Happiness came too suddenly.

Cheng Ye turned his head to look at the rest hall behind him, suddenly feeling that this day had been absurdly long.

Just a few days ago when he was lying in the hospital, he would read for a while and it would get dark, then tilt his head and sleep until dawn.

But today, from getting up at seven in the morning until now, he had inspected the merchant convoy, encountered the aerial fog, with surprises, frights, excitement, and exhilaration interspersed throughout. His emotions had been like riding a roller coaster, rising and falling without stopping.

Who could have imagined that at this moment, he would actually have to cross thousands of kilometers and step into Xinghuo Sanctuary City for a stroll?

He wouldn't have dared to think of it.

Yet it was so real he could reach out and touch it.

The aerial fog might bring devastating disaster, but it could also tear open a fog passage filled with opportunities, just like now.

Taking several deep breaths, his mood gradually calmed.

Cheng Ye gently fastened the headband around his forehead and stepped forward.

Buzz.

Only a faint humming sound reached his ears, nothing else unusual.

There was no spinning world as he had imagined, no so-called space-time distortion. It was like passing through a half-open door, walking from one room into another, completely in line with human intuition.

But the next second, a mixture of fresh grass and moist earth rushed toward him, carrying just the right amount of coolness that instantly dispelled the stuffiness and heat of the rest hall.

Cheng Ye instinctively looked around, his gaze sweeping over the low houses on both sides of the street, their white walls and red tiles radiating warmth in the night.

Sweeping over a tower not far away that stood two to three hundred meters tall, with signal lights flashing rhythmically at its top.

Sweeping over the tall buildings hidden in darkness around them...

Suddenly, his gaze fixed, landing on the skyline directly behind the fog passage.

Reflected in his pupils, a mountain stood like a tilted barrier across the sky, brutally cutting off all sight lines that tried to penetrate it.

Although it didn't match Mount Everest's majesty that pierced the heavens, it was still a massive thing with an altitude of over three thousand meters.

At this moment, the night was deep.

Yet this mountain had broken free from the desolation and death silence that the wasteland should have, even overturning all of Cheng Ye's understanding of mountain landscapes he had seen on Earth.

It looked very standard.

Just like something that had walked out of a painting, presenting a perfect triangular form.

From the mountain base to the peak, every inch of rock wall emanated warm light, as if countless stars had been embedded within.

With the extraordinary vision brought by his Wild Grass Physique, Cheng Ye quietly gazed at this mountain, from bottom to top.

Countless platforms of varying widths extended like giant hands from the rock walls, layered and cantilevered along the mountainside.

Countless buildings and factories were embedded on the platforms, interlocking and meshing as if the mountain body had naturally grown these steel skeletons.

Even more amazing was that rings of silver-gray tracks wound around the mountain body like ribbons, spiraling toward the peak, with various sized vehicles traveling smoothly on the tracks, connecting the platforms at different heights of the mountain.

The entire mountain seemed to be breathing, seemed to possess life, transformed into a three-dimensional living entity!

How magical!

How shocking!

What a sight that completely overturned understanding!

Modern architectural styles try to spread out as much as possible, expanding across flat surfaces.

But the wasteland was exactly the opposite. Xinghuo Sanctuary City went against this trend, utilizing vertical space to the extreme.

Cheng Ye was so mesmerized for a moment that he even lightened his breathing.

Li Changfeng stood to the side, apparently having long anticipated his reaction, and didn't step forward to disturb him.

Not just Cheng Ye, but every sanctuary city lord who came to Xinghuo for the first time.

Everyone who saw 'Xinhuo Rail Mountain' basically had this same shocked expression.

And mountains like this, Xinghuo Sanctuary City currently had thirteen of them, each one larger in scale than the last.

The one Cheng Ye was currently seeing could only rank seventh.

After a long while, Cheng Ye finally pulled his gaze away, turning his head somewhat dazedly to meet Li Changfeng's eyes.

