Boom!

Lightning snaked across the sky, and rain fell like pearls.

The longer the warm, humid air brewed, the more ferocious the downpour when it finally broke.

In the latter half of the night, Cheng Ye jolted awake, leaping up and mentally recalling the charging pendant.

"Power outage?"

The sudden alert from the Civilization Collector made Cheng Ye think at first that a thief had broken in.

Fortunately, after checking the panel, it was just a notification that the energy input had paused.

Click!

He tugged the lamp cord by his bed, but there was no response. It seemed all the circuits were down.

Cheng Ye picked up the defense comm by his pillow and checked the time. Four minutes to six.

No point trying to catch more sleep. He got dressed and slid off the bed.

"Holy crap, what a downpour!"

Glancing out the window, Cheng Ye was stunned.

The rain formed a solid white curtain, far more intense than any storm he’d ever seen.

In just six or seven hours, the courtyard of the Sunrise Electronics Factory Workers’ Compound had accumulated enough water to reach his calves.

In the darkness, he could see a dozen people with flashlights clearing the drainage outlets in the yard.

Their efforts were in vain, though, as the streets beyond the compound were equally flooded.

Whoosh.

It was like a small river surging through the streets, carrying leaves and debris in its chaotic flow.

Under the relentless rain, the buffer zone’s usual veneer of calm was stripped away, revealing its ancient, weathered decay.

At its core, this place was still a relic of civilization from a hundred years ago in the Old Era.

When it was designed and built, no planner could have imagined that a century later, this land would host several times its intended population.

"If I ever have the chance to build a settlement, I’ll make sure drainage is a priority from the start."

Cheng Ye mused dreamily, his thoughts drifting far.

If he hadn’t glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of transcendent power, uncovering the wonders hidden beneath the wasteland’s ruins, he’d have been content to cling to his inspector position forever, locking in Happiness City’s iron rice bowl.

But now that he knew what was out there, how could he settle for being trapped here?

At the very least, if he died, he’d die chasing transcendent power and freedom.

Rubbing the edge of the pendant, Cheng Ye summoned the panel. The charge level in the top right corner had just crossed 50% before the outage.

This meant that at the rapid inspection post, if he found a target, he’d have a chance to boost his strength again.

Seven o’clock.

The rain eased slightly, but the flooding worsened.

Cheng Ye put on a raincoat and wrapped tape around the edges of his high-waisted rain boots to keep water out.

But no one could’ve predicted that his first step out the door would land in a puddle deep enough to reach his knees.

"Damn it!"

The old tenement buildings, influenced by outdated architecture, had high thresholds at their entrances.

This caused water to pool inside, unable to drain, piling up until it submerged the first floor’s steps like a fishpond.

"Haha, brother, I was just about to warn you!"

Someone burst out from the security door by the stairs, holding a blue plastic bucket.

Cheng Ye peered over and saw the man’s apartment was practically a fishpond, yet he was still grinning.

"With this flooding, we don’t have to go to work today, and we still get paid!"

The man seemed to sense Cheng Ye’s confusion and explained cheerfully, "Plus, I heard the inner city’s engineering team is discussing renovating tenements like ours after the storm."

"Renovate?"

Short of tearing it down and rebuilding, Cheng Ye doubted a renovation would improve the tenements much.

But if they could fix the drainage pipes, upgrade the electrical systems, and maybe give every resident six-square-millimeter wiring, that’d be fantastic!

"You’re heading to work, right? Come on, I’ll carry you out!"

Seeing Cheng Ye hesitate at the staircase, the man set down his bucket and walked over.

"No need to be shy with me, Old Sun. We’re neighbors, and besides, you’re working for the buffer zone’s sake. That’s way better than slackers like me living off handouts."

Speaking of handouts, Cheng Ye couldn’t help but notice Old Sun seemed almost proud of it.

"Thanks, then!"

"Quit dawdling, hop on."

Carrying Cheng Ye on his back, the man waded through the compound, one careful step at a time.

By the time he set Cheng Ye down at the entrance, the water reached past his thighs, with yellow mud caking his legs below the knees.

"I’m off. If you come back tonight, I’ll carry you again."

Old Sun tossed out the offer and trudged back through the water.

Watching his determined figure, Cheng Ye suddenly felt that maybe the hearts of people in the wasteland weren’t as bad as he’d thought.

The bad might be worse, but the good hadn’t completely vanished.

On the other side.

"Ow, my gosh, go easy! Don’t knock my shelves apart!"

Uncle Dong’s voice pierced through the rain.

Cheng Ye stood on his toes to look and saw water up to calf level in the general store. Four or five workers were hunched over, scooping water out with basins.

Someone’s elbow bumped a wall-mounted shelf, sending plastic bottles and cans clattering down. Uncle Dong slapped his thigh in distress, looking ready to dive in and save his goods.

