Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 254: Big Wave Town Research Institute, Ghost Shadow Spider!

Click.The heavy alloy box slowly opened on the ground, and its contents took Cheng Ye by surprise.

The Passage Padded Garment?

Beneath the padded garment lay a uniquely designed set of alloy protective armor, its texture hard and incredibly heavy.

"This piece of clothing truly surprised me. No Inspector has ever been like you, using the Infection Source's own materials to create targeted protective equipment."

Yu Erlan bent down, her fingertips gently pinching the sleeve of the padded garment. "I am very curious. How exactly did you manufacture this?"

"Oh? Is even the Research Institute unable to analyze it?"

Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow and took the opportunity to explain, "Its initial purpose was to deceive the cognition of the Demonic Eye Sponge, but according to my subsequent analysis, this padded garment should also be able to isolate a portion of the pollution from Infection Sources."

"Yes. Our research shows that it can even offset a portion of the pollution naturally emitted by an Inverse State Transcendent Mother Source. It can certainly be considered highly valuable protective gear."

Yu Erlan nodded. Straightening up, she added, "We have already analyzed its basic elemental composition. However, since this equipment is a result of your work during a mission, the Research Institute has, according to regulations, already paid the analysis fee to the Inspection Station."

"Oh? How many points?" Cheng Ye paused, subconsciously pressing for details.

"Considering it possesses the potential for mass production, the current appraised price is... thirty thousand points."

'Holy crap!'

'This Passage Padded Garment is actually worth... a direct Three-Lane Highway from the Ask-Road County Logistics Park all the way to Big Wave Town?'

However, his reaction was extremely fast. He instantly restrained his surprised expression and cut straight to the chase. "You want its manufacturing technology?"

A rare look of interest appeared on Yu Erlan's face. "Oh? So Inspector Cheng really understands research?"

"Of course. I may not be exceptionally talented, but I do have some unique insights into Infection Source research. To be perfectly honest, the Inspection Station is already preparing to establish an internal Research Institute, but I also want to build a high-spec Infection Source Research Institute in Big Wave Town."

Setting aside those obscure transcendent theories, whenever it came to serious technical transactions, Cheng Ye immediately became adept and smooth.

During the week Tan Ming spent confronting the Immortal Object, he hadn't been idle. He had already thoroughly figured out the manufacturing principles behind the Passage Padded Garment.

If there were any inexplicable key steps, he wouldn't have handed this equipment over so easily.

In fact, the logic behind making the padded garment wasn't complicated. The core concept was simply attaching and securing the Chamber Patterns of the Demonic Eye Sponge onto the clothing.

This primarily involved two key technologies:

First, how to stably secure the Chamber Patterns onto the fabric and achieve the special effect of equipping upon touch.

Second, how to efficiently harvest the Chamber Patterns as a foundational material for mass production.

The latter was actually quite simple. As long as they could successfully breed the Demonic Eye Sponge in captivity, they could harvest an endless supply of Chamber Patterns. That was far simpler than humans forcefully analyzing the underlying principles of the Chamber Patterns to synthesize them artificially.

As for the former, the equipping upon touch technology had already been verified through the Obsidian Battle Armor. Even the armor he was wearing now functioned as an auto-covering suit. Therefore, the only remaining focal point was securing the Chamber Patterns.

Currently, the Pass-Chamber Patterns still possessed a Trait Value of 200 percent available for analysis, so figuring it out shouldn't be difficult.

He had prepared a contingency plan before coming out. If the Research Institute pressed him for the technology, he would use the opportunity to establish a cooperative relationship. If they didn't, he would simply continue studying the finished product to attract their attention.

He hadn't expected things to go this smoothly, progressing entirely in the direction he had envisioned.

Cheng Ye cleverly sidestepped any further questions about technical details. While donning the set of alloy armor under the guidance of the research personnel, he smiled and proposed, "If Director Yu is willing to support me with a portion of manpower and resources to assist in building the Research Institute in Big Wave Town, I can give the manufacturing technology for the Passage Padded Garment to your institute for free. Furthermore, we can achieve mutual sharing of our subsequent research results."

"Oh?" Yu Erlan raised an eyebrow. "Do you know the construction cost of a Research Institute?"

"I'm actually not too clear on that," Cheng Ye answered honestly.

"Then let me tell you. The construction cost for the Phase One Institute at your Inspection Station is as high as five hundred and fifty thousand Contribution Points."

Yu Erlan's lips twitched slightly. "And phase one can only be equipped with Basic Research Instruments. The overall construction period is divided into five phases, bringing the total estimated cost to five million, seven hundred thousand Contribution Points."

'H-how much?'

'Five point seven million?'

'Are you openly robbing people here?'

Lei Hu had mentioned before that when a rank-five Inspector like him went on field duty, they would earn a few thousand to ten thousand Contribution Points at most.

At that rate, sixty High-Tier Inspectors at the Inspection Station would have to go without food and water, executing missions continuously for seven or eight years, just to bridge this astronomical deficit.

