A Barometer, Signs of Upheaval

Having already mastered skills before, Cheng Ye dared not be careless now that he was dealing with an Lv. 2 talent. Before entering the Main Urban District, he called Uncle Dong to check if there was any nutrient paste in stock. Perhaps because the morning's buying frenzy had nearly sparked a major riot, the Works Bureau had uncharacteristically replenished supplies that afternoon. They strictly mandated that every shop sell at a flat rate of two coins per unit; anyone caught scalping would face ten times the fine at best, and revocation of their vendor permit at worst. "I received six crates here. Don't worry, there's plenty." "Great." Uncle Dong's voice sounded slightly off over the phone, but Cheng Ye had no time to dwell on it. Upon reaching the checkpoint between the suburbs and the Main Urban District, he saw sandbags once again blocking the road completely, leaving only a narrow opening. Yet glancing toward the horizon, the dark clouds were slowly parting. It looked nothing like a storm was brewing... *Something's wrong.* Cheng Ye quickened his pace, his heart sinking slightly. The previous roadblock had only been meant for traffic control, and the guards posted there were merely a deterrent. Now, however, six guards in full combat gear stood in plain sight on high alert. Farther back, someone had mounted a firearm, its dark muzzle half-concealed between the sandbags, radiating an unmistakable air of lethal intent. "Halt." Seeing Cheng Ye jog over, the guards exchanged glances and stepped forward immediately. "Curfew is in effect for the Main Urban District. No entry or exit for anyone." "Anyone?" Cheng Ye's face remained impassive as he produced his identification badge from his pocket. "Do I count as 'anyone'?" The guard froze, hurriedly took the badge, and swiped it across his defense comm. Upon seeing the information on the display, the guard's tense expression vanished instantly. "Please go ahead, Inspector. You may enter and leave at will, of course." "What happened?" "I'm not sure... It's an order from above." The guard hesitated, pointing toward the Inner City. "And it was an emergency order issued just over half an hour ago." "An emergency?" No wonder there hadn't been any sandbag roadblocks when he took the vehicle to the Chemical Plant Residential Compound earlier. Could some major incident have occurred? Passing through the cordon, Cheng Ye picked up his pace, increasingly certain that something was amiss. When he reached the front of his residential compound, the chunky meat cafeteria had uncharacteristically cut its lights early. Not only had they refrained from prepping ingredients for the next day, but they had also reinforced two windows with sheet metal, reminiscent of coastal preparations before a typhoon. Uncle Dong's general store still had its lights on, but the metal shutter was rolled halfway down, leaving only a gap large enough for someone crouching low to squeeze through. "Uncle Dong." Cheng Ye stood outside the shutter and knocked. "Don't just stand there. Get in here, quick." Tension was clear in his voice. Cheng Ye ducked inside, sliding the shutter down behind him. The water-damaged counter was back in place, stripped bare now that the ruined goods had been cleared away. Uncle Dong sat behind the counter, three firearms laid out before him. One long, two short. The long one was an assault rifle, while the short ones were a shotgun and a pistol. The rifle was fully stripped down, and an open bottle of gun oil beside it gave off a pungent odor. "What's all this..." Cheng Ye stared in surprise. In three months, he had never seen Uncle Dong like this. His usual gentle demeanor had vanished completely, replaced by a ruthless, murderous edge. "Did Stationmaster He of Central Station die in the line of duty?" "You heard?" Cheng Ye was not surprised. The death of a checkpoint stationmaster in the Buffer Zone was monumental. Even with an information blackout, word was bound to leak within a day or two among so many eyes and ears. It was hardly unusual for a veteran like Uncle Dong to have sources of his own. "Around noon, I think. Attacked by an unidentified infected entity." "And the infected entity that attacked Stationmaster He... was it caught?" "Huh?" Now it was Cheng Ye's turn to pause. "They usually investigate before making an announcement. I'd assume they got it." "If even you don't know, then it wasn't." Uncle Dong's gaze turned dark as an ancient well, his voice trembling slightly. "The last time a stationmaster died was thirteen years ago. After that, the Buffer Zone fell into chaos for two straight months, and at least three digits' worth of infected entities slipped in." "And every last one... was an unknown variant." "Don't scare yourself." Cheng Ye's heart gave a violent jolt, though he offered comforting words anyway. "I was on duty at North Station today. If infected entities had slipped through, wouldn't I know?" "It's different. You watch the outside, but as for the inside..." Uncle Dong flipped open his defense comm and opened the messaging interface. Cheng Ye cast a glance at it and froze. [Winter-4] [Ghosts knocked at the door. Suppressed. See you at the meeting hall.] [June 28, 21:07] June 28—that was today. 