Langlang Mountain, at the foot of the mountain.
In the small woods, branches and leaves rustled and shuffled.
Faintly, strange panting and coquettish cries drifted through the air.
Suddenly.
"Gade!"
A rough exclamation exploded out.
"Leo, what's wrong?"
A female voice sounded.
"Messenger of God, holy angel!"
"Please, don't misunderstand, I have absolutely nothing to do with this damn Eastern b*tch!"
"She was the one who threw herself at me!"
Behind the woods.
The dark-skinned guy put his hands together, face full of piety.
The girl next to him looked utterly baffled.
Wait, what the hell…
Pants aren't even pulled up yet, and you're already denying everything?
But soon enough.
The girl was also stunned, frozen in place.
She followed Leo's gaze to see.
And saw—
In the distant forest, a figure with light wings sprouting from its back actually appeared in mid-air!
The figure looked so real, its blazing wings radiated white-hot light, blurring its actual features, but even from far away, the glow washed over Leo's dark skin, tinting it with a soft halo!
What really made the girl's hair stand on end was…
The figure vanished after just a few seconds.
But—
That creepy 'being watched' feeling suddenly arose!
The girl was sure it wasn't her imagination.
Someone—no, maybe not someone, but Something—was watching her!
She could even feel…
That gaze moving all over her, appraising, examining, until finally—it landed right onto her sweat-soaked face.
"Oh my God!"
The girl hurriedly mimicked Leo, dropped to her knees, and clasped her hands together in prayer.
Who knows how long passed.
That feeling of being stared at finally faded away.
The girl and Leo exchanged a look, but neither dared stay there any longer.
The two hurriedly dressed and clumsily fled from the foot of Langlang Mountain, sprinting toward the brightly lit campus of Jiangcheng University in the distance.
...
...
[Your divine presence scares off "Tier Four Infected Body—AIDS Nig" without you even showing up, Wasteland Points +1000!]
[Resource acquired: Tier Three Energy Crystal!]
[Your divine presence scares off "Tier Four Infected Body—Fallen Mei Nu" without you even showing up, Wasteland Points +1000!]
[Resource acquired: Tier Three Energy Crystal!]
Yu Jin stared at the status panel in front of him, sinking into thought.
Just now.
He'd done a quick test run of all his Light Attribute abilities after activating them.
The first thing he tried was "Light Wings."
But before he could even enjoy two seconds of flying, he suddenly sensed someone looking at him from afar.
Not wanting to expose himself, Yu Jin dispelled the "Light Wings" and checked things out with "Light Touch."
Even late at night, with a little moonlight as a source, Yu Jin could actually see the two people in that little woods at the foot of the mountain, three or four kilometers away—clear as day.
The clarity wasn't quite Blu-ray 4K, but at least a solid 720p.
And that one look pretty much did Yu Jin in for the night.
He didn't really know the dark-skinned guy at all.
But…
The girl tangled up with Leo? Yu Jin immediately recognized who she was.
"Yang Yuan, the ex-president's girlfriend…"
"How the hell did she end up getting it on with a black foreign exchange student?"
"Engaging in some wild IRL PvP?"
Yu Jin let out a sigh.
Bumping into something like this by accident isn't really scary.
What's scary is that one of them is actually someone you know.
Thinking of this, Yu Jin didn't even bother with his rewards. He opened his phone and shot a message to Jiang Jun, saved in his contacts as "Environmental Protection Club—Ex-President."
"Brother Jiang, how are things lately with your girlfriend?"
Yu Jin didn't spell it out, just testing the waters.
[We broke up.]
Jiang Jun replied straight away.
Yu Jin instantly breathed a long sigh of relief.
He didn't want to meddle too much—he just didn't want his buddy wearing a green hat without knowing it.
But the next second.
The ex-president's reply almost made Yu Jin lose it.
[Old Yu, you're not into Yang Yuan, are you?]
[Nope! Not allowed!]
