The affairs at Bugra City delayed us for too long. The Spring Water Commander and I Max Black ultimately didn't make it to Old Soldier's wedding, but fortunately, we caught Fang Chang and Dolly's wedding.

Unlike the weddings of Vellante people, the weddings on the Alliance side have a completely different "MMORPG game style". Except for a few NPCs who frequently interact with players, most of the guests at the wedding are players.

Moreover, the players attending the wedding weren't busy feasting at the banquet hall. They were either completing various mini-games or running around various check-in tasks, accumulating points to exchange for gifts, having a blast.

This was Night Ten's brother's idea.

"Wasteland OL" is pretty good in every aspect, but it's missing a bit of that authentic online game flavor.

The dog planners can't be relied on, so they have to do it themselves.

Coincidentally, Fang Chang himself is quite a wealthy player. Thinking that it's better for everyone to have fun together than alone, he generously waved his hand and spent 10 million silver coins to hold a grand event.

With such a generous reward pool, almost everyone who participated got a prize.

Because of this, for a whole day, the plaza of Dawn City was filled with players bustling about.

A 10 million silver coin event.

Even Chu Guang had to marvel at this display of extravagance.

By the way.

Since Fang Chang's relatives are not in the game, and he hasn't figured out how to explain to his parents yet, I sort of played the role of a father, giving blessings to the newlyweds on behalf of Fang Chang's parents.

As for Dolly, like the vast majority of orphans in Giant Stone City, she doesn't have her own parents. She only invited some colleagues from the "Survivor's Daily" and former collaborators like Hal and the author Spielberg of "Awakener Bol".

She originally wanted to invite Niyan, but unfortunately, the latter has already passed away.

To thank Dawn City "Survivor's Daily" for their help, Mammoth University sent a professor to replace Niyan at her wedding.

His name was Feodo, said to be a student of Niyan. He stood silently in a corner of the chapel, without speaking to anyone, nor did anyone initiate a conversation with him.

Chu Guang retreated to the side after completing the ceremony, giving the center stage of the chapel to the newlyweds.

Looking at his good brother Fang Chang, dressed to the nines, and the beautiful bride in front of him wearing a wedding dress, Chu Guang's eyes were filled with gratification and appreciation.

He didn't expect this bachelor to actually settle down.

He vaguely remembered that this guy, who had gained financial freedom long ago and lived an enviable life, used to boast in the group saying that dating didn't matter, that he could never get married in his lifetime. In this era, where speedrun players are everywhere, he'd rather have a cat at home.

By the way, unlike the old and experienced Brother Fang Chang, the young and inexperienced Night Ten also declared something similar many years ago.

Now it seems, only Old White and Wild Wind have remained consistent.

The former indulged in games after retiring, while the latter remains interested only in new things as always.

While Chu Guang was smiling like an old father, Old Charlie, who had recently retired, walked up beside him.

As a long-time companion and resident of the refuge, this elder, who used to serve as Minister of Education and president of the Merchant Guild, is also one of the founding figures of the Alliance, and has always worked diligently and meticulously.

Initially, when this old gentleman applied for retirement, he was persuaded by Chu Guang several times to stay.

Not until recently, when he personally came to visit with a health check report from Dawn First Hospital, did Chu Guang feel too embarrassed to keep him, thus approving his retirement request.

After all, people get older and should enjoy a few days of peace.

However, Chu Guang couldn't help but feel that this old man didn't stay quiet for long after retiring, coming to him to nag now and then.

"... Respected Manager, there's something I don't know if I should say or not."

Chu Guang, in a good mood, smiled and said.

"Feel free to speak out."

Fully prepared to be turned down, Old Charlie took a deep breath and continued loyally.

"... Although I don't want to rush you, the Wasteland Era is over, and even your most loyal subordinates have settled down, one by one. Even for those who support you... You should consider your lifelong event."

There it is again.

Chu Guang made a helpless expression, just wanting to brush it off, but then the words hung in his throat.

He could use the excuse of not having time before, but it's a new era now.

"Hm, you make a good point, I'll consider it."

Old Charlie showed a surprised expression, then turned full of delight, transformed into joy.

The Manager actually listened to advice?!

The players around hadn't noticed the situation over here yet, but the reporters lurking in the crowd erupted instantly...

...

At the edge of the plaza, sitting on Meat Meat's shoulder, Tail held binoculars with a face full of envy.

"giao! When Tail gets rich, I also want to host a new player's tour like this!"

Humans...

