Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 247 Extraordinary Path, Subordinates in Place!
A bizarre and fantastical feeling surged in from all directions, as if I had fallen into a time tunnel.

Consciousness wanders in the void, both fleeting and seemingly instinctively searching for a connection to the body.

Cheng Ye snapped back to reality and opened his eyes when he felt a faint touch on his fingertips.

The slightly dim sunlight from the window fell on the lower half of the hospital bed; judging from the sky, it must have been evening.

Huh, you were only unconscious for three or four hours?
"Prosecutor Cheng, you're awake!" came the voice of a medical staff member beside him. Cheng Ye turned his head and tried to sit up, only to find that his arms were covered with needles.

Two arms, each connected to four vials of infused medicine, with shimmering specks of various colors inside.

"What are you doing? Why are you pricked like a hedgehog?"

Cheng Ye was utterly astonished. Was he being beaten up because he was a walking pharmacy?

"You've been unconscious for five days. These medications are to maintain your basic nutrition and help your body repair itself," the nurse quickly explained.

"What? Five days?"

Cheng Ye gasped, "What's the date now?"

"Yes, you fainted right after you finished running, and it's already August 28th."

28?

So, adding the half-day before he lost consciousness, he was unconscious for a full six days?!

Cheng Ye was momentarily flustered. 26 days had passed since he received the second round of contract assessment.

In just under a month, he spent 11 days recuperating at Fuxing Medical Center.

Although his recovery time was ridiculously fast compared to the usual recovery period for a Class A infection source, for Prosecutor Cheng, who always made every second count, it felt like an extended vacation.

Including the time I spent in this wasteland, almost half a year has passed without me even realizing it.

Half a year
Cheng Ye lay quietly until Cui Qiao pushed the door open and told the nurse to leave, then he refocused his gaze.
"Is the cost really that severe?"

"The cost itself is indeed high. These medium and high intensity levels are calculated based on your physical fitness, but more importantly, it means that your body has pushed itself to the limit. After running 2000 kilometers, you immediately do 50 kilometers of high-intensity exercise, which is already severely overdrawn. The combination of the two almost caused your body to collapse."

Cui Qiao said softly, "However, there seems to be a special energy supporting you within your body. The elder came while you were unconscious, and he asked me to tell you this."

Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly froze, as if she had been choked.

The next second, Qian Lao's voice rang out in the room without warning, clearly reaching Cheng Ye's ears:

"This path is a pathway, the only path known to humankind that could possibly lead to its end. Symbiosis, in essence, is an exchange of life forms with the source of infection. The stronger the source of infection, the further your destination will be as long as it doesn't stop growing. But the human body cannot withstand the cost of the form transformation in symbiosis, requiring unimaginable resources to protect it."

"If you had been born thirty years earlier, Happiness City would still have the resources left over from the previous era to sustain you, which might have allowed you to reach our current level. But now, those resources are almost exhausted, and we have also gone astray in recent years. We don't have the technology of a natural shelter city to artificially create treasures to maintain life forms. So, don't use this power anymore. Just pretend you never had it."

"After returning to the inner city, go to the research institute and find Yu Erlan. Ask her to extract three treasures from the Idealists' share for you. These treasures will allow you to use the power of the Shrinking Earth Giant Lice three times without suffering any backlash."

After saying those three sentences, Mr. Qian's voice completely disappeared.

Cui Qiao's expression instantly returned to normal, as if the pause had never happened. She continued, "...I urge you to be extremely cautious when using the power of the infected source."

What method is this?
Could it be that the elders also possessed a similar magical artifact, a power that could influence a person's mental state?

Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment, but his mind was racing as he processed Qian Lao's words.

Is living in symbiosis with the source of infection the only way for humanity to "reach the end"?

Symbiosis
Is this what symbiosis means?

Cheng Ye suddenly realized that the so-called "symbiotic ecology" actually refers to the convergence of life forms between humans and extraordinary beings?
If they reach the end, won't they become like Tan Ming, no longer human, but a superhuman being?

However, even extraordinary beings can still be attacked by evolving viruses, so this can't be considered a "pathway".

What role does belief play in this process?
What path have the ten elders of Happiness City taken to be able to withstand the next virus attack?
Countless questions arose, but Cheng Ye was unable to answer them and could only suppress them in his heart for the time being.

At his current level, it's too early for him to be exposed to this information. With limited time and authority, he simply cannot analyze the truth based on a few words.

Moreover, according to Qian Lao's second statement, it would be possible to reach the level of an elder statesman only with the support of countless resources.

