When Lu Jiuchuan woke up, he found himself lying on the sofa. Tang Ci was still asleep next to him, his face pale, his brows furrowed, and cold sweat pouring down his forehead, as if he were trapped in a terrible nightmare.
Was the fragment that just flashed through my mind a dream, or a replay of a memory?
Lu Jiuchuan stepped forward, gently took Tang Ci's hand, and whispered, " Xiao Tang, wake up."
Tang Ci was struggling in a nightmare when he suddenly heard a familiar voice calling him. He struggled to wake up from the nightmare and met Lu Jiuchuan's deep eyes.
Seeing that he had opened his eyes, Lu Jiuchuan helped him sit up and handed him a glass of water: "Have some water."
Tang Ci broke out in a cold sweat, his shirt soaked through, and even his hair was wet. The bloody scene in his dream made him tremble uncontrollably. His fingers trembled as he took the water glass and hurriedly drank a few sips.
Warm water slid down his throat, and his body gradually warmed up. Tang Ci finally regained his senses. He looked at Lu Jiuchuan, his voice slightly hoarse from just waking up: "Ninth Brother, I just had a nightmare."
Lu Jiuchuan said, "Me too."
Their eyes met, and Tang Ci quickly realized: "If our dreams are the same, does that mean it's not a dream, but a memory we experienced together that has been forgotten?!"
After all, these are just images that flashed through one's mind while unconscious; they could simply be a dream. But what if two people's dreams are identical? That would prove that everything in the dream was a real event they both experienced.
Lu Jiuchuan said in a deep voice: "On February 17, 3000 of the Star Calendar, my direct superior, General Lin Zecheng, suddenly summoned me and ordered me to eliminate the low-level insectoids on a black planet in Hilt No Mans Land and occupy that precious resource planet."
Tang Ci continued, "On the afternoon of the 17th, you returned to Arrow Legion and told me that we were leaving for Hilt No Mans Land on the 19th, and told me to get ready. I asked you what the mission was, and you casually said, 'Go and eliminate some bugs.'"
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang looked at Lu Jiuchuan and said, "Brother, do you remember we met on February 18th? You said you were going on a mission and wouldn't be back for a long time. I asked you about the mission, but because of the military's special mission, it had to be kept secret, so you didn't tell me... The timing is perfect."
I accepted the mission on the 17th, said goodbye to Yu Hanjiang on the 18th, and set off on the 19th.
It seems that these fragmented images are indeed forgotten memories.
Xiao Lou walked up to Yu Hanjiang and said, "Neither Brother Jiu nor Mr. Tang had experienced the Spade 8 Secret Chamber or seen this kind of Zerg before, which is why they underestimated the enemy and were careless, leading to an accident during their mission in Hilt No Mans Land?"
Lu Jiuchuan said with a grim face, " General Lin told me that this planet is inhabited by small insects and has no intelligent life. So, we didn't take the insects seriously at first. After we arrived here, we released a lot of gunpowder on the planet, intending to burn the insect race to death, but it resulted in the insect race merging and upgrading."
Recalling those experiences, Tang Ci's face paled slightly: "I remember that the Zerg evolved the ability to fly, and our vanguard was completely wiped out. Although the Zerg were afraid of fire, their numbers were too great, and they overwhelmed us with a swarm tactic, piercing our mechs with their sharp wings and even the Starship's protective shield!"
Lu Jiuchuan said, "Many people in the legion have died. I had no choice but to send an urgent letter to the military headquarters for help."
Tang Ci continued, "Later, a woman's voice suddenly warned us, telling us to be buried with her people... It must have been the Zerg Queen? The voice we just heard is the same as the female voice we remember."
Yu Hanjiang frowned and asked, "And then? With so many Zerg, how did you escape?"
Lu Jiuchuan pressed his temples hard, racking his brains for a moment before saying, "Someone must have saved us. The situation was extremely dangerous. The Zerg army had breached our starship's defensive shield and even destroyed the balancing system. The starship couldn't take off at all. More and more Zerg were entering the starship and engaging in fierce battles with our soldiers. Xiao Tang's leg..."
He stopped abruptly at this point.
In his memory, he watched as Tang Ci's legs were cleanly severed by the Zerg's sharp, knife-like claws.
The ground was covered in blood.
Tang Ci fainted from the pain. Lu Jiuchuan, his eyes blazing with fury, rushed forward and hugged Tang Ci tightly...
In fact, Tang Ci's legs were in plum blossom j The Nightmare Secret Room was broken, and only Tang Ci knew what happened back then; Lu Jiuchuan didn't witness it firsthand. However, in this new secret room, Guardian changed the plot. Tang Ci's legs were initially intact, but they were cleanly severed by the Zerg right in front of Lu Jiuchuan.
Lu Jiuchuan didn't want to recall that scene at all.
That unprecedented heartache remains vividly etched in his mind even now. He watched Tang Ci fall into a pool of blood, his legs below the knees torn off by the Zerg and tossed aside. His heart felt like it was being crushed, the pain almost unbearable.
He went berserk, grabbed the submachine gun, and unleashed a fierce barrage of fire at the swarm of insects!
