Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 104 Towns' Approval, Extraordinary and Secret!

Asking Cheng Ye for his opinion was merely an unintentional act by Towns.

From the beginning, he didn't expect to get any constructive advice from this trainee prosecutor who had been born in the inner city and had never set foot in the wilderness.

But Cheng Ye's answer now filled him with a mix of surprise, as well as a bit of...
It's hard to ride a tiger.

He instinctively felt that if he gave Cheng Ye more information and showed him all the intelligence he had gathered, he might be able to come up with a more actionable plan.

But rules are rules. The lowest level of intelligence that can be accessed is a second-level prosecutor, let alone Cheng Ye, a trainee prosecutor.

The fact that he was even allowed to know about this issue was only because Ding Yishan had already put him in the spotlight.

"Please sit over there. There's black tea and coffee on the table. Make some for yourself if you'd like."

Towns pointed to the reception area, gesturing for Cheng Ye to sit down.

He then stared at the documents on the table for more than ten minutes, sometimes writing furiously, sometimes pausing to ponder.

But in the end, he crumpled the piece of paper he had written on into a ball and threw it into the trash can next to him.

doesn't work.

The reason why Dazhang dared to dig into Shuangyue Lake is because of the Guanghong Shelter City standing behind them.

This is an industrial sanctuary city whose size is in no way inferior to that of Happiness City. However, it went astray in its early years, focusing all its efforts on the research and development of new energy sources, completely abandoning the industrial foundation of the old era, and trying to open up a new path.

It wasn't until recent years that they realized their shortcomings and began frantically trying to fill the gaps, scrambling to acquire talent and technology, and attracting large and small industrial clusters to become their raw material bases.

Behind this lies the impending transformation of the entire wasteland landscape.

In the first decade of the new era, humanity could only huddle in sheltered cities, trembling with fear, closing off everything and focusing on developing its basic infrastructure as much as possible.

It took ten to twenty-eight years before they began to gradually expand outwards.

Pioneer teams, exploration camps, and large and small groups sprang up like weeds, seizing every inch of territory they could occupy and marking every resource they could find.

All the sheltered cities began to develop rapidly, but as time went by, they exhausted their new forces and were forced to enter a period of rest and recuperation.

Seven years have passed since the rest period began.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, it will take at least five to ten years before the next major expansion can begin.

However, some sanctuary cities still couldn't resist sneaking ahead, trying to pave the way for a new round of expansion before the other sanctuary cities could react.

If Happiness City responds in the way Cheng Ye suggested, Light Rainbow Shelter City will definitely not sit idly by.

At that time, the two sanctuary cities will inevitably clash at Twin Moon Lake.

This is not the outcome that Happiness City's top management wants to see right now; continuing to build up strength is the proper course of action during this period of rest and recuperation.

After all, even if Shuangyue Lake is lost, Happiness City still has hundreds of other gathering places that can supply raw materials for nutrient slurry.

Even if all these settlements turn against them, Happiness City's accumulated wealth is enough to sustain a million people for at least two years.

These past two years have been more than enough for the legion to launch an attack and plow through all the surrounding areas where there had been defections.

"Your answer is excellent and you deserve 80 points."

Towns leaned back in his seat, turned around, and faced Cheng Ye directly.

"Moreover, this 'excellent' standard is not only for trainee prosecutors. Even if you are a second-term prosecutor, qualified to see more intelligence and ultimately draw these conclusions, I will still give you this score."

This is an older man who likes to rate people.

However, it's not exactly an annoying habit.

At least in Cheng Ye's view, Towns has his own clear set of standards, which are far better than those who apply double standards.

"However, as I said, I can't show you the specific information as a trainee prosecutor, but I can tell you that your previous idea won't work."

“It won’t work, but actually we don’t need to do anything. We just need to quietly stall for a while, and Shuangyue Lake will die on its own,” Cheng Ye replied.

"Ok?"

Towns paused for a moment, raised an eyebrow, and gave a look that said, "Go on, I'm listening."

“I don’t know exactly how the raw materials for nutrient syrup are produced, but agricultural clusters will always transition into industrial clusters when they develop to a certain stage, and they will always dream of becoming a sheltered city. But as the parties involved in the transaction, we certainly don’t want to see another sheltered city rise up, which means that we will have to invest more and more.”

"The longer they maintain the agricultural stage, the more advantageous it will be for us."

Cheng Ye spoke tentatively, his gaze unconsciously falling on Tang Si's face, but he didn't catch any extra expression.

