This game is so weird!

Not long after dinner, a new post appeared on the forum of the Creation Games Studio, and after being highlighted and pinned by the AI ​​"Funny Face" at the base, it quickly rose to the top of the trending list.

[Syra's Endangered Civilization Observation Report: Special Record of the Sanctuary]

Recorder: Er Miao

Identity: Player/Story Observer/One of the builders of the nomadic camp "Hope Town"

Data sources: in-game archives, D Squad communication records, homeless accounts, and shelter daily records.

Recording time: 14 years after the incident

To everyone in the forum:

Initially, I intended to enter Sera as an "observer" to record the truth behind the war between humans and orcs that took place in the game.

But after arriving here, I realized one thing: documentation is not enough; what they need is safe haven and a hopeful home.

What follows is everything I documented on Sera. It includes the story of Squad D, Anya, those forgotten in the official archives—and the changes we brought about.

[First record: What this world used to be like]

Before the day of the incident, humanity had fought a civil war for seventy-nine years over a fossil fuel called Im Energy. The war ended with the activation of the "Dawn Hammer" orbital satellite system.

The price is that the planet is now riddled with holes.

The peace lasted only six weeks.

On the day of the incident, the Orcs emerged from tunnels deep within the earth's crust, launching simultaneous raids on major cities. Official records state: "Within 26 hours, more than a quarter of the world's population was wiped out."

The survivors retreated to the Jacinto Plateau. The Alliance used the Dawnhammer to launch an indiscriminate scorched-earth campaign against the surrounding areas—including human settlements that had failed to evacuate in time.

In the terminal command log I found, below Colonel Hoffman's signature, there was only one note:

There is no other choice.

[Second record: Marcus Phoenix - Prisoner and Leader]

Marcus Phoenix is ​​one of my main subjects of observation.

According to the archives, he was a combat hero during the Pendulum War and had been awarded medals multiple times. After the incident, when the Dongzha Military Academy was besieged, he disobeyed orders and deserted his post to rescue his trapped father. The rescue failed, and his father died. He was sentenced to forty years in prison by a military court.

Four years later, the Orcs breached Jasintu's highest martial law prison. His comrade Dom Santiago, without authorization from his superiors, single-handedly stormed the ruins and rescued him.

Marcus was subsequently assigned to D Squad by Colonel Hoffman, with the core mission of mapping the Orc underground tunnel network, deploying photon missiles, and destroying the Orc heartland.

I overheard a conversation in an encrypted communication log.

Hoffman: "He is our best choice."

Anya: "He just got out of prison."

Hoffman: "That's why he wanted to live the most."

I later saw Marcus in person once—when the shelter had just been built. He came back with Night Rain and the others, covered in blood. He stayed for one night and then went back to his mission.

[Third record: Anya Stroud – The woman behind the communicator]

Anya is the communications officer at the Security Alliance's command and control center. From the day Team D set off, she has always been on the other end of the channel.

While building the COG office, I collected three records about her.

In the first scene, Team D is ambushed, and Cole's armor is penetrated. Anya reports the coordinates of cover and the escape route, one by one. Cole later says, "Her voice was the only thing that didn't stop for me all day."

The second scene is late at night. Bard is asleep, but the channel is on. Anya whispers, "Marcus, are you still there?"

Marcus said, "Yes."

There was a 40-second silence in the communication.

Anya said, "Okay. Keep the channel on, call me if you need anything."

The third account comes from a homeless woman. Three years after the incident, Anya contacted her through an abandoned relay station, telling her that her husband was still alive in Jacinto. This woman had walked four hundred kilometers, survived, and reunited with her husband.

She said, "That female soldier was a good person. She didn't have to worry about us, but she did."

After the town was completed, I sent a non-emergency communication to Anya, telling her that we had successfully taken in eleven homeless people and three children, and that she needed to know the nearest medical supply drop-off point.

She gave me the coordinates without hesitation.

He added, "Thank you."

[Fourth record: Vagrants—the forgotten people, living alongside us]

"Nomads," or "The Trapped" in the Alliance's official archives, are humans who were unable to evacuate to the highlands in time after the incident and were left to fend for themselves in the Orcish-occupied territory.

They are not on any rescue list.

But in Hope Town, they have their own name.

Franklin, the old mechanic. When we found him, he was with two young men in the underground parking lot of the Hanover ruins, piecing together an armored vehicle from scrap parts. He spent three days repairing it and gave it to D Squad, who were passing by. We offered him a place to move into the shelter, but he shook his head, saying he was used to being out there. But he would come every few days to tell us the location of the requisition point and have dinner at the homeless restaurant. Last time he came, he brought a bag of steamed buns. "That should last me a while."

Ella is seven years old. When we found her in the ruins, she was sitting alone in a corner, hugging a tattered rag doll, having not eaten for three days. Now she lives in a hotel in Hope Town and often plays with Leah. A few days ago, she drew a picture and stuck it on the wall. It was of our camp, and above it, she wrote a single word in crooked handwriting: "Home."

Our shelter now houses 527 people.

Five hundred and twenty-seven.

Compared to the daily death toll on Sera, 527 is nothing.

But for each of them, Hope Town meant rooftops, hot food, people to talk to, and not having to wake up alone at night.

[Fifth record: Adam Phoenix's legacy]

After the resonator detonated, the data was incomplete, and the mission was temporarily declared a failure. D Squad technician Bard retrieved an encrypted message from the mining plant's terminal, pointing to the ruins of the East Gate Military Academy—Adam Phoenix's former residence.

Adam was Marcus's father and the lead architect of Dawnhammer. Everyone assumed he was dead after the Incident. But he did not die on the day of the Incident. He returned alone to his old house and spent the last days of his life in the basement—studying the Orc burrow network, drawing maps, and waiting for a rescue that would never come.

Team D found complete tunnel data in that basement. In the corner was a glass of water, left to dry for who knows how many years.

Anya said on the channel, "Your father is a great man."

Marcus said, "Let's go."

[Final Record: Train and Embers]

Team D storms the abandoned station.

After clearing the area, they arrived at the front of the vehicle and found that the Orc general Lamb had already arrived. Lamb was the murderer of Jin Mingyang, the captain of Squad A, and also one of the core commanders of the Orcs.

The battle unfolded inside the cramped train carriage.

Thanks to the efforts of Night Rain, White Cat, and many other players, General Lamb was successfully defeated, and Marcus manually activated the photon bomb.

The missile flew out, flew straight into the core area of ​​the Orcs, and exploded.

Anya confirmed the explosion signal.

However, it wasn't long before the Orc Queen's declaration of revenge was broadcast across the ruins of the human city.

They were badly damaged, but they are still here.

Deep within the darkness of the underground caves, the orcs are still brewing a new conspiracy.

[Concluding Remarks]

I am Er Miao.

I'm not a soldier. My marksmanship is so-so, and my sense of direction is terrible. The first time I went out to search for supplies, I almost got lost. It was Erwang who brought me back from underground.

But my companions and I lit 527 lamps in the ruins of this world.

If you also want to enter this world, there's no need to rush to complete the game. If you're willing, come find us.

We'll be waiting for you in a small town on the edge of the Lycian mining region.

—Er Miao

"Observe, record, protect."