Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 136 Stepping into the Extraordinary, Sharing the Ecosystem with the Blazing Eagle!
A blue field of vision appeared before him. Cheng Ye casually turned his head, but his gaze finally settled on what was in front of him.

A faint light flickers.

The extraordinary seed generated by the collector is ejected from the void and lands in the center of the selected location.

"so small?"

Cheng Ye was taken aback.

No matter how big an object is placed inside the pendant, it will be miniaturized into a model, but will return to its original size when taken out.

He had assumed that the egg-shaped seed would be at least the size of a baby's fist, but after searching around, he discovered that it was even smaller than a quail egg. If it weren't for the faint red light flashing, it would almost blend into the pattern of the floor.

Cheng Ye squatted down and carefully rubbed the seeds into his palm with his fingertips.

One must concentrate to see the golden patterns entwined on the surface, like several slender dragon patterns winding across the crimson "eggshell".

"Well, it really is just a seed prototype."

He even held his breath low, afraid that he might blow the little thing away with a single breath.

Can something the size of a fingertip really take you to a world of the extraordinary?
A faint warmth emanated from my palm, like holding a freshly peeled piece of warm jade; there was nothing particularly special about it.

Cheng Ye stared at it for a long time, making sure he couldn't find anything unusual, before taking a deep breath and opening the panel.

He had already tested it before, and there was no conflict when equipping Wild Grass Physique and Iron Body together.

The highest bonus from physical fitness will be automatically applied.

For example, some changes in physical qualities brought about by the Iron Body will be covered by the Wild Grass Physique.

The enhanced nerve speed brought about by the Wild Grass Physique will be overshadowed by the nerve liberation of the Iron Body.

But this time, when he was to equip extraordinary talents, he hesitated for a moment and carefully removed all talents and skills, leaving only a blank skill bar.

With a thought, the small red frame on the panel flickered slightly, then disappeared and reappeared in the skill bar.

In an instant, the power that bound the "heart-protecting fire" vanished.

The bright red frame shattered completely, turning the entire skill bar into a burning bonfire!

Boom.

Like spring rain breaking through frozen earth, like thunder splitting the long night.

It was as if all things were breaking free of their shackles, and the boundaries of life were violently broken open at this moment.

Cheng Ye watched helplessly as the extraordinary seed in his palm suddenly transformed into a streak of fire, shooting straight towards his brow like an arrow released from a bow.

He tried to dodge, but found that his body was already out of his control.

Because countless illusions suddenly exploded before my eyes, far more real than the previous equipment of Dragon Power and Wild Grass Physique!
That was a hawk.

A soaring eagle high in the sky!
His gaze followed the eagle, and his soul seemed to become the eagle's spirit.

Sometimes it flaps its wings and shuttles through the sea of ​​clouds, its wingtips brushing against the cotton-like wisps of cloud.

Sometimes it battles against wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, its sharp claws tearing through the inky rain curtain.

He completely forgot that he was human, and fully adopted the perspective of the eagle, feeling the resistance of the wind, the temperature of the clouds, and the arrogant disdain for all living beings when looking down at the earth.

until.

Boom!

A volcano suddenly erupted.

That was incomparable to any volcano in the world. In the eyes of the eagle, the crimson magma surged like a celestial river pouring down, engulfing the earth. The billowing smoke and dust blotted out the sun and pierced the sky, even staining the clouds blood-red.

However, the volcano was not formed by natural evolution.

Instead, it was a blurry figure atop the volcano.

Two figures were locked in fierce combat. The fireball thrown by the man on the left crashed to the ground and transformed into the erupting volcano!
The power to change the world with a casual wave of the hand made Cheng Ye's soul tremble.

The poor eagle was also swept up by the aftershocks of the battle and fell towards the volcano like a kite with a broken string.

Logically, it should have turned to ashes a second before touching the magma, but strangely it landed on a fire lotus floating above the magma.

The fire lotus was entirely golden, with eerie blue flames burning along the edges of its petals, yet it stood gracefully amidst the scalding lava.

An invisible protective shield instantly enveloped the eagle, shielding it from the volcano's intense heat, but unable to block the scorching heat that penetrated straight to its soul.

The next second, an indescribable burning sensation surged from my limbs and bones, as if my bones were being thrown into a furnace, or as if every inch of my skin was being licked by flames.

what.