Just like bugs!

Feeling the inexplicable, awkward ambiance, Meat Mountain Big Steamed Bun made a helpless expression.

"Is the focus on hosting new players?"

But—

Isn't it unexpectedly rather interesting?

Imagining becoming a legend of the server, Meat Meat inadvertently showed a smile even a bear would shiver at.

Watching these two whimsical treasures, Si Si couldn't help but hold her forehead.

"Hmmmm... I always feel like the problem of money isn't hard to solve, but does Ah Wei have someone he can hold a ceremony with?"

10 million silver coins is a small matter. The reputation of White Bear Bank along the Eastern Poplar Sea coast doesn't lag behind the White Bear Knights.

The latter is a bit troublesome, and one needs to think of a way to perform a stealth assassination.

Tail: "!!! Do we need an object of affection first?"

Ah Ah, Sesame Paste said with a laugh and a cry.

"It's not impossible… but if there's no emotional foundation, it would feel quite strange."

We can't just hold an event because Meat Meat is shedding fur.

Not only would the NPC feel it strange, other players would likely find it inexplicable.

Looking at Ah Wei, who seemed quite shattered, Si Si showed an "I can't do anything with you" expression and gently coughed.

"Actually, there's no need to specifically find… if you really can't find anyone, then I'll accompany you."

"Oh!! It's settled!"

Ah Wei seemed to regain vigor, energetically giving a thumbs up. Seeing that adorable appearance, Si Si looked like he was shot in the chest, two blushes appearing on his otherwise expressionless face.

"!!!"

"Wait, Si— calm down"

"There's no time to waste. The 'T0' advancement window is fleeting; we must get a starship out before the official public beta starts… Meat Meat! Sesame Paste! Time to set off!"

"Where are we supposed to get something like that!?"

"Maybe… start by becoming T1?"

Others who embarked on the quest for becoming "the strongest version" weren't just the White Bear Knights.

On the other side of the plaza, two newcomers who entered the game barely two hours ago stood on the steps not far from the fountain, ambitiously looking at the bustling plaza.

"Wasteland OL!!! Hahaha!!! I, the grand master, have finally entered! Hahaha!"

"Oh oh oh oh!!! This is the game world?! Unbelievable, totally unbelievable!!"

One of them, a tall and slender man, laughed madly and ostentatiously placed his hands on his hips.

His appearance as a villain boss from Novice Village seemed exaggerated even by the standards of players with social anxiety.

As for the guy crouched not far from him, touching and licking the tiles on the ground, even players couldn't help but cast monster-like glances towards him.

"…This guy is crazy." The Gnome King Riches couldn't help but make a snide comment.

Standing next to him, chewing a roast mantis leg, Elena wore a comical expression.

"Maybe so."

Incidentally, that tall and slender man seemed to be… Professor Yang?

He opened the holographic map page of the fourth-generation VM and indeed saw familiar characters on the side of that floating window.

[Thunder Law King Professor Yang]

"Goodness… is it really him?!" The Gnome King Riches, leaning closer to the map, wore an astonished expression.

With a mantis leg in her mouth, Elena touched her chin and tapped twice on the screen, zooming in the map.

"It is undoubtedly him, even more strange than imagined, and the one next to him is [Dinosaur Warrior]… uh, this guy is actually an adult? For real?"

Saying this, he looked up at the guy slobbering over the floorboards.\\p

Alright.

It's clear he's really excited.

"With this public beta opening, it really feels like all sorts of strange creatures are popping up." The Gnome King Riches had a hard-to-describe expression.

It's worth mentioning that recently "Wasteland OL" is warming up for the upcoming public beta, and the number of helmets being issued daily has suddenly surged.

It seems that not only has nuclear fusion technology made breakthroughs, but the helmet production capacity and server computing power of the operators behind "Wasteland OL" have also made significant advances.

It's truly a good era to catch up with, congratulations are in order.

However, in contrast, as the player circle expands, some issues have consequently risen.

Any game is like this: once the circle expands, it's inevitable for some weird and outlandish characters to emerge.

These types contribute nothing to the whole game community, nor do they have any sense of belonging, even enjoying affecting other people's gameplay experiences, either by acting as moral benchmarks and putting tall hats on people, teaching people how to play, or proposing so-called reasonable demands with no sense of boundaries.

Compared to these people, the Proud Brothers known for their foul mouths seem much friendlier.

After all, when a person brags to the extreme, their inherent character flaws instead prevent them from doing anything too outrageous.