It is truly terrifying!
In addition, although Happiness City has gone astray in recent years, Natural Sanctuary City is a super sanctuary city on par with Fire, a dominant force in the Southern Hemisphere. They are actually researching artificially induced treasures, trying to make this path work.

“I have a collector that can generate treasures by extracting special properties, which is similar to the natural shelter city. But my guess was right. Happiness City’s resources only go out and never come in. Supporting ten elders and the city lord is probably the limit. There is no way to distribute treasures to the people below or cultivate more strong people. Now it is probably really running out.”

"And the elders have no way to go out and find more treasures. They have to rely on their subordinates to go out and search. They even have to rely on inspectors who are not extraordinary to maintain the normal operation of the sanctuary city. This is really limiting themselves with power."

Cheng Ye couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "Old Qian gave me three treasures, but he probably doesn't know that I've already used up four of them just by relying on the essence of living water these past few days."

As his thoughts raced, he forced himself to stop; now was not the time to worry about the future of Happiness City.

If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up.

Even if it has gone astray, Happiness City is still the undisputed hegemon of Shi Province, and no one dares to provoke it easily.

It seems that Yueye can be destroyed at will, without any need for excessive entanglement or provocation.

Moreover, it's absolutely impossible for him to give up the Shrinking Earth Giant Flea and his extraordinary power. Tan Ming himself hasn't even made it through his own path of belief. Even if he gets past this hurdle, there are bound to be new difficulties ahead.

Coexisting with the source of infection and achieving extraordinary symbiosis is the only path; only by following this path can we gain true power.

As for the pain that comes with the price.
If one iron body isn't enough, then find more iron bodies to fuse with; there's always a way to completely isolate it.

Even if there's only one Dai Zun in Happiness City, what about the other Sanctuary Cities? In the vast wilderness, who knows how many people with pain immunity are hiding?

There's also the Sawano Physique, but relying solely on it isn't enough to increase its strength. We need to find more physique-related skills to fuse with and further increase its base stats.

As more and more energy can be mobilized, the idea of ​​fusing a large number of basic Lv1 skills can be put on the agenda. By accumulating little by little, we can always go further on this path of symbiosis.

Thinking of this, Cheng Ye came back to his senses, turned his head and asked, "Where is Wang Kang?"

“Prosecutor Wang was discharged from the hospital two days ago. Because you were in a coma, we didn’t dare tell him the truth. We only told him that you were receiving secret intensive treatment. He specifically instructed that you should go to the old place in Happiness Garden to find him after you are discharged.”

"Okay, I'm sorry to bother you."

Cheng Ye didn't ask any more questions and quietly waited for the last eight bottles of medicine to be finished.

When Cui Qiao helped him remove the needle, it was already completely dark outside the window, which was remarkably similar to the scene when she first entered the Resurrection Medical Space more than ten days ago.

He got up, took a shower, changed his clothes, and didn't want to stay there for another second.

Even with hundreds of people taking care of him, even though this place is one of the safest areas in the wasteland, comparable to Mount Xintie, even though he can quickly improve his strength by sacrificing the giant earth-shrinking lice and the essence of living water, he still couldn't stay.

There are only two portions of Living Water Essence left to redeem, and here we can neither replenish the collector's energy nor trigger the search function.

Now that the cost has completely ended, all he can think about is returning to Big Wave Town and quickly repairing the small hydroelectric power station to charge the collector.

The days when I can't secretly charge my phone are just too agonizing!

"Prosecutor Cheng, are you... going to be discharged?" Cui Qiao was stunned, completely not expecting Cheng Ye to be so decisive.

Most people who come to Fuxing Medical Center wish they could stay for three to five months, and only leave reluctantly when they receive a mandatory discharge notice.

But Cheng Ye was different. He rushed to get dressed and leave as soon as he woke up, as if staying there for even a second longer would be torture.

"Yes, please make the arrangements for me. I'm leaving today."

Cheng Ye walked around the living room and added, "Please pack all these books, documents, and equipment for me."

"Don't worry, after the discharge procedures are completed, someone will deliver your belongings to your residence."

“Okay!” Cheng Ye nodded and followed Cui Qiao to the first floor to complete the formalities.

The first thing handed over was the bill.

Although he didn't have to spend a penny, the receipt, which was almost half the thickness of a book when printed out, still left him dumbfounded.

Cheng Ye flipped straight to the last page and suddenly felt his legs go weak.

