Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 324: Tendon Gate Broken, Berserk Giant Beast!

"Did I obtain more Traits because I fulfilled the dissolution conditions head-on?"Cheng Ye stroked his chin, his gaze burning as he stared at the System Panel. "Or is it because the strength of this funeral troupe far exceeded that old woman's?"

In that moment, he suddenly felt that humanity's understanding of Infection Sources and Infected Bodies was truly far too shallow.

There were absolutely no records of such critical intelligence; people had to figure it all out themselves while teetering on the edge of life and death.

This free meal—which allowed him to harvest Traits and boost his vitality without paying a single cent—was no less effective than a rare treasure. It was absurdly satisfying.

Before he could even step into the courtyard, a transparent, refreshing sensation suddenly bloomed in his chest. It felt as though the connection between his heart and his limbs had grown tighter.

He carefully savored the feeling for a moment before a wide grin inevitably spread across his face.

The heart-protecting Tendon Gate was broken through!

The heart-protecting Tendon Gate, which originally would have required another month of bitter training to break, had reached great perfection under the nourishment of massive vitality, becoming an instinctual part of his body.

Although this breakthrough did not provide an obvious boost to his immediate combat power, he could clearly sense that as long as he gathered all twelve Tendon Gates, their combined enhancement would absolutely rival a full evolution in life level.

"Huh, that food actually caused a breakthrough in your martial arts?"

Seeing that Cheng Ye wasn't in a hurry to put his helmet back on, but instead had a glowing complexion and an increasingly steady aura, Liu Bi carefully sensed him for a moment before his eyes widened in shock, blurting out a curse.

"Holy shit, what kind of heaven-defying luck do you have, kid? You actually managed to fleece benefits off an Infected Body?"

Stumbling upon treasures in a hermitage was one thing, but for a normal person encountering a bizarre Infected Body, a narrow escape from death would be considered a blessing. Cheng Ye, on the other hand, had not only retreated entirely unscathed but had also conveniently broken through his martial arts bottleneck.

If word of this got out, probably no one would dare to believe it.

Looking across the entire Wasteland, such outrageous situations were exceedingly rare—practically impossible.

After all, this tested not just luck, but also extraordinary courage, precise judgment, and genuine, hard-hitting strength.

Cheng Ye did not respond to the praise. Instead, he looked at Liu Bi thoughtfully. "Brother B, I suddenly had a thought. Do you think anyone would willingly become a servant to the Seamless Shadow Puppet?"

"Willingly?" Liu Bi paused, frowning slightly. "What are you getting at?"

"If that funeral troupe from earlier had encountered a catastrophic disaster and were driven to a dead end, and the Seamless Shadow Puppet told them it could let them live on in another form, with the only cost being controlled by it... do you think those people would be willing?"

"This..." Liu Bi pondered for a moment, his tone grave. "Hard to say. We still know far too little about the Seamless Shadow Puppet.

Once we get back, if you're still curious, you can use the alliance network to ask if any Inspector from another shelter city possesses information on this."

"Yeah," Cheng Ye nodded in agreement. He then closed his eyes, calming his mind to organize the clarifying sensation left by his Tendon Gate breakthrough.

Once the turbulent throbbing of vital energy in his heart had slightly settled, his consciousness sank into the Spiritual Body Space.

Little Flame was the same as always, obediently laying in the corner. Seeing Cheng Ye's consciousness enter, it merely lifted its small head, chirped twice, and remained still.

Meanwhile, the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse, its body covered in blood-red patterns, had grown by a full third. Its sleek, glowing shell shimmered with an eerie luster.

Noticing Cheng Ye's gaze, it uncharacteristically shifted its plump body, seemingly quite excited.

At the same time, a thought—much clearer than ever before—transmitted straight into Cheng Ye's mind.

Delicious, still hungry!

'Still hungry?!'

Cheng Ye's heart skipped a beat. He had only taken ten percent of the energy, yet his entire body was already burning hot, feeling like it was about to burst. He had to rely on circulating his Kinetic Link Skill to consume the excess vitality.

The Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse had swallowed a full ninety percent, yet it still wasn't satisfied.

Alright then.

Considering its current status as a Transcendent Mother Source, it seemed perfectly normal that a mere thirteen shadow puppets couldn't fill its stomach.

