I must confess.
Today is my first day working on Sky Dome Star, accompanied by another unlucky soul forced by an interstellar mega-corporation to come down and exterminate bugs like a beast of burden. There are many bugs and lots of work on Sky Dome Star. But we cooperated quite well, happily stepping on bug corpses and singing songs, just about to finish and collect our pay, when I did something "stupid" at the most critical moment—
I accidentally triggered the mech's self-destruct, which had a massive blast radius, knocking down all my teammates.
Here's how it happened. Not long ago, I went to Germany for a business trip to attend Gamescom, do some work, and pick up some pork knuckles, sausages, and beer. On the way, I suddenly received an invitation from Level Infinite, saying they had newly invested in an interstellar joint maintenance outsourcing company—"Xenocorp Squad." They told me that "Xenocorp Squad" was developed by the renowned Canadian game studio Behaviour Interactive, published overseas by Level Infinite, and produced in collaboration with TEAM SHOOTER & CREATIVE (Global Game Publishing Team). They are currently recruiting skilled technicians to form three-person squads in large numbers, responsible for maintaining and repairing various production equipment on other planets.
To be honest, I've done this kind of work at DRG and Super Balloon. It seems like you can stroll around other planets, enjoy cosmic scenery, and encounter strange alien life forms. But it's tough and tiring, and heavily dependent on teammates. If your teammates are good, you can earn a lot and have fun; if they're bad, surviving is already an achievement, and you might even get your pay deducted.
Honestly, I wasn't really—what? They said the pay was generous, supplies were unlimited, and I didn't have to worry about teammates?
Then I actually wasn't very interested.
So, I enthusiastically headed to the Level Infinite exhibition area, bypassing the massive crowd of applicants queued up next door at Remedy Entertainment's biohazard division—rumor has it their production line expansion was so popular that there were clouds of applicants, with queue times of up to 5 hours.
Anyway, after many twists and turns, I finally got a direct interview with the Creative Director and Producer of "Xenocorp Squad" through internal connections.
Long story short, the meeting was successful, and we hit it off. They told me that as a conscientious enterprise spanning multiple star sectors, my job is to use my expertise to maintain machines, with piece-rate pay, more work means more pay, plus performance bonuses—they didn't tell me where the performance metrics come from, just that it's very simple.
Moreover, the working environment on Sky Dome Star is charming and not particularly dangerous, except for the abundance of mosquitoes and insects. The new boss thoughtfully told me that the heavy exoskeleton used for work has excellent sealing properties, and if I'm really worried, I can bring two bottles of Baishen Floral Water, just in case.
With such a thoughtful boss, generous wages, low risk, and relatively easy work—what was there to hesitate? I signed the employment contract on the spot, becoming an "Alien Pest Control Specialist."
And so, the life of poor Little Starfish Can was completely ruined.
That's right, I encountered a damn black-hearted enterprise. Sky Dome Star is by no means a "relaxing and pleasant" picnic planet, and the mosquito problem is far from "just a bit much"...
I mean, have you ever seen "mosquitoes" as big as cars?
In fact, when my two pest control specialists and I air-dropped, and my feet just touched the ground of Sky Dome Star, I was dumbfounded—because the bugs on Sky Dome Star were not only large and numerous, but also incredibly diverse in species.
First came wave after wave of enlarged ticks, covered in sarcomas, each fearless in the face of death. Fortunately, the company wasn't completely heartless; they issued us guns, so everyone started firing away.
After fighting and retreating with great difficulty, we finally approached the equipment maintenance site, only for a super-heavy armored beetle to emerge from the ground. It was covered in colorful bony armor, and our makeshift weapons couldn't penetrate it at all.
But the good news is, before we dropped, the company kindly reminded us to equip some "heavy-duty pest repellent devices." So, I carried a quad rocket launcher—I call it "Baishen Floral Water ProMax." This thing is incredibly powerful, with long-range auto-locking and active tracking.
The bad news is that this thing only has 4 rounds of ammunition, and it takes 2 shots to blow up an alien beetle.
Fortunately, this mission wasn't too difficult. Besides my heavy rocket pod, a new guy in our team had a Super Freeze Gun. That thing can hard-control large swarms of bugs, making it easier for the rest of us to unleash firepower. Moreover, in Overload Mode, the Super Freeze Gun can charge up and fire a massive snowball with a huge explosion radius, easily freezing a large area of bugs.
What? You're asking what Overload Mode is? Don't worry, I'll explain it slowly.
We, the "Alien Pest Control Specialists" of "Xenocorp Squad," may do dangerous work, living on the edge, but we're essentially maintenance technicians. Having access to specialized equipment is already quite good.
