Barometer, Omen of Great Chaos!

With experience from mastering a skill under his belt, Cheng Ye didn't dare let his guard down for a moment this time as he equipped his Lv.2 talent.

Before even entering the Main Urban Area, he called Uncle Dong to ask if he had any Nutrient Paste left.

Perhaps because the morning's rush to buy supplies had nearly sparked a major riot, the Public Works Department had unusually restocked the shops in the afternoon. It had also ordered them to sell everything at the fixed price of two coins. Anyone caught reselling at a higher price would face a fine of ten times the amount at best, or lose their sales permit at worst.

"I got six boxes in. Don't worry, there's plenty."

"Good."

Uncle Dong's voice sounded a little odd over the phone, but Cheng Ye didn't have time to think about it.

As soon as he reached the entrance between the suburbs and the Main Urban Area, he saw sandbags blocking the road once again, leaving only a narrow gap.

But when he looked up, the dark clouds on the horizon were slowly dispersing. It didn't look at all like another torrential downpour was coming.

Something was wrong.

Cheng Ye hurried closer, his heart sinking.

The road had been blocked earlier only to control traffic, and the guards stationed at the entrance had merely been there to deter people.

Now, however, six armed guards stood ready in plain sight. Farther back, others had set up guns, their black muzzles concealed between the sandbags, exuding a chilling warning to keep strangers away.

"Stop."

When they saw Cheng Ye jogging toward them, the guards exchanged glances and immediately stepped forward.

"The Main Urban Area is under curfew. No one is allowed in or out."

"No one?" Cheng Ye kept a straight face and pulled his Identity Badge from his pocket. "Does that include me?"

The guard froze for a moment, then hurriedly took the badge and swiped it on his Defense Communicator.

When the information appeared on the screen, the tension in his expression instantly eased. "Please come in, Inspector. You can come and go as you please, of course."

"What happened?"

"We don't know. Those are our orders from above."

The guard hesitated, then pointed toward the Inner City. "And they only came down about half an hour ago. It was a Sudden Order."

"Sudden?"

No wonder there hadn't been any sandbags blocking the road when he'd driven to the Chemical Plant Residential Area earlier.

Had something major happened?

After passing through the cordon, Cheng Ye quickened his pace again, realizing that something was amiss.

When he returned to the entrance of the residential area, he saw that the Big Meat Canteen had unusually shut off its lights early. It hadn't prepared any ingredients for the next day, and it had reinforced both windows with iron plates, like people on the coast preparing for a typhoon.

Uncle Dong's shop was still lit, but the roller shutter had been lowered halfway, leaving only enough space for half a person to squeeze through.

"Uncle Dong." Cheng Ye stood in front of the shutter and knocked.

"Don't just stand there. Get in."

His voice was unmistakably tense.

Cheng Ye ducked inside and pulled the shutter closed behind him.

The waterlogged counter had been put back in place. It stood empty, the goods damaged by the water already cleared away.

Uncle Dong sat behind the counter. Three guns lay on the countertop.

One long, two short.

The long one was an assault rifle. The short ones were a shotgun and a pistol.

The rifle had been taken apart, and an open bottle of gun oil sat beside it, filling the air with a pungent smell.

"What are you—"

Cheng Ye froze. In the three months he'd known Uncle Dong, this was the first time he'd seen him like this.

All traces of his usual affability had vanished. Now the old man exuded a fierce, murderous air.

"Was Station Chief He from Central Station killed?"

"You heard about it?"

Cheng Ye wasn't surprised. The death of a Checkpoint station chief in the Buffer Zone was no small matter. Even if they managed to suppress the news for a while, with so many people around, they could only keep it quiet for a day or two at most.

It wasn't strange for a retired veteran like Uncle Dong to have channels that let him hear about it early.

"Around noon. He was attacked by an Unknown Infected."

"Did they catch the Infected that attacked Station Chief He?"

"Huh?"

Now it was Cheng Ye's turn to freeze. "They'd have to investigate before announcing anything like that. I'd assume they caught it."

"If you don't know, then they didn't."

Uncle Dong's gaze was as deep as an ancient well, and his voice trembled faintly. "The last time a station chief was killed was thirteen years ago. After that, the Buffer Zone was in chaos for two straight months. At least a hundred Infected made their way inside."

"And they were all Unknown Infected."

"Don't scare yourself."

Cheng Ye's heart lurched, but he tried to reassure the old man. "I was on duty at North Station today. If any Infected had slipped in, how could I not know?"

"It's not the same. You're responsible for checking people coming in from outside. But inside..."