21:07? Wasn't that...? A scene flashed through Cheng Ye's mind. After seeing Dai Zun off in the vehicle, he had casually glanced at his defense comm. Hadn't the time been 21:02? "Sent by an old comrade-in-arms." Uncle Dong showed no surprise at Cheng Ye's reaction, only letting out a long sigh. "Just over an hour ago, Happiness Gate was attacked by infected entities." "What?" A shockwave rippled through Cheng Ye's chest. His instinctive reaction was disbelief. Yet in the next second, the hairs on his body stood on end, and a chill like needles against his back shot straight through his limbs. Memories flooded back. When he escorted Dai Zun toward Happiness Gate, countless prying eyes had lurked in the shadows. He had even glared several of them down. Could the owners of those gazes have been something other than ordinary drifters...? "They didn't break through, but odds are plenty of infected entities have already infiltrated." Uncle Dong muttered as his hands continued assembling the rifle barrel without slowing in the slightest. "You must understand the blind spot right under the lamp. When it comes to external inspections, nobody's more professional than you inspectors. But when it comes to the undercurrents inside the Buffer Zone, we old relics who are terrified of dying know better than anyone, and we know full well what comes next." "Yeah, plenty of folks in the Buffer Zone envy the inspector's status, but deep down, everyone knows inspectors are the barometer of the Buffer Zone. The moment casualties start cropping up among you, this place... is headed for major upheaval soon." *Click.* The rifle was assembled. Uncle Dong aimed into empty air, then nudged his chin toward the corner by the entrance. "Six crates. Take as many as you want, on the house, same as usual. There's a key on top of the topmost crate—it's for this crummy shop. Take it. If things go south, you can hole up here. I reinforced the basement; it can hold out long enough for you to call the checkpoint for backup." "Also, under the fourth floor tile in the basement, there are six high-explosive grenades. Custom-made. More than enough to level that chunky meat cafeteria next door. Don't go tossing them around unless it's life-or-death." "Are you going outside to take shelter?" Cheng Ye was taken aback, turning to look at the entrance. Sure enough, a long-shanked key lay on top of the crate. "Not to hide, but to settle an old wish." Setting down the rifle, Uncle Dong sighed. "When you get old, you usually dread dying, but when times like this actually arrive, that fear just disappears. I reckon... I'll be closed for quite a while." ... Carrying three crates of nutrient paste, Cheng Ye returned to his room. He latched the lock behind him, though the flimsy bull-head lock rattled against the doorframe, offering no sense of security whatsoever and only making his skin crawl. "Damn it, why did the wasteland have to descend into chaos right after I transmigrated?!" "It's only my first day working at the fast checkpoint. I'm completely fine, so why does it feel like the Buffer Zone's sky is falling down?" Cheng Ye cursed under his breath, even though he knew this murky mess had nothing to do with him. The chaotic weather patterns had begun before he transmigrated, and the previous upheaval traced back thirteen years—coinciding exactly with the death of an on-duty stationmaster. The old saying truly held: natural disasters always bred great upheaval. Happiness City's migratory model successfully used the factory district during summer and autumn to draw off the majority of infected entities, leaving only a trickle brought by drifters to test the Buffer Zone. Yet once natural disaster struck, the model collapsed immediately. And because so many let their guard down, chaos would erupt without warning. *Whoosh.* A gust of wind blew past, rattling the window with a creak. Normally, Cheng Ye wouldn't have spared it a thought, but right now a strange dread crept over him. His hand instinctively tightened around the short knife at his waist as those greedy eyes lurking in the shadows outside the city gate flashed through his mind. This damned Buffer Zone was not safe in the slightest. No wonder everyone clawed their way toward the Inner City. Peaceful days were one thing, but at the first sign of danger, every shadow looked like an enemy. *I can't go on like this. Tomorrow, I'm buying materials to reinforce the doors and windows.