Wasteland Border Inspector - Chapter 978

Chapter 978: Chapter 310: Wilderness Peril, Unknown Infection! (5)

Cheng Ye immediately reported the name of Mountain Shadow Gathering Place, and Liu Bi took out the Defense Communication device upon hearing it, quickly searching for related records.

“Two years ago, Mountain Shadow Gathering Place was destroyed by an unknown special infection source, all three thousand seven hundred people died.” Liu Bi read the search results, his tone sinking slightly.

Cheng Ye felt a sinking feeling in his heart, now he could pinpoint the time of death of the note’s owner.

New Era Year 33.

“What about the location?” he pressed.

“540 Kilometers from our current position, located on the midpoint of the abandoned midline route.”

Good.

Cheng Ye breathed a sigh of relief, they were now on a lower undeveloped route, bypassing this perilous midline.

“Any discoveries?” Liu Bi asked again.

“Based on the existing information: the note’s owner, Levin, was a deranged experimenter. His small group was targeted by a special Infected Body and fled to Happiness City. During internal conflict en route, they killed Levin, diverting the Infected Body towards Mountain Shadow Gathering Place on purpose.”

Cheng Ye succinctly summarized, but Liu Bi’s expression changed slightly as he read out supplementary information from the Defense Communication device:

“The records do not detail why Mountain Shadow Gathering Place was destroyed, only that a passing merchant caravan reported it routinely. When our people arrived, the scene was thoroughly obliterated by consecutive summer rains, leaving no traces. Even stranger, all the people of Mountain Shadow Gathering Place disappeared, not dead but vanished as if they moved out overnight.”

The people disappeared?

The hair on the back of Cheng Ye’s neck bristled instantly. He didn’t respond, instead, he continued to flip through the notebook.

To his disappointment, the records abruptly stopped on July 12.

It seemed that once reaching Mountain Shadow Gathering Place, the group scattered instead of together advancing to Happiness City.

The person who inherited the backpack and notebook ultimately perished in the Wilderness, only over two hundred kilometers from Happiness City, a step away from the hope of survival.

“There is no more information; all records cease after arriving at Mountain Shadow Gathering Place.”

Cheng Ye closed the notebook, stood up, and looked toward the direction of the approaching armored car, “Have you found his body?”

“No,” Liu Bi shook his head gently, “Only found this backpack on the ground and some scattered supplies around, no bodies, and no signs of struggle or attack from Infected Bodies.”

“Let’s go take a look.”

Cheng Ye put the notebook back into the isolation bag, got up, and followed Liu Bi along the vehicle tracks to the place where the backpack was found, wanting to re-examine for overlooked clues.

On the ground were only a short knife, a rust-coated poor-quality handgun, and two magazines.

Liu Bi did not move anything from its place, while Cheng Ye stood by, observing intently for half a minute, attempting to reconstruct the scene, yet could not derive any valuable information.

The weathered two years had worn away all critical traces.

“Rain and wind must have shifted all these things around.”

Cheng Ye murmured.

Even the top detectives would find it impossible to handle traces left in the Wilderness from two years prior.

With everything collected, the two pondered as they returned to the car. Cheng Ye pulled out a folding iron shovel from the toolbox and quickly dug a half-meter-deep hole in the dry sands.

He placed the backpack, notebook, scattered weapons, along with the eerie alchemic records, all into the hole, pressing it firmly with earth.

These items are a breeding ground for further dangers if left in this world.

But even returning to the car, Cheng Ye’s heart pounded, unable to calm for a long while.

He immediately searched with the Defense Communication for information about infection sources where “infected cannot speak,” finding over one hundred seventy entries.

It’s a common symptom, but the infection source classification is extremely variable.

The highest level reached Destruction Level, named “Alien Language People,” propelled solely by possession of the Extraordinary Mother Source, with abilities that defy nature.

Every word it speaks carries intense spiritual contamination, warping human thoughts, creating illusions, and cognitive blockades. If it infiltrates Shelter City, it can easily destroy the entire city with mere words.

The lowest level is a group-level infection source, the “Dream Monster.”

The infected’s daytime unintentional words would drive the body to perform autonomously during sleep.

For instance, saying “want to kill someone” during a daytime dispute would lead to sleepwalking at night with a knife, completely unaware of one’s actions.

Yet Cheng Ye, after paging through all records, found no entry matching the symptoms described in the notebook.

“The core is inability to speak, yet with completely normal thinking… and the note uses ‘following’, not ‘infection’, also reading out and visualizing things feared in human memories, this is too bizarre.”

Cheng Ye set down the Defense Communication, leaning back on the headrest, contemplating silently.

Another unknown infection source.

Even though it obliterated a gathering place of thousands, humanity’s understanding remains a blank slate.

And the location of Mountain Shadow Gathering Place was entirely erased from maps, without any records.

Comparing it with Defense Communication, this location was approximately two hundred kilometers from tonight’s post at Old Tang County.

Furthermore, the destruction of Xintang Gathering Place happened over a decade ago, evidently unrelated to this eerie unknown infection source.

But precisely because of this, it is highly likely that the infection source remains alive, still wandering the Wilderness, potentially attacking human gathering places at any time.

“After returning, report this information; the city will send someone to reevaluate.” Liu Bi added from the back seat, “Such malicious infection sources, if not swiftly contained upon discovery, will cause endless trouble.”

“All we can do is be vigilant in advance, and when it appears next time, eliminate it immediately!”

…