Wasteland Development Diary

The teddy bear looked the same as always, chubby and fluffy, with a U-shaped smile beneath its beady eyes.

This time, it was wearing a neat and crisp black suit, short trousers with a belt, and round-toed leather shoes, looking very formal.

"Mr. Zhou, we've come with genuine sincerity to invite you this time."

The teddy bear gestured animatedly as it spoke, as always.

"A powerhouse like you is precisely the kind of partner we most desire for this trip, especially since we're going to the 'Forbidden Martial Arts Ruins'."

Another new name, but Zhou Yi remained calm.

He mentally called out, "Kestrel, check out this place."

The drone responded, "No such place found."

"..."

Zhou Yi looked at the teddy bear with a suspicious gaze: "Never heard of it."

"That's because it was only recently discovered."

The teddy bear scratched its head and said, "This ruin is the real deal. It was originally a mission accepted by a team of bounty knights. Last winter, they crossed rapids and high-pressure zones to reach remote islands in the Far East."

"Island groups are generally occupied by local forces, which are usually xenophobic, making landing very difficult. Even if you get ashore, you risk being attacked if you're not careful."

"However, when they arrived at the core main island of that island group, they found that it was surprisingly well-ordered. The local Guang Na species didn't harm people at all. Even the seahorse shooters, who usually like to open fire, and the red-haired monsters, who tend to go berserk in winter, only sized them up from a distance."

"Two bounty knights casually captured resting thorn birds. Even when attacked, the thorn birds only tried to escape and didn't attack them. However, for safety's sake, they pulled out the thorn birds' long beaks to avoid danger."

"Then, these two bounty knights disappeared."

The fluffy bear's voice lowered.

Zhou Yi asked, "Did they disappear in front of others, or were they simply missing?"

"The other knights saw a flash of light that instantly wrapped around them and sucked them away."

The teddy bear waved its short arms: "Subsequently, another bounty knight and two knight guards disappeared in the same way. The accompanying mage determined that martial arts were forbidden there, and anyone who used violence would be directly captured by that power."

"So there were many Guang Na species on that main island, but there was no fighting at all. Many injured creatures were resting and surviving the winter there because the combatants had all been dealt with."

"It was because of this discovery that the bounty knights named it the 'Forbidden Martial Arts Ruins'."

Zhou Yi immediately thought, "Is it the mechanism of the Dead Sea aberration?"

"You're right."

The teddy bear hiked up its pants: "The bounty knights set up camp on the spot for a few days, gradually exploring the main island from the coast. They quickly found a massive ancient-era building with extremely strong energy reactions."

"They saw a red-haired monster being released from inside. The red-haired monster was very afraid when it looked at the building and ran away without looking back."

"The mages managed to communicate with the red-haired monster and learned that the building was indeed a Dead Sea aberration. The red-haired monster had been caught because it had fought with a thorn bird that was taunting and circling around its ear."

"Like the knights, it was enveloped in some kind of light and then taken to a strange secret room. At first, the red-haired monster wanted to destroy the place and escape. It hit the walls and was continuously struck by flashes of light, with the intensity constantly increasing..."

All attempts only resulted in intense pain, and the red-haired monster had to give up on escaping.

It also discovered that there were other Guang Na species imprisoned inside besides itself, including some stronger than it. After arriving here, those creatures became very obedient, as if they had all been tamed.

However, it wasn't completely impossible to move around inside. Every once in a while, an iron gate would open, and the prisoners could go to an open-air area to absorb deadlight and stretch their limbs. When the whistle blew and the light flashed, it meant they had to return to their rooms immediately.

During the year it was imprisoned, the red-haired monster also witnessed other trapped creatures trying to escape.

Especially during the open-air activities, several powerful creatures tried to climb or jump over the high walls, and some flying creatures even took off directly... then they were knocked to the ground by light walls and lightning, their bodies smoking.

Fighting would also get you locked up in an even more terrifying dark place.

In this strange place, anyone who broke out in physical conflict or harmed others would be caught.

"...The bounty knights asked it if it had seen five humans like them. The red-haired monster said it had seen them. They were newcomers who were struck by lightning and crawled on the ground, suffering a lot."

The teddy bear said, "Because of the existence of that Dead Sea aberration, you can't use force on that island; you can only dodge and defend against attacks."

"Mr. Zhou, your feat of crossing the sea to break through Shell City and killing Bai Li Gong is known to everyone. So we thought that if you could bring Emerald City, safety would be guaranteed."

The other party didn't hide their purpose; they wanted Zhou Yi to bring Emerald City.

Zhou Yi pondered.

It sounded like the building lifeform was either a police station or a prison.

If it could really be recruited, the Emerald City area would have an important guarantee of security.

Zhou Yi asked, "Is there no territorial sea overlord there?"

"There is."

The teddy bear chuckled: "According to the local red-haired monsters and red-eyed vultures, a territorial sea overlord once came and launched a war to annex the place, and then he was locked up for twenty years."

