Night fell over the Wasteland.
Cheng Ye returned to the Staff Residential Area, climbed the stairs to the fifth floor of the Apartment Blocks, and unlocked the security door at the end of the corridor.
The room was barely fifteen square meters. Inside stood only a small bed, barely five feet wide, and a little desk.
After crossing over and getting a sense of the situation, he had cleared out all the useless junk in one go and taken it to the Scrapyard. That included a box of love letters and the keepsake his predecessor had exchanged with a woman in the Inner City.
There was no room for romance in the Wasteland. When even staying alive was a problem, there was clearly no point in thinking about anything else.
He plugged the Pendant into the Power Strip to charge it, then went to the shared bathroom on the fifth floor to swipe his card and draw water.
The young man in the mirror was slender and a little pale. By modern standards, his angular features made him fairly handsome.
But in the Wasteland, a build like Liu Bi's and the rugged looks of a brawny man were the real ideal.
Fresh water poured from the tap. The Mountain Flood upstream had left it slightly yellow.
Still, the city provided Free Electricity, Limited Supply water, and enough work to keep people fed.
The broadcasts about Xingfu City weren't lying. It really was happier here than in many Sanctuary Cities.
That was, of course, as long as there wasn't a massive Infected Tide.
The thirty-meter Giant Wall could hold back any attack and protect the Core Residents of Xingfu City. But the Ordinary Residents living in the Buffer Zone would be the ones to suffer.
It now took 1,000 Contribution Points to enter the Inner City. In his two months on the job as a checkpoint inspector, Cheng Ye had managed to save just nineteen.
For an ordinary person to save up that many points, they would have to win the lottery or find some kind of scarce resource. Otherwise, even after working hard their entire life, they would still be nowhere near the target.
And even if he saved enough Contribution Points, he couldn't enter the Inner City as a checkpoint inspector. That had left Cheng Ye with a lingering sense of danger.
If an Infected Tide came, the Buffer Zone wouldn't be able to hold it back.
If he had to flee, how would he escape, and where could he go?
The veteran inspectors might have secret shelters outside the Quarantine Zone. But as a Newcomer, he had neither resources nor the ability to build one. Where was he supposed to find a place to set up a shelter?
Brother B might have one. But when the time came, he would have to take his family to safety. Would he still bring Cheng Ye along?
After washing up, Cheng Ye returned to his room, his mind in turmoil. He lay on the bed, unable to fall asleep.
It wasn't until dawn, when the sky behind the curtains turned pale, that he suddenly came to his senses. He jumped up and rushed over to the Power Strip.
He touched the Pendant, and a panel appeared.
[Current Activation Progress: 99.8%]
Only the final 0.2% remained. Cheng Ye sat down on the floor and, every so often, touched the Pendant to see if the progress had changed.
It had taken two whole months to build up the progress so far, and he hadn't thought the wait was long. But now, he was practically on pins and needles.
Luckily, 0.2% amounted to just four units of electricity. The charging finished before the sky grew fully light.
"It's finally enough!"
The moment the thought crossed his mind, Cheng Ye's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
The Pendant had disappeared?
The instant charging finished, the Pendant in the Power Strip seemed to turn invisible, vanishing from his sight.
But before Cheng Ye could form another thought, a Dazzling Blue Light flashed before his eyes.
The panel he had seen countless times finally changed, displaying rows of text.
[The Civilization Collector has finished charging and has been automatically activated and bound]
[Welcome, Civilization Collector Cheng Ye. Your current rank is: Level 1 Trainee]
[The Civilization Collector has entered Induction Mode. The Collector can silently think "Collector" to open or close this panel]
[The Civilization Collector's functions for your Corresponding Level have been unlocked. Please use your mind to read them on the panel]
[Enjoy!]
"I'm a Trainee checkpoint inspector, and the Civilization Collector's a Trainee too."
So the Civilization Collector could level up and gain more functions.
His gaze passed over the text. Cheng Ye had prepared himself for this over the past two months, so he wasn't surprised.
He also quickly got the hang of controlling the panel with his mind, repeatedly bringing it up and closing it.
"The current Level 1 Collector only has one function. It's pretty fitting for my line of work, though."
Cheng Ye glanced at the only function on the panel.
[Search (lv.1)]
[Current Charge Value: 2/2 (Replenish Energy after use)]
[Searchable Targets: Living beings]
[Search Conditions: The target must consent. The searchable range depends on their Cooperation Degree]
[Current Search Range: Information (10% Cooperation Degree, lv.1), Items (30% Cooperation Degree, lv.1), Skills (50% Cooperation Degree, lv.1), Skills (100% Cooperation Degree, lv.2)]
[Search Success Rate: Same Level Search has a 50% success rate. The success rate is halved for each increase in level. Action Points are refunded after a failed search]
[Note: All searches are equivalent copies. Whether the search succeeds or fails, the target is unaffected]
"Search can get me... information, items, and skills?"
