Wasteland's Only King-Chapter 49: Chemical Plant

"Our Xiaojin, does he always talk to girls in such a... tough tone?"

Old Yu leaned in closer to Cao Fang on the hospital bed, whispering the words.

On the surface, he was scrolling through news on his phone, but actually he’d been eavesdropping with both ears wide open.

He’d caught every word of those couple of sentences Yu Jin said just now.

That tone, that attitude...

Left Old Yu completely dumbfounded!

Cao Fang paused from massaging Old Yu’s leg and shot him a look. "Tough or not, I don’t know. But this thing between Xiaojin and Yin Yao, I’m not optimistic."

Old Yu frowned at her words.

"Not optimistic?"

"The girl’s good-looking, great demeanor—what’s not to like?"

Cao Fang curled her lips and murmured, "What’s so good? They come from totally different backgrounds... That girl’s definitely got a serious family. If something really happens between them, won’t the neighbors talk about Xiaojin behind his back, saying he’s living off her?"

Old Yu froze, blurting out without thinking, "Living off a woman? That won’t do! It’s a disgrace to our family values!"

Cao Fang nodded. "Exactly, so—"

Before she could finish, Old Yu cut her off with a wave: "But let me correct you, Xiaojin’s not ’living off’ anyone here."

Cao Fang looked up, confused.

Old Yu shook his head dramatically, then leaned in and spoke low but firm by her ear:

"Did you see Xiaojin’s attitude just now, and then look at the girl’s reaction?"

"You call that living off a woman?"

"That’s clearly eating soft food, hard!"

"Living off a woman? Only useless men do that!"

"But to eat soft food hard—now that’s a man’s real skill!"

Cao Fang opened her mouth, wanting to retort.

But after half a day, she couldn’t squeeze out a comeback.

Old Yu kept shaking his head, clearly proud of his insight.

Meanwhile—

He noticed Yu Jin and Yin Yao glancing this way, so he tactfully stopped his eavesdropping, leaned back on the bed, and went back to skimming headlines on his phone.

...

[Exoplanet ’Oumuamua’ enters the Solar System; Experts predict it may collide with Blue Star!]

...

[New Era Youth Corps’ tour concert kicks off today at Gunzhou Olympic Center—huge numbers of fans gather from across the country!]

...

[’Wasteland’ game emerges out of nowhere—the incredible realism has stirred heated discussion among countless players!]

...

"What is all this random news?!"

Old Yu frowned as he scrolled.

The only title that caught his eye for an extra two seconds was the ’Wasteland’ game.

But remembering his son Yu Jin had banned him from using the helmet again, Old Yu shook his head and looked away.

After a while—

When he saw a headline about "So-and-so delivers an important speech today", Old Yu tapped in with interest.

...

...

By the window in the hospital room.

Yu Jin and Yin Yao stood facing each other.

Ever since Yu Jin said "let’s hear the details", Yin Yao had been silent.

An awkward silence hung, long enough that even Yu Jin started to look impatient.

Only then did Yin Yao finally take a deep breath and look up, speaking softly: "I can’t tell you exactly why my grandfather wants to win you over—not yet."

"If you’re willing to meet him, maybe he’ll explain in person."

Her voice was serious—more serious than ever before.

Yin Yao didn’t want to expose her secret of ’Rebirth’ in front of Yu Jin.

Because if she did, Yu Jin would realize all the help she’d given him actually had the ulterior motive of clinging to someone powerful.

Getting close for a reason—most of the time, people don’t appreciate that; in fact, it easily causes dislike or even resentment. Yin Yao knew this full well.

That’s precisely why—

She had never directly told Yu Jin, "Countless people on Blue Star will be forcibly transported to the Wasteland World in three days."

By comparison—

Her grandfather was better suited to share that type of information, just as he intended to talk to Yu Jin directly.

At the same time—

Even if Yu Jin questioned her grandfather, he would definitely be prepared for it.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have suggested inviting Yu Jin to dinner at this point.

After Yin Yao finished speaking, silence fell again.

Yu Jin’s face remained impassive, but inside, a storm was raging.

At this moment—

He was almost completely certain—

Daxia definitely knows a lot about the coming upheaval involving the Wasteland!

Including what Yu Jin wanted to know most: just how much time is "not much time"?

What’s more—

Even though Yin Yao hadn’t explained the motive, the words "win over" themselves were already intriguing enough.

As an average, unremarkable guy, what was there about him worth ’winning over’?

Yu Jin even suspected maybe his system had been exposed.

Or perhaps—

His current identity as a Tier Six Superhuman had been leaked.

But very quickly—

Yu Jin dismissed both those brazen guesses.

The reason was simple.

Even though he’s Tier Six now, he’s still in a suppressed state—never mind a nuke, even a few fighter jets and artillery would be enough to handle him.

If his system or Tier Six info had leaked...

Yu Jin thought, if he were in Yin Yao’s grandfather’s position, there’s no way he’d try something as polite as "invite him to dinner."

He would just use force—at this stage, Yu Jin would have zero means to resist anyway.

"When?"

Yu Jin broke the silence.

"Tomorrow night!"

A hint of surprise sparkled in Yin Yao’s eyes.

"I’ll think about it."

Yu Jin didn’t agree right away, leaving himself some wiggle room.

"Okay."

Yin Yao pressed her lips together and nodded.

As she spoke,

She pulled out a stack of files from her crossbody bag and handed them to Yu Jin.

"What’s this?"

Yu Jin raised his brow, glancing at the red government seal on the documents.

Yin Yao smiled and said, "Tomorrow’s city-wide environmental campaign plan for Jiang City."

Seeing Yu Jin’s surprise, she added, "This is a draft drawn up by Jiang City’s top leadership—it’s only an initial version right now. I brought it especially for you to review."

Yu Jin looked a bit weird.

Review?

When did an ordinary citizen like him get to review a plan made by Jiang City’s leadership!

He had to admit, he’d underestimated the terrifying effect of Yin Yao’s background.

While he was thinking this, his hands moved swiftly, grabbing the plan immediately.

Funny enough, before Yin Yao showed up today, this was exactly what he had been thinking about...

The feeling of someone handing you a pillow just as you get drowsy was starting to become addictive.

Excellent, keep it up, don’t stop!

With this inward sigh, Yu Jin started leafing through the proposal.

The plan was long-winded; first thing he saw was a whole batch of official lingo like "responding to environmental policies" and "raising public awareness".

Yu Jin flipped through page after page until, near the end, he finally saw the actual activities laid out.

"Having all city residents go out and pick up trash together?"

Yu Jin frowned.

Just as he guessed... all for show.

"You’re not satisfied?"

Yin Yao had been observing Yu Jin’s reaction all along. Seeing his frown, she asked right away.

Yu Jin nodded truthfully, "Collecting trash is just a face-saving project. I’m looking for something actually meaningful."

Yu Jin wasn’t stupid.

The moment Yin Yao handed him the plan, he already knew she was giving him some say—or even veto power—over the event.

"Like what?"

"What kind of activity do you want to do?"

Yin Yao pressed further.

Pa—

Yu Jin shut the proposal.

He looked at Yin Yao, his tone serious: "A chemical plant!"