Cheng Ye suddenly cried out in pain, his consciousness teetering on the brink of collapse amidst the excruciating agony.

This pain far surpassed any injury he had ever experienced, yet it was accompanied by a strange clarity.

He instinctively closed his right eye. In his left eye's field of vision, the eagle was writhing in agony within the fiery lotus, its feathers crackling as they were scorched, wisps of smoke rising, yet it never turned to ashes.

Its beak was dripping blood, and its sharp claws dug deep into the petals of the fire lotus. The flames on the lotus petals climbed up its body from its claws, but at the moment they touched its feathers, they strangely turned into specks of golden starlight.

He closed his left eye, and in the field of vision of his right eye, he saw himself sitting upright in the room.

After the fiery line pierced through the space between the eyebrows, it was frantically traveling along the blood vessels, and wherever it passed, the blood seemed to be burning, glowing with a magnificent red light.

The skin turned black and charred at a visible speed, and even the hair had long since turned to ash. Strangely, beneath this charred state, something seemed to be awakening, like a tender sprout breaking through the soil, carrying a vigorous life force that almost bursts through the skin.

"Ho ho."

The bizarre dual vision brought double the pain.

Cheng Ye gasped for breath, feeling as if a scalding hot iron had been stuffed into his throat. Every breath was accompanied by a burning pain, and even his exhaled breath had a faint burnt smell.

He wanted to remove the protective fire from his heart and end this damned fusion, but his will was completely out of his control at this moment.

The panel flickered violently in front of him. In the originally blank skill bar, the three characters "Heart Protection Fire" were being repeatedly washed by flames. With each flicker, new and more complex patterns emerged between the characters.

He didn't know how much time had passed, so long that Cheng Ye thought he would completely lose consciousness in pain, so long that he could hardly distinguish whether he was an eagle or a human.

The eagle with the left eye suddenly spread its wings. Although it had very few feathers left, the exposed wing bones gleamed with a metallic sheen.

Facing the volcano's heatwave, it let out a soul-piercing cry, showing no fear, only a desperate resolve, and charged headlong into the fiercest cluster of flames at the heart of the fire lotus.

Almost simultaneously, a faint red light suddenly burst forth from under the skin of the humanoid figure in the right eye.

The charred skin peeled off like cracked earth, revealing new, healthy-looking skin underneath, as delicate as a newborn baby's.

Blood surges through the veins, making a whooshing sound like flames burning.

Pain! Utter excruciating pain!

Yet it was accompanied by an indescribable sense of comfort, as if centuries of accumulated filth had been completely burned away, and the soul became light, as if it were about to fly into the sky.

Consciousness was repeatedly pulled between the two perspectives, until it finally merged completely.

He is both the eagle reborn from the ashes in the fire lotus and himself undergoing tempering in the room.

As the last trace of charred skin peeled away, and as the eagle's feathers were coated with a layer of crimson gold by the flames, Cheng Ye suddenly opened his eyes.

In his pupils, two flickering flames slowly died out, leaving a deep crimson hue in his eyes, like embers that had burned out, their warmth still lingering.

Strangely, the image of the eagle in the left eye did not completely disappear.

It circled twice gently, chirped silently, and then its body began to shrink rapidly.

It eventually transformed back into the original fiery red seed, expanding to the size of an egg, hovering quietly with golden patterns constantly flowing across its surface.

Click.

A barely audible cracking sound rang out, and a thin crack appeared at the tip of the seed.

Cheng Ye held his breath and saw a bald fledgling peeking out from the crack. Its downy feathers had not yet grown, its skin was a tender red, and its black bean-like eyes blinked innocently, making a "ee-yah ee-yah" sound, as weak as the flapping of a mosquito's wings.

what?
In my eyes?
The sudden sight startled Cheng Ye, who instinctively closed his eyes.

However, even after darkness fell, the chirping of the fledglings still echoed in my ears, babbling softly with a hint of childish grievance.

How can I still see it even with my eyes closed?
Cheng Ye was slightly stunned. Just then, a special piece of information suddenly flooded into his mind.

It's a collector!

The amount of information wasn't huge, but it struck him like a thunderbolt, leaving him stunned.

"This is...my extraordinary power?"

"This is... my Flaming Eagle?"

Compared to the colossal creature on Liu Kun's shoulder with a wingspan exceeding four meters, it was like a giant.

