Delayed too long by matters in Bugra City, Commander Spring and I'm the Darkest ended up missing Battlefield Guy's wedding after all, but they were fortunate enough to make it in time for Fang Chang and Dolly's wedding.
Unlike a Wilante wedding, the one on the Alliance's side had an entirely different "MMORPG vibe." Aside from a handful of NPCs who dealt with players frequently, the majority of the guests attending were players.
Moreover, the players attending the wedding weren't stuffing their faces in the banquet hall. Instead, they were either busy clearing various mini-games or running around between event check-in quests to rack up points for prizes, having the absolute time of their lives.
This had been brother Ye Shi's idea.
Wasteland Online was great in almost every way, but it lacked the flavor a proper MMO ought to have.
Counting on the trash dev was out of the question, so they had to take matters into their own hands.
It just so happened that Fang Chang was also a player who didn't lack money. Believing that joy shared is joy doubled, he waved his hand generously and shelled out ten million silver coins to host a grand event.
With such an abundant prize pool, practically everyone who participated won something.
And for that exact reason, players crisscrossed the Dawn City square all day long.
A ten-million silver coin event.
Even Chu Guang couldn't help marveling at the sheer scale—it was inhumanly lavish.
Incidentally, since Fang Chang's family wasn't in the game and he hadn't yet figured out how to explain things to his mom and dad, Chu Guang temporarily filled the fatherly role, offering blessings to the newlyweds on behalf of Fang Chang's parents.
As for Dolly, like the vast majority of orphans from Boulder City, she had no parents of her own. She had only invited some colleagues from the Survivor Daily, along with Hal, with whom she had once worked, and Sberg, the author of Awakened Boer.
Originally, she had also wanted to invite Niyang, but unfortunately he had already passed away.
To express gratitude for the help given by Dawn City's Survivor Daily, Mammoth University sent a professor to attend her wedding in Niyang's stead.
The man was named Feodor, reportedly a former student of Niyang's. He stood quietly in a corner of the hall, speaking to no one, and no one took the initiative to approach him either.
Having concluded the ceremony, Chu Guang stepped aside, yielding the stage at the center of the hall to the newlyweds.
Watching his good brother Fang Chang dressed up so smartly, and the beautiful bride veiled in white before him, Chu Guang's eyes filled with gratification and pride.
Who would have thought this committed bachelor would actually settle down?
He faintly remembered how, long ago, this guy—already financially independent and living an enviable life—had bragged in the Cattle and Horse group chat. He'd claimed dating didn't matter and that he would never get married in this lifetime; in an era where everyone was just trying to speedrun life, he'd rather stay home and keep a cat.
Incidentally, unlike the worldly Fang Chang, wet-behind-the-ears Ye Shi had proclaimed the same thing many years ago.
Looking at them now, only Lao Bai and Kuang Feng remained consistently steady.
The former had immersed himself in gaming after being discharged from the military, while the latter, as always, was interested only in novel things.
Just as Chu Guang was smiling like a proud old father, Old Charlie, who had retired not long ago, walked up beside him.
As a vault resident who had stayed by his side since the early days, this old man, who had served as Minister of Education and President of the Merchant Guild, was truly one of the Alliance's elder statesmen. Throughout his service, he had always been diligent and meticulous.
Initially, when the gentleman applied for retirement, Chu Guang had talked him out of it several times.
It wasn't until recently, when Old Charlie visited in person carrying a medical checkup report from Dawn First Hospital, that Chu Guang felt too embarrassed to keep holding him back and approved his retirement request.
After all, when a person grew old, they deserved to enjoy a peaceful retirement.
Yet, Chu Guang couldn't tell if it was just his imagination, but the old fellow hadn't stayed idle for more than a few days after retiring. Every few days, he would come buzzing in Chu Guang's ear.
"...Respected Manager, there is something I do not know if I should say."
In a good mood, Chu Guang chuckled and said, "Speak your mind. It does no harm."