Cheng Ye's thoughts stirred at once, and he held down his excitement.
Getting a living being's consent wouldn't be difficult. Any survivor willing to enter the Isolation Cage would have at least some Cooperation Degree.
With a little guidance, reaching 100% might be difficult, but Cheng Ye was confident he could get to 50%.
Information and items were easy to understand. But what exactly counted as a skill?
Would Brother B's marksmanship count?
What about the superhumans in the rumors, the ones who hadn't been corrupted by an Infection Source and had somehow gained supernatural abilities? Would their powers count as skills?
Cheng Ye couldn't help imagining the possibilities.
If he could search for abilities like that, his odds of surviving upcoming Field Missions would rise dramatically.
"Too bad the success rate's low. Even at the same level, it's only fifty percent."
"And at my current level, I only get two searches per charge. I'll have to choose my targets carefully."
"As for the Action Points I get for a failed search, I have no idea what they're for."
"And the Charge Value—how do I replenish it?"
A flood of questions came to him. Cheng Ye's eyes lit up, but he decided not to dwell on the meaning of these terms just yet. Whether he succeeded or failed, a few searches should tell him what they meant.
Besides...
"I can't rush this. The more important something is, the more careful I need to be."
"Brother B already got me time off. If I hurry in to work, everyone else will think it's strange. And if I use the Collector and reveal anything unusual, the odds of someone watching me will go way up."
Cheng Ye repeated this to himself until he had pushed his impulses back down. Then he continued studying the Civilization Collector.
In doing so, he discovered another feature tucked behind Search.
No, it probably didn't count as a feature.
[Collector: Cheng Ye]
[Current Rank: lv.1 Trainee (Search the current civilization and gather more information to advance)]
[Life Level: 0 (Below Minimum Standard)]
[Skills: Empty, Empty, Empty (At your current Life Level, you can equip up to three skills at the same time)]
[Not yet unlocked.]
[Evaluation: Fragile Trainee Collector, the thing you should be doing now isn't gathering information about civilization, but doing everything you can to avoid being hunted by the civilization's natives!]
A Life Level below the Minimum Standard, an empty Skill Slot, and an evaluation warning him he would be hunted by the natives.
The panel was extremely basic, but it reflected Cheng Ye's current situation perfectly.
"With my current abilities, I'd be in real trouble if I ran into an Infected in close combat."
After confirming that no other functions had been unlocked, Cheng Ye closed the Collector and began carefully considering what to do next.
Xingfu City was a standard industrial Sanctuary City. The guns and ammunition it produced were often sold thousands of kilometers away, bringing back precious food, technological data, and other goods.
Living in this city, it wouldn't be hard for a checkpoint inspector like Cheng Ye to buy a decent gun.
For example, the Buffalo 9mm Combat Pistol Liu Bi usually carried cost only twenty Contribution Points. It was excellent value for money.
But as powerful as firearms were, their uses were limited. They were most effective when clearing out an Infected Tide, fighting in a large team, standing guard on the walls, or fighting people.
Field Missions from the Checkpoint mostly involved deliveries, scouting, and gathering information. They were usually handled by teams of two to four, and rarely involved direct combat.
The moment someone fired a gun in the city, the Infected hiding in the ruins would swarm toward them like sharks smelling blood.
Being surrounded would be bad enough, but losing his life would be even worse.
"If I'm lucky enough to get a delivery mission, I might not run into any Infected at all."
"For other scouting missions, the best choice is to deal with any Infected blocking the way using Melee Weapons, then slip in and out quietly."
"So for my next search, I need to prioritize finding a skill that boosts my close-combat ability."
His average score in rapid-fire practice at the twenty-five-meter target was seven rings, which just about met the Minimum Standard for Field Missions.
But he still had a long way to go in close combat. He lacked not only technique, but also courage, experience, and the ability to adapt.
If he could find a skill to make up for those weaknesses, his odds of survival would surely rise.
Cheng Ye made up his mind and turned to look out the window.
Rainclouds laden with lead-gray clouds rolled slowly over the horizon. As the band of rain continued moving south, Xingfu City had already begun to feel its effects.
Based on past experience, survivors on the road would pick up the pace before the real downpour hit.
That meant the Checkpoint would surely see a rush of people soon!
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