Chapter 658: The Players' First 'Naval Battle' Since Launch!

Chapter 658: The Players' First "Naval Battle" Since Launch!

"Did you meet the administrators of the Alliance?"

"I did... but they didn't seem very enthusiastic toward us."

At the Ideal Grand Hotel.

In the guest room where he was staying, Noreg, the Foreign Minister of the Free State, reported to Mayor Odo in detail everything he had observed at the banquet.

To be honest, the Alliance's strength had somewhat exceeded his expectations.

He had originally thought this was merely a settlement cobbled together by wastelanders and scavengers, but he hadn't expected them to build a clean and orderly city-state on the ruins at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Going from nothing to something is the most remarkable stage.

The Free State had once experienced the journey from having nothing to towering skyscrapers, and Noreg knew very well how difficult that was.

So he wouldn't naively measure a settlement's potential by the number of concrete high-rises, nor would he underestimate them just because Dawn City was still developing.

These people had sufficient technical reserves, the productive capacity to turn those reserves into products, the drive to push society forward, and the cohesion to resolve differences.

While the residents of various classes in the Free State were still arguing over whether to side with the Legion or the Corporation, they had already firmly set out on their own path.

If the Alliance continued developing at its current pace, as long as they had enough population, they would soon shoot up to a level comparable to the Free State, like riding a space elevator.

Especially now that they had mastered the technology to control slime mold sub-entities!

In fact, the Alliance's population growth rate had already reached an astonishing level.

More and more wastelanders, tired of chaos and yearning for order, were joining the Alliance and being assimilated by the social ideals they preached.

This scene was eerily familiar.

In the early years after the dissolution of the Post-War Committee, something similar had happened.

It was precisely because those wastelanders, fed up with the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, had unwaveringly chosen the Free State that the incredible miracle in the northern part of the River Valley Province had come to be.

Of course, what made Noreg even more wary was another matter.

Unlike the Free State, which had pursued isolationism back then, the Alliance, with its proactive approach to regional affairs, had not only won the favor of ancient survivor factions through one victory after another but had also accumulated immense prestige for itself.

This could be glimpsed from the events in the Jinchuan Province.

Even if the farm owners there hated the Alliance, when faced with the choice between the Torch Church and the Alliance, those cunning fellows had unanimously sided with the Alliance.

Even if, just a moment earlier, they had been flirting with the envoys of the Torch Church.

"...What worries me more than the Alliance's strength in economics, military, and culture is their increasingly astonishing prestige."

"The scene in the banquet hall was like a court of all nations paying homage. Even survivor settlements as far away as the Cloud River Province sent envoys via corporate flights, and some radical settlements even voluntarily proposed joining them."

"If they are allowed to continue developing, they might become our biggest competitor, perhaps even the 'Sixth Power' after us!"

This was a term the Free State had coined among themselves.

Under the broad consensus of local survivors, the Great Rift Valley, inheriting the orthodoxy of the Post-War Committee, was the first power on the Central Continent, with the Legion and the Corporation tied for second, the reclusive Academy in fourth place, and the Free State in fifth.

In Noreg's view, the Alliance already had the potential to become the sixth power!

They had become a force not to be underestimated!

While Mayor Odo was racking his brain over how to conduct diplomacy with the Alliance, Chu Guang was also troubled by another matter at that moment.

To his delight, he had received a special gift at the banquet—a free Vault!

And it was a double-digit Vault at that!

But at the same time, it also posed a dilemma: this Vault was at least two thousand kilometers away from the Alliance, and moreover, it lay behind the Alliance's sworn enemy.

After concluding his meeting with Sun Yuechi, Chu Guang returned to B4 of Vault 404 and studied the map repeatedly.

The shortest route to Vault 70 was to cross the Jinchuan Province and the Haiya Province, then reach the southern sea.

If we use the map of the parallel Earth as a reference, likening the Central Continent to Eurasia, the Swamp of Despair to Siberia, Tianshui to the Yangtze River, then the River Valley Province would roughly correspond to the area from "Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan" to northern Hubei.

And Vault 70, along with its artificial island, was located in the "Philippine Islands."

That distance was no joke!

To avoid the areas controlled by the Torch Church, Sun Yuechi had chosen to land in the eastern provinces, pass through the Yuma Province, enter from the southeastern corner of the River Valley Province, and follow the southern corridor to Qingquan City.