"At first, his subordinates were waiting for him outside, but after a long time, no one was left. After he was released, he went straight into the Dead Sea and was never seen again. The local Guang Na species all know about this."

Zhou Yi felt sorry for him just listening to it.

This kind of dark history of being arrested in front of his subordinates and then serving time in prison probably meant that this territorial sea overlord could only change his name and start over.

However.

Even a territorial sea overlord could be arrested at will, so the strength of this building lifeform was indeed very high.

Zhou Yi said, "What does Qin Xie want from going to the Forbidden Martial Arts Ruins?"

"For the Flying Star."

The teddy bear explained, "The bounty hunters went there for the Flying Star too. A Flying Star fell from the Star Hub and flew all the way to the Dead Sea. So the Star Hub offered a reward to the bounty hunters to find the lost Flying Star and determine its exact location."

Zhou Yi remembered that the Star Hub was a direct competitor to Heaven. It had the 'Eye of the World' to monitor every member of the Star Hub faction, which sounded like satellite positioning.

Now a Flying Star had fallen again.

The Star Hub might be a group composed of satellites.

Zhou Yi further confirmed: "What does the fallen Flying Star look like?"

"It's a very small star that's been burned black, and it crashed somewhere on that island group."

The teddy bear jumped off the chair, landed steadily, and said, "That group of bounty hunters didn't dare to continue exploring, so they came back and reported the information. The Star Hub raised the reward to 40,000 light seeds and distributed it to several knight orders."

"However, although the reward is high, the difficulty is also very high. You can't fight on the main island covered by the Forbidden Martial Arts Aberration, so you have to rely on special abilities and brains to adapt."

"My 'Dream Theft' can enter the dreams of local creatures to find clues, but that also requires strong protection. If Emerald City is stationed there, then I think the threat will be very small, whether it's external harassment or mental attacks."

What Qin Xie wanted was for the two sides to complement each other.

Emerald City could withstand various external harassments, and the teddy bear could safely dig up information in dreams.

Zhou Yi raised his own question: "If it's just the Forbidden Martial Arts Aberration, then you just have to not fight, right? Why didn't the bounty hunters dare to continue?"

The toy bear showed a bitter look on its face, spread its hands, and said, "That's because there's more than one aberration there. According to the bounty hunters' investigation, there are at least four Dead Sea Aberrations in the ruins area."

"In addition to the Forbidden Martial Arts Aberration, the mechanisms of the other three are unknown, but their integrity and strength are very high, conservatively estimated to be B-grade... The bounty knights didn't dare to act in this environment. Making money is making money, but saving their lives is the most important thing."

Four wild building lifeforms coexisting on one island.

This was an extremely rare occurrence.

Zhou Yi was surprised and couldn't help but guess whether it was pure coincidence or whether there was some connection between them.

"It's still early, there's a month and a half to prepare. At that time, the rapids near the Forbidden Martial Arts Ruins will enter a weak cycle, which is also a good opportunity to safely pass and land. It's about 1400 kilometers from here to the destination, but because there are many dangerous areas along the way, you have to detour, so the specific sailing time cannot be determined. Our consideration is to go to Emerald City first, meet you, and then act together."

"We'll split the reward fifty-fifty. If you're interested in the local aberrations, we'll also do our best to help. I wonder what you think?"

The teddy bear put its hands together and waited for a reply.

Zhou Yi pondered intently.

After defeating Bai Li Gong, the situation in Emerald City should be stable in the short term.

Building No. 5 will also be completed in a month and a half.

Going with the combination of Asian Dragon Bay and Emerald City, escorted by the Sea God. On an island where martial force is prohibited, he had ways to deal with mental attacks, plus he had the secret weapon Microphone Master, he could go and try his luck.

"Okay. I'm in."

Zhou Yi nodded.

"Great!"

The teddy bear jumped up: "With you on board, our chances will greatly increase! Thank you for your trust, and I wish us a happy cooperation! I have to go back and tell Qin Xie the good news right away! We'll visit Emerald City again in a month and a half!"

Watching the toy bear trot away happily, Zhou Yi couldn't help but smile.

It seemed that Teddy and Qin Xie had a really good relationship.

He had seen the toy bear and Qin Xie playing and fighting on the small boat before, even spraying each other.

In this wasteland world, it was lucky to make good friends.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but look at the Kestrel next to him.

But the drone had already flown out.

The camera on the remote control locked onto the toy bear.

The teddy bear was running like the wind, all the way towards the west.

The Kestrel's emotionless, cold voice came from his ear: "It's very fast. That kind of short bipedal movement structure can reach 40 kilometers per hour, which is more lethal than it looks. It may be more than just good at stealing dreams; it may also be a hidden assassin."

"Its appearance is a disguise that makes people lower their guard. Under that layer of fabric that I can't identify, there may be deadly weapons hidden."

"Zhou, you have to be careful of this guy."

Zhou Yi said helplessly, "I know."

My partner is good at everything, but it's just too serious.