Year 2599 of the stellaris Calendar, your empire failed to withstand the invasion of the End-Game Crisis.
Thank you for your efforts and sacrifices.
“Stop, stop.”
Yuan Mei wanted to open his sore eyes, but found he couldn't control his body at all.
“You said I died?”
Wasn't he just playing a save game of stellaris with a 25x difficulty End-Game Crisis?
Although he was playing terribly.
With the three major End-Game Crises looming, he was still dealing with a rebellion in a certain star system due to high crime rates.
Due to triggering the special event “Gate of Time”, the save has been rolled back 300 years.
Good luck, from Empire OL.
“Wait a minute!” Yuan Mei subconsciously roared in his mind.
But this wasn't directed at the mysterious voice in his head.
It was because Yuan Mei felt… someone was taking off his clothes.
A flood of unfamiliar memories instantly poured into his mind, strange and fantastical fragments flashing before his eyes.
But he couldn't dwell on that much; control of his body gradually returned, and Yuan Mei suddenly opened his eyes, a stark white ceiling coming into view.
Was it really a ceiling?
A soft, large bed, exquisite sheets.
And… a disheveled woman, straddling his waist.
No, sis?
Yuan Mei struggled to sit up, only to find his feet and wrists were shackled to the bed.
And a Prison Play.
Hello, Chief Science Officer Yuan Mei, welcome back.
Note, the Empire OL system has completed its self-update, version 0.9.0.
Don't pay attention to this or that right now; my attention is finding it very difficult to leave the person in front of me.
“Oh? The handsome guy is awake?”
The woman's delicate face reflected faintly in the light, the fervent desire in her eyes completely undisguised.
Yuan Mei raised an eyebrow, asking in confusion:
“Beautiful lady, what is the meaning of this?”
She smiled slightly, leaning in to whisper in Yuan Mei's ear:
“What do you think?”
Yuan Mei swallowed with difficulty; testing a cadre like this right off the bat, wasn't that a bit too aggressive?
Seeing he didn't speak, the woman prepared to take matters into her own hands.
“Wait… wait a minute.” Yuan Mei looked a little nervous, “It's too sudden; let me prepare myself mentally.”
The woman shook her head, her breathing becoming rapid:
“No, I can't wait.”
Yuan Mei moved subtly, and said to the woman with a hint of shyness:
“Then… can I go first?”
“Oh, the handsome guy wants to be more proactive? Don't rush, let me go first.”
The woman leaned down, preparing for the next move, but then heard Yuan Mei let out a long breath:
“Damn it, I finally found it.”
His tone no longer held the shyness and panic from before, but rather a sense of relief.
She looked up in confusion, only to find that the shackles on Yuan Mei's hands were gone.
“You?!”
The woman exclaimed, her flushed face instantly turning somewhat pale.
The shackles in the Prison were strong enough to withstand even large-caliber bullet impacts; how did this man unlock the handcuffs on his hands?
Her hands trembled as she reached for the sidearm tucked into her waist; her frantic movement brushed against the loosened leather buckle, and she looked down to see her holster was empty.
In her daze, the cold muzzle of a gun was already pressed against her forehead; the woman's breath hitched, but a cold whisper sounded in her ear:
“Don't move.”
The woman's entire body stiffened; after a moment, she smiled alluringly and said:
“Handsome guy, this sidearm of mine… it doesn't have any bullets, you know.”
Yuan Mei shook the muzzle, motioning for the woman to get off him, and looked at her playfully, saying:
“Stop your damn nonsense; I dare to shoot, do you dare to take it?”
At this moment, on the system panel before him, the gun's structure and materials were clearly displayed, not to mention whether there were bullets in the magazine.
This woman's face changed faster than flipping a book; if he hadn't glanced at his cheat earlier, he really would have been fooled by her.
Seeing her ploy fail, the woman looked a bit awkward, obediently raising her hands and standing aside.
“I ask, you answer. Cut the crap.”
Yuan Mei held the gun in his right hand, and grabbed the ankle shackles with his left; a flash of light, and the shackles, which had been as solid as rock moments before, vanished into thin air.
The woman, with her hands raised, widened her eyes, her expression filled with disbelief.
No? Where did my big shackles go?
Item obtained: Electronic Shackles +2, already placed in System Warehouse.
As soon as Yuan Mei woke up, he began to think of a way to escape.
Almost at first glance, he saw the 【Empire OL】 system panel.
It looked very rudimentary overall, with few functions, and the only one that seemed to be lit was 【System Warehouse】.
