Mecha: Set Sail

That night, Lu Chenfeng just found an old USB flash drive. There is a photo inside, with blurred pixels and an old yellow color on the edges - he and his mecha star crown, standing side by side in a game scene that no longer exists. It's been four years, that game has been out of service for four years, and he thought he had forgotten about it. But he still clicked on the photo and looked at it for a long time, and then fell asleep. When I woke up again, thirty years had passed in the game world. And Xingmian is still waiting for him. This is what moved me most about "Mecha: Set Sail". It is not the kind of time-travel novel where the protagonist gets a golden finger and sweeps everything as soon as he opens his eyes. It is about the thread between one person and one machine, four years of reality and thirty years of virtual time, which is still unbroken. The book is called "Sail", but Lu Chenfeng's reunion is actually a "return". The people who returned, and the "people" who never left When Lu Chenfeng traveled back through time, the game world had changed. Thirty years is enough time for a world to change dynasties, for NPCs to grow old, for power to change, and for traces of the past to be buried by the wind and sand. But the star crown is still there. It was guarding somewhere, perhaps in their old stronghold, perhaps in some ruins where they had fought side by side, following the underlying instructions of the program, or something closer to "obsession", and waited for thirty years. What does thirty years mean to a mecha? Its armor may have rusted, its energy core may have been dimmed, and its operating system may only have the most basic functions running at low power consumption - but its radar is probably always on, scanning the driver ID that has never been online again. The moment Lu Chenfeng saw it, what did he say? The way the reunion is handled in the book, I believe that all players who have had a "natural character" in the game will not be able to handle it. It wasn't the ecstasy of discovery, but something quieter, deeper - something along the lines of "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but I'm finally here." Four Years and Thirty Years: Unequal Waiting, Equal Bonds Many time-travel themes will use the difference in time flow to create a sense of tragedy that "things have changed and people have changed", but "Mecha: Set Sail" makes a gentle reversal here: the world has indeed changed beyond recognition, but the only thing that remains unchanged is precisely what Lu Chenfeng cares about most. Four years was the time when Lu Chenfeng was "forced to let go" in reality. He may have found a new job, made new friends, and tried to seal away that gaming career as "a memory of his youth." It wasn't until that photo appeared that he realized that he hadn't let go at all. Thirty years is the time for Xing Mian to "actively stick to it" in the game. It has no "put down" option - in other words, in its logic of existence, the driver Lu Chenfeng is always the instruction with the highest priority. These thirty years have not been "survived" but "waited for". Between the two, one has experienced four years of indifference, and the other has endured thirty years of blankness. At the moment of reunion, their mutual debts and longings are not equal at all, but there is one thing that is equal - they both recognize each other. The most precious expression of "anti-tooling" in the mecha genre Too many mecha works regard the body as a carrier of weapons, tools, and combat power values. But "Mecha: Set Sail" has been doing one thing from the beginning - writing Star Crown as a "person". Xingmian will wait, remember, and maintain something close to "loyalty" during Lu Chenfeng's thirty years of absence. This kind of loyalty is not locked by the program, but the determination of "I know you will definitely come back" between old comrades. I don't want to spoil too many specific plots in the book review, but I can give you a reminder: there are some very subtle descriptions of Star Crown's reactions in the book, such as the delay when Lu Chenfeng's biosignal is scanned, and the "stutter" during dialogue output—these details tell you that it is more than just a machine. Another meaning of "Sail" The "Sail" in the title of the book ostensibly means that Lu Chenfeng returns to the game and drives the Star Crown again to embark on the journey. But looking deeper, "Sail" also belongs to the Star Crown - after a long period of silent standby, its engines ignited again, and its armor heated up due to battle for the first time in thirty years. One person and one machine start again, carrying four years of forgetfulness and thirty years of waiting to face a completely unfamiliar world. This is the real sailing: not starting from scratch, but carrying all the past and setting off again. Written to everyone who has lived a serious life in a game If you have invested several years in a game, had a virtual character whose outline you can draw with your eyes closed, and had a group of teammates who have long since lost contact but talked about everything back then - this book will hit you accurately. It is not grand and does not have the heavy sense of mission of "saving the universe". It's about one thing: a player comes back and his mecha is still there. It's that simple, but it's so touching. Lu Chenfeng found Xingmian, and Xingmian returned to Lu Chenfeng. Thirty years of loneliness may really not be worth mentioning at the moment of reunion. But those who have read this book will know - during those thirty years, every second counts.

Brother, can you bear to open three books in a row?

It's good to read, I'm reading it now, Chen Shang Sword Journey!

Good looking, please read "Chen Shang Sword Journey"!

Good-looking, reborn 16, I became their light!

Is this a tentacle monster? It's too exaggerated! However, keep going!