Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 203 The Essence of Living Water, A Pioneering Challenge!
Hidden Water Crab!

As expected, it was a special source of infection that was not recorded in the prosecutor's manual at all.

Even the assessment of trainee inspectors in the City of Fire and Protection did not mention this information.

The reason why it was not included is also quite clear.

Its last recorded sighting was in 13, which was 22 years ago.

An infection source that hasn't appeared for over twenty years, even if it hasn't been declared "extinct," naturally doesn't need to be included in basic learning courses because it rarely appears.

"Wasn't this thing long gone? How do you know about it?"

Cheng Ye didn't rush to have Rokuk look up more information; instead, he turned his gaze away and pressed for more details.

After a day of interaction, he had developed a subconscious ability to analyze all of Rocook's behaviors.

This is a source of infection that hasn't been seen for over twenty years, and Rokuk found it right away, which is clearly unreasonable.

"The activity records here will only show cases where more than a thousand people have been infected."

Rokuk sighed, his eyes somewhat blank. "It seems that dozens or hundreds of people, or gatherings outside the Firelink Alliance, were not reported and therefore left no record."

"And I... the last time I saw it! It was in the 29th year of the new era, in the vicinity of a small settlement in Guangdong Province."

After he finished speaking, his eyes focused instantly, and his tone became serious:

“We must call for help immediately. This is not a source of infection that the inspectors can handle. The venomous crystals of the water crab can only survive for a maximum of 72 hours. For the White Water River to be able to detect it at such a fast flow rate, it's either extremely bad luck or…”

"The source of infection for the Darkwater Cave Crab is near Dabo Town?" Cheng Ye immediately replied, his heart skipping a beat.

“Yes! According to regulations, this kind of ‘environmentally-wide source of infection’ is already considered a minor natural disaster. The prosecutor must report it to Happiness City immediately and can only take action after the ruling is made.”

Rokuk took a deep breath. "Whether we call in the Blood Dragon Legion to take over or send us into the water to find the nest, we need professional equipment. Going into the water without protection will only result in being instantly infected by the poisonous crystals."

"Could this thing infect other organisms?" Cheng Ye pressed for crucial information.

"Yes, but you can look at the specific rules for dissemination yourself when you get back. You and I have the same permissions, and there will be detailed annotations on them."

Roku put away the torch and pointed to the patrolman who was squatting on the ground next to him, still not recovered.

"After the distress call was sent out, no matter what the higher-ups decide, we can't leave Dabo Town for the time being."

"In addition, the toxic crystals can only be removed by repeated physical filtration; boiling is useless."

"You didn't forget to buy a water filter pitcher, did you?" Cheng Ye was taken aback.

"A six-layer filtration anti-sensitivity water filter pitcher has a 99.9% removal rate. If it hits that 0.1%, you should know what the result will be."

"what?"

Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but gasp.

Still saying this?

This is ridiculous! When he ordered the water filter pitcher, the product page didn't mention any probability warnings whatsoever.

So, does that mean water in the wild is completely undrinkable?
Damn it, even with a water filter pitcher, who can guarantee they won't be unlucky enough to encounter that 0.01%?

Thinking of this, Cheng Ye didn't bother to continue chatting with Rokuk and rushed towards the camp.

This is the most critical aspect of land reclamation.

It's reasonable to assume that land abandoned for many years could harbor any source of infection; no one can predict it in advance.

Moreover, humans do not have the corresponding technology to screen out threats completely in one go. They can only use the most rudimentary and dangerous "human probing method" to lure out and test the hidden threats little by little.

In this process, sacrifice is almost inevitable.

The legion of Happiness City would not send regular soldiers to act as such "bait." Soldiers' lives are meant to be used to defend the city and fight against large-scale infection waves, not wasted on clearing land.

Only the inspectors are the "pathfinders" pushed to the front lines, leading the pioneering teams to clear the landmines bit by bit, and only after the dangers are eliminated can the people behind dare to take root.

The veteran prosecutors of the Great Opening-up era all navigated these risks to get where they are today.

Now that it was his turn, Cheng Ye belatedly realized that the written information recorded in the manual was completely insufficient to describe even a tenth of his current feelings.

How to describe it?

It was roughly five parts fear, three parts bewilderment, and two parts panic that made me want to run away.

