Wasteland Border Inspector

After finishing, Luokuke took two deep breaths of the humid air, his chest rising and falling slightly, then resolutely picked up his equipment box, carrying the powerful bomb in one hand, and turned to head towards the riverbank.

He knew better than anyone else that with the immense size of the Demon Eye Sponge, this bomb couldn’t be the decisive blow.

But he hadn’t given up; as long as he could find a way to break through into the Cotton Room and locate the core of the infection source, there was a chance to complete the containment.

This bomb was his only hope of blasting open an entrance, even if the success rate was only one in a thousand, or even less, he wanted to try.

"Inspector Luo, are you ready to die?" Cheng Ye’s voice came from behind, calm but with a hint of penetration.

Luokuke’s expression remained wooden, but his footsteps abruptly halted.

With his back to Cheng Ye, he paused for a few seconds before speaking softly, "No... but I am ready to fight it to the death."

"I might fail, might completely enrage it, make things worse, but I will do my best to fulfill the responsibility of an Inspector."

"The rest, Inspector Cheng, is up to you."

After speaking, he no longer paused, taking strides forward.

The overcast clouds pressed lower and lower, the river breeze sweeping sand over the dock.

His figure appeared especially frail in the dim light, yet carried a desolate heroic courage, like a warrior marching alone towards doomsday.

"Wait..."

Cheng Ye stood up, his gaze fixed between the crab nets on the water and Luokuke’s retreating figure, suddenly speaking:

"The analyzer in the truck has extracted quite a bit of data from the sponge fragments. I am matching the ’key’ to enter its Cotton Room, do you want to try going in together?"

"Cotton Room? Key?"

Luokuke abruptly stopped, his body rigid for a moment, then quickly turned around, a glimmer of light suddenly appearing in his cloudy eyes, his voice trembling: "Give me! I’ll try! I’m wearing Battle Armor, even if something goes wrong..."

"Not just you, we’re going together."

Cheng Ye interrupted him, pointing to the bomb in his hand, "And this thing, leave it for now. It’s only two in the afternoon, there are more than four hours until sunset, we have enough time to explore."

He paused, adding: "Sunset is at 18:47. Before then, we can at least try three to five times."

Luokuke’s grip on the bomb loosened slightly, the despair in his eyes gradually receding, replaced by a glimmer of unbelievable hope.

He had thought he had reached the end of the road, but didn’t expect such a turning point.

"How long will it take to match the key?"

"Very soon, it should still need..." Cheng Ye opened the panel and glanced, the charging value had already recovered to 27%.

"At most an hour and a half to manufacture the key."

"Good!" Luokuke didn’t have the slightest doubt, having decided to desperately fight, he didn’t care about waiting another hour.

As long as they can get into the water before dark, as long as the key is indeed useful, even one chance would be enough.

"So now..." He looked to Cheng Ye, waiting for the next instructions.

"Try to clear out as many Crab-men as possible before dark, what about you?" Cheng Ye patted the Red Blade at his waist.

"Let’s go together!"

This time Luokuke didn’t refuse, taking a deep breath, completely letting go of his concerns.

He was well aware that the five thousand Crab-men were just the first barrier the Demon Eye Sponge used to blockade the water’s surface, and there might be more threats ahead.

But sitting and waiting was just waiting, better to eliminate these potential threats as much as possible.

The two of them grabbed the Black Bag Nutrient Paste they had never had before, both unscrewing the seal and downing it.

This was Cheng Ye’s first time drinking this kind of Nutrient Paste, and he felt the kick was only about thirty percent weaker than the Blue Medicine concocted by Master Tian.

A spicy taste tingled the throat, immediately invigorating the spirit, and the body surged with energy.

After drinking the Nutrient Paste, Cheng Ye first returned to the camp, found Wang Kang who was setting up the spotlights, and borrowed his Purple Blade.

"Brother Cheng, nothing happened by the water, right?" Wang Kang asked worriedly when he saw him suddenly come to borrow the blade.

"No big deal." Cheng Ye shook his head, his tone a bit more serious, "Keep an eye on the camp, don’t let anyone near the riverbank. I’m going in the water with Prosecutor Luo to explore, we must understand the situation below before dark."

"Okay! I guarantee to keep watch!" Wang Kang immediately nodded.

Holding the Red and Purple Blades, Cheng Ye returned to the truck laboratory, reaching out to press the start button on the analyzer.

Hiss.

A burst of cold air erupted from the instrument, and the drawer below slowly popped open, revealing a containment box as long as an arm.

This box was different from the conventional sturdy containment boxes, it was exceptionally light, with a special glass inset in the front, allowing direct observation of the interior.

Through the glass, a palm-sized bug could be seen curled up inside.

It resembled a Unihorn Ant, covered with two pieces of heavy yellow shell, with a tentacle-like spike extending from its head, and on the shell’s surface, many small runes faintly visible, identical to the runes on the Demon Eye Sponge.

"I didn’t expect the first infection was actually actively seeking attachment to the infection source, this world..."

Cheng Ye steadied himself, suppressing the complex emotions in his heart, and carrying the containment box, strode towards the riverbank.

Luokuke was still sitting cross-legged resting, and when he saw Cheng Ye returning with the containment box, his expression wavered a bit.

"A benevolent infection source?"

"Yes, an A- benevolent infection source."

"A-?" Luokuke was taken aback, his tone instantly becoming complex, "Benevolent is merely our human subjective definition of the infection source, its essence remains an infection source, still deadly to us, but compared to malignant infection sources, the scope and intensity of harm are somewhat controllable."