Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 352: Traces of Runes in the Mine and Immortal Item Materials!

Two pairs of hands clasped together.The difference was that Cheng Ye had only extended his right hand, which Zhang Weidong tightly enveloped with both of his.

They were a pair of large, incredibly coarse hands. The palms were as dry and rough as sandpaper, marred by several uneven, partially healed chilblain scars that rubbed uncomfortably yet gently against the skin.

But they were also the hands of a survivor from the very bottom of the wasteland. Hidden within the thick calluses of his palms was the most primal diligence and the courage to struggle for survival in desperate situations.

Meeting his gaze, Cheng Ye clearly saw the emotions surging in the depths of Zhang Weidong's eyes.

There was heartfelt gratitude, along with a trace of lingering daze, as if he hadn't fully processed what was happening.

This was probably what people meant by a life-changing windfall.

When an incredible opportunity truly fell from the sky, the first emotion to well up was rarely pleasant surprise. Instead, it was often sudden panic, helplessness, and an indescribable sense of bewilderment.

Only after coming to their senses, carefully savoring their new circumstances, imagining their future changes, and sharing this serendipity with their family would that profound joy slowly bubble up from the bottom of their hearts, ultimately converging into an intoxicating ecstasy.

Cheng Ye had seen this exact expression on quite a few faces by now.

Life was just like that. Some people did not lack ability or character; they simply lacked a patron willing to pull them up.

Especially in the law of the jungle that dictated the wasteland, those who stuck to their principles often found it even harder to get ahead.

But once they encountered the right opportunity, this rare and commendable quality would become a springboard, launching them into a future they previously wouldn't have dared to imagine.

"Have a seat," Cheng Ye nodded slightly, gesturing for Zhang Weidong to sit down. "I still have quite a few things I need to ask you, all related to these ores."

The two of them sat back down on the sofa. The pieces of ore rested quietly on the coffee table, emitting a strange luster under the lights.

"Have you tested if these ores can absorb Infection Sources?" Cheng Ye got straight to the point, his eyes fixed on Zhang Weidong's face.

"Lord Zheng, he..." Zhang Weidong opened his mouth, still somewhat hesitant to speak.

Cheng Ye simply cut through his hesitation. "I know he might have told you all that these things were sent over by Happiness City. But in reality, our Happiness City has never seen this kind of ore, let alone possessed any records regarding the Winter Moon Ore. Today is also the first time I've discovered the miraculous properties of this ore."

"Yes!"

Realizing that Cheng Ye did not care about Twin Moon Lake's petty schemes or Lord Zheng Dayou's machinations, Zhang Weidong completely dropped his misgivings. He nodded honestly and opened up. "Long before Great Banyan Shelter City or even Radiant Rainbow Shelter City had ever heard of the Winter Moon Ore, I was absolutely certain that this material was entirely brand new!"

He took a deep breath and spoke slowly, "It has been just over seven years since I joined the Twin Moon Lake Gathering Place as an Inspector. Actually, from my very first year, I was always curious about one thing. Logically, winter should be the most dangerous time, yet Twin Moon Lake was always the safest. But whenever the hot summer and autumn seasons rolled around, the gathering place would always be attacked by Infection Sources or even small-scale Infection Tides."

"During the first two years, I just assumed it was due to Twin Moon Lake's unique terrain. After all, this is the only place in Shi Province capable of large-scale farming, so it made sense for it to have some special traits. But in the following years, I really couldn't suppress my curiosity. I took a lot of notes trying to find a pattern. About three years ago, during a routine patrol, I accidentally discovered this Winter Moon Ore."

Zheng Dayou thought he had done things flawlessly, completely unaware of the bizarre and varied Abilities that existed in this wasteland.

Zhang Weidong just so happened to be able to perceive the flow of Life Qi. Those scattered traces of Winter Moon Ore powder were actually tainted with a faint yet distinct Life Qi.

Investigating along this clue, he quickly locked onto the source.

Lord Zheng Dayou, Vice-Lord Zhuang Jing, and Guard Captain Wang Sheng, who needed to go out on patrol every once in a while.

After all, the patrol routes of the other guards were completely fixed. They did not have the authority to wander around randomly during the winter.

"During the first winter, I eliminated Wang Sheng right away. Whenever he patrolled an area, I would immediately follow up and inspect it, but I never found any traces of this stone powder. Furthermore, while he looks like someone who knows his boundaries, his personality actually can't keep a secret. He overthinks things too much, and knowing more secrets would only torment him. He couldn't possibly keep something this major under wraps."

