Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 14: Transcendent Virus, Crossing Time!

If the S-1 virus was a natural disaster, unpredictable and impossible to prepare for, then the S-2 virus was undeniably a man-made calamity, born from human greed and the primal yearning encoded in our genes.“Whoa, isn’t this the Armored Titan from ?”

Flipping to the first illustration of an infected entity, Cheng Ye felt a jolt of recognition at the familiar form.

A roughly twenty-meter-tall giant, its body covered in insect-like armor plates, wielded a chemical factory smokestack as a weapon. The absurdity reminded him of Lu Zhishen uprooting a willow tree in some wild tale.

Opposite the giant stood eight massive cannon barrels, each over a meter in diameter.

Cheng Ye wasn’t sure what would happen when they clashed, but he knew the giant’s fate would be grim.

Modern technology wasn’t like the maneuver gear in manga, requiring humans to swing around slashing necks.

Within the range of those cannons, truth reigned supreme.

Further down, more illustrations followed: a speed-infected with Achilles tendons stretching up to its neck, a flying infected sprouting wings from its back, and an intelligent infected with a brain occupying half its body volume.

Compared to zombies, Cheng Ye found these infected almost comically foolish.

Their exaggerated forms clearly took a wrong turn in evolution. No matter how naive humans were, they wouldn’t see these as viable for sustained development.

Naturally, their suppression in just over a year was hardly surprising.

“With one and two comes three and four, so it’s no shock if it happens again.”

The author’s question at the page’s end didn’t surprise Cheng Ye; it felt almost expected.

The S-series viruses were immensely dangerous but carried equally immense potential rewards.

Turning to the next chapter, as expected, the S-3 virus made its debut.

The page ended.

No illustrations.

Cheng Ye was plunged into deep shock, the words pulling him into that frenzied era, showing him how human nature was laid bare in the age of transcendence, turning weapons meant for external foes into daggers piercing civilization itself.

Inexplicably, Cheng Ye’s thoughts turned to Earth.

If this virus appeared on Earth, could humanity withstand the successive catalysts of S-1, S-2, and S-3?

One thing had always puzzled him.

The Blue Star wasteland he now inhabited was, aside from some geographic names, indistinguishable from the Earth he knew before transmigrating.

“Could it be that I didn’t cross to another world but traveled through time?”

Cheng Ye couldn’t help but speculate.

Changing place names wasn’t hard. With transcendent powers at play, redrawing regional boundaries was trivial.

The text’s description of the transition from the Old Era to the New Era seemed to reinforce his theory.

“What?”

Cheng Ye’s heart skipped, nearly exclaiming aloud.

Living through the eras described might obscure the S-series viruses’ terror, but looking back, from S-3 to S-4, wasn’t it just a scam? Lure people in, then slowly slaughter them.

Unknowingly, Cheng Ye had reached the final page of , his gaze lingering on the author’s question, written as if with their last ounce of strength.

S-5?

S-6?

The S-series viruses had mutated only four times, yet nearly pushed human civilization to the brink of collapse.

If another shift in mutation occurred, reverting to S-1’s broad transmission mode, with zombies reappearing, zombies that had surpassed carbon-based limits…

Cheng Ye shivered, realizing this wasteland might be far more dangerous than he’d imagined.

At the same time, a thought struck him.

“It’s New Era Year 35 now. If I can find the buried history and prove this is Earth…”

“Then I didn’t cross to a parallel world but traveled eighty years into the future?”