So 11:41 didn't refer to humidity reaching the threshold to trigger the infected outbreak conditions.

But rather the time when the mother source exposed its own location?

Cheng Ye supported himself against the bedside and stood up. His head was still buzzing from the shriek's effect, but his memory rapidly retrieved the simple description of "mother source" from the inspector's manual.

Infection sources were divided into three categories.

Weak, strong, and mother.

The classification standard was extremely crude, ranked by degree of contamination. The deeper the contamination, the stronger the power.

Mother sources specifically referred to those mutated products of animals and plants that once possessed transcendent abilities but died from S-4 virus erosion.

"Happiness City actually had one of these things infiltrate?"

Cheng Ye's heart shook violently.

No matter how weak a mother source was, it still possessed true transcendent abilities. Detonating one casually would cause a disaster.

Fortunately, He Fei's death had sounded the alarm, prompting Happiness City to go on alert early.

But even so, they couldn't locate its coordinates before the mother source exposed itself?

Cheng Ye suddenly felt somewhat eager.

If he could search for the mother source, would he find something good?

"But now isn't the time to think about such things. Time to set out."

Cheng Ye opened the active warning module on his defense communicator. The buffer zone instantly materialized as a 3D map.

Among the densely packed district numbers, at least two-thirds of the areas flashed with piercing red light, including Zone B-7 where the electronics factory complex was located.

But some places flashed yellow light, such as the chemical factory complex away from the urban area, like an isolated island in muddy currents.

Besides this, Cheng Ye's gaze fell on the area near the giant wall station.

All twelve districts from A-1 to A-12 had turned a terrifying pure black.

Without needing drone observation, he could imagine how many infected were now swarming and gathering in that area.

"Captain, infected seem to have arrived at the complex entrance, attracted by the meat."

Huang Sheng's message popped up in the defense communicator's notification bar. The wording was cautious and very cleverly avoided using the inspector title to prevent unnecessary trouble during outdoor operations.

Cheng Ye pressed the left side key and replied by voice, "Don't move rashly first. Let me check the situation."

"Understood."

The surveillance drone dove down. Indeed, four staggering figures had appeared at the complex entrance.

As the distance closed, images began appearing on the defense communicator's screen.

"Hiss."

"This is called... starfish tumors?"

Cheng Ye had thought small starfish tumors would form at the center of the forehead.

However, the people in the footage had human head contours that seemed to bloom like flowers from the neck up, forming giant starfish about 30-40 centimeters in diameter along the skull.

Five thick arms spread out radially, their surfaces covered with rough gray-purple skin densely packed with granular protrusions and irregular folds.

As for what should have been the face at the starfish's center, now only deformed growths of bone fragments and soft tissue remained.

The drone lens continued zooming in. Even though Cheng Ye had seen many terrifying parasites, he still felt nauseous, his stomach churning.

"Captain, someone on the fourth floor seems to have changed!"

As the message arrived, Cheng Ye also heard the sound of furniture crashing from downstairs.

The drone pulled up, its camera rapidly capturing images. Not just the fourth floor, but people on the third and first floors had also mutated.

"These people didn't take medicine and held out?"

"The Epidemic Powder has too high a death rate. Many people were also afraid it was another scam like the sleep spirit, so they gritted their teeth and didn't take medicine."

"Then let's set out. First clear the infected on the fourth floor. Come get ammunition and containment boxes."

"Yes."

Cheng Ye strapped two long guns to his back, grabbed the containment box with his left hand, and picked up the triangular spear with his right as he pushed the door open.

Almost simultaneously, the neighboring door also opened in response.

Compared to his wildly cool rainy night killer outfit, Huang Sheng and the other two looked like football players who had wandered onto a battlefield by mistake. Their helmets sat crookedly on their heads, the acrylic protective gear gleamed with an oily sheen under the corridor lights, waterproof canvas bags hung at their sides, and only the defense pistols in their hands had been polished to a dark shine.

However, this comical appearance somehow made Cheng Ye feel inexplicably at ease.

Not to mention, forming a team was indeed better than fighting alone.