This pioneering work is too difficult; no wonder all the super sanctuary cities have obediently retreated.

It's probably not just that the younger generation has overexerted themselves and needs rest, but also that the number of sources of infection has increased dramatically.

Back at the camp, House Number Three was fully completed, and all the residents were excitedly tidying up the house and setting up the surrounding defensive structures.

As for the gunshots just now, perhaps because of the groundwork laid in the afternoon, they didn't cause much chaos at the moment.

When Cheng Ye returned, everyone automatically stopped what they were doing and waited for him to speak.

"It was a source of infection, but it's not a big problem. It's been taken care of. Everyone, get back to work and get some rest."

"I will be on duty with a team tonight, so don't worry."

Source of infection!
The greatest threat to the wilderness.

The crowd stirred slightly, but when they heard that Cheng Ye was going to personally lead the guards to keep watch, the commotion quickly subsided.

Everyone continued working, but the idle chatter stopped, and a quiet silence fell for a moment.

But now, Cheng Ye had no time to continue comforting him. After handing the task over to Wang Kang, he took out the Firewood Pass from his backpack and started looking it up.

Searching for "mysterious water cave crab" brings up a series of information.

Skipping over everything he had just seen, Cheng Ye went straight to the extraordinary creature with the same name.

This feature is disabled on his Xinhuotong app.

Surprisingly, the version issued by Happiness City allows for searching for the corresponding source of infection.

The page redirects, and lines of text are displayed first.

[Codename: Darkwater Cave Crab (Extraordinary Creature)]

[Classification: Freshwater Genus, Biotic Type, Territorial Type] [Strength: F+]

[Description]: The Cave Crab is a small crab species that originally inhabited only deep freshwater caves. After being infected with the S3 virus, some individuals gained extraordinary abilities and transformed into extraordinary creatures.

After achieving transcendence, its form does not change significantly, only its size increases somewhat. Its shell is bluish-gray, and fluorescent blue glands are distributed on the inside of its claws. These glands are the embodiment of the life force of water veins and the earth, which made the Darkwater Cave Crab once known as the "balancer of the water system" and sought after by many transcendent forces.

When the water system of a cave becomes polluted (such as by mineral toxins, humus accumulation, or residual malicious energy from other supernatural organisms), cave crabs will gather collectively at the source of pollution and release resonance waves through fluorescent blue glands on the inside of their claws. This wave can directly rewrite the arrangement of water molecules, breaking down pollutants into the most primitive hydrogen and oxygen particles, while simultaneously generating "living water essence" with healing energy.

According to reliable records, a large-scale battle among superhumans occurred in the old Rodel State, causing the collapse of several caverns. During the subsequent search and rescue operation, over a hundred people who were buried were soaked overnight in puddles teeming with cave crabs. Not only did their injuries heal on the spot, but their internal organs, which had been blocked by silt, also returned to normal. Some of them even gained special, weak superhuman abilities as a result.

As for the water itself, the living water essence can be called a "life seeding machine". A drop of essence falls into stagnant water and within 3 days, special algae that can purify the water will grow. Moreover, these algae will never over-proliferate and will always maintain a "just enough" balance according to the needs of aquatic organisms.

Current status: Extinct

"Water system balancer?"

Cheng Ye let out a breath, his tense nerves relaxing slightly.

In fact, he already had a good idea of ​​what was going on when the panel showed that the strength of the Water Cave Crab was only F+.

The strength of the source of infection is often influenced by the "mother supernatural organism". The stronger the mother organism, the more terrifying the source of infection it produces.

The starfish I searched for earlier was rated C+, so by that calculation, the mother of the Darkwater Cave Crab is three levels lower.

Of course, after becoming a source of infection, the threat level of the Cave Crab rose to B-, only two levels lower than the Stand Starfish's B+, but this is most likely due to its bizarre parasitic method, which raised its rating.

"They're a bit troublesome; judging by their behavior, they're probably social animals."

Cheng Ye glanced at the description of the Netherwater Cave Crab's abilities in the Firewood Manual, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Several illustrations were included on the page.

Even as a superhuman creature, the Darkwater Cave Crab was not as large as the mutated water leech from the afternoon, with only its two eyes showing as it hid in the mud.

