Wasteland Development Diary

On the sandy terrain, Zhou Yi leisurely rode his bicycle forward.

The young Ajin walked ahead, leading the way, with many questions on his mind.

"Master, did you find all these things yourself?"

"Yes."

"Including the clothes you are wearing and this... walking vehicle?"

"That's right, it's called a bicycle."

The young man's face showed admiration: "So a Scavenger can also live with such dignity."

"Every trade has its master."

"What's a master?"

"It means the top."

"I see."

Ajin asked curiously again, "Master, did you come by boat to our side? Are there still cities in the east?"

"I only know there's a small market town to the east of Mao Valley Town, and far beyond that, a city exists. But the elderly say that the east has only the Dead Sea and no one can survive there."

Zhou Yi thought for a moment, "The area of the Dead Sea in the east does have many monsters, and it's vast with some islands where people might live."

"I hired samurai crabs to swim over from the Dead Sea, and encountered quite a few storms along the way. Overall, I would say, without proper preparation, don't even think about crossing the sea."

Ajin glanced behind him.

Twelve samurai crabs, armed with spears, iron clubs, and large shields were lined up on both sides, their shells majestic and their stances robust. With them around, they indeed needn't fear any other creatures causing trouble.

He turned his head and said, "It is said that the Dead Sea preserves many prehistoric relics, have you seen any?"

"I have seen them. There are various types of buildings, many well-preserved, with many contents still inside, but all halted by the power of the Dead Sea."

Zhou Yi had not chatted with humans for many years, and he did not tire of Ajin's various questions.

"Merchants say that beneath the Dead Sea is a palace left by the gods after they departed, from the Divine Era, containing many peculiar items with unbelievable powers that humans could not possibly make. Ordinary people who enter the Dead Sea are struck with divine punishment and die; only enhancers are qualified to undertake the trial of the Dead Sea and obtain various treasures left by the gods.''

Ajin spoke, "It's been rumored among Scavengers that humans once existed below the Dead Sea, because there are human statues and carvings there."

"You've seen much... Is it true that there were prehistoric humans?"

Zhou Yi earnestly replied, "Personally, I believe there were."

After all, he himself was a prehistoric human.

...

Upon waking from a long slumber, Zhou Yi found himself in the Wasteland Era.

The entire world was enveloped by a fluid luminous mist. This dense luminous fog covering the ground was called the Dead Sea by the inhabiting life forms.

Only the Guangna Species could survive in the Dead Sea; other life forms entering it would be solidified. It was a very peculiar light that encapsulated various materials, forming a wax-like luminous film on its surface, halting the movement of the enveloped objects, effectively freezing time.

The whole world was like a giant amber frozen in resin.

Traces of human civilization were still visibly clear.

High-rise buildings and highway bridges in the sea maintained their original look.

BYD and Volkswagen cars, bus stops and residential gates with Chinese characters, stacks of shared bicycles, promotional phone numbers on broken walls, disordered telephone poles... It was just devoid of humans.

Ordinary life here would disintegrate, only lifeless objects without self-will could be preserved long-term within the light film.

Only the mutated creatures of the Dead Sea, the Guangna Species, could move freely, including samurai crabs and clawed pigs.

Zhou Yi then merged with a stone lion decoration from his home.

His deceased grandfather said it was a treasure gifted by a monk called White Suanni, able to suppress evil and protect the home.

After becoming the stone lion, Zhou Yi could not move, maintaining a peculiar state that was like sleep but not sleep.

The stone lion slowly absorbed the power from the Dead Sea.

God knows how many years had passed, Zhou Yi gradually reverted from the shape of a lion back to his own form and regained the ability to move, then dug his way up from deep underground.

He was no longer a fleshly body.

He didn't need to eat or sleep, he didn't even need to breathe.

As long as he drew the freely dispersing power from the Dead Sea, he could sustain life and gradually become stronger.

Zhou Yi had an initial interface.

...

[Body]

Life Value: 600

Defense: 5

Energy: 100

...

Only life, defense, and energy could be upgraded.

For safety, he used all the free energy he obtained to enhance his defense, utilizing various buildings in the Dead Sea as covers and fortifications.

Once his defense was strengthened, the Guangna Species from the sea floor could not break through it, and they steered clear of this extraordinarily tough human.

But passive defense still caused Zhou Yi a lot of trouble.

Because there were always some young hotheads who came to try their luck, unexpectedly biting him or giving him a bear hug, although it caused no harm nor pain, it was disturbing.

Isn't this bullying an honest person?

Zhou Yi tried to fight back in human ways, but ordinary punching and kicking did nothing to the Guangna Species and inflicted no damage.

He lacked an attack panel.

This frustrated him for quite a while.

Later, Zhou Yi noticed the samurai crabs at the sea floor.

They were fearless and brazen, daring to attack creatures stronger than themselves, truly the bully of the sea floor.

After the samurai crabs gave birth to their young, they would let the next generation fend for themselves until they grew up and were then incorporated into the group as official family members.

A pure survival of the fittest education method.

Zhou Yi captured some frail, dying little samurai crabs.

