Wasteland's Only King-Chapter 34: Superman
"This is Yu Wenbo, reporting live for our station!"
"We’re here at the Pearl River in Jiang City!"
"In the past few years, due to improper residential sewage and waste, this once-beautiful, clear river has turned into a stinky waterway that everyone avoids!"
"But today..."
"Something different is happening!"
"As you can see, there’s a group of young people in the middle of the river, sweating it out under the blazing sun!"
"On both sides of the river, the trash they’re pulling out is being sorted and processed scientifically, and then sent nonstop to the nearest recycling station!"
"If you follow the camera, you’ll see..."
"Grand Principal Jiang Haichuan, Vice Principal Grell, and Jiang City’s top leaders are all here..."
"Of course!"
"Compared to these big names that everyone knows, our main focus today is on a young man who’s just 21 years old!"
"Yu Jin, a junior at Jiangcheng University, and the President of the Environmental Protection Club!"
"From Principal Jiang Haichuan, we’ve learned that today’s event was planned and organized by Yu Jin himself!"
"Before this, Yu Jin led a hundred club members in a ’waste disposal’ club assessment right on the Jiang University campus!"
"Many years ago, Daxia put forward the idea that ’green mountains and clear waters are worth more than mountains of gold and silver,’ emphasizing the need to prevent pollution and value environmental protection!"
"What you’re seeing now is Jiang University students and people from all walks of life putting that philosophy into action!"
"..."
Time flew by in a hurry.
In the blink of an eye.
More than three hours had passed.
The scorching sun overhead was even more blinding and hot than before.
In the center of the river—
Yu Jin, on the little boat, never slowed for a second.
Repeatedly bending over to fish out trash was exhausting, but for Yu Jin, now with the body of a Tier Five Evolver, it was nothing.
On the same little boat—
Yin Yao was hunched over, holding her knees, gasping for air.
She wore a gray tracksuit, already soaked clear through with sweat.
Her high ponytail swung with her every move, but sweat matted the ends to her cheeks.
"Aren’t... aren’t you tired?"
Yin Yao asked Yu Jin, panting.
"Nope."
Yu Jin replied without even turning his head.
Yin Yao shook her head in disbelief.
She wanted to keep up with Yu Jin, but her fatigue was just too much. Her vision was blurring; she felt the first signs of heat stroke.
"If you’re tired, take a break. Don’t push yourself."
Yu Jin noticed Yin Yao stumbling in place, almost falling into the river; he caught her and gave her a reminder.
Yin Yao didn’t force it, slumped against the boat’s cabin, gulped down a whole bottle of water, and started resting.
On the other side—
It wasn’t just Yin Yao.
As time ticked on and the temperature soared—
Whether it was Environmental Club members or enthusiastic local volunteers, after three hours of hard labor, almost everyone was out of strength.
Heatstroke cases had popped up in the crowd, but luckily, medical staff were stationed all around.
"Old Yu!"
On the next boat over, Tang Yunxuan’s face was as red as a baboon’s butt.
"Stop—stop grinding, man!"
"I’m taking a break. You should too!"
With that, Tang Yunxuan gave up pretending to be tough, plopped down, and started resting too.
Yu Jin didn’t respond.
His hands never stopped moving.
[Purification Progress: 35%]
On the translucent panel before his eyes, that line stood out sharply.
This was why Yu Jin was working so hard.
He wasn’t some kind of masochist, and he didn’t actually enjoy suffering, but—
The purification progress was way too low! 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
"Why is it only at 35%?"
Yu Jin scooped up another unidentified lump of trash and stuffed it into the woven bag.
He looked up and glanced around.
The Pearl River’s surface now looked, if anything, completely renewed.
Where his eyes reached, there was basically no more floating trash, only a few random bits here and there.
"That can’t be right."
Yu Jin scratched his head in puzzlement.
The sheer scale of this event was a huge, pleasant surprise for him.