"No, I've only stayed for 11 days and I've already spent 13 contribution points? Did you miscalculate?"

“Every medicine, supplement, and equipment consumable you use has a detailed record.”

Cui Qiao quickly explained, "The main expense is that potent painkiller injection, which was imported from Shelter City, a subordinate city of the Torch Alliance, and the cost alone is as high as 5 points. In addition, the medicine you have been given these days, each bottle costs more than 200 points, and a total of 217 bottles were used. These two items alone cost 102700 points."

"In addition, besides your regular meals, you also need to drink 20 bags of red-bag nutritional syrup every day as a supplement. Each bag is worth 150 contribution points, for a total of 18000 points."

Good grief, you've used up all 12 points already?

Cheng Ye couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement, secretly relieved that the funds used weren't from the checkpoint, otherwise the station would probably have gone bankrupt.

"Okay, no problem." He stopped hesitating and signed his name in a flourish.

After signing the bill, they handed me a medical information sheet that was over ten pages long.

Cheng Ye didn't even bother to look closely. He glanced at the document to make sure there were no restrictive clauses like "making him pay," and then signed it directly.

Finally, Cui Qiao handed over a stack of coupons, each marked with "1 points".

"The elders instructed that this is one of the rewards for taking on next year's mission. There are 20 in total, worth 20 contribution points, which can be used to exchange for resources at Fuxing Medical. Not only can you use them yourself, but you can also transfer them to your subordinates to unlock treatment privileges."

"Can it be transferred even without inner city qualifications?" Cheng Ye asked subconsciously, then shook his head.

Entering the inner city only costs 1000 points, which is nothing compared to the 1-point coupon.

Moreover, Dai Zun was not from the inner city, yet he was still able to come in for treatment, so his qualifications were clearly not the key factor.

How do I use this coupon?

"You can activate it by simply taping it with your Defense Pass app, and you can do the transfer directly within the system," Cui Qiao demonstrated.

Following the instructions, Cheng Ye picked up a card and stuck it on the sensor area of ​​the Defense Connector.

The screen flickered, and a dark blue "Resurrection Medicine" icon appeared on the interface.

He clicked on it and saw that there were only three buttons: treatment application, emergency treatment, and at the bottom, transfer to others.

20 coupons are equivalent to 20 contribution points. Before I even officially took office as the station chief of Yueye, the reward had already arrived in my account.

Cool!
Cheng Ye was secretly pleased; he knew that if anyone got injured in the future, he wouldn't have to worry about finding a way to send them to Fuxing Medical Center.

"Where is Rokuk?"

"Prosecutor Luo is still recuperating. Once his vital signs stabilize, he will undergo a metal prosthetic limb transplant surgery."

"He had his leg amputated?" Cheng Ye's expression paused slightly.

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll go check on him."

Cheng Ye picked up his coat and walked out the door with a flourish.

A gentle breeze blew by, and he subconsciously touched the top of his head. His hair had grown out, and although it was only a short layer, he looked particularly energetic when he looked in the mirror by the door.

Moreover, after being nourished by the essence of living water and transformed by the giant earth-shrinking louse, his size became even more exaggerated!
He has completely moved beyond being just muscular and started to become strong.

Originally a little over 1.8 meters tall, he grew to 1.9 meters thanks to secondary bone development. His arm circumference filled out his short-sleeved shirt, and his muscle bundles were clearly visible, exuding an explosive sense of power.

Because of spending days underground, the dark skin I had developed in Dabo Town has turned into a healthy wheat color.

Cheng Ye raised his hand and touched his chest. The two pectoral muscles, as hard as rocks, looked somewhat unfamiliar to him.

Am I that strong?

He couldn't help but laugh. He was now a living weapon, just like the special forces soldier he had seen on TV before he transmigrated. Even compared to Liu Bi, he was only a little shorter.

His previous gentle and weak demeanor completely disappeared, replaced by the aura of a true wasteland elite.

"It's great, I like this feeling."

Cheng Ye turned around and strode forward, but suddenly realized something was wrong.

Unexpectedly, after being in a coma for six days, he regained a significant amount of control over his body.

Although it hasn't reached the same level of smoothness as before, at least the situation of "loss of control of power" will no longer occur easily.

When he arrived at Building No. 2, the medical staff on duty at the entrance recognized him at a glance.

Or rather, after the tireless running around, everyone at Fuxing Medical Center knew Prosecutor Cheng.

"Prosecutor Cheng, this way please. Prosecutor Luo's ward is on the sixth floor."

