Wasteland Border Inspector

Compared to Superman flying in the sky, this feeling of "flying underwater" doesn’t seem much different.

The data on the panel flickered.

[Current Acceleration Energy: 95% (Recovery Time: 5 minutes)]

"It’s a pity that I can’t equip the skills provided by the infection source. No wonder the Infected Bodies become so strong once they erupt. These skills are just too abnormal."

Thought Cheng Ye to himself, but Luokuke beside him immediately became tense, "Is there something underwater?"

He quickly reached out to feel around, "Is your Battle Armor damaged? Do you feel anything unusual?"

"No damage. It’s probably just the water currents." Cheng Ye waved his hand, signaling to continue diving, "We just need to be careful."

This time, he didn’t use accelerated energy, relying entirely on the water adaptability brought by the Wave Shuttle to counter the impact and drag of the currents in the White Water River, exploring underwater little by little.

The noon sunlight could only penetrate ten meters into the water. At a depth of five meters, the light was quite clear, with a faint green tint. But by about eight meters, the light noticeably dimmed, and the visibility began to blur.

The two of them slowly swam along the dam, carefully searching around, but couldn’t see the string of corpses Garcia mentioned, nor the Crab-men lining up at night.

During the day, the White Water River seemed like a natural and unpolluted river, with no trace of infection sources.

When surfacing for air, Luokuke looked unsatisfied: "We didn’t see a single one during the day. It’s really bizarre!"

If only they could find traces of the infection source, even just understanding their activity range, it would reduce the risk at night.

But now there wasn’t a single clue, meaning that the night-time danger might be even more severe than initially anticipated.

"Should we go down with headlamps for a look?" Cheng Ye suggested. Since natural light wasn’t enough, they would have to rely on artificial light sources.

"Alright, that’s the only way." Luokuke nodded, wiped his face, and swam back to the dock.

They quickly fetched headlamps and efficiently secured them to their heads.

With the added light source, they felt braver and this time, instead of slowly exploring, they plunged directly towards the direction Garcia mentioned where the Demon Eye Sponge was located.

Luokuke’s water skills were evidently only at a "sufficient" level. When they were ten meters deep, his movements began to become stiff, clearly straining himself.

Cheng Ye noticed this and quietly reached out to grasp his arm, discreetly activating the acceleration energy.

Through their earlier testing, he had figured out the logic of controlling the energy, driven entirely by his thoughts.

The first time, he was focused on diving quickly, and the energy assisted with maximum power; the second time, he wanted to ascend rapidly, and the energy pushed upward with full force.

At this moment, he only thought about advancing slowly, and two weak streams of water silently formed on either side of his body, carrying the two of them steadily and quickly towards the riverbed without any abruptness.

Feeling the support coming from his body, Luokuke was slightly surprised, instinctively turning his head to catch a glimpse of Cheng Ye’s expression, but nearly twenty meters deep under the water was already pitch black, and the headlamp’s light could only illuminate two or three meters ahead, making it impossible to see Cheng Ye’s face.

Wait... How did Garcia manage to see the monster clearly?

Without a light source, in the pitch-black water, how could he possibly discern the details of the Demon Eye Sponge’s form, let alone count all twenty-two tentacles?

Just as this question appeared in his mind, Cheng Ye led him further down, leaving him no time for deeper thought.

At around twenty-five meters under the water, Cheng Ye suddenly stopped, ceasing the energy output.

The water, stopped!

The surrounding currents abruptly calmed down. The turbulent upper layer of the White Water River seemed isolated by an invisible boundary. Below this, it was as calm as the deep sea, without any sense of water impact.

More peculiar was that below was no longer pitch-black, but there was a faint purple glow flickering, seemingly covering the entire riverbed.

Should they go further down?

Cheng Ye gestured to inquire, and Luokuke’s eyes also reflected this purple hue.

The two hesitated only for a few seconds, then decided to push forward further to see what was under the water.

Whoosh.

Cheng Ye activated the energy again, but this time, as they approached the unknown area, he slowed down the descent pace, carefully observing their surroundings with every meter down.

At not far past thirty-five meters deep, the two of them seemed to have passed through an invisible barrier.

Buzz!

A slight wave swept over their bodies, and in the next second, the pitch-black water suddenly lit up!

Brilliant purple instantly filled their entire vision, as if they were in a space fashioned out of amethyst. It was so majestic it left them in awe.

But upon closer inspection, it became clear that it wasn’t amethyst at all; it was indeed the body of the Demon Eye Sponge emitting a faint glow, pulsing with a certain rhythm as if it were breathing.

Bright and dim.

Strong and weak.

Luokuke’s face froze with all expressions. He could see distinctly that those tubular sponges were now all droopily lying on the riverbed, their surfaces sagging, even the eye on the tips of the tentacles closed, appearing as lifeless objects without any movement.

But what made one’s scalp tingle even more was that the entire visible riverbed was covered with this sponge-like material, densely packed without a single gap, as if the whole bottom of the White Water River had been "devoured" by it!

"Is this a creature, or... an infection source?"

Luokuke was utterly baffled, unable to imagine what terrifying abilities such a massive infection source might possess.

Boom, boom boom.

Cheng Ye gently tapped Luokuke’s shoulder, then pointed to the right.

Judging by the location, they were currently likely under where the White Water River and the Yellow River diverged.

With the aid of the purple light, they could see a place beneath the sponge body where other lights were faintly flickering.

They looked cyan, yet also yellow.

"Could this be the entrance to a cave?" Luokuke immediately wanted to curse. Who would set a cave entrance underwater?

But before he could process this guess, Cheng Ye had already drawn the Red Blade from his waist and was indiscriminately slashing at the sponge body beside him.

Huh?

Luokuke was taken aback. The last thing you want to do is rashly attack an unknown infection source.

But Cheng Ye had already swung his blade, Luokuke could only watch as the Red Blade sliced through the sponge body, cutting off a palm-sized piece, which Cheng Ye grabbed in his hand.

Buzz.

Almost the instant Cheng Ye grasped the sponge tissue, an invisible wave suddenly spread out, causing the entire underwater purple glow to flicker intensely, as if some gigantic sleeping being were waking up.

"Run!" Without thinking, Luokuke kicked upward, his heart pounding wildly.

But he had barely moved a meter before a pair of hands clamped tightly to his sides, and a burst of violent force instantly surged through him.

Bang!

Luokuke didn’t have time to react, he only felt his body being stuffed into a cannon barrel, the next second being forcefully propelled forward.

It’s hard to describe the feeling.

It was somewhat like sticking your head out of a speeding vehicle window, whipped forward by the rushing wind.

But now there was no wind, only the violently rushing water crashing against him, making it hard for him to even keep his eyes open.

The surface seemed to be approaching at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the next moment, the two burst out of the White Water River as if launched, flying over three meters high before beginning to descend.

Instinctively turning his head, Luokuke fixed his gaze on the water surface and saw a sight he would never forget.

A terrifying sponge body had somehow emerged, its massive eye at the forefront was now fixedly staring at them.

Within that gaze, he saw a rare, human-like emotion.

An emotion called... anger!

...