Dawn City Street.
Chen Gang stared at everything around him, his eyes wide open.
Shadows of people came and went along the street, most of them dressed in ragged clothes, their faces smeared with dirt, exhaustion written in their eyes.
Not far away.
A few kids crouched in a corner, fighting over a piece of pitch-black meat of unknown origin.
Their movements and expressions were so vivid that, just landing in Wasteland, Chen Gang was stunned for a good while, unable to snap back to his senses.
The wind brushing against his face, the tracks of grit rolling on the ground, even the sensation of stepping on earth itself...
Chen Gang lowered his head and looked at his hands—dirty, with soil wedged under his fingernails. It felt like he'd been living in this world for ages.
"Too damn real!"
"This is supposed to be a game?"
Even though Old Cui had hyped it up beyond belief in their dorm before, actually experiencing this moment himself—the shock was indescribable.
Chen Gang was even a bit dazed, wondering if he was really playing a game or if he'd somehow crossed over into this world...
"Logout?"
Feeling uneasy, Chen Gang remembered Old Cui's advice and silently muttered the word.
[Do you want to log out of Wasteland?]
[Tip——]
[Logging out will lock your current coordinates and set it as your next login location!]
Staring at the lines of text appearing out of thin air, Chen Gang finally let out a sigh of relief.
"If I can log out, it's still a game."
Chen Gang mumbled, continuing to observe his surroundings.
Compared to Yin Yao—though Chen Gang also started as a refugee—his spawn point wasn't out in the wild but right on the streets of Dawn City.
That led to——
Chen Gang hadn't figured out what the hell was going on in front of him.
"Old Cui wasn't kidding, the game is crazy open-ended; not only is there no quest system, there isn't even a newbie guide."
"What the hell am I supposed to do next?"
Chen Gang stood where he was, lost in thought.
He overheard people around him talking about the 'new City Lord taking office' and such.
That huge pillar of Light soaring up from the inner city earlier—Chen Gang missed it; he logged in a few seconds after it happened.
Tap, tap, tap——
Just as Chen Gang stood there, a bit bewildered.
A sparse yet orderly and powerful rhythm of footsteps sounded from ahead.
Chen Gang instinctively looked up.
A girl appeared in front of him, standing shoulder to shoulder with a buzz-cut young man behind her.
This girl... looked kind of familiar.
Chen Gang was momentarily frozen.
And the next second——
The girl called his name directly.
"Chen Gang?"
Chen Gang: "?"
Was this some NPC coming to unlock a quest for him or something?
That thought flickered for a moment, then vanished, because the girl's next words were——
"I'm Yin Yao."
Hiss——
Chen Gang sucked in a cold breath.
He got it!
No wonder her face looked so familiar. He felt like he'd seen her somewhere before!
At night, he dragged Old Cui and Yu Fei to stare at campus forum threads about Yu Jin and Yin Yao for ages—there were plenty of photos of Yin Yao in those posts.
"Y-Yin... Senior Sister Yin!"
Chen Gang had no idea how she knew his name, but...
Bumping into a familiar face in Wasteland—instead of feeling warm 'meeting an old friend in a distant land,' it was just plain awkward.
Especially since...
The reason he was able to play this game was because he used the helmet Yin Yao gave to Yu Jin—he'd basically snagged a free ride off her generosity.
"You just logged into Wasteland, and your spawn point is right in Dawn City?"
Yin Yao smiled lightly, asking him.
"Y-Yeah!"
Chen Gang nodded frantically.
"You're here alone?"
Yin Yao's smile was gentle, her tone warm.
"I..."
"Old Cui and Yu Fei are with me, just the three of us, but as soon as I opened my eyes I was here—didn't see either of them."
Chen Gang answered honestly.
Yin Yao heard this, her eyebrows arched slightly.
"What about Yu Jin?"
The reason she struck up a conversation with Chen Gang was, of course, to fish for news about Yu Jin.
Especially——
Having just witnessed the New City Lord's power, she desperately wanted to confirm if Yu Jin was really the one-in-a-million lucky bastard who got the 'New City Lord' identity at the start.