The total mileage of this route exceeded five thousand kilometers!

Farther than from the Alliance to the Corporation!

Staring at the map for a long time, Chu Guang's face showed a hint of difficulty.

"...It seems that recovering Vault 70 will have to wait until after we reclaim the Haiya Province."

Just then, Xiao Qi suddenly let out a soft call.

"Master."

Chu Guang looked up from the map and glanced at Xiao Qi, who was sitting on the pen holder at the corner of the desk.

"What's wrong?"

Xiao Qi, resting her chin on her hands and swinging her little legs, looked at him curiously.

"Why not entrust it to your players, like before?"

Hearing this suggestion, Chu Guang was momentarily taken aback.

The nearest save point was over a thousand kilometers away...

Were there any players active in that area?

This thought had barely crossed his mind when a certain ID popped into his head.

Wait—

Although it didn't seem very reliable.

Strictly speaking, there actually was one...

Chu Guang's eyes lit up, and he quickly looked at Xiao Qi.

"Is there a way to authorize remotely?"

Xiao Qi thought for a moment and replied seriously.

"Hmm... The administrator's authentication password and biometric information are not suitable for remote transmission; if intercepted, it would be troublesome. However, the dynamic password for short-term authorization is just a string of characters. Xiao Qi thinks it can be sent to players via 'official website email,' as long as the player enters it once on the terminal."

This kind of authorization obtained through offline dynamic passwords is equivalent to delegation. The generation method is somewhat similar to the "token" of early online games, which automatically updates the dynamic password based on special algorithms and non-fixed parameters like dates. The typical authorization period is 7 to 14 days, and it can be renewed by re-entering after expiration.

Upon hearing this, Chu Guang was overjoyed.

Good heavens! This morphogenic field technology is even more impressive than quantum communication!

The security of remote authorization using this method was virtually invincible. Unless someone could intercept electromagnetic waves from another world, it would be impossible to hijack.

With a plan in mind, Chu Guang immediately gave the order.

"Xiao Qi, help me draft an offline mission... hmm, forget it. Just write 'New Map Testing' in the email."

Since the returns were uncertain, and he didn't even know exactly what treasures he had inherited, Chu Guang couldn't determine the mission rewards. He decided to give them based on the situation under the guise of testing.

Closed beta, huh.

It's all about participation!

Is a reward really that important?

The key is the sense of involvement!

Understanding his master's meaning at once, Xiao Qi snickered.

"Roger that!"

"You really get me." Chu Guang nodded with satisfaction, then set the matter aside for the moment, focusing on studying the details of the cross-regional cooperation organization.

The participation of academies and enterprises was essentially a foregone conclusion, and beyond that, over twenty survivor settlements, large and small, had expressed their intent to cooperate.

Currently, the first settlements and regions to be included in the harmless treatment of mutant slime mold were Ice Sea City in the far north and Cloud Under City in the far east.

Once Xiao Yu set up a branch base there, the Alliance's "territory" would expand by another full circle.

How to develop these two new maps well was the key to the welfare of the vast majority of players' gaming experience.

And that was also the foremost task for Chu Guang, as the Alliance's administrator, at this moment...

...

Just as Chu Guang kicked the ball back from the south, Awei and his group, still in the game, did not immediately receive the long-awaited email.

Nor did they have time to care.

At that moment, on the turbulent southern sea, a cargo ship of less than five thousand tons was rising and falling with the waves in the night.

Its shape was bizarre—the steel hull, studded with rivets, was edged with black iron planks meant to drive away mutants, and the tall smokestack belched gray smoke from incomplete combustion.

Though the ship incorporated many modern design concepts, its style was entirely steampunk.

What was even more astonishing was not just its shape, but the motley array of equipment on its hull.

On the spacious deck sat six wheeled 100mm short-barreled field guns, along with a 155mm artillery piece produced by the Alliance and two towed quadruple 20mm machine guns.

In fact, besides these weapons, the ship also carried various types of harpoon guns and depth charges.

But compared to those bizarre heavy weapons, these conventional arms seemed rather unremarkable.

The flag of the roaring polar bear flapped noisily in the boisterous wind, though its howl seemed somewhat pathetic.

For less than ten nautical miles behind it, two warships flying green double-sword flags and over a dozen assault boats were closely pursuing.

As expected, the group that loved to stir up trouble had finally run into trouble...