"By the second winter, I had zeroed in on Vice-Lord Zhuang Jing. I sharply noticed that the Life Qi on his body would irregularly fluctuate in strength. Every time he returned from going out with the Lord, his Life Qi would weaken significantly, requiring quite some time to slowly recover. I didn't dare to rashly follow them to see where they went, but I was absolutely certain that this Winter Moon Ore was definitely being produced by the Lord and Vice-Lord."

"Until last year..."

Zhang Weidong sighed softly, his tone carrying a complex mix of emotions. "Twin Moon Lake and the surrounding gathering places suffered an outbreak of a rare Cold Plague, and the stored medicine was far from enough to treat everyone. Just half a month after Vice-Lord Zhuang went to Great Banyan Shelter City to beg for medicine, Lord Zheng sought me out. He told me that he actually knew I had discovered the secret of the Winter Moon Ore three years ago, but he chose to trust me, to trust an Inspector's bottom line."

"Over those three years, my behavior indeed did not disappoint him. Even after learning this secret, I didn't continue investigating and instead proactively helped cover their tracks. Therefore, I became the third person he selected to have contact with the Winter Moon Ore. Following the Lord, I went to that mine and saw this kind of ore with my own eyes. Only then did I understand just how terrifying its effects truly were."

"So you're saying, the ore excavated before Zhuang Jing left last year wasn't enough, which is why he sought you out?" Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow, his tone laced with understanding.

Zhang Weidong nodded woodenly. "The main reason was that the guards were also successively falling ill to the Cold Plague, causing the gathering place's patrol perimeter to shrink day by day. To ensure we didn't have to divide our attention to deal with passing Infected Bodies and Infection Sources during such a critical juncture, we had no choice but to scatter massive amounts of Winter Moon Ore powder. The usage was nearly ten times that of previous years. The stockpile simply couldn't fill that gap, so he needed someone to go down and mine more."

"Along the way, Lord Zheng also told me about the other uses of the Winter Moon Ore, such as how the ore could acquire special abilities after absorbing an Infection Source. It's just..."

"It's just that you didn't expect I would figure out how to use them in a single day, or that I would know how to activate these ores just by touching them once, right?" Cheng Ye picked up his sentence, a hint of a smile in his voice.

"Yes!" Zhang Weidong nodded emphatically, his face full of awe. "Especially this ore that can emit heat. We researched it up until today and still couldn't figure out its activation method!"

"Although I've never seen these ores before, you have to understand that the underlying logic of the world is interconnected."

As Cheng Ye spoke, he fished the Water-Gathering Stone out of his pocket, which he hadn't brought out during dinner earlier.

"Aside from absorbing Infection Sources, there are actually other ways to activate the Winter Moon Ore and obtain special abilities."

"What?!" Zhang Weidong's pupils abruptly contracted. He reached out in disbelief and picked up the Water-Gathering Stone.

Unlike the blurry characters inside the other ores, the Rune within the Water-Gathering Stone was clearly visible.

Zhang Weidong stared at it intensely for over ten seconds before finally looking away in a daze, a flash of astonishment crossing his face.

He had forgotten it.

Just like the previous ores, humans simply could not remember these internal characters.

Could it be...

"This is a very miraculous thing. Our Happiness City Research Institute calls them 'Runes,' and we even set up a dedicated research group for them. The lead director of the research group is a Fourth-Level Researcher, and I just so happen to be participating in this project, having made some discoveries of my own."

Cheng Ye explained slowly, "Runes possess a special Cognitive Impairment. When you cannot comprehend its essence, even if you see it with your own eyes, you will be unable to remember its form. And its power, much like these ores, harbors inconceivable and miraculous might. The only difference is that the major shelter cities utilize Runes in different ways. The Winter Moon Ore is just a brand new method of application."

After saying this, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Cheng Ye's mind.

'Could it be that the manufacturing principles of the so-called Immortal Items are related to this extreme cold ore?'

'Perhaps it requires mining massive amounts of extreme cold ore and stacking countless Runes within them to create artifacts with such terrifying power.'

'And those Immortal Items have likely long surpassed the scope of ordinary artifacts, becoming avatars of certain rules.'

'Could that earth-shattering explosion back then have been because the power of the Immortal Items exceeded their creators' estimations?'

