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

Chapter 75 Base
September 8, 2025, 9 PM.

29 hours until crossing the wasteland.

At the entrance of Lao Yu's Noodle Shop in Zhouzhou.

Yu Jin said goodbye to his family.

"Little Jin..."

"Whatever you do, please be careful, absolutely!"

Old Yu kept repeating it.

"Xiao Jin, Mom is here waiting for you to come back!"

Cao Fang cried her heart out.

"Brother, I will work hard to level up and become stronger in the wasteland!"

"If you also travel through time, I will protect you!"

Yu Chen waved his fist, his youthful face full of seriousness and determination.

"Let's go."

A figure dressed as a soldier, carrying embers, left the noodle shop.

Simultaneously.

Another group of soldiers, however, did not choose to leave but stayed.

"We will be responsible for your safety during the next period of time."

Clearly, this was also Yin Shanhai's arrangement.

……

……

8pm.

Jiangcheng, Airport.

Embers boarded the helicopter.

The enormous sound of the propellers was so loud it hurt people's eardrums.

"We're heading to the Northwest base!"

"The whole trip will take about four to five hours!"

Across from the embers, a man with a badge on his shoulder and bronze skin shouted.

"it is good!"

Ember responded loudly.

At the same time, he put on earmuffs at the other party's suggestion.

A few minutes later.

The fully loaded armed helicopter slowly took off.

With the roar of the propellers, the helicopter roared away from Jiangcheng and headed northwest.

On the helicopter, Ember looked out the window.

At this moment, every household in Jiangcheng is brightly lit.

Even now, news about 'traveling through the wasteland' and 'Oumuamua' remains strictly blocked.

but……

Before boarding the plane, Yu Jin had already learned some information from Yin Yao.

Starting tomorrow, after midnight tonight, the Great Xia will enter a state of martial law and control.

All transportation will be gradually suspended starting at midnight tomorrow, before the crossing occurs.

Simultaneously.

All industrial facilities, including those with power sources, began to activate backup power to avoid being paralyzed by Oumuamua.

Also.

Forces from various regions were mobilized to maintain social order and stability.

And tomorrow night's 7 pm news broadcast.

The Great Xia will inform everyone in the entire territory of the upcoming journey through the wasteland.

In the final five hours, they disseminated intelligence and survival knowledge about the wasteland world to 1.4 billion people.

Yin Yao made no mention of the 'Oumuamua' crisis.

Ember's Speculation—

Yin Yao is probably still in the dark about Yin Shanhai's scheme.

At yesterday's dinner, although Yin Shanhai didn't mention "rebirth" at all, Yu Jin was already quite certain that the information brought by the rebirth was likely from Yin Yao herself.

the reason is simple--

The Wasteland game was released on September 2nd, as was the helmet.

Yin Yao took the initiative to join the club on September 2nd.

These two events occurred very close to each other, almost simultaneously.

If the reborn person were an ordinary person, even if he reported the information, Yin Shanhai would probably need to spend time investigating and verifying it.

Only after investigation and verification will Yin Yao, as his granddaughter, know the truth and, based on the 'rebirth information,' take the initiative to approach him.

There must be a time difference in between.

but……

If it were Yin Yao herself who were reborn, her identity and background would be able to erase most of the time difference.

At the same time, she doesn't need to wait for the investigation results; she can come to him directly.

As for Yin Yao seeking his help to "cling to his coattails"?
Yu Jin thought it was reasonable, just human nature.

Judge things by their actions, not their intentions; if we judge by intentions, no one in the world is perfect.

But Yu Jin didn't know why Yin Shanhai was hiding information about 'Oumuamua' from Yin Yao. "Perhaps it was for personal reasons?"

"I don't want Yin Yao to worry about her family, so I can travel to the wasteland with peace of mind?"

"It's highly likely that Grandpa Yin didn't choose to wear the helmet; he's gambling on the remaining probability of not traveling through time..."

Yu Jin wondered to himself.

After a moment, Yu Jin shook his head, temporarily putting aside these chaotic thoughts.

He looked down and opened a document.

This is the document Yin Shanhai handed me at last night's dinner party, which includes intelligence information about the wasteland world that Guo Jia's forces have collected so far.

The document is quite thick and contains a lot of information.

I hadn't had a chance to look at the Ember closely before, but now, on the way to the nuclear waste base, I can finally digest it properly.

……

The wasteland world is not a virtual world; its essence is a celestial body similar to Earth.

[Temporarily named 'Wasteland Planet'.]

……

[Based on the coordinate information brought back by 100,000 people, we can infer—]

[A3 might be a planet number, and 01-99 might be region numbers.]

[It is currently known that each region varies in size, but each region contains at least hundreds of refuge cities.]

……

The wasteland world is inhabited by a large number of 'native inhabitants'.

[Preliminary speculation suggests they are 'veterans' who have previously traveled to other planets.]

These veteran players control almost all the refuge cities in the wasteland.

……

During the closed beta, these veteran players seemed to have a 'preconceived notion' about our Blue Star users.

[Analysis suggests this might be a 'new player protection mechanism' introduced during the closed beta test.]

【Right now--】

During the closed beta, Earth players had a very low profile compared to the native inhabitants; they were even unaware of the anomaly that appeared out of nowhere when new players logged into Wasteland.

【at the same time--】

During the closed beta, the native inhabitants showed very little hostility towards players from Earth. Unless actively provoked, new players were almost never attacked by natives.

【but……】

[The above 'newbie protection mechanism' will immediately expire after the mass crossing occurs.]

……

The wasteland world has a self-sufficient survival system.

The food source for ordinary refugees is mostly low-level mutated beasts in the wild, but the meat of these beasts is contaminated, and long-term consumption can turn them into infected individuals.

The water source for ordinary refugees comes from the refuge city, which seems to have a special mechanism that continuously produces drinking water for the refugees.

Water sources are also found outside the refuge city, but they are mostly occupied by mutated beasts/infected creatures, with very few remaining unclaimed.

……

The most important resource in the wasteland world is crystallization.

[The pollutant crystals are the most widely distributed, but their origin and why they have not been depleted despite continuous mining are currently unknown.]

Both infection crystals and energy crystals originate from mutated beasts or infected entities.

[The mutated beasts may have originated from plants and animals that mutated after being transported to the wasteland.]

The infected organism originated from a human mutation.

……

Yu Jin turned the pages of the document one by one.

Before this.

Unable to log in to Wasteland, his information about the wasteland world came from online forums and descriptions by Lao Cui and others.

The information exists, but it is scattered.

In contrast.

What Yin Shanhai gave himself was data that had been properly organized and meticulously analyzed.

Its value is no less than that of the map brought back by 100,000 people.

and this.

This further strengthened Yu Jin's resolve to purify 'Oumuamua'.

"anyway……"

"We absolutely have to give it a good thrashing before we even get through!"

"Even if we can't completely purify it, we must reduce its polluting properties as much as possible!"

"Only in this way can Earth possibly survive until the day I return from the wasteland..."

Yu Jin murmured to himself as he looked out the porthole.

While he was looking at the documents, more than four hours had passed without him realizing it.

now.

The helicopter is slowly descending.

What came into view of the embers was the desolate Gobi Desert under the cover of night.

According to information revealed by Yin Yao, a full 100,000 tons of nuclear waste are buried deep beneath this Gobi Desert...

(End of this chapter)