You're asking about the multi-tube rocket pod I mentioned earlier? Oh, that's just a name I made up. It's actually mining blasting equipment, purely industrial specialized gear, not a weapon designed for harm. In short, we usually work with wrenches and drills, so we carry a charging backpack to power various electric tools.
Although... this backpack's energy storage is just a tiny bit large.
A tiny bit.jpg
So, when we overcharge our heavy industrial equipment, such as multi-tube rockets—I mean, multi-port heavy tunnel blasting devices—these tools can enter Overload Mode, unleashing energy incomparable to normal mode.
For example, my multi-tube rocket pod can fire a heavy guided explosive shell, destroying all pests within the locked range. Meanwhile, my buddy's Super Freeze Gun can freeze a vast area, providing immediate crowd control.
Of course, these are still dangerous heavy industrial devices—you must carefully avoid your teammates' areas to prevent accidental workplace injuries.
So, thanks to our seamless cooperation, we finally completed the first job order on Sky Dome Star. Our main objective for this drop was to repair oil pipelines and perform maintenance on nearby equipment.
But do you think that's the end of it?
Not exactly.
As we mentioned earlier, "Alien Pest Control Specialists" are paid per job. Completing the main contract barely covers living expenses. Equipment crafting, upgrades, and maintenance are huge money sinks. Without taking on some side quests, we'd be broke in no time.
And if we were to tackle side quests, not to mention the varying difficulty, our ammo supplies and medical support would be stretched thin—after all, the company charges for resupply drops.
Fortunately, another newbie and I both applied through direct hiring, so Xenocorp Headquarters assigned a veteran—I mean, a senior specialist—to accompany us on the mission. During the task, he told us that although maintenance missions on Sky Dome Star vary in difficulty and feature procedurally generated maps, his extensive experience allowed him to know which side quests offer good money for little effort and which ones involve tough enemies.
You see, this time he took us to the heavy equipment depot and rolled out a big guy—a Heavy Multi-Purpose Mech.
This thing is truly valuable, with high damage from the left fist and high damage from the right fist.
The mech's left arm is a heavy fist. A simple charged heavy punch can knock down heavily armored beetles and the like, allowing pest control agents to consume one-third of their backpack energy slot to electrocute and execute these big guys.
The mech's right arm is mounted with a defensive heavy machine gun, which can clear out some minor pest infantry, but due to limited ammunition, its utility isn't very high.
In addition, the heavy mech is equipped with two skill modules—
One is the honorable self-destruct. To prevent pest control specialists from accidentally triggering it, Xenocorp Headquarters specifically added a long-press confirmation to prevent newcomers from accidentally blowing everyone up.
The other skill is a Ground Slam, which deals incredibly high damage over a wide area, sending a large group of bugs and teammates flying into the sky at once.
Of course, such a powerful mech has its weakness—the pilot. That's right, as a heavy-duty engineering platform, the mech doesn't provide much protection for its occupant. So, while we can use melee attacks and skills to instantly kill most opponents, those heavily armored units can also one-shot us. If we get carried away and get trapped in a bug swarm, we're done for.
However, a cautious player like me would never recklessly charge forward for glory.
With great power comes great responsibility. So, as the mech operator, I cleared the path for my fellow workers on missions, taking down heavily armored enemies, and enjoying the satisfaction of watching bugs explode into goo—hey, it's actually quite stress-relieving.
In short, the three of us united and cooperated fully. We cleared all main and side quests on the map, earning a fortune while smoothly reaching the extraction point to return to the orbital space station. As I mentioned at the beginning, we were happily stepping on bug corpses and singing songs, just about to finish and collect our pay, when the company's performance assessment suddenly arrived—the person with the most kills during evacuation would receive the biggest reward.
How despicable! "Xenocorp Squad"! Do you really think such a simple attempt at sowing discord can break the unbreakable bond of friendship we three forged in the face of death?
Never!
So I left the mech, abandoning this powerful weapon, ready to compete fairly with my teammates. But perhaps I was too young, or maybe too nervous, I accidentally triggered the mech's self-destruct without realizing it, and since I was so close to my teammates...
What made it even more heartbreaking was that the swarm of bugs seemed endless, while the extraction ship had already arrived, forcing me to painfully choose evacuation. This hit me hard; even the generous salary sent by headquarters after the mission couldn't stop my tears from falling from the corner of my mouth—I mean, my eyes.
Regardless, I, Starfish Can, swear to the heavens: My dear teammates, rest in peace. I will take care of your wives and daughters, so have no worries.
Hehe.