In the late summer of September, even the evening air still carried a stifling heat.
And yet,
All across Jiangcheng University, there were still over a hundred figures roaming around, each holding a snakeskin bag and gripping a pair of tongs.
They bent over, heads lowered, eyes sharp as they scanned the area... searching for trash.
Whoosh—!
Outside the Buxue Building.
A freshman moved as swiftly as the wind, zeroed in on a plastic bottle at his feet and snapped his tongs down on it.
Clank—!
But unexpectedly,
Right as he was about to grab it, another pair of tongs suddenly reached out and pinched the plastic bottle.
"Hey, you!"
The freshman was annoyed.
"Heh! Such is the way of the assessment competitions."
The owner of the other tongs, another male freshman, sneered and shoved the plastic bottle into his own snakeskin bag.
Scenes like this were common, playing out all across campus.
Joining the Environmental Protection Club wasn't as simple as the freshmen had imagined.
After submitting their applications, the freshmen faced a unique assessment—picking up trash.
Though Jiangcheng University's campus was quite big, meeting the 'half a bag of trash' standard was still no small challenge.
After all, there were always cleaning ladies keeping the university tidy.
So despite some scattered trash here and there, it was still few and far between.
Which was exactly why—
The 'Battle of Trash' was played out in every corner of the university.
Of course, on the surface it was a fight for 'trash', but in reality, it was a fight for a 'spot in the club', a fight for 'innovation and entrepreneurship credits'.
For college students, especially freshmen, nothing was more tempting than 'credit points'.
"But still..."
"Why is the club president picking up trash, too?"
Quite a few freshmen shot glances toward the distance.
Over there—
Yu Jin, one hand holding a snakeskin bag, the other gripping a pair of tongs, picked up trash at lightning speed.
Watching this scene, freshmen who had felt tired or even secretly complained about the assessment suddenly felt a jolt of spirit.
"If even the president leads by example, how could I slack off?"
The freshmen stood at attention, picking up their pace.
Meanwhile, on the other side—
Yu Jin picked up a used AA battery and stuffed it into his snakeskin bag.
[You are mighty, purifying the 'Tier Four Contamination Core—Furious Nanfu Battery' with your mere mortal flesh. Wasteland Points +1000!]
[Your achievement 'Wasteland Evolver' has gained experience!]
[Your Ability 'Purifying Light' has gained experience!]
Seeing the text pop up in front of him, Yu Jin paused and let out a quiet breath.
"Finally managed to milk some more points."
Yu Jin couldn't help but sigh.
Because the system only counted each type of trash once, and yesterday he'd pretty much gathered up all sorts there were.
Which meant, after picking up trash all day today, this was the first time he'd triggered a reward.
After all, the types of garbage on campus were standard and limited.
"Looks like I've basically hit the ceiling for picking up trash in university..."
"If I want to keep milking points, I'll have to change my approach."
Just as Yu Jin was pondering his options—
Swoosh—
New lines of text appeared on his panel.
[Notice—]
[Current Wasteland Points: 10,200!]
[Wasteland Points have reached 10,000, meeting the requirements to unlock the Points Mall!]
[Do you wish to unlock now?]
Yu Jin glanced around his surroundings.
Several curious eyes fell on him, watching in interest.
As the club president, leading a hundred people in a trash-picking mission was bound to attract some attention.
"Not opening it now."
Yu Jin made a decision.
Under so many watchful eyes, better to play it safe.
Just in case it was like those webnovels, where the moment the mall was unlocked, a golden light erupts or strange phenomena start—well, that'd be seriously awkward.
"President, not continuing?"
At that moment, Yin Yao walked up to Yu Jin and asked softly.
She too was holding a pink snakeskin bag.
"Nah." Yu Jin shook his head, looking at the busy freshmen working nearby. "Let's leave some for them."
Yin Yao couldn't help but chuckle.
Though she'd approached Yu Jin at first hoping to "ride on his coattails", after some real interaction, she found Yu Jin was actually... pretty interesting.
"Thanks for helping out with the club recruitment."
Yu Jin hadn't forgotten to thank Yin Yao.
After all, gathering a hundred recruits for the club was all thanks to this upperclassman's efforts.
"I'm a member of the Environmental Protection Club too. Doing my part is only right."
Yin Yao downplayed her role with a light remark.
But Yu Jin knew things weren't as simple as that.
Jiangcheng University was still a top-five school in Daxia, after all.
Credit approvals might sound simple, but in reality, it was pretty convoluted and went through all sorts of bureaucratic hoops.
It was Yin Yao's uncle—the university president—who got all those approvals done in ten minutes flat. That couldn't have been easy.
"Oh right."
Yin Yao seemed to ask casually,
"Where's your Wasteland spawn point?"
"Can you share the coordinates? If it's close, I can meet you there."
Yu Jin was caught off guard.
"Spawn point? What coordinates?"
Yin Yao was stunned.
"You haven't logged into Wasteland?"
She'd always assumed Yu Jin was late to recruitment because he'd been playing Wasteland all day!
"Maybe he's just being cautious and doesn't want to tell me?"
Yin Yao quickly rethought.
But right after—
Yu Jin's answer left her dumbfounded.
"Oh, I never actually told you—the helmet you gave me, I lent it to my roommate..."
"Uh, I'm not really into games, but he really wanted to try it, so..."
Yu Jin paused, a little embarrassed:
"Should I give the helmet back to you?"
Old Cui had told him, that helmet's really valuable—tens of thousands, practically impossible to get.
With something so precious, having his upperclassman gift him the helmet only for him to lend it out—to be honest, it felt kind of awkward.
"No, it's fine."
Yin Yao took a deep breath and waved her hand firmly.
It was just a helmet—she didn't care.
What she really cared about was Yu Jin, and Yu Jin's experiences in Wasteland.
That might give her a clue as to why he could become so unbelievably strong in the future.
"Your roommate really likes Wasteland?"
Yin Yao suddenly asked.
"Yeah, he's a diehard gamer."
Yu Jin replied with a laugh.
"I see..."
Yin Yao nodded, lowering her eyes, and didn't say anything more.
...
...
The night grew deeper.
At precisely 9 p.m.,
Under the Buxue Building, a hundred freshmen stood at attention before Yu Jin, snakeskin bags in hand.
"President!"
The hundred freshmen shouted in unison.
"Congrats on passing the assessment and officially becoming members of the Environmental Protection Club!"
Yu Jin replied loudly.
As his words fell—
The freshmen broke out in surprised, delighted cheers.
Picking up trash was exhausting—some had gone from 7 p.m. till now without even time for dinner.
But—!
They were now official members of the Environmental Protection Club!
Which meant... Credits, in the bag!
At this thought,
The freshmen grew even more excited, feeling increasingly satisfied.
To the point that—
Outside the Buxue Building,
No one quite knew when it started, but the freshmen began chanting slogans in perfect unison.
"Environmental Protection Club—"
"Loy-al-ty—!"
"President—"
"Loy-al-ty—!"
Scenes like this—
Had Tang Yunxuan, the club's vice president, grinning from ear to ear.
Even Yin Yao laughed and joined in on the "Loyalty" chant with the freshmen.
As for Yu Jin,
His eyes widened with surprise as he stared at the lines of text appearing before him.
He never expected—
That this seemingly joking chant of "loyalty" would bring about an unexpected surprise for him...