I've already reached the maximum level, and you guys are just starting out?

Chapter 56 Pollution
"Depend on!"

"This test is too difficult!"

"Apart from those five third-tier evolvers, not a single one of the others passed!"

At the gates of Dawn City.

Chen Gang followed behind Yin Yao and Ye Fan, rubbing his still swollen face while cursing.

The guard team's assessment is over.

Neither he nor Yin Yao passed.

It not only failed to pass.

Chen Gang was instantly killed in a single encounter with the mechanical beetle...

The beetle slapped him across the face with its claw, and Chen Gang was sent flying five meters away before he even had a chance to use his electric power.

Yin Yao performed slightly better, managing to hold on for more than ten minutes, but ultimately lost.

That's why.

The group left the city again, ready to continue their 'leveling up' journey.

The assessment is not a one-time event, but is conducted daily, which means that the two still have a chance.

"Senior Sister Yin".

Chen Gang rubbed his face, looked at Yin Yao in front of him, and called out.

"Ok?"

Yin Yao stopped and turned around to look at him indifferently.

"During our assessment, what level of evolved being was that woman in the sky who released the mechanical beetles?"

Chen Gang was somewhat curious.

In his opinion, the woman in the black leather jacket was simply too strong!

Not only can it stand in mid-air, but it can also summon thousands of mechanical beetles with just a wave of its hand.

Each beetle is equivalent to the combat power of a third-tier mutated beast!

Rounding up, doesn't that mean she alone can fight against thousands of second- or even third-tier evolvers?
"Fifth rank".

Yin Yao answered.

"Only fifth rank?"

"Holy crap, is fifth rank this powerful?"

"What the hell..."

"I thought it was a seventh or eighth tier!"

Chen Gang opened his eyes wide, his face filled with disbelief.

Yin Yao remained silent upon hearing this, shook her head, and quickened her pace.

Logically speaking.

In the wasteland world, lower-level evolvers cannot see the rank information of higher-level evolvers.

Yin Yao was able to distinguish them simply because she had seen Yu Jin from afar, as well as his vast horde of high-level evolved beings, and had sensed the aura of the corresponding level.

Fifth tier, sixth tier, seventh tier, eighth tier...

And the ninth rank of the embers.

Compared to Chen Gang, Yin Yao was not surprised by Angelina Neal's strength.

A fifth-tier evolver, still purely 'mechanical' in nature, would be unworthy of the title if they couldn't even handle a thousand second-tier evolvers.

Evolver rank, one rank equals one heavenly chasm!

The gap between each level is so large that it is insurmountable!

At least.

In her previous life, Yin Yao had never heard of any example of someone winning against someone of a higher level.

Even Ember doesn't seem to have been able to do that.

From the day the name 'Ember' began circulating in the wasteland, he seemed to have already been a ninth-tier evolver...

……

……

Dawn City, southwest.

After several hours of fierce fighting, Yin Yao and her group finally succeeded in killing a third-tier mutated beast—the Sand Scorpion.

"This piece is yours, the next one is mine."

Although Chen Gang was also very tempted by the crystal inside the third-tier mutated beast, they had already made an agreement before forming a group—the two of them would split the spoils equally, with Yin Yao getting first and then himself.

"it is good."

Yin Yao secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Chen Gang kept his promise.

Although she didn't like Chen Gang's loud and boisterous personality, he was still Yu Jin's roommate. For the sake of future "helping the dragon," she couldn't afford to fall out with him, let alone build a good relationship.

Two minutes later.

Yin Yao dug out a crystal-clear, irregular piece of crystal from the sand scorpion's body.

"Energy Crystal!"

Even Yin Yao was slightly surprised and opened her mouth slightly.

She never expected to be so lucky; the first Tier 3 mutated beast she hunted dropped an energy crystal!

Energy crystals are far more valuable than infection crystals!

"Uh?"

"Energy crystals?"

"What is that thing?"

Chen Gang was taken aback when he heard this. Unlike Lao Cui, who would spend his time offline eating and searching for strategies on game forums, he didn't know much about Wasteland.

I learned about 'infected crystals' from other refugees in Dawn City.

"Energy crystals are more precious and purer than infection crystals."

"..."