"Si! Speed up! The pirates are about to catch up!"

Standing at the stern, Tail had one foot on the gunwale, holding a monocular telescope to peer at the blurry shapes in the distance, a red headband symbolizing freedom on her head.

If anything, those crossed scimitars were less like a pirate flag than she herself, standing at the stern, looked like a pirate leader.

Both in temperament and appearance.

As for those pursuing them, they were the Xilan Empire, which had unified the Brahman Province—in other words, a proper regular army.

But because this "empire" had been established somewhat hastily, the sailors on board were all landlubbers, and the warships they were equipped with, like theirs, were bought from the Hump Kingdom, possibly even from the same shipyard.

Thus, the two sides had been pecking at each other like chickens for hundreds of nautical miles on the open sea, without even scratching each other's paint.

Yet despite this, Si Si, gripping the helm, dared not be careless in the slightest; in fact, she was panicking inside.

Though she had been steering the ship for a while, this was her first naval battle against a "regular army."

"We're already at max speed! Damn! We're carrying too much stuff! At this rate, they'll catch up sooner or later!"

She had heard that using tides and wind could make the ship go faster, but she had no time to log out and ask Baidu.

The throttle was already welded to full speed ahead, yet the enemy was visibly getting closer.

Frowning at the increasingly clear shadows, Tail quickly looked back at the big white bear and the 155mm cannon it had pushed to the stern.

"Rourou! Are you ready?"

"Almost... loaded!" After bustling for a while, Rourou finally stuffed the shell into the breech with clumsy bear paws and locked the breech block.

Seeing this, Tail excitedly shouted at Zhimahu.

"15 kilometers! Roughly!"

"R-roger!"

Zhimahu took a deep breath, adjusted the firing parameters according to the range table, and then her cat-like pupils narrowed into slits.

Her talent enhanced her hearing.

But as her level increased, she also showed extraordinary visual abilities compared to ordinary agility-type players, especially in night vision.

Watching the shadows rising and falling on the distant sea, she made the final corrections, then quickly shot Tail a look that said, "No problem."

Clenching her fist, Tail swung it forward excitedly.

"Fire!"

"F-fire, fire roar—"

Zhimahu covered her ears the moment she pulled the lanyard, and the deafening cannon blast was like a thunderclap exploding on the sea, shaking the deck.

Though a land artillery piece at sea was like a toothpick, the 155mm caliber was still a cut above the enemy's 100mm.

Unsurprisingly, the impact point was at least five kilometers off target.

The orange tracer, clearly aimed at the trailing warship, landed in front of the dozen or so assault boats.

The splash, exploding close by, startled the sailors on the assault boats, even curing their seasickness.

But the captain, standing on the bridge and peering ahead, took it as a provocation and ordered with a dark face.

"Open fire!"

The adjutant beside him dared not delay and quickly relayed the order to each gun position.

Three 100mm cannons were pushed to the front of the deck and fixed, and the two warships' total of six cannons aimed at the bobbing cargo ship.

At the command, a series of cannon blasts erupted, and orange tracers tore through the night toward the cargo ship.

Their accuracy was just as poor—shells either overshot or fell short, stubbornly missing such a large target.

The two sides exchanged fire, shells weaving across the turbulent sea, with only the sailors caught in between and the fish below suffering.

"A bunch of incompetents! What the hell are you doing!"

The captain on the warship cursed furiously, his clenched fist nearly crushing the telescope.

He only regretted that his warhorse couldn't swim; otherwise, he would surely lead the charge and tear those thieving bastards apart.

The adjutant beside him trembled and whispered.

"Captain... the sea is too rough. Our cannons can't aim at this distance. I suggest we wait until we're closer to open fire."

On one hand, their ammunition was running low; on the other, he feared hitting their own men ahead.

Though swallowing his pride was hard, the captain eventually calmed down and raised his hand to order.

"Cease fire!"

The thunderous roar of the cannons, which had raged for a full ten minutes, finally fell silent.

On the assault boats, the marines breathed a collective sigh of relief, praying with every ounce of their being to the diesel engines and the Sun-Bearing Divine Bull, hoping to storm the opposite deck before their fuel ran dry.

Their commander had promised them that whoever set foot on the deck first would receive a reward of one thousand dinars, five slaves, and thirty days of leave.

The stowaways and smuggled goods aboard the ship were to be their spoils of war.