Fortunately, this warehouse was more like a conceptual storage; as long as he touched an item and the System Warehouse had enough space, it could be stored.
The shackles were indeed very strong, but once Yuan Mei got his hands on them, well, sorry… The first thing Yuan Mei did after freeing his hands was to eye the handgun on the woman's belt.
At first, he was worried the woman might notice his subtle movements, but it seemed she had entered a state of self-forgetfulness, her attention entirely on him, not even noticing her gun being taken.
Yuan Mei walked to face the woman, pointing the gun at her chest and asking:
“Who are you?”
“Greta, the Commander of the Prison.” The woman's face was grim, and she answered somewhat unwillingly.
“Where is this?”
“Sand Mine Star Lower District, Mine No. 7 Prison.”
Yuan Mei briefly recalled the memories in his mind; he was indeed a… reincarnated prisoner.
His previous self was the Chief Science Officer of the Saint Federation, which was the little character Yuan Mei controlled in the game.
He hadn't expected that after rolling back 300 years, he would become a slave in a Prison.
“I'm a prisoner, why am I here?” he asked in a cold voice.
“What's there to ask? It's simply because I found you pleasing to the eye, and then…”
Boom!
A sudden loud bang made both Yuan Mei and Greta turn to look out the window; immediately after, the indoor lights abruptly went out, and a blaze of fire shot up outside the window, illuminating the entire room somewhat.
Yuan Mei's eyes flashed, and he stared intently at Greta, asking:
“What's going on?”
“I… I don't know!” Greta looked bewildered, her voice filled with terror.
The Prison downstairs outside the window had fallen into chaos; it seemed all electricity had completely failed, and many prisoners had escaped from the supervision area.
“It's over, it might be here… Quickly, let me go, or we'll all die!” Greta's face suddenly turned pale, and she said excitedly to Yuan Mei.
“Speak normally!” Yuan Mei didn't understand the situation, threatening Greta by pressing the handgun against her forehead.
“We were supposed to evacuate tonight; the canning factory had already been contacted. This Prison was going to be abandoned.”
Canning factory? Early evacuation?
Yuan Mei narrowed his eyes and questioned:
“Why evacuate for no reason?”
“The higher-ups sent word that a new swarm of Sand Field Mineral Bugs, with extremely high threat, had appeared nearby, telling us to deal with the slaves and then all evacuate. Since they're going to be killed anyway, might as well turn all the slaves into canned food and sell them for some money.”
“Sand Field Mineral Bug?”
Compared to the heinous act of turning people into canned food, the somewhat familiar name Sand Field Mineral Bug made Yuan Mei momentarily dazed.
In his previous life… or rather, when he played the game, he had seen this name before.
The Sand Field Mineral Bug first appeared around 2240; looking at it this way, the timeline actually matched up with the present.
These Mineral Bugs continuously split and developed, attacking several mining planets in distant star systems, killing many people, which then caught the attention of the higher-ups, leading to a simple study and record of them.
Thinking of this, Yuan Mei's mood had sunk to rock bottom, because he remembered that all the planets where the Sand Field Mineral Bug appeared had, historically, no survivors.
In other words, no one on Sand Mine Star would escape; they would all be their prey.
Damn it, if you're going to roll back, where did you send me?
Yuan Mei's brain rapidly churned out countermeasures.
Escape? That's unrealistic; just leaving this Prison located in the middle of a desert was extremely difficult.
Low-level mining planets located at the edge of a star system usually have very incomplete hyperspace lane facilities; the few ships capable of leaving the planet were all controlled by the Planetary Governor.
And historically, it seemed the Planetary Governor of Sand Mine Star hadn't managed to escape either.
“If I recall correctly, the Saint Federation strictly prohibits turning humans into canned food.” Yuan Mei reminisced, “You really are beyond the Emperor's reach here on Sand Mine Star!”
As he spoke, the deafening sound of a second explosion outside the window echoed again over the Prison.
Amidst the roar, Greta's panicked pupils suddenly froze, then quickly dimmed.
A bullet hole had appeared on her forehead, and blood dripped down her cheek onto the ground. Yuan Mei put away the smoking handgun and quickly moved forward to search the fallen corpse.
She had lost her utility, and there was no reason to pity someone who would turn her own kind into canned meat.
The current problem was that the cause of the explosion outside was unknown, but Yuan Mei knew that self-rescue was now urgent.
If he died in the game, he could restart, but if he died now, it would be a true death…