Chapter 640: Epilogue of 'The Tide Returns'

Chapter 640: The Epilogue of "The Tide Returns Again"

In the smoke-filled tunnel, a shocking scene of carnage lay scattered, with mountains of corpses and bones mingled with countless sub-entities and player remains.

The thick stench of blood mixed with the musty odor of spores delivered a powerful psychological impact to every player who ventured deep into the tunnel.

Yet, compared to feelings of fear or timidity, it was likely that more people found it exhilarating and thrilling.

And judging by the casualty ratio, there was no doubt that the players clad in exoskeletons held the absolute upper hand!

Although Sia, who took to the field herself with flailing tentacles, had indeed taken down quite a few careless players with her incredible regeneration speed and damage output, most of the other sub-entities and evolved forms left to guard the tunnel were at most capable of giving people a fright.

The Death Corps had already gnawed away the hardest bone for them, leaving only Sia herself as the greatest threat.

Even though Sia inflicted considerable losses on the Skeleton Corps, she ultimately could not escape her fate.

Under the relentless onslaught of wave after wave of players, she finally fell into a pool of pitch-black blood with a reluctant roar.

To be honest, Mole had considered capturing her alive or something, after all, that guy Luoyu was somewhat enviable.

Keeping a boss as a pet—just thinking about it was impressive.

But unfortunately, she gave him no chance; her dozen or so tentacles could fling people around as fast as she could eat, so he had to give up the idea of capturing her.

The moment she fell, all the slime mold sub-entities under her control stopped moving, standing dazed and lost as if their souls had been taken.

Without external interference, these sub-entities would likely act on instinct for a while, then after a period of silence, a new mother would emerge from the existing population to lead the group forward.

That mother would probably be more aggressive than Sia.

But for now, Xiaoyu had already devoured the mother nest in the city center. With the power of that nest, it could slowly turn these out-of-control sub-entities into its own puppets.

Of course, the players still in the tunnel at that moment knew nothing of this; they were cheering for their hard-won victory.

The home-strike tactic had succeeded!

They had defeated Sia before she could become a new mother nest!

The tide, which usually dragged on for half a month or even one or two months, had ended completely in less than 24 hours since it erupted!

"MVP!"

Gasping for breath, Mole wiped the black blood from his face as he looked at the pile of shattered crimson fungal chunks before him. The fatigue in his eyes gradually gave way to excitement, and he muttered incessantly.

"This time, the MVP should damn well be mine, right?"

It wasn't just Mole.

Everyone standing there had excitement flickering in their eyes.

After paying a toll of nearly a hundred casualties, they had finally succeeded in defeating Sia, the one who had orchestrated this tide!

Setting his rifle aside, Mole somehow produced a burlap sack from somewhere, walked over to the three-to-four-meter-tall corpse, and began picking up some crimson fungal chunks to stuff into the sack.

Elf King Fugui, watching from the side, couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

"Damn, are you planning to add some extra grub for our old monk?"

Seeing the look on that guy's face, Mole knew exactly what nonsense he was about to spew and immediately shot him a glare.

"What are you thinking? I'm collecting materials here."

The scientific expedition team and the Alliance Biological Research Institute were both interested in this stuff. By casually boosting goodwill with Yin Fang and the white-haired lady, maybe he could unlock some hidden quests or something.

Those two places were the most technologically advanced units in the entire Alliance.

Just as Mole was busy at work, Old Na happened to hear someone calling her name and curiously approached with a flashlight in hand.

"Vegetables? What vegetables?"

Elf King Fugui couldn't hold back a retch, clutching his stomach as he staggered off to vomit. Mole also failed to keep a straight face, his stomach churning.

Connecting this stuff to vegetables...

He felt like he might not be able to eat fungi for a while.

Just as Irena was baffled about what was wrong with these guys, a pale blue pop-up window appeared on everyone's VM.

[Congratulations to the "Skeleton Corps" players: Mole in the Canyon, Elf King Fugui, Irena... and others for defeating Sia!]

[This achievement will be recorded in the Hall of Fame!]

[Due to Sia's death, the tide will end within half an hour, and the expansion pack points settlement will also be completed within half an hour.]

A long string of IDs was listed in the announcement, including both those who had died and those who hadn't.

But what delighted everyone the most was not the long list of IDs, nor the achievement of entering the Hall of Fame, but the last line of the pop-up—

They had ended the tide!

And this honor was acknowledged by the game's official system, with no room for dispute!

The crowd's excitement boiled over once more, and cheers echoed again through the tunnel.

"Brother Mole, you're awesome!!"

"Haha, this time the MVP is damn well locked in!"

"Speaking of which, did we just steal the kill?"

"Steal my ass! We dealt all the damage ourselves, how can you call that stealing a kill?"

"Exactly! Whoever says we stole the kill, I'll fight them!"

Mole was grinning from ear to ear.

After being second or third for so many years, he finally had a chance to be number one!

But just as he was thinking that, Irena, who was fiddling with her VM, let out a soft exclamation.

"The points tally is this fast? It's already out right after the expansion pack ended."

Although the operator hadn't released the rankings yet, someone had already posted their settlement scores on the forum.

