Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 210 Mental Pollution, Natural Disasters Cannot Be Stopped!
Wow.

The surging river repeatedly pounded against the riverbank, the splashing waves landing on the cold stone surface and seeping into the damp soil through the cracks, leaving behind rings of dark watermarks.

Rococo held up his flashlight, the beam of light shooting forward along the riverbank, gently brushing over the rows of crab-men.

The bluish-gray crab claws swayed slightly, like waves rising and falling, densely packed together, making one's scalp tingle.

What's even more suffocating is that the stalk-like eyeballs protruding from the crab-man's eye sockets are all turning towards the group of people beside the path.

Countless cold, empty gazes slowly moved, locking onto everyone's faces, making even breathing seem frozen by the chill.

For a moment, Cheng Ye even wished his eyesight were worse, so he wouldn't have to see the horrifying scene so clearly.

But reality didn't allow him to escape. As the flashlight beam moved, his gaze involuntarily followed the beam, landing on the mud-covered faces of the crabmen, where even the strange, frozen curve of their lips was clearly visible.

He looked over, and the crab-man looked over.

A pair of human eyes and countless pairs of eerie, stalk-like eyes stand in silent confrontation in the night.

"Prosecutor Cheng?" Rococo sensed something was wrong and turned around in surprise.

But they found that Cheng Ye's face was covered in sweat, which was dripping down the edge of his mask.

His lips trembled slightly, and his eyes bulged abnormally, as if he had seen a terrifying scene far beyond his comprehension.

"Shh, don't make a sound." Cheng Ye suppressed his breathing, his voice so soft it was almost inaudible, and quietly took a step back.

At that moment, he couldn't even reach for the weapon at his waist.

An indescribable terror loomed over him, making him want to run away and leave immediately.

just.

Unexpectedly, the crab-men on the shore did not react violently at all. Instead, many of their stalks slowly withdrew their eyes and turned to stare at others instead of focusing on him.

"Didn't you notice me?"

Cheng Ye's heart skipped a beat, and he tentatively took another step back.

In an instant, even more eyes turned away, as if he, the "intruder," did not exist at all and was completely ignored.

Ok?
Cheng Ye suddenly had a guess, took a deep breath, and took a big step forward.

Swish.

In an instant, the eyeballs on the stem that had just retracted popped out, as if a mechanism had been triggered, and they all locked onto him again.

Even the crab-men who had been silent in the distance turned their heads and looked in his direction, their dense gazes once again enveloping him.

"Is there a trigger range?"

Cheng Ye was startled and, without hesitation, took seven or eight steps back, retreating to a position twice as far as before.

This time, all the crabmen withdrew their stalk-like eyes, and no one looked at him again, as if the intense stares from before were just an illusion.

"What's going on?" Cheng Ye was a little confused.

The scene before him was completely beyond his comprehension; he couldn't even sort out two key questions:
Where did all these infected cave crabs come from?
Why are they standing so neatly on the shore?
After thinking for a moment, he frowned, reached out and pulled out the infection source detector from his waist, and pressed and held the switch to activate the device.

Unsurprisingly.

The detector screen instantly lit up with a blinding red light, making his mask glow with an eerie halo.

What was just a riverbank interwoven with yellow and red during the daytime exploration has now transformed into a continuous red corridor, stretching from in front of him into the darkness in the distance. Within the detection range, there are countless tiny, shimmering red dots, so numerous that they cannot be counted.

"What light is on my face?" He looked at Rococo and pointed to the red light reflected on the mask.

Rokuk paused, his eyes suddenly darkening as if veiled in gray, and his voice grew somber: "It's green!"

Are you fucking red-green colorblind?

Cheng Ye couldn't help but swear.

He had only ever seen yellow and red colors in this detector, so where did this bullshit green come from?

"I"

Rocook's voice trembled, "I've never seen the detector turn green either."

The moment those words left his mouth, he felt as if he had been struck in the heart by a heavy drum. He froze on the spot, his face turning deathly pale.

My mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts, buzzing and rattling. My legs went weak, and I uncontrollably knelt down on one knee, only managing to stay upright by bracing myself against the ground.

Several seconds later, he turned around shakily, pointed the flashlight beam back at the riverbank, and asked in a trembling voice, "There... what's there?"

"It's the tracking powder you sprinkled during the day; it's perfectly intact," Cheng Ye said calmly.

"Really?" Rokuk suddenly seemed dazed, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Yes, come here quickly, and don't go any closer to the river."

Cheng Ye waved his hand, and only after Huang Liang and all the team members walked to his side did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Rococo's condition clearly indicates that his cognition has been distorted.