Based on the promises Towns had made earlier, he immediately formed a judgment in his mind and became even bolder.

"With no more bargaining chips available, Shuangyuehu faces a difficult choice at this point."

"Look inward, while continuing to cooperate with our Happiness City, we should find ways to develop our own industry, not pin our hopes on unwarranted support, and consolidate our own foundation."

"Looking outward, attempting to repeatedly move output that originally had a value of only 1 between various forces in exchange for a value of 10, thereby developing to the same level as these forces."

After saying those two sentences, Towns' expression did indeed change slightly, becoming serious.

He hid it well, and in the blink of an eye, he returned to calm.

"continue."

"Shuangyuehu chose to seek external support, which completely exposed their ambition. They did not want to be stuck in the agricultural stage and longed to go further. At this time, Dazhang came to Shuangyuehu and told them, 'We can support you. We will not only buy nutrient syrup at a higher price, but also give you what you want and help you develop to our scale.'"

Cheng Ye paused for a moment, then asked, "Station Chief Tang Si, I'd like to ask, has the price of nutrient solution on the market really increased?"

The words fell.

Towns fell silent, but his eyes suddenly sharpened.

After a long pause, he gently shook his head: "The unusual celestial phenomena did not affect the harvest. Many settlements were waiting for higher prices to sell, which led to a run on raw materials after the harvest was confirmed. Prices did not rise, and even fell."

"So I say, we don't need to do anything now, just watch quietly."

Cheng Ye said softly, "Soon, we will see Da Zhang's purpose. However, by the time we have confirmed their purpose, Shuang Yue Hu will be doomed. They will either become Da Zhang's puppet or be replaced by Da Zhang."

"Not far from death?"

Downs couldn't help but shake his head, but didn't refute it. He just said in a deep voice, "Looking inward is easier said than done. Just like you said, neither Happiness City nor Dazhang wants to see Shuangyue Lake develop. Maintaining the status quo is the best option."

Cheng Ye didn't respond, but instead smiled gently.

But this smile made Towns pause for a moment, the gloom on his face instantly dissipated, and he also revealed a faint smile.

"This must be just empty promises, right?" "No, Station Master Towns, this is what I mean by irreplaceable!"

Cheng Ye stood up and returned to the spot where he had been standing after entering the room. He said softly, "There is only so much land in Shi Province that can be cultivated. Shuangyue Lake actually has irreplaceable advantages. If we focus on developing industry and trying to catch up with the pace of the Shelter City, it will become a dead end that we can see the end of in the blink of an eye."

"What they should do is continue to cultivate their strengths and tap more potential into this land, such as developing more arable land, planting more crops, researching crop improvement, and increasing yields as much as possible."

"At the same time, only by investing in the development of its own industry can it become a sanctuary city."

"If they are so weak that they can be crushed at will, but prematurely expose their ambitions, then they will either be replaced by other settlements supported by Happiness City, or crushed and devoured by the big camphor tree with ulterior motives."

Cheng Ye's voice was not loud, but it carried a certain weight, as if he were stating a fact that had already been verified.

"Alright, we'll have to wait and see how Shuangyue Lake ends up."

Towns waved his hand, smiled and shook his head, "It's fine for me, an old man, to say these things. Once you're out, just pretend you've forgotten about it and don't mention today's events to anyone."

As he spoke, he pulled out two blank internship evaluation forms from his desk drawer, filled them in with full marks in one stroke, and then picked up his seal and stamped it twice.

"This is what you deserve."

"Thank you, Station Master Towns."

Cheng Ye quickly took the evaluation form, glanced at it, and carefully put it into his bag.

Let alone the current faction-based version, even when checkpoints were united in the past, getting this item was by no means easy.

Because it represents a weighty recognition.

This means that his answer has been approved by Towns, the station chief on duty.

"As for that message, you've already gotten quite a bit from me."

"Thank you for your generosity."

Cheng Ye bowed slightly.

Having survived from Cheng Wu's era to today, Towns is indeed a wise prosecutor.

The probing between the two was just right, creating a comfortable and pleasant balance.

Where is your badge?

Cheng Ye quickly took out the badge and handed it over. Tang Si swiped it on his defense device and performed a series of operations.

Ding.

Cheng Ye's defense communication device beeped.

"I've granted you some of the privileges of a formal prosecutor. But just keep this in mind; don't waste any contribution points before you're officially promoted."

Downs then changed the subject, "Furthermore, I am personally very satisfied with your later answers, so I would like to set aside my identity as a prosecutor, set aside the East and West camps, and simply talk to you as an elder about something that should be of interest to you."

