Xinghuo Sanctuary City?

Those five words exploded in Cheng Ye's ears, making him unable to help but be dazed for several seconds.

As the currently recognized strongest sanctuary city in the entire wasteland, Xinghuo's name was mentioned by thousands upon thousands of people every minute and second. It was the dream city of countless people and the place where countless dreams originated.

Its construction began in the first year of the New Era, making it the super sanctuary city with the most solid foundation and the longest history.

How did that saying go? When gathered, it's a blazing fire; when scattered, it fills the sky with stars!

Countless founders of sanctuary cities had walked out from Xinghuo Sanctuary City.

Taking with them the ideals and talents from here.

Taking with them the supplies, technology, and techniques from here, they went to various places in the wasteland to resow the seeds of human civilization!

It was no exaggeration to say that in all the books Cheng Ye had read since coming to the wasteland, as long as they involved the New Era, they would definitely mention Xinghuo, and at least half of the authors were singing high praises of Xinghuo.

Liu Bi had also once said that if one day Xinghuo requested aid, at least two-thirds of the sanctuary cities on Blue Star would mobilize manpower and resources to support them.

Because in a certain sense, Xinghuo represented the foundation of human civilization.

"Is there any way to prove that you're from Xinghuo Sanctuary City?" Cheng Ye stepped forward and asked loudly.

The several people across from him obviously hadn't expected him to be so direct, and for a moment they were somewhat at a loss.

"This is Inspector from our Happiness City!" Second Dragon sternly shouted from the side, "Do you understand what an inspector means?"

"Understood, understood!"

The people on the other side of the fog passage immediately came to their senses as if awakening from a dream. Not bothering with curiosity, they quickly straightened their backs and assumed respectful postures.

Any settlement that reached sanctuary city scale would establish checkpoints.

Xinghuo Sanctuary City would naturally be no exception, though many people could go in and out a hundred or two hundred times and still rarely see an inspector.

Most just walked through automatic instruments, and after confirming no problems, they would leave directly.

However, Happiness City's inspector was actually this young?

"Do you have identity badges? If convenient, just let me verify them."

Seeing the several people stunned, Cheng Ye changed his phrasing.

"Yes! Yes!"

The leading man quickly pulled out a metal badge from his pocket and held it up toward the fog passage.

That badge's design was somewhat similar to Happiness City's, but the patterns on both sides were completely different.

The front showed the silhouette of a towering mountain peak with sharp lines, the summit covered with white snow.

The moment he saw it clearly, Cheng Ye couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

It wasn't unfamiliarity or surprise.

Rather, for every person from East Asia, this pattern was simply too familiar.

It was actually Mount Everest, honored as the roof of the world!

After Cheng Ye nodded slightly, the man flipped the badge over. The back showed a blazing fire with flames radiating outward, and small characters "Xinghuo" were carved around the edges.

"Wait, let me photograph this."

Cheng Ye quickly pulled out his defense communicator. Fortunately, he had activated field mode in the afternoon, so even now inside the fog passage, he wouldn't lose signal and be locked down.

The people across from him looked at the big brick in his hand with curious expressions.

Especially when they saw the brick split open a crack, revealing a camera lens, they couldn't help but marvel.

Opening the identity authentication function, he aimed the lens at the badge across the fog passage and took photos of both the front and back.

The light was somewhat dim and the photos weren't very clear, but the authentication system seemed to have considered this situation.

After following prompts to take supplementary photos from two more angles, after a few seconds, lines of information appeared on the defense communicator screen:

[Identity verification passed, Xinjiang Province Xinghuo Sanctuary City]

[Identity classification: Ordinary resident]

[Identity level: None]

"It really is Xinghuo Sanctuary City!"

Staring at the three lines of text displayed on the defense communicator, Cheng Ye's whole body trembled with an indescribable sense of bewilderment.

Calamity fog, mysterious fog passage.

Just when everyone was worried about whether monsters might suddenly rush out from the fog passage, whether mother source infectees might descend.

No one would have thought that this fog passage would first connect to that super sanctuary city five thousand kilometers away, hailed as the lighthouse of wasteland civilization!

Should he go over and take a look?

Separated by just a wall, he only needed to step lightly to cross space and arrive at that strongest sanctuary city that countless people yearned for.

Cheng Ye was somewhat restless.

