Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 4 Search, Trainee Collector!

Night fell, gradually enveloping the wasteland.

Cheng Ye returned to the staff quarters, went up the stairs to the fifth floor of the tenement building, and used his key to open the security door at the end of the corridor.

The single room, which is a little over ten square meters, contains only a small bed that is 1.5 meters wide and a small desk.

After learning about the situation during his transmigration, he cleared out all the other useless items and sent them to the junkyard. Among them were love tokens and half a box of love letters that his predecessor had exchanged with a woman in the inner city.

In a wasteland where there is no room for romance and survival is a problem, one should obviously not have any other thoughts.

Inserting the pendant into the socket to start charging, Cheng Ye went to the public restroom on the fifth floor, inserted the card to get water.

The young man in the mirror was thin and pale, but his angular face could be considered handsome by modern standards.

But if placed in the wasteland, Liu Bi's physique and burly appearance would be the true answer.

Fresh water gushed out of the pipes, its color slightly yellowish due to the upstream flash floods.

However, there is free electricity, limited water supply, and the ability to make a living by working.

The announcements from Happiness City weren't lying; it was indeed happier than many other sanctuary cities.

Of course, this is on the premise that there is no large-scale outbreak of infections.

The 30-meter-high wall can keep out all attacks and protect the safety of the core residents of Happiness City, but ordinary residents living in the buffer zone will suffer.

Currently, it takes 1000 contribution points to enter the inner city. As an inspector, Cheng Ye has only accumulated 19 points after working for two months.

For ordinary people to accumulate that many points, unless they win a big prize or find some scarce resource, there will still be a huge gap even if they work hard for a lifetime.

Moreover, even if he accumulated enough contribution points after becoming an inspector, he would not be able to enter the inner city, which gave Cheng Ye a constant sense of crisis.

If a surge of infections arrives, the buffer zone will not be able to withstand it.

He wants to escape, but how should he escape, and where should he escape to?
Those veteran prosecutors may have secret shelters outside the quarantine zone, but as a newcomer, he has neither the resources nor the ability to find a place to build a shelter.

Big Brother B might come, but at that time, he will also be taking his family to safety. Will he still be able to take me with him?
After washing himself, Cheng Ye returned to his room, his mind filled with thoughts, and lay in bed unable to fall asleep.

It wasn't until dawn, when the sky behind the curtains began to lighten, that he suddenly realized what was happening and jumped up to the power strip.

Touch the pendant, and a panel will appear.

Current activation progress: 99.8%

With only 0.2% left to go, Cheng Ye simply sat down on the ground, and every now and then he would touch the pendant to see if the progress had changed.

He had been accumulating progress for two whole months, which he didn't find long, but now he was feeling extremely anxious.

Fortunately, 0.2% is equivalent to 4 kilowatt-hours of electricity, and it was fully charged before dawn.

"That's enough!"

When the thought came to mind, Cheng Ye suddenly widened his eyes and looked like he had seen a ghost.

The pendant has disappeared?
The moment the charging ended, the pendant inside the power strip seemed to become invisible, disappearing instantly from sight.

But before Cheng Ye could even come up with a second thought, a blinding blue light suddenly flashed before his eyes.

The panel I'd seen countless times finally changed, displaying lines of text information.

[Civilization Collector fully charged and automatically activated/bound]

[Welcome Civilization Collector: Cheng Ye, using this collector. Your current level is: Level 1 Apprentice]

[The Civilization Collector has entered sensor mode. Collectors can open or close this panel by silently reciting "Collector".]

[The Civilization Collector has unlocked the corresponding level of functionality. Please check it using your mind on the panel.]

Enjoy using it!

"I'm an intern prosecutor, and I'm also an intern with the 'civilization collector' device."

"In other words, the Civilization Collector has the potential to be upgraded and gain more functions."

His gaze swept over the words; Cheng Ye had already prepared himself mentally for more than two months, so he wasn't surprised at this moment.

Even using the mind control panel, after repeatedly bringing it up to close, it was quickly mastered and familiarized.

"The current Tier 1 collector only has one function, which actually fits my job quite well?"

Cheng Ye's gaze swept over the only function on the panel.

Search (lv.1)

[Current energy level: 2/2 (Replenish energy after use)]

Searchable targets: organisms

[Search criteria: Consent from the organism is required; the search range is determined by the level of cooperation]

【目前可搜索范围：情报（10%配合度，lv.1）、物品（30%配合度，lv.1）、技能（50%配合度，lv.1）、技能（100%配合度，lv.2）】

[Search Success Rate: 50% success rate for searches within the same level, halving for each level increase; action points are refunded upon failure.] [Note: All searches are based on direct copying; success or failure does not affect the searched entity.]