But it wasn't the kind of complete alteration he was thinking of. It was more like the human body was being triggered by some kind of protective mechanism, subconsciously avoiding information that was threatening to itself and using false images to cover up the danger.

But why does seeing green on a radio automatically default to red?
Is sending information to the outside world dangerous?
Cheng Ye was taken aback and withdrew his finger from the radio communication button, suppressing the urge to press the call button immediately.

What is happening now is clearly beyond the scope of what he, as a trainee prosecutor, can handle.

Fortunately, with the protection of the Heart Fire, he was temporarily spared from the effects of distorted cognition.

But when I think about the characteristics I found in the search, it's an unprecedented gold color.

Even with the starfish in his possession, he had no confidence whatsoever against such a completely unknown being.

At this point, all we can do is try anything, even if it seems hopeless.

If the checkpoint doesn't receive his plea for help, even if he illegally leaves Dabo Town, he doesn't want to stay in one place with thousands of crab people anymore!
"Find the informant, contact the checkpoint, quick!"

Cheng Ye turned around and quickly ran towards the central government building in Dabo Town.

Soon, we arrived at the government building.

Some of the undercover agents were on guard on the rooftop, while others remained on the third floor. Seeing the twenty-odd people rushing over, the flashlights on the rooftop lit up first. After exchanging signals, the undercover agent's leader immediately came down to meet them.

"Prosecutor Cheng, what happened?" The captain noticed his expression was off and quickly asked.

Cheng Ye paused, not explaining immediately, but instead took out the radio from his waist and pointed to the flashing circle in the middle, "What color is the light in the middle of this radio I'm holding?"

The undercover team leader paused for a moment, then leaned closer for a look and immediately replied, "It's red!"

What should the red color be used for?

Pfft!
The Dark Line Captain's reaction was almost identical to Rokuk's earlier. He suddenly covered his head, knelt on one knee, trembled violently, and gritted his teeth.

call.

An invisible wave suddenly swept by, and Cheng Ye felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, a strong sense of dizziness rushing to his head, almost causing him to fall backward.

Too suffocating.

At that moment, it felt like he had been thrown into an ice cellar. He felt as if the blood in his body had frozen instantly, and goosebumps crawled from his arms all the way to the back of his neck.

At the same time, a panel suddenly popped up in my field of vision, with notifications flashing wildly like a screen being refreshed:
[Collector detected to be affected by area-of-effect mental pollution. Heartfire buff triggered, granting immunity to this infection effect!]

[The collector has been detected to be under the continuous effect of the area-of-effect Spirit Protection buff!]

[Detection.]

Countless sharp streams of information pierced his brain like needles, causing Cheng Ye to feel dizzy and almost instinctively scream:

"It's green! My radio is green!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the trembling undercover team leader on the ground suddenly shuddered, stood up straight instantly, and his eyes regained some clarity:

"Is it green? That's alright, if you need anything..."

The words have not yet fallen.

But Cheng Ye had already put away the radio, bent down and lifted the mask of his battle armor, panting heavily.

pat.

pat.

Sweat dripped onto the ground like beads, leaving a small wet patch.

Four or five seconds later, a strong feeling of nausea rose in my throat.
vomit!
Cheng Ye knelt on one knee, clutching his chest and dry heaving until the dizziness in his head subsided slightly, at which point he weakly looked up at his surroundings.

The sight before him made his heart sink. Everyone, including all the members of the covert operation, froze on the spot, their eyes glazed over, as if their souls had been ripped out, and they showed no reaction to his movements.

Only Rokuk was still struggling, his face contorted as if he were fighting against something.

Under Cheng Ye's astonished gaze, Rokuk laboriously raised his hand, took out the metal pendant hanging around his neck, and shoved it into his mouth.

stab.

A sound like an electrical short circuit rang out, and Rokuk's originally slightly curly blond hair instantly stood on end, like a curly-haired person covered in electricity, and the muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably.

The intense pain brought a sliver of clarity to his eyes, and he stared intently at it, his voice broken and fragmented: "Help me...my waist..."

"What?" Cheng Ye rushed over in three steps and followed his gaze to his waist.

There hung a metal sphere the size of a fist.

"Open it, stuff it in my mouth, stuff it in my mouth."

With each word uttered, the clarity that Rococo's eyes had brought with it would immediately fade, replaced by a deep sense of confusion.

Following his instructions, Cheng Ye didn't dare to delay. He yanked off the metal ball and unscrewed the buckle at the top.

When he saw what was inside, his expression stiffened slightly:
Inside the sphere was not a tool at all, but a piece of "rusty iron," but at this moment, that "rusty iron" was wriggling slightly, like a lump of living flesh and blood.