Cheng Ye exited the Spiritual Body Space and opened the System Panel to glance at the progress changes.

The Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse's growth progress had indeed surged massively, skyrocketing straight from Lv0 (1.92%) to Lv0 (5.47%).

Although it looked like an increase of less than four percent, it had actually more than tripled.

Moreover, this was the crucial progress for the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse to reach the regular Mother Source state. Once it stepped into Lv1, it would officially join the ranks of Transcendent regular entities.

Influenced by the progress boost, the size limits of the Size-as-Desired ability changed once again. It could now expand up to 4.3 meters and shrink down to a minimum of 0.85 meters.

Unfortunately, the number of Earth-Shrinking teleports remained at six, and the cooldown was still a full day, with no changes whatsoever.

"It seems I'll have to wait until the progress reaches 10% before the Earth-Shrinking ability undergoes a new transformation..."

Cheng Ye's gaze swept further down. The attributes the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse could share had slightly improved.

However, at the same time, the cost required to be repaid in the Cost section had also marginally increased.

After two life evolutions, the original cost had dropped to 33 kilometers of high-intensity exercise, or 245 kilometers of moderate-intensity exercise.

Now, the quota for high-intensity exercise rebounded straight to 41 kilometers, and the option for moderate-intensity exercise was completely removed.

"Hm... this thing really is a double-edged sword. The stronger the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse gets, the heavier the cost I have to pay. If I can't keep up with its growth speed, it'll drag me down sooner or later."

After reviewing the changes to the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse, Cheng Ye switched to the Heart-Protecting Fire's interface, where the changes were almost negligible.

Its growth had only increased by 1%.

After all, Little Flame wasn't an Infection Source but a genuine Transcendent Creature. Vitality wasn't an absolute necessity for it; rare flames were.

Being able to absorb this overflowing vitality and slightly boost its growth was probably entirely thanks to Tan Ming's methods.

"Not bad." Cheng Ye nodded inwardly. "The Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse is already bound to me; the stronger it gets, the greater my strength.

And I've also found a path for steady improvement, so I won't have to worry about falling behind on progress in the future."

He happily calculated in his head, 'If three more funeral troupes like that show up, the progress of the Shadow Puppet World could be maxed out immediately.'

Unfortunately, the Seamless Shadow Puppet seemed utterly bewildered by his unpredictable tactics.

An hour passed, and still, no new shadow puppets made an appearance.

As midnight approached, that ever-present malice continued to brew in the night sky, as if it, too, was racking its brains to figure out a way to break the deadlock.

In the darkness more than ten meters above the public security office, a figure hovered in mid-air. It was none other than the slick-haired driver who had greeted them that afternoon.

He stared downward, his face contorted in conflict. Watching Cheng Ye sitting quietly in the courtyard adjusting his breathing, he suddenly didn't know if he should dispatch a third wave of shadow puppets.

It was no wonder he was so conflicted. The style Cheng Ye displayed was far too contradictory, as if he were two entirely different people.

When facing the old woman, Cheng Ye had acted like a brutal, hot-headed thug, attacking without a word and breaking the situation with maximum violence.

But when dealing with the funeral troupe, he had calmed himself down, casually eating that table of bizarre ghost food and satisfying the dissolution conditions in the gentlest way possible.

Was it luck?

Or did he possess the underlying strength to back it up?

The Seamless Shadow Puppet found itself unable to gauge him accurately.

The power of mechanism-based monsters lay entirely in rule-based traps. Once those mechanics were discarded for a head-on battle of combat power, they were far inferior to Fusion Entities of the same tier, at best only capable of dominating ordinary humans.

Yet from Cheng Ye, it distinctly felt a formidable essence that could not be ignored. If it truly went head-to-head, it feared it wouldn't gain the slightest advantage.

However, after tossing the thought back and forth, and smelling the alluring scent emanating from Cheng Ye...

It ultimately refused to reconcile with this. Gritting its teeth, it waved a hand at the empty void once more.

In the distant darkness, an invisible rift suddenly tore open, and an illusory semi-trailer truck forced its way out.

On the desolate streets of the Ruins, the truck's cargo doors swung open with a loud clang. One by one, wooden-looking figures filed out.

