Wasteland's Only King-Chapter 56: Pollution

"Damn!"

"This assessment is way too hard!"

"Except for those five Tier Three Evolvers, no one else passed!"

At the gates of Dawn City.

Chen Gang followed behind Yin Yao and Ye Fan’s group, rubbing his still massively swollen face while cursing under his breath.

The Guard Team assessment was over.

Both he and Yin Yao failed.

Not only failed.

Chen Gang saw a Mechanical Beetle once, and was instantly wiped out...

The beetle slapped him right across the face, and Chen Gang didn’t even get a chance to use his Electric Current Ability—he was smacked five meters away.

Yin Yao did a little better, barely holding out for about ten minutes, but still lost in the end.

Because of this,

The group heads out of town again, ready to keep "hunting monsters and leveling up".

The assessment isn’t a one-time thing, it’s daily, so the two still have another shot.

"Senior Sister Yin."

Chen Gang, rubbing his face, looked ahead at Yin Yao and called out.

"Hmm?"

Yin Yao stopped walking and turned back, looking at him with a calm gaze.

"That woman in the sky who released the Mechanical Beetles during our assessment—what Tier Evolver is she?"

Chen Gang was curious.

He thought that woman in black leather was insanely strong!

Not only could she stand mid-air, but with just a casual wave of her hand, she summoned a thousand Mechanical Beetles.

Each beetle had the combat strength equal to a Tier Three Mutant Beast!

Round it up—doesn’t that mean, alone, she could fight a thousand Tier Two or even Tier Three Evolvers?

"Tier Five."

Yin Yao replied.

"Just Tier Five?"

"Holy shit, Tier Five is this tough?"

"What the fuck..."

"I thought she was Tier Seven or Eight!"

Chen Gang’s eyes went wide, totally incredulous.

Yin Yao didn’t respond, just shook her head and sped up.

Normally,

In the Wasteland World, low-tier Evolvers can’t see the Tier info of higher-tier Evolvers.

Yin Yao could tell only because she’d seen Yu Jin from afar, with his massive crowd of High-tier Evolver followers, and felt that level of presence.

Tier Five, Tier Six, Tier Seven, Tier Eight...

And Yu Jin’s Tier Nine.

Compared to Chen Gang, Yin Yao wasn’t surprised by Angelina Neil’s power.

A Tier Five Evolver, especially with pure "Mechanical" attribute—if she couldn’t handle a thousand Tier Two Evolvers, that’d disgrace the Tier Five name.

Evolver Tiers—each one is a huge gap!

The gulf between tiers is overwhelming!

At the very least,

Yin Yao had never heard of anyone beating someone in a higher tier in her previous life.

Even Yu Jin, apparently, hadn’t done it.

Because ever since Yu Jin’s name became legend above the wasteland, he seemed to have already been a Tier Nine Evolver...

...

...

Southwest of Dawn City.

Yin Yao and the group finally killed a Tier Three Mutant Beast—a Sand Scorpion—after hours of bitter fighting.

"This one’s yours, next one is mine."

Chen Gang also really wanted the crystal inside the Tier Three Mutant Beast, but they’d agreed before teaming up—split the spoils equally, Yin Yao first, then him.

"Okay."

Yin Yao saw Chen Gang sticking to the deal and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

She wasn’t fond of Chen Gang’s loud personality, but he’s Yu Jin’s roommate. For her future "Contribution of Following the Dragon," she couldn’t afford to ruin things—even if not friends, at least not enemies.

Two minutes later.

Yin Yao dug out a sparkling, irregular crystal from the Sand Scorpion’s body.

"Energy Crystal!"

Even Yin Yao was surprised, her mouth open in delight.

She hadn’t expected her luck to be so good—the very first Tier Three Mutant Beast she hunted dropped an Energy Crystal!

Compared to Infection Crystal, Energy Crystal is way more valuable!

"Huh?"

"Energy Crystal?"

"What’s that supposed to be?"

Chen Gang was puzzled; unlike Old Cui, he didn’t scroll game forums for guides every time he ate, so he didn’t know much about Wasteland.

He’d only learned about Infection Crystal from the other Wasteland Wanderers in Dawn City.

"Energy Crystal is more precious and pure than Infection Crystal."

