"Wasteland Survival..."
As Yu Jin walked into the auditorium, he stared at the bold headline projected on the big screen and fell into thought.
This lecture...
Seriously?
"Old Yu, our class is over there!"
Old Cui's shout snapped Yu Jin out of his daze.
He temporarily set aside his thoughts, followed his three roommates, and sat down in their class's designated area.
The auditorium was packed, and the noise level was through the roof.
Quite a few students froze in shock the moment they saw the words "Wasteland Survival" on the screen.
Meanwhile—
Yu Jin also heard classmates chattering all around him—
"Wait, what? Wasteland Survival lecture?"
"This kind of lecture and they're forcing everyone to attend? Skip it and they'll even deduct credits?"
"Damn it, man, I have a tournament match right now!"
"Didn't they just notify us at noon?"
"I was playing my tournament at noon, okay!"
"Wait, let me get this straight..."
"..."
The students kept discussing.
But...
Basically, nobody was taking this lecture seriously.
That's just how college lectures go—showing up is one thing, actually listening is another.
"Seriously, our school's stunts are getting weirder and weirder lately..."
"That Fan Zhongyan memorial this morning was wild enough, and now they're pulling off an even stranger one."
"Who knows what the school leaders are thinking."
Yu Jin overheard some girls behind him whining.
"Exactly!"
"The whole world's just one big clown show!"
...
"Old Yu, what do you think about this lecture?"
Old Cui suddenly leaned in, looking suspicious.
"Me?"
"I use my eyes to look at it."
Yu Jin deadpanned, and Old Cui played along with a laugh.
But after chuckling for a bit—
Old Cui leaned in again, lowering his voice:
"Don't you feel like something's off?"
Yu Jin raised an eyebrow. "Details?"
Old Cui glanced around the hall.
"Just a hunch, y'know..."
"This lecture may actually have something to do with the Wasteland game!"
Old Cui dropped a bombshell.
"Oh?"
Yu Jin gestured for him to go on.
Old Cui hesitated for a moment, then chose his words and whispered:
"You were napping all day so you might not know..."
"But today, there was gossip online that tons of people nationwide received Wasteland game helmets!"
"Getting a helmet is one thing, but the weird part—"
"A lot of those people didn't even know about Wasteland before, and they still got helmets!"
"Those things cost hundreds of thousands and you can't even buy them if you want to!"
Yu Jin nodded, showing he was following. "And?"
Old Cui took a deep breath and carefully said:
"Old Yu, don't you think this is kind of like..."
"Marketing?"
Yu Jin was stunned.
He didn't expect Old Cui to come up with such a revolutionary conclusion!
Over on the other side—
Old Cui was getting more fired up:
"Limited edition helmets! Not for sale! They're giving them away for free—a classic case of hunger marketing!"
"And this lecture—"
"Maybe the game company paid Jiang University a ton of cash just to hold this, to hype everyone up for Wasteland and get us lining up to throw money at them for helmets!"
Yu Jin interrupted, "But you just said—the helmets aren't even for sale, there's no official store."
"There will be after the marketing ends!"
Old Cui sounded decisive.
"..."
Yu Jin stared at Old Cui for a long time.
And after a lengthy pause, he realized—
The reason he guessed "game invading reality" was all thanks to the system he was bound to.
The system made Yu Jin realize that all those tropes from online novels actually could happen in real life.
But Old Cui?
He was just an ordinary college kid. Sure, Wasteland was super realistic, and this lecture was as weird as could be, but his mind still tried to explain things in a normal way.
Even if someone did suspect "game invades reality," it's just a passing idea—you couldn't prove it, and your buddies would just roast you if you said it out loud.
"I think you're right,"
Yu Jin said to Old Cui, giving him some affirmation.
"Heh heh."
Old Cui chuckled.
But for some reason, there was a hint of "playing dumb" in that smile.
"Speaking of Wasteland, how's your gaming experience been lately?"
"Anything strange happen to you guys?"
With the lecture yet to start, Yu Jin seized the opportunity to ask his three roommates.
"Super realistic!"
Brother Gang answered first.
"And?"
Yu Jin pressed him.
"So realistic, like, really!"
Brother Gang didn't even have to think.
Yu Jin facepalmed—not much useful was coming from this guy, so he turned to Yu Fei, who was sitting one seat over.
"Yu Fei, what about you?"
Yu Fei was scribbling away in a notebook at top speed.
He looked up as Yu Jin called to him.
Yu Jin was surprised to see Yu Fei's eyes were bloodshot.
"Dude, you don't need to work this hard for exam prep..."
As his roommate, Yu Jin couldn't help but comment.
But just as he spoke—
Brother Gang chimed in with a sigh:
"This time, it's not about grad school applications, it's all because of Wasteland."
"After logging into Wasteland last night, Yu Fei stayed up all night, then went straight to the library at dawn, and he's been scribbling nonstop in his notebook since. Who knows what he's writing—never lets me or Old Cui peep at it either."
By the end, Brother Gang sounded a bit exasperated, as if Yu Fei wasn't treating him and Old Cui like true brothers.
"For real?"
Yu Jin was a little shocked.
"Swear!"
Old Cui confirmed for them.
Just as he said that—
"Old Yu!"
Yu Fei finally stopped his pen, glanced at Yu Jin, called out to him, and handed over the notebook, lines and lines packed with text.
Yu Jin took it.
And at first glance, his pupils contracted sharply.
[On the Possibility of Wasteland Invading Reality]
Old Cui and Brother Gang, who'd peered over and caught sight of the title, were equally stunned.
Hiss—!
Yu Jin could clearly hear both of them sucking in a cold breath at the same time.
...
"The technical requirements for creating Wasteland far surpass the current level of human technology."
...
"Wasteland provides fully realistic pain feedback, but you only need the helmet to log in. The human nervous system isn't entirely controlled by the brain."
...
"The time flow in Wasteland is gradually syncing with reality; the first time I logged in, one minute in Wasteland was two minutes in reality; second time, one minute in Wasteland equaled one minute fifty-nine seconds in reality; third time..."
...
The notebook was full of detailed notes.
The final line still looked fresh—Yu Fei had just written it:
"Today, multiple universities across Daxia, including Jiangcheng University, are simultaneously holding 'Wasteland Survival' lectures."
Yu Jin didn't have time to care about the other universities. At this moment, even just Jiangcheng University holding this lecture seemed bizarre enough.
He looked up sharply and stared at Yu Fei.
"What did you experience in Wasteland?"
To Yu Jin, Yu Fei was neither the type who read online novels nor someone obsessed with wild fantasies.
In fact,
Since junior year, he's only been focused on studying for grad school. That alone proves he's a hardcore realist!
The only logical reason for this sudden change had to be something that happened to him after logging into Wasteland last night...
"An old man."
Yu Fei pursed his lips, his eyes filled with confusion.
"I met an old man," he said.