Although after understanding quite a bit of the situation, he didn't think Xinghuo Sanctuary City was really that much better than Happiness City, the human instinct of curiosity about the unknown still drove him to want to go see for himself.

This wasteland.

This world.

To see what the strongest human sanctuary city actually looked like, what form it took!

However, after struggling for several seconds, reason was like a taut string, firmly pulling him back and keeping him rooted in place.

He couldn't be impulsive.

Though this fog passage seemed stable, who knew if it might suddenly disappear?

Once left in Xinghuo, returning to Happiness City in the short term would be basically impossible.

And over there, his identity as Happiness City inspector probably wouldn't have any effect.

Although with his current strength he might not necessarily become cannon fodder, his days would definitely be far less comfortable than in Happiness City.

However, just as Cheng Ye was hesitating, the crowd on the other side of the fog passage showed no fear at all.

Each one stretched their head to look inside, inhaling the lingering aroma of meat in the air, their eyes full of envy.

At the same time, though it was already late at night, more and more people were squeezing over.

With more people, courage grew as well.

Someone couldn't help but move forward a bit and tentatively asked, "Inspector sir, can we come over and take a look? Just stand at the entrance, absolutely won't wander around."

Looking at that eager expression, they obviously weren't afraid of being forcibly kept in Happiness City.

Cheng Ye could even sense that this guy wasn't just unafraid, but actually had some inexplicable expectation.

"That's temporarily not possible."

Cheng Ye snapped back to attention and quickly suppressed all distracting thoughts, "The fog passage might disappear at any time. If you come over and can't get back, that would be a big problem."

After pausing, he added, "If convenient, please contact Xinghuo's officials as soon as possible and explain the situation here clearly."

"We've already sent someone. In a few more minutes at most, someone will definitely come." someone immediately replied.

The fog hadn't enveloped Xinghuo Sanctuary City, yet the fog passage had connected to here.

Being able to converse with an inspector from a sanctuary city thousands of kilometers away was enough for them to boast about for half a lifetime.

"That's good."

Cheng Ye nodded lightly, considering whether to have Second Dragon go out to notify Happiness City officials.

However, the thought flashed by and was suppressed.

With the Works Department wrapped in such a large fog passage, the buffer zone's monitoring system couldn't possibly have no reaction.

Rather than having Second Dragon risk passing through the thick fog to report, it was better to wait for officials to react and send personnel to investigate.

What he needed to do now was guard this fog passage and not let anyone rashly cross through.

"Sir, what you just used in your hand, was that called a defense communicator?"

Seeing Cheng Ye no longer speaking, someone across couldn't help but ask curiously, pointing at the big brick he held in his hand, "I heard on the radio that Happiness City gives one of these things to every resident. Don't know if that's true or false?"

"Of course it's true, each of us has one!"

Before Cheng Ye could speak, Second Dragon puffed out his chest first and pulled out his own defense communicator to show off.

How could such a small matter be directly asked to Cheng Ye? These Xinghuo Sanctuary City people really had no sense.

"As long as you join our sanctuary city for over sixty days, you can receive one, and it's free."

"My heavens, it's actually true." That person exclaimed, his eyes full of envy.

"What, you don't have them?" Cheng Ye was stunned.

"We do have them, but you need to use contribution points to exchange for them. Even the most ordinary resident version costs 20 points, and you have to pay a 2-point usage fee every month. Too expensive."

That person gestured as he spoke, looking quite similar to modern smartphones.

"Besides, we don't need to go outside. Just staying in the city, we basically don't need this thing."

Xinghuo Sanctuary City's defense communicators charged fees?

And apparently had multiple versions?

Cheng Ye pondered thoughtfully, suddenly remembering Master Tian's earlier words, and pursued the question, "Which district of Xinghuo are you from?"

"We're from B4 district. Um, you need to accumulate 399 contribution points to move to this area."

Speaking of this, that person proudly raised his head.

But after speaking, he seemed to remember something and quickly lowered his head, appearing somewhat embarrassed.

The other person was a Happiness City inspector, and here he was showing off a district's entry threshold. That was really looking down on people.

"B4 district, isn't it the former industrial district, scavenging district, residential district system?"

"Sir, the system you mentioned is a very old system that was reformed over ten years ago. We don't divide districts like that anymore."

