Wasteland's Only King-Chapter 53: Discovery

Old Yu’s Noodle House.

Second floor room.

The crisp sound of ’crack,’ one after another.

On Yu Jin’s panel, lines of text popped up—

[You used a Tier Three Energy Crystal!]

[You used a Tier Four Energy Crystal!]

[You used a Tier Five Energy Crystal!]

[You used a Tier Six Energy Crystal!]

...

Yu Jin didn’t hold back—he devoured all the Crystals he’d snagged from the hospital today in one go.

"Hope I can promote to Tier Seven..."

Yu Jin murmured, his consciousness becoming hazy.

The vision before his eyes quickly plunged into darkness.

...

...

Time slipped by.

The blazing sun that had hung overhead was slowly sinking toward the horizon.

Ring ring—!

Just like the first time he crystal-binged, Yu Jin was woken by the sound of his phone.

"Mm..."

Yu Jin opened his eyes, his mind clearing from the fog.

He didn’t rush to answer; instead, he glanced at his panel.

[You’re another step closer to becoming a Tier Seven Evolver!]

"Too bad."

Yu Jin sighed softly.

Although he didn’t promote straight to Tier Seven, Yu Jin could feel he was just a step away.

"Tier Six Late Stage Peak Limitless Perfection?"

Yu Jin thought of the phrasing from cultivation novels.

"Tonight after I get back to Jiang City, I’ll hit up Jiangcheng Hospital again—should still be able to squeeze a few more Crystals."

Yu Jin mentally outlined his plan.

Jiang City wasn’t like Gunzhou. Its hospital size was top-notch even in all of Daxia’s south-central region.

That meant it took in a wider variety of terminal patients—giving Yu Jin more opportunities to farm the loot.

Ring ring—!

The phone kept vibrating; Yu Jin reached out and picked it up.

Seeing the caller ID, Yu Jin instinctively raised his brows.

"Old Cui?"

As college dorm buddies, they were familiar, but unless there was an emergency, phone-spamming was rare—Yu Jin’s phone counted nearly a dozen missed calls from Old Cui.

Beep—

The call connected.

"Old Yu!"

Old Cui’s voice was urgent and tense.

"Are you busy right now?"

"If not, hurry back! Yu Fei said he made a major discovery in the Wasteland game!"

"Both Brother Gang and I grilled him, but he wouldn’t spill—he only wants to tell you when you’re back!"

...

...

Crash—

Yu Jin pulled down Old Yu’s Noodle House’s shutter.

He stood at the door, called a Didi that would drive him straight from Gunzhou to Jiang City.

The fare wasn’t cheap—over three hundred—but Yu Jin had cash and wasn’t going to scrimp on himself now.

Not long after.

Yu Jin settled in the backseat of the Didi.

The driver was speedy, wind howled through the car window.

Yu Jin let the wind blow, remembering Old Cui’s call.

"Has to wait till I get back, huh?"

Yu Jin was curious.

Because Yu Fei wasn’t the blabbermouth type like Brother Gang—he was calm, sharp, quick-thinking.

If he said that, then it likely meant his discovery in Wasteland was somehow tied to Yu Jin.

"I’ll know when I get back."

Yu Jin mulled it over for a while, dropped the thought, and unlocked his phone.

[Sent you the event plan, president.]

This was a message Yan Yao had sent him earlier in the afternoon.

Right below, a file: ’Jiang City Full-City Environmental Action Plan.pdf’.

Yu Jin opened it, noticing the document wasn’t stamped yet.

"The citywide environmental action has two parts?"

"First, mobilize city residents to get out and pick up trash, clear pollution around residential areas?"

"Second, led by Yu Jin and Yin Yao, head to Jiangcheng Economic Development Zone to tackle the chemical plant pollution?"

"..."

Yu Jin read through the plan thoroughly.

He found—

The plan didn’t spell out exactly how to ’tackle the chemical plant’.

Gotta know:

Chemical plant pollution was the ’chief’ of city pollution—fixing it was way tougher than picking up litter or purifying sewage rivers.

Besides...

The chemical plant owners weren’t likely to cooperate with any environmental action.

To Yu Jin, this was about environmentalism—farming points, milking rewards.

To the plant owners, though, it was straight-up slicing their profits.

Still...

Considering Yin Yao’s background, Yu Jin figured these problems weren’t really problems.

"Eat soft rice? Shameful, but honestly—I just keep scarfing it down..."

Yu Jin shook his head, gazed outside.

On Gunzhou’s busy streets, plenty of girls waving ’New Era Youth Corps’ banners were marching in teams.

Their voices rang out together:

"New Era, Youth Corps!"

"We all love Ma Qiqi!"

Yu Jin shook his head and looked away.

...

...

Jiangcheng University.

Boys’ dorm, Room 615.

When Yu Jin pushed open the door, Old Cui, Brother Gang, and Yu Fei were all sitting upright and serious.

Each had their own Wasteland game helmet positioned in front of them.

But their gazes at those helmets carried some kind of vague, complicated emotion—mixed relief, and something like regret.

"Old Yu!"

As soon as Yu Jin walked in, Yu Fei—head down and lost in thought—stood right up.

"Man, Old Yu, finally! You’re back!"

Brother Gang shouted, yanking Yu Jin to sit beside him.

"Old Yu."

"Brother Gang and I kept pressing Yu Fei for details, and he finally gave up a bit of his discovery just before you got here..."

Old Cui glanced at Yu Jin, speaking quietly—his expression was a bit complicated.

"What did he find?"

Yu Jin narrowed his eyes.

The mood among the three was definitely strange.

"Hoo—!"

Old Cui took a deep breath.

He looked at Yu Fei, then Brother Gang; both nodded.

Only then did Old Cui speak:

"Last time, didn’t Yu Fei say he awakened the ’Knowledge’ attribute in Wasteland?"

"These past couple days, he’s started accepting that and exploring the powers and uses of ’Knowledge’..."

"As a result, Yu Fei realized he acquired fragments of memory from that crazy old guy claiming to be from Alpha Star..."

"The memories are incomplete, just scattered bits—but once Yu Fei sorted them out, he stumbled onto a suffocating piece of intel!"

Yu Jin squinted even harder: "What intel?"

"The helmet!"

Old Cui raised his voice, pointing at the helmet in front of them.

"Yu Fei discovered—"

"If that crazy old man’s words are true—if Wasteland is alien tech and sooner or later we’ll end up in that post-apocalyptic world..."

"The helmet is the portal!"

"Anyone who’s touched and worn the helmet will, in the future, definitely be transported into the Wasteland World!"

"Others, if they don’t touch the helmet, have a chance to be forcibly sent over!"

Old Cui fell silent for a moment, then added:

"Of course, all this is only true if Wasteland really is an alien product, and the old man from Alpha Star’s so-called ’wasteland arrival’ is real..."

By the end,

Old Cui’s voice grew noticeably weaker.

Over time, and after his own experiences in the Wasteland game,

deep down Old Cui was actually starting to believe that old man from Alpha Star...

He’d realized that Wasteland wasn’t just a simple game.

Arriving in the Wasteland World—maybe it really will happen someday!