Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 235: Vortex Turtle Seed, Tan Ming's Rune!

"In-Inspector Cheng?"The incredibly bizarre scene unfolding before him left Luo Kuke stunned for a good two or three seconds before he finally managed to squeeze out those words.

Just as he spoke, he suddenly realized that the immobilizing effect inflicted by the Abyssal Water Cave Crab had vanished!

His legs gave way, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. Fortunately, a blood-red figure beside him immediately reached out and supported him with astonishingly steady strength.

"What are you..."

He asked subconsciously, but the rest of his sentence caught in his throat, impossible to utter.

At this very moment, his vision was completely dominated by that colossal behemoth.

After violently tearing the male crab apart with its bare hands, the blood-red mountain of a figure continued to morph.

The nearly ten-meter-tall body was not bloated in the slightest. It was built entirely of coiled and knotted muscle mass pushed to the absolute limit. Every inch of muscle fiber resembled a taut iron chain, bulging into half-meter-high ridges across the skin. They pulsed slowly with every breath, as if apocalyptic power would detonate from them in the very next second.

The shoulders were fully seven meters wide. When the thick, sturdy arms hung down, the knuckles scraped the ground, carving out five deep trenches. The muscles exploding horizontally across the forearms were so massive they looked as if entire adult humans were attached to them.

The bulging muscle groups on the back resembled rolling hills of black iron, the contours of each muscle as sharp as a blade.

Even though the face still belonged to the familiar Cheng Ye, when the giant shadow leaned slightly forward, Luo Kuke still could not help but feel his scalp tingle, instinctively lightening his breathing.

"Just a minor trick,"

Cheng Ye shook his head, a smile curling the corners of his lips. However, his voice still boomed like muffled thunder, making one's ears ring.

"Do you want to join in?"

"Me?" Luo Kuke froze. Before he could comprehend the meaning of those words, the blood-red figure supporting him suddenly began to tremble, dissolving into a puddle of bloody water at a visible pace.

Immediately after, the puddle of bloody water shook violently and actually surged toward his body to attach itself.

One, three, ten...

All the surrounding blood-red figures trembled and melted away, pouring relentlessly toward him, ultimately condensing into a faintly glowing, blood-red suit of armor over his skin.

The armor gently lifted him, raising him steadily off the ground.

The blood-red hue before his eyes suddenly closed in and then dispersed. Luo Kuke was astonished to discover that his height had fully recovered!

No, not recovered.

His actual body was growing larger. It was as if he were encased in a special suit of power armor, his size continuing to climb.

One meter, two meters, three meters!

It wasn't until he expanded to just over three meters tall that the attaching blood-red figures finally ceased their movement.

"Ten times your original size is the limit. Any larger, and you'll lose control," Cheng Ye's voice rang out once more.

"Control?"

This unprecedented, novel experience made Luo Kuke temporarily forget his earlier fear and shock.

He raised a hand, seeing that his arm and palm were composed entirely of blood-red energy. His movements were as agile as if he had been born with them.

It felt just like he had transformed into a small, blood-red mountain of his own, matching Cheng Ye, only slightly smaller in stature.

"What is this?" he couldn't help but ask, his tone filled with disbelief.

"It is the power Tan Ming granted us, just like the power the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch gave to the Crab-men and those Infection Sources."

Cheng Ye explained, then suddenly turned around.

At some unknown point, the mother crab had broken through the remaining blood-red figures. It was now crouching by his calf, repeatedly smashing its pincers against his armor-plated foot.

However, every falling strike only provoked insignificant ripples on the blood-red armor, failing to leave even the slightest mark.

Cheng Ye lowered his head, locking eyes with the crab eyes that were the size of human heads.

It was hard to imagine, but within those murky crab eyes, he saw not a single trace of fear—only near-insane rage and reluctance.

"Who gave you the courage to direct your anger at me?"

"And who gave you the audacity to harbor resentment against me!"

His muffled thunder-like voice echoed through the surroundings.

He slowly bent down, extended an arm, and ruthlessly clamped his hand over the mother crab's carapace. Exerting a bit of force, his fingers directly dug into the gaps of the shell, lifting the mother crab up to his eye level as effortlessly as picking up a foam cooler.

Dark green crab fluids dripped through his fingers. The mother crab frantically waved its pincers, yet it could not even touch his blood-red skin, left to flail vainly in the air.

