Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 344: Winter Moon Ore, a Special Ore!

"Inspector Cheng, Inspector Liu!"Zheng Dayou hurried forward, his steps steady yet hurried. He stopped about two meters away from the pair, bowed slightly, and cupped his hands in greeting. His voice was slightly hoarse but full of vigor. "I have long heard of your esteemed names. To meet you today is truly an honor!"

With that, he straightened up, his gaze sweeping over the accompanying Niu Fu and Yin Ruofeng, raising his hands in greeting to them as well. "Everyone has traveled a long way and worked hard on the journey. Please, come inside the courtyard and rest. I have already arranged a banquet to welcome you and cleanse the weariness of your journey."

"Lord Zheng, you are too polite," Cheng Ye stepped forward, reaching out to shake his hand.

Liu Bi also put on a faint smile. After exchanging greetings with Zheng Dayou, the group walked into the small two-story building on the left.

The space inside the building was quite large, furnished with over a dozen square wooden tables. On the central long table sat steaming tea, its fragrant aroma wafting through the air.

As soon as everyone took their seats, waiters deftly brought out fruit platters and cold dishes, numbering over a dozen varieties in total.

In addition to fresh seasonal vegetables, there were rare fruits like honeydew melons, grapes, and oranges.

Compared to the Inspectors in Happiness City, who usually had to fill their stomachs with nutritional paste, the basic living standards at Twin Moon Lake were indeed much richer.

"The cafeteria outside is for the residents. People like us usually come here for meals. It also gives us a chance to report the day's situation to the Lord while we eat, saving us the trouble of holding formal meetings."

Wang Sheng explained with a naive smile as he poured tea for everyone.

"It is not as exaggerated as Old Wang makes it sound," Zheng Dayou shook his head with a laugh, his tone easygoing. "I just think formal meetings are too serious. If everyone chats casually and shares information over a meal, we can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble."

"Lord Zheng..."

Cheng Ye picked up his teacup and took a sip. The tea was slightly bitter on the tongue, but its aftertaste carried a faint, lingering sweetness.

He set the cup down and looked at Zheng Dayou. "I heard from Captain Wang that Twin Moon Lake now has over six thousand people. That development speed is not slow at all."

"Inspector Cheng must be joking." Zheng Dayou rested his arm on the edge of the table, his expression calm without a hint of nervousness. "No matter how fast we develop, we cannot catch up to even a tiny fraction of Happiness City, let alone Dabo Town under your jurisdiction. It is just that the surrounding Gathering Places have been disbanding one after another, leaving a group of poor folks with nowhere to go. I could only take them in temporarily. As for next spring, maybe more than half of them will migrate away."

"Oh? Lord Zheng even knows about my Dabo Town?" Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

"But of course," Zheng Dayou nodded, his tone tinged with emotion. "When Twin Moon Lake was first established, all the initial material support was transported from Happiness City. For all these years, we have always been grateful for Happiness City's kindness. Even though contact between the two places has not been as close in recent years, I have never missed a single broadcast from Happiness City. I pay particularly close attention to the Evening News channel to monitor all policy changes."

Saying this, he let out a regretful sigh. "It is just a pity that the distance between us is still too great. Ever since the central route was abandoned, this trade route has been difficult to reopen, making it inconvenient to transport many supplies. We had no choice but to reach out to other surrounding shelter cities to tide over our current difficulties."

Wang Sheng had spoken tactfully, whereas Zheng Dayou spoke directly.

Overall, however, neither of them tried to hide anything. Instead, they laid out Twin Moon Lake's difficulties openly to seek the other party's understanding.

"It certainly is not easy," Cheng Ye nodded in agreement. Then, shifting the topic, his tone took on a probing edge. "However, Great Banyan Shelter City is not exactly close to Twin Moon Lake either. What made Lord Zheng think of bringing supplies over from there?"

"We did not approach Great Banyan; Great Banyan approached us."