As soon as the two figures walking in the very center touched the ground, they uncontrollably drew toward each other, violently fusing together like two lumps of wet mud. Their outlines gradually blurred, and their physical form continuously swelled and expanded.

Seeing this, the remaining figures followed suit. Like marionettes, they accelerated and threw themselves onto the fused mass of flesh. There was no struggle, no resistance, only absolute numbness and submission.

The fusion process was both bizarre and terrifying. Even after devouring nearly seventy shadow puppets, the Seamless Shadow Puppet hovering in the air remained unsatisfied, issuing continuous commands to hasten the process.

The mass of black shadow acted like a melting wax figure, constantly intertwining, piling up, and stretching across the ground. Sometimes it would bulge to reveal the outline of a twisted arm; other times, a blurred human face would surface, only to be instantly swallowed up by the rest of the mass.

A faint cyan light seeped through the cracks of the dark shadow, accompanied by a subtle sizzling sound, as if bones were being rapidly reconstructed and flesh was frantically multiplying.

It wasn't until the number of fused shadow puppets exceeded a hundred that the chaotic, jumbled outline gradually began to take on a proper shape.

A pair of thick, muscular arms suddenly shot out from the sides of the shadow. Their knuckles were sharply defined, and their fingertips ended in massive, dark claws that glinted with a chilling light.

Its legs became long and powerful, steadily supporting its massive frame. Every muscle line was pulled taut, radiating a heart-stopping strength.

Its head slowly rose. The facial features remained blurry and indistinct, save for a pair of scarlet, slitted pupils that lit up in the darkness like flickering will-o'-the-wisps, exuding a heavy aura of bloodlust.

Finally, a towering giant standing a full three and a half meters tall loomed in the center of the Ruins.

The giant lowered its head slightly, its scarlet gaze sweeping over the public security courtyard ahead. A deep roar rumbled from its throat, carrying a terrifying pressure that shook the surrounding ruined walls, sending pebbles cascading down.

"Go!" The slick-haired Westerner in the sky was extremely satisfied, a treacherous smile curling onto his face.

Boom!

Boom!

The towering figure lifted its massive legs and stomped heavily onto the ground. Every step fell like a beating war drum, causing the earth to tremble.

With heavy strides, moving like an immovable war machine, it slowly marched toward the public security office.

"What's that sound?" As the muffled booming noises echoed closer, Liu Bi frowned. He looked toward the source of the sound, a hint of gravity flashing in his eyes.

"I'm guessing," Cheng Ye slowly opened his eyes, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "he's finally deciding to get serious with us."

He didn't know exactly what had happened, but he could clearly sense that the malice lingering around him had faded significantly.

The two men quietly watched the source of the noise, witnessing a towering figure step out from the shadows.

The figure descended like a titan. Its shoulders and back were as broad as a moving black wall. A faint dark mist swirled around its body, as though it had crushed the night itself to wear as a cloak.

Its torso was not made of flesh and blood but appeared to be forged from cold metal. Fine, dense patterns covered the surface of its skin. One could faintly see countless human faces rising, sinking, and struggling within, yet firmly imprisoned by an invisible force, radiating an indescribable eeriness.

The most horrifying part was its hands, which had thoroughly mutated. The two massive sets of claws resembled carefully sharpened millstones, exceeding a meter in diameter. The claw tips gleamed with a biting cold light. Each individual talon was half a meter long, so sharp it looked as though it could easily rend steel.

Its head was even more blurred and indistinct, bearing only a pair of scarlet slitted pupils embedded in the shadows. They held no emotion whatsoever, yet locked intensely onto Cheng Ye and Liu Bi in the courtyard.

"Is this the Seamless Shadow Puppet's true body?" Liu Bi quietly gripped the short sword by his side.

But before he could make his next move, a cold gauntlet gently covered his arm.

Turning his head, he met Cheng Ye's faintly smiling face, which brought an inexplicable sense of reassurance.

"Brother B, although this probably isn't the Seamless Shadow Puppet's true body, he... is also mine."

"Uh..." Liu Bi paused, his mind involuntarily flashing back to the day he first sparred with Cheng Ye—to that figure even more terrifying than the giant standing before them.

"You..."

"I know, quick battle, stay safe." Cheng Ye grabbed the spray from the table and swiftly took off his Fire Lotus Battle Armor.