Seeing the bursts of fire shooting from the gun barrels, the Zerg were both shocked and terrified. Their piercing screams echoed throughout Starship, and the Zerg swarming in from behind attacked Lu Jiuchuan even more frantically.
Lu Jiuchuan's shoulder was pierced by the Zerg's claws, and blood was gushing out. He felt no pain at all; all he wanted was to kill the Zerg and perish together with them!
Unfortunately, he couldn't possibly handle so many Zerg by himself.
Not long after, he collapsed to the ground due to excessive blood loss.
Lu Jiuchuan felt his consciousness fading. He crawled over with difficulty, hugged the unconscious Tang Ci tightly, and choked out, " Xiao Tang, it's my fault... But, it's not so bad to die with you."
Before he completely lost consciousness, he heard a clear singing voice in his ear.
The sound seemed to come from the distant horizon, like celestial music...
Lu Jiuchuan closed his eyes, trying to banish the bloody images from his mind, and suddenly turned around and hugged Tang Ci tightly.
His teammates looked puzzled when they saw him do this.
Tang Ci knew why Ninth Brother had suddenly hugged him. He remembered that when his legs were severed and he was in so much pain that he was about to faint, he saw the man rush over and hug him like a mad beast, letting out a painful roar. That was the last image he remembered.
Lu Jiuchuan must have been devastated. It's normal for him to be emotional when he recalls those scenes now.
Tang Ci reached out and gently stroked Lu Jiuchuan's back, saying softly, "It's alright, I'm standing here perfectly fine, aren't I? My legs have healed, so you don't need to be sad for me."
Lu Jiuchuan wasn't sad; he was just heartbroken.
He suddenly realized how difficult it must have been for Tang Ci to survive alone after losing both legs in the Nightmare Secret Room at Plum Blossom J. He wasn't there for Tang Ci at that time … leaving Tang Ci to face the pain and fear of losing her legs alone was his greatest regret in life.
Perhaps Guardian deliberately replayed the scene of Tang Ci's broken leg in front of him to torment him, to make him clearly understand how terrible the nightmare Tang Ci had experienced was.
He would rather be the one to have his limbs cut off than have Tang Ci suffer that pain again.
Lu Jiuchuan tightened his arms and hugged Tang Ci tightly. The warmth of the person in his arms made him feel at ease. It was so good that Tang Ci was still by his side and that his legs had recovered... He secretly vowed that even if it cost him his life, he would never let Tang Ci get hurt again.
Lu Jiuchuan took a deep breath to calm himself down, released Tang Ci, turned to look at his teammates, and said seriously, " After Xiao Tang fainted, I was also injured in the fight with the Zerg. Due to excessive blood loss, my consciousness gradually became blurred. Before I lost consciousness, I heard a strange song. At that time, I thought I was about to die and heard the song coming from heaven. Now it seems that the song must have been real."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance... singing?
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Could it have been sent by the people who rescued you?"
Unaware that these Zerg were highly intelligent beings, Lu Jiuchuan set fire to a place that killed many of them. The Queen was furious and declared that they would all be buried with him, and that she would not let them off easily.
The key is the person who appears at the crucial moment and saves them.
Xiao Lou sorted out the timeline and said, "Ninth Brother sent a distress signal to the military, but the nearest legion couldn't possibly arrive within a few minutes. Therefore, it was definitely not the Imperial Legion that saved you."
Lu Jiuchuan nodded: "The military's version is that we were attacked by alien creatures in Hilt No Mans Land, suffering heavy casualties, and were rescued by passing friendly forces, but the actual situation is definitely not like that."
Who exactly saved Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci?
These are all that Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci can recall. They have no memory of what happened after they fell into a coma, and naturally, Xiao Lou and the others have no way of knowing either.
Standing by the porthole, looking down at the dark planet, Chu Huaying suddenly said, "I've been wandering through interstellar space since I was a child. I heard about the Zerg from my parents that Hilt No Mans Land has Zerg. This means that this isn't the first time humans have set foot on Zerg Planet. Do you remember the Queen's warning just now?"
She repeated, "Invading the Zerg homeland, slaughtering my people, haven't you humans done enough evil over the years?"
Shao Qingge frowned slightly: "The evil deeds they've committed over the years... it seems that before Ninth Brother, there were humans who had slaughtered the Zerg? When I was talking to the Queen just now, I could clearly feel her anger. Her hatred for humans is extremely strong. Could the Zerg invasion of human cities in Spade 8 Secret Chamber be related to this?"
Although they experienced Spade 8 first, the time flow in all the secret rooms of Card World can be adjusted. Perhaps the human massacre of the Zerg is what brought about the Zerg's revenge.
During the Spade 8 Secret Chamber attack, the entire human city fell. Apart from a few dozen surviving Challengers, almost all of the tens of millions of humans were infected by the Zerg and became their puppets.
If there is a logical connection between Spade 8 and this locked room incident, it is highly likely that it is a retaliatory invasion by the Zerg against humanity?!
Xiao Lou felt a chill creep into his heart as he thought about it. He said, " Hua Ying's starship was built based on the Zerg form. The predecessors on this Space Pirate must have landed on Zerg Planet. Why don't we investigate other Space Pirates?"
Chu Huaying readily agreed: "Okay, I'll call everyone over and interrogate them."
******