But the next second——
Chen Gang's answer left Senior Sister Yin stunned, frozen in place.
"Old Yu?"
"Old Yu didn't play this game."
"He came back, ate, then went out again—no clue what he's busy with, probably hasn't come home yet——"
Halfway through, Chen Gang abruptly paused.
He, along with Old Cui and Yu Fei, were convinced Yu Jin headed out late at night for a date with Yin Yao.
But now?
Yin Yao was standing right in front of him, meaning she wasn't on a date—she was playing the game with the helmet on.
So Old Yu...
Could he have gone off looking for a mistress?!
Those couple of sentences he just blurted out...
Did he just totally rat out his brother!
Chen Gang realized how bad this looked—especially seeing the shock on Yin Yao's face, he wanted to slap himself for being such a blabbermouth!
"He didn't log into Wasteland?"
Yin Yao snapped out of her daze to double-check.
"Not... I guess?"
Chen Gang answered cautiously, weighing his words.
"When he went out, did he bring the game helmet with him?"
Yin Yao stared at Chen Gang, gaze intense.
Under her gaze, Chen Gang felt a bit creeped out; hesitating for a moment, he still came clean: "No, he didn't."
At his words——
Yin Yao was completely lost.
She turned to look in the direction of Dawn City's inner city.
Yu Jin didn't log in, which meant he couldn't possibly be the New City Lord.
Then...
How does Yu Jin end up becoming the Dawn City Lord in the future?
Yin Yao's mind was scrambled, thoughts jumbled together.
She even began to suspect...
Could everything that was supposed to happen end up changing because of her Rebirth, triggering a butterfly effect and making things deviate completely?
Among them...
That invincible Yu Jin was supposed to be here, yet he hadn't even logged in to Wasteland yet?
"No way."
"I've got to remind Yu Jin to join the beta ASAP and create his account."
"Only then can he become the unstoppable powerhouse from my memory in Wasteland."
"And me..."
"I'll have a chance to cling to his thigh and survive in this crisis-ridden Wasteland."
Yin Yao snapped back, her expression resolute.
There were only five days left until Wasteland invaded reality and countless people randomly crossed over to Wasteland World.
Yin Yao was even considering——
Should she tell Yu Jin the truth about the Wasteland game ahead of time?
...
...
2025, September 4th.
Weather: sunny.
7+7 Chain Hotel.
On the Simmons bed, Yu Jin woke up early.
[You used Tier Two Energy Crystal*1 and Tier Three Energy Crystal*2—one step closer to Tier Four!]
The system prompt arrived as scheduled.
Though not making it straight into Tier Four was a bit disappointing, it was about what Yu Jin expected.
"If I could snag another Tier Four Energy Crystal, that'd probably do it."
Yu Jin thought to himself.
"Where can I get a Tier Four Energy Crystal?"
From his previous experience scamming the system, Yu Jin had figured out the basic rules.
Suppress/scare off/contain a Tier N Mutant Beast or Infected Body, and the system is very likely to reward you with a Tier N-1 Energy Crystal.
Aside from the very first stray calico he fed—
All three of Yu Jin's Tier Three Energy Crystals came from——
Little Black Dog 'Tier Four Mutated Beast King — Hellhound,' Leo 'Tier Four Infected Body — AIDS Mutant,' Yang Yuan 'Tier Four Infected Body — Fallen Mei Nu.'
"Or..."
"Farm more Tier Three Crystals."
"But judging by the 'garbage picking' pattern, you only get each reward once per type."
"That means feeding other stray cats or dogs won't get me another crystal."
"Or..."
"Suppress higher-tier Mutant Beasts or Infected Bodies—like bagging a Tier Five Mutated Beast King or something?"
"Tier Five Mutated Beast King—in plain terms, that's an animal way tougher than a stray cat or dog..."
Yu Jin's eyes suddenly lit up.
A bold idea struck him——
"Jiangcheng Wildlife Park, isn't it loaded with lions and tigers?"