"Tell me, what exactly is the meaning behind the existence of you and your fellow Infection Sources?"

"Screech—"

The mother crab let out a pained shriek, a flash of fear finally crossing its eyes.

But this fear was not directed at the blood-red behemoth before it. Rather, it vaguely realized:

It was going to die!

It would never again be able to infect more Humans or continue its wicked deeds!

Squelch.

The behemoth's right hand plunged directly through the carapace, brutally ripping out some solid masses.

"Not this!"

He casually tossed the objects aside and reached back in, blindly rummaging through the mother crab's innards. His fingertips churned recklessly like a meat grinder, yanking out clump after clump of internal organs.

"Not this!"

"Not this!!"

Clump after clump of organs was torn out, hitting the ground with wet, sticky slaps.

The mother crab's gaze gradually lost focus. The once frantically thrashing pincers slowed down, actually conveying a hint of begging for mercy.

"I feel your fear. I feel your helplessness."

"But do you know how terrified and helpless Zhou Mazi was before he died?"

As he spoke, the behemoth's lips suddenly split into a cold, curved grin. "I finally found it!"

He paused.

That massive hand, as thick as a Vehicle, viciously yanked outward. A dark green heart, fully the size of a millstone, was forcefully ripped out of the mother crab's body.

The heart was still weakly beating. Coated in sticky bodily fluids, it dripped continuous lines of slime in midair.

The moment it was removed, the mother crab slipped entirely into a near-death state. Both of its enormous pincers drooped powerlessly; it lacked even the strength to maintain its vital signs.

It could only use its last vestige of strength to swivel its eyes. The rage and reluctance in its gaze were gone, leaving only the most primal agony of a dying creature.

"Does it hurt?"

A voice devoid of any pity continued to ring out. "Good. Compared to the suffering you inflict on Humans, this is nothing but an insignificant fraction!"

Splat!

The five fingers suddenly clenched shut, and that enormous heart detonated right in the palm of his hand.

Dark green fluids rained down from the sky like a torrential downpour, splashing onto the ground and kicking up waves of a putrid stench.

In the distance, the other Infection Sources still fiercely attacking the blood-red figures froze abruptly. A flash of human-like terror instantly crossed the eyes of many among them.

In particular, the giant black fish, measuring just over two meters long, unhesitatingly spun around, intending to dive back into the Lake to escape.

However...

"Do you really think you can escape?"

The behemoth pushed off the ground slightly. His pillar-like thighs completely pulverized the rock beneath his feet, stamping out a deep crater.

Immediately following that, the colossal body vaulted upward, leaping more than ten meters into the air before crashing heavily back down, planting his backside squarely onto the black fish's back.

Squash—

Sounding much like a person accidentally sitting on an overripe tomato, a squelching, crunching noise emanated from beneath him.

Cheng Ye stood up. The once ferocious, giant black fish had been reduced to a puddle of blackish-green sludge.

Its tough scales, razor-sharp teeth, and even the Infection Source core hidden within its body...

Under the suppression of absolute power, all of it had turned into indistinguishable muck, without leaving the slightest room for resistance.

This mirrored how helpless Humans were when subjected to the power of an Immortal Item and Mental Pollution.

At this moment, under the blessing of Tan Ming's power, these Infection Sources were just as hopelessly helpless.

"In-Inspector Cheng?"

Luo Kuke's voice carried over from the side, prompting Cheng Ye to turn and look.

He saw the man eagerly approaching. A hint of awkwardness flashed across Luo Kuke's face, which surfaced amidst the blood-red ripples.

He gritted his teeth and pointed at the surrounding Infection Sources that had yet to flee, his voice carrying a degree of urgency. "These Infection Sources still hold containment value... No matter which Plague-level ones they are, they can be exchanged for a vast amount of resources to develop Dabo Town."

"Is that so?"

Cheng Ye blanked for a second, turning his head to glance at the black fish beneath him.

Well, it was more accurate to call it fish paste.

With muscles completely overriding his brain, he had struck too ruthlessly just now. The black fish hadn't even left a complete core behind.

"How about this, then: I'll hold the line and focus on controlling them, while you handle the containment?"

"Alright... I'll handle the containment." Luo Kuke hastily nodded, unable to conceal the excitement in his eyes.