By long-standing tradition, the first to board would have the right of first choice.

On the other side, Tail, clutching a brass monocular, suddenly discovered to her pleasant surprise that after the preceding ten minutes of artillery duel, the "dark shadow" that had been fading from view had vanished once more into the surging, nocturnal curtain of the sea.

Abruptly, the realization struck her.

"Damn! Rou-Rou! It's the recoil! Keep firing!"

Sesame Paste let out a bitter smile.

Though she wasn't a physics teacher, she felt that relying on that meager recoil to propel a cargo ship with nearly five thousand tons of displacement was a bit of a stretch.

The reason the distance had widened was likely because the opposing cannons were misaligned, the firing sequence had gone awry, and the recoil had caused the hull to veer off course.

The enemy had clearly realized this as well, which was why they had ceased fire.

To continue firing now might very well produce the opposite effect...

Just as Sesame Paste was about to voice her warning, Sisi shouted through the communication channel from within the bridge.

"Never mind those two warships for now, Ah Wei! Their assault boats are almost upon us!"

As she spoke, she switched on the bridge's searchlight, casting its brilliant beam toward the stern.

"What the hell?!"

Tail gasped in surprise upon hearing this, immediately lowering her telescope to look closer, and indeed, within the churning foam, the silhouettes of numerous assault boats emerged.

The closest one to them was less than six hundred meters away!

Those marines had already fixed bayonets to their rifle barrels, and the soldiers sitting at the bow of the assault boats had even propped up light machine guns fitted with drum magazines, slickly chambering rounds.

Under the glare of the bright searchlight, she could even see the sinister grins on their faces and the remnants of vomit clinging to their beards.

They had pursued the whole way, vomiting the whole way, and now that victory was finally within reach, every one of them was rubbing their hands together, fully prepared for a brawl.

The soldiers of the Bhara Province were invincible under heaven!

Save for the Wielandians and those endless clone cannon fodder, they had never feared anyone!

Yet, they were not the only ones filled with excitement.

Standing at the stern, Tail grew equally thrilled.

"Oooooh! Rou-Rou! Bring up our close-in weapon system to blast some fish!"

"Right on it!"

Rou-Rou shouted back in excitement, scrambling on all fours toward the center of the deck, and before long, dragged the four-barrel anti-aircraft gun fashioned from 20mm "Light Lances" back to the stern.

This contraption was a masterpiece of the Coalition's military industry, having once displayed its prowess during the Bone-Chewing Rebellion, hailed as an absolute lawn-mowing artifact; though it was nearly outdated in the Coalition, it remained a hot seller in the underdeveloped regions of the wasteland.

"Level the flak gun, and to hell with the court-martial... load the armor-piercing incendiaries, Rou-Rou!" chanting excitedly, Tail strained to turn the winch, depressing the barrels by a few degrees.

Having hauled over the ammunition box, Rou-Rou yanked out an ammo belt and handed it to Sesame Paste, who slotted it into the receiver before shouting to Tail.

"Loading complete!"

Just as the quad anti-aircraft gun finished loading, the soldiers of the Xilan Empire, crouched low on the assault boats, finally spotted the anti-aircraft gun mounted by the ship's bulwark.

Virtually everyone who had just been grinning and rubbing their hands experienced a sudden turn of countenance, and the centurion leading the squad howled in sheer terror.

"Fire! Everyone open fire!"

On this vast expanse of open sea, there was absolutely nowhere to hide!

Though a distance of over five hundred meters was not the optimal time to open fire, there was no time left for him to hesitate.

If they could not disable that autocannon, every single one of them was doomed!

The rat-tat-tat of gunfire erupted almost instantly, a swirling rain of bullets converging upon the pitching and rolling bulwark, clattering sharply against the wide gun shield.

"Oh-ho-ho! Taste this!"

Having finally aligned her sights, Tail let out a wicked laugh and squeezed the firing trigger with all her might.

The continuous thud-thud-thud melded into a roar resembling a tearing fabric machine, as the thick, long tongue of flame instantly became the most dazzling beam of light upon the sea!

The leading assault boat was instantly torn to shreds, and the centurion prone at the bow did not even have time to utter a scream before being reduced to minced meat.

The fuel tank, struck by the armor-piercing incendiary rounds, ignited like a lighter, exploding into a ball of burning fire upon the sea.

Next came the second boat, the third, the fourth...