Prepared to be rebuffed, Old Charlie took a deep breath and continued with loyal devotion:
"...Though I do not wish to push you, the Wasteland Era has come to an end, and even your most loyal subordinates have begun to settle down one after another. Even if only for the sake of those who support you... you ought to consider your own marriage as well."
Sure enough, it was this again.
Chu Guang wore a helpless expression, about to brush it off casually, but the words halted at his lips.
That did make sense.
In the past, he could brush it off by saying he didn't have time, but now it was a new era.
"Mm, what you say makes sense. I'll give it some thought."
Old Charlie looked momentarily stunned, and then the smile in his eyes blossomed into pleasant shock.
The manager actually took advice?!
The surrounding players didn't notice what was happening here for the moment, but the reporters lurking in the crowd erupted into an instant frenzy...
...
At the edge of the square, Tail, perched on Rou Rou's shoulder, held up a pair of binoculars with an envious look on her face.
"Giao! When Tail gets rich, Tail wants to walk newbies like this too!"
Humans...
Are just like insects!
Sensing that bizarrely chuunibyou vibe, Meat Mountain Steamed Bun made a helpless face.
"Is 'walking newbies' really the main takeaway?"
Still—
It did seem surprisingly fun?
Fantasizing about becoming a server legend, Rou Rou unconsciously smiled a grin that would make even a bear shiver.
Watching this pair of whimsical clowns, Sisi couldn't help pressing a hand to her forehead.
"Ummm... I feel like the money issue isn't hard to solve, but the real question is: does Tail even have a partner to hold a ceremony with?"
Ten million silver coins was a small matter; White Bear Bank's fame along the coast of the East Polo Sea was on par with that of the White Bear Knights.
The latter issue, however, was rather troublesome—they might have to look into arranging an assassination.
Tail: "!!! Tail has to have a partner first?!"
Sesame Paste said between laughter and tears, "Well, it's not impossible without one... but without an emotional foundation, it would feel pretty weird, wouldn't it?"
They couldn't very well host an event just because Rou Rou was shedding fur.
Not only would NPCs find it odd, other players would probably think it was bizarre too.
Seeing Tail looking deeply crushed, Sisi put on an "I really have no choice with you" look and coughed lightly.
"Actually, there's no need to go out of your way looking for someone... If you really can't find anyone, I'll go with you when the time comes."
"Oooh!! It's a promise!"
Tail seemed to regain her vigor at once, enthusiastically shooting up a thumbs-up. Seeing that adorable display, Sisi felt as though she'd taken a shot straight to the heart, two flushes of red blossoming across her usually stoic face.
"!!!"
"Wait, Si—calm down—"
"There is no time to waste! The window to ascend to T0 is fleeting! We have to get our hands on a starship before the open beta officially starts... Rou Rou! Sesame Paste! Time to move out!"
"Where on earth are we supposed to get something like that?!"
"Maybe... let's try becoming T1 first?"
The White Bear Knights were not the only ones embarking on a quest to become the "strongest of the patch."
Right on the other side of the square, two hotheaded novices who hadn't even been in the game for two hours were standing on the steps near the fountain, gazing ambitiously out at the bustling square.
"Wasteland Online! Hahahaha! This granddaddy finally got in! Jie-jie-jie-jie!"
"Ooooh! So this is the game world?! Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable!"
One of them, a tall and skinny man, let out an arrogant, bizarre cackle, both hands exaggeratedly planted on his hips.
Even by the standards of the most socially shameless players, his starter-village villain boss pose was a bit over the top.
As for the guy lying prone on the ground not far beside him, feeling and licking the floor tiles, even other players couldn't help casting glances at him as though he were a monster.
"...That guy's gotta be crazy," Elven King Fugui couldn't help snarking.
Standing nearby and nibbling on a roasted mantis leg, Elaina wore a comical expression.
"Maybe."
Speaking of which, that tall, skinny fellow looked an awful lot like... Professor Yang?
