Wasteland Development Diary

Zhou Yi looked at Kunming Station again.

This was the smallest architectural lifeform he had ever seen.

But its level of intelligence and communication skills were undeniably the strongest.

Kunming Station said this was related to its function.

As a satellite receiving station, it continuously acquired various information provided by satellites in high orbit. It had a dedicated channel, allowing it to absorb external information far more efficiently than others of its kind… The accumulation of this information over the years had shaped its powerful cognition.

Zhou Yi suspected it was the mastermind here.

Although facing pressure from the Star Nexus, as long as it could withstand it, it would definitely shine and enter a period of rapid development.

Recruiting other architectural lifeforms was impossible, but forming a good relationship wouldn't be bad.

Zhou Yi gained a lot, but Qin Xie, who was traveling with him, looked disappointed.

"But there's no Starfall reaction here either. The Star Measuring Device isn't glowing."

He held a square metal block, sticking it to the concrete surface of Kunming Station, looking like a diagnosing doctor.

"Starfall is indeed not here."

Qin Xie put away the device, completely giving up.

Zhou Yi thought, 'Of course not.'

The two Starfall that had come here were in the sky, serving as Kunming Station's long-range eyes, and the third Starfall was still in prison.

Zhou Yi patted the young man's shoulder: "Failure always runs through life. That's life."

He was about to say a few words of comfort to excuse himself to find the Great Buddha and Li Mo.

But Qin Xie crossed his arms in front of his chest, pondering: "Not with the Great Buddha, not in the Rotating Garden, not in Shadow Building, then it can only be with the Forbidden Weapon Aberrant. Otherwise, other places must have already been scanned…"

He suddenly brightened up and turned to Zhou Yi, saying: "Mr. Zhou, we'll know if we go inside."

"…"

Zhou Yi originally wanted to refuse.

After all, people from his era were quite resistant to imprisonment.

But Qin Xie said with a smile: "If you come to the Forbidden Weapon Relic and don't enter the famous Forbidden Weapon Aberrant, that's also a pity."

"I've also heard that the Forbidden Weapon Aberrant has a very special mechanism that can help with 'Seed Breaking'. That's why there are so many bounty knights around the Forbidden Weapon Relic. They're not just here for Starfall…"

Seed Breaking?

Zhou Yi asked the Red Falcon what it was.

The drone explained: "The structure of a combat species itself has a limit. Once the limit is reached, it will not be possible to change it further. To reconstruct it, a secondary advanced growth will be opened, which is Seed Breaking."

"Colliding similar combat species at their limits will repeatedly damage and tear the structure of the combat species itself. During the repair process, there is a certain probability of opening reconstruction, and the existing abilities will also be further enhanced."

"This has a high risk because high-intensity confrontation can easily become a life-or-death situation."

"The reconstruction period is called Seed Cracking. Adding elements can completely complete Seed Breaking. The combat species is like a seed breaking out of its shell and entering a new stage of growth."

Zhou Yi was excited to hear this.

He had always been very conflicted before. The Long-necked Crocodile combat species was otherwise mediocre, but [Alertness] was very useful, and he was struggling to find a better superior replacement.

Now he didn't have to consider replacing the combat species.

As long as he tempered Seed Cracking, he could enhance [Alertness].

He could continue to evolve and grow along this path.

Zhou Yi looked at Qin Xie: "What exactly is the mechanism?"

"Sparring."

Qin Xie said with a serious face: "After being captured and entering the Forbidden Weapon Aberrant, everyone will be forcibly locked in a narrow, confined space, and then an energy body with the same abilities as themselves will appear to continuously confront the captured person. After death, it will be resurrected, and there will be at least three confrontations with it every day until one side runs out of energy."

"This is a way to consume the captured person. But from another perspective, this is also a natural hotbed for opening Seed Cracking. Confronting oneself can maximize one's full strength, and even if defeated, one will not be killed, only causing energy to dissipate faster. It can still be replenished by absorbing deathlight during the day."

