Three Great Legions, Perfect Cooperation!

Xingfu City had three great legions.

Each fulfilled a unique role, building three interlocking lines of defense for survival.

The first line of defense was the Blood Dragon Legion. It was mainly responsible for sweeping operations and deterrence, patrolling the surrounding areas year-round and weaving a dynamic defensive net. Its frequent operations reduced the threat posed by the Infected, and it excelled at mobile warfare and assaults.

The second line of defense was the Crusader Legion. It was mainly stationed near the Hydroelectric Station, protecting core infrastructure such as nearby industrial plants and ensuring the city's energy supply and production lifelines remained secure.

The third line of defense was the Xingfu Legion. It guarded the High Wall of Xingfu, equipped with elite armaments and a systematic defensive network to establish a three-dimensional, ultimate defensive line.

"Did something happen over at the Hydroelectric Station?"

Cheng Ye's heart gave a jolt.

To improve energy efficiency, most of Xingfu City's large factories had been built near the Hydroelectric Station.

If something had happened, either they'd run into an Infected Tide Raid, or they'd come under armed attack from another Sanctuary City.

But given the Combat Power of Xingfu City's Three Great Legions, the latter hadn't happened in nearly twenty years. The former, on the other hand, was quite possible.

Of course, there was also one special possibility he least wanted to consider.

He opened the Collector Panel and glanced at the Charge Value in the upper-right corner, which had already reached 54%.

Cheng Ye felt a little more at ease and calmly gave his orders. "Raven, pass down the word. The guard shift change is on hold. Have everyone come over and help with the inspection."

"Owl, come inside with me. If anything seems off—"

"Don't worry, sir. I understand." Owl's heart tightened; he immediately realized what the problem was.

If the Crusaders were returning to the city on official business, they should have reported to the Inner City remotely and informed the Checkpoint in advance.

But now they were approaching at high speed, and had only notified the Checkpoint by vehicle radio.

Considering the Malicious Incident that had just happened at the Central Checkpoint, it wasn't hard to imagine what was coming.

A vehicle full of Infected?

"Young Calf Fears No Tiger, huh? You've got some nerve!"

Li Maitai had already packed his bag. When he turned and saw Cheng Ye sitting behind the alloy desk again, he couldn't help but sigh. His steps quickened.

By the time the vehicle entered the diversion lane, his figure had already vanished into the rain.

"Some nerve, huh?"

Cheng Ye narrowed his eyes and stared fixedly through the rain at the approaching vehicle.

It wasn't the familiar Dajinbei. It was a new vehicle he'd never seen before.

Its shape was like a compressed Hummer, long and low, with hard lines outlining a boxy silhouette. Its metal body gleamed with a cold sheen under the lights.

The vehicle stopped in front of the Isolation Net. The passenger-side door sprang open with a bang, and a burly man ducked out.

He wore a gray-blue Crusader Legion uniform. With shoulders broad and back thick, he resembled a grizzly standing upright. He looked to be well over two meters tall, and his presence was terrifying.

Even though Cheng Ye had trained hard lately and developed a measure of grit, he still felt short of breath as he watched the grizzly stride through the puddles toward him.

Damn, even if Wastelanders' genes were beginning to revert to their ancestral state, how could they produce a monster like this?

Cheng Ye cursed inwardly, his hand instinctively settling on the Buffalo Combat Pistol at his waist.

Even Infected created by the same Infection Source didn't all have the same strength.

The stronger the host, the more terrifying the monster they became after mutating.

Those Infected whose names made it into books had mostly been powerful figures who once dominated the wilderness. He'd never heard of some nobody mutating into a Jinx.

"Wait. If this person is so strong, doesn't that mean I could search out an even stronger skill?"

At the thought of the Search Skill, Cheng Ye's unease immediately eased, replaced by a flicker of excitement.

There weren't any such powerhouses in the Isolation Pod.

If he ran into one in the wilderness, they wouldn't have any Cooperation Degree.

Only now, seated at the inspection table with the authority of an inspector, did he have the opportunity to Search Strong from Weak.

As long as the other man wasn't infected, there was a good chance he could get a powerful skill.

