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

Chapter 95 Oh my god, I really didn't mean to betray my friend for personal gain... (13, please vote for me~)

Area A308, central region.

Ember stood atop the mutated giant tortoise, gazing at the majestic, sprawling mountain range in the distance.

The blood-red sun is slowly sinking below the horizon.

The dark red sunset cast a hazy silhouette of the mountains.

"I originally thought this planet was just endless wastelands, but I never expected there to be such huge mountain ranges..."

"This scale and altitude are almost comparable to the Himalayas, aren't they?"

Yu Jin looked at the snow-white mountaintop with some surprise.

The map of area A308 that he obtained from the system showed signs of refuge cities and mutated beast lairs, but no terrain features were marked.

It was only when Yu Jin arrived here that he saw this majestic mountain range that bisected the A308 area in two.

Throughout the day, from early morning to evening, Ember, guided by 'Xiao Ming', slayed one high-level mutated beast and infected after another.

Thanks to the system's 'Void plus three levels' bug.

Although all the enemies killed were of the sixth and seventh tiers, the system classified them as ninth and tenth tiers.

As a result, Ember gained 13 ninth-tier energy crystals, 2 tenth-tier energy crystals, and 120 million wasteland points.

It may seem like a lot, but in reality, there's quite a difference.

To know.

This represents the entire harvest from half of the A308 area.

"Really gone?"

"Don't let me find out you're protecting your old animal friends."

Yu Jin looked down at the giant tortoise at his feet.

"Woo..."

Xiao Ming shook his head and whimpered.

It was not proficient in human language, so it conveyed more specific information to the embers through thought.

"Is the A308 area itself very remote and its overall strength weak?"

"Before you fell to the eighth rank, were you the only eighth-rank mutated beast in this half of the area?"

"The strongest person in this half of the area besides you, those two seventh-tier infected, have already been killed by me?"

"You haven't been to the other side of the mountains, so you don't know what the situation is like?"

"..."

"Pity."

Yu Jin shook his head and sighed. He had thought he would encounter a 'ninth-tier infected' today and be able to get a twelfth-tier crystal.

Now it seems that it might not be so easy.

The wasteland is still too vast.

Ember speculated that this planet might be dozens or even hundreds of times larger than Earth.

After all, this is only one area of ​​A308.

According to the map Yin Shanhai gave him, there are at least nearly a hundred regions on this planet.

"The road to conquering the wasteland is long and arduous!"

Yu Jin exhaled a breath of stale air.

He is now a ninth-order evolver, and with the ninth and tenth-order crystals he has acquired today, he is not far from breaking through to the tenth order.

but……

Even the immense power of a ninth or tenth-tier individual is still somewhat insignificant in the face of this vast and desolate wasteland planet.

"Back in White Rock City, Brother Tongzi said I conquered the 'Interstellar Refuge Fortress.' Does that mean that in the higher-level 'Star Wasteland' server, the refuge city will be upgraded to an interstellar fortress?"

"Furthermore, players are no longer on a single planet, but in a much larger and more boundless galaxy?"

The embers couldn't help but evoke associations.

Before directly experiencing the vastness of the wasteland, the idea of ​​a 'lone wolf' was still faintly emerging in Ember's mind.

But now?
Yu Jin saw reality clearly.

No matter how great an individual's strength is, it ultimately depends on the collective.

If I don't develop Dawn City, even if I advance to the Star System Wasteland at the tenth or twelfth level in the future, I will still have to face the siege of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of other players' subjects all by myself.

Although……

Yu Jin felt that as long as he continued to 'upgrade ahead of time', he wouldn't have any problem dealing with the siege.

but……

Besides personal power, the overwhelming force of subordinates can also be a source of enjoyment.

"We must grasp both aspects firmly!"

Yu Jin reaffirmed his plans for the future.

"Woo..."

At his feet, Xiaoming whimpered.

Through its thoughts, it asked Ember whether it wanted to cross the mountain range.

Xiao Ming wasn't curious about what was on the other side of the mountain; he was just worried...

Not satisfied with killing this terrifying ninth-tier demon, I'll send the turtle away with a laser beam later.

The day's experience showed Turtle what a 'terrifying upright ape' really is.

It swore—

On this planet, there is perhaps no being more terrifying or more 'bloodthirsty' than this guy!
Anyone above the sixth or seventh rank...

