Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 22 The World, Human Nature, and Ruthlessness!

Boom!

Electricity snaked across the sky, and rain fell like pearls.

The longer warm and humid air masses take to accumulate, the more ferocious the torrential rain will be when it falls.

In the middle of the night, Cheng Ye suddenly woke up, leaped up, and used his mind to retrieve the pendant that was charging.

"Is there a power outage?"

When the collector suddenly sounded an alarm, Cheng Ye's first thought was that a thief had broken in.

Fortunately, after checking the panel, it only showed a notification that power input was paused.

blah blah blah!

I reached out and gently pulled the bedside lamp cord, but there was no response. I figured all the circuits had probably been shut down.

Cheng Ye picked up the defense communication device next to his pillow and glanced at it; it was almost six o'clock.

Since he didn't intend to continue sleeping, he got dressed and got out of bed.

"Holy crap, it's raining so hard!"

Cheng Ye glanced out the window and was immediately stunned.

The curtain of rain stretched as far as the eye could see, forming a white line that was far more dramatic than any downpour he had ever witnessed.

It had only been raining for six or seven hours, but the courtyard of the electronics factory residential area was already flooded with water that reached above the calves.

In the darkness, you can see a dozen people using flashlights to clear the drains in the yard.

Unfortunately, the effect was minimal, as the streets outside the residential area were also severely flooded.

Wow.

It was like a small river flowing freely through the street, swirling up fallen leaves and debris.

The torrential rain washed away the usual peaceful atmosphere of the buffer zone, revealing its ancient and mottled state.

Ultimately, this place is a ruin of civilization left over from a century ago.

When it was planned and built, no designer could have imagined that a hundred years later, this land would be inhabited by several times the number of people originally expected.

"If I ever have the ability to build settlements in the future, I will definitely make sure to do a good job of drainage from the very beginning."

Cheng Ye was lost in thought, his mind wandering far away.

If he hadn't glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of extraordinary power and discovered the wonders hidden beneath the ruins of the wasteland, he would have remained a prosecutor for life, locking up his secure job in Happy City!

Now that I know all this, how can I be willing to stay here?

At the very least, if I must die, I must die on the path of pursuing extraordinary power and freedom.

Stroking the edge of the pendant, Cheng Ye summoned the panel, and the charging value in the upper right corner just exceeded 50% before the power outage.

This means that if you find a target after going through the fast track, you will have the opportunity to improve your strength at any time.

Seven o'clock.

The heavy rain subsided slightly, but the flooding became even more severe.

Cheng Ye changed into a raincoat and wrapped the edges of his high-top rain boots with tape to prevent water from getting in.

However, no one expected that the first step they took downstairs would land them in a puddle that was knee-deep.

"Grass!"

In the past, due to the influence of old buildings, the thresholds of the tenement buildings were often made very high.

This also means that once the water comes in, it can't get out, and it just accumulates more and more until it overflows the first-floor steps, just like raising fish.

"Haha, bro, I was just about to remind you."

A person rushed out of the security door next to the stairs, carrying a blue plastic bucket.

Cheng Ye peeked out and saw that the man's house was practically a fishpond, yet he was still able to laugh.

"The place is flooded, but we don't need to go to work today, and we'll still get paid!"

The man seemed to notice Cheng Ye's confusion and immediately explained, "I also heard that the construction teams in the inner city are discussing renovating apartment buildings like ours after the heavy rain."

"Renovation?"

Aside from demolishing and rebuilding, Cheng Ye doesn't think the renovated tenement building will be much better than it is now.

But if we could repair the sewer pipes, upgrade the power supply facilities, and ideally replace the electrical wires for every resident with six-square-meter wires, that would be fantastic!
"You're going to work, right? Come on, I'll carry you out!"

Seeing Cheng Ye standing awkwardly at the top of the stairs, the man put down the bucket and came over.

"Don't be so polite with me, Lao Sun. We live in the same building. Besides, you're contributing to our buffer zone by going to work. It's much better than someone like me who's just getting paid without working."

When it came to receiving a salary without working, Cheng Ye always felt that Old Sun seemed quite proud of it.

"Thanks!"

"What are you fussing about? Come up here."

Carrying Cheng Ye on his back, the man stumbled out of the residential area.

When we got him to the door, the highest point of the floodwater was above his thighs, and his knees were covered in yellow mud.

"I'm leaving now. If you come back tonight, I'll carry you on my back again."

Old Sun left a sentence and waded back the way he came through the water.

Looking at that hurried figure, Cheng Ye suddenly felt that the people in this wasteland weren't as bad as he had thought.

Bad people may get worse, but good people haven't completely disappeared.

On the other side. "Oh my goodness, be careful, don't break my frame!"

Uncle Dong's loud shouts pierced through the rain.

Cheng Ye tiptoed and peeked inside. He saw that the water in the convenience store had reached his calves, and four or five workers were bending over, scooping water out with basins.

Someone's elbow hit the shelf against the wall, and plastic bottles and cans fell down with a clatter. Uncle Dong was so distressed that he slapped his thigh and stomped his feet, and was about to rush in to help.

"Uncle Dong, I'm telling you, with your old bones and limbs, you shouldn't get involved in this."

Cheng Ye walked over and grabbed the old man.