'The moment they were born, they first forced those lunatics who vainly attempted to control the rules to pay the price in blood.'

Thinking about it carefully, this was genuinely possible.

Just considering the command traits collected by the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch, it was simply too terrifying. It didn't seem like the power a single Rune could display at all; instead, it involved changes in all aspects.

Unfortunately, Happiness City's research progress in the field of Immortal Items was almost zero, not much better than Twin Moon Lake's. Even if Shi Xu devoted all his efforts to researching it, it would probably be difficult for him to find any related clues.

Even Radiant Rainbow Shelter City hadn't gone down the path of Runes. Instead, they opted for a technological route similar to Happiness City's, except they pursued it more purely.

The only ones who truly understood the essence of Immortal Items and Runes were probably Hegemon-Class Shelter Cities like Torch, which relied entirely on Runes to manufacture physical objects.

'Hiss... if I keep researching like this, Shi Xu's research group is going to be left eating my dust,' Cheng Ye thought to himself.

Even though he had only mastered a single, simple stroke of this miraculous Rune so far, it was already a breakthrough advancement.

Meanwhile, the team led by Shi Xu didn't even have a single Rune sample they could present to this day.

"Runes..." Zhang Weidong picked up the Water-Gathering Stone again, examined it meticulously for a moment, and then slowly set it down.

After repeating this action six or seven times, he finally raised his head, looking at Cheng Ye with burning eyes. "Cheng... Station Master..."

Cheng Ye shook his head and interrupted, "Just call me Inspector, or using my name directly is fine too. There's no need to add 'Station Master' right now."

Zhang Weidong nodded hastily, then spoke with urgency. "Inspector Cheng, if the thing I'm looking at right now is a Rune, then when I went down into the mine earlier... I saw something similar."

"Something similar?" Cheng Ye frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure."

Zhang Weidong nodded heavily, his tone immensely certain. "Because every time I looked at those characters, I also couldn't remember their exact appearance at all. However, I can faintly sense that the Runes I saw should be much more complete and complex than the ones inside this ore."

"What?"

Complete Runes were actually emerging from the depths of the mine?

If he hadn't personally experienced that bizarre Cognitive Impairment where he forgot what he saw immediately after looking, Cheng Ye absolutely wouldn't have dared to believe Zhang Weidong's words.

But the key was that he had seen the dense Runes on the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch with his own eyes, as well as the complete Rune within the Chamber. After that, when he saw those incomplete Rune fragments, even if he couldn't remember the details, he could subconsciously compare the difference in complexity between the two.

"Yes! I discovered this strange phenomenon when I went down to mine last year."

Zhang Weidong nodded again, adding details. "Those complete Runes would irregularly surface and sink on the high-purity Winter Moon Ore in the depths of the mine. I also found that when the temperature dropped to around minus thirty degrees Celsius, the frequency of the Runes appearing was much higher. I even purposely brought a notebook down with me, wanting to take rubbings of those patterns, but the rubbings were completely different from the Runes I saw with my own eyes. They were entirely two different things."

Good lord, with this addition, it was even more solid proof that those were Runes.

However, did the extreme cold ore inherently contain these Runes, or were they generated after this ore absorbed Tan Ming's power?

Just as Cheng Ye was about to press for more precise details, his expression suddenly paused, and his tense emotions slowly relaxed.

Concern leads to confusion; how could he forget his most important method?

So what if Zhang Weidong couldn't remember the details?

As long as he had truly seen those Runes with his own eyes, Cheng Ye could use intelligence searches to backtrack to the mine scenes in his memory and see the true appearance of those Runes for himself.

He might even be able to remotely extract and record the Runes through the intelligence space once his rank increased in the future.

Nevertheless, Cheng Ye wasn't in a rush to initiate a search. Instead, he suppressed his impatience and continued to ask.

"Have you told anyone else about this?"

"No. That natural cavern beneath the hills is very strange. It's hundreds of meters deep."

Zhang Weidong shook his head repeatedly. "If you ask me, if it weren't for the fact that its length and volume are simply too ridiculous, and you shrunk it down by a few hundred or a thousand times, it would look exactly like a tunnel bored out by a giant earthworm. It winds its way deep underground, and the further down you go, the colder it gets. The Lord and Vice-Lord are ordinary people; they simply can't withstand that kind of low temperature."

