

"Um."

"If we fall asleep again..." Crazy Brother paused, "we'd be really awful."

Hawkeye was silent for a moment, then said, "Hmm."

After marching for about half an hour, the old squad leader stopped.

He turned around and handed them three treated branches, thicker than the last one.

"Take it."

Then he raised his one arm and pointed to the horizon.

Before anyone knew it, large patches of dark clouds had gathered in the once clear sky.

The air grew increasingly heavy, and the old squad leader seemed to sigh.

"Yes, it's going to rain."

……

At this time, visitors also arrived at Luo An Studio.

Luo An opened the door, and a man with a buzz cut entered. He was dressed casually, but stood like a javelin.

He glanced at all the equipment in the room, said nothing, and handed over a red identification document.

Zhuque Military Region.

"Mr. Luo An," the man introduced himself, "I am Xuan Niao."

Luo An glanced at the documents, not surprised, and simply smiled as he pulled over a folding chair.

"Good day, sir. Would you like some water? Or...?"

"Zhu Yi is my soldier."

The black bird neither sat down nor responded to the conversation.

Luo An paused, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

"Did he enjoy the game?"

The corner of the black bird's mouth twitched slightly.

Happy?

The entire special forces team went into the psychological intervention room, and they were so happy!

"Mr. Luo An, we're not here to play games."

The black bird stepped forward and got straight to the point.

"Your game can be used for training."

"That kind of burst of willpower in a near-death state is a 'military spirit' that even supercomputers cannot simulate."

The black bird stared intently at Luo An.

"The four military regions have reached a consensus - we need your assistance in opening the 'real combat simulation' module."

"We need tanks, we need planes, we need organized corps-sized assaults."

"We need a real meat grinder to hone the soldiers' bones."

Luo An was stunned after hearing this, looking innocent and helpless.

"Sir, the idea is sexy, but the reality is harsh."

Luo An pointed to his studio, which wasn't very well-equipped.

"Look here, I'm just an independent designer, living off my landlord's rent-free apartment."

"The large-scale scenes you're looking for... hundreds of thousands of independent AI calculations, large-scale fluid dynamics simulations, and they also need official military licenses..."

Luo An sighed, his face saying, "I'm poor, but I've tried my best."

"My server is second-hand, it can't handle the load."

Xuan Niao was silent for two seconds, not expecting this kid to be so self-righteous about being poor.

"You don't need to worry about the money and computing power."

Xuan Niao suddenly bent down and took out a heavy black box from his briefcase.

"The Zhuque Military Region Quantum Supercomputing Center will provide you with a dedicated line, with no upper limit on computing power."

The black bird's finger touched the box.

"Here is a batch of data from the Great Patriotic War that has just been declassified."

"Including but not limited to: ballistic parameters of all standard weapons from the past fifty years, armor damage models, and even measured data on nuclear explosion shockwaves..."

The black bird's voice was deep and its tone was solemn.

"We only have one thing in mind: to get them done."

"Let today's children see just how difficult the wars were back then."

……

Just as Luo An was communicating with the Black Bird, Kuang Ge and the others experienced another downpour and were trying to start a fire.

But the problem is, what will we use to start a fire?

The surrounding area was covered in wet grass.

They tried to pull some grass roots, but when they pulled them out of the mud, they were covered in water.

There wasn't a single decent tree on this meadow, just a few clumps of half-dead shrubs, their branches long since soaked by the rain.

Several young NPC warriors had begun to lose focus and their bodies were trembling uncontrollably.

If this continues, people will start "dreaming" before midnight.

It wasn't just Ruan Ruan who was unconscious before; there were other weakened warriors as well.

"Burn the gunstock!"

A soldier suddenly made a suggestion, his eyes reddening.

The stock of the old-fashioned rifle in his hand was made of wood.

"Snapped!"

Before he could finish speaking, the old squad leader's one arm slapped him hard across the face.

"You bastards!" The old sergeant's eyes were bloodshot, his voice hoarse. "Our guns are our lives!"

"Without guns, we're doomed if we leave this grassland!"

"How will we possibly attack Lazikou then?!"