"It's not just pure technology, is it?"

"Of course not." Li Changfeng shook his head gently, "How many years have passed from the New Era until now? The great war destroyed all industrial foundations, and we didn't dig up any alien treasures. The iteration speed of basic technology is actually quite slow."

"Then these?"

"It seems you still don't know about source guidance technology and source track technology."

Li Changfeng's tone carried barely perceptible pride, "Transcendent substances extracted from mother sources possess incredible energy. If we can guide them, we can achieve many effects we previously didn't dare to imagine. For example, this Xinhuo Rail Mountain was formed using transcendent mother sources."

"Source track technology is another path, reverse-engineering the special abilities of infection sources or mutant beasts at their root. For example, the Wing Assault Units we just used were obtained by reverse-analyzing the source tracks of Giant Rock Crows. Uh, Giant Rock Crows are a type of mutant bird that can hover in storms."

"Utilizing infection sources? Learning from infection sources?"

Cheng Ye finally found his voice, his throat somewhat dry.

So the Infection Source Research Institute in Happiness City stood above the other two institutes not only because humanity's enemies were various infection sources, but also because infection sources were actually the key to technological breakthroughs?

"Every sanctuary city is doing this, including your Happiness City. It's just that everyone's progress varies. Currently, only two sanctuary cities are applying source guidance technology, one is Xinghuo, the other is Natural Sanctuary City on the other side of the planet."

He paused, retracting some of his smile, "And source guidance technology, you being an inspector should understand, cannot be shared."

"Mm."

Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment, then nodded gently, but his heart was stirring with tremendous waves.

It wasn't because they couldn't share, the reason was very simple.

On one hand, transcendent mother sources themselves were disaster-level existences. Ordinary sanctuary cities, let alone research them, might face city destruction and death just from encountering them. They simply didn't have the qualifications to research.

On the other hand, if source guidance technology spread, what if some desperate, crazy sanctuary city used living people to cultivate infection sources to obtain mother sources? That would bring not technological progress, but civilization's end.

But on such a vast Blue Star, with thousands of sanctuary cities, only two sanctuary cities could apply this technology?

This gap was too exaggerated.

And as time passed, the gap between other sanctuary cities and these two would only grow larger.

"What about source track technology?"

"This can be shared, but everyone researches different directions. The same source can develop different tracks, and each track has different uses. It's hard to price each source track technology uniformly."

Li Changfeng spoke very diplomatically, but Cheng Ye understood the meaning.

High-level source track technology was very valuable and couldn't possibly be traded away. Low-level technology everyone could research, so trading value wasn't easy to unify.

After speaking, he pointed to the big brick hanging at Cheng Ye's waist, "Your Happiness City's defense communicator uses source track technology, doesn't it?"

"This?"

Cheng Ye was a bit confused.

He had to say, at this moment he truly experienced what it meant to be a country bumpkin entering the city.

But the embarrassment passed in an instant, instead stirring up stronger curiosity, "I mainly deal with construction and inspection. I really don't understand these things, I just use them without ever thinking about how they came about or what makes them work, much less heard these technical terms."

Not just him, probably few people at the entire inspection station would ponder these things.

This was the research direction, something for people in the industrial zone and inner city to study.

The inspection station was the practical direction. Inspectors spent their days outside dealing with infected entities, studying how to check for smuggling, how to interrogate and extract information, how to navigate the wasteland.

Asking a bunch of rough guys to gnaw through technical manuals and understand technical principles was really asking too much.

"Normal, I can also use them but don't know specifically how they're implemented."

Li Changfeng laughed heartily, "These communication tools from the Old Era all need something called 'chips' to process data, and manufacturing chips is a huge problem. Your Happiness City was the first to use source track technology to bypass this difficulty and achieve mass production."

"In those early years, not just other sanctuary cities, even we at Xinghuo had to purchase from you. It's just that in recent years everyone has gradually researched their own solutions and developed their own alternatives, so demand has slowed down."