"I relied on my Ability, gathering an abundance of Life Qi to form a protective layer over my body, which allowed me to go deeper to mine. In the areas they usually excavate, you can't see this kind of ore with Runes at all. Even though the mine has been widened now, to reach the area I got to, you'd still have to dig down nearly fifty meters from the deepest part of the current mine before you could see those extreme cold ores embedded with Runes."

"This mine was already very deep before it was excavated?" Cheng Ye looked thoughtful.

"Yes, what we call excavation and drilling this year was actually just modifying and reinforcing the previously existing natural cavern. We only used a hundred or so people to complete the mine's construction."

A natural mine?

Cheng Ye stroked his chin, recalling everything he had seen after entering the mine earlier that day. A strong feeling suddenly surged in his heart.

Could it be that the formation of the extreme cold ore wasn't due to the special terrain at all?

But rather because a Transcendent Mother Source capable of incubating Runes was hidden underground?

Just like the symbiotic connection between the Sunlight Slate and the Fiery Sunflower, could this extreme cold ore also be a byproduct spawned by that Transcendent Mother Source?

The situation was becoming increasingly complex, and new conjectures were constantly emerging.

Cheng Ye pondered for several minutes until he had a general direction in mind. Then, he activated his intelligence search, locking onto clues related to the Runes in the mine.

Pixel dots shattered and reassembled, instantly recreating the scene.

Following Zhang Weidong's perspective deep into the unopened depths of the mine, the terrain inside could only be described as exceptionally complex.

But what felt like a long time was less than a second in the outside world. Cheng Ye raised his head again, his eyes carrying a bit more understanding, as well as an elusive heaviness.

Zhang Weidong had not lied, nor was his memory flawed.

Complete Runes indeed existed in the depths of the mine, and there was more than just one!

Moreover, the complexity of each Rune was on par with the Rune inside the Chamber. They ought to possess the complete capability to be used independently, rather than being incomplete strokes.

Unfortunately, the Collector couldn't record or memorize them. He could only helplessly exit and save the log for later review.

'The massive explosion in my dream, the complete Runes underground... this extreme cold ore is truly becoming more and more dangerous...'

'If I had a choice between the Fiery Sunflower that creates Stone Sunflower People and this extreme cold ore with an unfathomable origin...'

Cheng Ye would choose the former a hundred percent of the time. After all, no matter how strong a monster with a physical body was, there would always be a way to deal with it.

But the extreme cold ore was clearly not some benign natural mineral. Its threat level was absolutely not inferior to a Transcendent Mother Source.

Rather than taking enormous risks to slowly probe its boundaries and hidden dangers, it would be better to focus his energy on intelligence tracking.

As long as he could find remnants of the Four Sacrifices Cult or core members of the Starship organization, he could use intelligence searches to uncover the extreme cold ore's true identity in one fell swoop.

"You don't need to concern yourself with the follow-up regarding the Winter Moon Ore anymore."

Cheng Ye looked over. "Since Lord Zheng took me to the mine, Happiness City will inevitably intervene in the handling of the minerals. By the way, are you clear on the Infection Sources corresponding to these three ores?"

"I am. I've always been in charge of the energy replenishment work."

Zhang Weidong replied immediately, pointing at the ores on the table and rattling off the corresponding Infection Sources for each ore and the energy replenishment methods they had figured out, as if recounting his family's treasures.

Among them, the ore used to improve water quality was named the 'Living Water Stone,' and its energy source came from an Infection Source commonly found in streams, lakes, and other fixed water sources:

The Lazy-Pattern Fish!

Every spring and summer, when Crescent Moon Lake and Cusped Moon Lake entered their dry seasons, large numbers of these Infection Sources could always be salvaged from the lakebeds.

The Lazy-Pattern Fish had distinct lazy patterns on their scales. Once a human touched them, they would become increasingly lethargic.

Initially, it would just manifest as an unwillingness to wake up early or do work. But in the later stages, they would become so lazy that they refused to get out of bed, refused to eat, and even refused to breathe.

Looking at its mechanics, it was a terrifying Infection Source that caused a slow, chronic death.

But in reality, its threat level was pitifully low. First of all, the Lazy-Pattern Fish could not transmit from person to person, and the infected wouldn't mutate into Infected Bodies; they would merely fade away on their own. Secondly, the method to cure it was extremely simple: the infected only needed to stay awake and continuously active for twenty-four hours to naturally break the infection.

No matter how lazy a person was, as long as they realized they had been infected, they could easily free themselves.