Cheng Ye nodded slightly.

Different floors correspond to different statuses.

Moreover, the lower the floor, the more rooms there are on each floor.

His top floor had two rooms, while Rococo's sixth floor had a total of six rooms.

However, each room is a standard three-bedroom, two-living room unit, much more spacious than the medical clinics outside.

Rocco had already received the message and was holding onto his wheelchair, waiting for him at the elevator entrance.

"Are you completely healed?" Looking at Cheng Ye's rosy complexion and upright figure, Rokuk couldn't hide his envy.

"It's alright, almost done." Cheng Ye smiled and pushed the wheelchair back to room 6002.

The room was littered with sunflower seed shells, audiobooks were playing from speakers, and an old movie was playing on the television.

"I didn't know you had this hobby?"

“It’s not really a hobby, it’s just that I’m basically wasting most of my life, so I have to find something to do to pass the time.” Rokuk shook his head with a wry smile. “Even if I get a prosthetic leg, I won’t be able to go on field missions anymore. I’ll probably have to retire at the checkpoint.”

"From now on, the inspectors on duty will have a seasoned veteran with three years of experience overseeing things. That'll put us in a good position!"

Cheng Ye deliberately used a lighthearted tone to tease him, trying to lighten his mood.

Unexpectedly, Rokuk seems to have come to terms with things these days, and is not as depressed as I had imagined. "I have already felt something in my heart, and from now on I will pursue the path of breaking through the unity of heaven and man and consolidating my beliefs."

He paused, then changed the subject, "Also, I'd like to discuss something with you, I don't know if you'd be willing."

Cheng Ye didn't rush to reply. His control over his power was indeed returning. The apple danced in his hand, quickly peeling off its skin.

Gaba.

He took a bite of the apple, then picked up another and peeled it for Rocook. Only after Rocook took the apple did he nod and say:

"Tell me what's going on."

“You’ll definitely be going out on field duty a lot in the future. Even if you come back, it’ll be a waste of time to stay at the checkpoint. The Dabo Town checkpoint needs two people to take turns on duty. Instead of you finding someone else, how about I do it? Even though I’ve lost my legs, I can sit there and do my duty without any problem.” Rokuk said sincerely.

Cheng Ye was taken aback. Looking at his seemingly genuine expression, he asked, "Are you serious? This is tantamount to defecting to the enemy!"

“It’s not like I’ve defected to the enemy. I was originally Station Chief Ding’s man. It was Station Chief Ding who cultivated and discovered me.”

Rococo smiled. "This trip to Big Wave Town was actually arranged by Station Chief Ding to help you with Tiger. I didn't expect you to do such a great job, which ruined all those plans."

"Na Garcia?"

"I originally wanted to help you get rid of the only trouble before you took office, but unfortunately, something unexpected still happened," Rokuk frankly admitted.

"Why is Lao Ding so good to me?" Cheng Ye took a big bite of apple, his tone devoid of emotion.

"Hey, you'll have to find the answer to this question yourself, you 'Cheng family member'."

Rocco also took a bite of the apple, emphasizing the words "Cheng family" with a clear hint.

“Alright, once you’re discharged from the hospital, I’ll lead a team in Dabo Town to welcome Prosecutor Luo for his inspection.”

Cheng Ye's face remained expressionless. He casually tossed the apple core into the trash can, and said, "Perfect. I was originally looking for a prosecutor to partner with. With you here, I feel more at ease."

"Why bother looking for Phase 1? Phase 3 is enough for me!"

Rokuk nodded immediately, finally relieved after days of worry.

After much thought, the only way to get in touch with Cheng Ye now is to set up a checkpoint in Dabo Town.

Even if outsiders see it as "exile," so what?
A hidden dragon lies dormant in the abyss, waiting for its time to strike.

Whether it was Cheng Ye's strength when he contained the immortal artifact, or the mental fortitude he displayed during the process, he could be certain that as long as Cheng Ye lived, no one among his peers could compete with him for the future position of stationmaster.

During the silence, Cheng Ye got up, picked up the broom by the wall, and began to clean up the sunflower seed shells scattered on the floor.

After sweeping the trash into the dustpan, he suddenly spoke up: "Prosecutor Luo, after Dabo Town is completed, I hope you can settle down there too, is that alright?"

Rokuk's heart skipped a beat, but he answered almost without hesitation, "No problem. From now on, I, Rokuk, am a resident of Big Wave Town. Wherever my home is, that's where I'll be!"

"very good!"

(End of this chapter)