However, this scene completely terrified the four people watching from inside the Armored Vehicle.

"Brother Niu, Brother Niu, open the door quickly, the m-monster is here!" Yin Ruofeng shouted repeatedly, his voice trembling.

The fat merchant, Zhang Daping, was also frantic. He shook like a leaf, gripping his pistol in a death grip with his finger already resting on the trigger.

As for the Pang siblings, they managed to maintain slight composure, but they too clutched their weapons tightly, their heavy breaths sounding like broken bellows.

This was the most terrifying situation in the Wilderness.

When a monster far beyond the limits of what normal humans could handle appeared, there were usually only two outcomes:

First, commit suicide quickly to avoid suffering.

Second, attempt to flee, spending your final moments in pure despair.

Of course, they were currently traveling with Inspectors—Inspectors from an overlord-tier shelter city, with even a Fourth-Stage Inspector holding the line.

But... Liu Bi seemed scared stiff. Facing the advancing giant, his back remained completely motionless.

And Cheng Ye was seemingly in a flurry taking off his armor... Had neither of them noticed the terrifying colossus approaching?

Niu Fu, who was still feigning sleep, opened his eyes upon hearing the commotion and instinctively glanced at the rearview mirror.

At the gate of the public security office, the massive giant was approaching step by step. Its pace was slow, but it carried an overwhelming, intimidating aura, with every step making the ground shudder slightly.

Niu Fu instantly sat up straight and looked into the courtyard. His gaze first fell on the slightly helpless profile of Liu Bi, and then on Cheng Ye, who was rapidly stripping off his armor.

Both men were equally unbothered, acting as if they didn't even see the behemoth capable of crushing everything right behind them.

Niu Fu instantly understood. Breaking into a grin, he turned to the four panicked passengers. "What are you all yelling for? Brother Niu still has to drive tomorrow. Don't wake me for trivial matters like this."

As his voice fell...

Tap, tap.

A gentle knocking sounded on the window beside him. At some point, Cheng Ye had already neatly taken off his armor and walked over to the side of the Armored Vehicle.

Niu Fu hurriedly unlocked the door.

Cheng Ye reached in swiftly, pulling a backpack out from the Storage Bar beneath the passenger seat. He shoved his clothes into it and then swapped into a pair of silver shorts.

"Brother Niu, remember to bring my clothes over later," Cheng Ye grinned, his tone as relaxed as if he were just stepping out for a stroll.

"You got it! Old Niu is the fastest at this sort of work!" Niu Fu patted his chest in affirmation.

The two of them chatted casually, ignoring everything else, leaving the four inside the Armored Vehicle completely bewildered.

Yin Ruofeng's lips trembled, his voice quivering. "In... Inspector Cheng... what are you doing...?"

"Relax. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. This won't take long."

With that, Cheng Ye gave the door a gentle push, shutting it with a solid clack.

By this time, the three-and-a-half-meter-tall giant had already reached the main gate of the courtyard.

Its scarlet slitted pupils swept over Cheng Ye, who was standing in the yard wearing only thin shorts. A trace of confusion actually flashed through its eyes.

Suddenly, a twisted mouth split open across its blurred face, and a grotesque, broken voice echoed out. "Little... bug... you are... too weak!"

"Is that so?" Cheng Ye strode to the center of the courtyard, lifting his eyes to meet the giant's gaze directly. "What are the conditions to send you packing?"

The giant froze. It clearly didn't want to answer, but as if forcibly manipulated by some unseen power, its gaze sluggishly swept past Cheng Ye, past Liu Bi, and then past the four pale-faced people inside the Armored Vehicle. Finally, its eyes locked back onto Cheng Ye as it bellowed in a muffled, booming voice, "I merely wish to beat all of you to death... or..."

"Be beaten to death by you all!"

Arrogant!

Cheng Ye couldn't help but laugh. In all his time as an Inspector, this was his first time seeing such an arrogantly straightforward Infected Body.

Since that was the case.

He lowered his head slightly, and from his chest, he forced out a sentence, every word clear and distinct: "I, Happiness City Inspector, Cheng Ye..."

The first half of the sentence sounded perfectly normal, but as he reached the second half, his voice abruptly morphed into a muffled boom, exactly cut from the same cloth as the giant's, vibrating the air around them. "...will grant... your... wish!"