Cheng Ye did some quick mental math and immediately realized the catch. "These instruments wouldn't happen to be imported goods purchased from other sanctuary cities again, would they?"

"Exactly. Instruments are the foundation of research. Without qualified basic equipment, everything else is just empty talk."

Money!

Or rather, resources!

This was an unavoidable practical hurdle. Even a transcendent controller as powerful as Yu Erlan was limited by this reality.

With Happiness City's deep pockets, coughing up this sum of money might not be an issue.

After all, his single hospital stay had cost one hundred and thirty thousand Contribution Points. But for the resource-strapped Inspection Station, this number was undoubtedly astronomical—something they were fundamentally powerless to afford.

"The Inspection Station's Research Institute is not considered an essential expense, so it won't receive a special allocation from above. However, correspondingly, any of your research results can be sold to Happiness City at market price, and you can even receive additional special rewards."

"If Inspector Cheng wishes to build a Research Institute in Big Wave Town, that's fine. I can personally sponsor you with a batch of 'scrap' instruments to get started, and I can even arrange for a few researchers to be stationed there to help. But the prerequisite is: what can you bring to the table?"

"The technology for this padded garment isn't enough?" Cheng Ye asked, his voice sounding muffled after securely donning the helmet.

"Not even close," Yu Erlan shook her head. "We have already analyzed the core key information. Even if we obtain the complete manufacturing technology for the finished product, its value can only be converted into another twenty thousand Contribution Points at most."

Twenty thousand compared to five point seven million truly seemed unworthy of mention.

Cheng Ye pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned his head and smiled. "Then what if I manage to interrogate some valuable information out of him? How much is that worth?"

"It will be purchased at the market price for intelligence, with the highest 0.3 contribution coefficient bonus in Happiness City given as an extra."

"Deal!"

Cheng Ye immediately threw on the Passage Padded Garment over his armor. "Open the door. I want to have a nice chat with Researcher Yu about the construction plans for the Big Wave Town Research Institute."

Seemingly infected by the sheer confidence radiating from Cheng Ye, Yu Erlan felt an inexplicable sense of surprise.

She stared blankly for a second before a genuine smile bloomed on her face for the first time. It stripped away some of her icy apathy and added a touch of vibrant vitality. Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Cheng Ye couldn't help but take a few extra glances.

As the switch was pressed.

Whoosh.

In the next second, the thick, heavy doors made of Happiness Alloy slowly parted.

Inside the room, Yu Yong didn't attempt to flee, because the inner side of the doors was still shrouded in a layer of dazzling light.

This light possessed an extreme suppressive effect on the Ghost Shadow Spider attached to his body. Just the slightest contact would bring about agonizing pain worse than death.

"I'm heading in. Remember to close the door behind me!"

Cheng Ye looked down to check his equipment, confirming that after donning this set of protective armor, there was absolutely no shadow cast by his body.

Coupled with the pollution isolation effect of the Passage Padded Garment, the confined Yu Yong had no means left to hit him with a parasitic infection.

Stepping into the containment room, a sour putrid smell hit his face, far fouler than the stench in the Undetermined Fox's room.

The heavy alloy doors slowly closed behind him. Cheng Ye glanced back briefly before striding forcefully toward Yu Yong.

Yu Yong stood rooted to the spot with his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was apathetic, as if he were watching coldly from the sidelines, waiting to see what kind of tricks Cheng Ye could pull.

Little did he expect...

Bang!

After just two steps, Cheng Ye suddenly accelerated. A swift left jab shot out from his ribs, slamming squarely into Yu Yong's face!

A tremendous force, far beyond that of a normal human, instantly erupted. Yu Yong's face was brutally knocked sideways, and his head actually spun a full 720 degrees on his neck, realigning to face Cheng Ye in an extremely bizarre and twisted posture.

His expression twitched, but his mouth was full of disdain. "Is violence all you know? You're just a simple-minded Inspector after all!"

'So satisfying!'

Cheng Ye actually felt quite thrilled. He had finally found a humanoid target, which was perfect for testing the stat increases he had been tortured into gaining by the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse over the past few days.

He pushed off the ground violently with his left foot again, his body darting forward like a cannonball. His right knee drove ruthlessly into Yu Yong's lower abdomen, bringing with it a howling gust of wind.

Even though Yu Yong hadn't planned to actively resist, his body's instinctual defenses were still present. He raised his arms to block, only to be knocked staggering backward by the massive force.

Cheng Ye followed through by pressing down, his elbow smashing into Yu Yong's shoulder blade with tremendous weight. With a crisp snap, the sound of a bone breaking echoed clearly in the room!

Yu Yong let out a muffled groan. Bizarrely, his previously twisted neck actually began to slowly realign itself as a flash of ruthlessness passed through his eyes.

Suppressed by the light in the room, he couldn't activate any transcendent abilities. He could only rely on the base physical fitness granted by the Mother Source's possession to fight back.

However, in front of Cheng Ye, this level of physical fitness was clearly entirely inadequate.