Cheng Ye repeatedly examined the fledgling bird, which was wandering helplessly in the darkness. It was only the size of an infant's palm, bald like a piece of red meat, and could not even stand steadily. It was fluttering around in the darkness, wobbling unsteadily.

Well, there really isn't much to compare.

But the moment his mind made contact with the fledgling, an indescribable sense of closeness welled up from the bottom of his heart, mixed with a faint joy, like seeing a long-lost family member. Cheng Ye's originally furrowed brows unconsciously relaxed, and the corners of his mouth even turned up slightly.

How do we make contact?

As he was pondering this, he suddenly saw the fledgling tilt its head, sway its little body, and then fall to the side as if it had stopped breathing, remaining motionless.

"Hey!" Cheng Ye's heart tightened, and he tried to touch it with his mind.

The next second, he suddenly felt his consciousness sink, as if he had entered that dark space. Of course, not in his original form, but attached to the fledgling bird.

A strong sense of pressure came over me, and the surrounding darkness enveloped me as if it were a solid entity, making it impossible to even turn my head.

Good grief, is it locked out?
Cheng Ye quickly withdrew from consciousness and opened his eyes.

Sure enough, the half-dead baby bird started chirping again, its little head rubbing against his line of sight, as if it were being affectionate.

"Is this another level of extraordinary being?"

Amazing.

A living creature was actually living within his field of vision!
With your eyes open, you can move around the room freely; with your eyes closed, you will be transported back to that mysterious dark space.

Cheng Ye chuckled and, following the collector's instructions, raised his hand and pressed it to his brow.

This time, he clearly felt that there seemed to be a faint connection in his consciousness, pointing directly to the fledgling deep in his left eye.

A thought came to my mind.

pat.

The fledgling tumbled out of the space, rolled on the bed, tilted its little head, and looked completely bewildered in its beady black eyes, clearly not yet accustomed to its physical form.

"Spiritual body and physical body can both be transformed with a single thought!"

Cheng Ye tried again, and the fledgling was once again taken back into the space, only to reappear without any hindrance.

Without his consent, the fledgling will only be able to survive in the spirit realm and will be unable to interfere with reality.

Now that it has materialized, it is no different from any other living being.

just.

How can we control this extraordinary power?
As Cheng Ye was wondering, the familiar feeling of hunger struck again, even more intensely than when he was equipped with the Wild Grass Physique.

In an instant, a dizzying, vertigo sensation struck.

Fortunately, he was prepared. He immediately groped for the yellow bag of nutrient solution on the ground, tore open the packaging, and poured it into his mouth.

Something terrible happened.

The nutrient syrup, which previously required chewing and swallowing to digest, has now skipped all the steps.

Before Cheng Ye could even taste it, the liquid disappeared into his mouth as if falling into a black hole, leaving only a slight coolness.

this.
He was startled, but had no time to think about it further.

This time, the hunger wasn't like the hunger of when I was equipped with the Wild Grass Physique, where every cell in my body seemed to crave energy.

It is the soul.

It was an emptiness emanating from the depths of his soul, as if an invisible hand was pulling at his consciousness, requiring a massive amount of energy to fill.

Ten bags, twenty bags, fifty bags
In the blink of an eye, all one hundred bags of the drink were finished, and twenty bags of Wang Kang's case were also drunk.

Cheng Ye could clearly feel that his physical needs had been met, but the hunger from his soul had not diminished at all.

Or, to be more precise, it is the sense of connection that comes from the fledglings that continues to convey a strong yearning.

It seems that simply drinking nutritional supplements is not enough?

Does it require fire?
Cheng Ye frowned, forcing himself to stay awake despite the dizziness, and pulled a lighter from the storage compartment under the table.

With a snap, a pale blue flame danced on my fingertip.

The previously listless baby birds on the bed immediately perked up, fluttering about and making the sheets rustle.

As Cheng Ye slowly approached, an even more miraculous scene unfolded.

The fledgling bird actually leaned over and gently sucked at the flame.

The flame seemed to come alive, moving without wind, flowing into its beak and illuminating a red glow in its bare throat.

Can it really eat fire?
Cheng Ye was stunned, his eyes widening in surprise.

The lighter's flame was so weak and of such poor quality that it not only failed to alleviate his hunger but also fueled the fire, making his spiritual yearning even stronger and causing him a sharp pain.

After thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and simply took out the pendant and retrieved the brazier hidden inside.

A small three-legged cauldron, about the size of a small stool, appeared in the center of the room. Its jade-like body gleamed with a warm luster. In an instant, the temperature in the room seemed to rise by more than ten degrees, but then returned to normal in the blink of an eye, leaving only a faint warmth lingering around the cauldron.

The three legs of the small cauldron were made entirely of feathers, hard and shimmering with firelight.

The body of the cauldron is engraved with two simple yet mysterious patterns, like the intertwining veins of flame.

Inside the cauldron, three orange-red flames danced side by side, each nestled against one of the cauldron's legs, quiet yet intense.

Visibly, the chick's spirits were becoming more and more vigorous. Just as Cheng Ye was hesitating about how to feed it, the little guy actually fluttered and crawled forward.

"Are we going to go into the brazier?"

Cheng Ye hesitated for a moment, then carefully picked up the fledgling and placed it on the edge of the brazier.

puff.

The little guy couldn't wait to fall in, landing next to the orange-red firewood inside the cauldron, and immediately opened his little mouth to suck it up.

Wisps of flame were drawn into its belly like flowing water, and its originally bare body began to faintly glow with a golden luster.

At the same time, the hunger deep in his soul began to diminish rapidly.

In less than half a minute, the familiar feeling of fullness washed over me like a tide, warm and comforting.

"Done?"

Cheng Ye breathed a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but smile as he looked at the baby bird in the brazier, which let out a satisfied little burp.

From his perspective, the firewood had barely weakened and was still pulsating vigorously.

Turn on the collector and observe the changes in the brazier using the panel.

Sure enough, a percentage appeared after the "Dry Firewood" column, showing 99.3% remaining.

Correspondingly, after he, the collector, consumed it, the duration of the Firewood Power was reduced by 10 minutes.

"That's good. If they only need to eat this much at a time, it'll be enough to feed them for many days!"

Cheng Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

This was a truly unexpected surprise; otherwise, he would have had to go out and find fire right now, which would have taken a lot of effort.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the energy level in the upper right corner of the panel.

After searching for Liu Kun during the day, I used a regular power outlet to charge my phone, and now it has rebounded by 4%.

After creating the chick, which consumed 1% of his energy, Cheng Ye put the brazier back into the pendant.

Unlike the prosecutor's four-piece suit, which leaves room for explanation if discovered, this brazier, though merely Liao Ying's lunchbox, is a genuine extraordinary item.

It's fine to spend an extra 1% on charging each time, but if someone finds out, it could lead to endless trouble.

Nutrient syrup packaging bags were scattered all over the ground. Cheng Ye quickly swept them into a trash bag, planning to take them out to throw away tomorrow.

After doing all this, he sat back down on the bed and began to study what extraordinary power the "Heart-Protecting Fire" had brought.

During the fusion just now, he vaguely sensed that the improvement in his physical attributes this time was very limited, even less noticeable than the changes brought about by the Wild Grass Physique last time.

Perhaps my physical fitness has reached a plateau, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to increase my stats further.

It's also possible that his Lv1 extraordinary skills weren't enough for his body to undergo a complete transformation.

The baby birds wriggled on the sheets, their bare bodies twisting and turning, appearing exceptionally lively, though somewhat comical because they had no feathers.

Cheng Ye glanced at it with a smile, then opened the panel and entered his personal page.

To his great surprise, the page refreshed ahead of schedule without going to sleep.

and.

[Collector: Cheng Ye]

[Current Rank: Level 2 Rookie (17.1/100)]

Life Level: 1

[Skill: Heart Protection Flame (Talent; Can be deployed), Empty, Empty, Empty]

[Ability]: Eagle Symbiosis (Prototype; usable only when equipped with Heartfire; can be deployed)

[Not yet unlocked.]

[Evaluation: You have taken an incredibly important step in exploring the levels of life forms. This step will greatly help you continue to gather more information about civilizations. However, please note that higher levels of life forms are more likely to attract the attention of unique native creatures, and your strength is still insufficient to deal with these threats!]

"An increase in the level of life?"

"The fourth skill slot is open?"

"And...the 'Eagle Co-ecosystem'?!?"

　P.S.: Two chapters delivered, another 10,000 words a day~ Please vote!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)