Wasteland's Only King-Chapter 67: Planning

The distance from Jiang City to Gunzhou isn’t far, about an hour and a half by car.

In the darkness of night.

A black sedan with white plates and red characters sped along the highway.

Yu Jin sat in the back seat, staring out the window, brows deeply furrowed.

He was sorting through the information he’d gathered tonight—

First, he had finally confirmed the time of the crossover: midnight, September 9th.

It was now 10 p.m., September 7th.

All told, only fifty hours remained.

To call this "imminent" would be no exaggeration.

Second, the extraterrestrial visitor—Oumuamua.

The moment the crossover occurred, it would sweep past Earth’s orbit, just "brushing by" Earth.

At the same time, the "unknown substance" it carried would most likely descend upon Blue Star.

That "unknown substance" could instantly corrode any astronomical telescope observing it from Blue Star—a testament to just how unimaginable its pollution could be.

Yu Jin even suspected—

The planet featured in the "Wasteland" game might very well have come about in the same way. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Blue Star—the precursor to the Wasteland Planet.

Wasteland—the future of the Blue Star beneath his feet.

Before he learned about Oumuamua,

Yu Jin had always believed—

For countless people on Blue Star, crossing over into the Wasteland World was a calamity, while those left on Blue Star were the lucky ones.

But looking at it now?

It seemed the two had been reversed...

Crossing into the Wasteland World might be the only chance to survive.

Those who stayed on Blue Star would have to face the pollution of that "unknown substance," and the possible arrival of an apocalyptic catastrophe.

At this thought,

Yu Jin remembered the "Space" attribute he’d just awakened yesterday.

Among its abilities—

[Sixth-tier Space Attribute Ability: Coordinate Imprint Level 1]

[Active Effect: Mark spatial coordinates (the maximum number increases with tier), able to shuttle between coordinates regardless of distance]

Keywords: Shuttle regardless of distance.

Yu Jin was thinking...

Before crossing over to the Wasteland, if he left behind a "coordinate imprint" on Blue Star, could he shuttle back after arriving in Wasteland?

When in doubt, ask Brother Tongzi.

But this time Brother Tongzi wasn’t cooperating, giving no response at all.

"I just feel it can’t be that simple..."

Yu Jin had a gut feeling.

The spatial attribute ability was powerful, but no matter how powerful, it was still confined within the framework of the "Wasteland" game.

If he could simply shuttle back from Wasteland to Blue Star, wouldn’t that be breaking right out of the framework?

It’d be like an in-game character, no matter how strong, breaking out of the screen and landing a punch on the developers.

"Unless Brother Tongzi can intervene, the ability of ’coordinate imprint’ to shuttle regardless of distance probably still won’t be able to override the game framework itself."

Thinking of this, Yu Jin let out a long, heavy breath.

Whatever the case,

He was definitely going to leave a coordinate imprint before the crossover.

As for whether he could return from Wasteland, he’d simply have to see when the time came.

"Also..."

"The map."

Yu Jin unzipped the file bag in his arms and spread out the folded map inside.

The map was densely covered with hundreds of thousands of coordinates.

Nothing could be brought into Wasteland during the crossover, so...

All Yu Jin could do in this final stretch was memorize all of the key information from the map.

[A3-07-456, 587]

[A3-13-210, 652]

[A3-48-533, 999]

[A3-99-142, 761]

...

The coordinate format made Yu Jin narrow his eyes slightly.

He thought of the two incomplete maps he’d already obtained: A307, A308.

"Looks like my earlier guess was right?"

"A3 stands for the planet, 07 for the area, and the numbers behind are like latitude and longitude?"

Yu Jin pondered silently.

At the same time, he planned to ask the others about their in-game coordinates.

Old Cui, Brother Gang, Yu Fei, Yin Yao...

Yu Chen, and Old Yu.

Old Yu only wore the helmet once before ending up in the hospital; afterward, Yu Jin locked the helmet in the cabinet, so he probably hadn’t touched it these past two days.

But now that the crossover mechanism and exact time were confirmed, Old Yu’s outcome was set, so Yu Jin had no reason to stop him from logging in again.

This trip back to Gunzhou was precisely for that purpose.

Superman was Superman, but family was family.

"First, go back to Gunzhou and confirm Old Yu and Yu Chen’s coordinates."

"Then, ask Mom if she’s willing to put on the helmet and accept the crossover."

At this moment, a brand new unopened helmet was quietly lying in the back seat of the car.

Yin Shanhai had prepared it for Yu Jin in advance.

"After dealing with that, return to Jiang University and tell Old Cui and the others the exact time of the crossover face to face."

"In the last two days, at least they’ll be able to prepare accordingly."

"After that..."

"Use crystals!"

"The crystals I have now will give me a big boost, but still aren’t enough for an immediate breakthrough."

"If the points mall refreshes with any high-tier crystals tonight, then my odds of reaching Tier Eight will be much greater."

Yu Jin silently laid out his action plan for the days ahead.

Ding—

The phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

Yu Jin unlocked it and saw Yin Yao had sent him a message.

[About purifying the nuclear waste, Grandpa has arranged everything.]

[The day after tomorrow, that is, the morning of September 9th, someone will take you by plane to Daxia’s secret northwest base.]

[All of Daxia’s solidified nuclear waste from the past decades is stored there... it should meet your needs.]

[I won’t go with you then. On the last day before the crossover, I want to spend it with Mom and Dad.]

...

...

Gunzhou.

Xieqiao Lane Community, Old Yu’s Noodle House.

When Yu Jin got back, the noodle shop was still open.

Even though it was already eleven at night, Old Yu was cheerfully playing chess with someone.

"Eh?"

"Am I seeing things from staring at chess too long?"

"Did I just see Xiaojin?"

Old Yu was still stunned.

Yu Jin had already grabbed the chessboard and pulled him into the noodle shop.

Crash—

Yu Jin pulled down the rolling shutter.

Old Yu looked bewildered.

Upstairs, after finishing up in the bathroom and about to go to bed, Cao Fang heard the commotion and came running down in slippers.

When she saw Yu Jin, Cao Fang froze for a second, and then her face lit up in delight.

"Xiaojin!"

"Why’d you suddenly come home at this hour?"

Yu Jin didn’t answer, but pulled both of them to sit at the table.

He spoke in a tone more serious than ever before:

"What I’m about to tell you, you might find it unbelievable, but every word is true..."

...

Ten minutes later.

Old Yu looked lost, brows knit tight, as if something weighed on his mind.

Meanwhile, Cao Fang grasped the hem of her clothes tightly.

"Xiaojin..."

"These things you’re talking about—the game, the crossover, the Wasteland, Oumuamua, the apocalypse..."

"Are they all real?"

Cao Fang was traditional and conservative, rarely browsing the internet; at most, she’d watch historical dramas. Right now, she simply couldn’t process such a shock.

"Yes!"

Yu Jin knew it was hard for his parents to accept.

So he simply pulled out his phone, opened the photo album, and played a video for the two of them.

On screen was an elderly man with gray hair.

Yin Yao had just sent this to him.

Clearly, after learning that Yu Jin was coming back to Gunzhou, Yin Shanhai had guessed Yu Jin was going to share everything with his parents.

Likewise, Yin Shanhai knew it would be hard for the two elders to believe.

That’s why he’d recorded this special video.

"Hello, foster parents of Yu Jin."

"I am Yin Shanhai..."