He opened the holographic map on his fourth-generation VM, and sure enough, beside the floating window, he spotted familiar characters:
[Thunder King Professor Yang]
"Holy cow... it really is him?!" Leaning in toward the map, Elven King Fugui looked as if he had seen a ghost.
Mantis leg dangling from his mouth, Elaina stroked his chin and tapped the screen twice to zoom in on the map.
"Yup, that's him. Even goofier than expected. The one beside him is [Tyrannosaurus Warrior]... Uh, this guy's actually an adult? For real?"
As he spoke, he glanced up at the fellow lying on the ground, slurping the floor tiles.
Alright.
You could tell he was indeed very excited.
"With this open beta starting, it really feels like every weird demon and ghost is crawling out of the woodwork," Elven King Fugui said with a complicated expression.
It was worth mentioning that Wasteland Online had recently been warming up for the upcoming open beta, and the daily quota of helmets distributed had suddenly spiked by a massive margin.
It seemed not only had nuclear fusion technology achieved a breakthrough, but the helmet production capacity and server computing power of the operator behind Wasteland Online had also made breakthrough progress.
What a great era to live in—truly worthy of celebration.
Conversely, however, as the player base expanded, certain problems inevitably surfaced.
Any game was like this: once the community grew, weird trolls and brats would inevitably crop up.
These types made zero contribution to the community, had no sense of belonging whatsoever, and took pleasure in ruining other people's gameplay. They would either act as moral arbiters lecturing everyone, try to backseat game, or make boundary-less, supposedly "reasonable" demands.
Compared to such people, Brother Ye Ao—famous server-wide for his toxic mouth—seemed practically friendly.
After all, when someone took keyboard warrior smack-talk to the absolute extreme, their personality flaws perversely kept them from doing anything too egregious.
The only comforting fact was that Wasteland Online was essentially a "console game" launched via proprietary, closed-source hardware, so at least there were no cheating gods with hacks.
As for other potential risks...
For now, the only solution was to extend the playtime required of novice players to increase the sunk cost of abandoning an account.
Yet would this alone be enough to stop griefers and suicide bombers?
Elven King Fugui was actually somewhat pessimistic. After all, no selection mechanism could completely eliminate risk; in fact, the things he worried about were almost certain to happen in the future.
That being said, Elaina had a different view.
"Relax... I think you're worrying way too far ahead. Controlled nuclear fusion has been cracked, and helmet production is ramping up. There will definitely be budget VR alternatives to Wasteland Online in the future, right? I actually think the future batch of newbies is something to look forward to."
While from an operator's perspective, they might want to monopolize this technology, from a realistic standpoint, that was probably impossible.
As time went on, similar VR+MMORPG games were bound to appear.
Not just MMOs and RPGs, either—genres like MOBAs and SLGs would surely be ported to this brand-new, fully immersive platform as well. Those games, with rules that weren't nearly as hardcore and NPCs that weren't nearly as lifelike, would divert a huge portion of casual trolls who couldn't stomach Wasteland Online's hardcore mechanics.
In short: diversion works better than damming.
As for the rest, time would sort it out.
Hoping to nip everything in the bud was impossible. Even real life had all sorts of unexpected incidents, let alone a game.
After pondering for a moment, Elaina ventured a suggestion:
"...How about putting the starter village in the Wandering Marsh? No switching maps before level ten? There are plenty of monsters there."
Elven King Fugui scratched the back of his head.
"Wouldn't the difficulty be a bit too high?"
Elaina shrugged.
"It should be fine. Normal people live there too; the climate's just a bit colder, maybe."
Currently, the honorable trash dev had opened a feedback channel on the official website, soliciting suggestions for the open beta from all closed-beta testers and urging them to speak up.
He'd bring it up when the time came...
While the two veteran players were planning the future of Wasteland Online more conscientiously than the trash dev, Tyrannosaurus Warrior, who had been licking the floor tiles, was finally hauled up by the scruff of his neck by Thunder King Professor Yang before he could achieve total social death.