"..."

Ye Fan spoke up to explain to Chen Gang.

Chen Gang listened, nodded, then couldn’t help asking:

"More precious I get—that means it’s got more energy."

"But what does ’pure’ mean?"

"This crystal looks clean, totally different from those gray-black Infection Crystals we got before..."

"’Pure’ can’t just mean it looks nice, right?"

Chen Gang might be loud but he’s not dumb—he saw the key issue.

"Pure means less polluted and corroded, so when you use it, your own pollution level goes up much less."

Yin Yao wiped the Energy Crystal clean and stored it, explaining.

"Pollution level?"

Yet another term Chen Gang didn’t get.

Not just him—Ye Fan and the rest looked curious too.

This term...

Seems like the lady mentioned it once last time.

"Using crystals pollutes you."

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

"And when your pollution level gets too high—"

Yin Yao paused, her tone meaningful: "How do you think all those Infected Bodies in the wasteland come about?"

Hiss—

In that instant,

Chen Gang went wide-eyed.

Ye Fan and the others were stunned as well.

Infected Bodies?

Of course they knew about those!

Just recently, they accidentally ran into a Tier Two Infected Body.

At first, Chen Gang thought it was a Wasteland Wanderer, since Infected Bodies looked totally human—except their skin was a darker shade, with a gray-black tint.

The result...

Chen Gang got smacked ten meters away by the Infected Body, losing a tooth.

After Chen Gang was sent flying, Yin Yao and the group didn’t hunt that Infected Body, but rushed out with the stunned Chen Gang.

Afterward, they showed up here and encountered the Tier Three Mutated Sand Scorpion.

With enough effort, they could take down a Tier Three Mutant Beast.

But against a Tier Two Infected Body, they’d walk the other way if they saw one.

The difference was obvious.

"Wait!"

Suddenly, Chen Gang was shocked.

"You mean—"

"If I keep using Infection Crystal to upgrade, my pollution level keeps rising..."

"Until one day, the pollution shoots up, and boom—I turn into an Infected Body?!"

Yin Yao spoke calmly.

"I gotta correct you—"

"Even if you always use Energy Crystals, your pollution level still goes up."

"On the wasteland, there’s no 100% pure Energy Crystal. Everything here is constantly being polluted and corroded."

"Actually—even ordinary people who haven’t awakened, if they’re not in the Refuge City’s Buffer Zone but wandering about the wasteland—even if Mutant Beasts or Infected Bodies don’t attack them, over time their pollution level will continuously rise until they become Infected Bodies..."

With that said,

Chen Gang fell silent.

Ye Fan’s group couldn’t speak for a long while either.

Only now did they realize why High-tier Evolvers are so rare atop the wasteland.

The path to the extraordinary—is also the path of pollution...

Boom—

Rumble——

Just then,

The ground beneath their feet started to shake.

Along with it,

Came a weird rustling sound, sending chills down their spines.

"Shit!"

Yin Yao’s face changed drastically in an instant.

"That’s the Sand Scorpion swarm!"

"There’s a Sand Scorpion nest nearby!"

As soon as she spoke,

The sandy ground around them started caving in, one spot after another.

Hiss hiss——

One Sand Scorpion after another crawled out from below, staring straight at the group.

The leader,

was a giant Sand Scorpion over five meters long with its body covered in fierce spikes.

"Oh shit!"

"Looks like we’re about to die and restart, huh?"

But then...

Boom!

Rumble——!

Just as Chen Gang resigned himself to fate, shutting his eyes and waiting for death,

A deafening roar echoed from the direction of Dawn Sanctuary City at their backs!

At the same time,

Chen Gang suddenly realized—it got dark!

"?"

Chen Gang instinctively looked up.

What he saw wasn’t the sky but...

A massive, pitch-black hole, centered on distant Dawn City, spanning more than ten kilometers in diameter and blocking out the sun!

"Space?"

"It’s actually a Spatial Attribute?!"

"Just what is this New City Lord’s background?!"

Unlike Chen Gang’s confusion,

Yin Yao was frozen in place.

In her memories from her previous life, the only person in the entire wasteland who could do a ’Space Black Hole’ trick like this was Yu Jin...