Although he had never tried this "violent suppression plus rapid containment" method before, the absolute confidence provided by Tan Ming's power was undeniably real. Since Cheng Ye had just instantly crushed a Plague-level entity simply by sitting on it, the remaining Infection Sources naturally posed no threat.

Cheng Ye took a step back, sweeping his gaze across the battlefield. It suddenly locked onto the giant turtle not far away.

The faint blue fragment on its carapace made him pause. Wasn't that a Vortex Turtle Shell Fragment?

However, the size of the piece before his eyes was dozens of times larger than the one he had previously collected from inside the mutated fish king!

"Leave that turtle to me."

"Understood, understood!"

Luo Kuke immediately agreed, his eyes quickly locking onto the next target.

A giant water spider!

An unknown Infection Source. According to the rules, its value would far exceed those of previously cataloged Infection Sources.

Although he wasn't sure what this large spider's abilities were, its combat power wasn't hard to gauge.

Any surrounding blood-red figures unfortunate enough to be covered by the webs it spat out would rapidly corrode into a puddle of bloody water.

This ability was potent.

Therefore, its value was exceptionally high!

"Let me handle it!" Luo Kuke bellowed, stepping on the blood-red energy as he charged forward, his heart surging like never before.

In the past, when facing Infection Sources, he either had to rely on potions to drag things out or utilize rules to hinder them. He had never possessed the confidence to "clash head-on" like this.

Yet, when he charged right up to the water spider, he suddenly faltered, unsure of where to strike.

Hesitating for only a second, he simply mimicked Cheng Ye's earlier fighting style. Clenching his fist, he ruthlessly smashed it against the water spider's thinnest leg.

Snap.

A crisp sound of snapping bone rang out. The water spider's leg buckled and fractured completely under the blow, black fluids oozing from the wound.

Its body violently listed to the side, almost toppling to the ground.

Luo Kuke's eyes lit up as if he had discovered a new world. He immediately accelerated his movements, weaving and bobbing around the water spider as his fists pummeled its legs time and time again.

One punch, two punches!

This fight felt amazing!

In a mere dozen seconds, all eight of the water spider's legs had been snapped, leaving it paralyzed on the ground, completely immobilized.

Who would have thought that close-quarters melee combat with an Infection Source could be so incredibly unrestrained and exhilarating?

Luo Kuke simply jumped right onto it, straddling the water spider's back as his large hand seized its head:

"Die!"

His fingers surged with power, directly piercing the water spider's skull and extracting a clump of slimy paste from within.

Within the paste, a small, silvery-white spider was shivering slightly. Stripped of even the strength to flee, this was precisely the water spider's Infection Source core.

"Containment complete, just like that?"

Luo Kuke was both shocked and overjoyed. He quickly carried the core over to the Containment Box, opened it, and tossed it inside.

Although stuffing multiple cores into a single box was somewhat risky, there was no time to return to the shore for new ones right now. He had to make do.

Fortunately, since their host bodies had been destroyed, these cores had all entered a lethargic state. They wouldn't interfere with one another in the short term, as long as he separated them promptly afterward.

Over ten minutes passed. The number of Infection Sources on the field dwindled steadily, until only the giant turtle embedded with the faint blue shell fragment remained.

Cheng Ye shook his head and strode over, pressing one knee heavily onto the turtle's carapace.

The giant turtle tried to struggle but was ruthlessly pinned in place by the weight of the blood-red armor, unable to budge an inch.

He reached out, hooking his fingers directly onto the faint blue Vortex Turtle Shell Fragment. With a squeeze of his fingertips and a crisp "crack," the shell fragment was prized off completely intact.

The moment the fragment was detached, the giant turtle's carapace actually began to fracture inch by inch before shattering violently. Its size shrank drastically, rapidly diminishing from a three-meter-long behemoth into a seventy-centimeter creature that sprawled weakly on the ground, completely devoid of any resistance.

Evidently, this Vortex Turtle Shell Fragment had been the source of its power.

And despite the scaling effects of the Chamber, this shell fragment was still nearly half a meter long and thirty centimeters wide. It felt heavy in his hand, its edges radiating a faint blue glow.

Cheng Ye applied slight pressure with his fingers, and a fissure cracked open along the fragment's edge.

The very next second, the interface's notification began to blink:

[Collector has detected dissipating biological information. Initiating automatic absorption]

[Absorption complete. The Vortex Turtle's Transcendent Trait (Vortex Water) has reached its maximum value. You may continue to accumulate. Maximum storage capacity: 200%]

'It maxed out just like that?'