Owl, standing to one side, noticed Cheng Ye's change.

Seeing that the inspector wasn't afraid but excited instead, Owl found himself growing bolder too.

He'd taken the position of Observer because he meant to take a chance and climb the ranks.

Compared with an old hand like Li Maitai, someone like Cheng Ye was clearly a better person to follow. He'd have a chance to earn merit and rise through the ranks!

So what was there to be afraid of?

"Stop right there!"

Cheng Ye picked up the Loudspeaker, his voice cracking across the rain like a whip and lashing straight at the grizzly.

"I'm Wu Rui, Level 2 Squad Leader of the Crusader Legion. I've already been in contact with the Checkpoint. Sorry for the trouble, Inspector. I'll need you to work overtime."

Wu Rui introduced himself and obediently stopped outside the warning line.

"Overtime's no problem. It's only just past eight. I need to know why you rushed back without informing the Inner City, Captain Wu."

"Something unexpected happened. One of my men was injured by an Infected. I need to take him to the Inner City for treatment."

"What?"

Owl, who had been standing guard with his gun raised, was shocked. Could he really say something like that?

Listen to him. He'd been attacked by an Infected—as if all that had happened was he'd scraped his knee on the way here.

"I'll vouch for him. He hasn't been infected. Please make an exception, Inspector, and give my brother a chance to live."

"You'll vouch for him?"

Cheng Ye tapped his fingertips on the desk and gently shook his head. "You know the Checkpoint's rules, Captain Wu, don't you?"

"I do."

Wu Rui swallowed, his heart sinking.

He was a Dongren, and he'd chosen North Station because he didn't want Dongren at South Station giving him a hard time over the rules.

He wouldn't have minded even if the inspectors here took a cut of his money.

But no one had expected that Quarantine Gate A at North Station would be manned by a Dongren.

And this young inspector wasn't as easy to deal with as he seemed. The calm restraint he showed now made him look like an old hand who'd worked at a Checkpoint for years.

"Save my brother's life, and everyone in Chishou Squad will owe you one, Inspector."

"Bring him over. Let me have a look."

After all that, there was no way to avoid examining the injured man.

As Cheng Ye pressed the Isolation Gate button, he took the Buffalo Combat Pistol from his waist and set it on the desk.

Just then, Raven returned with ten on-duty guards. The air in the Checkpoint tightened instantly.

"Good!"

Wu Rui turned and went to the armored vehicle.

A light drizzle fell, its threads pattering against their faces and leaving them damp.

The armored vehicle's side door opened. Four soldiers in Crusader uniforms quickly carried an injured man out of the vehicle.

Hiss.

Almost at the same time, everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

The injured man's left leg was completely gone, severed at the hip and replaced by blood-soaked bandages.

A vicious wound ran from his lower abdomen up to his shoulder, the flesh gaping outward like torn cloth ripped apart by claws.

Could he even be saved?

As if he'd noticed Cheng Ye's doubt, Wu Rui explained again. "The Inner City has special Bio-revival Technology. Since these are only external injuries, his chance of survival is over eighty percent."

"Revival Technology?"

Cheng Ye was secretly stunned. That was another term he couldn't find in his memories.

And strangely, despite being so badly injured, the man on the stretcher still managed to look over at him with a faint smile.

"What's the matter with him?"

"It's a Special Talent caused by the Ancestral Gene. His pain nerves are only one-tenth as sensitive as an ordinary person's."

The reply didn't come from Wu Rui, but from the injured man on the stretcher, who should have been on the verge of death.

The man could still speak on his own.

"Name?"

"Dai Zun."

"Age?"

"Twenty-nine."

"How did you get hurt? If you can't explain it clearly, Captain Wu can speak for you."

"It's fine. Right now, it feels about the same as a little scrape on your hand. The worst of the pain has already passed."

A faint smile tugged at Dai Zun's pale face. Sweat beaded on his brow as his Adam's apple bobbed violently. "An Infected got into the Battery Factory. It was hiding in a worker's body, then slipped into a feed pipe. I crawled in and killed it."

That tough?