The only consolation is that "Wasteland OL", at least for now, counts as a "console game" initiated by closed-source devices, making cheating unlikely.

Regarding other potential risks…

Currently, the only measure seems to be extending new players' game duration to increase the sunk cost of abandoning accounts.

But, could just that prevent "suicide truck"?

The Gnome King Riches actually felt a bit pessimistic, because any selection mechanism cannot completely exclude risks, and what he worried about was almost certain to happen in the future.

But despite this, Elena had a different view.

"Relax… I think you're worried too far, controlling nuclear fusion technology is indeed a breakthrough, and helmet production has gone up. In the future, there will certainly be virtual game substitutes for 'Wasteland OL', right? I think future newbies can still look forward to it."

Although from an operator's perspective, there might be a desire to monopolize this technology, from a practical standpoint, this should be impossible?

Over time, similar VR+MMORPG games will certainly emerge.

Not only MMO and RPG, games like MOBA, SLG will certainly be transplanted to this new, fully immersive platform. These less hardcore rules and less realistic NPC games, too, will divert a significant fraction of casuals who are unable to embrace the core settings of "Wasteland OL".

Simply put, unblocking is better than blocking.

As for the rest, let's leave it to time.

It's impossible to anticipate everything. Unexpected events happen even in real life, let alone in a Game.

After pondering for a moment, Elena tried to suggest.

"... How about placing the Novice Village in the Wandering Swamp? Can't change maps before level ten? There are plenty of monsters there."

The Gnome King Riches scratched the back of his head.

"Isn't that a bit too intense?"

Elena shrugged.

"It's alright, there are ordinary people living there too, although the climate might be a bit colder."

Currently, the esteemed Dog Plan has opened a message channel on the official website, soliciting feedback for the official launch from all alpha testers and encouraging them to actively speak up.

I'll mention it then...

Just as two veteran players were seriously planning the future direction of Wasteland OL more seriously than the Dog Plan, the Dinosaur Warrior, who was lying on the ground licking the floor, was finally picked up by Professor Yang, the Thunder Law King, by the neck before he died of social embarrassment.

"Get a grip! Haven't you noticed that everyone around is looking at us?"

The Dinosaur Warrior had an indifferent expression.

"What's the big deal? They don't know what I look like in real life anyway."

At this moment, he didn't realize that many had thought the same way before, and all of them, without exception, regretted it.

Like not choosing a less embarrassing name when creating a character, or keeping a bit of dignity when first born...

However, after so many versions, the surrounding NPCs seemed to have gotten used to it and didn't pay much attention, unlike before.

After all, such scenarios pop up every now and then; they just see it as another Blue Ground Squirrel emerging recently.

"Forget it, I'm done with you."

Glancing at the ineffectual and mishap-prone guy, Professor Yang's gaze shifted to the square in front of him, where his face of disdain turned back into a confident smile.

"...Though things didn't go as expected, it doesn't differ much."

"My era has finally arrived!"

He had been waiting five years to reserve this damn Game, and it sure acts like it's such a big deal.

But—

This immersive experience was worth the long wait!

Professor Yang squinted, admiring the sunlight and rainbow cast on the fountain, and watching the dust floating in the light and shadows.

And the bustling streets, the cars zipping through the roads, and the Waste Land Wanderers with weapons walking on either side of the street.

Realistic.

Incredibly realistic!

But speaking of which, there was one thing he was quite concerned about.

Even though it was his first time entering the Game, he had a deja vu-like feeling of having been here in a dream.

"Hey, Dinosaur."

"What's up?" The Dinosaur Warrior, looking perplexed, wasn't sure if this show-off was calling out to him.

Professor Yang rubbed his chin.

"Why do I feel... a bit familiar?"

The Dinosaur Warrior scratched his head.

"Maybe someone posted a photo on the official forum? Did you remember wrong?"

"...Could be."

There have always been people posting selfies on the forum, and this square is the most famous landmark in the City of Dawn.

Never mind.

Professor Yang shook his head, dismissing the trivial detail, and stretched his neck, looking around the square, searching for another friend whom he had arranged to team up with.

This person was none other than the famous Proud Brothers on the official forum—Proud Brother, What Can You Do About It!

Ever since the opening of the alpha test for Wasteland OL, he had been a famous group pet on the forum.

Though his combat power was mysterious and he was notorious, black fans were still fans, and they hit right at Professor Yang's preference.