The leading man took up the conversation, not hiding anything, "Before, it was because productivity couldn't keep up, so to facilitate management, districts were divided so specifically. Now each district is an independent small loop with everything inside, scavenging points, residential areas, small factories all complete. We don't do that kind of one-size-fits-all division anymore."

"Already reformed?"

Cheng Ye was secretly shocked. This change was bigger than he had imagined, "So how many people are in your B4 district?"

"About five hundred thousand?" The man scratched his head, not too certain, "Maybe more. Recently there are always people upgrading from C district."

"Five hundred thousand."

Cheng Ye calculated silently, his heart shaking again.

Xinghuo Sanctuary City had nearly ten million people. If divided into districts of five hundred thousand each, wouldn't that be twenty districts?

Each district equaled the scale of a super sanctuary city. Such magnitude was simply astoundingly large.

However, just as Cheng Ye wanted to continue inquiring about the details of this system, there was finally movement on the other side of the fog passage.

Several bright light beams suddenly flashed at the end of the street.

Then, amid engine roars, over ten motorcycles drove up in formation, their tails flashing alternating red and blue lights, the black and white paint scheme particularly striking under the illumination.

The motorcycle riders wore fluorescent yellow reflective vests with tightened sleeves and trouser cuffs, full-coverage helmets on their heads, revealing only eyes looking through face shields.

No way. Cheng Ye instinctively tensed up.

Although he was now also a member of the "system," seeing those familiar red and blue lights, that iconic reflective vest.

Especially when the buzzing siren sounded and the residents gathered around the fog passage suddenly scattered to both sides.

Being watched by so many "uncles" at once, to be honest, was a bit nerve-wracking.

Screech.

The lead motorcycle stopped steadily five meters from the fog passage, with the other vehicles following in sequence.

Half the riders quickly pulled isolation tape from their rear boxes, using the motorcycles as anchor points to create a cordon of over ten meters around the fog passage.

The other half assumed alert postures, forming an elliptical blockade around the fog passage as the center, their movements extremely efficient.

The lead rider stepped forward, lifted his helmet, revealing a face with sharp features, "Xinghuo B4 Security Department Special Response Team, Patrol Captain Zhang Jian, responsible for fog passage site security. May I ask who you are?"

"Happiness City, Inspector, Cheng Ye!"

"Inspector Cheng, could you please show your identity badge?"

"Certainly."

Cheng Ye nodded slightly and pulled out his identity badge from his pocket.

Zhang Jian immediately pulled out a "defense communicator" from his pocket. The style was indeed very similar to modern smartphones, much more compact than Happiness City's big brick.

Same process of photographing the badge front and back for database comparison.

Two seconds later, the verification passed prompt lit up.

Zhang Jian immediately gave a standard salute, "Inspector Cheng, hello!"

"We have already notified the Defense Department, checkpoint, liaison department and multiple other departments. Please assist with security and do not allow any personnel to rashly cross the fog passage."

"No problem."

Cheng Ye replied, turning to give Second Dragon a look.

Second Dragon immediately understood, calling everyone to step back and guarding the rest hall door.

"Inspector Cheng, from your situation there, has it been completely enveloped by fog?"

Zhang Jian's gaze swept over the white fog condensed outside the rest hall, his tone carrying professional seriousness.

After speaking, he realized he sounded like he was interrogating a suspect and was about to change his tone.

However, Cheng Ye interrupted him, "Yes."

Actually, Zhang Jian's attitude and tone really made people feel familiar, quite reminiscent of returning to modern times.

"Do you remember the time when the fog passage appeared? Sorry, we need to record this first. This way there will be much less unnecessary questioning when comparing data later."

"Understood."

Cheng Ye pulled out his defense communicator to check, "From when the fog passage appeared until now, it's been about 12 minutes."

"12 minutes."

Zhang Jian quickly pressed buttons on his phone, uploading the information synchronously, "Could you describe the situation when you encountered the fog passage? Just give a general account, no need to be too detailed."

"I wasn't here when the fog passage appeared. I came in later."

Cheng Ye waved toward the back, calling Second Dragon over, "Tell Captain Zhang what happened in the hall."

"Understood."

Second Dragon thought for a moment and quickly said, "When we were cleaning up tables and chairs, we found the wall suddenly filled with a layer of cloud and mist, like the wall was wrapped in a big water bubble. We didn't dare touch it. Later it seemed like someone from your side touched it, and that water bubble burst open with a pop, becoming the passage it is now."