* Cheng Long had been a workaholic who lived and ate at the checkpoint, leaving behind no real estate. This single room had been allocated to Cheng Ye by the checkpoint, and the previous occupant had made zero modifications. Previously, Cheng Ye had been preoccupied with preparing for the assessment and hadn't given a thought to reinforcing the apartment. Now, it had to become top priority! With three action points in hand, it might not be enough to modify other complex items, but it should suffice to reinforce the doors and windows. Hauling the table over to brace against the door, Cheng Ye dialed Luo Xiaoxue to explain the situation. "Do you want to move over to my place? Brother B reinforced this apartment plenty of times. It's completely safe." "No need. If things really turn chaotic, people in my position will be called up for inspections. Going back and forth would only draw infected entities toward you and Yiyi." Luo Xiaoxue did not press the matter further, clearly recognizing the truth in his words. Were she alone, it wouldn't matter, but with Yiyi home, frequent comings and goings were indeed unsafe. Hanging up the phone, Cheng Ye considered it briefly and shoved his bed against the door as well. That way, if an infected entity tried to breach the entrance while he slept, the commotion would wake him instantly. *Iron Body... you'd better deliver!* With that thought, Cheng Ye called up the Collector interface, switching to his personal profile. He checked the very bottom first; the evaluation remained unchanged. Only in the skill slot section, a glowing purple frame had appeared. "Equip: Iron Body!" The moment the thought settled, the purple frame burst with faint light, leaping from the reserve pool into his skill bar. *Huh? Does an Lv. 2 talent produce no reaction either?* Unlike skills, which shoved a sudden influx of memories into his mind and induced fleeting hallucinations, equipping a talent seemed just like Beast Instinct—silent and imperceptible, bringing no overt shift. *Wait, did it not give any boost?* Cheng Ye's attention wavered, and his gaze snapped toward the reflection in the window. In the glass, the face that still held hints of youth was flushed fiery red, as though molten lava surged beneath his skin! Thick, dense veins bulged outward, tracing lines from his neck straight to his scalp. He looked nothing like a normal human, resembling instead an infected entity—a grotesque, crimson-skinned monster! *What is happening to me?* Before he could process the thought, let alone feel the changes in his body— *Boom!* A muffled blast detonated inside him, as if tens of millions of tons of explosives had gone off simultaneously. It was nothing like the peaceful sensation of equipping a skill. Cheng Ye's world spun violently, the surrounding scenery dissolving into blurred streaks of light and shadow. It felt like being hurled into the eye of a tempest, his internal organs violently torn apart and reassembled. And yet... Did it hurt? Not at all! Did it feel exhilarating? Utterly! Indescribable waves of sensation crashed over him, as though he were riding a raft tumbling through colossal swells. Under this extreme rush, vivid visions surged like a tide: He saw crystal-clear springs burst through the parched, cracked bed of a dry pond, nourishing every inch of fissured earth. He saw the ground quake violently, soil churning and heaving as a hill rose like a slumbering behemoth arching out from beneath the earth. And deep within the soil, he saw a tender shoot shoving aside shattered rock, climbing inch by inch to stubbornly pierce the hardened surface! Everything changed. Something buried deep within his genetics had been awakened. The insurmountable chasm between the gifted and ordinary mortals—he had crossed it simply by lifting his foot. *The changes brought by Iron Body are far more exaggerated than I ever imagined...* A moment later. Cheng Ye pushed himself up against the foot of the bed. His face was somewhat pale, but all physical abnormalities had vanished, leaving behind only waves of rising steam. At this moment, his perception of pain had been suppressed to a mere tenth of normal, and numbness was virtually gone. He had expected to feel disoriented, yet the opposite was true. The nerves previously dedicated to processing pain felt severed and repurposed, capturing and processing other stimuli so that his five senses were keener than ever before. For example... He reached out and picked up the training short knife beside him. The instant his fingertips touched the hilt, a wondrous sensation of complete unity surged through his mind. With a flick of his wrist, the short knife traced a brilliant silver arc, slashing upward with a sharp burst. A frigid glint flashed along the blade's path, crisp and biting as frost. The weapon moved strictly with his intent, answering every impulse like an extension of his arm. An unprecedented rush of exhilaration flooded Cheng Ye's mind. It was as though he had held this blade for over a decade; every angle of a slash, every trajectory of force was etched into his genes, as familiar and effortless as breathing. *Is this... the world of geniuses?* ...