The group erupted into chaos.

“The fuck?!”

“80,000 points, from one person?!”

“What the...”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

As the comms filled with shocked chatter, Escaping Mole just stood there, frozen like he had been struck by lightning.

Barely 30 seconds ago, he had been sure, absolutely sure, that he had the title of MVP locked in the bag.

And then reality swung a sledgehammer straight into his face.

Worse still, the one who’d stolen it wasn’t that bastard Ample Time. It wasn’t even the cunning Spring Water Commander.

It was the absolute dickhead, Mosquito.

Escaping Mole let out a strangled scream. “FUCKING HELL, this is rigged! It’s totally rigged!”

“This has gotta be some kind of inside job!”

...

For every player fuming in disbelief, there was another one laughing with glee.

Like, for instance, a certain asshole who had somehow ended up with MVP without even trying. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

With the sky thick with spores, air support had been almost useless, anti aircraft guns probably would’ve done a better job than his W-2 attack planes.

Even for an ace pilot like him, kill counts were low. The newbies in his Goblin Corps were even worse. Half of them couldn’t bomb properly and nearly dropped explosives on their own teammates, twice.

In just a few hours of combat, the rookies had crashed 20 aircraft.

No matter how hard he worked, their total score barely edged out the smaller third-rate Corps like the Silver Corps.

By the time he dismounted from his aircraft, Mosquito was so fed up he already started rehearsing his angry rant about the dogshit developers’ anti-Goblin bias.

Then, completely out of nowhere, his usually antisocial teammate Falling Feather dropped the biggest surprise of his life.

80,000 points... That was pretty much three times the entire Goblin Corps!

After taking down the Main Mother Body, their total score not only soared, but obliterated Old White, Escaping Mole, and Spring Water Commander combined.

Mosquito refreshed the forum leaderboards several times. Aside from his Goblin Corps, not a single other group had even broken six digits!

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good job, brother! I knew you were my ace pilot when you joined the game!”

“Let’s see who still dares call the Goblin Corps trash! This score’s gonna feed my ego for a whole year, no, screw it, until open beta!”

Unable to resist, he took a screenshot of the guild ranking screen, added a big toothy grin emoji, and posted it proudly on the forums.

In truth, a few of the fallen rookies who had already logged off had beaten him to it, but that didn’t stop him from basking in the glory again.

Watching him grin like a maniac at his VM, Light Wind couldn’t help but comment quietly, “Commander, you’re laughing like a villain.”

But maybe she spoke too softly, or maybe Mosquito was just too high on adrenaline, because instead of toning it down, his laughter only grew louder and more unhinged.

The nearby ground crew gave him a wide berth, whispering among themselves while bowing their heads in pity.

Poor guy. He must’ve been traumatized by all the comrades he had lost... No wonder he snapped.

Best not to disturb him.

Little Ghost turned to Light Wind with a raised brow. “Uh, since when did you think he wasn’t a villain?”

Light Wind froze for a moment, then frowned in thought.

Emmm... fair point.

She couldn’t think of a single counterargument.

...

With the final boss defeated and both the Main Mother Body and Thea destroyed, the Returning Tide expansion finally came to a close. It was, by far, the fastest-completed expansion since Wasteland Online launched.

Half the time had been spent on pre-battle prep, and the actual fighting had wrapped up in less than one night.

At 12:00 at noon on Earth, midnight in the wasteland, players began logging off one after another, while the official site erupted in celebration.

It wasn’t just from forum after-action reports flooding in, but also because of the announcement that soon appeared.

[Global Announcement: The Returning Tide Expansion Has Officially Ended!]

[In this event: 3,690,000 Slime Mold eliminated, 1,411 Evolved Types slain, 1 Main Mother Body and 1 Hive destroyed!]

[Players who killed 5 or more Evolved Types will receive the exclusive title, Beyond Evolution. Players who killed 10,000+ Slime Mold will earn the limited title, Slime Mold Exterminator. (Indirect artillery and friendly fire do not count toward kill totals.)]

[Because the world of Wasteland Online is dynamically generated by AI based on player actions, your choices permanently affect the main storyline. With the fall of the Hive in Clearspring City, the two-century-long Tide has finally ended. The region around Clearspring City will never again experience a Tide again. You have ended a 200-year-long war, and the reborn Clearspring City will shine as the brightest jewel of the Wasteland. Congratulations!]

[Event points have been distributed to all player accounts. The raffle and reward exchange features are now open! Thank you for participating. The data collected during this expansion will provide valuable insight for the future development of Wasteland Online. We will continue to deliver richer content and greater fun for all players!]

...

Tail: GIAO! The Tide’s gone?! It’s over forever?! QAQ

Roshan: Tsk! We’ve already missed two expansions! QAQ

Sisi: The main story’s probably moving south now... probably. (｡﹏｡")

Sesame Paste: Ahahaha... A bit of a shame not seeing the Main Mother Body in person, but those mutants we did see were pretty wild. (￣▽￣)

Irene: No need to look. That thing’s already taken Falling Feather’s shape. ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

Tail: ??? (°Д°＊)

Makka Pakka: Hahahahaha!

Drumhead Washing Machine: Bro, you play way too weird. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Make Me: My Garbage bro calls that being a pro! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Garbage: Oh please, you’re the one with the biggest harem in the server.

Make Me: ?

Me Quiet: Haha, devs should give that guy a ‘Harem King’ title, no, an achievement.(≖⩊≖)

Falling Feather: ?? What the hell are you people talking about?

Irene: What? I heard everything from Night Ten. (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)

Falling Feather: Don’t listen to that idiot. Technically, it was Little Feather who ate that thing, not me.

Ample Time: So what actually happened down there? We’ve been waiting forever.

Quit Smoking: Hurry up! Stop teasing us and spill it already!

Falling Feather: Ahem, no rush. Alright, long story short, it ties back to a massive plot hook the developers buried way back in the game’s lore.

Spring Water Commander: You mean that colony in space?

Falling Feather: Yeah. It’s located at Barnard B, the first and last planet the Federation ever colonized outside Earth.

- That world’s ecosystem is completely different. It’s not built on multiple species, but governed by a single unified consciousness.

- It’s an omnipresent, omnipotent entity that decides every creature’s form, population, and lifespan. It indirectly controls the planet’s oceans, temperature, and climate gases. Its existence maintained a bizarre, ever-shifting but perfect balance.

- Compared to that world, Earth, which takes millions of years to ‘patch a minor update’ and tens of millions for a ‘major version refresh’, is the real unstable one. The memory didn’t say how long the actual creature had existed, but definitely far longer than human civilization, so long that it had forgotten the concept of time itself.

- Oh, and its name is Gaia.

Falling Feather paused typing for a moment, then added a metaphor he thought fit best:

Falling Feather: It’s a Hive that spans an entire planet. The one we just defeated in the city center? At best, that’s one of its leg hairs.