Time sure flies, it had been a year since Wang Tong first landed on Norton. His skin had become swarthy, his shoulders grown broader, and his chest firmer. Norton was no longer a strange and unfamiliar planet; instead, it had become his home.
He had made many new enemies on his new home planet, and all of them were Zergs, all kinds of Zergs. He had killed almost every single kind of Zerg, but he didn’t even know the proper names for most of them; instead, he called them the big bug, the small bug, the colorful bug and the flying bug. Their names didn’t matter to Wang Tong; they had all become dead bugs after all. Wang Tong had also discovered an incredible usage of these bugs; they served as excellent sources of food.
One year ago, even the thought of eating these disgusting bugs would have made Wang Tong cringe, but under extreme circumstances, Wang Tong had to eat them or else he would starve to death. These bugs' external shells were extremely hard and were not suitable for eating, but their innards were soft and juicy. With the aid of the Nutrient Transformer and a little bit more imagination, Wang Tong enjoyed a well-balanced diet consisting of vegetables and meat. He was not sure if there were side effects to eating the Zerg’s meat, although he had been pretty healthy since he started eating them.
Wang Tong had thought about the day he would finally leave the planet, he had even begun to sort his inventories and had gotten ready for packing. The situation on the front line was unclear to him. He had since heard fewer explosions in the sky which meant either the Zergs or the Confederation were retreating. He also noticed lately that the number of Zergs had been dwindling, perhaps it was time for another adventure outside, he never liked the feeling of sitting by and waiting.
This day he sat atop a ruined building and was studying the blue sky above. He noticed that clouds hung in the sky that looked just like a hamburger. Wang Tong liked hamburgers; especially the ones that came with bacon. He salivated at the cloud, and almost forgot that he was on Norton.
Suddenly a soft whir broke his daydream and wondered: “Am I hearing things? I must be hallucinating.”
He then saw a small investigation ship gliding across the sky in the distance and exclaimed: “Gods! I wasn't hallucinating after all! It is indeed a Confederation ship.”
Wang Tong sprung to his feet and climbed up to the top of the makeshift flagpole which hung a crude Confederation flag. He made these landmarks all across the base, hoping that one day they would attract the attention of rescuers.
Wang Tong stood on top of the pole, flagging the ship down with a piece of tattered shirt. Unsure if the ship had noticed him, he became anxious, he screamed at the top of his lungs "S...O...S..., S...OS!"
He wondered if he should use his underwear instead since it was a brighter color.
It seemed his effort was in vain, the spaceship glided further away. Wang Tong felt so depressed that he almost fell off the flagpole but, to his surprise, the shuttle turned 180 degrees in the air and headed towards him. It hovered above his head for a while and then descended slowly.
The roller coaster development made Wang Tong felt like that he needed a moment to contemplate what had just happened.
When he had finally grasped the reality, he almost fell into a trance. He had been living here by himself for an entire year. He was surrounded by bugs without a single human to be seen, Wang Tong for a time had felt that he perhaps would eventually turn into a bug as well.
The spacecraft whirred and landed steadily beside Wang Tong. As soon as the ship's landing pad was released, Wang Tong advanced in, tears of excitement trailed down his cheeks, "Thank gods, you are finally here!"
Two soldiers, one male, and the other female walked out of the spacecraft onto the landing pad. They both looked very young, the man was about twenty-five or so, and the girl looked even younger. A handsome military artier further concealed her age. Both of their faces held an expression of astonishment because they weren’t expecting to find any survivors let alone such a young boy.
"Hi there, I am Lieutenant Rios, and this is second lieutenant Zhang Jing, we are from the—"
Wang Tong cut him short with a forced hug, "Thank you, thank you! Thank gods, I thought I would have to spend the rest of my life with the bugs."
Second Lieutenant Zhang Jing cracked a smile and said, "We have won the battle, the Zerg were defeated. We were sent here to search for survivors. We have been searching for ten days, and you are so far the only survivor we have found. You have my congratulations."