Chips were actually made using source track technology?

And Happiness City had autonomous manufacturing capability?

Even Xinghuo had to import from Happiness City?

The continuous stream of high-value information made Cheng Ye's thinking completely active, sweeping away all fatigue.

This was the first time he had heard an outsider's technical evaluation of Happiness City, and he hadn't expected it to be so mind-blowing.

Suddenly, Cheng Ye felt he might have underestimated Happiness City before.

He had always thought that the processor chips inside defense communicators and various consumables were all purchased from other sanctuary cities.

He never would have imagined that his own city was once a technology exporter!

Happiness City's ancestors had actually been this wealthy!

"Inspector Cheng, I've already opened permissions for you. You just need to touch your ear to use it, very simple." Li Changfeng indicated.

Cheng Ye followed his instructions and lightly touched his ear. The headband immediately began to rotate gently, very smoothly, with the monocle precisely falling in front of his right eye.

The next second, the entire world suddenly brightened, as if instantly stepping from deep night into midday, making him instinctively squint.

When his gaze swept over the fog passage, rows of pale blue text automatically floated at the edge of his vision:

[Void Mist (Special Mobile-Type Transcendent Curse)]

[First Appearance: New Era Year 35, April 7, 16:23, Sha Province 'Towards Dream' Sanctuary City south 84 degrees, Great World coordinates 2315.31 vicinity. Appearance duration 1.15 hours, covering 23 square kilometers, no abnormal effects]

[First Outbreak: New Era Year 35, May 5, 08:15, Sha Province 'Tianxin' Super Sanctuary City north 19 degrees, coordinates 2877.112. Duration 2.3 hours, covering 300 square kilometers, generating over a hundred fog passages, triggering small-scale mutant beast tide, connecting multiple sanctuary cities and settlements]

[First Large-Scale Casualties: New Era Year 35, May 17, 16:00. Coverage area expanded to nearly three thousand square kilometers with rainy weather. Post-incident investigation: 3 medium-sized settlements of a thousand people disappeared (suspected destroyed by mother source infected entities traveling through fog passages), 12 small settlements of a hundred people disappeared (suspected attacked by Snow Province No. 39 infection tide)]

[Second outbreak occurred: New Era Year 35, May 21...]

[...]

The information that popped up didn't directly explain the nature of fog passages, but was like a chronicle, from first appearance to first outbreak, then to the first appearance of large-scale casualties.

Step by step outlining the full picture of aerial fog, allowing people to sense the threat from these events.

Cheng Ye read line by line, his brow sometimes furrowing tightly, sometimes relaxing.

As the strongest sanctuary city in the wasteland, Xinghuo's information collection was terrifyingly comprehensive.

Or rather, when all sanctuary cities encountered similar situations, they would immediately compile data and send it here, hoping to obtain support.

Since May 5th, the frequency and scale of aerial fog outbreaks had climbed steadily, reaching a peak in mid-June with the largest single coverage area reaching 40,000 square kilometers.

But then it suddenly disappeared at the end of June, just when everyone thought this disaster had ended.

On New Era Year 35, July 20, 13:15, it appeared in Shi Province, and the coverage area reached an unprecedented size, a full 220,000 square kilometers.

The number of associated fog passages hadn't been tallied yet, but it should be no less than the number counted during the previous outbreak.

At least over a thousand!

On average, every 100-150 square kilometers would produce one associated fog passage.

These fog passages might cluster in one place or be particularly scattered, large and small.

In previous records, the largest lasted nearly 8 hours, the smallest only about two minutes.

"Is there no information on how fog passages form?"

"No." Li Changfeng shook his head, "Transcendent curse is also our general term for this type of mysterious natural disaster. Actually, its formation process might be very complex, but who knows that much?"

