Wasteland's Only King-Chapter 208 - 14: Remnants of the Old Era, a Ship With No Place in the New
But...
It was useless.
Yu Jin froze, activating the Eye of Insight.
[Yin Shanhai]
[...]
[Evaluation: Once contaminated, though purified, life energy is depleted; lifespan at its end, no hope of recovery.]
Yu Jin fell silent.
And Yin Yao, seeing that the Purifying Light didn’t work, seemed to realize as well.
She bit her lip, her eyes turning red.
"Grandpa..."
Yin Yao held the old man’s wrinkled hand, calling softly.
"Yaoyao."
The old man’s cloudy eyes gazed into the air before him, nodding slightly in response.
"Elder Yin."
Yu Jin took a deep breath, stepped forward, and respectfully addressed him.
"Yu Jin has returned."
"Haha..."
"I still waited, I waited for this day."
The old man spoke with a smile, his tone tinged with sighs and emotion.
After pollution descended, Blue Star’s old order was shattered.
When survivor bases rose one after another on this land, this old man became a true remnant of the old era.
A remnant of the old era, with no ship to carry him into the new one.
And the old man’s choice was... to calmly accept it.
Back then he stayed, just wanting to do something for those who remained.
And now?
On realizing they no longer needed him, the old man didn’t feel lost—if anything, there was some faint comfort.
In front of the stone table in the courtyard.
The old man held Yu Jin and Yin Yao’s hands, softly recounting everything he’d heard these two months.
In this moment, his tone and posture were no different from any kindly grandfather next door.
"People... are strange like that."
"When the great catastrophe first struck, everyone came together, organizing strength to protect the masses, fight the monsters."
"But after your last return to Blue Star, after purifying the pollution, everything changed..."
"Many of my old friends still couldn’t put down things of the past..."
"I urged them, just be like me—an old man staying in the yard—but..."
"Ai—"
"Can’t blame them, everyone has their own choices."
"I heard those old friends established various survivor bases in the Imperial Capital area, perhaps that’s a good thing."
"Just these old bones of mine can’t take the trouble anymore."
"Fortunately, I kept dragging myself along, and finally waited for you to come back..."
"..."
The old man spoke with incomparable calm, softly telling of the changes on this land.
Yin Yao and Yu Jin fell into a long silence.
For a long while.
The two could only heave a heavy sigh.
"What about Grandma?"
"What about Dad and Mom?"
Yin Yao forced down her voice, nervously asking.
The old man was silent, and sighed deeply.
"Your grandmother couldn’t survive the first wave of pollution—she became an infected body."
The old man’s first sentence nearly made Yin Yao’s tears break through.
"She, even as an infected body, was unwilling to hurt me..."
The old man spoke softly, an expression on his face that was hard to tell bitter from sweet.
He shook his head and continued:
"Your father and mother—they crossed over."
"One after another, they received internal testing helmets. This time, they chose to put them on, to scout the way ahead for Blue Star’s remaining compatriots."
"By now it’s been over a month since they crossed over..."
The old man’s voice trembled faintly.
How could he not miss his children?
Back then, the resolute look on Yin Zhenzhong’s face as he donned the helmet was just like his own decision, in the early morning of September 9th, to stay on Blue Star.
The old man didn’t stop them, couldn’t have stopped them.
"Since we’re talking about this, let me tell you about their testing situation..."
"I’ve remembered all this info, day and night, just waiting for you two to come home..."
"The place they went is called ’Star System Wasteland’—there are vast starry skies and desolate planets..."
...
...
Imperial Capital, Outer Ring.
Tongzhou Survivor Base.
Wu Yufei’s figure slowly descended from the sky.
"Dad, Mom, I’m back."
Yu Fei’s voice softly echoed throughout the whole base.
Lacking any tracking abilities, this was the only ’extravagant’ method he could use.
Soon after—
A middle-aged couple burst out from inside the base.
The man’s face was smeared with dust, as if he’d just been doing some hard labor.
The woman wore an apron, her hands stained with oil.
"Son!"
"Yufei!"
Ever since he crossed the Wasteland—even when he’d faced Tier Nine Eureka, his expression had never changed. But now, Yu Fei’s body lightly trembled.
"I’ve returned..."
Yu Fei strode up, hugging his parents, repeating those words again and again.
...
...
Zhejiang Province.
Old Cui knelt before a little mound.
By his side, his girlfriend Zhao Yanyan was weeping her heart out.
"Dad, Mom."
"Father-in-law, Mother-in-law."
"Your son wasn’t dutiful—he’s come home too late."
Old Cui repeated those words over and over.
He wandered the A3 Planet for so long, searching every Refuge City, unable to find any sign of his parents.
Yet after returning, only learned of their deaths from his girlfriend Zhao Yanyan.
She said—
After the great catastrophe, the whole family hid inside the house. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
But supplies in the house ran out. So the two sets of elders left Zhao Yanyan behind and went outside, only to be targeted by infected bodies.
They brought the supplies back, but collapsed right before Zhao Yanyan’s eyes.
...
...
Expensive Province, Bijie.
Lights of electricity kept flickering over Chen Gang’s body.
The crackle of electric current revealed his inner unrest.
"Bro..."
"Before Dad left, he wanted me to tell you—he really did love you."
"Back when you fought with him about college and stopped coming home for the holidays, he was actually so upset. I saw him chain-smoking at night..."
"Wu wu, bro..."
"I... I’m really sad too..."
"I don’t have Dad anymore, no more..."
...
...
Jiang City.
Yu Wenbo, following his memories, found his old neighborhood.
In just over two months, the neighborhood was already in ruins.
Yu Wenbo silently walked the alleys and climbed the stairs.
He reached his apartment but found the door had been forced open.
The place was littered with debris—clearly thoroughly looted.
Food, drinks, clothes...
Yu Wenbo took a deep breath and walked into the innermost room.
He pushed open the door. Cobwebs and dust drifted down.
The computer screen in the room was covered in a thick layer of gray.
The PC case under the desk had blackened, withered away.
Click—
Yu Wenbo reached out and pressed the power button.
The computer didn’t—and couldn’t—respond.
Click click—
Yu Wenbo reached for the mouse and clicked it.
The mouse made a crisp sound.
Yu Wenbo sat cross-legged on the floor, remembering the countless nights he’d battled in the canyon here.
Now, he was a true subordinate of Dawn City, a Tier Six Extreme Evolver.
With his Blood Axe attribute, he could practically cosplay as real-life Draven.
But...
His most beloved Draven would never return.
...
...
Gan Province, county town.
A fresh-faced boy of fourteen or fifteen showed off his abilities with excitement.
"Hei-ha—!"
He cried out lightly, flames rising in his palm.
"Dad, Mom."
"Look, I’m really like the web novel protagonists now—I can control fire, I’ve stepped into the extraordinary!"
The boy’s name was Ye Ye.
Before his crossing, he’d always dreamed of being the main character.
After crossing, he didn’t become the protagonist but did save Yu Jin by chance in Laxi City.
Though Yu Jin later woke and hurried off to the Naiya City showdown, he still gave the boy the good karma he’d earned.
It’s worth mentioning—
Ye Ye’s talent really did have a touch of protagonist’s luck.
He started late, but in a short time broke through Tier Five extreme by madly popping crystals, and wasn’t far from Tier Six.
Because of this, he broke into the top five hundred thousand and got to return to Blue Star.
In the small county base—
The middle-aged couple looked at Ye Ye with faces full of relief.
"Good, good..."
"Our Ye Ye is the best..."
"Come, tell Mom and Dad about the time you saved that Yu City Lord from Dawn City..."
