Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 327: Shadow Puppet Rune, Bizarre Stone!

A sliver of sun, like shattered gold, inched up along the horizon.At first, it was only a very faint touch of warm red, as if someone had smudged half a stroke of cinnabar at the boundary between heaven and earth. In the blink of an eye, it spread like a wildfire.

Waves of crimson-gold light surged across the Wilderness layer by layer. The swirling dust turned into flowing gold leaf, dyeing the dilapidated Red River Gathering Place in a hazy, warm hue.

Inside the security office courtyard, Liu Bi yawned and stood up, stretching his somewhat stiff and cold legs.

He glanced toward the Armored Vehicle. In the front seat, Niu Fu had already reclined his chair and was sleeping soundly, his snores audible even through the windows.

Looking at the back row, Yin Ruofeng and the other three were clearly struggling to keep their eyes open. The siblings, in particular, were nodding off. Yet, the moment they saw him looking over, they forced a sheepish smile, stubbornly refusing to close their eyes.

The danger level of the Wilderness at night was dozens of times higher than during the day.

After enduring three successive attacks from the Seamless Shadow Puppet last night, the four of them would not dare relax for a moment, even if the sky were falling.

Of course, the main reason was that they had stayed in the safety of the shelter city for far too long. Their sense of danger had long since faded, making it impossible for them to adapt to the tense rhythm of the Wilderness on such short notice.

Even though they had visited the Red River Gathering Place several times before, being here now offered not a shred of familiarity. They only felt invisible killing intent lurking in every direction.

Liu Bi turned his gaze back to the courtyard. Unlike the others who were forcing themselves to stay awake, Cheng Ye had somehow dragged out two wooden tables and was currently with his head down, carefully studying the items on them.

On the table sat two Shadow Pouches, one Shadow Box, and a small leftover scrap of Shadow Cloth. He would reach out to touch one thing, then pick up another to inspect it. He looked full of energy, showing not a trace of exhaustion from staying up all night.

Even though it was his first time in the Wilderness, he adapted faster than a veteran Inspector with years of Field Duty experience. It was as if he had returned home, completely unleashing his true nature.

Liu Bi smiled helplessly and walked over. "The sky is brightening. Go get some sleep and rest."

Hearing this, Cheng Ye looked up, his fingertips twitching slightly.

The Shadow Pouches and the Shadow Box on the table wobbled slightly before seemingly melding into the air, instantly vanishing from sight. Only the palm-sized scrap of Shadow Cloth remained resting quietly on the table.

"The sky is brightening?" He looked up in realization, gazing toward the horizon. Sure enough, the faint morning light was slowly driving away the darkness.

"You really have the makings of a Researcher. You don't take after your grandfather and father at all."

Liu Bi could not help but tease. He leaned over to look at the Shadow Cloth on the table. "Well? You've been tinkering all night. Any results?

""

"I do, of course I do."

Cheng Ye nodded repeatedly and reached over to grab the remaining zero point one units of Shadow Cloth.

He did not use this palm-sized scrap to make another storage item. Instead, he treated it purely as research material.

Picking up a flashlight, he pressed it tightly against the surface of the Shadow Cloth. The light passed through the fabric but cast absolutely no shadow on the table.

After shining the light for over ten seconds, a distinct heat began to radiate from the surface of the Shadow Cloth. Only then did Cheng Ye abruptly pull the flashlight away.

In that very instant, a faint, blurry stroke vaguely surfaced on the Shadow Cloth, as if drawn with invisible ink.

Liu Bi widened his eyes, staring intently at the fleeting mark.

But in the blink of an eye, the stroke vanished. Strangely, it left no impression in his mind, as if what he had just seen was merely an illusion.

"What is..." he blurted out, unable to hold back his question.

"This is the core key." Cheng Ye smacked his lips, his eyes brimming with excitement. "It's exactly because of this thing that the Shadow Cloth can display those miraculous effects."

Just as Liu Bi could not remember that stroke, neither could he.

According to the prompts from the Collector, he would probably have to extract the 'Shadow Puppet Refining' Trait and fuse it into his equipment. Only after obtaining the qualifications to craft Shadow Cloth would he be able to firmly memorize this rune.

And this was precisely the most thrilling part!

It meant that within the 'Shadow Puppet Refining' Trait, which seemingly only served to create shadow puppets, a Rune was very likely hidden.

This was absolutely an unexpected windfall, a literal gift falling from the sky!

After all, every Rune could represent the Core Secret of the Transcendent Control State.