As he spoke, Uncle Dong opened his Defense Communicator and switched to the messages page.

Cheng Ye glanced at it and immediately froze.

[Cold Winter-4]

[Something's knocking at the door. It's been dealt with. See you at the gathering.]

[June 28, 21:07]

?

June 28—that was today.

21:07?

Wasn't that...?

An image flashed through Cheng Ye's mind. After seeing Dai Zun off, he'd casually glanced at his Defense Communicator.

Hadn't it shown 21:02?

"It was sent by an Old Comrade."

Uncle Dong wasn't surprised by Cheng Ye's reaction. He merely let out a long sigh. "A little over an hour ago, Happiness Gate was attacked by an Infected."

"What?"

Cheng Ye's heart shook. His first reaction was disbelief.

But the next second, the hair on his body stood on end. A chill, like a prickling blade against his back, surged through his limbs.

His memories flashed back.

When he'd taken Dai Zun to Happiness Gate, there had indeed been many eyes watching from the shadows. He'd even glared at a few of them until they looked away. Could the people behind those gazes not have been ordinary refugees, but...

"They didn't make it inside, but there's a good chance plenty of Infected have already slipped in."

Uncle Dong spoke as if to himself, but his hands never slowed as he assembled the rifle. "You should understand the idea of being blind to what's right under your nose. Nobody else is as good at checking people from outside as you inspectors, but when it comes to what's happening in the Buffer Zone, us old guys who are afraid of dying understand it better than anyone. We also know what the consequences will be."

"Sure, plenty of people in the Buffer Zone envy inspectors for their status, but deep down, everyone knows that inspectors are the Buffer Zone's barometer. Once you start taking casualties, chaos will break out here before long."

Click.

The rifle was assembled. Uncle Dong aimed it at empty space, then jerked his chin toward the corner by the entrance. "Six boxes. Take as much as you want. Same as always—I'm treating you. There's a key on top of the uppermost box. It's for my Shabby Shop. Take it. If something goes wrong, you can hide here. I reinforced the basement; it'll hold out long enough for you to call the Checkpoint for help."

"Also, there are six High-Explosive Grenades under the fourth Floor Tile in the basement. They're custom-made. They could blow up the Big Meat Canteen next door. Don't throw them around unless things get really dangerous."

"Are you going to hide somewhere else?"

Cheng Ye froze and looked toward the entrance. Sure enough, a long-handled key lay on top of the box.

"I'm not hiding. I'm going to settle an old score."

Uncle Dong set down the rifle and sighed. "When you get old, you're scared of dying all the time. But when something like this really happens, you stop being afraid. I might be closed for a long while."

Cheng Ye carried three boxes of Nutrient Paste back to his room.

He locked the door behind him, but the flimsy Bull Lock wobbled in the doorframe. It didn't make him feel any safer—instead, it sent a chill through him.

"Damn it. Why did the Wasteland have to descend into chaos right after I got here?"

"It's only my first day working at the Quick Checkpoint. I'm fine, but why does it feel like the Buffer Zone's about to collapse?"

Cheng Ye cursed under his breath, but he knew perfectly well that this mess had nothing to do with him.

The Celestial Phenomenon had been in disarray long before he'd transmigrated. The previous time the world had fallen into chaos could also be traced back to thirteen years ago, when a Duty Station Chief had been killed.

The Ancestors had been right after all: every Natural Disaster was followed by great chaos.

Xingfu City's Migratory Bird Mode could indeed use the Factory Area in summer and autumn to draw the attention of most of the Infected, leaving only a small number to follow refugees and assault the Buffer Zone.

But as soon as a Natural Disaster struck, the whole system would fail. And because so many people had let down their guard, disaster would suddenly erupt.

Whoosh.

A gust of wind blew past and slapped against the window, making it creak.

Normally, Cheng Ye wouldn't have paid it any attention. But now, a strange chill ran through him. He instinctively tightened his grip on the Training Dagger at his waist, the greedy eyes he'd seen lurking in the shadows outside the city gates flashing through his mind once more.

This damn Buffer Zone really wasn't safe at all. No wonder everyone wanted to squeeze their way into the Inner City.

It was one thing when things were peaceful, but the moment danger appeared, every shadow became a threat.

"This won't do. I'll buy materials tomorrow and reinforce the doors and windows."

Cheng Long was a workaholic. He usually ate and slept at the Checkpoint, so he'd never bought a home.

This single room had been assigned to Cheng Ye by the Checkpoint. The previous tenant hadn't made any improvements to it.

Before, Cheng Ye had been too busy preparing for the assessment to even think about reinforcing the place.

Now he had to make it a priority!