Is this the source of the infection?
Without thinking, he suddenly reached out, pried open Rokuk's mouth, and shoved the wriggling "rusty iron" in, while simultaneously closing his jaw and forcing him to swallow roughly!
A strong smell of rust instantly filled the air, and a strange rust-red glint flashed in Rokuk's eyes.

He paused, then sat down on the ground with a thud, frantically scratching his hair with both hands. With each scratch, large clumps of blond hair mixed with black iron filings fell off and scattered on the ground.

Four or five seconds later, his blond hair was completely wiped away, leaving only a rusty bald head with a faint reddish tinge on his scalp.

vomit.
He turned around again and suddenly started gagging.

But what he vomited was not water, not nutrient solution, and certainly not blood, but clumps of rusty wires tangled together, which fell to the ground with a soft "clinking" sound.

"No, don't be afraid, it's a benign source of infection, the source of the heart and flesh iron!" Rokuk coughed and quickly explained, with iron filings still hanging from the corner of his mouth.

what?
Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment, then immediately took out the Fire Pipe from his waist and quickly typed the four words "Source Heart Meat Iron" with his fingertips.

The entry pops up.

He quickly skimmed through the contents, and only then did his anxiety begin to ease.

Although he had never heard of this name before, the threat level marked as F- was similar to the Hidden Ice Serpent he had encountered before, both being types with long incubation periods and extremely weak lethality and infectivity.

However, the consequences of this infection are far more cruel than those of the Hidden Ice Serpent. Once infected, one will directly enter an explosive state, and the human body will gradually "ironize," leading step by step to death.

Although the source of infection can be removed at any time during the process, the cost is extremely high, requiring the continuous oral ingestion of a full five tons of metal to meet the "demands" of the source of the flesh iron.

Even more problematic is that there's a chance that some areas will permanently retain a state of ferritic corrosion after removal.
"Don't worry, as long as we can get out of here alive, the recovery technology can reverse the ironification." Rokuk vomited up another clump of tangled wire. Although his face was still pale, his condition had clearly improved, and he could speak more fluently.

"From now on, I only have 72 hours left to find the source of the infection."

"Can't we leave Dabo Town first? We can figure out a solution once we're out there?" Cheng Ye was taken aback.

Rocco didn't answer. Instead, he picked up the radio at his waist, stared at the screen for a long time, and slowly shook his head with a wry smile.

"I can't get out."

The still-flickering green light seemed like a mockery, reflecting a blinding red light in his eyes.

Cheng Ye suddenly fell silent.

Even at this moment, he still saw green light, which meant that it was completely unpolluted.

What's even stranger is the atmosphere on the field. Only he and Rokuk can move freely, while the other team members are frozen in place, as if they've been put under a spell.

"What's going on now?"

"This type of widespread mental pollution is relatively rare in the wilderness, and its causes are mostly directly related to malignant and high-risk infectious sources left over from the old era. The risk level of this type of pollution is at least disaster level, and in most cases it can reach the destruction level, and in extreme cases it can approach the annihilation level. Whenever it occurs, it will inevitably cause uncontrollable catastrophic consequences to the surrounding area. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out investigation and containment work as quickly as possible in order to eliminate the hidden dangers at the source."

Rokuk's voice was heavy, as if he were reciting data. "According to my speculation, it is highly likely that the source of infection has flowed down the Linjiang River and landed near Dabo Town. Now, the only way to isolate the pollution is to find the source of the pollution and contain it. If anyone leaves without being contained, they will immediately mutate and die as soon as they step out of the Dabo Town area."

"Wait a minute!" Cheng Ye suddenly turned around and ran towards the parking lot.

He rushed back to Unit 3 in one breath, suppressing his panic, slowed his pace, gently pushed open the unit door, and called out.

Less than half a minute later, Wang Kang came out rubbing his eyes. He glanced at the dark sky and yawned, "Brother Cheng, are we changing shifts? You should go in and catch up on some sleep. I'll keep watch."

"Xiao Kang." Cheng Ye's voice was a little tense.

"Ok?"

“Look at this in my hand, what color is it?” Cheng Ye held up the radio.

Wang Kang was taken aback, leaned closer to take a look, and subconsciously asked, "Huh? Why is it red? Isn't green supposed to be safe?"

Wow.

An indescribable wave of emotion crashed over me.

Loss, bewilderment, fear, and confusion overwhelmed him like a rising tide.

Cheng Ye staggered back two steps, his back slamming heavily against the supermarket wall before he could barely regain his balance.

So this is the threat of the wilderness?

It turns out that humans are so weak in the face of infectious agents?
When we first encountered the traveler, the destructive power of this kind of mental pollution beyond visual range was not immediately apparent.

It even led some to mistakenly believe that the Walker was a turning point for Happy City, and that the Guardian of Wish could bring life to the wasteland.

