The night grew dark, gradually enveloping the wasteland.

Cheng Ye returned to the Workers’ Compound, climbing the stairwell to the fifth floor of the tenement building and unlocking the security door at the end of the corridor.

The single room, just over ten square meters, held only a 1.5-meter bed and a small desk.

All unnecessary clutter had been cleared out to the scrap station after he transmigrated and assessed the situation, including his predecessor’s love tokens from the inner city: half a box of love letters from some woman.

In the wasteland, there was no room for romance. When survival itself was a challenge, other thoughts were a luxury.

Plugging the pendant into the socket to charge, Cheng Ye went to the fifth-floor public bathroom, inserting a card to draw water.

The young man in the mirror was thin, his face pale. His sharp features would be considered handsome by modern standards.

But in the wasteland, Liu Bi’s burly frame and rugged look were the true ideal.

Water gushed from the pipe, slightly yellowed from upstream flooding.

Free electricity, limited water rations, and a job that kept your belly full: Happiness City’s radio broadcasts weren’t entirely lies. This place was indeed happier than many sanctuary cities.

Of course, that was assuming no massive infected tide struck.

The thirty-meter Great Wall could fend off any attack, protecting the core residents’ safety, but the ordinary folks in the buffer zone would bear the brunt.

Entry to the inner city required 1,000 contribution points. As an inspector, Cheng Ye had earned only 19 points in two months.

For an ordinary person to amass that many points, they’d need to strike it rich with rare resources. Otherwise, a lifetime of hard work would still leave a massive gap.

And as an inspector, even if he saved enough points, he couldn’t enter the inner city, leaving a faint sense of crisis lingering in his heart.

If an infected tide hit and the buffer zone couldn’t hold, where would he flee? How would he escape?

Veteran inspectors might have secret shelters outside the isolation zone, but as a rookie with neither resources nor skills, where could he build one?

Big B might have one, but in a crisis, he’d prioritize his family. Would he still take Cheng Ye along?

After washing up, Cheng Ye returned to his room, his mind racing, unable to sleep.

Not until dawn’s first light peeked through the curtains did he jolt upright, rushing to the power strip.

Touching the pendant, the panel appeared.

[Current Activation Progress: 99.8%]

Just 0.2% left. Cheng Ye sat on the floor, checking the progress every few minutes.

The previous progress took two months, and he hadn’t felt impatient. But now, he was burning with urgency.

Fortunately, 0.2%—4 kWh was reached before full daylight.

"Finally done!"

As the thought hit, Cheng Ye’s eyes widened in shock.

The pendant was gone?

The moment charging completed, it vanished from the power strip, as if it had turned invisible.

But before he could process another thought, a blinding blue light flashed before his eyes.

The familiar panel had changed, displaying rows of text.

[Civilization Collector Fully Charged, Auto-Activated and Bound]

[Welcome, Civilization Collector: Cheng Ye. Current Rank: Level 1 Trainee]

[Civilization Collector has entered Sense Mode. Silently say "Collector" to open or close this panel]

[Civilization Collector has unlocked functions for your rank. Use your mind to view them on the panel]

[Enjoy your experience!]

"Trainee inspector, and now trainee collector too."

"So the Civilization Collector has upgrade levels, with potential for more functions."

Skimming the text, Cheng Ye, prepared by two months of mental conditioning, wasn’t surprised.

He quickly mastered controlling the panel with his mind, opening and closing it repeatedly.

"A Level 1 Collector has just one function, but it suits my job pretty well."

His eyes landed on the panel’s sole function.

[Search (Lv.1)]

[Current Charge: 2/2 (Recharges with energy)]

[Searchable Targets: Living Beings]

[Search Conditions: Requires target’s consent. Search range depends on cooperation level]

[Current Search Range: Information (10% cooperation, Lv.1), Items (30% cooperation, Lv.1), Skills (50% cooperation, Lv.1), Skills (100% cooperation, Lv.2)]

[Search Success Rate: 50% for same-level searches, halved per level increase. Failed searches refund action points]

[Note: Searches are equivalent copies. Success or failure does not affect the target]

"Search for information, items, skills?"

Cheng Ye’s mind buzzed with excitement, though he restrained himself.

Getting consent wasn’t hard. Survivors entering the isolation cages already showed some cooperation.

With proper guidance, 100% cooperation might be tough, but 50% was well within his grasp.

Information and items made sense, but what counted as a skill?

Was Big B’s shooting ability a skill?

What about the rumored uninfected superhumans with special abilities, were those skills?

Cheng Ye couldn’t help but dream.

If he could search for such abilities, his chances of surviving the external duty would skyrocket.

"Pity the success rate isn’t high. Even at the same level, it’s only 50%."

"And at my current rank, one charge gives just two search attempts. I need to choose targets carefully."

"What are these action points for failed searches?"

"And how do I restore charge?"

Questions flooded his mind, but his eyes gleamed, deciding not to dwell on the terms’ meanings yet. A few searches, successful or not, would clarify things.

Also, "I can’t rush. The more critical the moment, the more cautious I need to be."

"Big B got me the day off. If I rush to work, it’ll seem odd. Using the Collector and showing anything unusual would make me a target."

Cheng Ye repeated this to himself, suppressing his impulses and continuing to study the Civilization Collector.

In doing so, he discovered something hidden behind the search function—not quite a function.

[Collector: Cheng Ye]

[Current Rank: Lv.1 Trainee (Search this civilization and gather more information to advance)]

[Life Level: 0 (Below minimum standard)]

[Skills: None, None, None (Current life level allows up to three equipped skills)]

[Not yet unlocked...]

[Evaluation: Fragile Trainee Collector, your priority isn’t gathering civilization data but surviving the natives’ hunt!]

A substandard life level, an empty skill bar, and a warning about being hunted by natives.

The panel was barebones but reflected Cheng Ye’s current predicament perfectly.

"With my current abilities, I’d be toast in close combat with an infected."

Confirming no other functions were available, Cheng Ye closed the Collector and began planning his next steps.

Happiness City was a standard industrial sanctuary, producing firearms and ammo sold thousands of kilometers away, traded for precious food and tech data.

Buying a decent gun wasn’t hard for an inspector like him.

For instance, Liu Bi’s trusty Bison 9mm combat pistol cost just 20 contribution points—a bargain.

But while firearms were powerful, their use was limited to clearing infected tides, large-scale team battles, city defense, or human conflicts.

External checkpoint missions typically involved deliveries, scouting, or intel-gathering, done in teams of two to four, rarely involving direct combat.

Firing a gun in the city would attract infected like sharks to blood.

Get surrounded, and a failed mission was the least of your worries, losing your life was the real risk.

"If I’m lucky and get a delivery mission, I might not encounter any infected."

"For scouting missions, the best approach is using melee weapons to quietly take out infected, slipping in and out."

"So, my next skill search should prioritize boosting my close-combat abilities."

His 25-meter rapid-fire average of seven rings met the minimum standard for external duty.

But in melee, he was far behind, not just in technique but in courage, experience, and adaptability.

If he could find a skill to compensate for these weaknesses, his survival odds would soar.

With a decision made, Cheng Ye glanced out the window.

A rain curtain, heavy with leaden clouds, rolled in from the horizon. As the rain line shifted south, Happiness City was already feeling its effects.

Per past patterns, before the real downpour hit, survivors on the road would hasten their pace.

At the checkpoint, that meant an incoming surge of people!