Uninhabited Planet.
Carol and the arrival of the Interstellar Mother Ship left Tang Yunxuan and the rest of the closed beta players completely blank in the mind.
Especially Tang Yunxuan.
Facing Carol’s "pressing questions," he was so tongue-tied that he couldn’t get a single word out.
"Closed beta players?"
Carol suddenly spoke.
As the words fell.
The faces of the nearly ten thousand people present changed instantly.
Even players as steady as Yin Zhenzhong tried hard not to show abnormality.
But most of the others still revealed their identities by reacting strongly.
Swoosh—
Swoosh swoosh—
In a split second.
Nearly half of those present all chose to "log out."
Tang Yunxuan looked at the scene and couldn’t help shaking his head and sighing.
These newbies seem to have forgotten...
No matter how many tis they log out and back in, the respawn coordinates are still on this planet, maybe right next to this crystal ore even.
In the past few days, Tang Yunxuan, wary of Carol’s sudden return, had tested this countless tis already.
On the other side.
Watching thousands disappear into thin air, Carol’s face remained neutral, but inside she was shocked.
Before this,
She’d never heard of...
Closed beta testing for the Star System Wasteland?
"High-level civilization?"
"A Level III civilization more advanced than Salsa?"
Carol barely had this thought before she shook her head in denial.
Level III Civilization players can’t possibly be this weak.
Carol reined in her wandering thoughts and swept her gaze across the remaining thousands before her.
"Closed beta players..."
"They might actually be more suitable for mining than the planet’s indigenous people?"
...
...
Clang—!
Tang Yunxuan swung his iron shovel.
A crystal dropped down.
Buzz—!
As the crystal fell, a beam shot over from not far away.
The light ca from an unmanned cha.
The forr Tier Eleven combat chas had been reprogramd by Carol with new work protocols.
Specifically including—
1. Scanning the crystals
2. Recording the yield
3. Protecting the players
"Ai—"
Tang Yunxuan let out a long sigh.
He hadn’t even managed to achieve "crystal freedom" yet, and here he was, back to being a mining slave.
But compared to the very beginning...
Because they’re closed beta players, Carol not only didn’t fully treat them as "slaves," she actually gave them slightly better treatnt.
After all—
If closed beta players truly refused to log back in, Carol would lose these precious human resources.
Therefore,
Just now, Carol formally announced the new "work regulations."
The rules not only strictly banned "privately pocketing mined crystals, with severe punishnt for offenders."
They also included quite a few benefits for Tang Yunxuan and the other closed beta players.
For example—
For every 100 crystals mined (regardless of tier), you could get 1 crystal of the highest tier you personally qualify for (up to Tier Nine).
Take Tier Five Tang Yunxuan for example, he’d already mined 12, and just needed 88 more to earn 1 Tier Five Energy Crystal.
Another example—
Minimum work ti each day is eight hours.
The rest of the day, you can choose to "clock out," rest, and return to Blue Star.
As long as you log in on ti for your shift, Carol will still send out rewards as per regulations.
If you don’t want to obey this set of "work regulations"?
Tang Yunxuan glanced into the distance.
Bzzt—!
A closed beta player from Sakura, unwilling to mine, took his chances logging in and out dozens of tis skeptically.
But every single ti, he found himself respawning near the crystal ore.
The farthest he ever got was just five kiloters away from the mine at most.
And then...
This Sakura player had been camped and "killed" by the unmanned cha dozens of tis.
Carol’s thod of "killing the chicken to scare the monkeys" was indeed effective.
Among the thousands who had logged out earlier, the vast majority who logged back in joined the "eight-hour work system" with pride.
"Crystals, compared to before, are much worse now for sure."
"But those so-called ’contribution points’ and the rewards you can trade for are honestly drool-worthy..."
Old Tang muttered, shovel swinging again in his hand.
In Carol’s new rules, aside from the "crystal benefits," the most important part was the "contribution point" system.
Currently, there was just one way to earn contribution points: mining.
Over a hundred unmanned cha would automatically record each player’s mining output, and tally up "contribution points" based on the crystals’ tier and quantity.
Those "contribution points" can be exchanged at Carol’s for rewards.
The lowest reward started with Tier Seven mutated beast at.
The top reward...
Joining the Interstellar Mother Ship and becoming a fleet mber!
In the future, you could even pilot an interstellar warship and roam the starry sky!
Besides that,
Carol also dangled tempting prizes like "Interstellar Battle Armor" and "Laser Combat Knife."
Of course.
These rewards weren’t just about earning enough contribution points—they required one critical prereq—swearing fealty to the Lord!
Tang Yunxuan and the others didn’t know exactly who Carol’s "Lord" was.
So brave, reckless players really asked directly, only to be coldly rebuffed by Carol:
"re ants like you have no right to know the Lord’s true na!"
"Only by swearing loyalty and joining the fleet will you be worthy of uttering our Lord’s na with reverence!"
Clang—!
Tang Yunxuan dug out another crystal.
He bent and picked it up, while at the sa ti, his eyes couldn’t help glancing at the massive Interstellar Mother Ship in the distance.
"Set a small target first..."