Regardless of race or gender, everyone will be hit by a laser or lightning bolt that is a kilometer thick!

"Haha."

Xiao Ming's soft plea for mercy made Yu Jin chuckle.

His smile made Xiaoming even more frightened.

"Come over and have a look!"

"Let's see what's on the other side of the mountain; hopefully it will bring me a little surprise."

Yu Jin stopped abruptly as soon as he finished speaking.

"Ok?"

He let out a light sigh.

Just now, Neil called out to himself from afar.

Ever since she revived Neil with the power of the system, she and Ember have established a special sensory connection.

This connection was still vague before the embers traveled through time, which meant that Neil could only make the most basic request.

After the Embers descended upon the wasteland, this connection allowed the two to 'communicate' remotely.

"The crystals disappeared?"

"Can't find the cause?"

Upon hearing Neil's report, Ember frowned.

He entrusted the task of collecting and distributing the crystals to Brother Hong and members of the environmental protection society.

This arrangement naturally included Yu Jin's personal considerations.

He wanted to cultivate these 'acquaintances' so that they could participate in the management of Dawn City, and even become middle-level or high-level personnel in Dawn City in the future.

But now?
I'd only been gone a day and this already happened...

"I hope it's not an internal problem."

"The traitor plot is old-fashioned and tacky; it's best if it never appears in Dawn City."

Yu Jin murmured, activating the spatial imprint.

He and Xiaoming traveled eastward for a whole day, perhaps tens of thousands of miles away from Dawn City.

"Xiaoming, go over this mountain and explore the way over there."

"Make more friends with mutant beasts or infected creatures."

"I will come to see you again later."

The embers also left a 'coordinate mark' on Xiaoming's turtle.

Upon arriving in the wasteland and with the suppression lifted, Ember's abilities were enhanced in all aspects.

among them.

The initial limit of 6 coordinate points for coordinate imprinting has been significantly increased to 999.

Simultaneously.

Embers can also imprint coordinate marks on moving objects or living beings.

The only thing that made Ember somewhat dissatisfied was that the coordinate mark could only be used for his own travel, and could not be used for others to travel together.

"To realize the vision of a space teleportation array, we probably need to upgrade the level of this ability."

"Level 1 is still too weak..."

The echoes of Yu Jin's words still reverberated.

However, his figure had already disappeared in a spatial fluctuation.

"Woo——"

Standing before the mountains, Xiaoming let out a soft sob.

His sobs carried a hint of relief and liberation.

But not long after, it began to move its massive body toward the distant mountains.

"Make more...friends..."

Xiao Ming kept repeating the task Yu Jin had given him.

This once dominant eighth-tier mutated turtle is destined to go further and further down the path of 'betraying friends for personal gain'.

……

...Dawn City.

City Lord's Mansion.

Yu Jin sat high on the throne of the city lord, while Yin Yao, Chen Gang, and others stood on either side of the council hall.

Behind Ember, Nyarlathotep diligently performed her massage.

In the center of the hall, Wang Yunpeng and more than forty other members of the environmental protection society stood in two rows.

"My Lord..."

Neil walked over to Ember and explained the whole story.

"This footage was recorded by a mechanical flying insect."

Neil reached out and gently touched his chest.

Swah——

A clear image was projected onto Neil's chest.

The footage shows the entire process of Wang Yunpeng and others distributing crystals over the past day.

To make it easier for Ember to view, Neil controlled the screen speed.

Finally, at a certain moment, the image slowed down frame by frame.

"right here."

"Forty-two crystals vanished into thin air without any warning."

“Neil guessed that it might be the result of some kind of 'space' related attribute ability…”

The voice just fell.

Wang Yunpeng and the others in the middle of the hall quickly tried to prove their innocence.

"She, City Lord!"

"None of us forty people have used any crystals so far, and none of us have awakened any attributes at all!"

Yu Jin frowned slightly and looked at the group.

Ability, Loyalty lv2, activate.

Before the embers, clear numbers appeared.

Wang Yunpeng

【Loyalty: 85】

……

Zhao Zixuan

【Loyalty: 80】

……

【Visiting Qingyue】

【Loyalty: 91】

"91?"

Ember's gaze lingered on the girl in the second row for a while longer.

A loyalty score of over 90 can truly be described as 'completely devoted'.