For instance, now with Huang Sheng and the other two spread out in a fan formation for vigilance, he could completely try close combat first to test the strength of these Stand-In Starfish infected.

"Here, you handle containment."

"Don't worry, Captain. This is what I do." Zhu Xiang took the box.

The other two entered the room, clicked their tongues at the ammunition covering the floor, and hurriedly stuffed their backpacks.

Preparations complete.

Just as the four were about to go downstairs, other doors on the fifth floor seemed to open in unspoken coordination, with many gazes peering out.

"All go back. What are you looking at us for?" Huang Sheng called out.

"Take care."

Someone started it, and suddenly the corridor filled with successive "take care" calls.

After more than ten years as neighbors, everyone understood what stepping through that door meant.

Even Cheng Ye paused in his steps. At this moment, separated by just a door, there was somehow a sense of parting between life and death.

However, now wasn't the time for sentiment, and the situation hadn't reached a life-or-death crisis.

"Stay close."

"Yes!"

Going down the stairs, the Stand-In Starfish infected hadn't managed to break out of their rooms yet.

Only the constant sound of door pounding and muddled cries of "Meat, meat, eat meat!"

"Don't be afraid. Huang Sheng kicks the door, I'll go first."

After killing people, Cheng Ye was surprised that his courage had skyrocketed.

Though even before, he had never feared infected. He just found some infected disgusting, but had never hesitated when shooting.

Toward the door lock area, Huang Sheng flew up with a kick, directly striking it.

The door trembled, and the frame groaned under the strain.

Seeing this, he stepped back two paces, took a running start, and kicked again.

Boom.

The door lock was kicked open, and the starfish infected standing behind the door was knocked down.

Cheng Ye stepped in with one stride, almost instinctively raising his hand and thrusting fiercely toward the center of the starfish's face.

Squelch.

The sharp weapon pierced flesh, bringing out a streak of black blood. The starfish infected still tried to prop itself up and climb to its feet.

He didn't hesitate, stabbing two more times at different parts. The infected on the ground immediately stopped moving.

"Three fatal wounds, instant death. Intelligence verification passed."

Turning around, Huang Sheng and the other two seemed nervous but also excited.

They obviously hadn't expected him to be so swift and decisive, stabbing like it was a dummy, completely ignoring the starfish infected's fierce appearance.

"Once mutated, they're enemies. Showing mercy harms both others and yourself."

"Understood."

Cheng Ye stepped out, the three exchanged glances, and Zhu Xiang drew his knife and moved forward to begin cutting.

As a Medical Department worker, his basic first aid knowledge also included simple surgery, so dismantling starfish was naturally no problem.

[Detecting dissipating biological consciousness, auto-absorbing]

[Successfully supplemented information level: 0.41]

"Holy crap, 0.41, even higher than before?!"

"So not every infected gives the same value. It's affected by... the different information each person knew?"

Cheng Ye couldn't help but be overjoyed.

Just hunting one infected had yielded more information level than Beast Instinct.

Ridiculous!

"Go, go, go, hurry and keep up with me."

Inexplicably, he actually felt the pleasure of grinding monsters for levels.

This was just too satisfying.

One infected equaled one contribution point, plus additional information level rewards.

If he missed this Stand-In Starfish outbreak, who knew when the next such opportunity would come.

"Yes!"

The three exchanged glances, increasingly able to see the excitement in each other's eyes.

According to outside rumors, Happiness City's inspectors would get itchy hands if they didn't kill infected for a day or two.

Seeing this today, the rumors were indeed true.

This Inspector Cheng was so young yet already full of killing intent, so excited upon seeing infected.

Glancing at the drone outside the window, the three quickened their pace, grins already spreading under their helmets.

How many contribution points they got didn't matter much to people of their age and registration level.

As long as it didn't reach a qualitative change level, life would still be the same life.

But the merit gained from killing infected was a necessary condition for climbing up within their respective systems, the only channel to realize their ideals.

"Keep up, hurry and keep up!"

Huang Sheng called out in a low voice. By the time the three went downstairs, Cheng Ye was already standing at the stairway entrance. Looking down the corridor, there were actually three infected pounding on doors.