"Be normal, you idiot! Haven't you noticed everyone around us is staring?!"
Tyrannosaurus Warrior wore an utterly nonchalant expression.
"Who cares? It's not like they know what I look like in real life."
At this moment, he had no idea that many people had once thought the exact same thing, only to regret it without exception later on.
Like not picking a name that wasn't socially mortifying to read aloud when creating their character, or saving a bit of face when they first spawned in...
Still, having weathered so many patches, the surrounding NPCs seemed accustomed to it and didn't take it to heart as much as they used to.
After all, similar antics cropped up every few days; they merely assumed these were more blue mole rats that had surfaced recently.
"Forget it, I'm done shooting the breeze with you."
Glancing at this good-for-nothing partner who botched everything he touched, Professor Yang turned his gaze toward the square ahead, the disgust on his face replaced once more by an overflowing, confident grin.
"...Though the situation is a bit different from what I envisioned, it doesn't matter much."
"My era has finally arrived!"
It had taken five years on the reservation list just to get in. This damn game really had an ego on it.
Still—
This immersive experience made the wait worthwhile!
Professor Yang narrowed his eyes, admiring the sunlight and rainbows splashing over the fountain, watching the dust motes drifting in the light.
Then there were the bustling streets, the cars cruising along the roads, and the wastelanders walking along both sides of the street with weapons slung over their shoulders.
Lifelike.
It was downright too lifelike!
Speaking of which, there was one thing bugging him.
Even though this was his first time entering the game, he had a sense of déjà vu, as though he had visited this place in a dream.
"Hey, Tyranno."
"What?" Tyrannosaurus Warrior stared blankly at him, not entirely sure if this poser was addressing him.
Professor Yang stroked his chin. "Why does this feel... a bit familiar?"
Tyrannosaurus Warrior scratched his head. "People posted pictures on the official forum, right? Aren't you just remembering that?"
"...True."
People were always posting selfies on the forum, and this square was Dawn City's most famous landmark.
Whatever.
Professor Yang shook his head, brushing the trivial detail aside. He craned his neck to scan the square, searching for another netizen he had arranged to team up with.
That person was none other than the official forum's famous Brother Ye Ao—Ye Ao Nai Wo He!
Back when Wasteland Online first launched its closed beta, he was already the forum's renowned mascot.
Though his actual combat prowess was an enigma and his reputation leaned heavily toward infamy, hate-followers were still followers, and it suited Professor Yang's plans perfectly.
Truth be told, considering Wasteland Online had been in closed beta for five years and every playstyle had been thoroughly mined to exhaustion, climbing to T0 through conventional tactics was virtually impossible.
Hence, he planned to assemble a squad of eccentric degenerates specifically to pioneer unorthodox cheese builds, taking wild, off-meta paths until bad money drove out good, turning them into the server's number one disruptive landslide!
If he couldn't be a Lawful Good T0, he would be a Chaotic Evil T0!
Just thinking about it made Professor Yang tremble with excitement!
While he craned his neck looking around for Brother Ye Ao, a petite, neatly dressed young girl was standing on the other side of the fountain, staring blankly at the crystal-clear water.
She could hardly remember how she had walked here from the spawn point; her mind had gone completely numb.
Yet, compared to those players whose very existence was a form of performance art, her entrance seemed almost too normal.
This light.
This water.
This air...
And these pale, shapely legs—wait, tiles!
This was absolutely mind-blowing, okay?!
Wait—
So a fully immersive virtual reality game was actually real?!
Only in hindsight did she recall the stubborn, tough-talking posts she had made on the official forum.
In an instant, her pale face flushed the color of pig liver, looking as though it might explode at any second.
Where—where was the nuke?!
I'm gonna blow this fucking server to pieces!
Just as Ye Ao Nai Wo He was looking around in panic and dismay, Professor Yang, having just learned how to use the map, finally spotted this unruly figure.
