Dawn City street.
Chen Gang stared at everything around him, his eyes wide open.
The street was full of people coming and going, most of them dressed in tattered clothes, faces smeared with grime, exhaustion showing in their eyes.
Not far away.
A few kids squatted in the corner, fighting over a greasy, pitch-black piece of meat.
Their actions and expressions were so vivid that Chen Gang, who had just logged into "Wasteland," was stunned for a long time, unable to recover.
The wind blowing against his face, the track marks in the rolling gravel on the ground, the real sensation of stepping on the earth...
Chen Gang lowered his head, glanced at his own hands—dirty, with soil stuck in his fingernails. It felt like he'd been living in this world for ages.
"This is way too real!"
"Is this really a damn game?"
Even though he'd heard Old Cui rave about it in the dorm beforehand, now that he was actually living it, the shock was simply indescribable.
At this moment, Chen Gang even felt a little blurry—was he playing a game, or had he actually traveled to another world?
"Exit?"
Feeling uneasy, Chen Gang remembered Old Cui's words and silently muttered in his heart.
[Do you want to exit "Wasteland"?]
[Prompt——]
[Exiting will lock your current coordinates as your next login location!]
Seeing these words suddenly pop up before him, Chen Gang finally sighed in relief.
"I can exit, so it's a game."
Chen Gang muttered, then continued observing his surroundings.
Compared to Yin Yao, although Chen Gang also started as a refugee, his spawn point wasn't out in the wild but directly on the streets of Dawn City.
This also meant——
Chen Gang hadn't figured out what was even happening.
"Damn, Old Cui was right, this game is insanely open—no quest system, not even a newbie tutorial."
"So what am I supposed to do next?"
Chen Gang stood there, lost in thought.
He overheard people around him discussing something about the 'new City Lord taking office'.
The giant pillar of Light shooting up from Dawn City's Inner City earlier—Chen Gang didn't see it. He'd only logged into the game a few seconds after it happened.
Tap, tap, tap——
As Chen Gang stood there, a bit clueless,
A sudden, sparse but powerful and orderly sound of footsteps came from ahead.
Chen Gang instinctively looked up.
A girl appeared in front of him, along with a buzz-cut young man standing at her side, just behind her.
This girl... looked familiar somehow.
Chen Gang blanked out for a moment.
And the next second,
The girl straight up called his name.
"Chen Gang?"
Chen Gang: "?"
Could she be a game NPC, here to help trigger quests or something?
As soon as Chen Gang had this thought, it disappeared, because the girl's next words were——
"I'm Yin Yao."
Hiss——
Chen Gang sucked in a breath.
He got it!
No wonder her face seemed familiar—he felt like he'd seen her before somewhere!
Last night he'd dragged Old Cui and Yu Fei to stare at campus forum posts about Yu Jin and Yin Yao for ages—there were tons of Yin Yao's photos there.
"Y-Y-Senior Sister Yin!"
Chen Gang wasn't sure how she knew his name, but...
Meeting a familiar person in "Wasteland"—it didn't feel as warm as an old friend in a strange land, it was actually kinda awkward.
Especially since...
He was playing this game with the helmet Yin Yao had given to Yu Jin—basically, he got a freebie through her.
"Did you just log in to 'Wasteland' and spawn here in Dawn City?"
Yin Yao chuckled, asking.
"Y-Yeah, that's right!"
Chen Gang nodded frantically.
"You're alone?"
Yin Yao kept smiling, tone gentle.
"I..."
"Old Cui and Yu Fei too—we logged in together. But as soon as I opened my eyes I was here, didn't see either of them."
Chen Gang answered truthfully.
Yin Yao raised her Liu Mei slightly.
"What about Yu Jin?"
The reason she started talking to Chen Gang was, of course, to probe for news about Yu Jin.
Especially——
After witnessing the New City Lord flex, she urgently wanted to confirm if Yu Jin was really the one-in-a-million lucky bastard who got the 'New City Lord' identity from the start.