But apart from the first picture which is a close-up of a single crab, in the other pictures, the water crabs are all gathered in groups of three to five, and in the last picture there are even more than ten of them huddled together.

Compared to the solitary eagle, this gregarious lifestyle is clearly more terrifying.

However, when Cheng Ye saw that "the cave crab can release the essence of living water and change the natural environment of the water", another thought suddenly popped into his mind.

This living water essence sounds like a good thing. I wonder if I can collect its properties?

With this idea in mind, the panel was activated, and the encyclopedia function was opened.

【Hidden Water Crab】

[Description]: Ordinary cave crabs infected with a mutated virus will transform into putrefactive mites in a short time after being directly parasitized. If ingestion of toxic crystal fragments leads to parasitism, the initial symptoms are persistent vomiting and a sudden rise in body temperature. After 24 hours, body degeneration begins, including skin hardening and keratinization of the fingertips. The outbreak period begins after 168 hours.

[Current Parasitism Probability]:
Ingesting toxic crystal fragments (reduces life level; small amounts are risk-free, large amounts have a 5% chance of parasitism).

Direct contact with toxic crystals (probability of parasitism: 100%)

[Currently Included Features]:
Hydrating Essence (0.007%)

Water-repellent* (0.005%)

"It really can collect the essence of living water!"

Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but be surprised.

Keep in mind that what he just killed was only the parasitized human, not the original source of the Ghost Water Cave Crab infection. Yet he was still able to indirectly gain traits, extract skills, items, and information.

"What exactly is the working principle of this collector?"

Cheng Ye seemed to realize something.

If this thing falls into the hands of an ambitious person, it would be a disaster.

By deliberately using an infectious agent to parasitize humans and then "cleaning up the infected," one can indirectly collect the characteristics of extraordinary creatures from the old era.

As long as there is enough energy support, you can "grind" for any ability you want, and then no one will be able to restrain you.

"Fortunately, I have it under control, otherwise the harm caused by this thing would definitely be comparable to the S-series virus."

Cheng Ye took a few deep breaths, turned off the panel, and looked back at the Xin Huo Tong screen.

Now that the infection method and source of the cave crab are known, only two thorny problems remain:
First, we need to find the infected people in the camp as soon as possible and find a way to help them get rid of the parasites.

This is not only the primary responsibility of those who go out to work on contracted tasks, but also the core task of prosecutors during the era of pioneering and development.

No matter what means are used, the infection must not be allowed to spread among the population, nor should it cause large-scale riots.

Second, we need to investigate the activity traces of the burrowing crabs lurking beneath the Baishui River.

Normally, the Legion and the Research Institute would be responsible for dealing with these types of natural disaster-type infection sources, but only if there is sufficient intelligence support. This intelligence is usually handled by the checkpoints, with senior inspectors taking over to conduct on-site investigations and report the information.

Currently, he and Rokuk are still undergoing assessments, and no one can say for sure whether the higher-ups will "test" them and make them into "senior inspectors" to gather intelligence in advance.

"And tonight."

The thought of the two missing people and the commotion behind him gave Cheng Ye a headache.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.

Even if the legion's reinforcements arrive quickly, they won't arrive until tomorrow morning. We'll have to get through this long night on our own.

Thinking of this, Cheng Ye quickly flipped through the "Methods for Removing the Ghost Water Cave Crab" in Xin Huo Tong. The more he read, the more relaxed he felt, and finally he let out a long sigh.

Thankfully, no wonder this source of infection hasn't caused a large-scale outbreak over the years; it turns out that humanity has long since mastered complete methods for detection and eradication.

Unlike the Starfish, which spreads uncontrollably once it erupts, the Darkwater Cave Crab, while having a strange transmission method, is relatively simple and does not spread from person to person. This gives humans time to develop countermeasures.

The testing method is very simple: just collect urine, add salt, and observe whether the color changes.

If it turns dark green, it means that it has been parasitized.

Removing it is a bit more complicated, but it is still relatively simple compared to the Stand starfish that requires medication to eradicate.

"Dehydration to the point of exhaustion, followed by repeated rehydration to replace body fluids."

Cheng Ye stared at the text on the screen thoughtfully, and soon an idea came to him.

(End of this chapter)