"Come on! Vent your anger to your heart's content! I love seeing you people consumed by fury!"

"Still talking tough, I see."

Cheng Ye sneered. Turning sideways, he swiftly locked onto Yu Yong's wrist. Forming a blade with his right hand, he chopped down fiercely onto his opponent's elbow joint with a sharp swish.

With another crisp snap of bone, Yu Yong's arm hung limply at his side.

Without giving him a chance to react, Cheng Ye shifted his footwork and instantly circled around to Yu Yong's back. His arms clamped tightly around Yu Yong's waist like iron tongs. Engaging his core, he explosively hoisted the man high above his head before slamming him violently into the floor!

With a thunderous crash, the alloy floor buzzed, the reverberations making eardrums tremble.

Cheng Ye didn't pause. He leaned over and rained a dense barrage of fists down on the joints of Yu Yong's limbs like beating a war drum. Crisp sounds of bones fracturing rang out one after another.

'Awesome! This feels so awesome!'

He felt incredibly exhilarated. 'My strength has increased by at least three times. Even without activating the ability of the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse, I've still achieved a qualitative leap!'

He carefully sensed the changes in his body. A humanoid target like this, capable of directly testing his strength, couldn't be found out in the open.

Furthermore, during his continuous, full-power strikes, Cheng Ye could keenly perceive that the slight loss of control over his strength he had experienced earlier was also gradually recovering.

At a certain moment, Cheng Ye suddenly stood up, lifting Yu Yong high once more. Like a charging bull, he viciously pinned the man against the light-covered wall!

Sizzle!

Like clear water poured into a pot of boiling oil, a distinct sound of burning and melting echoed out.

Yu Yong had managed to feign composure during the previous ferocious attacks, but when seared by this light, he abruptly unleashed an agonized scream.

More accurately, it was the Ghost Shadow Spider parasitizing his body that couldn't endure this agonizing suppression.

A wisp of black light diffused from Yu Yong's body, and a notification instantly popped up on the interface.

However, before Cheng Ye could check the specific details, a sharp spider leg suddenly thrust out from Yu Yong's back. As quick as lightning, it tapped lightly against his chest!

Boom!

An unimaginable, massive force suddenly surged forward. Cheng Ye was sent flying straight backward, crashing violently into a metal table over a dozen meters away.

Fortunately, protected by his alloy battle armor, he merely grunted before quickly rolling over and scrambling to his feet. However, a flash of wild joy crossed his eyes.

'I really can collect traits from these Transcendent Mother Sources!'

Cheng Ye was overjoyed.

The core function of the Illustrated Handbook was to collect diffused biological information and convert it into redeemable traits.

Since Yu Erlan had also said that Yu Yong himself was a spineless coward, it meant a breakthrough could be sought through him without needing to pursue other complex interrogation methods.

Of course, the prerequisite was that he had to find a way to suppress the Ghost Shadow Spider on his body to achieve this. At the very least, he needed to make the Ghost Shadow Spider and Yu Yong temporarily detach from each other.

"Inspector Cheng, we will not interfere with whatever methods you choose to use, but he cannot die just yet."

Yu Erlan's voice rang out from the ceiling of the room. "The display screen will show his vital signs values in real-time. Just make sure it doesn't drop below forty percent."

Following her voice, Cheng Ye glanced over. The current value was at ninety-four percent, still leaving plenty of room before hitting forty.

'Could it be that if the Mother Source is too heavily injured, it might result in Yu Yong's death?'

Cheng Ye nodded and quietly opened the interface.

It really was quite a coincidence. The first Infection Source he had ever contained was an arachnid type, and he hadn't expected the first Inverse State Infection Source he encountered to be spider-related as well.

Swiping the interface to the second page, the red-highlighted entry containing the Ghost Shadow Spider's information appeared within the searchable range:

[Ghost Shadow Spider (Parasitic Transcendent Talent)]

[Description]: A relic strange insect originating from the Old Era Transcendent Epoch, its ancestors were originally common black-footed spiders found in forests. After being tempered by a special power, it shed its physical shell and transformed into a translucent Spirit Body Form, allowing its spirit body to freely travel in shadows and master the core ability to control shadows. Once an organism is infected by its parasitism, it will be reduced to a puppet under its control. The Ghost Shadow Spider can freely travel through the puppet's shadow, and as long as a puppet remains alive, its main body possesses the trait of immortality. [Current Parasitic Probability]:

Direct Contact (Parasitic Probability: 100%)

Exposed Shadow (Within a hundred-meter range: Parasitic Probability 100%; Outside a hundred-meter range: Reduction in Life Level, no risk of parasitism)

[Currently Recorded Traits]:

Ghost Shadow Spider (0.0052%)

Shadow State (5.27%)

Shadow Passage (1.27%)

Puppet Spider Silk (2.98%)

Phantom-Reality Conversion (0.65%)

Swarm Shadow Resonance (0.12%)

Shadow Drain (0.09%)