But the next second,
Chen Gang's answer left Senior Sister Yin stunned, frozen on the spot.
"Old Yu?"
"Old Yu didn't play this game."
"He came home for dinner then headed out again, dunno what he's busy with—probably still not back yet—"
In the middle of talking, Chen Gang suddenly stopped.
He, Old Cui, and Yu Fei all thought Yu Jin had gone out late at night to meet Yin Yao for a date.
But now?
Yin Yao was right in front of him, meaning she hadn't gone on a date, but was gaming with the helmet.
So Old Yu...
Could he have gone to meet a side chick?
And everything he'd just said...
Had he just ratted out his bro?
Chen Gang realized the seriousness of the situation—especially seeing the look of utter shock on Yin Yao's face across from him—he wished he could slap himself silly for being such a blabbermouth!
"He didn't log in to 'Wasteland'?"
Yin Yao snapped out of her daze, double checking.
"He... probably not?"
Chen Gang answered cautiously.
"Did he bring the game helmet when he went out?"
Yin Yao stared straight at Chen Gang.
Her stare made Chen Gang shudder a bit. He hesitated, but answered honestly, "He didn't."
As soon as he said that,
Yin Yao was thoroughly baffled.
She turned to look toward the Inner City of Dawn City.
Yu Jin hadn't logged in, so there's no way he was the New City Lord.
So...
How does Yu Jin become the Dawn City Lord in the future?
Yin Yao's thoughts were messy, all sorts of ideas tangled together.
She even began to doubt——
Could all the stuff that was supposed to happen in the future have been completely thrown off track because she got reborn, causing a butterfly effect?
And right among them,
Was the supposedly invincible Yu Jin, who still hadn't logged into "Wasteland"?
"No way."
"I have to remind Yu Jin to start the beta as soon as possible and set up his account."
"It's the only way he can become the invincible powerhouse from my memory in 'Wasteland.'"
"And I..."
"...can have a chance to cling to his thigh and survive in this crisis-ridden wasteland."
Yin Yao returned to her senses, her face firm.
There's only five days left until "Wasteland" invades reality, when countless people globally will be randomly transported to the Wasteland World.
Yin Yao was even considering——
Should she tell Yu Jin ahead of time about the true nature of the "Wasteland" game?
...
...
2025, September 4.
Weather: clear.
7+7 Chain Hotel.
On the Simmons bed, Yu Jin woke up early.
[You used Tier Two Energy Crystal*1, Tier Three Energy Crystal*2. You are one step closer to Tier Four!]
The system prompt arrived as expected.
Not being able to level straight to Tier Four was disappointing for Yu Jin, but honestly, he expected it.
"If I can snag one more Tier Four Energy Crystal, I should be just about there."
Yu Jin thought to himself.
"Where can I get a Tier Four Energy Crystal?"
From his past experiences milking the system, Yu Jin had figured out the basic pattern:
Suppress/scare off/contain a Tier N Mutant Beast or Infected Body, and the system will most likely reward a Tier n-1 Energy Crystal.
Except for the stray cat he first fed,
Yu Jin's three Tier Three Energy Crystals all came from——
Little Black Dog "Tier Four Mutated Beast King—Hellhound", Leo "Tier Four Infected Body—AIDS Nig", Yang Yuan "Tier Four Infected Body—Fallen Mei Nu."
"Or..."
"I could grab more Tier Three Crystals, but based on the scavenging rules, you only trigger the same type of reward once."
"Which means feeding more stray cats and dogs won't get me another Crystal."
"Or..."
"Suppress a higher-tier Mutant Beast or Infected Body—like a Tier Five Mutant Beast King or something?"
"A Tier Five Mutant Beast King—basically, scarier animals than stray cats or dogs..."
Yu Jin's eyes suddenly lit up.
He had an extremely bold idea——
"Jiangcheng Wildlife Park. Don't they have lions and tigers?"