"This junior looks familiar."

Yu Jin remembered that this was the first JK white stockings he had "healed" during the team building trip.

Without giving it much thought, Yu Jin shifted his gaze and swept it over the others one by one.

As a result, everyone's loyalty score was above 75.

Just to be on the safe side, Ember used his 'Eye of Insight' to look at everything again.

"It's not their problem."

Yu Jin shook his head and spoke softly.

A simple sentence, yet at this moment, feels like a judgment of fate.

Wang Yunpeng and the others breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.

The junior girl in white JK stockings, You Qingyue, even had a hint of tears in her eyes.

God knows...

How scared they were just now!
Although Ember never appeared particularly ruthless, everyone unconsciously recalled the scene yesterday when he raised his hand and wiped out the 300,000 beast tide of Dawn City.

In this wasteland world, the strong prey on the weak, and a strict hierarchy prevails!

even if...

The embers were kind to them from beginning to end.

But they themselves dared not overstep their bounds in the slightest.

"It's all gone."

"You should also go back and absorb the crystals. It's been hard work of you working on crystals for a whole day and night. It was my oversight that you didn't consider this."

As Yu Jin spoke, he raised his hand.

More than eighty clear and bright crystals fell in front of Wang Yunpeng and the others.

"It's not hard work!"

"loyalty!!"

Wang Yunpeng's face turned red, and he shouted loudly.

Ember gave each of them a second-tier and a third-tier energy crystal!
This is far better than the treatment of other citizens of Dawn City!
"Loyalty~"

You Qingyue carefully cradled the crystal in her hands, secretly glancing at Yu Jin, her eyes shimmering with tears.

……

……

"Senior Sister Yin?"

Meeting hall.

As everyone dispersed, Yin Yao voluntarily stayed behind.

Yu Jin looked at Yin Yao, somewhat surprised.

"Lord of the City, I have some vague suspicions about the disappearance of the crystals..."

Yu Jin raised an eyebrow, signaling her to continue.

"Is such that……"

"Before the time travel occurred, during the game's closed beta, several things happened in Dawn City..."

"The new city lord is giving out welfare benefits: infected crystals, mutated beast meat..."

Yin Yao calmly and methodically recounted what had happened.

Originally, Yin Yao hadn't thought about this aspect.

but……

The crystals that suddenly disappeared.

And forty environmentalists who happened to appear in Dawn City.

Then consider the things Ember did before he traveled through time.

Yin Yao is very smart; she grasped the key point.

Of course, she didn't expose the fact that Yu Jin was "cheating".

There are some things that, even if you suspect or are certain in your heart, you can't say them out loud. Yin Yao understands this principle very well.

She wouldn't tell Yu Jin; she certainly wouldn't tell anyone else.

the other side.

After listening, Yu Jin seemed to be deep in thought.

He really didn't know before that the new city lord of Dawn City was giving out benefits.

"Wasteland was projected onto Earth because of my actions back then?"

"now……"

"Are my actions in Wasteland indirectly projected onto Earth?"

"No, this time it shouldn't be called a projection, but a connection."

"The forty-two crystals roughly correspond to the number of the remaining environmental protection members who haven't yet traveled through time."

"in other words--"

"Although they did not time travel, they were initially identified by the system as 'citizens of Dawn City'."

"Therefore, I distributed crystals to all my subjects in Dawn City, so that even if they were not in the wasteland, they could still receive them."

With this in mind, Yu Jin had a stronger desire to verify it.

"Speaking of which, although we distributed crystals to our subjects, we forgot about food."

"The beast tide was annihilated by the space, leaving not a single piece of mutated beast meat behind."

"It almost caused the entire city to go hungry."

Yu Jin thought to himself, got up from his seat, and walked deeper into the city lord's mansion.

Mutant beast meat can be purchased in the 'Resource Shop' of the refuge city.

Very few city lords do this; they prefer to exchange points for crystals to improve themselves or to exchange for abilities.

That night.

Every citizen of Dawn City received a considerable amount of mutated beast meat, specifically Tier 3 beast meat rich in energy.

For a while.

Even in the dead of night in Dawn City, words of 'loyalty' rise and fall.

Ember, meanwhile, stared into deep thought at the forty-two pieces of beast meat that had vanished into thin air before him…

(End of this chapter)