Boom!

An overwhelmingly majestic power suddenly detonated within the courtyard! The ground cracked in response, cobweb-like patterns instantly spreading outward for several meters. Gravel mixed with dust shot into the sky, forming a visible shockwave that whipped up fierce winds, making it impossible to keep one's eyes open.

The ordinary human body that was originally barely six feet tall was now frantically inflating like a balloon!

The cracking sounds of elongating bones were extremely piercing. Every inch of muscle tore, reconstructed, and expanded further.

Two meters, two and a half meters, three meters...

In just the blink of an eye, a colossal figure cast a shadow over the giant at the courtyard gate, its frame towering more than half a head taller than its opponent!

Reflected in the giant's scarlet, slitted pupils, the frail human had completely vanished. In his place stood a gargantuan beast far more hideous and berserk than itself!

The giant beast was clad head to toe in overlapping golden carapace. Hideous bone spikes protruded from its shoulder armor, and a row of razor-sharp, chillingly bright scales extended down its spine.

Bony protrusions coiled upward from the back of its neck, forming a half-mask that covered its face, leaving only a pair of eyes that had swelled to the size of fists exposed.

Those pupils were a dark gold, swirling with a pure, Non-Human ferocity.

Its massive arms, as thick as the trunks of ancient locust trees, bulged with chiseled muscles brimming with explosive power. Its legs were like heaven-supporting pillars, planted firmly into the fractured ground, every inch radiating an overwhelming intimidation capable of crushing all.

Inevitably, the shadow giant subconsciously lowered its head to glance at its own clawed arms.

In front of this golden behemoth, it was noticeably smaller by a whole margin!

'Th-this... how is this possible?!'

"Are you... ready?" A muffled, booming voice rumbled from the golden beast's maw.

The giant snapped its head up, its slitted pupils sharply contracting.

But before its eyes, the giant beast was already gone.

An absolute sense of crisis instantly seized the shadow giant's consciousness. Before it could even react, a heart-rending agony tore through the back of its neck.

The golden beast had appeared behind it, looking as though it had executed a Flash out of thin air.

A massive hand covered in golden carapace gripped its neck like iron tongs. The moment those knuckles applied force, the piercing crack of crushing bone rang out, vibrating the very air.

"Urgh!" The shadow giant let out a pained grunt. Its two massive shadow claws swung frantically backward, slashing through the air and dragging out streams of black mist.

But the golden beast moved faster. With a slight flex of its wrist, it hoisted the three-meter-tall giant completely off the ground, dangling it like a ragged doll.

Immediately after, shocking veins bulged along the beast's arm as it viciously slammed the giant down into the earth!

Boom!

A deafening crash exploded as the ground was brutally caved in, forming a pit half a meter deep. Gravel scattered and dust plumed into the air.

The shadow giant felt as though every bone in its body was falling apart. Black mist continuously leaked from the seams of its body. Just as it struggled to climb to its feet, the golden beast's enormous foot stomped heavily onto its chest.

That broad sole almost entirely covered its upper body. The instant the foot landed, the giant spat out a massive mouthful of black mist. Distinct sounds of bones shattering echoed from its chest, the dull cracks rebounding through the dead-silent Ruins.

"So you are... this weak?" The beast's voice rang out again, tinged with an imperceptible thrill of excitement.

"Get off!"

The shadow puppet giant unleashed an angry roar, its shadow claws thrashing wildly, yet unable to even graze the edges of the golden beast.

That was because the very instant it exerted force, the figure stepping on its chest vanished abruptly once more.

The speed of the two combatants was on entirely different levels!

The shadow giant was merely the fused byproduct of countless weaklings, whereas the colossal beast standing before it was a true... Transcendent!

Before it could fully scramble up, the figure materialized out of thin air again. The golden beast leaned down, grabbed its arm, and yanked violently, like snapping a piece of rotten wood.

Crack!

With a crisp snap, the shadow puppet giant's entire arm was brutally torn off. A massive surge of black mist spewed out like a geyser, rapidly dissipating into the night sky.

"So satisfying!"

On the System Panel, the progress of the Shadow Puppet World skyrocketed wildly, soaring by nearly 20%. The golden beast's voice twisted with sheer ecstasy.