Nowadays, unlike in the earliest days of closed beta when you had to complete a mountain of quests to get a VM, players received a stripped-down, simplified version right upon entering the game.
This was mainly to keep novices from getting lost or clashing with NPCs due to language barriers.
Upon confirming that the person before him was the one he was looking for, Professor Yang stood dumbfounded, looking as though he had just been hit with electrotherapy.
"Holy shit, you're Ye Ao Nai Wo He?!"
Though he had considered that this person might be a wet-behind-the-ears, foul-mouthed brat, he had never imagined getting the gender completely wrong.
And didn't the profile card state this player was male?!
Did they sell the account?!
No—
That was impossible!
That intense sense of déjà vu reminded him that he had seen this person somewhere before, and that Ye Ao Nai Wo He had unquestionably possessed a dick... How was it gone now?!
Speaking of which, that bizarre memory was strange enough on its own—how could someone drop their pants in broad daylight in front of everyone!
Even in a game...
The overwhelming shock set Professor Yang's brain buzzing and completely derailed his villainous plans.
Rely on this person to attract like-minded off-meta degenerates...?
No, no, no, that's impossible, right?
Feeling like the guy's gaze was looking down on her, Ye Ao glared at him sullenly.
"Why you calling your daddy?"
What an obnoxious brat.
Professor Yang felt his fists clench, but he still said with a forced smile, "You... ahem, I mean, hello. I'm Thunder King Professor Yang. Nice to meet you."
"Oh, so you're Professor Yang," Ye Ao Nai Wo He replied, nose still tilted toward the sky without the slightest change in attitude, looking him up and down with suspicious eyes. "Just you? You're supposed to power-level me?"
Suppressing his irritation, Professor Yang said patiently, "That was the original plan, but I didn't expect... Uh, by the way, did you just turn eighteen? May I ask, were you really a middle schooler when you first pre-registered five years ago?"
Ye Ao Nai Wo He chuckled coldly, arms crossed over her chest, not mincing words in the slightest.
"So what if I was? What's it to an old fart like you! A small fry like you running your mouth—"
That's it—
He couldn't take it anymore!
"@#%—"
Professor Yang, who had still clung to the idea of having a civilized chat, finally broke down under the verbal abuse.
Blasting out a string of unmentionable profanities, he rolled up his sleeves and lunged forward, brawling with the brat.
However, as an Intelligence-type tactician, he had probably never dreamed that the gene sequence this brat had chosen was the gutter tier from N patches ago—the Strength type.
A punch packing sixty kilograms of force battered stars into his eyes, while his own clumsy movements looked as slow as a crawling snail in the brat's eyes.
It had to be said that the initial base stats of the Strength type were overwhelmingly superior to an Intelligence type that needed time to scale.
Especially when neither side had any equipment.
Straddling Professor Yang's neck and landing two heavy punches—bam, bam!—Ye Ao Nai Wo He was also stunned by just how pathetic this guy was.
The renowned Thunder King Professor Yang was actually getting beaten so senseless he couldn't fight back!
Could it be that yours truly is actually super strong?!
"Hey, hey, hey... throwing hands over nothing, and this is all you've got?" With her confidence swelling, a delinquent-like grin spread across her face as she threw another punch at Professor Yang, who had probably disconnected. "Power-level me? With this? Small fry!"
At that moment, neither of them realized what PK-ing in a safe zone meant.
Before that last punch could even land, both of them disconnected simultaneously and were hauled into a police car by guards who rushed to the scene.
A first offense carried a twenty-four-hour ban; the next time wouldn't be so lenient.
Watching the pair get carted off by guards and the spectating crowd disperse, Tyrannosaurus Warrior, who had been watching from the sidelines, fell silent for a long time before finally uttering a heartfelt sigh.
Who would have thought this game had already developed a complete "penal code"? The future "King of the Underworld" had actually fallen to a couple of beat cops.
Maybe...
He should find a more normal senior player to carry him instead.
"This game is way too realistic..."
Chapter 1064