"Close combat, or... shoot?"

Cheng Ye only hesitated for an instant before drawing the Buffalo combat pistol from his waist.

He had always been cautious.

Bang bang bang, bang bang bang...

Nine gunshots exploded like pearls on a string. The bullets weren't aimed shots but poured out as he moved.

The mobile shooting technique he'd searched from Master Tian hadn't greatly enhanced his shooting accuracy, but had minimized dynamic shooting errors to the extreme.

Even while making tactical side movements or charging steps, he could achieve the same level as his previous focused and calm state.

With these nine shots, Cheng Ye aimed at different parts to test and reached a conclusion.

Humans mutated into Stand-In Starfish infected still maintained their previous weaknesses.

Heart, skull, throat, all counted as fatal injury zones.

Without Cheng Ye's reminder, Zhu Xiang ran toward where the three infected had fallen and began cutting.

Wu Zhihong and Huang Sheng were responsible for vigilance. By the time Cheng Ye finished reloading, prompts flashed before his eyes.

[Successfully supplemented information level: 0.17, 0.04, 0.09]

Less than before.

But the accumulation speed was still gratifying considering the acquisition difficulty.

It seemed the information level the collector could increase by absorbing consciousness was indeed limited by the amount of knowledge humans possessed before death.

"I wonder if after the information level increases, when encountering something I've never seen, I could directly search for corresponding information, equivalent to identification?"

Cheng Ye pondered. After confirming the three infection sources in the corridor had just been contained by Zhu Xiang, he headed toward the first floor.

The gunshots had alerted four starfish infected in the courtyard, but with meat nearby, they didn't come directly over and continued feasting on the muddy ground.

More than ten infected from the complex entrance were also running over. Cheng Ye was delighted rather than alarmed. This was the first time he'd seen infected this excited.

Down to the first floor.

Unexpectedly, the door the infected was clawing at belonged to Old Sun, who had carried him out before.

"Seeking death."

Cheng Ye growled low, stepped forward quickly with both hands gripping the spear and thrust fiercely.

But this time he was more cautious. After striking, he didn't follow up but quickly retreated.

Indeed, after receiving fatal wounds, the infected's movement speed greatly decreased. Its turning speed was comparable to an aircraft carrier changing direction.

"This is too weak."

Cheng Ye couldn't help but mutter.

These Stand-In Starfish infected had almost no threat except for their contact infection characteristic.

But just as he was about to move forward to finish it off, he suddenly felt tense and instinctively dodged sideways.

Splurt.

A stream of yellow fluid sprayed from the infected's mouth, hitting the wall with a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

"Spitting fluid?"

Bang, bang bang.

Gunshots came from behind. Wu Zhihong and Huang Sheng opened fire simultaneously the moment the fluid was sprayed.

"Captain, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Cheng Ye waved in response, the contempt that had just risen in his heart instantly dissipating.

A single infected spitting fluid could still be avoided, but what about ten, a hundred, when quantity created qualitative change?

"Vine infected fight individually. These starfish infected have their advantage in... group combat. Can't compare them on the same level."

Cheng Ye thought to himself as the door opened and Old Sun nervously looked out.

Discovering a black shadow standing not far from his door, his breathing instantly became somewhat stifled.

"Go back and hide. Don't come out."

"You're the one from that day..." Old Sun was startled, recognized Cheng Ye's voice, and quickly nodded before closing the door.

This was normal.

When infection tides came, not everyone should charge out.

Going through all five floors of the building, no one dared open their doors to look out, afraid of attracting infected.

[This time... 0.07]

"Already at 1.15!"

Glancing at the information panel prompt, Cheng Ye stopped overthinking and strode out of the tube building through the torrential rain.

Heavy rain was the home field for hydrophilic infected.

But equally, it also blocked the spread of scents.

The four infected feasting on the ground were completely unaware of someone approaching. Cheng Ye gave a look, and Huang Sheng and Wu Zhihong immediately stepped forward quickly, each taking responsibility for two, raising their guns for rapid shooting.

Muzzle flames spurted.

