Chapter 47: Wasteland Five-Stack, Initiate!

Lu Wenwu was not particularly surprised by the appearance of three non-human intelligent beings. He merely lamented his own good fortune in bumping into three of them all at once. After returning last time, he had specifically asked Liu Ming for some special materials to study. Cultivators, demonic cultivators, and spirits from the Xia culture of his past life's Blue Star, magicians and fantasy creatures from the Western world, and even the ubiquitous elves and demons. The entities from countless myths, legends, and fantasy stories all existed on this Blue Star. This was the slight difference between this Blue Star and the one from Lu Wenwu's past life. This was a planet where the inheritance of cultivation and the path to immortality had never been severed. When the system selected players, it did not stipulate that they had to be flesh-and-blood humans! Any intelligent lifeform was possible. However, only E-rank ordinary humans participated in the auditions for initial dungeons, starting from the lowest rank and working their way up. If someone already possessed cultivation before entering, they would be directly assigned player status, and their dungeon matching at the start would be determined according to their own cultivation tier. Do not ever think this was a good thing. A high starting point meant zero rewards from low-tier dungeons. Aside from ancestral cultivation methods, spell inheritances, and magical treasures, they were completely destitute. Bringing in magical treasures not produced by the system would even increase the difficulty before matching. As for making up for attribute points? Sorry, there was no such luck. If you entered at level eleven, all the attribute point rewards from the previous levels would not be given to you. Advancing to level twelve would only grant the five points from gaining a single level. Not to mention other equipment, props, spiritual coins, exotic items, and so on. Because of this reason, unless a contamination zone became completely uncontrollable, various countries would choose to prematurely cultivate transcendents without player status, rapidly increasing their strength in a manner akin to killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. To get back to the point. When Lu Wenwu proposed the team invitation, the Northeast fox lady was the first to express her stance. "Hey there, little brother, I just adore your cute little physique! Team up, it's an absolute must! Give big sis your WeChat later, and if we make it out alive, let's keep in touch." Little Hong... Sister Hong... No! Big Brother Hong said with a heroic expression, throwing Lu Wenwu a wink on the side. Honestly, if the big fox lady had been mute, Lu Wenwu would have been genuinely, wildly tempted. As for now, he just wanted to clasp his hands and shout, "Damn, big brother!" "Amitabha." Nearby, the aged monk Ruhuo chanted a Buddhist verse, a look of compassion on his face. May all beings be blessed; this old monk is willing to advance and retreat together with all you benefactors. Ah... I'm fine with anything, whatever works. Anthony, the vampire dressed like a college student, maintained that shy smile of his and nodded slightly. As for the succubus Kasha... Her head was lowered so much that Lu Wenwu feared she might suffocate herself. Judging by the rise and fall of her chest, she seemed to have nodded just now. At least on the system's party interface, it currently displayed [5/5]. [Party formed, team main quest progress shared, current member count — 5] [Dungeon mode changed, current mode — Teamwork] [Warning: Teammates are protected by system rules, please do not maliciously harm each other] With the team established, the tense atmosphere among the five people eased accordingly. Especially for the succubus Kasha. At least the [Wary] and [Slight Fear] statuses in her status bar had vanished without a trace. [Extreme Tension] had also turned into [Tension]. Truly, one had to wonder how such a bizarre anomaly could appear among succubi. Lu Wenwu could only attribute it to the diversity among intelligent lifeforms. He glanced briefly at the surrounding environment and said briskly, "There are no task prompts, so time shouldn't be too tight. Let's follow the rules and introduce ourselves first, starting with me..." Wasteland, Aberrant Barrens. Rumor has it that this place used to be a beautiful grassland in the past, growing verdant green grass, with a clear blue sky and large, fluffy white clouds overhead. Reflected by the bright sunshine, sweet, crystal-clear water gathered into lakes, like a gift from the heavens. However, none of the people alive today had ever seen it. To them, the sky was gray, the clouds were dark red and brownish, the ground was basically bare, and the water in the wild was turbid and undrinkable directly. The herds of cattle and sheep from the past had long since vanished. Aberrant entities spawned by a combination of contamination and radiation formed communities, constantly wandering across this wasteland. No one remembered what this place was actually called, so they casually picked the most widely circulated name to use as a placeholder. The living souls only remembered that the first-generation survivors who died out over a hundred years ago constantly muttered a single word in their mouths. Wasteland. This was a deadly hell, as well as a hunting ground for the strong. Wasteland humans, who had long forgotten what farming was, survived entirely by hunting aberrant entities. Legend has it that beneath this gravel once stood a magnificent city, burying a large number of products from the old era. If one could find some valuable items, they could go to large settlements to exchange them for purified drinking water and obtain purified food made from plant powder. Even if they couldn't find treasures, staying in such a high-radiation, high-contamination danger zone year-round increased the likelihood of becoming an evolver. The occasional lucky person only confirmed this point. Although the vast majority of brave wasteland scavengers died from radiation, mutation, contamination, and attacks by aberrant entities, this place still drove countless wastelanders to flock to it like ducks. At this moment, several fearless wasteland scavengers were marching unwaveringly toward the depths of the Aberrant Barrens, carrying the despair unique to wastelanders, along with that trace of nearly imperceptible hope. "Great God of Evolution, please bless us..." The weathered man at the lead tightened the filthy scarf around his neck, wiped the smudged lenses of his goggles, gazed up at the dim sun above, and muttered in a low voice. "Old John, we've been walking for three whole days now. Are you sure that map is real?" A skinny, withered fellow licked his cracked lips, his voice extremely hoarse. "It's still not too late to turn back. If we ration our water a bit more, it'll last another two days." Old John was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly growing angry. "Damn it! I told you, Takeda! I found it in an atlas at least a century old! That's a map from the old era! The old era, do you understand!" "Yes, yes, yes, respected archaeologist Mr. Old John of the Giant Bone Settlement." Takeda was long used to this. "Forget it, anyway, there are no resources back to trade for water to drink anyway. This damn life, dying can count as finding peace." "I have a hunch that we're almost there." Just as the two were making light of their misery, a "person" whose body was covered in non-human carapace spoke up. If Lu Wenwu were here, he would undoubtedly find it familiar. This person's appearance shared the exact same art style as the contaminated individuals he had encountered previously. "I can sense it. The power of the Great God of Evolution is guiding me, not far ahead..." This evolver pointed in a certain direction with a hand that had already transformed into a pincers. Old John's eyes lit up, and he strode forward. "Haha, praise the Great God of Evolution! Lads, we're going to strike it rich!" The skinny Takeda shrugged, silently tightening the samurai sword at his waist which his dead father had said was passed down from the old era. As for what a samurai was? Takeda couldn't be bothered to care about such trivial matters. He wasn't an archaeologist. He only cared whether he could fill his stomach at the next meal, or whether he could enjoyably drink a bottle of purified drinking water. Having drunk the lowest-grade tertiary drinking water for years, Takeda, an old man in his thirties, felt he was not far from returning to the heavenly kingdom of the Great God of Evolution.