Wasteland's Only King

Oak City.

Lambert Chamber of Commerce Building, 17th Floor.

The cool night wind drifted in through the shattered floor-to-ceiling windows.

Over a dozen figures, cloaked in flowing light, moved through the air and landed inside the room.

Outside the building.

Countless small drones and combat mechas flickered with bright red lights.

Unnumbered gun barrels and cannons were already aimed at Yu Jin, who sat on the sofa.

“Oh!”

“Funi!”

Of the few uninvited figures in the room, the young man standing at the front spoke first, shattering the silence.

The young man wore a sky-blue, streamlined set of battle armor.

At this moment—

A sci-fi helmet, dripping with futuristic aura, unfolded, revealing a face full of smiles.

“Ed!”

Funi froze at the sight of the young man.

“It’s you…”

It wasn’t until this moment—

That Funi finally understood.

He’d been puzzling the whole past day over how his father-in-law had learned about the “5.8 billion Source Points balance”.

Now…

With Ed appearing before him, he knew the answer.

Ed was his wife’s brother, his brother-in-law, and also the vice president of the Lambert Chamber of Commerce.

But all this time, Ed had only ever held this title as an empty post, never actually participating in Chamber affairs.

Because of that, Funi had almost forgotten his existence.

And as vice president, even if Ed had no real power, he still had access to some of the Chamber’s resources.

For instance—

When Yu Jin’s balance was exposed, as vice president, he could also see that long string of digits.

“Hmm?”

“My dear brother-in-law.”

“Why are you still standing by that kid?”

Noticing Funi’s reaction, Ed abruptly spoke, his tone carrying a trace of oddity.

“Don’t tell me…”

“You still want to keep all that wealth for yourself?”

As the words fell.

Funi didn’t answer.

He simply took a deep breath, stepped forward in silence, and moved to stand in front of Yu Jin.

This small gesture made Ed’s brow twitch sharply.

In this moment—

Ed was genuinely surprised.

“Are you insane?”

He couldn’t understand it.

The situation was obvious now.

For this very moment, the full power of the Lambert Clan had been mobilized— even bringing in a significant number of outside forces.

To say it without exaggeration—

Tonight, with a net cast so tightly, not even a mosquito—let alone Yu Jin—could hope to escape the Lambert Clan’s grasp!

In fact…

Just to be doubly sure—

BZZZZT—!

Ed suddenly waved his hand.

An overwhelmingly powerful pulse surged out, sweeping through the entirety of Oak City and even enveloping dozens of miles around its periphery.

CRACK—

CRACK CRACK—

The city had been blazing with light just a second ago; now, Oak City was plunged into total darkness.

The crowds inside the city, who had only been staring blankly at the sky, now erupted into panicked screams.

“Done.”

“Now, there’s no possible mistake.”

A smile crept across Ed’s lips.

This device—a “Pulse Emitter”—had been acquired by his father, the Lambert Clan Leader, through significant favors from other families.

Its function: to cut off all communications for a period of time!

Which meant Yu Jin, no matter what cards he thought he had, was now trapped inside Oak City, alone and isolated.

On the sofa—

Yu Jin remained lazily reclined, not even bothering to stand.

“Don’t be afraid.”

He even found the time to whisper a gentle reassurance to the trembling, youthful Aliya at his side.

“Mm…”

A low whimper escaped Aliya’s throat; her slender frame still shuddered uncontrollably.

As a mere civilian—almost a pauper—in Oak City, she had never seen a scene like this.

The countless dark barrels out there looked ready to flash fire at any second, swallowing everything in flame.

Aliya could not even imagine—let alone fathom—the power of the High-Dimensional Federation’s warship weapons.

“Yu Jin, right?”

Ed’s voice rang out once more.

Clad in blue battle armor, authoritative and imposing, he tilted his head, gaze cutting past Funi to lock directly on Yu Jin.

“Yeah.”

Yu Jin replied blandly, still making no move to rise from the sofa.

That display of nonchalance made a nameless anger flare in Ed’s chest.

“You…”

“You really are confident, aren’t you?”

Ed’s voice dropped lower—the battle armor about him glowing faintly with neon light.

Yu Jin said nothing, only smiled.

To be honest—

He was quite satisfied with how this was playing out.

The reason he’d stayed in Oak City, waiting for the Lambert Clan to make their move, was definitely not out of boredom.

It was because—

He intended, before his promotion, to set down some roots within the High-Dimensional Federation.

The Heaven Star reward he’d obtained before was decent, but far too remote and inconvenient.

By comparison—

Gangval Star in the Rock Star Realm was perfect.

So—

What Yu Jin was after was the Lambert Clan itself.

The stronger they were, the more warships they had, the greater his haul would be…

The Lambert Clan fancied themselves hunters, but they had long since become Yu Jin’s prey, as he’d already decided.

“Hand over the balance.”

“You get to live.”

Ed didn’t bother with too many words, nor did he indulge in pointless posturing.

He remembered his father’s warning before the operation began.

This ’heist’ was risky—he absolutely must not let the other side stall, lest they drag things out and jeopardize everything.

“The balance?”

Yu Jin laughed again at that.

With a wave of his hand—

SWISH—

A semi-transparent screen flickered into view before him.

This was his personal “Wasteland” panel—even within the High-Dimensional Federation, it could still manifest.

Normally, only the user could see their own panel.

But this time, Yu Jin deliberately set it so others could see too.

On the panel—

A long string of numbers appeared.

That was—

A Source Points balance of 5.8 billion!

WHOOOSH—

Huff—!

Almost the instant Yu Jin revealed the panel—