Interestingly, these lazy patterns had a purifying effect on water, automatically absorbing impurities and keeping the water clear.

Furthermore, just like the Green Jewel Bug and the Giant Louse Stone, the Lazy-Pattern Fish also possessed its own evolutionary path.

The longer it survived in a static aquatic environment, the more it would develop different abilities based on the impurities it absorbed. It could either improve water quality like the Abyssal Water Cave Crab, or grant the water healing properties like the Healing Water Grass.

'It seems that the Infection Sources capable of being absorbed by the extreme cold ore and converted into special ores all share one obvious trait: they are all evolvable Infection Sources. This definitely provides great convenience for finding suitable Infection Sources down the line!'

After noticing the pattern thrice, Cheng Ye instantly understood.

However, the sources of the next two ores were not evolutionary Infection Sources, but rather special Infection Sources.

The ore capable of generating heat was named the 'Flame Stone.' It originated from the Flame Ant, a Malignant Infection Source with extremely terrifying destructive potential.

A single ant could grow to the size of a fist, and they were particularly drawn to places rich in vitality.

Flame Ants would lay their eggs on crops. If humans accidentally ingested the eggs without washing them thoroughly, it would trigger an irreversible infection process.

The infected person's body temperature would gradually rise, their body accumulating energy like a charging bomb.

Unlike the Blasting Bees that had appeared in Wenlu County, which mindlessly exploded at random, Flame Ant Infected Bodies would actively seek out densely populated areas to detonate themselves, causing massive casualties to gathering places or shelter cities every single time.

Shi Province rarely had areas brimming with vitality, so Happiness City had never encountered this Infection Source before.

However, Twin Moon Lake was a special case. Over the years, they had suffered three separate Flame Ant invasions, with each swarm numbering over a hundred.

The final ore, which could improve soil, was named the 'Fertile Stone.' It originated from the Iron Fertilizer Flower.

A special Benign Infection Source.

Upon infection, the human body would gradually undergo ironization, similar to the effects of the Meat Iron that Luo Kuke consumed. The infected person would have to submerge their body in hot water exceeding 45 degrees Celsius until the Iron Fertilizer Flower mark on their forehead completely vanished to cure the infection.

But if the Iron Fertilizer Flower was contained, crushed, and soaked in water, it could be made into an exceptionally effective fertilizer.

Even when diluted at a ratio of a thousand to one, it could double the soil's fertility.

Twin Moon Lake's crop yields had never decreased over the years, and the Fertile Stone was largely to thank for that.

"The Green Emerald can crush plants into a liquid, and by soaking the stone in it, it can slowly absorb energy."

"The Giant Louse Stone has a similar usage. You just need to bury it in mud, and it can extract nutrients from the mud to complete its energy replenishment."

"The Living Water Stone is the simplest to use. You just tie a rope to it and sink it into the water."

"For the Flame Stone, we've currently only discovered one absorption method: extracting biological body heat, and this heat must be higher than normal body temperature. We can organize the residents to run long distances, and once their body temperatures rise, we use the Flame Stone to absorb it."

"As for the Fertile Stone... we can only rely on purchasing Iron Fertilizer Flowers to replenish its energy. Back when the trade routes were open, merchant caravans would often bring Iron Fertilizer Flowers to trade with us. But the trade routes have been severed for the past two years, completely cutting off the Fertile Stone's energy supply channel."

With all six great gems in his possession, Cheng Ye felt a rush of pride, akin to Thanos assembling the Infinity Stones.

The Green Emerald symbolized life; the Giant Louse Stone represented defense.

The Flame Stone symbolized offense; the Living Water Stone handled purification.

The Fertile Stone contained the power of nourishment and gestation, while the Water-Gathering Stone governed the capacity to store and collect.

'I wonder if the Flame Energy Conversion device can charge the Flame Stone? If that's feasible, I could collect more of these ores, pair them with a large number of Sunlight Slates, and perhaps achieve a seamless, area-of-effect heating system.'

Cheng Ye thought gleefully as he carefully gathered all the ores, placing them into the Containment Box one by one.

Research regarding these special ores could also be conducted this winter.

But unlike the Sunlight Slate and the Runes, the extreme cold ore possessed immense hidden dangers and had to be truthfully reported.

Naturally, he could just toss these special ores over to the Research Institute. While earning a massive merit, he could also continuously mooch new special ores for free in the future.