"From the last era until now has only been thirty to forty years. We're like chicks trapped in eggshells, huddled defensively around our respective sanctuary cities. It's only been these past ten years that we've had the ability to stick our feet out and explore."

"Could it be transcendent beings..."

Cheng Ye's words were cut off before he could finish them.

"Shh!"

Li Changfeng's expression changed drastically, quickly making a silencing gesture, then lowering his voice, "Sorry, Inspector Cheng, we at Xinghuo strictly forbid discussing this, and even more so forbid anyone from pursuing such power. Anyone showing such tendencies can only be asked to leave and seek other employment."

"Understood."

Cheng Ye made an apologetic gesture, but felt somewhat strange inside.

Xinghuo was clearly researching source guidance technology, utilizing the power of transcendent mother sources, so why were they so secretive about transcendence?

However, Li Changfeng obviously didn't want to discuss this further and immediately changed the subject, "You can say detection intensity to see the fog passage situation."

"Alright, let me try."

Cheng Ye said quietly, and indeed rows of data flashed before his eyes.

[Fog Passage Link]

[Intensity: 320]

[Maximum Duration: 5 hours 06 minutes]

[Minimum Duration: 4 hours 29 minutes]

From stepping into the fog passage until now, 11 minutes had passed, and the data had changed accordingly.

Cheng Ye was somewhat curious about the detection principle, but thinking it over, that would be the pot calling the kettle black. Even if he asked, Li Changfeng probably couldn't answer.

To really know how this thing was made and what the principle was wouldn't fit with his inspector identity.

Just as he was pondering, engine roars suddenly came from behind.

Several military green jeeps roared up, their tires making whooshing sounds as they rolled over the road surface.

Unlike Happiness City, Xinghuo Sanctuary City seemed to use fuel-powered vehicles, making quite a racket at night.

Car doors opened and a group of people in various uniforms jumped out, including some who looked like leaders at first glance, technicians carrying equipment boxes, and many staff members running errands.

"Inspector Li, how's the situation?"

When everyone saw Li Changfeng, they all greeted him familiarly.

"Very stable. This is Inspector Cheng from Happiness City." Li Changfeng smiled and introduced, "Inspector Cheng, this is Deputy District Chief Zhang Yi of our B4 district, Zhang Yi, in charge of trade and emergency coordination."

The man called Deputy District Chief Zhang immediately stepped forward, gripped Cheng Ye's hand and shook it vigorously, his face full of enthusiastic smiles, "Inspector Cheng, I've long admired you! Your Happiness City inspection station is the standard for our wasteland. The tutorial your grandfather wrote sits right by my bedside, I've long wanted to learn from your experience!"

Cheng Ye quickly returned the grip, secretly clicking his tongue.

Zhang Yi's serious expression really made him experience the prestige of being an inspector in diplomatic settings before he'd even gone on field duty.

He had to say, this feeling was novel and subtle, truly like being a diplomat.

"Inspector Cheng, this fog passage opened at such perfect timing!"

Deputy District Chief Zhang's voice was booming as he pointed excitedly at the fog passage, "The various supplies Happiness City ordered at the beginning of the year, we were planning to gather a merchant convoy in autumn to deliver, but now we can go directly through the fog passage, saving so much trouble!"

"This..." Cheng Ye pondered briefly, thinking about how to respond.

Fortunately, at this moment, commotion suddenly came from the rest hall on the other side of the fog passage.

He saw white mist churning at the entrance guarded by Big Dragon, and twelve fully armed soldiers filed in one after another.

All wore dark gray tactical uniforms, full-protection masks and helmets, quick-draw holsters tightly fastened to their chests with short shotguns, rifles in their hands with muzzles pointing down but maintaining constant readiness, their entire bodies radiating the elite aura of battle-hardened veterans.

After the team entered the hall, they automatically spread into a fan-shaped alert formation. Only when they followed Big Dragon's guidance and saw the fog passage on the wall did the eyes beneath their helmets clearly flash with a trace of astonishment.