Even though the remaining assault boats had scattered at the very first moment, half of them were still blown to pieces by that quad autocannon in the brief span of half a minute.

Facing that howling tempest of fire, the surviving marines could no longer muster the courage to pursue, turning their helms one after another to flee back toward their own side.

Watching those assault boats that had already fled beyond the autocannon's range, and the soldiers in the water shivering violently while clinging to lifebuoys, Tail did not continue to sweep them with fire, merely smacking her lips in unsatisfied discontent.

"Tsk, too weak!"

Given the enemy's level of professionalism, rescuing those soldiers in the water would likely take quite some time, and those two warships behind would probably fail to catch up to them.

May the Great Elk God protect them.

May their allies arrive before the lacerating-tooth sharks or other mutated sea beasts caught the scent of blood.

They were already far from the borders of the Bhara Province, and the Sun-Bearing Divine Bull could likely offer them no protection here.

However, even if help did not arrive in time, she would feel no sympathy for those fellows.

Especially after witnessing the conditions at Port Golden Gallon and Tasan, the City of a Thousand Pillars, her only regret was not being able to save more people...

Gazing at the distant silhouettes of the ships that had now vanished, Sisi let out a yawn of relief, while the sailors who were drenched in sweat from their exertions and the mercenaries who had stood ready in battle array finally relaxed their taut nerves.

"Praise be to the protection of the Spirit of the Sand Sea..." A mercenary from the Lion Kingdom knelt devoutly upon the deck, praying toward the rising and falling surface of the sea.

Beside him, a mercenary from the Hump Kingdom curled his lip at the sight and couldn't help but mutter.

"The Spirit of the Sand Sea has no jurisdiction here; you'd better thank the emissaries of the Silver Moon Goddess."

Sesame Paste, who could now understand their speech, offered an embarrassed smile.

The praying mercenary paid the man absolutely no heed, continuing to murmur his incantations to himself.

A few mercenaries from Fountain City helped the captain, Rou-Rou—who was in fact a large white bear—push the artillery pieces that had been rolled onto the deck back into the cabin to secure them.

Tail also made her way into the cabin.

However, she did not follow them to the storehouse, but instead headed to the lowest deck.

This place had once been a cargo hold, but now the partitions had been knocked through, converted into a massive communal bunkhouse for housing people, with additional ventilation vents installed.

Nearly a thousand refugees fleeing the Bhara Province were crammed together here, packing two decks to the brim, the majority of whom were women and children, and moreover, members of the purged Moon Tribe.

The Bhara Province was known as the Land of a Thousand Tribes, said to be inhabited by over a thousand clans and tribes, each possessing distinct beliefs.

The one currently ruling the Bhara Province was the Xilan Dynasty, whose royal lineage possessed the bloodlines of the Sun Tribe and the Ox Tribe; thus, the Sun and Ox Tribes became the upper-class clans of the Bhara Province, and the Sun-Bearing Divine Bull they jointly revered consequently became the faith and symbol of the Empire.

Since the sun and moon countered one another, the sun rising as the moon set, the existence of the Moon Tribe signified misfortune to the Xilan Dynasty, and the Moon Tribe had thus become a lower-class clan.

And it was for this absurd reason that survivors with Moon Clan blood were purged and reduced to slavery.

Though Tail remained puzzled to this day how the people of Bolo Province could precisely identify one’s lineage from a crowd. After all, in her eyes, they all looked more or less the same—at least lacking the distinct features of the Valiants.

But regardless, they had indeed managed it.

Perhaps they had their own methods.

The iron door creaked open.

A pair of eyes immediately turned nervously toward the entrance, and upon confirming that the newcomer was not a pursuer from the Xilan Empire, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

A half-grown little girl wriggled out from her mother’s embrace, pattered over to Tail, and clutched her sleeve without letting go.

Looking at that heart-wrenching face, Tail reached out and ruffled the child’s messy hair, whispering soothingly.

“Don’t be afraid! The Meatball will take you all to a safe place!”

Just then, Sisi’s voice came from behind, tinged with weariness and languor.

“…We probably can’t make it to Silvermoon Bay. No need to even think about it—those people will definitely be waiting for us in the waters near Silvermoon Bay.”

Tail tried to offer a suggestion.

“Hmm, what if we lower the flag and sneak in?”

Sisi made a helpless expression.