Irena opened the Skeleton Corps interface and saw that the corps score column indeed showed it had already been settled.

Hearing her voice, Mole quickly asked.

"How much do we have?"

"87,000! Whew..." Irena gasped in shock and muttered, "Damn, one boss alone added 40,000 points!"

And the key was that the boss wasn't even that hard; they only lost about a hundred brothers.

This reward was way too insane!

Hearing this, Mole's face lit up with surprise. He quickly closed the pop-up on his VM and opened the corps system interface to take a look.

When he saw the string of zeros trailing behind the total score, he couldn't help but clench his fist and let out an excited shout.

"Awesome!"

The corps total score and individual scores were separate, calculated by a fixed formula.

Generally, six-digit and seven-digit numbers were common, but this expansion pack was a special case.

Although objectively speaking, the intensity of this tide was stronger than last year's—after all, evolved forms like Titans had appeared, and the sub-entities were more tactical in their attacks—

However, since the overall strength of players and NPCs was far greater than last year, this kind of "newbie village monster siege" event seemed somewhat underwhelming.

The wave officially erupted and ended in less than twenty-four hours, and reaching a five-digit score was already considered high.

With eighty thousand points, they were undoubtedly the ceiling of this expansion pack!

"What about the Burning Legion?! Check how many points Old Bai and the others have?" More than satisfied with his own legion's score, Mole chuckled gleefully before immediately turning his attention to the competition.

Anticipating the boss's question, Yelena swiped her finger across the VM screen, quickly finding the answer.

"The Burning Legion... seems someone posted about it. Seventy-one thousand points, not bad."

To be fair, that score was actually decent—only ten thousand points behind theirs.

But Mole was riding high on arrogance, and the moment he heard that Fang Chang was ten thousand points lower, he burst into thunderous laughter.

"Hahaha! What a little scrub! Just wait—I'm hitting the forum later, and I'm definitely gonna roast that bastard Fang Chang!"

Elven King Wealth chuckled as well.

"Even the Burning Legion only has seventy-something thousand. We should be solid this time."

Yelena swiped her finger across the VM screen again, nodded.

"Pretty much. Quan Shui and the others are around sixty thousand. The Death Legion's brothers are around fifty thousand—probably dragged down by casualties again. The Goblin Legion... Goblins... Holy shit?!"

Seeing the numbers in the post, Yelena froze, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

111,000...?

He instinctively thought he'd miscounted, but no matter how many times he counted, it was three ones and three zeros.

Swallowing hard, he spoke in a trembling, incredulous voice.

"One hundred eleven thousand?!"

The moment they heard that number, the players nearby were instantly stunned.

"How much?!"

"Holy shit?!"

"Are you sure you didn't miscount a zero?! How the hell can there be over a hundred thousand points? We only fought for a few hours!"

"I counted it several times... Damn, Luo Yu alone contributed eighty thousand points." Scrolling further down the post, Yelena gasped again.

The crowd erupted in chaos.

"???"

"Eighty thousand from one person?!"

"What the hell..."

"That's fake, right?!"

Listening to the noisy chatter around him, Mole stood dumbfounded, as if struck by lightning.

Just half a minute ago, he was certain the MVP was his for the taking.

But reality had dealt him a direct blow to the head.

And not just that.

The one who stole his MVP wasn't even that bastard Fang Chang, nor the cunning Quan Shui—it was fucking Mosquito.

Snapping back to reality, Mole let out a mournful wail like a ghost.

"Fuck, it's rigged!"

"This is absolutely rigged!"

...

While some were furious, others were overjoyed.

Take Mosquito, for instance—the one who inexplicably snatched the MVP.

Spores were floating everywhere in the streets, making air support pathetically inefficient—worse than a flat-angled anti-aircraft gun.

Even a veteran pilot like him hadn't killed many, let alone the rookies who'd just started flying.

In just a few hours of battle, the Goblin Legion's rookies had crashed twenty W-2 attack aircraft, nearly dropping bombs on their teammates' heads twice.

No matter how hard Mosquito tried, their score was only a smidge higher than those third-rate legions like Silver, and they couldn't push it up no matter what.

Cursing as he climbed out of the plane, he was almost ready to give up, already planning how to blame the targeted dog of a game designer.

But then Luo Yu, who never usually tagged along with the legion, gave him a massive surprise.

Eighty thousand points!!

By capturing the central hive, they not only pulled off a comeback in total score but even crushed Old Bai, Mole, Quan Shui, and the others!

Mosquito refreshed the forum several times—aside from themselves, he hadn't seen a single legion with a six-digit total score!

"Hahaha! Good job, brother! No wonder you're the ace pilot I picked!"

"Heh, let's see who dares to say our Goblin Legion sucks this year! I can brag about this score for a year—no, I'll brag about it until the open beta!"

Not content with just words, Mosquito quickly screenshotted the legion system interface, added a grinning emoji, and posted it on the forum.

In fact, before he could show off, some rookies who'd died early and gotten the news offline had already done the same.

But that didn't stop him from showing off again.

Watching Mosquito sneer while holding his VM, Feng Qing gave a subtle warning.

"Captain, you're laughing like a villain."