He stared down at the struggling giant, his dark gold pupils suddenly flashing with bloodthirsty, tyrannical light. "I want all of you! Every... last piece!"

Before the giant's agonized howl could fully erupt, the beast's fists had already been raised, raining down like a torrential storm.

Thud, thud, thud, thud...

The fists blurred into continuous Afterimages, moving as fast as a Pile Driver. Every strike that landed was accompanied by the sharp crack of shattering bone and eruptions of black mist.

To the shadow giant, whose every step was impossibly heavy, this kind of terrifying explosive power seemed like a complete fantasy.

Hovering more than ten meters in the air, the Seamless Shadow Puppet had long lost its earlier composure. Its face was now marred with utter, ghost-seeing terror.

Without a second thought, it spun around and fled frantically toward the semi-trailer truck.

Diving into the cabin, it slammed its foot on the accelerator. The truck shot forward along the ruined streets without looking back, bulldozing its way out at full speed, desperately escaping the Gathering Place.

Even as the colossal booming sounds continued to ring out behind it!

Even though the giant it had stitched together using a hundred shadow puppets wasn't fully dead yet, it couldn't care less.

Deep down, a hair-raising chill crawled up its spine...

That horrifying human had already noticed it!

He wasn't human at all! He was a Mother Source monster, a monster wearing human skin!

If it didn't run now, it feared that it too would become just another prey for this beast!

At this moment, the Seamless Shadow Puppet was completely panic-stricken. Inside the trailer, shadow puppets scrambled out one after another, swarming the truck's exterior. Clinging onto the chassis like moths to a flame, they erupted with a terrifying burst of motive power far exceeding anything prior.

The truck transformed into a black phantom, weaving madly through the Ruins. Even when encountering dilapidated houses blocking its path, it didn't pause in the slightest, phasing right through them.

Except, every time it passed through a solid wall, two shadow puppets within the trailer would buckle under the spatial compression and disintegrate into flying ash.

Bang.

A muffled collision resounded. The front of the truck seemed to crash into something hard, followed instantly by several shrill, tragic screams.

Meanwhile, more than forty shadow puppets inside the trailer instantly exploded. Factoring in those that Cheng Ye had slaughtered, its reserve had plummeted by more than half!

Black mist permeated the air, and the truck's speed drastically dropped by a third.

The Seamless Shadow Puppet couldn't help but stick its head out to look, catching a glimpse of a figure with a stone head being sent flying into a ruined house, seemingly groaning in pain.

'Damn it!'

'Where did this piece of trash come from? Trying to join the fun with that pathetic level of strength—truly rushing straight to the grave!'

It couldn't hold back an angry curse, yet still didn't dare stop. Slamming the gas pedal to the floor, the vehicle tore recklessly outward.

It wasn't until it had completely rushed out of the Gathering Place's boundaries, leaving every last building behind in the rearview mirror, that the Seamless Shadow Puppet finally let out a small breath of relief.

Feeling its mental connection to the fused shadow puppet giant completely sever, it dared not linger for a single second. It hastily changed directions and drove frantically toward the south, desiring nothing more than to flee this nightmare land as quickly as possible.

Back in the courtyard in front of the public security office, the battle had long since settled.

Cheng Ye, still maintaining his golden armored giant beast form, slowly stood up.

Reaching out his massive hand, he seized the only remaining upper half of the giant's broken corpse. He threw open his gaping, blood-red maw and viciously bit down onto its blurred head.

Crunch.

A teeth-aching crunching sound rang out in the quiet night, laced with an indescribable savagery.

After chewing for over a dozen times, he opened his large mouth again and spat out a piece of pale white fabric.

The fabric landed on the ground, rolling twice as if it were a solid object, before emitting a mysterious aura comparable to a rare treasure.

At the same time, the giant's torn remains spontaneously erupted with a dense black aura that shot into the sky like a geyser. However, it was firmly locked onto by the Collector, entirely absorbed within, without a single wisp leaking out.

In the next second, a system prompt popped up before his eyes:

[Detected that the Trait "Shadow Puppet World" has reached maximum collection value (200%). Further accumulation is not possible.]

[Please elevate your Rank as soon as possible to expand capacity!]