[She's got something—Mei X!]
[She totally screwed me over, I've been stuck in the hospital for two months now…]
"..."
Yu Jin put away his phone, his gaze dropping back to his translucent status panel.
"Tier Four Infected Body—AIDS Nig."
"Tier Four Infected Body—Fallen Mei Nu."
He hadn't really understood at first, but now it made sense. Turns out the "Mei" in Mei Nu meant… that kind of "Mei."
"Damn, birds of a feather really do flock together. Destiny, right there."
A quick sigh, and Yu Jin didn't dwell.
Bigger fish to fry than butting into other people's business.
[Wasteland Points: 112200]
[Unlock condition for Points Mall met. Open now?]
Yu Jin didn't hesitate: "Open!"
Swish—
There were no golden rays and fancy effects like he'd pictured.
The translucent panel in front of Yu Jin just displayed three slots.
Each slot had text only, no pictures. Beneath each, was a string of numbers and a brief description.
"What the hell?"
"Only three products, and you have the nerve to call it a mall?"
Yu Jin frowned instinctively, but forced himself to keep reading.
[Wasteland Gold 1kg]
[Price: 500 Points]
[Review: Once a universally recognized hard currency for thousands of years, now utterly worthless in the Wasteland World.]
Yu Jin: "..."
He decided to take back what he'd just said.
Who says this mall sucks?
This mall's friggin' awesome!
It comes right at you with the very thing you need most right now!
What kind of Superman has no cash to throw around?
What happened this afternoon—no cash, lost money, had to beg Old Tang for backup—that's not a situation Yu Jin ever wants to repeat.
Plus——
Now's the rule-of-law era; it's not about whose fist is bigger anymore, but who's got the dough, who's got the power. Whoever has the cash, has the say.
"Buy!"
Yu Jin wasn't the wishy-washy type, and hit the purchase button immediately.
[Wasteland Points -500]
[You've obtained: Wasteland Gold 1kg]
[Current Wasteland Points: 111700]
Smack—
Suddenly, Yu Jin's hand was holding a heavy gold brick.
"Gold's going for a bit over 700 per gram right now."
"A one-kilogram gold brick, even if the pawnshop price is a bit under the market, I should still get 60–70K yuan easy."
Yu Jin did some quick math and felt even more satisfied.
He stashed the gold and moved his attention back to the rest.
[Tier Two Energy Crystal]
[Price: 2000 Points]
[Review: Pure and safe sources of energy, a true treasure in the Wasteland World.]
"Two thousand points?"
"That's kinda pricey…"
He had plenty of points, but he wasn't about to splurge blindly. Yu Jin looked at the last item.
[Ability: Hardening (Level 1)]
[Price: 5000 Points]
[Review: You can turn your body parts as hard as iron and stone. A special ability fit for both attack and defense!]
[Hint: Requires activation of 'Earth' or 'Metal' attribute to use.]
Yu Jin fell into thought.
He honestly hadn't expected the mall to let him buy actual "abilities."
"Hardening body parts?"
"Sounds hella practical…"
Yu Jin stared at the description, admittedly tempted.
Five thousand points wasn't too expensive at all, but the catch was you could only use the ability after activating "Earth" or "Metal" attributes.
And his attribute was "Light"—not compatible.
But…
"I'll buy it!"
With a dramatic flourish, Yu Jin made the purchase.
Swish—
A faint light slipped into his body.
On Yu Jin's status panel, the Abilities section now had a new entry: "Hardening Lv1."
Only, after that ability, there was a note: (Attribute not activated, unusable).
Of course, Yu Jin didn't buy it just for the "hardening body parts" joke.
The real reason…
At the bottom of all three items,
There was a countdown clock ticking away.
The countdown read: 23 hours 55 minutes!
Since everything refreshes every 24 hours, might as well buy it and stash it before it disappears.
"I can always grind more points, but miss a good deal and you never know when you'll see it again…"