“Though I don’t think those folks are particularly bright, do you think they’re blind? They’ll definitely board the ship for a look.”

They had a decent rapport with the mayor of Petra, but Petra was in the northernmost part of Hump Kingdom. And even though Sesame Paste’s cat ears worked wonders in the cat-obsessed 4th Oasis, getting the secularized Silvermoon City to escort them was impossible.

In fact, the Hump Kingdom was doing its utmost to avoid meddling in the regional affairs of Bolo Province. Even if they managed to dock safely at Silvermoon Bay, it might not be safe.

This was the intelligence she had gathered in Golden Ganga Port.

Though she had added some of her own deductions, that was essentially the gist of it.

Tail stared at her in surprise.

“Eek! Are those guys that persistent?”

Sisi sighed and explained patiently.

“A young adult slave can sell for at least a thousand dinars… Not to mention all the things we’ve done—do you know how much money you’ve robbed them of?”

Sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder if the Xilan Dynasty’s inexplicable persecution of the Moon Clan was really about faith.

Maybe it was just a convenient excuse.

The real reason might be that people there wanted to rob legally.

In her view, none of those so-called upper clans were any good—even the way they looked at her made her sick.

Tail guiltily did the math.

“Uh, one… one million?!”

Sisi: “I’m afraid it’s more than that.”

Noticing the distress on Sisi’s face, the woman wrapped in a robe walked over, took the child’s hand, and gently pulled her back to her side.

She lowered her head slightly and said apologetically.

“Sorry… for causing you so much trouble.”

Putting away her helpless expression, Sisi gave her a gentle smile.

“It’s fine. We don’t have anything urgent to do anyway.”

She had given up any hope of making a splash in the next data pack; otherwise, she would never have agreed to let Tail do something so dangerous.

Just then, Tail, who had been pondering, suddenly struck her palm with a fist.

“I’ve decided!”

Sisi looked at her.

“Hmm?”

Tail’s eyes gleamed as she said.

“To Ideal City!”

“By boat… to Ideal City?” Hearing this reckless plan, Sisi was stunned. “Are you sure?”

Ideal City was on the east coast of Zhongzhou Continent. Sailing there wasn’t impossible, but the total voyage would probably exceed ten thousand kilometers…

Without experienced sailors, she wasn’t even sure if there were ports along the way to resupply and refuel.

“Yeah!” Tail nodded seriously. “We’ll land on the east coast. In Yunjiang Province, we should be able to find a settlement that will take them in, right?”

This whimsical idea was so typical of Tail.

But it was also one of the reasons they got along so well.

Though she liked to plan things meticulously, she didn’t actually enjoy a monotonous, dull life.

“I can’t do anything with you,” Sisi scratched the back of her head and said helplessly. “I’ll give it a try.”

Tail’s eyes sparkled as she gave a thumbs-up.

“Whoa! That’s our Sisi!”

Sisi smiled sheepishly.

“Haha, don’t count on me too much, Tail. It might capsize halfway, you know.”

“No worries! It’ll be a chance to go home—” Tail stopped mid-sentence, noticing the others in the cabin. She quickly cut off the unlucky joke, shrank her neck, and whispered a correction. “Hmm, better take it easy. There are so many people on board.”

Sisi responded with a reassuring smile, mimicking her gesture with a thumbs-up.

“Yeah! I’ll do my best.”

“Whoa! I’ll go ask Meatball and Sesame Paste what they think!” Tail’s face lit up with a happy grin, and she dashed up the stairs in a flurry.

Watching the figure disappear up the gangway, Sisi couldn’t help but curl her lips.

It seemed she’d have to seriously study navigation.

Though the ship was idiot-proof, sailing it all the way to Ideal City with such a reckless approach was definitely not going to work.

And—

Supplies were a major issue.

After handling the ship’s affairs, Sisi returned to her room, locked the door, and logged out of the game.

Taking off her helmet, she shuffled over to the computer, sat down, and logged into the *Wasteland OL* official website. She planned to browse the forums to see if any other players were active along the southern coast of Zhongzhou Continent.

It would be great if someone had found another reliable survivor settlement.

But just then, she noticed the mailbox icon in the upper right corner—a little red dot was blinking there.

She casually clicked it open and glanced at the message. Sitting at the computer, Sisi froze, her mouth forming an exaggerated O.

*Southern Sea New Map Testing Invitation…*

“What the—!?”