Wasteland Border Inspector - Chapter 977

Chapter 977: Chapter 310: Wilderness Peril, Unknown Infection!

Although long ago he had realized that on the Wasteland, the obliteration of humanity was a commonplace occurrence.

He hadn’t expected that on his very first step into the Wilderness, he would be confronted with such a terrifying scene: the backpack actually held the flesh of their own kind, stored as food.

This horrific sight made his heart shrink with dread; a fierce impulse surged up, urging him to drop everything, get in the vehicle at once, and leave this suffocating place.

Yet Liu Bi’s expression remained unchanged; he only spat out two calm syllables: “Continue.”

“Yes!”

Cheng Ye forced down the tremor in his chest, feigning composure as he took out each piece of salted meat one by one.

A full eight pieces, each one’s muscle texture features completely matched his suspicion; ironclad facts, making the cruelty and darkness of this Wilderness crash before his eyes more vividly than ever for the first time.

Digging further down, a hand‑drawn map came into view.

The paper’s edges were already yellowed and brittle, the writing upon it crooked, yet the markings were exceptionally clear.

The red and green routes he had seen on the official map earlier could both be found traced correspondingly on this hand‑drawn map.

And at the very bottom of the backpack, beneath the spot where the map lay, there was also a thick notebook with a red cover laid flat, its cover worn shiny with use, and beside it was clipped a pencil about the length of a little finger, its lead almost worn down.

“Main inner compartment inspection complete. Combining the current supplies for a comprehensive analysis, identity assessment corrected: migrating Hunter.” Cheng Ye put everything back in order and reported the latest conclusion in a loud voice.

“Check the notebook immediately.” Liu Bi’s order was still concise.

Cheng Ye first picked up the disinfectant spray bottle and carefully sprayed the notebook’s cover, spine, and the edges of its inner pages; after the disinfectant had air‑dried, he cautiously opened the first page.

At first glance he focused on the handwriting; it was identical to that on the hand‑drawn map, clearly written by the same person.

On the inside of the cover, a few blurry words were written in pencil:

[Xxx’s Alchexx Notes]

[Levin]

It was a typical Western name, yet written in crooked Chinese characters.

And because the pencil strokes had blurred over time, most of the characters were already indistinct, only the key characters like “” () and “” (Notes) barely discernible; with high probability it was a diary recording some kind of experiments.

But when he turned to the first page of the main text, his hair bristled all over in an instant, as if his head had been struck by a heavy hammer, buzzing as it exploded.

Formulas.

The entire page was densely packed with formulas!

Yet they were neither mathematical nor physical or chemical formulas, but bizarre “alchemy formulas.”

What made one’s blood run cold was that the “raw materials” of these formulas were not minerals or reagents, but infection sources, and… humans!

The records between the lines were shocking: Levin was capturing living people, transforming them into Infected Bodies with infection sources, then extracting their blood and special organs to conduct deranged experiments.

“This guy is an antisocial lunatic!”

Cheng Ye forced down the chill in his heart and flipped through several more pages; his understanding of the Wasteland’s cruelty was ripped open once again, a bloody new gash.

The stability of Happiness City had almost made him forget that on this land, besides the rampaging Infected Bodies, there were also these kindred whose humanity had been annihilated, lurking in corners of the Wilderness and gnawing away at the last remnants of civilization.

Yet as he turned further on, after a few blank pages, the style of the notes suddenly changed.

No longer cold experimental records, there were now several different handwritings, as if a few people were using pen and paper to converse:

[We can’t speak. “It” is right beside us, waiting for us to slip up!]

[Then what do we do now? Run?]

[Scatter and run! “It” will only chase one target; it won’t attack everyone at once!]

[Impossible! We’ve already spoken with “It.” Anyone who has spoken to “It” will be entangled by “It,” step by step manifesting the thing they fear most in their memories!]

[Trust me, as long as we can keep our mouths shut all the way and make it to Happiness City, we’ll definitely survive.]

[“It” has already destroyed three gathering places… Can Happiness City really hold out?]

[Damn it! If even Happiness City can’t hold it back, then no matter where we flee, we’re dead!]

[…]

“What is this?”

Cheng Ye’s gaze sharpened; it seemed that the owner of the Alchemy Notes, Levin, had fallen into a desperate situation, he and his companions being hunted by an Infected Body with some strange ability.

Counting the different handwritings in the notebook, there were a full five; besides Levin, there were four fellow travelers.

“Can’t speak? What kind of eerie Infected Body is this?”

Cheng Ye furrowed his brows tightly and kept turning the pages. On the third day of those dialogue records, a date finally appeared in the upper right corner of the notebook:

July 5.

But there was no specific year marked, making it impossible to deduce in which year, and under what kind of desperate circumstances, this group had made their way to this desolate land.

Was it last year, or the year before?

The dates in the notebook moved forward day by day, until he turned to the page of July 9, where the new entries brimmed with a scream of despair:

[We’re screwed! “It” is still following us! We’ve already killed Levin! Why is “It” still chasing us!]

[“It” isn’t unable to catch us… “It” is tormenting us. It wants us to die in the most despairing terror!]

[Another half month and we can reach Happiness City. We go all in!]

[No! We have to detour! Go to the Mountain Shadow Gathering Place! I can feel “It” is already impatient; we must use something new to divert its attention!]

[My God, could “It” be deliberately forcing us to lead it to a human gathering place, a Shelter City?]

[Listen, we have no choice left. This is the only way to stay alive!]

[…]

Yet another piece of crucial information.