Wasteland Border Inspector

For hydrophilic infection sources and infected bodies, rainy days are their best battleground. The moisture enhances their activity and can even expand the sphere of pollution, so it’s essential to figure out the underwater situation before it rains.

"It’s really like misfortunes never come singly..."

Cheng Ye shook his head, temporarily putting the matter of rain aside, and without stopping, quickly removed the heavy conventional protective battle armor he was wearing.

As soon as he took it off, the feeling of back pain surged up, but obviously, this wasn’t the time to mind such things.

He leaned forward and exchanged a glance with Luokuke, and both of them pressed their palms against the surface of the black equipment box simultaneously.

A wondrous scene occurred.

The originally cold metal box suddenly seemed to come alive and began to tremble violently. As the vibrations intensified, the box gradually "dissolved," like venom taking over, with strands of black matter climbing up along their fingers.

Once it adhered, it was like Iron Man donning a nano-suit; all the black matter quickly began to weave together, revealing intricate patterns.

"Aren’t these the... runes that appear when collecting skills?"

Cheng Ye was suddenly stunned, his eyes falling on his right hand.

Unknowingly, a few faint black patterns emerged on the back of his hand, with twisting yet somehow orderly lines, surprisingly similar to the runes that manifested each time a skill was collected.

In the past, when collecting skills, the runes would appear first, then be gathered by the Collector into text he could understand.

Could it be that humanity has already deciphered the meaning of these runes and even developed similar technology?

He temporarily brushed aside the confusion and refocused on the equipment. At its core, this Destruction Level protective gear was more like an "external infection source suit."

Due to the investigation primarily targeting the terrifying Destruction Level.

The capabilities of such entities are too bizarre—even if hiding in a bunker dozens of meters underground, it could still be contaminated, so pure physical protection holds little meaning.

Therefore, the core function of this "Obsidian Battle Armor" is concealment!

It can envelop and shield human breath to the greatest extent, avoiding detection by infection sources. As for protective capability, it’s actually not much different from the conventional armor taken off just now.

Huff... huff...

The vibrations of the equipment box grew more intense, with more black matter "shaking" out from the box, climbing up their arms like a living thing.

Soon, a layer of black cuticle completely covered their skin, feeling soft to the touch, and with only a slight tension when moving joints, it didn’t affect their actions.

But when the black matter climbed up to his neck, a sharp pain suddenly hit.

Cheng Ye groaned, not resisting, allowing those threads of black to drill in through his nostrils, mouth, ears, and even eye slits, completely sealing all openings on his body.

The moment the sealing was complete, the surrounding sounds suddenly diminished, like unexpectedly wearing heavy earplugs.

Once his eyeballs were covered by the black matter, his vision became as though he was looking through sunglasses, and the clarity was reduced.

He instinctively touched the top of his head, and sure enough, these infection sources seemed to have an obsession with human hair.

Luokuke had previously taken Source Heart Meat Iron causing hair loss, and now the external armor also stripped all hair away.

"Feels a bit strange, you okay?" Luokuke stood up; his voice passed through the black cuticle, accompanied by a distinct muffled sound.

"I’m okay."

Cheng Ye nodded, bending down to pick up the detector for infection sources, pressing the switch.

The screen showed two large black dots, each with a value of 10, indicating that their human breath had been completely sealed, ensuring no leakage.

"How long can you hold your breath?" Luokuke asked again, simultaneously bending down to touch the river water.

The rapid water flow led to quick heat loss, and the river’s temperature was estimated to be below ten degrees.

Compared to the wild rivers before their journey, White Water River indeed warranted the title "wild"!

The current was swift and the underwater conditions were complex and unpredictable.

To prevent accidents, the truck was actually equipped with complete diving gear, including underwater breathing devices and electric underwater scooters, but neither mentioned taking these equipments with them.

Because these human-made devices would stand out like light bulbs in the infection source and infected body world, not only weakening the Obsidian Battle Armor’s concealment effect but also actively attracting infected bodies.

It’s better to rely on their own breath-holding for multiple dives, even though the underwater duration of each dive was shorter, it ensured safety.

"I haven’t done any extreme tests yet; let me get used to the water first."

Cheng Ye also touched the river water, yet the Obsidian Battle Armor didn’t isolate these sensations and still transmitted them clearly, enabling them to be felt by humans.

Just before crossing over, he had no opportunity to learn this "non-essential skill" of swimming.

Now, only some memory left by the original owner flashed in his mind, including swimming knowledge and training scenes in the Inner City swimming pool.

However, it wasn’t a major issue. The panel unfolded in his vision, unloading the Snake Power and Eagle Power successively.

The Level 3 rare skill ’Wave Shuttle’ and Level 1 rare skill ’Fish Mimic State’ both jumped into the Skill Bar simultaneously.

Buzz.

The surface of the Obsidian Battle Armor trembled slightly, seemingly with the shape of the skin beneath quietly changing.

Cheng Ye instinctively touched his cheek, heaving a sigh of relief, grateful that the Fish Mimic State didn’t actually cause him to grow a pair of gills.

In a momentary daze, gazing at the White Water River ahead, strands and traces of illusions began to emerge.

Sometimes it was a black striped fish agilely shuttling through the waves, other times it appeared like a figure swimming and paddling in the water.

But perhaps with his strength now enhanced, these illusions weren’t as vivid as before.