He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he stepped back a few paces and sized Nicole up and down.
From Nicole, he didn’t perceive any extraordinary energy aura.
"You haven’t awakened yet?"
Dean suddenly spoke.
"Huh?"
"Awakening?"
Nicole was initially stunned, then showed excitement.
Could it be that she has just entered the game, and even without completing the newbie task, she’s about to embark on the ’Extraordinary Path’?
She was quite curious about the game’s extraordinary system!
When she was on Shiva Planet before, she played many similar extraordinary holographic games, but the extraordinary systems, whether magic or alchemy, seemed extremely monotonous.
The most important thing is—
Even some games that were supposed to be quite realistic inevitably showed distortion or clipping issues when it came to extraordinary effects, causing the game’s immersion to greatly diminish.
But...
Regarding the recent game experience, Nicole believed that the game "Wasteland" wouldn’t disappoint her in this aspect.
"Yes, I haven’t awakened yet."
Nicole pulled back her wandering thoughts, looked at Dean, and answered earnestly.
"Hmm..."
Dean stared at Nicole and kept looking for a while.
He didn’t speak but showed a pondering posture.
Although Nicole had only said a few words with him, Dean had already recognized that this girl was likely a ’newbie,’ the kind who had just logged in not long ago.
On this wasteland land, new players have never been scarce.
Or rather—
New player logins have never stopped.
Some of them come from the same civilization, while others are the rare ’fortunate ones’ from each civilization.
And for these newbie players, their future fate has already been completely determined the moment they logged into "Wasteland".
Crossing through is an inevitable outcome.
"I say this is not a game, and you definitely won’t believe it, right?"
Dean suddenly uttered such a statement.
"?"
Nicole was taken aback.
"Uncle Dean, you really know how to joke."
Nicole replied with a smile.
"Ha—"
Dean shook his head helplessly; he knew this would be the response.
But...
It didn’t matter anymore.
He also went through the same thing back then.
"Nicole."
"Currently, Pingwu Refuge City is recruiting new subordinates. You might want to try joining."
"The welfare of this Refuge City is pretty good. In the A359 Area, it’s not the best, but definitely a conscientious Refuge City."
"Of course, if you don’t want to join Pingwu City..."
"Remember—"
"Before joining any other Refuge City, first inquire about the City Lord’s information, with a focus on whether they are from Blue Star."
"If it’s a Blue Star player as the City Lord, generally, the welfare and treatment of subordinates in the Refuge City won’t be bad."
Dean shared insights with Nicole in a seasoned manner.
"Oh."
Nicole nodded, indicating she noted it down.
Then she continued to inquire about the previous confusion:
"Uncle Dean."
"You still haven’t told me what Blue Star really means?"
"Is Blue Star the name of this planet?"
"But I remember when logging in, it said something like ’Welcome to A3 Planet’."
Nicole’s delicate little face showed some confusion.
Dean took a deep look at Nicole.
Sigh—
This middle-aged uncle let out a long breath.
"Let me tell you a story from this planet."
"No, or maybe it shouldn’t be called a story, it should be called history, although it hasn’t been long since then."
"The protagonist of the story is named Yu City Lord..."
"And his city is called Dawn City..."
"He comes from Blue Star, which is said to be a blue, peaceful planet..."
"The technological level there isn’t very advanced, maybe not even as advanced as my hometown, Olina Planet..."
"..."
In the next full hour.
Nicole listened as Uncle Dean finished telling the story of ’Dawn City and Yu Jin’.
In the meantime.
The other people in the team also gathered around.
Unlike Nicole, who was a newbie who had just logged in, they were already very familiar with this story.
But...
Whenever someone mentioned the name of that legendary City Lord, recounting his dreamlike deeds, people subconsciously wanted to hear it once more.
"That’s how the story goes..."
"He took Dawn City away from A3 Planet, reportedly to a higher and farther server..."
Dean talked at length.
After finishing the last sentence, he let out a long breath.
"Oh."
At this point, Nicole was also captivated by the story.
She stood there stunned for quite a while before coming back to her senses from this legendary tale.
"Without a doubt..."
"This is the pre-storyline of this ’Wasteland’ game, or rather, the background story?"
"It inspires players to rise step by step, starting from the bottom as wasteland wanderers, building their own Refuge City, until finally..."
"Promote?"
"Probably means completing the game."
Nicole mentally processed the information Dean had conveyed.
Meanwhile.
Her interest in the ’Wasteland’ game also grew further.
Based on her experience in reviewing games—
In all probability, during the subsequent journey, there might be easter eggs left behind by that legendary City Lord!
"Uncle Dean."
"Throughout, you didn’t mention his full name."
Nicole suddenly spoke, reminding Dean.
In the lengthy story just now, Dean consistently referred to the legendary City Lord using ’Yu City Lord’ or ’Great City Lord’ or ’Leader of Blue Star Civilization’.
As for his true name, Dean never mentioned it.
And this inevitably sparked Nicole’s curiosity.
"This..."
Nicole’s question put Dean in a difficult position.
"Little girl."
"Yu City Lord’s true name cannot be uttered directly."
Someone from the crowd volunteered to answer the question on Dean’s behalf.
"Oh, I see."
Nicole responded with some regret upon hearing it.
But at the same time, she was even more satisfied with the storyline setup of the game.
"Great, very mysterious!"
"Then let me, Nicole Audrey, step by step uncover the mystery of the legendary City Lord, find the easter eggs he left behind, until we complete the game!"
Nicole was full of energy, muttering to herself while waving her little fists.
Just at this moment.
BOOM—
Rumble—!
The ground beneath everyone’s feet suddenly started shaking.
"Eh?"
"Earthquake?"
"Did the game even simulate an earthquake environment?"
Nicole staggered, but her little face appeared astonished.
On the other side.
Dean and the team outside the city gate were beginning to stir.
"That is..."
"The Great Turtle?"
"The legendary Great Turtle!"
"Wow..."
"Such a big turtle head!"
"The Great Turtle has arrived. I heard recently that it’s been active in this area, but now, we really see it!"
"..."
The people outside the city gate were extremely excited at this moment.
Many even cheered and danced in place.
At the same time.
Whoosh—
From within Pingwu Refuge City, a streak of light flew out and halted atop the city wall.
The radiance dissipated, revealing the figure of a youth.
He exuded a powerful aura unique to an Extraordinary Being.
"The Great Turtle?"
"Judging by its direction, it seems headed towards Pingwu City..."
This Tier Five young City Lord felt somewhat puzzled and faintly nervous.
The rumors about the Great Turtle have spread across the entire Wasteland Planet.
It’s said to be extremely friendly to humans, never actively attacking human players’ Refuge City.
But...
It’s ultimately a terrifyingly powerful Tier Eight Limit mutant beast.
BOOM—
Rumble—!
The ground’s shaking intensified.
At the city gate.
Nicole, on tiptoe, finally saw the sight on the horizon.
It was a giant turtle over fifty meters tall!
It roared and dashed upon the earth.
The dust raised as it moved resembled a miniature sandstorm.
"Eh?"
"It seems that on the giant turtle’s head, there’s a silhouette..."