The end of the world is approaching, I'm handing myself over to the country.

Amidst the frenzied crowd, Lin Mo leaned listlessly against the doorframe of his general store.

Anyway, as for the contract signing part, we can leave everything to Sparrow to handle.

Among these people, apart from the group of those who were amazed.

There were also some people who clearly came prepared.

Before the game's public beta, they had already thoroughly searched through all the information about "Wasteland Era" on the forums.

The simplest and quickest way to start an account is to buy source soldiers.

Or perhaps they will complete the initial stage of genetic awakening.

Both of these can give players combat power far exceeding that of ordinary people from the very beginning.

However, both the source soldiers and the basic gene serums are ridiculously expensive.

With thousands of source crystals required at a time, it's simply not something ordinary people can afford.

Besides that, the most cost-effective option is the Rune Tower.

Next to the general store stands a weathered stone tower, its surface covered with ancient and obscure runes.

By bringing monster materials and Source Crystals into the Rune Tower, you have a chance to obtain a Rune Power.

If you're lucky enough to get a powerful rune, that's an absolutely perfect start!

Soon, a voice stood out from the bustling crowd, appearing particularly abrupt.

"Buying the fangs of the Shadow Spider! Only thirteen portions!"

"Also, we're buying Source Crystals, in bulk! Don't bother if you treat raw materials like family heirlooms. Anyone with a Source Crystal ratio exceeding 1:5000, get out!"

The fangs of the Poison Shadow Spider, a material from a Servant-level monster.

This is currently recognized by all top players as the easiest and cheapest material to unlock poison runes.

In terms of burst damage, poison runes are far inferior to elemental runes such as fire and lightning.

Furthermore, a large amount of poison-related materials will be needed to truly unleash the power of the runes.

However, it has two unparalleled advantages.

Cheap!

Easy to use!

The combination of materials required to unlock poison runes is the cheapest of all runes.

Once you successfully unlock it, you can simply go to the wild to collect some poisonous herbs or buy a few poison sacs, and then you can directly farm poison and monsters to start producing source crystals steadily.

This is the best starting path for casual players.

"Wow...you're so energetic."

Lin Mo was also infected by the enthusiasm of the newcomers, and his mood inexplicably improved a lot.

After watching for a while, Lin Mo finally looked away.

These random sounds were not considered noise to him.

However, hearing these sounds brought him peace of mind.

Lin Mo doesn't plan to open a physical grocery store anymore, otherwise he'd be too busy.

Let the remote shops handle the trading; the rest is up to others to be self-sufficient.

The general store has been upgraded to level six.

Along with the upgrade comes not only an increase in the maximum number of employees in the general store, but also the opening of a brand new functional module: the biological laboratory.

Biological laboratories can use gene editing to cultivate pet eggs.

And pet eggs can be transported back to the real world!

Once every person in the Dragon Kingdom has a battle pet, and after they have been stably trained and developed, they will definitely be a powerful force capable of turning the tide of battle.

This is the real thing that can change the current landscape!

Anything that can reliably boost combat power should be developed as quickly as possible.

"Sparrow, how much revenue is needed to unlock the biological laboratory?"

A sparrow appeared out of nowhere and landed on his shoulder.

Unlocking the biological lab requires 1000 million in revenue.

Your current turnover is 18921302, which meets the unlocking requirements. Do you want to unlock now?

Ten million.

This number made Lin Mo's eyelids twitch.

It's incredibly expensive.

However, the thought only flashed through my mind.

He hardly hesitated.

Unlocking the biological laboratory is only a matter of time; every day it's delayed, our real-world combat capabilities will take another day to develop.

In the face of the threat of the apocalypse, any investment that can be converted into actual combat power is worthwhile.

"Unlock".

Lin Mo uttered two words calmly.

[Unlocking the biological lab, please wait...]

As soon as he finished speaking, the previously empty ruins behind the general store were instantly enveloped by a thick, impenetrable white fog.

The billowing white mist blocked everyone's view.

The surrounding players were startled by this sudden phenomenon and looked over curiously, but none of them dared to approach.

Ten minutes later, the thick fog slowly dissipated.

A building brimming with futuristic technology appeared there.

It is hemispherical in shape, and its outer shell is made of an unknown silvery-white metal.

The surface was covered with pale blue light, making it look like a huge futuristic greenhouse, which was out of place with the dilapidated wasteland style around it and full of cyberpunk flavor.

Lin Mo pushed open the back door and went inside.

Upon entering, Lin Mo was dazzled by the various sophisticated instruments he had never heard of or seen before.

A huge glass culture chamber, filled with an unidentified green nutrient solution.

It automatically floats in the air, performing a holographic projection for gene sequence comparison.

There were also rows of neatly arranged incubators, shimmering with a soft, constant light.

Sparrows flew around him, seemingly unusually excited, and began to introduce the subject with great enthusiasm.

This is a faster-than-light gene sequencer, capable of mapping the entire genome of a lord-level organism in three seconds...

That's a high-energy particle collision incubation chamber. By simulating a cosmic ray environment, it has a one in a thousand chance of inducing benign genetic mutations...

"Stop, stop!"

Lin Mo interrupted it without any politeness.

"Don't make it so complicated, as if you'll understand just because you explain it. Keep it simple."

"The simpler the better," Lin Mo added.

The sparrow flapped its wings, seemingly a little unhappy that its science popularization had been interrupted, but it still obediently switched modes.

Simply put, to breed pets, you need monster materials, and you need a huge amount of monster materials.

The higher the quality of the monster materials used, the higher the initial rating and rarity of the resulting pet egg.

Lin Mo nodded.

"Please say it like that next time, thank you."

That's more or less.

Monster materials.

He currently only has one elite-grade material at hand: the hard shell of the black armor.

He has a lot of these things.

Lin Mo opened the system repository and glanced at it; that astonishing number was still lying there.

[Black Armor's Hard Shell: 1987552 copies]

Nearly two million copies.

If all of them were used to breed pet eggs, I wonder how many elite-level pets could be produced.

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

"Does the rarity of a pet egg correlate with its price at the general store?"

【Yes. 】

The sparrow's answer was straightforward: "The price of a pet egg depends only on its initial rating and rarity; it has nothing to do with its later growth potential or skills."

It's only related to rarity...

Upon hearing this, Lin Mo nodded thoughtfully.

It seems that having elite-level materials alone is not enough.

Not everyone has the financial means to buy an elite-level pet egg.

To maximize profits and enable more people to protect themselves, the needs of ordinary players must be taken into account.

At the very least, we should give them another option.

That would require acquiring some servant-level materials to create some affordable and high-quality common pets.

Lin Mo was tinkering in the biology lab.

Meanwhile, in the real world.

At that moment, everyone looked up at the sky.

Two suns appeared in the once calm sky.