"Mine, board the ship, and swear loyalty to the Lord!"
"Anyone who can make Tier Twelve bosses serve so loyally must be an even bigger boss!"
"In this absurdly dangerous wasteland, becoming one of their people—what bigger opportunity could there be?"
If he didn’t know when the crossing would happen, Tang Yunxuan might have shouted, "How can a man live cringing beneath others forever?"
But right now,
On his Wasteland interface, those countdown numbers were still ticking away, second by second—
23:19:20:31
23:19:20:30
...
The crossing is coming, inevitably.
This closed beta was a precious chance to make full preparations in advance.
Once, when opportunity stared Tang Yunxuan in the face, he’d given up out of cowardice.
Given a second chance,
He vowed to seize it with all his might... and mine like hell!
...
...
Blue Star, Daxia.
Jiangcheng University, n’s dorm tower.
Tang Yunxuan took off his helt, quietly feeling the changes in his body.
He’d just mined for a full sixteen hours in the Star System Wasteland.
Yep, sixteen hours—a full double the eight-hour minimum.
Tang Yunxuan believed—
If he just mined diligently enough, he’d get to join Carol’s interstellar fleet and receive the Lord’s protection—and only then, after the world crossing, could he survive in that dangerous otherworld.
More importantly—
He’d just gotten an explosive bit of news from Carol.
Old Yu and the others crossed to a lower-tier wasteland server called Wasteland Planet.
But he himself was now in the Star System Wasteland.
The top players on Wasteland Planet might get promoted to Star System Wasteland.
In other words,
He’d have the chance to reunite with Old Yu in the future.
"When I mine my way to the top, beco a mber or commander of the interstellar fleet..."
"And then, when Old Yu gets promoted, I’ll ask Carol to add Old Yu to the fleet too!"
"Hope Old Yu cos through and gets promoted!"
"You’ve had my back before—in the future, I’ll have yours!"
"That’s the brotherhood we share!"
Tang Yunxuan was full of motivation.
He believed Old Yu could do it. After all, it’d only been a few days since the crossover, and Old Yu was already "Dawn City Lord," even able to send him crystals and mutated beast at long-distance.
Isn’t that exactly what Carol called a ’top player of Wasteland Planet’?
Tang Yunxuan’s pleasant daydream was cut off by a voice behind him.
"Boss!"
"You’re finally back!"
Behind him, the younger students gathered, all sighing in relief and excitent.
"What’s wrong?"
"More mutated beasts attacking students?"
Tang Yunxuan stood up, his expression serious.
"Yes!"
"That three-colored stray cat you drove away before—it ca back!"
"It seems way stronger than before, and it’s been blocking the dorm entrance for a while. We can’t even go out to find food..."
A younger student relayed the news grimly to Tang Yunxuan.
"Huh?"
Tang Yunxuan snorted coldly.
Is this a joke!
After several days of mining and crystal chomping, he was a Tier Five Evolver now, not far from Tier Six!
Admittedly—
Back on Blue Star, an Evolver’s abilities are greatly suppressed.
This suppression could reach 99%, making it basically impossible for Tang Yunxuan to use his full Tier Five power.
Still!
A asly three-colored mutant cat? Piece of cake.
On the Star System Wasteland, you can call "miner," and I won’t argue.
But on Blue Star, as a Tier Five Evolver, I’m the leader of these students—their ’boss’!
Tang Yunxuan stood, grabbed a wooden rod from nearby.
His Attribute is "Gale Sword," so he needs a Weapon to draw out its full power.
"Lead the way!"
...
...
A3 Planet.
Dawn City, Core Area.
Yu Jin stared at the bright projection hovering in mid-air.
[Ti left to promote: 2 days]
"Two more days..."
"No crystals to chomp—ti is crawling."
Yu Jin sighed softly.
For most of the past day, he’d been testing his Enhanced Talent.
The good news—
The talent’s boost to Abilities is huge, even up to 100%.
The bad news—
The cooldown’s forever; can only use it once every 24 hours.
During Dawn City’s promotion period, Yu Jin couldn’t leave, or the upgrade would be aborted and have to start the tir over again next attempt.
So...
Yu Jin still hadn’t tested whether the Coordinate Imprint allows a return to Blue Star.
He’d have to wait for Dawn City’s upgrade to finish before trying.
Of course, even as a test, Yu Jin already planned: if it worked, he’d head straight back to Blue Star.
Level 6 Shelter City Coordinate Imprint Level 9 Enhanced Talent.
Yu Jin had a strong hunch this ti it’d work out!
The only thing uncertain...
How many could return, and for how long.
After all, last ti the Coordinate Imprint barely created a Space Black Hole, and it didn’t last long at all.
During this day,
Besides testing his talents, Yu Jin also received updates from Carol—
[Your commander Carol has captured one X-87 Interstellar Mother Ship for you]
[Your commander Carol has mobilized more Star System Wasteland wanderers to mine planetary resources for you]
[Current planetary occupation progress: 0.1%]
[...]
[Carol requests—]
[She proposes recruiting so Star System Wasteland wanderers, training them as new fleet mbers, so as to cultivate future talent for your war among the Star System Wasteland...]
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