"However, in addition to this, there is also a fine of 200 Light Seeds, which is considered the admission ticket."

"How about it? Do you want to come with me?"

Zhou Yi thought he had to see it.

He didn't expect this prison to also have the function of a training room.

"How do we get there?"

"It's simple. We just have to fight."

Qin Xie said: "As long as you violently attack others here, you will trigger the Forbidden Weapon Aberrant, and then you will be caught. However, according to the bounty knights, the length of time you are locked up depends on the severity of the injuries caused, and you can get out in as little as one day. Let's be careful, and we can get out in a day or two."

Zhou Yi thought that was true.

Fighting and brawling were minor offenses and wouldn't lead to a long sentence.

"Then let's punch each other a couple of times and draw some blood," Qin Xie suggested. "My enhancement body is the heart, so I recover quickly. You should be even more okay."

Zhou Yi nodded, then landed a stretching punch on Qin Xie's face. Blood flowed from the young man's nose, and he looked shocked.

The other party came back to his senses and punched back.

But this was painless for Zhou Yi.

The two only fought for a moment, and then Zhou Yi felt his body surrounded by a strong light. The surrounding environment changed, and he arrived in a small black room.

He looked around.

The room was small, with only a stone platform that could be sat or laid on, and a urinal. There was nothing else. The sanitary conditions were okay, and there was no odor.

There was a glowing number countdown on the wall of the small black room.

359:59:35

From right to left, it was seconds, minutes, hours… which meant he would be here for a full 15 days.

A day or two as promised?

Zhou Yi was shocked.

He hadn't used much force. Why did he have to be imprisoned for so long?

He put his hand on the wall.

Energy input.

Consciousness Synchronization activated.

"Meizhou Prison, why do I have to stay for so long?"

A cold, emotionless voice rang in his mind: "Those who repeatedly assault and injure others, or who assault and injure multiple people at once, will be detained for 10 to 15 days and fined 500 to 1000 Light Seeds."

"Number 433, you knowingly violate the law. You will be punished to the fullest extent, detained for 15 days, and fined 1000 Light Seeds. Detention is now in progress. The fine will be paid before you leave. Your items have all been placed in a specific area and will be returned to you in full when you leave."

"…"

Zhou Yi was speechless.

That kid Qin Xie was too weak at fighting. He was punched several times before he punched back, and his punches were weak.

What the hell kind of captain was he? He didn't even have the strength to drive a warship!

This made it seem like he was unilaterally beating him up.

Everything had been smooth sailing before, but he was bleeding heavily on this prison day trip.

But what's done is done, and regret is meaningless.

Zhou Yi decided to make the most of this place.

He asked again: "How many prisoners are there here currently?"

"This is not something you should be asking about. Accept reform, Number 433."

The prison's attitude was cold and unyielding.

Zhou Yi wanted to ask a couple more questions.

The countdown on the wall suddenly turned red.

This made Zhou Yi feel a little uneasy.

Another Zhou Yi gradually condensed in the room.

The other party didn't say a word and rushed over to punch him—the fist directly turned and bypassed Zhou Yi's blocking forearm, hitting his right rib.

-33

The damage was completely blocked by the defense.

Zhou Yi punched back. The other party didn't seem to care.

At the same time, he found that the energy in his body was continuously decreasing. The other self in front of him was not created out of thin air, but the prison had shaped the opponent with his own energy.

Zhou Yi now understood the mechanism maintained by the prison.

This kind of self-confrontation could consume a lot of energy and attacking desire, allowing people to maintain a stable mood, similar to the labor situation in past prisons.

But since he spent 1000 Light Seeds to come for Seed Cracking, he had to go all out.

Zhou Yi fought with himself.

The entire battle lasted for an hour before the other party disappeared.

Zhou Yi was slightly panting and sat on the stone platform next to him to rest.

The feeling of beating himself up was very strange.

At the beginning, he still held back a little, but later he got carried away and didn't care so much. Both sides grabbed each other's fists and slammed them into their faces, which looked very exciting, but in fact, neither of them broke the defense.

