"Dawn Sanctuary City!"
Yin Yao was shocked.
She never would have thought that she had actually arrived at the legendary and renowned Dawn Sanctuary City!
In her previous life.
Dawn Sanctuary City was a paradise countless Wasteland Wanderers dreamed of reaching!
There were countless legends circulating on the Wasteland about this place!
Supposedly—
In Dawn Sanctuary City, ordinary people wanted for nothing, and Evolvers were everywhere!
The most exaggerated rumor Yin Yao had ever heard was—
A Wasteland Wanderer so weak he could barely kill a chicken joined Dawn Sanctuary City, and in just a single year, transformed from an unawakened nobody into a 'Tier Five Evolver'!
Tier Five!
In any other Refuge City, such a person could become the City Lord ruling over hundreds of thousands!
Recalling all those rumors from her last life, Yin Yao couldn't help but feel her heart pounding faster.
Huff, huff—
She took deep breaths, observing her surroundings.
And was startled to notice…
The people coming and going were mostly messy, dirty Refugees just like herself.
Looking around at a glance.
Forget about Tier Five Bosses—she didn't even see a single ordinary Awakened!
What made Yin Yao even more confused—
From some passersby, she learned that Dawn City currently had no City Lord!
The previous City Lord of Dawn City had died hunting Infected outside the city!
And the new City Lord was still being voted on, not yet chosen?
"What's the highest Tier among Dawn City's Evolvers right now?"
Yin Yao grabbed a passerby, urgently asking.
The middle-aged woman sized Yin Yao up and down, then replied offhandedly,
"Tier Three? Or Tier Four?"
"All I know is, the last City Lord had just Promoted to Tier Four."
"It was to celebrate breaking through to Tier Four that the City Lord decided to personally hunt Infected outside, and then…"
The middle-aged woman shook her head and walked off.
Yin Yao stayed where she was, utterly bewildered.
She even began to doubt—
Was this a fake Dawn Sanctuary City?
This is nothing like the legends!
...
...
Beneath a dazzling crystal chandelier.
Yin Yao took off her helmet, her eyes still somewhat lost.
Beep beep—
The phone rang.
"Yaoyao."
"You've logged into the game?"
"What's your coordinates? Let me see if we have anyone nearby who can help you."
Yin Yao took a deep breath, temporarily setting aside her thoughts about 'Dawn City', and told the old man on the phone her coordinates.
Moments later,
The old man's tone over the phone was tinged with excitement.
"There's someone near you, four people!"
"They're all close by, and they've already found the kind of Crystal you mentioned."
"Wait a bit— they'll bring it to you!"
Yin Yao hung up.
Compared to the direct transmigration on the seventh day, the current beta test of 'Wasteland' had a few more functions, like coordinate positioning and reboot-on-death, but didn't include 'pay-to-win' features.
In other words, all resources still had to be obtained on your own.
Generally speaking, the currency of the Wasteland, and also its most important resource, was called 'Crystals'.
Crystals were unique products of the Wasteland World.
From low to high, they were divided into Pollution Crystals, Infection Crystals, and Energy Crystals.
Pollution Crystals were the lowest Tier, and also the most common; if Refugees were lucky, they might dig them up from wasteland outside the city.
Infection Crystals were a bit more high-level than Pollution Crystals; in essence, they were a kind of Energy Crystal, just impure and polluted.
Energy Crystals were pure and safe— the true treasures of the Wasteland World, bar none.
From low to high, they ranged from Tier One to Tier Nine.
Energy Crystals could only be obtained by killing Mutant Beasts and Infected Bodies.
Only by killing a Mutant Beast or Infected Body of a certain Tier could you have a chance to gain an Energy Crystal one Tier lower.
For example, if you killed a Tier Four Mutant Beast, you might, if you're lucky, get a Tier Three Energy Crystal.
As for why it's only a 'chance'—
That's because when you kill a Tier Four Mutant Beast, you're much more likely to get a Tier Three Infection Crystal rather than a pure Energy Crystal.
The odds are almost ten to one.
"In my past life, I heard rumors that Yu Jin was not only the first Tier Nine Evolver, but even possessed quite a few Tier Nine Energy Crystals!"