They were only the size of fingertips, their semi-transparent bodies very soft, and they moved with great difficulty.

Originally, he intended to eat some crab to improve his diet, as he relied on photosynthesis to sustain himself for so long that he felt he was becoming a plant.

Even small crabs are still meat.

During the process of catching crabs, however, Zhou Yi discovered that his energy could be transferred to these little crabs, reviving them and even making them lively and vigorous.

Thus, he embarked on a path of raising crabs.

These crabs, revived from a young age, regarded Zhou Yi as their leader.

The hierarchy within the samurai crab clan was strict. In a group, all samurai crabs would obey an absolute core leader, following every command until the leader died, which was why they maintained their competitiveness in the Dead Sea.

As long as they were not far apart, they could maintain a mutual understanding with each other.

All the various commands issued by Zhou Yi were faithfully executed by the samurai crabs.

After exploring and repeatedly comparing, he finally determined the reason.

The key was the process of inputting his own energy.

Through the connection between bodies, long-term energy input into other bodies would form this peculiar synchronization effect, as if consciousness was invading like a virus.

Zhou Yi immediately thought that he could totally create a monster squad like this to serve as his own attacking force.

He began instructing the samurai crabs to equip and use simple weapons, ambushing and attacking other solitary creatures on the sea floor, officially shifting from defense to offense in strategy.

Through fighting, the samurai crabs acquired a considerable amount of precious spoils—Light Seeds.

These were highly concentrated substances produced by the Guangna Species after absorbing energy, which could enhance both the panel strength of Zhou Yi's body and could also be absorbed by the samurai crabs to strengthen them.

Over 10 years, Zhou Yi nurtured a crab army, leading them through battles in the weaker areas of the sea floor where the Guangna Species were less prevalent, undefeated.

The twelve with him now were just a small part of them.

After gaining the power to protect himself, Zhou Yi then decided to advance to land.

He still preferred living on land and missed the taste of rice, noodles, steamed buns, bread, and meat pies.

The Dead Sea had a strange odor, everywhere was heavy fog + light pollution.

It felt like everyone was breathing second-hand smoke, with countless laser lamps shooting into their eyes.

The living environment was really poor.

…

"Master, we've arrived at the Mushroom Forest, we can't get any closer."

Ajin interrupted Zhou Yi's thoughts.

He stopped the car.

In front of them was a continuous dense forest, only the forest was composed of tall and straight red-cap, white-stem mushrooms. They could reach nearly twenty meters high; even the shorter ones were over a meter tall, each robust and strong.

A faint red mist flowed through the Mushroom Forest, obscuring the view inside.

There were also no animals in the vicinity.

Ajin pointed forward, "Even before Mao Valley Town, there were Mushroom Forests, and these mushrooms claim a territory even larger than the Oasis. Inside, it is filled with poisonous gas, and few people who enter come out alive."

"I know of three dangerous mushrooms here alone."

He explained, "The first kind is the giant mushroom, those terrifyingly tall red mushrooms, the poison mist comes from them, and people who walk inside can only inhale a few breaths before passing out."

"The second is the Black Hand Mushroom, they are a bit smaller but can move around, mimicking human figures, skilled in stealing, deceiving, and ambushing. They are actually more dangerous than the poison mist."

"The most terrifying are the third kind, the explosive mushrooms."

The young man spoke in a hushed tone, "They are a type of fierce mushroom creature, if an outsider enters their covered ground area, they will explode, with terrifying power. Five days ago, a hunting party of seven led by an enhancer entered the Mushroom Forest and just as they entered, they stepped on an explosive mushroom on the ground, and were blasted into pieces..."

Zhou Yi silently took note.

He looked at the remote control in his hand.

The screen displayed that the Red Kestrel was on the periphery of the Mushroom Forest, very close to here.

He had to try.

Zhou Yi ordered the samurai crabs to start digging from under their feet.

These massive crustacean creatures brandished their pincers, swiftly digging holes. They were also used to construction in the sea floor, extremely skilled.

The samurai crabs burrowed into the ground tunnels, searching beneath the Mushroom Forest.

After more than two hours of busy work, they brought back a small metal square.

The moving red dot on the remote control proved that this was indeed the Red Kestrel.

Ajin looked stunned, "It, it can still be done this way... avoiding the ground, indeed won't step on explosive mushrooms..."

He suddenly looked at the darkening sky, saying, "Well then, Master, I'll head back to town first. From here, if you turn back towards the opposite direction of the Mushroom Forest, you can see the entrance to the Mao Valley Town cave. I live in town, from the outside in, left side, hole number 11."

The young man was very sensible, knowing it was time for him to leave.

Zhou Yi nodded, "Come find me tomorrow night, the usual place, by the beach."

"Okay, okay."

The young man's face showed a hint of joy, then he turned and walked away, quickly disappearing to the north.

Zhou Yi played with the silver cube in his hand.

It looked just like a metal Rubik's cube, the texture not too shabby.

His luck was not bad, he had guessed right.

The Red Kestrel had probably run out of energy and crashed, being buried underground over the years, with mushrooms growing over its position.

First, to activate this thing and see.