He held the badge between his fingers, examining it closely as he murmured.

“I watched the video of you fighting the fusion entity. This fusion entity is very interesting; it was even able to sense that it was missing a part of itself.”

"Hmm, the fact that he could sense the lack meant that he had it before, so I immediately investigated his past and found the part he was missing."

Tang Dun paused, then softly uttered four words, "Tianyuan Community".

"Ok?"

Cheng Ye frowned.

"Don't be surprised. These things about the extraordinary aren't really secrets to us, but precisely because they aren't secrets, it won't affect you even if you know them."

Downs chuckled. "Well, I wasn't planning on saying this, and the people at command center don't want you to get involved in these things right now. But your performance today has really put you close to crossing that threshold. So telling you in advance isn't against the checkpoint's rules."

"Obsession!"

He put down the badge, raised his head slightly, and the two looked at each other.

"To coexist with and take the initiative with a transcendent being, one must have an obsession that can overcome the pollution. For that fusion being, leading the development of Tianyuan Community had become his obsession. But unfortunately, from the moment he left the community, most of this obsession dissipated, so he could only remain at the fusion being stage."

"Do you know why your grandfather couldn't become a transcendent being? It's because he lacked any strong convictions and couldn't find a way to suppress his transcendent nature."

When Cheng Wu was mentioned, Tang Si couldn't help but shake his head. "It can be considered a blessing in disguise. Because he couldn't become a superhuman, he was able to take people away later and go anywhere without any restrictions."

"This"

Despite having learned from Li Matai long ago that Cheng Wu was unable to awaken his extraordinary abilities, he could only lead his men out of the buffer zone to establish a checkpoint.

But Cheng Ye never expected that what he lacked wasn't genes, but something else entirely.
Obsession?

Do you need to have a strong obsession to become an extraordinary being?
So, does that mean the original proponents were abandoned while the idealists quickly gained the support of the elders?
The thought flashed through Cheng Ye's mind, and a series of information involuntarily rushed through his head. So far, he had seen four different states through the collector:
Parasitic ecology, attached state, symbiotic residual state, symbiotic ecology.

Previously, I didn't understand the meaning of these terms, but now, after Towns explained them, the scattered information finally came together.

"So, the fusion entities all have certain obsessions, but not enough to completely overcome the pollution, and thus become possessed by the pollutants?"

"That's roughly the idea. Of course, you can also think of it as a belief. In short, it's a powerful spiritual force. As long as this belief can support humanity through the pollution of the outbreak period, it can enter the fusion period. But even with a million advanced fusion bodies, it's not certain that a single extraordinary being will be born."

Downton paused, then added, "Well, I've been working at the checkpoint for 31 years, and I still haven't developed the obsession to suppress pollution. So I gave up on being extraordinary a long time ago, and I can do whatever I want without any restraint, without caring about anyone's opinion."

"But remember this: this obsession is the foundation of a superhuman. Once it dissipates or is actively abandoned, the superhuman will immediately suffer a backlash of power and die violently. They will either become a superhuman infected controlled by their obsession in life, wandering the wasteland year after year, trying to complete what they did not finish, or they will become a superhuman curse that wreaks havoc on the area!"

"For example, the curse beneath our feet comes from a powerful superhuman named 'Tan Ming'."

"His obsession was to improve the soil and water so that new extraordinary plants could grow on the land, but how could such an obsession possibly succeed? In the end, his power backfired on him, turning into an extraordinary curse that was completely opposed to it."

So this is the origin of the extraordinary curse?

Cheng Ye paused, then couldn't help but follow the line of thought and guess, "So... this curse will continuously absorb the characteristics of plants, preventing this land from ever giving birth to extraordinary plants? It even affects the growth of ordinary plants?"

Towns nodded, a smile revealing his admiration for the young man.

He stood up, seemingly sighing and regretting, “Yes, I really like what you just told me, but I have to admit that the broader the ideal, the harder it is to solidify into a conviction that can withstand the corruption of the extraordinary. If you continue to hold onto this kind of thinking, you will most likely end up like me, like your grandfather Cheng Wu, just an ordinary person forever.”

"And these ideals, in fact, require extraordinary power to be realized."

"So you need to think this through. It's better to change your obsession as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to change."

"Otherwise, sooner or later you'll end up like Station Chief Ding, trapped and dying in this tiny Twin Moon Lake!"

　P.S.: Late update delivered~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)