The dozen or so infected wandering at the entrance instantly locked onto the direction, roaring as they charged inward.

Their speed was equivalent to an adult's jogging pace, looking somewhat frightening.

"Meat, eat meat!"

"Meat meat!"

Unconscious murmurs overlapped, like evil spirits crawling out of hell.

Zhu Xiang gripped his pistol, nervously setting down the containment box, "Captain..."

"Don't panic, proceed according to plan!"

Before Cheng Ye finished speaking, he suddenly threw open his raincoat. With an arm motion, the Ranger rifle was already in his palm.

Pop, pop pop...

The rifle's burst fire sounded exceptionally crisp and pleasant, and the recoil transmitted to his shoulder was even more reassuring.

The fierce starfish infected twitched and fell in the rainy night. In Cheng Ye's eyes, each starfish head seemed to display "Information Level ++" prompts.

So satisfying!

"Oh no, more infected are coming."

The gunshots were like a lighthouse in the dark night. From the four tube buildings in the electronics factory complex, infected that had originally been wandering in corridors seemed summoned, madly rushing down the stairs.

These monsters still retained some human instincts, at least they wouldn't get lost in buildings.

"What's 'oh no'? This is good news!"

Cheng Ye licked the corner of his mouth. The rain mist somewhat moistened his vision, but couldn't block the burning excitement in his eyes.

However, just then, the defense communicator at his waist suddenly rang urgently.

[Emergency broadcast: A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4 are defaulted as fallen. All personnel evacuate!]

[Repeat: The above four areas are defaulted as fallen. Do not approach!]

[Fire coverage imminent. Do not approach!]

"What?"

Cheng Ye's heart shook violently. He immediately pulled out his defense communicator and pressed it.

On the 3D map, the four areas mentioned in the broadcast had changed from black to colorless transparency.

Among the various lights flashing across the map, they looked somewhat strange, as if the infection tide had already ended.

He instinctively clicked on the video feed and instantly froze in place.

In the drone's transmitted footage, hundreds of fusion bodies had already climbed onto the Happiness Wall, with giant tentacles extending from their torsos firmly clinging to the wall surface, frantically climbing toward the top.

That was a thirty-meter high wall, and these fusion bodies actually wanted to climb over it?!

Besides this, the area in front of the high wall was packed with dense infected, at least thousands of them having mutated fluid-spitting abilities. Yellow liquid actually covered the rain curtain, splashing against the high wall like sprinkler trucks, gradually melting fist-sized holes.

As for the watchtowers in front of the high wall, they had long been covered in slime and collapsed into twisted wreckage.

But none of this was what shocked Cheng Ye most.

Because behind the infected, he saw a giant fusion body over ten meters tall.

How to describe this thing?

It was like dozens of ordinary infected sewn together, covered all over with pentagonal starfish-shaped growths, twisted so grotesquely it looked like a monster crawled out of Cthulhu mythology.

"This is the Stand-In Starfish?"

Looking at the ordinary infected stumbling out of the corridor, then at those monsters in the footage.

Suddenly, Cheng Ye looked up sharply.

Whoosh!

Rockets wrapped in crimson flames shot up from the Happiness defense line, cutting rainbow-like trajectories through the pitch-black rain curtain.

Arcing across the sky, passing over Zone B-7, heading straight for the four areas in front of the Happiness Wall.

BOOM!

The transmitted footage cut off abruptly as a violent shockwave spread madly in all directions.

Even though Zone B-7 was several kilometers from the explosion center, the successive sounds of shattering glass still rang out.

So this was what "transparent" meant?

"Cap, Captain!" Huang Sheng's voice suddenly rang out, trembling.

"What is it?"

"That, that looks like something's coming!"

Following the direction of his pointing finger, Cheng Ye's hair instantly stood on end.

On the surface of the tube building closest to the street district, a black shadow was rapidly approaching.

The fierce tentacles dragging behind it, arms spread like a lion's mane, and a massive body far exceeding ordinary infected.

It was clearly one of those fusion bodies he'd seen clinging to the high wall in the footage!

"Quick, get in the building!"