Cheng Ye's eyelid twitched. He didn't know how wide the feed pipe was, but it had to be an enclosed space.

Without backup, going in there was practically a suicide mission.

"Everyone else, step outside. I need to examine the wound."

"Step back."

Wu Rui gave Cheng Ye a long look, then waved to the people behind him. Seven of them returned to the other side of the warning line.

The Isolation Gate slammed shut. Almost simultaneously, the ten guards pointed their guns at Dai Zun on the stretcher.

"Damn, Inspector Cheng really has guts."

Seeing Cheng Ye put on rubber gloves and prepare to examine someone who might be a high-risk Infected at close range, everyone sucked in a sharp breath. They'd never seen an inspector so daring.

Of course, Cheng Ye himself was a little nervous too. But the moment he heard the words "Special Talent,"

he immediately opened the panel. After hesitating for no more than a second, he gritted his teeth and made his decision:

He'd risk it!

At that moment, the Cooperation Degree for Wu Rui on the Collector Panel was stuck at 54%. It would be hard to raise it any further, but it was just enough to search for a Lv.1 skill.

Dai Zun's Cooperation Degree, however, was far ahead of everyone else's. It had reached an unprecedented 94%!

This was the first time Cheng Ye had ever seen such a high Cooperation Degree.

"Lv.2 skill. If I can search out that Pain Reduction talent, it'll be incredible."

Constantly feeling only one-tenth of the pain wasn't a good thing. It greatly dulled his awareness of external dangers and could even weaken his Combat Power.

But skills were different!

Once he acquired it, Cheng Ye could equip or unequip it whenever he wanted. He could enjoy the damage resistance that came with reduced pain without taking on the risk of dulled senses.

"Brother, you need to cooperate with me completely from now on. Otherwise, I can't guarantee anything."

Cheng Ye crouched down and jerked his chin toward the people behind him.

He didn't need to signal them. More than ten wavering red laser dots were already aimed at the stretcher. If Dai Zun made even the slightest improper move, he absolutely wouldn't escape Physical Exorcism.

"Tell me, you want to live too, don't you?"

"Of course. I don't want to die at the hands of some ordinary Infected. That'd be a miserable way to go."

Sweat seeped from Dai Zun's pale face, and his Adam's apple bobbed violently. "Whatever you say, Inspector, I'll do. I'll cooperate completely."

"Good. I like your attitude."

The Cooperation Degree on the panel rose again, reaching 97%.

Cheng Ye felt a flicker of delight and picked up the instrument on the desk to begin taking measurements.

"Body temperature: 38.7."

"Heart rate: 144."

"Respiratory rate: 17."

With each set of readings, Wu Rui's face grew grimmer outside the door.

He'd learned what had happened at the Checkpoint today as soon as he approached, and his heart had sunk.

According to the Checkpoint's rules, anyone with two or more groups of abnormal readings had to be locked in an Isolation Pod.

Dai Zun's temperature was definitely over the limit. Only his heart rate was hovering right at the boundary of 140.

Although there was a five-percent margin of error, if Cheng Ye insisted this reading was abnormal, there was only one possible outcome for Dai Zun.

"One abnormal reading!"

Whew.

As soon as the words fell, a wave of stifled sighs came from outside the door.

At the same time, the number on the Collector Panel jumped again, reaching 98.9%.

He was only a hair's breadth away from a 100% Cooperation Degree.

"You're nervous. Even though you've blocked out the pain, I can sense your fear."

"Relax. I'm not like the other inspectors. As long as you haven't been infected, I can guarantee you'll leave here alive!"

As he spoke, Cheng Ye opened the Black Box and took out the Vital Sign Dual-Mode Detector and the Rotten Light Metabolism Detector.

But just as he was about to begin the examination, his hand suddenly stopped. A faint smile slowly curved his lips.

[Dai Zun, 100% (Perfect), searchable range: information, items, skills (Lv.1, Lv.2)]

The new week is here! This is the most intense week. Recommendations are ranked by the number of returning readers, and the lowest-ranked get cut. Please, dear readers, click in and have a look every day. The Inspector needs your support!!!

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