Pure energy was wasted in vain.

Now Zhou Yi only had a little over 1300 energy points left, less than half of his full strength.

Most of it was absorbed by that energy body.

Zhou Yi leaned against the wall and rested with his eyes closed for a while.

About two hours later, a light door suddenly appeared on the small black room, seemingly leading outside.

Zhou Yi tried to walk out of the light door and found himself on a street.

Other lifeforms appeared one after another around him.

Most of them were Light Na'vi, mainly Red-haired Monsters and Thorn Birds, and then there were some Hippocampus Shooters walking like penguins, and floating Phantom Fish. There were also some species he had never seen before, large and small, but they were all very well-behaved here.

Only one or two humans were seen.

The end of the street ahead was a sports field, and the other prisoners were walking there very skillfully.

Zhou Yi immediately realized that this was the time for outdoor recreation and activities.

In the sports field, he saw Qin Xie at a glance.

Qin Xie made a shushing gesture to him and pointed not far away.

Zhou Yi followed his guidance and saw a very strange lifeform there. It was bathed in golden light, and its specific shape could not be seen. Its levitating posture made it seem somewhat sacred.

Under the [Alertness] perspective, a red light appeared on the other party, indicating it was a B-level creature.

Qin Xie lowered his voice and said: "This is the first time I've seen a Light Gatherer. I didn't expect this place to be able to imprison it."

"What is a Light Gatherer?"

Zhou Yi asked him.

There was no other way. He couldn't contact the Red Falcon outside in the prison state. He didn't know if it was the prison's own mechanism or if there were other architectural lifeforms interfering externally.

Qin Xie said: "It's the evolved form of the Light Eater. It can very efficiently absorb a large amount of deathlight and then compress and store it. It's simply a human-shaped Light Seed warehouse."

"However, its strength is also very high. It is the fastest Light Na'vi recorded in the Dead Sea Illustrated Handbook. It can not only create shields and cannons, but also summon a large number of Light Eaters to merge into its body…"

"Light Gatherers hardly communicate with the outside world and are a very mysterious lifeform. The Seventh Fleet encountered one twenty-three years ago, but it was just a brief encounter, like a beam of light."

He looked at the humanoid torch Light Gatherer with great interest.

Zhou Yi asked him: "How long is your sentence?"

"One day. Isn't yours?"

"…"

Learning about Zhou Yi's imprisonment time, Qin Xie was a little stunned, and then laughed loudly: "This is the trouble of the strong. The rules are inherently inclined to protect us weaklings… It's okay. Just treat it as experiencing life. You must not have experienced such a life in the past."

Zhou Yi didn't care: "Did you find Starfall?"

"…"

The other party's smile froze.

"It seems there's no way. I asked the human enhancers and some Light Na'vi here, and they said they haven't seen Starfall appear here. Even if it's really here, I'm afraid it can't be touched. Anyway, it seems that this attempt has indeed failed."

Qin Xie's smile became bitter: "As you said, failure always runs through life. I'll wait for you outside Emerald City. Oh, there's an acquaintance over there… I'll go chat."

Zhou Yi nodded.

Although Starfall was in prison, if it didn't come out, it really couldn't be discovered.

Zhou Yi observed the surroundings and found that there were quite a few B-level lifeforms here, with as many as 4 emitting red light.

Speaking of which,

The strength of Meizhou Prison should be above B-level.

His gaze suddenly stopped at a corner of the field, where there was a bone man behind a parallel bar.

The bone man was resting his hands behind his head, crossing his legs, and sunbathing.

It looked unremarkable.

However, under the [Alertness] perspective, this bone man did not exist. The world in front of him had turned into an overwhelming blood-red world, which was very strange.

But when he looked at other prisoners, it was normal again.

Only when facing the cross-legged bone man did a blood-colored abnormality appear.

Zhou Yi pondered in his heart.

He could observe B-level lifeforms, but couldn't observe this bone man.

Could it be an A-level lifeform?