"We should be setting out to leave tomorrow. For the next leg of our journey, we need to make a trip to Radiant Rainbow Shelter City. We'll likely return to Happiness City around the beginning of December, right as winter arrives."

Cheng Ye blinked. "Do you want to follow me to Radiant Rainbow to broaden your horizons, or do you want to stay here and wait for me to return before I take your whole family to Happiness City?"

"Huh? I can go too?!"

Zhang Weidong's eyes instantly lit up, though he then added with some hesitation, "Inspector Cheng, my wife and child have to come with me. And if we leave, my child's uncle and his family... will probably want to follow us and leave Twin Moon Lake as well."

"How many people in total?"

"Including me, exactly... seven people."

"Seven, huh..."

When recruiting personnel, allowing their families to tag along was naturally for the best. People with families holding them down were far more stable than solitary rogues.

However, the armored vehicle could only seat ten people at maximum capacity. Even if Yin Ruofeng and Zhang Daping stayed in Radiant Rainbow Shelter City, they still had to pick up the shift-changing personnel on the return trip, which would account for about three people.

Plus, he planned to recruit other talents along the way, especially technical personnel related to the industrial system. With all that, the seats would clearly be insufficient.

It seemed he'd have to find a way to get another vehicle to accompany them once they reached Radiant Rainbow Shelter City. A modified minibus with decent defensive capabilities would be ideal...

It was a pity. If he could have nabbed the Seamless Shadow Puppet's semi-truck for free, that would have been perfect.

Cheng Ye pondered for a moment before nodding in response. "Don't worry, seven people is fine. I'll smooth things over with Lord Zheng during this time. Just have your family start preparing in advance. There's no need to bring too many daily necessities. Once you get to Happiness City, you can basically buy whatever you want."

"Got it!" Zhang Weidong nodded vigorously, his face full of undisguised gratitude. "Then I want to follow you to Radiant Rainbow. Otherwise, who knows when I'll ever get the chance to visit such a massive shelter city and broaden my horizons again."

"Alright, just go back and pack your clothes and essential luggage later."

Although he had successfully recruited Zhang Weidong and his Cooperation Level had risen to 81%, they were still inside the Twin Moon Lake Gathering Place, making it inconvenient to discuss more in-depth matters for now.

After finalizing the details of tomorrow's departure, Cheng Ye stood up to see Zhang Weidong out.

Upon returning to the room, he saw Liu Bi standing by the window and couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. "This guy's reaction time is really long. He's only getting excited now."

"Hmm?" Cheng Ye walked over to the window and looked out. He saw Zhang Weidong, who had already walked quite a distance, hopping and skipping, occasionally throwing a punch into the air. His previously composed demeanor had vanished without a trace, making him look exactly like an energetic young man.

He watched for a while until Zhang Weidong's figure disappeared into the darkness, then retracted his gaze and chuckled. "Men are boys until they die. He was probably just wearing a mask to survive in Twin Moon Lake all this time."

"Tsk, tsk. Well, that mask wasn't worn in vain. It directly earned him a monstrous opportunity, allowing him to skip the trainee phase and become a First-Term Inspector of Happiness City. Who would believe that if you told them?" Liu Bi continued to marvel.

There was no shortage of people with strength and character in the wasteland, but those who could secure an official position in a Hegemon-Class Shelter City were few and far between.

It was no exaggeration to say that the opportunity Zhang Weidong had just received was an Instant Ascent.

"Brother B, the place he's going isn't a Happiness City Inspection Station... it's Yueye Shelter City."

Cheng Ye smiled and sat back down on the sofa, a profound tone in his voice. "As an Inspector in Yueye, he won't be managing trivial matters like Scavengers or foreign caravans, but rather a military city of four hundred thousand people. Moreover, Yueye is meant to become Happiness City's primary outer shield. The risks they'll encounter in the future will only be ten or a hundred times greater than those in Happiness City's Core Zone."

He paused, then shook his head. "Sitting in that position without any real skills will get you killed."

"Then you're still going?" Liu Bi's eyes widened.

"For Zhang Weidong, this is an Instant Ascent, allowing him to become an Inspector for a Hegemon-Class Shelter City."

Cheng Ye reached out and pressed the button on the media player. Light and shadows flickered across the screen as he looked up at Liu Bi, a smile curving the corners of his mouth.

"And for me, becoming a Station Master as a First-Term Inspector, how is it any different?"