Wasteland's Only King-Chapter 75 - 74: The Base

September 8th, 2025, 7pm.

hours until transmigration to the Wasteland.

Gunzhou, outside Old Yu’s Noodle House.

Yu Jin says farewell to his family.

"Xiaojin..."

"No matter what you’re going to do, you must stay safe, you must!" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Old Yu repeats himself over and over.

"Xiaojin, mom will be waiting here for you to come home!"

Cao Fang is sobbing, drenched in tears.

"Bro, I’ll work hard to level up and get stronger in the Wasteland!"

"If you transmigrate too, I’ll protect you!"

Yu Chen pumps his fists, his youthful face full of seriousness and determination.

"Let’s go."

The militarily-dressed figure leads Yu Jin away from the noodle house.

Meanwhile.

Another group of soldiers chooses to stay behind rather than leave.

"For the next period, we’ll be responsible for everyone’s safety."

Evidently, this arrangement was made by Yin Shanhai.

...

...

8pm.

Jiang City, airport.

Yu Jin boards the helicopter.

The massive noise from the rotors rattles his eardrums painfully.

"We’re heading to the Great Northwest Base!"

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

Across from Yu Jin, a copper-skinned man with a badge on his shoulder shouts.

"Okay!"

Yu Jin answers loudly.

Meanwhile, as prompted, he puts on his noise-cancelling earmuffs.

Minutes later.

The gunship, fully loaded with ammunition, slowly lifts off.

With the roar of the rotors, the helicopter whips away from Jiang City, heading northwest.

Inside, Yu Jin gazes out the window.

Jiang City is ablaze with light from thousands of homes.

Even at this moment, news about "transmigrating to the Wasteland" and "Oumuamua" remains strictly sealed off.

But...

Before boarding, Yu Jin had gotten some information from Yin Yao.

Starting tomorrow—once midnight passes—Daxia will enter a state of martial law and control.

All transportation will begin to shut down, gradually ceasing operations by midnight on transmigration night.

Meanwhile.

All power and industrial facilities will switch over to backup energy, to avoid being crippled by Oumuamua’s interference.

Additionally.

Regional forces are mobilizing for social order and stability maintenance.

At 7pm tomorrow, the national broadcast will air.

Daxia will announce the impending transmigration to the Wasteland to everyone in the country.

During the last five hours, they’ll educate 1.4 billion people on Wasteland World intel and survival knowledge.

Yin Yao said nothing about the "Oumuamua" crisis.

Yu Jin speculates——

Yin Yao is likely still being kept in the dark by Yin Shanhai.

During yesterday’s dinner, Yin Shanhai didn’t mention "rebirth" at all, but Yu Jin is fairly certain that the rebirth intelligence came from Yin Yao herself.

The reason is simple——

The "Wasteland" game only appeared on September 2nd, as did the helmets.

And Yin Yao came to recruit him to the club on September 2nd.

The two timings are extremely close, almost simultaneous.

If the person reborn was just an ordinary citizen, even after reporting the intel, Yin Shanhai would likely need time to investigate and verify it.

After verification, and with Yin Yao as his granddaughter, she’d only then learn, and based on the "rebirth intel," take action to approach him.

There’d definitely be a time lag in this process.

But...

If the reborn person was Yin Yao herself, with her status and background, she could erase most of that time gap.

And she wouldn’t need to wait for the verification results; she could immediately seek him out.

As for Yin Yao asking for his protection?

Yu Jin finds it perfectly reasonable—it’s just human nature.

Actions count, never motives; if you judge motives, nobody is pure.

But why Yin Shanhai is hiding info about "Oumuamua" from Yin Yao, Yu Jin cannot guess.

"Maybe it’s for personal reasons?"

"He doesn’t want Yin Yao to worry about her family, so she’ll transmigrate to the Wasteland without hesitation?"

"Most likely, Elder Yin chose not to wear the helmet; he’s betting on the remaining non-transmigrators odds..."

Yu Jin muses inwardly.

A moment later, he shakes his head and temporarily sets aside these messy thoughts.

He lowers his head and opens a file.

This is the document that Yin Shanhai handed him during last night’s dinner, containing all the Wasteland World intelligence gathered so far by Guo Jia’s forces.

The file is thick, packed with information.

Yu Jin hadn’t had time to look closely before; now, on the way to the nuclear waste facility, he can finally digest it.

...

[The Wasteland World is not virtual; essentially, it’s a planet-like celestial body similar to Blue Star.]

[Tentatively named "Wasteland Planet."]

...

[Based on coordinate info brought back by 100,000 people——]

[A3 is likely the planet designation, 01-99 possibly the area codes.]

[Currently known: each area varies in size, but each contains at least hundreds of Refuge Cities.]

...

[The Wasteland World has countless "Indigenous People."]

[Initial speculation: they’re "old players" who transmigrated from other planetary civilizations earlier.]

[These old players control nearly all Refuge Cities atop the Wasteland.]

...

[During closed beta, these old players seem to have "cognition barriers" toward Blue Star users.]

[Analysis suggests: possibly a "novice protection mechanism" from the beta.]

[Meaning——]

[During beta, Blue Star players barely registered on Indigenous People’s senses; they can’t even perceive new players appearing out of thin air when logging into "Wasteland."]

[Meanwhile——]

[During beta, Indigenous People harbored almost no malice toward Blue Star players; unless provoked, new players rarely faced active attacks.]

[But...]

[The "novice protection mechanism" ends immediately after collective transmigration.]

...

[The Wasteland World runs a self-sustaining survival system.]

[Ordinary refugees get their food mainly from wild Low-Tier Mutant Beasts, but Mutated Beast Meat is contaminated; long-term consumption turns refugees into Infected Bodies.]

[Drinking water for ordinary refugees comes from Refuge Cities, which seem to have special systems generating potable water for them.]

[There are water sources outside the cities, but they’re mostly occupied by Mutant Beasts/Infected Bodies; only a handful of water sources are unclaimed.]

...

[The most vital resource in the Wasteland World: Crystals.]

[Pollution Crystals are the most widespread; their origins remain unclear, as does the reason they never run out despite constant mining.]

[Infection Crystals and Energy Crystals both come from Mutant Beasts or Infected Bodies.]

[Mutant Beasts likely result from flora and fauna transmigrating to the Wasteland and mutating.]

[Infected Bodies stem from mutated humans.]

...

Yu Jin flips through the file, page by page.

Previously.

Unable to log into "Wasteland," all his info came from online forums and stories told by Old Cui and the others.

The data was there, but scattered.

By comparison.

What Yin Shanhai gave him was organized and meticulously analyzed.

Its worth rivals the map returned by those hundred thousand people.

And this.

Only made Yu Jin more determined to purify "Oumuamua."

"Whatever happens..."

"I must strike hard before transmigration!"

"Even if I can’t fully purify it, I need to weaken its pollution as much as possible!"

"If I do, Blue Star might manage to hold out until I return from the Wasteland..."

Yu Jin murmurs inwardly, staring out the airplane window.

In the time he’s been reading, more than four hours have slipped by without him noticing.

Now.

The helicopter is slowly descending.

What meets Yu Jin’s eyes is a desolate Gobi Desert under the night sky.

According to info provided by Yin Yao, hidden beneath this stretch of desert is a staggering hundred thousand tons of nuclear waste...