"Hard to imagine—even killing the strongest Tier Nine Infected Body, at most you can only get a Tier Eight Energy Crystal…"
Yin Yao unconsciously drifted off reminiscing again.
But she didn't dwell on it for long.
Beep beep—
When the phone rang again, the old man reminded her: "They're here."
Yin Yao understood, put on her helmet, and logged into 'Wasteland' again.
Whoosh—
After darkness, her vision changed.
Yin Yao was once again inside Dawn Sanctuary City.
She had appeared out of nowhere, but the people coming and going on the street paid her no mind at all.
"Miss!"
Four ragged yet upright and skilled-looking youths appeared before Yin Yao.
After a brief exchange,
Yin Yao took a few ashen geometric crystals from them—these were found by chance in the outskirts, and they didn't know what they were for.
"This is a Pollution Crystal, the lowest kind of Crystal, also called a Tier Zero Crystal."
"Swallow it, and you have a certain chance of Awakening—becoming an Evolver."
Upon hearing Yin Yao's explanation, the four were stunned.
Awakening?
Evolver?
They didn't know what was special about the game 'Wasteland', only that their orders were to explore and gather resources as much as possible in-game.
Originally, they thought it was just a regular post-apocalyptic Wasteland.
But after Yin Yao spoke…
Turns out there are 'superpowers' here too.
Ten minutes later.
Yin Yao found a quiet alley.
The four stood on either side, serving as 'Dharma Protectors'.
Huff—
Yin Yao stared at the ashen Crystal in her hand, took a deep breath.
She knew well the odds of Awakening via Pollution Crystal were extremely low, and even if successful, the process was extremely painful.
But…
More advanced Crystals—even just a Tier One Infection Crystal—weren't something you could easily get in just seven days.
Let alone the even rarer Tier One Energy Crystal.
"Hope I succeed on the first try!"
Determined, Yin Yao didn't hesitate, and swallowed a piece of the gray-black Crystal.
"Ah—!"
A pained scream echoed through the alley.
The young girl, her face twisted, rolled on the ground in agony.
Even the four acting as 'Dharma Protectors' were moved by the sheer misery of her screams.
The screaming lasted a full half hour before finally stopping.
"Did it work?"
The four youths exchanged glances and turned to look.
Swoosh—
Before their very eyes, Yin Yao, limp on the ground and barely breathing, suddenly disintegrated into dust, blown away by the wind!
"What the…"
"That's not logging out of the game…"
"That's…"
"Character death, auto account deletion!"
"Miss, she… failed!"
...
...
West side of Jiangcheng University.
7+7 chain hotel.
In a second-floor room, Yu Jin looked dazed.
"That's it… all over?"
Just now.
He had carefully used that 'Tier Three Energy Crystal' rewarded by the system.
The Crystal was pure white, with a slightly sweet taste.
Crispy in the mouth, surprisingly even a bit tasty…
Of course.
Yu Jin didn't get careless because of that.
On the contrary—
As soon as he swallowed the Crystal, he'd prepared himself to endure searing pain—after all, that's how all those superpower novels on Qidian do it; whenever someone Awakened, wasn't there always excruciating torment?
But…
Ten minutes passed.
A half hour passed.
An hour passed.
And now,
A full two hours had gone by.
Yu Jin felt nothing at all!
As if…
What he'd eaten before was really just an ordinary white candy.
"Could this stuff be useless?"
"Or did the awakening fail?"
Just as Yu Jin was thinking that—
Swoosh—
The text on the translucent panel before his eyes finally changed.
[You have used a 'Tier Three Energy Crystal', and Awakened successfully!]
[You have become an 'Evolver'!]
[You are a Tier One Evolver!]
[Energy surplus, auto-advance…]
[You are a Tier Two Evolver!]
[Energy surplus, auto-advance…]
[You are a Tier Three Evolver!]
Yu Jin's eyes widened in delight: "Does this mean I can be Happy Hero now?"
Before he finished.
Yu Jin was hit with a wave of violent dizziness.
His mind went blank, his vision plunged into darkness…