But now, when this power descends with malice, the sense of powerlessness that rises from the very marrow of my bones is ten or a hundred times more terrifying than the contact infection from the Stand starfish!
"Brother Cheng, are you alright?" Wang Kang noticed that his expression was off, but his voice was full of confusion as to what had happened.

"Come with me, hurry up! Let's go now!"

Cheng Ye suddenly straightened up and ran towards the government building.

When the two rushed back, Huang Liang and his group, including all the informants in the government building, were still frozen in place, in the same position, without making a sound.

Seeing him return with Wang Kang, Rokuk was not surprised and sighed softly, "No need to look, they have already sacrificed themselves."

"what?"

Cheng Ye clutched his chest, a surge of suffocation rising in his throat, almost choking him.

He could no longer hold on, his legs gave way, and he sat down with a thud on the steps in front of the government building.

Fragments of memories flashed uncontrollably through my mind—

Huang Liang scratched his head and laughed, "Sir, Li Jie still hasn't woken up, so I took the liberty of covering his shift for a while."

He patted his chest and said, "I recover my energy quickly; four hours of sleep a day is enough for me."

but.

Looking at Huang Liang's frozen face, his eyes still seemed to hold a hint of honesty and shrewdness, but he would never blink again, never speak again.

but!

Why?
In an instant, Cheng Ye felt all the emotions in his heart twist into a knot, leaving only one in the end.

That was a burning anger that made his throat tighten and his knuckles ache from gripping it so tightly!
An anger, stronger than courage and more tenacious than greed, capable of utterly crushing fear and dread, surged wildly in my chest!

Suddenly, he turned to look at Rokuk, "Aren't you curious why I wasn't contaminated?"

Rokuk was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head. "You can still leave now."

"Can you make it?"

Cheng Ye looked down at the radio, silently got up, gestured for Wang Kang to sit in his previous seat, then walked to the side and pressed and held down the green communication button on the radio.

Five seconds later.

But no one answered.

He paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and said, "I am Cheng Ye, the assessment inspector of Dabo Town. I am requesting support from Xingfu City!"

next second.

Suddenly, a noisy electrical sound came from the radio, as if some equipment had been overturned, with a continuous crackling sound.

Immediately afterward, a familiar yet urgent voice pierced through the noise: "Cheng Ye! It's me, Liu Kun! Can you hear me?!"

Director Liu

"You haven't been contaminated?" Liu Kun asked, his voice tinged with eagerness.

Not yet.

"Go to the east entrance of Dabo Town immediately! It's the place where you came in for the assessment, hurry up!" Liu Kun's voice left no room for argument, and he added, "Don't look around on the way, head straight to your destination!"

The urgent command was given, and Cheng Ye turned to look at Wang Kang and Luo Kuke sitting on the steps before starting to move.

At first, he just walked, but he walked faster and faster, soon turning into a jog, and finally he took off running!
The distance to the entry point is only two kilometers, but for those currently in the town, it feels like an insurmountable chasm.

The night was still pitch black.

The wilderness was deserted, with only the mournful sound of the wind blowing through the ruins.

He had just picked up the radio when he heard Liu Kun's voice come through immediately: "Twelve steps to the left, three steps forward, and be slow, very slow!"

As he instructed, Cheng Ye moved his feet, pausing for the last step before taking it.

Wow.

Countless lights appeared.

It felt like instantly traveling from the dead of night to day.

What lay before them was no longer a desolate ruin, but a vast temporary camp.

Dozens of tents were neatly arranged, and various detection instruments were piled up on the open ground, with screens flashing data.

Soldiers dressed in the uniforms of the Happiness Legion patrolled back and forth, while researchers in special white research suits discussed the instruments.

Not far away, Ding Yishan, Harlin, Liu Kun, Jiang Chuan, and more than twenty others were standing together, all their eyes fixed on him.

Cheng Ye snapped out of his daze and subconsciously raised his hand to shield his eyes from the bright light.

The scene before him stunned him, and he could hardly believe his eyes.

"Congratulations, you survived."

Holding the radio, Liu Kun stepped forward, his tone devoid of any emotion, "Where are the others inside?"

"Garcia is missing, along with four squads, 32 men."

"The hidden channels of supervision and assessment have all died."

"Seventeen of my men have also died!"

"In order to stay conscious, Rokuk deliberately infected the Source Heart Iron, but he has already been contaminated and cannot get out."

"other people"

Cheng Ye took a deep breath, suppressing his surging emotions, and said, word by word:

"Everyone except me has been contaminated!"

　P.S.: Double update delivered at 1.3 words~ Please vote!
　　P.S. 2: Thank you so much, Purple-Eyed Black Dragon, for the generous donation!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)