But maybe his voice was too soft, or maybe Mosquito, in his excitement, couldn't hear anyone else—the laughter didn't let up, only grew more arrogant.

Seeing this mentally unstable guy, the ground crew all steered clear of his aircraft, silently mourning for him in their hearts.

This shelter resident must have been traumatized by his comrades' casualties, acting so crazy now...

Better not disturb him.

Gui Gui glanced at Feng Qing in surprise.

"Tsk, when did you get the illusion that this guy was a good guy?"

Feng Qing paused, pondering for a moment.

Hmm...

That actually made sense.

For a second, she couldn't think of a rebuttal...

...

With the final boss battle over, the central hive and Xi Ya at the North Second Ring fell one after another, and the "Wave Returns" expansion pack officially came to a perfect close.

This was probably the fastest expansion pack to complete since the launch of *Wasteland OL*.

Most of the time was spent on pre-battle preparations, while the actual fighting ended in less than a night.

At wasteland time early morning, which was noon in the real world, as players logged off one by one, the *Wasteland OL* official website was buzzing with celebration.

It was not only because the online players brought firsthand battle reports from the forums, but also due to an announcement posted on the official website shortly thereafter.

[Server Announcement: The "Tide Returns" expansion pack has officially concluded!]

[During this tide, nearly 3.69 million sub-entities were killed, along with 1,411 evolved forms, 1 mother entity, and 1 hive!]

[Players who killed more than 5 evolved forms in this expansion will receive the exclusive title "Transcend Evolution," and those who killed over 10,000 sub-entities will earn the title "Slime Terminator"! (Casualties from indirect fire do not count toward kill totals.)]

[Since the world of "Wasteland OL" is dynamically generated by AI based on player behavior feedback, player choices will have a permanent impact on the game's main storyline. With the fall of the hive in the city center, the tide that lasted two centuries has come to an end. From now on, there will be no more tides in the Qingquan City area! You have completely ended that two-century-long battle. The reborn Qingquan City will surely become the most dazzling pearl on the wasteland. Congratulations!]

[Additionally, activity points have been sent to your personal accounts. The lottery and prize redemption functions are now open! Thank you all for your active participation! The test data generated by this expansion will provide valuable references for the development of "Wasteland OL." We will continue to dedicate ourselves to offering you closed beta players a richer gaming experience and more fun!]

Tail: "Giao! The tide is gone!? Never again? QAQ"

Meat Mountain Big Bun: "Sigh! We've already missed two expansions! QAQ"

Sisi: "Master, the main storyline should be heading south soon... probably. (Guilty)"

Aoao Sesame Paste: "Ahaha... Though it's a pity I didn't get to see what the hive in the city center really looked like, the weird and wonderful mutants we encountered along the way were pretty fun, I guess. (￣▽￣)"

Irena: "No need to look anymore, that guy has already turned into Falling Feather's shape. (Ridiculous)"

Tail: "??? (?Д?*)"

Maca Bazi: "Hahaha!"

Drum Shampoo Machine: "Bro, you're playing pretty perverted. (Ridiculous)"

Qiangren Suonan: "My trash bro calls it pro! (Ridiculous)"

Trash Collector Level 99: "You're the one crying thief, you've got the biggest harem."

Qiangren Suonan: "?"

I Want Some Quiet: "Haha, I suggest the devs give Bro Qiang a 'Harem King' certificate—oh no, I mean an achievement. (Sidelong grin)"

Falling Feather: "?? What the hell? What do you mean I've turned into my shape? (Confused)"

Irena: "Eh, isn't it? I don't know, I heard it from Night Ten. (Ridiculous)"

Falling Feather: "Don't listen to that guy's nonsense. To be precise, Little Feather ate that thing. It's not really related to me."

Fang Chang: "So what exactly happened down there? I've been waiting for ages."

Quit Smoking: "GKD! Stop being cryptic!"

Falling Feather: "Cough, don't rush, I'm getting to it. Anyway... this involves a huge pit the devs dug in the background setting a long time ago, or rather, a pie they drew."

Spring Commander: "That colony?"

Falling Feather: "Yes, its location is at Proxima Centauri B. It was the first planet humanity colonized in the outer world, and also the last... That planet's ecosystem is completely different from Earth's. Their ecosystem isn't made up of multiple species, but is dominated by a single unified consciousness."

"Omnipresent and omnipotent, It determines the species, quantity, and even lifespan of every living being on the planet, and indirectly influences the planet's ocean currents, temperature, greenhouse gas emissions, and so on. In short, Its existence keeps the planet's environment in a state of dynamic evolution, maintaining an incredible balance."

"Compared to that planet, Earth, which updates a minor version every few million years and refreshes a major version every few tens of millions of years, seems less habitable. That memory didn't mention how long It has existed, but it must be far longer than human civilization, so long that It has forgotten the concept of time."

"Oh, by the way, Its name is Gaia."

At this point, Falling Feather stopped typing, pondered for a moment, and then made an analogy he thought was fairly vivid.

"It's a hive that encompasses the entire planet."

"And that big guy we took down, the one entrenched in the city center, is probably just one of Its leg hairs."