The squad leader quickly lowered his head to give two instructions. Four people left the hall while the remaining seven followed him in a quick run to the fog passage's edge, stopping half a meter away.

"Snap!"

Tactical boots clicked together heavily, making a crisp sound.

Eight people saluted simultaneously.

"Inspector Cheng! Happiness Legion 3rd Formation, Captain Shu Ke, reporting to you!"

"Sky Strike Squad, reporting to you!"

Their voices were incredibly uniform, as if they had practiced many times.

Cheng Ye was slightly stunned, then immediately returned to normal, saying in a deep voice, "Captain Shu, how's the situation outside?"

"Happiness Legion has completed three-layer encirclement of the Works Department, deploying 950 personnel in 80 squads."

Shu Ke spoke extremely quickly, his report concise and clear, "Temporary communications station established, can connect to inner city command headquarters at any time."

"Please immediately inform headquarters: fog passage connects to Xinghuo Sanctuary City B4 district, energy intensity stable, estimated to maintain for over 4 hours."

"Understood!"

Shu Ke nodded heavily, turning to signal to three people behind him.

The three immediately shouldered their rifles, forming a triangular formation and jogging away, shuttling through the aerial fog to the outside world.

The rest followed Shu Ke, standing in a tight defensive line at the fog passage's entrance.

In less than two minutes, the aerial fog in front of the rest hall entrance began churning wildly, and thirty to fifty soldiers poured in all at once.

Yet their formation wasn't scattered at all, moving in perfect unison, quickly forming a circle around the hall's perimeter, standing at attention and saluting toward the fog passage direction in perfect synchronization.

"Inspector Cheng, Sky Strike Battalion has assembled, requesting instructions!"

Shu Ke stepped forward, his voice ringing clear.

"Alert in place, without orders, do not cross the fog passage without authorization."

"Yes!"

If he hadn't led the Tianyuan Community in charging against infected entities, this scene might have made Cheng Ye feel somewhat nervous.

But now, his every movement showed no unfamiliarity.

He even secretly compared the Tianyuan Community with the Sky Strike Battalion in his mind.

On the Xinghuo side, a group of Xinghuo staff members busy with equipment quietly stopped their work.

Li Changfeng looked at that mass of black tactical uniforms across from them, then at Cheng Ye calmly giving orders, and unconsciously swallowed.

Saying he wasn't envious would be a lie.

Although Xinghuo Sanctuary City was much larger in scale than Happiness City, these inspectors were ultimately just members within the regional operational system.

The inspection station conducted major evaluations every three years, promoting the excellent and eliminating the worst.

At the same time, any accident would result in point deductions for inspectors, and once points fell below 60, they would be immediately dismissed.

His Level 4 inspector position might have higher authority than Cheng Ye's in normal times, but in this environment, the difference was significant.

But there was no helping it, who told Happiness City to be the birthplace of the inspection station system?

"Hmm?"

While waiting, Cheng Ye instinctively opened his panel for a glance and immediately felt surprised.

Among the dense crowd of names and question marks around him, only Li Changfeng's compatibility had reached double digits.

And the number wasn't low either, having shot up to 27%.

Although it was still far from the Lv2 skill search, it was already close to reaching the threshold for item search.

There was hope!

Cheng Ye's heart stirred.

As long as he stayed in Happiness City, he might encounter Liu Kun many more times, but the chance to come to Xinghuo Sanctuary City might only happen once in the next few years.

And after searching here, he could completely find an excuse to stay at the Works Department and leave only after fully charging.

"Good thing I charged up tonight, otherwise I'd be regretting it to death right now!"

Skills had plenty of targets to search.

Intelligence wouldn't improve the current situation in the short term.

But items, these source track devices that Xinghuo Sanctuary City was researching, no matter which one he searched, looked highly useful, especially those Wing Assault Units, just thinking about them made his blood boil!

This opportunity was once in a thousand years, he absolutely couldn't miss it!