The more Runes one mastered, the deeper they could touch upon the underlying secrets of how the world operated.

Cheng Ye did not even need to think hard about it; a clear image flashed in his mind of exactly how ecstatic Shi Xu would be if he brought this cloth back for him to study.

Standing up, he focused his mind and carefully sensed the surrounding aura. Then, he stated with certainty, "The sky is brightening. That Seamless Shadow Puppet probably won't be coming back."

"Yeah," Liu Bi agreed, then asked, "Why don't you rest until noon, and then we set out?"

"Hmm..." Cheng Ye turned his head and looked toward the depths of the Gathering Place. A sudden thought stirred in his heart. "How about we rest for another day?"

Liu Bi raised an eyebrow, instantly guessing his intentions. "You want to go explore the mine in the Red River Gathering Place?"

"Exactly. We're already here; we can't just leave empty-handed." Cheng Ye nodded gently. "This Red River Gathering Place looks relatively peaceful, so let's go take a peek at the mine. If it's dangerous inside or if it was emptied out long ago, we'll leave at noon. But if there's still stuff left in there, we'll rest up for a day and properly explore it."

Liu Bi tilted his head in thought for a moment before giving a slight nod. "Taking a look is fine. Can you still hold up? You haven't slept a wink all night."

"I'm fine. I could easily hold up even if I didn't sleep for two days."

Cheng Ye could not help but laugh. As long as he had this kind of continuous unexpected income, let alone two days, he would not have the slightest problem going three to five days without sleep.

Furthermore, the main purpose of this Field Duty was simply to experience the Wilderness and find Luo You to gather information regarding special abilities.

Being able to conveniently snag some extra gains along the way was naturally for the best.

As for the next three Field Duty missions assigned by the Inspection Station, the time limits were extremely generous.

Cheng Ye turned and walked back to the Armored Vehicle, unlocking the door.

Seeing this, Yin Ruofeng and the other three in the cabin hurriedly squeezed out ingratiating smiles, though a lingering sense of dread still flickered in their eyes.

Seeing their reaction, Cheng Ye knew that the shock brought about by last night's transformation was simply too overwhelming.

Even though these people had heard of the existence of Source-Binders, it was highly likely their first time seeing with their own eyes that Humans could take on such a hideous and terrifying form. He had literally smashed apart that level of Infected Body using the most brutal methods imaginable.

However, he did not offer any words of comfort.

Once these people safely arrived at Radiant Rainbow Shelter City and reflected on the events afterward, they would naturally come to realize just how reassuring it was to have someone like him traveling by their side.

"After breakfast, I'm going to check out the mine. You all just stay in the vehicle and get some good sleep. We'll talk once you've rested enough."

Cheng Ye pulled out a few pouches of nutritional paste, handing one to each of the four before grabbing another for himself. Tearing open the seal with his teeth, he swallowed a mouthful and said, "The Red River Gathering Place is safe for now. If there's anything valuable in the mine, we'll rest here for a day and depart tomorrow. If it was cleared out long ago, we'll leave at noon and try to rush back to the offline outpost by tonight."

"Yes, yes! Please rest assured, Inspector Cheng!" Yin Ruofeng nodded enthusiastically, quickly fishing out a small notebook from under his seat and handing it over.

Inside the notebook was a crude topographical map, with over a dozen winding mine tunnels clearly marked.

"This is a map of the mine that we pieced together from our memories. Lord Liu also mentioned in passing that the area within fifty meters underground should be safe, but anything deeper could be dangerous."

Cheng Ye took the notebook and glanced over it. The markings were quite clear. He nodded gently. "You've been very thoughtful. Get some good sleep in a bit!"

The four of them exchanged glances. The tension on their faces finally eased as they nodded repeatedly, the unease in their eyes gradually dissipating.

After finishing breakfast, they waited until the sky was entirely bright. Once the morning light illuminated every corner of the Ruins, Liu Bi woke Niu Fu up and gave him some brief instructions, telling him to keep a close eye on the Armored Vehicle and the four passengers.

Following that, the two men walked out of the courtyard side by side. After Cheng Ye briefly determined the direction of the entrance and exit based on the notebook, they headed toward the western side of the Gathering Place.

When walking through the area at night, they had only felt a dead silence all around them, which did not seem like much of a concern.

But now, during the day, the stark crimson cliff walls on both sides rose straight up from the ground, piercing the sky. They exuded a suffocating Sense of Oppression, making one inevitably wonder if a massive boulder might suddenly tumble from the top and seal off the canyon completely.

