Wasteland Development Diary

```

Visibility was high during the day, as the sun reflected off the sandy ground.

Zhou Yi sized up the youth, Ajin.

He wore a coat made from two tattered cloths, with messy hair, and was skinny and short, standing at about one meter forty.

The boy's skin was pale and dry, with many old scars on his face and arms. He wore a pair of rough cloth gloves, barefoot, with a layer of black grime on his legs and feet, and his right leg seemed to be injured, tightly wrapped in cloth, still showing traces of blood.

"Master, Mao Valley Town is to the west. We have to pass through the Oasis and have a long way to go. It's dangerous to cross now. Although you are guarded by samurai crabs, it would be safer to travel at night."

The direct sunlight made Ajin squint his eyes, shading his forehead with his hand, looking uncomfortable.

Zhou Yi pulled two duckbill caps out of his backpack, dusted them off, put one on himself, and handed the other one over, "For shading from the sun."

The youth mimicked him and put the cap on his head, his eyes finally returning to a natural state.

He touched the cap's brim and the embroidered 'Center' character on the hat, "The craftsmanship is exquisite, must be expensive. There's blood and sweat on my head, I'll clean it with sand so it won't get dirty, don't worry."

Zhou Yi said, "It's a gift."

The young man hastily shook his head, "I can't accept such a valuable gift from you, I already owe you my life."

"Just take it if I give it to you."

Zhou Yi told him, "I'm currently looking for a place to settle down for a long time. What's Mao Valley Town's attitude towards outsiders?"

The question stunned Ajin for a moment, then he replied excitedly, "Master, you want to settle in the town? No problem at all!"

"Although our town is small, just 120 people, and not wealthy, the people here are very nice and united. Everyone came from different places, fleeing and finally gathered to form this town..."

Mao Valley Town was originally a temporary camp set up by scavengers, where they rested and hid from danger, trading items they found with each other.

There is an Oasis not far away, and there is relatively clean underground water in the caves, fitting for living. Later, the town slowly grew into a trading hub, peaking at nearly 300 people.

Like other settlements, the locals stayed in during the day and emerged at night, sleeping while the monsters roamed and scavenging after darkfall.

In recent years, bands of clawed pigs migrated in. They occupied the northern area of the town, continually reducing the safe space in the Oasis Area for the locals, and life became much more difficult.

The clawed pig group was aggressive and well-organized, patrolling their territory at night, turning the northern lands into a no-go zone.

Thus, townspeople began to leave with traders and hunting groups, even if it meant becoming laborers and toiling away.

The population dropped and dropped again.

Even so, the town had always been welcoming to outsiders.

As the population continued to decrease, Mao Valley Town had many empty dwellings left by former residents, ready to be inhabited with a little cleaning. However, there were very few who wanted to settle in this poor, small place.

"... That's the situation in town."

Ajin spoke with heavy eyelids, barely able to keep his head up, looking extremely tired.

Zhou Yi said, "Rest now, I'll wake you in the evening."

"I'll go to sleep then. During the day is when our people sleep, I was too exhausted yesterday."

The pale and thin youth wiped his dirty face, carefully covered his head with the duckbill cap, curled up on the sandy ground, and soon began to snore.

Soon, a few more clawed pigs appeared; they stared over this way but did not charge recklessly like the last two, instead assessing and then bypassing the area.

A big and a small pair of red-eyed vultures perched on a distant tree, eyeing the extinguished campfire bones and the remaining offal on the ground. The smaller one flapped its wings, eager to come down for a bite.

The larger one glanced at the man in black, and with a flap of its wing, it calmed the smaller one, which obediently waited for the human's departure.

Besides, there were several rodent creatures active nearby.

The samurai crabs set up a sun umbrella for Zhou Yi and brought a lounge chair, then they burrowed back into the ground.

Zhou Yi sat in the chair, pulled out an unread 'Story Club' magazine from his backpack, opened a can of 24-year-old cola, and began to pass the time.

In this Wasteland Era without networks or phones, reading was a decent solo entertainment option.

The only downside was the lack of ice cubes.

As evening approached,

The youth who had been drooling in his sleep suddenly sat up.

"I forgot something important."

Seeing the book in Zhou Yi's hands, Ajin respected, "You actually know how to read, remarkable! In that case, you'd definitely be able to understand that thing."

"Master, I recently felt something was wrong while scavenging, but I can't quite put my finger on what."

```

"Last night I was attacked, and only then did I realize it was raiders."

"They targeted me, and I ran since I've been fast since I was little. But I'm penniless and often can't even get enough mushrooms or bugs to eat, so I can't understand why they were after me."

Ajin recalled, "I thought it over and over, and there was only one reason."

"Two days ago, I was looking for dung near the Mushroom Forest down south when I came across a freshly collapsed mushroom pit. From that pit, I dug up a strange object, not something that looked like it could be made by a market or even a city; I suspected it was a curiosity from the Dead Sea."

The young man glanced at the yellow bicycle beside him, "It gave me a similar feeling to your thing here."

Zhou Yi listened quietly.

"The raiders must have found out about this, that's why they robbed me... In the evening, they chased me to this side, far from the Oasis, and their spears also slashed my leg."

Ajin pointed to his tightly bandaged right calf.

"It must have been the claw pigs that showed up, and as dawn approached, they finally gave up on the risky pursuit. Luckily, I encountered a master like you."

"I hid the object in a tree hollow, planning to sell it when the merchants arrived in town. Wait for me, and I'll dig it out; it might be of use to you."

Zhou Yi agreed.

An hour later, Ajin returned, escorted by two samurai crabs.

"This is it."

Zhou Yi looked at the object in his hands, his expression turning odd.

It was a black remote control with a screen, square and sturdy, with two short, thick antennas and two joysticks on the upper left and right sides. Aside from some surface scratches, it was well preserved overall.

He pressed the power button, and there was no response.

Opening the back cover, there were no batteries inside.

Adjusting the angle, Zhou Yi saw a layer of silver geometric lines on the surface of the remote control.

This characteristic indicated that it had undergone a mutation reaction in the Dead Sea and was no longer a conventional tool. Silver Cross patterns similar to those on the shells of samurai crabs and under the thick fur of claw pigs.

The remote seemed to be part of some Mechanical system Guangna Species.

It lacked energy, but he had some.

Zhou Yi looked at his own panel.

...

[Body]

Life Value: 10000

Defense: 425

Energy: 2802

...

This, too, was the fruit of his ten years since arriving in the Wasteland Era.

When Zhou Yi infused 120 points of energy into the remote, the screen went from black to bright.

The display showed text:

[Pairing...]

[Pairing complete, connected to Red Kestrel.]

[Energy insufficient, Red Kestrel response failed, please perform manual retrieval.]

A map appeared on the screen, showing a blinking green dot and a steady red dot.

The green dot was in the shape of the controller, while the red dot was in the shape of an aircraft.

On the right side of the small screen was a detailed diagram of a quadcopter drone, its main body green with just a small yellow area indicating malfunction, and the top right corner showed the battery at 0%.

Mechanical Guangna Species like this were rare.

Zhou Yi became interested.

He asked Ajin, "Look at the map, what place is this?"

The local young man leaned closer, examining it carefully, "The shape up top looks like the Oasis Side and the river, and this position below must be the Mushroom Forest."

Zhou Yi said, "Lead the way, let's take a look."