"Otherwise, if you fall and hurt yourself, the cost of going to the clinic will be more than you could sell all these things."

"Little Cheng"

Uncle Dong turned his head, his slightly gray hair plastered to his forehead, making him look like an old hen that had been soaked in water.

"If I hadn't been alert last night, I probably would have drowned in this shop."

"so serious?"

"Of course! I was organizing goods in the basement and dozed off for a bit because I was sleepy. I didn't expect water to rush in like that. In less than half a minute, it was almost up to my neck!"

The row of shops at the entrance of the staff residential area is also in the old style, with a basement for storing things.

Cheng Ye's eyelids twitched, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Let's not use the basement anymore. By the way, if you don't have a place to stay tonight, why don't you come to my place?"

"How can I sleep if I don't watch over this shop?"

Uncle Dong shook his head and pulled out half a box of nutrient solution from the goods he had salvaged from the side.

"Thirty packs, just received yesterday, I reserved these for you. If this strange rain continues, these things will probably be snapped up like crazy."

"Thanks."

After opening the box and putting the nutrient solution into his backpack, Cheng Ye took out a handful of 10-yuan coins and handed them over.

A bag of nutrient syrup now costs 2 Happiness Coins, and the handful of coins in his hand contains at least twelve or thirteen.

Uncle Dong also unusually refrained from any formalities.

Natural disasters like torrential rains will only drive up the price of nutrient syrup. Stockpiling a batch and reselling it for five coins per bag wouldn't be difficult.

More importantly, sometimes even if you have money, you might not be able to buy it after it's been snapped up by other buyers!

And indeed, this was the case. On Cheng Ye's way to the North Station checkpoint, long queues formed in front of almost every shop selling nutritional syrup.

It's a pity we didn't see Chu Yunfeng's family. I wonder if they found a place to stay and stocked up on nutrient solution in advance.

"Sigh, why did I think of Chu Yunfeng the moment I finally saved up one search opportunity?"

Cheng Ye was somewhat tempted.

Compared to opening blind boxes at the checkpoint, it's obviously much better to get freebies from Chu Yunfeng's golden legendary item!
Of the 13 level 1 skills, excluding non-combat skills that are not currently useful, the remaining skills, such as [Basic Perception] and [Quick Draw], are obviously very practical just by their names.

However, he was also well aware that given the family's vigilance, without a legitimate reason to approach them, it was not certain that they would cooperate at 50%.

The best way is to wait for the next time we meet at the checkpoint.

Cheng Ye had a vague feeling that Chu Yunfeng, with his abilities, would definitely not be content to do manual labor in the buffer zone forever. Leaving aside whether he could support his family, given how things were developing...
"The price has gone up! The price has gone up! A pack of nutrient syrup is now 5 coins!"

Shouts came from the roadside as scalpers, sensing the business opportunity presented by the rainstorm, waited at the street corner and began selling nutritional syrup at high prices.

Some people grumbled and swore as they squeezed out of the queue, but in the end they had no choice but to grit their teeth and pay more than double the price to take the crumpled packaging bag from the scalper.

Unfortunately, the demand for nutrient syrup is too high, and the unit price is too low, making it difficult to add advanced technology and high-efficiency processing.

When it gets hot, the shelf life is only five days at most, and it takes another day to get from the factory to the distributors in the buffer zone.

In addition, most people have neither the energy nor the savings to stock up on goods in advance after a day of hard labor.

Therefore, whenever there is a natural disaster in the buffer zone, the prices in the buffer zone will immediately fluctuate.

"Isn't the government of Happiness City going to step in and regulate this? Arrest all these damn scalpers and execute them!"

"Exactly! Those heartless bastards who profit from natural disasters and make a profit off others, don't let me run into them in the ruins!"

"Don't be naive. Where do you think these scalpers get their goods from?"

"Where could they have come from? Could it be that the officials from the Supply Bureau personally distributed them for them to sell?"

"I can tell you're new here just by hearing what you said. Remember this: in the buffer zone, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. If the guards on duty had heard what you just said, you would have been dragged to the police station and beaten half to death."

"."

Cheng Ye strode through the crowd, surrounded by shouts and murmurs.

I don't know why, but last night when I thought about going to the fast checkpoint, I was full of anxiety, but now I can't help but feel excited.

Especially when you hear or see the distress, frustration, cursing, and discouragement of the displaced people!
He increasingly felt that the easygoing, non-competitive nature of the civilized era within him was rapidly receding from his genes as he walked toward the northern checkpoint.

Instead, the savagery, ferocity, and fighting spirit of the wasteland gradually awaken in their blood.

This is indeed not a new era where everyone has hope and civilization is on the path to revival.

It is a supernatural wasteland era where life and death are fought and the strong try to dominate everything!

"The collector left behind by Brother Long opened up an upward path for me, giving me the possibility to continuously become stronger."

“Brother B protected me during my most vulnerable time, giving me the ability to stand firm.”

"Now!"

"Finally, it's the world's turn to welcome my arrival!"

P.S.: "Thanks to peidajia for the monthly ticket, thanks to reader 20250429 for the monthly ticket, and thanks to reader 202103 for the monthly ticket. Thank you all for your support!"
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(End of this chapter)