"Can searching yield information, items, skills?"

Cheng Ye's thoughts instantly became active, suppressing his inner excitement.

Obtaining the consent of the organism is not difficult; survivors who are willing to enter the isolation cage are somewhat cooperative.

With proper guidance, achieving 100% might be difficult, but Cheng Ye is quite confident in reaching 50%.

Intelligence and items are easy to understand, but what kind of ability can be called a skill?
Would Big B's shooting ability be considered a skill?
Are the abilities of some superhumans who were not infected by the source of infection and who accidentally gained superpowers considered skills?
Cheng Ye couldn't help but dream.

If this ability can be detected, his chances of surviving the next field mission will definitely increase significantly.

"Unfortunately, the success rate of the search is not high, even among those of the same level, it is only 50%."

"Furthermore, at my current level, I only have two search opportunities per charge, so I need to make good use of my search targets."

"As for the action point given for a failed search, I don't know what its purpose is."

"I still have energy points, how do I restore them?"

As a barrage of questions came his way, Cheng Ye's eyes lit up slightly. He decided not to dwell on the meaning of these terms for now. Regardless of success or failure, a few rounds of searching should be enough for him to figure out what they represented.

Also.

"We must not rush. We need to be especially cautious, especially in situations like this."

"Brother B has already helped me get a leave of absence. If I rush to work, others will definitely find it strange. If I use the collector and expose something unusual at this time, the probability of being watched will be much higher."

Cheng Ye repeatedly muttered to himself, and it took him a while to suppress all his impulses and continue studying the civilization collector.

This research led him to discover a hidden function behind the search.

No, it shouldn't be considered a function.

[Collector: Cheng Ye]

[Current Rank: Level 1 Apprentice (Search the current civilization and collect more information to advance)]

Life Level: 0 (Minimum standard not yet met)

[Skills: Empty, Empty, Empty (Current health level, a maximum of three skills can be equipped simultaneously)]

[Not yet unlocked.]

[Evaluation: Fragile trainee collector, your priority right now isn't gathering information about civilization, but rather avoiding being hunted by the native inhabitants of civilization!]

The character's life level is below the minimum standard, their skill bar is empty, and they are considered a target for hunting by natives.

The panel was very simple, but it perfectly reflected Cheng Ye's current situation.

"With my current abilities, I'd definitely be in trouble if I encountered an infected in close combat."

It has been confirmed that no other features will be available.

Cheng Ye turned off the collector and began to carefully consider the next direction of development.

Happiness City is a typical industrial sanctuary, where the firearms and ammunition it produces are often sold thousands of kilometers away, in exchange for countless valuable grains, scientific and technological data, and so on.

Living in this city, it's not difficult for a prosecutor like Cheng Ye to buy a suitable gun.

For example, the Bison 9mm melee pistol that Liu Bi usually uses can be bought for only 20 contribution points, which is a great value for money.

However, while firearms are incredibly powerful, their use is quite limited, only reaching their full potential in scenarios such as clearing infected waves, large-scale team battles, defending cities, and engaging in combat with other players.

The field missions at the checkpoints are mainly delivery, reconnaissance, and information gathering, and are carried out by teams of two to four people. There are very few direct combat missions.

Once the shooting is initiated within the city, the infected hiding in the ruins will immediately pounce like sharks smelling blood.

Being surrounded means that failing the mission is a minor matter, but losing one's life is a major one.

"If I'm lucky enough to be assigned a delivery mission, I might not encounter any infected along the way."

"When assigned to other reconnaissance missions, the best option is to use melee weapons to deal with the infected blocking the way, and to sneak in and sneak out."

"Therefore, the next skill to search for should be one that can enhance my melee abilities."

The average score of seven rings in rapid fire at a 25-meter target basically meets the minimum standard for field operations.

However, he is still far from good at close combat, lacking not only in skills but also in courage, experience, and adaptability.

If one could find a skill to compensate for this deficiency, the chances of survival would certainly increase significantly.

Cheng Ye made up his mind and turned to look out the window.

Rain, accompanied by leaden clouds, is slowly rolling in from the horizon. As the rain line continues to move south, Happiness City has already begun to be affected.

As is customary, survivors on their journeys will quicken their pace before the real torrential rain arrives.

The reaction at the checkpoint will definitely lead to a surge in passenger traffic!
Please vote, please add to your favorites, please read on! It's all very important to me, please! PS: There's a problem with the chapter display on Qidian today, none of the books are showing up. I didn't delete them, it should be fine in a couple of days!


(End of this chapter)