'Another new Transcendent seed?'

Cheng Ye immediately opened his compendium. He hadn't expected the Vortex Water to not only max out but for its progress to surge straight to 137%.

The Trait provided by this massive shell fragment was actually more than a hundred times greater than what the piece inside the mutated fish king had offered.

In an instant, immense joy exploded within his heart, almost leaving him in disbelief.

'There are simply too many opportunities in the Wilderness!'

'As long as I possess enough Strength and dare to fight, gathering Transcendent seeds doesn't seem that difficult after all.'

Even though the restrictions of the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse meant he couldn't use "Vortex Water" to birth a new Transcendent Creature right now, "having it" and "not having it" were two entirely different concepts.

Collecting all the Vortex Water meant his Strength was poised to welcome a new period of growth.

'Once I resolve the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse's limitation and integrate two Transcendent Creatures into my body, just how powerful will I become?'

'Will I grow to the point where, even without Tan Ming's help in the outside world, I can become an anomaly among Inspectors, capable of directly steamrolling any Infection Source with my bare fists?'

Whoosh.

Cheng Ye let out a long breath. Visible streams of air erupted from his mouth, carrying a faint red flow of energy.

Subsequently, his body began to steadily shrink, slowly reverting from the ten-meter-tall blood-red behemoth back to his normal size of around three meters. His muscle lines also receded somewhat, no longer exuding the overwhelming Sense of Oppression they had earlier.

"Inspector Luo, I'll leave the final Infection Source to you." He turned his head toward Luo Kuke nearby.

"No trouble at all!" Luo Kuke, who had been blankly staring at Cheng Ye's shrinking body, snapped out of his daze at the sound of his voice and hurried forward.

Deprived of the Vortex Turtle Shell Fragment, the dark turtle was as fragile as a snail without its shell. He merely used his short blade to pry open the shattered carapace, swiftly fishing out the faintly glowing core inside and tossing it into the Containment Box.

With that, all four Containment Boxes were stuffed with more than five Infection Sources each. Gripping the heavy boxes filled him with a profound sense of a bountiful harvest.

The two reconvened. Luo Kuke organized his thoughts and carefully asked, "Inspector Cheng, what exactly is our current situation..."

"Simply put, the Vitality produced by the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch is what Tan Ming needs. He bestowed this energy upon us, firstly, to help him weaken the Immortal Item's energy levels, and secondly, to aid these clones in completing the task of gathering Vitality. For us, it's considered... mutually beneficial."

Cheng Ye briefly explained.

In truth, his original plan was simply to unleash Tan Ming to cause some trouble for the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch. He hadn't expected the situation to gradually evolve into a head-on confrontation between Tan Ming and the conch.

Moreover, Tan Ming wasn't merely after the Vitality within the Cavern. He seemed to have his eye on a certain Trait possessed by the conch, which injected several unexpected variables into the situation.

Once these two titans started battling, nobody knew what the final outcome would be.

However, compared to previously when they couldn't even approach the Immortal Item, their current progress could already be considered a massive stride forward.

"Take these Infection Sources up first, ensure they're properly contained, and then go get some rest."

"What about the Immortal Item?" Luo Kuke asked instinctively.

Given their current situation, it seemed they were only one step away from containing the Immortal Item, so it was inevitable he felt somewhat eager.

"The moment closest to victory is often the most dangerous. We cannot rush this."

"Alright, I understand." Luo Kuke nodded, suppressing the eagerness in his heart.

Containing all these Infection Sources had already drastically weakened the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch's energy supply.

As long as they completely "drained" the dense forest inside the Cavern afterward and wiped out the remaining Crab-men, the Immortal Item's energy levels would plummet. When that time came, the success rate of containment would drastically soar.

Watching Luo Kuke heft the heavy Containment Boxes and hurry off in the direction of the Light Gate, Cheng Ye finally lowered his head slowly. His gaze fell upon the blood-red Rune on his chest.

The interface popped up, and a line of information flashed before his eyes.

[Tan Ming's Rune: Grants the creature the ability to summon the descent of Tan Ming]

[Current Rune has been cataloged (Due to Rank restrictions, analysis cannot be performed at this time. Please continue to elevate your Rank to unlock permissions)]

[Current Progress: 31.7/100 (Once maximum value is reached, Tan Ming will descend immediately)]