After more than ten minutes, the mist in the hall surged again, and another group of people poured in.

As expected, Cheng Ye didn't recognize any of them, including the several middle-aged people surrounded by soldiers in the middle.

But they seemed very familiar with him, calling out across the fog passage, "Inspector Cheng, thank you for your hard work tonight!"

Hmm?

This voice sounded somewhat familiar?

Cheng Ye frowned slightly, immediately searching his memory for where he'd heard this voice.

Wasn't this the person who had contacted him from the inner city command center the night they took out Zhang Can!

Thinking about it, he made an apologetic gesture, turned around and passed through the fog passage back to the rest hall.

The two came to a corner of the hall, and the middle-aged man immediately lowered his voice, "Inspector Cheng, I'm Bai Wei, Emergency Director from the command center. You should be familiar with me."

"Director Bai, that night was you..."

"It was the Elder." Bai Wei smiled, the shrewdness hidden in the wrinkles around his eyes, "You should know everything, so let's speak plainly. What's the situation inside? Please quickly sync with me."

"Alright."

This Bai Wei could apparently hear the probing in his voice. Cheng Ye simply stopped beating around the bush and concisely explained everything that happened before and after the fog passage appeared, as well as everything that occurred after entering.

Bai Wei nodded frequently, "You've worked so hard, Inspector Cheng worked a full day shift and still have to handle these troubles tonight. I'll apply to the command center for overtime pay and authority rewards."

"Director Bai, you're being too polite, I'm not doing this for rewards..."

Cheng Ye quickly waved his hands, an embarrassed smile flickering across his face.

Good heavens.

Last time when he fleeced the Elder, did he leave these people with an image of someone who plucks feathers from every passing goose?

This wouldn't be good. If people knew about his personality, the opportunities to fleece wool would probably become fewer and fewer.

Who would have thought that Bai Wei saw through his thoughts with a single glance and laughed heartily, "Don't worry, we're not asking you to take it for free. If the Xinghuo side makes any conditions, we'll still need you as inspector to negotiate more. Although our Happiness City hasn't been wealthy these years, we won't shortchange any of the dignity we should have."

"In that case..."

Cheng Ye pondered for a moment, "Director Bai, after things stabilize, I'd like to follow Inspector Li to visit Xinghuo Sanctuary City's inspection station to learn. I wonder if..."

"No problem, go ahead, just make sure to return before the fog passage dissipates." Bai Wei agreed readily, his tone decisive, "Do you need us to coordinate anything for you? Like sending a Sky Strike squad for protection? Or allocating some study funds?"

"No need, no need."

Cheng Ye smiled and shook his head, "You handle your business, don't worry about me specifically. I know what I'm doing and will return on time."

"Good."

Bai Wei nodded, then turned and left to arrange material coordination without any unnecessary words or obvious or subtle reminders.

Cheng Ye stood in place for a moment, suddenly shaking his head gently, a wave of emotion rising in his heart.

Although this Happiness City was far inferior to Xinghuo Sanctuary City in scale and seemed to be falling behind in development.

But it was like those old nobles whose ancestors had been wealthy, even though their family fortune was far from what it used to be, they still preserved the most precious traditions.

Making people comfortable, giving people an inexplicable sense of belonging.

In just half an hour, material coordination had begun between both sides of the fog passage.

Seeing that he wasn't needed here for the moment, Cheng Ye once again passed through the fog passage and smiled at Li Changfeng, "Inspector Li, I'd like to visit your inspection station. I wonder if you could do me this favor?"

The Happiness City side was shrouded in aerial fog with dangerous conditions, making it unlikely for Xinghuo people to come over.

But the Xinghuo side had no such concerns. Li Changfeng was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly, "No problem, I'll take you for a tour. Come to think of it, since our B4 district inspection station was established, we've never received an inspector from another sanctuary city. You'll be the first!"

[NEXT CHAPTER]