Tears on the Long March: A Female Soldier’s Story

In this interstellar age, where entertainment reigns supreme and VR games are all about risqué anime characters and pay-to-win reskins, Lin Wan was thrown out by her investors. “Nobody wants to play those miserable expedition games of yours!” Lin Wan turned around and activated the “Epic Simulator System.” Drawing on the lost historical records of ancient Blue Star, she released VR Long March: A Woman Soldier's Tale, a game with 100% realistic pain simulation. At first, goofy streamers and arrogant esports pros sneaked in to expose it as a scam: The top female gamer on the internet: “If this game can make me shed a single tear, I'll wash my hair standing on my head!” Underground boxing champion: “How are we supposed to play without weapons? Is this NPC trying to tell me what to do?” But in less than a day, everything changed. The female gamer was shivering so hard her nose was running. She fought her teammates over half a moldy coarse-grain bun, only to feed it to the 15-year-old orphan NPC in her arms. The underground boxing champion had both legs blown off by an enemy plane, yet he clung to a bomb to cover the main force's retreat, sobbing on the livestream: “She called me comrade! She gave me the last bite of her food, even though it was covered in blood!!” As the enemy's encircling army closed in, the million goofy players, the fourth calamity who usually fought on their own, saw red. They joined hands to fill snow trenches with their bodies and used their lives to stop the bullets. “NPCs, stay back! You only get one life! Let us players die in your place! Brothers, charge! Protect our vanguard!”