He had three Action Points. That might not be enough to modify other things, but it should be enough to reinforce the doors and windows.

After moving the table behind the door as a barricade, Cheng Ye called Luo Xiaoxue and explained the situation.

"Then why don't you come stay with me? Brother B has reinforced our home several times. It's definitely safe."

"No. If things really get chaotic, people like us will have to go on duty and conduct inspections. Going in and out could lead the Infected straight to you and Yiyi."

Luo Xiaoxue didn't try to persuade him again. She clearly understood that Cheng Ye was right.

If she were alone, it wouldn't matter. But with Yiyi at home, it really wasn't safe to have people coming and going.

After hanging up, Cheng Ye thought it over, then moved the bed behind the door too.

That way, if an Infected tried to break in while he was asleep, it would wake him immediately.

"Iron Physique... You'd better come through for me!"

As Cheng Ye thought this, the Collector Panel unfolded on its own and switched to the personal page.

He checked the bottom first. His evaluation hadn't changed from before.

But behind the Skill Slot, a glowing purple box had appeared.

"Equip Iron Physique!"

The instant he gave the command, the purple box burst into light and leaped from the selection bar into the Skill Slot.

Hm. The Lv.2 talent wasn't reacting either?

It wasn't like a skill. When he equipped a skill, memories had suddenly been forced into his mind, bringing with them a series of hallucinations.

Equipping a talent was like Beast Intuition: it worked subtly, with no noticeable change.

But it hadn't given him any boost, either.

Cheng Ye's mind wandered for a moment. Then his gaze suddenly collided with the reflection in the window.

Beside his still youthful face, his skin had turned a blazing red, as if magma were surging beneath it!

Veins bulged densely across his body, stretching from his neck all the way to his scalp.

He no longer looked like a normal person. He looked more like an Infected—or a monstrous Red-skinned Monster!

"What's happening to me?"

There was no time to think, let alone feel the changes in his body.

Boom!

A muffled explosion burst inside him, as if tens of millions of tons of explosives had gone off all at once.

It was nothing like the gentle sensation he'd felt when equipping a skill.

Cheng Ye's vision spun. The world around him shattered into blurry patches of light.

It was as though he'd been thrown into the eye of a storm. His organs were being violently churned apart and put back together.

But...

Did it hurt?

No!

Did it feel good?

Yes!

Waves of indescribable sensations surged through him, as if he were riding a kayak, tossed back and forth atop the waves.

In the midst of that overwhelming rush, strange visions surged over him like a tide:

He saw a dried-up pond, its cracked earth suddenly nourished by a spring gushing from below.

He saw the ground tremble violently as the soil rolled and swelled, a small mountain slowly pushing up through the surface like a sleeping giant.

He even saw a tender shoot deep beneath the earth, pushing aside the rubble inch by inch as it stubbornly broke through the hard ground!

Everything had changed.

It seemed that something within his genes had awakened.

The uncrossable gulf between the Talented and ordinary people now lay behind him. He had only to lift a foot, and he'd crossed it with ease.

"The changes Iron Physique brought are even more incredible than I imagined."

A moment later.

Cheng Ye pushed himself up by the foot of the bed. His face was a little pale, and all the strange signs had vanished from his body, leaving only waves of heat rising from him.

At that moment, his sense of pain had been reduced to a mere tenth, and his dullness of sensation had almost completely disappeared.

He'd expected it to be hard to get used to, but the opposite was true. The nerves that had once been used to process pain seemed to have been stripped away and rebuilt, now letting him detect and process other information. All five of his senses had become sharper than ever.

For example—

He reached out and picked up the Training Dagger beside him.

The instant his fingertips touched the handle, a strange sense of being "one with it" sprang into his mind.

His wrist turned slightly, and the short blade traced a silver arc. He snapped it upward, and a cold light burst along its path, as sharp and icy as frost.

The blade momentum moved entirely at his will, as naturally as moving a hand.

An unprecedented thrill surged through Cheng Ye's mind. It was as if he had held this blade for a dozen years, every angle of every slash and every line of force etched into his genes, as familiar and effortless as breathing.

"Is this the world of geniuses?"

PS: 3.8K words delivered! Don't call my chapters short anymore—please vote and follow!

PS2: New authors really aren't allowed to update in bulk. I'm limited to two chapters a day, so I can only try to fit as much as possible into those two. I'm sure my dear readers can tell that every chapter of this book is much longer than those of other new books. Some are almost twice as long.

PS3: This author believes in fixing mistakes when they're pointed out. If there are any factual errors, feel free to let me know, and I'll correct them right away. I won't argue about it~