"Uncle Dong, with your old arms and legs, don’t add to the chaos."

Cheng Ye stepped forward and grabbed the old man.

"Otherwise, if you slip and hurt yourself, a trip to the infirmary will cost more than what you’d make selling this stuff."

"Little Cheng!"

Uncle Dong turned, his slightly gray hair plastered to his forehead, looking like a soaked old hen.

"If I hadn’t been quick last night, this freak rain would’ve drowned me in my shop."

"That bad?"

"You bet. I was sorting inventory in the basement, dozed off for a bit, and suddenly water came rushing in. In less than half a minute, it was up to my neck!"

The row of shops at the compound’s entrance, built in the old style, all had basements for storage.

Cheng Ye’s eyelids twitched as he exclaimed, "Maybe stop using the basement for now. If you don’t have a place to stay today, come to my place?"

"No way! If I don’t watch this shop, how am I supposed to sleep?"

Uncle Dong shook his head and pulled a half-box of nutrient paste from the salvaged goods.

"Thirty packs, fresh stock from yesterday. I saved it for you. If this freak rain keeps up, this stuff’s gonna be snatched up like crazy."

"Thanks."

Cheng Ye opened the box, stuffed the nutrient paste into his backpack, and handed over a stack of 10-denomination Happiness Coins.

A pack of nutrient paste was currently 2 Happiness Coins, and the coins in his hand totaled at least twelve or thirteen.

For once, Uncle Dong didn’t protest.

In a storm like this, nutrient paste prices would only skyrocket. Hoarding a batch and reselling at five coins a pack wouldn’t be hard.

More importantly, even with money, you might not get any if scalpers snatched it all up!

And sure enough, as Cheng Ye walked toward the North Station checkpoint, every shop selling nutrient paste had long lines out front.

He didn’t spot Chu Yunfeng’s family, unsure if they’d found a place to stay or stocked up on nutrient paste.

"Ugh, why am I thinking of Chu Yunfeng the moment I get a search opportunity?"

Cheng Ye felt a spark of temptation.

Compared to taking a gamble at the checkpoint, milking Chu Yunfeng’s golden legend status was way more appealing!

Thirteen Level 1 skills, minus the non-combat ones he didn’t need right now, left skills like Basic Perception and Quick Draw, which sounded incredibly useful just from their names.

But he also knew that with that family’s wariness, showing up without a good reason might not get him the 50% cooperation needed.

The best approach was to wait for another encounter at the checkpoint.

Cheng Ye had a gut feeling that with Chu Yunfeng’s abilities, he wouldn’t settle for manual labor in the buffer zone forever. Not to mention supporting a family, with the way things were going…

"Price hike, price hike! Nutrient paste is five coins a pack now!"

Shouts rang out from the roadside. Scalpers, sniffing out the storm’s business opportunity, were already hawking nutrient paste at a premium.

Some people grumbled and shoved their way out of lines, only to grit their teeth and pay double to grab crumpled packs from the scalpers.

No choice, nutrient paste was in high demand and cheap, making it hard to fake with tech or tricks.

In hot weather, it lasted five days at most, and it took a day to get from the factory to buffer zone distributors.

Plus, most people, exhausted from a day’s labor, lacked the energy or savings to stock up in advance.

Because of this, any disaster in the buffer zone sent prices swinging wildly.

"Can’t Happiness City’s officials step in and regulate? Lock up these damn scalpers and execute them!"

"Yeah! These black-hearted vultures profiting off disasters, don’t let me catch them in the ruins!"

"Get real. Where do you think the scalpers get their stock?"

"Where? You saying the Resource Bureau bigshots are handing it to them to sell?"

"You can tell you’re new here. Listen up: in the buffer zone, you can eat whatever, but don’t talk reckless. If a patrol guard heard that, you’d be dragged to the Security Bureau and beaten half to death."

"…"

Cheng Ye hurried through the crowd, the sounds of cursing and chatter rising and falling around him.

For some reason, last night’s anxiety about heading to the rapid inspection post had given way to a restless excitement.

Especially hearing and seeing the refugees’ frustration, despair, curses, and defeat!

He felt the Old Era’s easygoing, non-competitive nature slipping from his genes with every step toward the North Station checkpoint.

In its place, the wasteland’s savage ferocity and ruthless drive to fight were awakening in his blood.

This wasn’t an era where everyone had hope, where civilization marched toward revival.

It was a transcendent wasteland era of life-and-death struggles, where the strong sought to dominate everything!

"The Collector opened a path upward, giving me the potential to keep getting stronger."

"Brother B protected me when I was at my weakest, giving me the ability to stand my ground."

"Now!"

"It’s finally time for this world to meet my arrival!"