Therefore—
Yu Jin was determined to take advantage of the momentum and max out the purification progress, milking the system dry!
He stopped his hands and fell into thought.
Not far away—
On both riverbanks and boats, when everyone saw Yu Jin finally ’resting,’ they all let out long sighs of relief.
"If President doesn’t rest, I’d really think he’s Superman!"
"Three hours non-stop! He’s got more stamina than national athletes!"
...
"This is Yu Wenbo, reporting for our station!"
"As you all can see, at long last, our Yu Jin has chosen to take a short break after three relentless hours of hard work!"
...
"Hey? Where are all the trolls in the comments on my last video? Where’d y’all go?"
"Weren’t you saying this ’Yu Jin’ was just doing it for show, that this environmental event was just for appearances?"
"Three hours in the blazing Daxia summer, cleaning up trash non-stop—you call that for show?"
"Trolls, say something!"
...
"Family in the livestream room!"
"This is Li Ran and Yu Xin, bringing you live coverage of the ’University Student Environmental Event’ that’s gone viral online!"
"As you can see, today’s organizer and leader, Yu Jin, is finally taking a short break!"
"Honestly, if he didn’t rest, even your streamer would be worried about him collapsing from heatstroke or exhaustion!"
"Family in the live, you can take part in the lucky draw in the top left—and while you’re at it, place your bets: how long before Yu Jin gets back to work?"
"One hour? Two hours? Until after sunset?"
"Haha, I reckon it’ll be after the hottest part of the day—"
"Wait, what?!"
"Yu Jin’s done resting?"
"He’s at it again!"
"Oh my god, he... he jumped into the river?!"
...
Splaaash——!
A dull thud echoed for hundreds of meters along the riverbanks.
Everyone on the boats and shore was stunned.
"Old Yu!"
Tang Yunxuan, who’d just sat down, shot straight back up in panic.
He was ready to dive in right after, thinking Yu Jin had collapsed into the river from exhaustion.
"No worries!"
But the very next second—
Yu Jin’s head popped up out of the water.
In his hands, he held a huge clump of trash.
"?"
Tang Yunxuan was speechless.
Yin Yao was dumbstruck.
Even Yu Wenbo, the reporter, was at a loss for words.
"I realized the floating trash is only a small part; the real garbage and pollution is down at the bottom."
"So..."
"No need to worry about me."
Yu Jin waved to Tang Yunxuan, then dove back underwater.
And this scene—
Instantly hushed the entire, once-bustling river! Dead silence!
This...
Was a stinky river, for real!
The filth, the garbage...
Never mind going in, regular folks can’t even stand the smell!
But Yu Jin?
Just to clean up more thoroughly, he went—right in, like it was nothing?!
Gurgle—
Glug glug—
Right now—
Underwater—
Yu Jin’s situation was totally different from what everyone imagined.
There was a faint glow rippling around his body.
The light was so thin that, under the sunlight, it was almost invisible.
Light Attribute Skill: Shield of Light, Level 3!
With Shield of Light active, the river’s pollution was completely blocked out.
At the same time—
To avoid getting stinky, Yu Jin triggered ’Purifying Light.’
[Ability: Purifying Light]
[Level: Level 2]
[Effect: Healing, Purification, Dispel!]
The stench, at its core, is a kind of pheromone, a real substance.
But with ’Purifying Light,’ Yu Jin dispelled those substances—so he could get wet without risking exposure in front of the crowd, and he wouldn’t end up stinking either.
"Perfection!"
Yu Jin silently praised himself, scooping up another load of trash from the riverbed.
And sure enough, on his translucent panel—the previously-stalled purification progress started climbing again!
Meanwhile—
On both sides of the Pearl River—
No one knew Yu Jin’s secret.
Thousands of people looked at each other in stunned silence.
After a long, long pause—
Reporter Yu Wenbo couldn’t help but shout:
"He—he’s basically Superman!"