"Our people touched it?"

Zhang Jian frowned slightly, speaking a few words into his earpiece.

On the other side of the fog passage, team members immediately turned to question the residents who had been watching earlier.

In just over ten seconds, they confirmed this fact.

"Sorry, Inspector Cheng. They also didn't expect the fog passage to appear directly in the urban district."

"It's fine."

Cheng Ye waved his hand, more concerned about another matter, "Xinghuo Sanctuary City isn't enveloped by fog, right?"

"No!"

Zhang Jian shook his head, "The fog coverage is currently in your Shi Province area, but the endpoints are randomly generated. Sand Province also had fog passages connecting to Xinghuo before, but that passage was only one-fifth the size of this one and only lasted about half an hour before disappearing."

"Half an hour."

Cheng Ye silently repeated this, waves stirring in his heart.

If even smaller fog passages could last this long, wouldn't this giant passages spanning an entire wall be able to remain stable until the fog completely dispersed?

Just then, there was new movement on the other side of the fog passage.

Several howling sounds came through the air, not from the street, but from the somewhat dark night sky!

Cheng Ye instinctively looked up, his gaze instantly freezing, his breathing skipping half a beat.

He saw four people wearing black and blue uniforms, standing on balance scooter-like objects, swooping down from the night sky like legendary cultivators riding flying swords!

Holy crap, what is that thing?

Anti-gravity technology?

Cheng Ye's eyes widened, even thinking he was hallucinating.

Although Xinghuo Sanctuary City's technology level being higher than Happiness City's was expected, it shouldn't be this much higher, right?

Three or four seconds later.

When those people flew closer, he finally saw the details clearly. It wasn't anti-gravity at all, but the balance scooters had a pair of black metal wings mounted on both sides, with feather-like blades vibrating so fast they were almost afterimages, yet could generate extremely strong thrust, supporting people in flight, gliding, and even hovering in mid-air.

"Those are Wing Assault Units?"

Second Dragon murmured beside him, his eyes wider than copper bells, "The radio said Xinghuo Sanctuary City had aerial flying people who could fly individually. I thought they were bragging."

Wing Assault Units?

Cheng Ye's eyes paused. Just as he was about to ask more, he saw all ground personnel salute toward the sky.

Those four people adjusted their flight posture and slowly descended within the isolation cordon, the humming from their wings gradually weakening before finally folding into streamlined shapes against their backs.

Damn, it's even a collapsible design.

The leader, well, calling him a pilot for now, removed his helmet to reveal a relatively young face.

"Captain Zhang, thank you for your hard work. We'll handle the subsequent contact."

"Yes, Inspector Li!"

Zhang Jian saluted again and without a word led his people to step aside, expanding the isolation area once more.

The residents who had been watching the excitement earlier, realizing the inspector had arrived, also understood the seriousness of the situation and quickly ran away.

Inspector?

These flying people were inspectors from Xinghuo Sanctuary City?

Cheng Ye couldn't help swallowing, suddenly feeling like a primitive person who opened a space-time tunnel to the future.

Good heavens, he was also an inspector, and up to now couldn't even afford a big golden cup.

What version were these people?

Flying sword cultivation version?

For some reason, Cheng Ye instinctively opened his panel and glanced at the cooperation ratings in the upper right corner.

Well, they were all single digits, only Zhang Jian was slightly higher at 13%.

"If I could search this Inspector Li, could I search for his, um, the Wing Assault Unit under his feet?"

Cheng Ye thought dreamily, but saw the other person had already stepped over and, completely unconcerned, stood at the passage edge, extending his hand toward him:

"Inspector Cheng, hello. I'm Li Changfeng, Level 4 Inspector at Xinghuo B4 Checkpoint."

Li Changfeng's hand stopped in the middle of the fog passage, wisps of white mist parted by invisible force to create a gap.

"Inspector Li, hello. I'm Cheng Ye, Probationary Inspector from Happiness City."

Seeing this, Cheng Ye also moved forward a step. Across the fog passage, the two men's hands met in a virtual handshake.

Level 4 versus probationary.

Although he didn't know how Xinghuo Sanctuary City classified inspector levels, it should surely be far above his little probationary rank.

However, when away from home, identity was self-determined.

If Xinghuo Sanctuary City's general station chief came over, Cheng Ye might still feel intimidated.