"Ha-ha... Congratulations to you for your victory.” Speaking with a real human made Wang Tong feel like normal again, he no longer needed to talk to himself again.
"How did you survive? This is unbelievable," Rios asked curiously.
"Ha-ha! I hid in the mine; you won't believe how sturdy that gate was. I had a Nutrient Transformer with me too, that's how I made my food. I thought the loneliness was going to eventually drive me crazy, I am lucky that you guys came before that happened."
The two lifted the corner of their mouths as if moved by Wang Tong's joy. "Let's move out now, our mission here is over, the demolition party will soon arrive."
Zergs were excellent at hiding in half ruined structures. Every time after a gruesome battle, humans deployed a large number of troops to demolish existing buildings in order to drive out the remaining Zergs and annihilate them. Although it meant the effort of later re-development would be increased, it, however, was very necessary to ensure the extermination of the Zerg on a planet.
The spacecraft rose slowly as the ruins of Norton underneath became smaller, Wang Tong was relieved at the fact that he was finally going home.
Suddenly, a throng of Zergs emerged on the ground, all of them screamed at the spaceship with malice and hatred. They all wanted Wang Tong dead. Wang Tong looked down at them through the windowpane and mumbled:"Goodbye Buggies, please don’t miss me."
Most people weren’t lucky enough to survive the horror, but Wang Tong was not the only one that had been rescued. All of the other survivors were well equipped; most of them were METAL fighters. Some even had the luxury of time to prepare for the long wait. It was only natural for the rescuers to assume that Wang Tong was a METAL fighter as well, albeit a very young one.
The rescuers let the survivors clean themselves up, and conducted a thorough health check up before sending them on a ship back to Earth. Almost all of the survivors were given a handsome compensation in order to seal their lips. Although the Zerg Invasion was a well-planned surprise attack, the Confederation was not entirely innocent either. The politicians could always afford to spend more cash than their reputation, even if it meant a lot of cash.
Wang Tong didn't ask for any money as compensation, he asked for an admission letter to a Military Academy instead. The government officer agreed his term without any hesitation. He even wrote a referral letter for Wang Tong and promised him that if his life became troublesome in the city, the letter would instruct the local authorities to help him out.
The officer smiled broadly and patted Wang Tong on the shoulder, praised him as a model citizen of the Confederation for not blackmailing the government like the others had. Wang Tong did not care about the cheap praise, he wanted to go home.
The trip to his home was much more comfortable than the trip to Norton. There was no need to sleep through the quadratic speed; instead, there were movie theaters, coffee bars, pool houses and many other entertainment facilities aboard the ship. The entire trip back to Earth rather felt like a vacation, with beautiful space stewardesses at his service at all times. Wang Tong felt like an important person for the very first time.
Everyone aboard the ship was in a good mood, they rejoiced not only at their miraculous escape, but also the handsome compensation that the Confederation had promised them. Many of them had also received phone calls from the media for interviews; it seemed that the Confederation wouldn’t pass up on such a good opportunity to show off their dedicated rescue efforts. Wang Tong wasn't interested in helping the Confederation's propaganda at all.
For some unknown reason, Wang Tong felt an emptiness in his belly as he left Norton. He had lived on that planet for an entire year, and he had since grown up a lot, both physically and psychologically. His gut told him that he might go back to that accursed planet again.
"Are you Wang Tong?" a female's voice drifted into Wang Tong's ear. It sounded delicate and pleasing to the ear, unlike Mr. Wannabe's raspy and sometimes high-pitched yelp.
"You are?" staring at the attractive girl in front of him, Wang Tong could not help but feel light headed, he found that her beauty was beyond the capability of words.
The girl couldn’t help but to laugh, "I am Zhang Jing. We just met down there, am I really that forgettable?"
Wang Tong felt a sudden embarrassment. He was too excited to see humans again after one year of solitude; he barely remembered any details of that encounter.