Moreover, the cliff walls were riddled with mine entrances of varying sizes, making for a truly eerie sight.

"No matter how you look at this terrain, it doesn't seem easy to defend and hard to attack..." Cheng Ye clicked his tongue and complained. "If I were the lord here, even if I had people living inside these carved-out caves on the cliff walls, I would never establish the Gathering Place down in the canyon."

"The so-called easy to defend and hard to attack actually refers to the fact that there are only two directions to defend: the east and the west."

Liu Bi thought for a moment before explaining patiently, "Shi Province lacks plant nutrition, making flying Infection Sources incredibly rare. Thus, there is absolutely no need to worry about monsters swooping down from the top of the canyon. For the Red River Gathering Place, the east is the entrance, and the west is the exit. As long as they securely guard the eastern pass, they can evade ninety-nine percent of the risks."

"However, once a large-scale Infection Tide strikes, this terrain becomes a literal Forbidden Land. There is nowhere to run. Those who managed to escape back then all relied on the emergency escape devices on the rock walls to climb out. Every path below was completely blocked off. With an Infection Tide in the east and another in the west, anyone left down here could only be trapped and starved to death."

"Too cruel..." Cheng Ye muttered under his breath. The chilling white bones scattered in the security office courtyard instantly flashed through his mind, causing him to fall silent for a moment.

Their footsteps did not stop as they briskly walked along the abandoned streets within the Gathering Place.

The Red River Gathering Place was not like the New Pond Gathering Place. From the very beginning, it had never been developed toward the scale of a shelter city; from start to finish, it was merely an ordinary resource-based Gathering Place.

Still, judging by the layout of these remaining structures, it was not hard to see the ambitions of that Lord Liu from back then.

After passing a few blocks, Cheng Ye suddenly paused, his gaze landing on the gates of a somewhat familiar building up ahead.

Is this... a school?

Three two-story buildings were arranged in a triangle, enclosing a spacious playground in the center.

It was just that after more than a decade, the playground had long been utterly abandoned. The wild, overgrown weeds reached past the ankles, and only a few pieces of partially rotted sports equipment still hinted at their former appearance.

Liu Bi stopped in his tracks as well, quietly watching Cheng Ye walk into the school's courtyard.

Three pull-up bars stood in the yard.

Cheng Ye instinctively reached out and touched the closest one. To his surprise, the quality of the bar was exceptionally good. Even after so many years, its base remained incredibly sturdy.

It made sense; back when the Red River Gathering Place could mine its own ores, they must have used solid, high-quality materials.

On a whim, he grabbed the bar with both hands and easily did a pull-up.

An action that he had to exert all his strength to complete back in his school days when he could not get enough to eat was now as effortless as eating or drinking.

His interest piqued, Cheng Ye tried a one-handed pull-up, and then even used just a single finger to hook the bar. Supported by his immense strength, he smoothly hoisted his body up and even transitioned into a muscle-up, bracing himself firmly atop the bar.

'With this level of physical fitness, I'd probably be a superman if I went back to modern times!' he thought to himself, unable to suppress a chuckle.

Leaping down from the pull-up bar, Cheng Ye strode toward the nearest school building.

Perhaps during the initial outbreak of the Infection Tide, everyone had rushed back to their homes or secure shelters, as there were no skeletons to be seen inside the school building.

Withered yellow vines, resembling dead Blood Vessels, sprouted from the cracks in the walls, completely wrapping around the building's facade and the steps. Whenever the wind swept past, it rolled up the dry leaves on the ground, producing a soft rustling sound.

It was so chillingly quiet that even time itself seemed to have stopped here.

The wooden classroom doors had long since rotted and collapsed, revealing the messy scene inside.

Desks and chairs were piled together haphazardly. Some had broken legs, others had cracked surfaces, and all were covered in a thick layer of dust, completely obscuring their original colors.

The chalkboard at the front lay face down on the floor, its edges chipped and jagged. Cheng Ye bent down and flipped it over. The surface was heavily mottled, without even half a chalk mark left behind.

The traces of civilization were actually this fragile.

A single gust of wind, and they vanished without a trace...

Even if someone later wanted to follow the clues and uncover everything that had happened here, they would likely only be able to face these cold objects, offering a few speculative sighs.

"Brother B, this Lord Liu was probably a very ambitious man."

Walking out of the school, Cheng Ye looked back at the three dilapidated buildings and could not help but sigh. "If the Infection Tide hadn't descended so suddenly back then, I think this place had a higher chance of becoming a true shelter city than the New Pond Gathering Place."