But just a district inspector, calculated by 500,000 people, Xinghuo had nearly 20 districts.

In terms of scarcity, the number of inspectors was definitely far greater than Happiness City's, so scarcity and value naturally decreased significantly.

By all rights and reason, he shouldn't show any signs of flinching or embarrassment.

Sure enough, Li Changfeng seemed not to have heard the word "probationary" at all. The smile on his face became even broader, "Inspector Cheng, might Mr. Cheng Wu be your...?"

"He's my grandfather."

"I've long admired him!"

Li Changfeng immediately put away his smile and cupped his hands slightly, his posture more solemn than before, "Mr. Cheng Wu is truly a legend among our inspectors. Inspector Cheng, with such a scholarly family background, I'm sure in a few years you'll be another pillar of Happiness City."

"Inspector Li, you flatter me!"

Cheng Ye smiled, but was secretly shocked.

The Cheng family had such influence?

Cheng Wu's reputation was known even in Xinghuo Sanctuary City?

However, on second thought, Lee Matteo had said the checkpoint system was Happiness City's original creation.

In that case, as the creator of the system, Cheng Wu's reputation probably worked not just in Xinghuo.

As the thought flashed by, the panel opened again.

Cheng Ye glanced at the cooperation rating in the upper right corner, unable to suppress a slight smile.

Just from those few sentences, Li Changfeng's cooperation rating had already reached 15%.

If he could gather 30%...

Glancing again at the Wing Assault Unit on the ground, Cheng Ye took a light breath and suppressed all distracting thoughts.

"Inspector Li, do you know how long this fog passage will last?"

"Should be no less than two hours. Wait, let me test the fog passage's strength."

Li Changfeng bent down and pressed something near his ear.

To Cheng Ye's surprise, what seemed like an ordinary headband on his forehead slowly rotated, and a single-lens eyepiece gracefully positioned itself over his right eye.

?

What kind of black technology was this again?

Cheng Ye was somewhat dumbstruck. From his angle, it really looked like the battle power detection glasses from the anime Dragon Ball.

"Energy strength 331, estimated duration 5 hours 17 minutes, minimum no less than 4 hours 40 minutes."

Li Changfeng stared at the lens and read out the data, then lifted his hand to push the glasses back behind his head, "The values are very stable, much stronger than the last connected fog passage, which only had 27 strength."

"5 hours?"

Cheng Ye was stunned, "Didn't they say fog can only last a maximum of two hours?"

"Fog and fog passages are two different things."

Li Changfeng explained, "I applied for permissions on the way here and checked the records. The fog only descended on Shi Province at noon. I imagine Inspector Cheng doesn't yet know the specific information."

After speaking, he turned his head and called to the man behind him, "Little Xu, get me a new information receiver. I need to synchronize fog information with Inspector Cheng."

"Yes!"

So the other people who came with Li Changfeng weren't inspectors, but staff members?

As Cheng Ye was stunned, he saw the man pull something out of his backpack.

It was none other than the headband glasses that had just been used to detect the fog!

"Inspector Cheng, just put it on your head. It will automatically adjust to your viewing angle and pupil distance."

Little Xu handed the device across the fog passage, and Cheng Ye instinctively reached out to take it.

Gently grasping it, feeling the cool metallic sensation in his hand, he finally reacted, "This, I can use it?"

To be honest, this was the first time since crossing to the wasteland that he had encountered a truly high-tech item.

Not some big golden cup, not a big brick phone anymore.

But a truly high-tech product that he had never seen on Earth, looking much more advanced than any AR glasses!

"Of course you can use it. Although Happiness City and Xinghuo are separated by thousands of kilometers, we've always been the most reliable allies. In a certain sense, we two are also comrades, colleagues!"

Li Changfeng smiled, "Besides, this is just an information receiving tool. As long as you're within signal coverage, anyone can wear it. It's just that receiving information requires permission verification."

"Um, Inspector Cheng, you'll need to come over to this side. Standing over there, the fog passage will block signal transmission."

"I can come over?"

"Of course. The fog passage is very stable. Are you afraid the fog passage will disappear when you go in and out?"

Li Changfeng suddenly realized and laughed, "Don't worry. If the fog passage disappears, our Xinghuo will deploy the highest level escort mechanism to guarantee your safe return to Happiness City."

[NEXT CHAPTER]