Each sun has long since extinguished.
Each planet is dead and barren.
At the edge of the Star Realm, a solid planet, not large in scale and about the sa size as Blue Star, quietly revolves in its own orbit.
At the planet’s outskirts, black fog constantly surges forth.
This black fog has replaced the planet’s forr atmosphere.
Because of this, there is no day on this planet, only eternal night.
Ever since one day a century ago, after the sun set, it never rose again.
The na of this planet is—Alpha.
At this mont.
Alpha Star, Northern Continent.
In a coastal border town.
One human figure after another appeared.
"Hiss—"
"So cold!"
"Is this the Interdiate Server?"
"Feels like Value is so thin here, and the air is full of Pollution..."
Exclamations, discussions, confusion, curiosity...
All kinds of emotions spread among this human team.
Swoosh swoosh—
More figures appeared out of thin air on the town’s streets.
Soon after.
This originally empty and desolate town was soon crowded with humans.
"Tsk..."
"This landing squad seems to have so backing?"
"A ten-thousand-player squad, isn’t that the max for team landings?"
"Hope they can hold longer this ti, I’m not ready to die just yet..."
Within the town, several gray-faced, even maid or limbless figures, upon seeing this line of new players, also started whispering among themselves.
They were players from the last landing,
When they first landed, like this team, they were full of spirit and confidence.
But...
In just seven short days.
Ninety-nine percent of the humans in the squad died in battle.
Even the always-invincible captain, undefeated on the Basic Wasteland OL server, fell with resentnt before the army of Fallen Ones.
The fact that they survived was not due to strength, but purely due to Luck.
In that final battle, for various reasons—injury or being assigned to logistics—they did not take the field.
"Oi!"
The thoughts and discussion of these lucky survivors were quickly interrupted by a shout.
A few people from the new team stepped forward to find them.
"Miss Athena has orders—"
"You all, report the situation here to my lady!"
In the center of town.
Stood a rundown church.
This church now temporarily served as the central camp.
In front of the church.
Before a broken cross, a tall, blonde woman stood alone in silence.
Just by standing there, she radiated an aura called holiness at every mont.
"Lady Athena!"
"We’ve brought them!"
The blonde woman turned at the sound, her movent unhurried, unhurriedly graceful.
This was when those injured players finally saw her angelic, exquisitely perfect face.
"M-my lady!"
The injured made no hesitation, calling out at once.
And then, without waiting for this big figure to question them, they proactively poured out everything they knew, like beans from a tipped-over jar.
"This is one of Alpha Star’s strongholds!"
"At first, it was a super large city, but then..."
"Because the Human Camp kept losing, now only this last little town remains..."
"On the other side of the sea is the land of the Fallen Ones."
"Every so often, they launch attacks on human strongholds..."
"Their scale and might are truly terrifying..."
"..."
Athena listened quietly, her face unchanging.
As the squad’s leader, the mont she landed she received a Wasteland OL ga notification.
The Interdiate Server was nothing like the Basic one; its rules and gaplay are constantly changing, unpredictable.
And the mission for this so-called ’Lost Alpha Star’ server was nad ’Defend’.
[Defend—]
[This is a human planet now occupied by Fallen Ones.]
[What you must do is defend humanity’s last Territory, and resist the Fallen army’s assault.]
[Mission duration: Seven days]
[Mission rewards: ???]
[Note—]
[If you defend for more than seven days, and the Territory lost is under 20%, death penalty will be lifted.]
[For each day survived after seven days, rewards will be further increased!]
Unlike the usual rivalries between humans and Fallen Ones on the Basic Server,
This planet’s server left humans clearly at a dire disadvantage.
To the extent that...
Just holding on for seven days counted as perfect completion.
"Maybe..."
"The Fallen Ones on this planet have so special authority?"
"Their Unlimited Value is naturally higher than a human’s?"
Athena guessed silently to herself.
But then, she pushed the thought aside.
Athena turned, golden pupils gazing at the kneeling group before her.
"One question."
Her voice, compared to before, uncharacteristically wavered with emotion.
"Ask anything, my lady, please ask!"
"We’ll tell you everything, not holding back a thing!"
Having seen Athena, these seasoned, wounded players realized instantly that this was an outstanding figure with imnse background in the Federation.
As a result, their attitude beca even more submissive.
Swoosh—
Athena waved her hand slightly.
In the air above those wounded players, a projected screen appeared.
On the screen was...
A face?
A young man’s face, looking youthful and exuding a certain cocky, roguish charm.
"Have you seen him?"
"Whether on Alpha Star, or on previous Wasteland OL servers, or even in your Federation."
Athena asked, enunciating each word, voice heavy and grave.
"This..."
The group exchanged glances, then shook their heads together.
"No!"
Hearing this, the light in Athena’s eyes dimd.
"You may withdraw."
She waved her hand again, her bearing reverting to cold indifference, as if keeping everyone eternally at arm’s length.
Soon after.
The wounded old players withdrew.
In the church, several young people entered in succession.
"Miss Athena!"
"We’ve asked around..."
"No sign of him, and no news about him either!"
The first to speak was a handso young man with blue hair.
If Yu Jin were here, he’d instantly recognize him—the Blue Silver Squad leader from Mars OL, Don Flack.
Standing beside Don Flack was another familiar face of Yu Jin’s:
Aaron Ferguson.
By rights, as soone who had worked as a re rcenary-hireling for so long, Aaron was not qualified to get into the Interdiate Server.
But...
With just one word from Miss Athena,
He was dragged by several Bosses through repeated runs of Basic Servers, continually boosting his Unlimited Value, and in a shockingly short ti beca eligible to land here.
Before this Alpha Star server, Athena had already taken him along to clear several Interdiate Servers.
But Miss Athena’s true purpose was not the Interdiate Server rewards, but rather...
That man.
The ’Brother Yu Jin’ Aaron once t, who later beca Lord Yu Jin whom he could only look up to.
Over the last while,
’Yu Jin’—that na—had spread through the entire Ophelia Federation.
Across dozens of Federation-ruled Star Realms, thousands or even millions of planets, countless billions knew this na.
To call him a household na is no exaggeration.
Everyone knew—
The Federation Speaker’s daughter, Miss Athena, was searching for a youth by the na of Yu Jin.
Any clue or information about him carried a sky-high bounty of tens of millions.
And Athena herself had repeatedly landed in Wasteland OL, trying to encounter Yu Jin once more.
But, calling it a ’needle in a haystack’ was not overstating it at all.
If not for Athena’s unrivaled stature...
Such actions would have been fodder for endless gossip and backroom jokes.
"M-my lady..."
Aaron, seeing Athena silent, plucked up his courage to speak in a low voice.
"Hmm?"
Athena’s golden eyes looked his way,
Her gaze innate with a pressure that made any notion of defiance impossible for Aaron.
"If—if I may..."
"Why don’t we try not logging out imdiately this ti?"
"Every ti before, finding no news of Lord Yu Jin, we just quit..."
"I always think, maybe, the ti window is just too short this way?"
"Do you think it’s possible..."
"That he logged in just a bit after we did, or refreshed at a different starting point?"
Aaron timidly offered his suggestion.
Don Flack frowned slightly.
But Athena, standing before the cross, her golden eyes seeming to pierce all obstacles, gazed toward the distant black sea.
Ti passed slowly.
After a long while,
Athena finally spoke, uttering a single word: "Alright."
Aaron’s words also served as a reminder for her.
She too was reflecting, wondering whether, with the Cosmic Genius Tournant imminent, she was searching for Yu Jin too hastily...
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