To be honest, considering that Wasteland OL had been in alpha for five years and various tactics had been thoroughly explored, it was almost impossible to upgrade to T0 through traditional means.

Thus, he planned to form a team of eccentric geniuses to develop unconventional gameplay, taking unexpected paths and becoming the first chaotic outlier of the entire server!

Since he couldn't be the orderly and righteous T0, he'd be the chaotic and evil T0!

Even the thought made Professor Yang excited!

As he craned his neck and looked around while searching for Proud Brothers, a petite and upright girl was standing silently on the other side of the fountain, staring at the clear and transparent water.

She couldn't quite remember how she had walked here from the resurrection point; she seemed entirely dazed.

However, compared to those players whose very existence was filled with performance art, her debut seemed almost too normal.

This light.

This water.

This air...

And these alabaster legs—oops, tiles!

This is freaking awesome, isn't it?!

Wait—

So, a fully immersive virtual reality game is real?!

Only now does she recall all those tough words she said on the official forum.

And in an instant, that fair face turns beet red, as if it's about to explode.

Nuke, where's the nuke?

I'm gonna blow up this server!

While Lord Arrogant Brother is in shock, looking around wildly, Professor Yang, who just learned how to use the map, finally spots this defiant guy.

Today's VM is not like the initial closed tests where you had to do tons of tasks to get one. You now get a simplified version right after entering the game.

This mainly prevents new players from getting lost or having conflicts with NPCs due to language barriers.

Confirming that the person in front of him is indeed the one he was looking for, Professor Yang is dumbstruck, as if shocked by electricity.

"Whoa, you're Lord Arrogant Brother?!"

Though he expected this guy might be a foul-mouthed brat, he never considered he would mistake the person's gender.

And didn't the profile card say male?!

Could he have sold his account?!

No—

Impossible!

The strong sense of déjà vu reminds him that he has seen this guy somewhere before, and that Lord Arrogant Brother was undoubtedly a dude... how is this one female?!

Speaking of which, that peculiar memory is quite odd too. How could anyone just drop their pants in public!

Even in a game...

The excessive shock causes Professor Yang's mind to buzz, completely scrambling his villainous scheme.

Attracting like-minded rogue players through this guy...

No, no, no, can't do that, right?

He feels Lord Arrogant Brother's gaze looking down on him with disdain.

"Why're you calling me, Dad?"

Such a rude brat.

Professor Yang feels his fists clench but still speaks with a forced smile.

"You little... cough, I mean hello. I am Thunder Law King, Professor Yang. Pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, so you're Professor Yang," Lord Arrogant Brother's nose-up attitude remains unchanged, eyeing him skeptically, "You? Gonna help me level up?"

Professor Yang holds his patience and says.

"I originally planned on it, but it seems... uh, by the way, are you newly adult? Is it okay to ask, when you first pre-registered five years ago were you really a middle schooler?"

Lord Arrogant Brother chuckles without politeness, arms crossed.

"So what if I was? None of your business, old fart! You're just a minor fish, why so much BS—"

Enough—

He can't take it anymore!

"@#%——"

Trying to maintain a decent conversation, Professor Yang is ultimately provoked beyond defense.

Blurting out an expletive, he rolls up his sleeves and charges, grappling with the brat.

But, as an intelligence-type strategist, he hadn't anticipated that this brat's gene sequence was actually from a previous version's sewer class—strength type.

This punch of sixty kilograms brings stars to his eyes. His movements appear as slow as a snail's crawl to the brat.

Admittedly, the initial strength-type stat panel is overwhelmingly powerful compared to the intelligence-type requiring growth time.

Especially when neither side has equipment.

Straddling Professor Yang's neck, Lord Arrogant Brother throws two punches, surprised by the weak chicken-level of this guy.

The famous Thunder Law King, Professor Yang, utterly powerless against him!

Could it be that I'm actually strong?!

"Hey hey hey... resorting to violence with no skill?" Her face shows a mischievous smile, as she smacks the likely knocked-out Professor Yang again, "Level up? This? Minor fish!"

Neither of them realizes that fighting in the safe zone has consequences.

Before the punch lands, both are disconnected, carried off by the guards to a police vehicle.

First warning leads to a 24-hour ban, next one might get worse.

As the guards take the two away and the onlookers disperse, a silent Dinosaur Warrior finally utters a genuine comment.

Didn't expect the game to develop such a complete "criminal code," and the future "Dark World King" defeated by a few mere officers.

Should I—

Seek a more reliable elder to guide me.

"This game is so real..."