Ye Fan took the initiative to speak up and explain for Chen Gang.

After listening, Chen Gang nodded as if he understood, then couldn't help but ask:

“I understand ‘more precious’ to mean more energy.”

What does "purer" mean?

"These crystals look clean and clear, quite different from the grayish-black infected crystals we got before..."

"The meaning of 'purity' cannot be limited to the surface, can it?"

Although Chan Kong was loud and boastful, he wasn't stupid and realized the crux of the problem.

"Purity means a lower degree of contamination and erosion, which means that the degree of contamination will increase less after use," Yin Yao explained as she wiped the energy crystal dry and put it away.

"Pollution level?"

Chen Gang discovered that he was encountering terms he didn't understand again.

Not only Chen Gang, but also Ye Fan and the other three looked curious.

This word...

Miss seems to have mentioned it once before.

“Using crystals will contaminate yourself.”

"The deeper the pollution, the higher the pollution level."

"And when the pollution level reaches a certain point—"

Yin Yao paused slightly, her tone meaningful: "Where do you think those countless infected creatures in the wasteland came from?"

hiss--

For an instant.

Chen Gang's eyes widened.

Ye Fan and the other three were also astonished.

Infected?
Of course they know about the infected!
Just moments before, they had unexpectedly encountered a second-tier infected.

At first, Chen Gang mistook the infected creature for a 'wasteland refugee' because it looked exactly like a human, except that its skin was darker, with a grayish-black hue.

result……

Chen Gang was slapped ten meters away by the infected creature, and one of his teeth was knocked out.

After Chen Gang was slapped away, Yin Yao and the others did not choose to hunt down the infected creature, but instead took the stunned Chen Gang and hurriedly ran away.

Only after that did I arrive here and encounter the third-tier mutated sand scorpion.

They can still take down a third-tier mutated beast if they try hard enough.

The second-order infected, however, would avoid the area upon meeting.

The difference is obvious.

"and many more!"

Chen Gang was suddenly startled.

"You mean—"

"If I keep using Infect Crystals to upgrade, my contamination level will keep increasing..."

"Until one day, the contamination level skyrocketed, and bam, I became an infected?!"

Yin Yao spoke calmly.

"I must correct you—"

"Even if you keep using energy crystals, the level of pollution will increase."

"There are no 100% pure energy crystals on the wasteland. Everything here is constantly being polluted and eroded."

"In fact, even ordinary people who haven't awakened will, if they wander in the wasteland instead of staying within the buffer zone of the refuge city, will see their contamination level increase over time, even if they aren't attacked by mutated beasts or infected, until they eventually become infected themselves..."

The words fell.

Chen Gang fell silent.

Ye Fan and the other three were speechless for a long time.

They finally realized why high-level evolved beings were so rare in the wasteland.

The path to the extraordinary is also the path to corruption...

boom--

Rumbling--

Just now.

The ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled.

It came at the same time.

There was also a rustling, eerie sound that sent chills down your spine.

"not good!"

Yin Yao's expression changed drastically in an instant.

"It's the movement of a sand scorpion swarm!"

"There's a nest of mutated sand scorpions nearby!"

The voice just fell.

The yellow sand beneath their feet began to collapse in one place after another.

hiss--

One after another, sand scorpions emerged from the ground, staring intently at Yin Yao and the others.

headed.

It was a giant sand scorpion, over five meters long, covered in ferocious spikes.

"Oh!"

"Looks like I'm about to die and restart?"

only……

boom!
Rumble——!
When Chen Gang had already chosen to accept his fate and close his eyes to wait for death.

Behind them, from the direction of Dawn Refuge City, came a deafening roar that nearly shattered their eardrums!
at the same time.

Chen Gang suddenly realized that it was dark!

"?"

Chen Gang subconsciously looked up.

What came into view was not the sky, but...

A deep black hole, covering the sky and blotting out the sun, with a diameter of more than ten kilometers centered on the distant city of Dawn!

"space?"

"It's spatial attribute!?"

"Just who is this new city lord?!"

Unlike Chen Gang's bewilderment.

Yin Yao stood there, frozen in place.

In her past life's memories, the only one in the entire wasteland who knew how to create a 'spatial black hole' was Ember...

(End of this chapter)