"Many places are like this." Liu Bi's tone was devoid of emotion, as if he were already accustomed to such ruin. "No matter how well constructed, no matter how many brilliant ideas are implemented, and even if the lords and administrators are the elite among men—as long as a single Infection Tide sweeps through and a few high-level Infection Sources slip in, it results in a Catastrophic Disaster. All expectations and preparations are instantly reduced to nothing."

He paused, his gaze drifting toward the distant end of the canyon, his voice growing heavier. "The same applies to our Happiness City. No matter how booming the development of the satellite towns is right now, if we cannot hold off this winter's Infection Tide, it's all for nothing. If we fail to guard the gates of the satellite towns in the future, they will eventually end up looking exactly like what we're seeing right now."

"True. Conquering the world is easy; defending it is hard," Cheng Ye agreed with a nod, a heavy, somber feeling welling up in his heart.

From the school to the mine, there was only about two kilometers left.

The two picked up their pace. Before long, they spotted a crooked pole standing at the entrance of the mine from a distance, looking like a crude street sign.

"Oh, it looks like someone already beat us to it." Cheng Ye glanced at the pole and could not help but shake his head.

Painted in red paint on the sign were two lines of crooked, large characters:

[Danger Inside, Do Not Enter]

Judging by the fading of the paint, at least five years had passed.

Calculating the timeline, it matched perfectly with the moment Lord Liu took the mine map to Light Rainbow to sell it.

The two walked up to the entrance and simultaneously clicked on their flashlights, shining the beams inside.

As the beams swept across the ground, they indeed spotted a few faint sets of footprints, as if someone had just walked over them not long ago.

"These footprints are quite fresh. I didn't expect this mine..."

Cheng Ye pointed at a few footprints near the edge, speaking with a smile. However, his voice came to an abrupt halt the moment the words left his mouth.

Following the footprints outward, he was shocked to discover that faint traces were also left on the ground outside the mine.

Furthermore, stretching forward from the entrance, faint prints could be seen every four to five meters. It looked as if someone had been hopping forward here, leaving a crooked, meandering trail that oozed an unspeakable eeriness.

On the other side, Liu Bi took a few steps inside with his flashlight and pulled out the scanner from his waist to run a sweep.

A sharp, rapid "Beep-beep!" instantly sounded out. The screen flashed a piercing crimson light that stung the eyes.

The two exchanged glances, their expressions changing simultaneously as they blurted out in unison, "Something came out of here last night?!"

Good lord.

Encountering a single Seamless Shadow Puppet was already troublesome enough. To think that some other ungodly thing was hiding deep within this mine—and that it had even crawled out last night!

Cheng Ye glanced into the pitch-black mine shaft, his eyes locking onto the tracks on the ground. He immediately spoke up, "Come on, let's track these marks. We're not going into the mine for now."

"Alright," Liu Bi nodded in agreement.

The signpost planted at the entrance proved that at least someone had explored the interior of the mine before them. Even if there used to be valuable items inside, many had presumably been taken away.

Now that there were fresh tracks left behind, it further confirmed that other dangers were indeed lurking deep inside the mine.

Rushing in blindly was definitely not a wise move. It was better to follow the tracks and assess the situation first.

If they could confirm through these traces that there was still residual value left in the mine, the safest approach would be to go back to Yin Ruofeng and the others, grab the complete map, and then make a plan.

The two of them followed the faint tracks on the ground. The further they went, the more certain they became: after this thing came out of the mine, it had headed straight into the heart of the Gathering Place, right toward the security office where they had camped last night.

"This central zone is truly riddled with danger. Once it's abandoned, all sorts of monsters and freaks come crawling out."

Cheng Ye furrowed his brows, the vigilance in his heart spiking a few notches.

Last night, he had been constantly on guard against the threat of the Seamless Shadow Puppet, yet he hadn't noticed this thing crawling out of the mine at all.

Could it be that the sheer eeriness of the other party's abilities far exceeded the limits of his perception?

But as the tracks led deeper into the Gathering Place and rounded a few corners, the two of them suddenly stopped in their tracks at the same time.

Right in the middle of the road, the bizarre tracks came to an abrupt halt.

They exchanged a glance. Scanning the area in the direction the tracks had vanished, they soon spotted a grotesque figure in front of a collapsed residential building by the side of the road.

It looked like a human, but its head was entirely deformed, as if it were sporting a solid rock for a head. At this moment, it was lying on the ground, twitching continuously.