Zheng Dayou sighed, seemingly holding back some unspoken troubles. "To tell you the truth, Great Banyan Shelter City discovered a rare mineral vein near our Twin Moon Lake. That is why they are willing to support us. But the Cost is that we have to organize manpower to help mine throughout the entire winter, using the ore to repay the supplies they provide."

"Winter?" Liu Bi coughed lightly, his gaze sharpening. "A special mineral vein was discovered nearby?"

"Yes," Zheng Dayou nodded, elaborating. "They named this vein the Winter Moon Ore. This ore is very peculiar. It can only be extracted from underground and preserved when the temperature drops below freezing. Otherwise, it loses its power shortly after being mined, and its effectiveness is greatly diminished."

"A new special ore?" Cheng Ye and Liu Bi exchanged a glance, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.

"Right..." Zheng Dayou replied repeatedly, though his face was full of bewilderment. "It is just that even I do not know what this Winter Moon Ore is actually used for. Great Banyan's prospecting team found the vein first and then approached Twin Moon Lake for cooperation. The vein is located near Crescent Moon Lake. Currently, the basic mining facilities have all been set up. We are just waiting for the temperature to drop to immediately arrange for people to go in and mine."

'Winter Moon Ore?'

Cheng Ye pondered silently.

Guang Province itself possessed vast tracts of arable land. Great Banyan Shelter City would absolutely not cross such a vast distance merely for Twin Moon Lake's meager crop resources.

As for targeting Happiness City... Twin Moon Lake was nothing more than a small nutritional paste supply point. It was not qualified to make Radiant Rainbow Shelter City go through so much trouble to set up a scheme.

In that case, this Winter Moon Ore was the core key.

Cheng Ye's expression paused slightly. Taking advantage of the moment Liu Bi took over the conversation with Zheng Dayou, he quietly opened his personal System Panel.

The names of Zheng Dayou and a bunch of other people appeared in the top left corner.

As a veteran Gathering Place, Twin Moon Lake might be small in scale, but that did not mean everyone here was an ordinary person.

Scanning briefly, he noted that Wang Sheng possessed an Lv5 Skill and was a master in the state of Heaven and Man in One. Unfortunately, his Cooperation Level was only at 35%. Without special circumstances, it would be difficult to reach 100%, let alone fully unlock.

Further down, there were also three people with Lv4 Skills, all with a Cooperation Level uniformly in their early twenties.

There were even more individuals with Lv3 Skills. It could even be said that an Lv3 Skill was the entry threshold for this place.

'Hmm, it seems my guess was right. In the small Gathering Places of the Wasteland, might indeed makes right. Only with great Strength is it possible to secure a seat here. Capable people are, at best, given a Junior Manager position. It is very hard for them to enter the Core Management of the Gathering Place.'

Cheng Ye was not surprised. His gaze finally landed on Zheng Dayou's Cooperation Level.

17%.

It was considered the lowest one present. Considering his status, this Cooperation Level was understandable.

However, searching for intelligence only required a 10% Cooperation Level, which was more than enough right now.

'Search for intelligence, specify the Intelligence Direction: Winter Moon Ore related!'

The space shattered and underwent rapid Reconstruction.

Following its usual routine, the Collector first used the surrounding environment as a foundation to construct the scene.

After a flicker of light and shadow, what materialized again was still this small dining hall.

Except, all irrelevant personnel were gone, leaving only Zheng Dayou and three middle-aged men wearing the standard uniforms of Great Banyan sitting around the table.

The table was littered with cups and plates, the food mostly eaten. It was clear they had already gone through a round of drinking and toasting.

The man sitting to Zheng Dayou's right coughed lightly, breaking the silence. "Lord Zheng, you can see Great Banyan's sincerity. Logically speaking, there should be no problem with us directly dispatching people to mine the Winter Moon Ore..."

Before he could finish, Zheng Dayou raised a hand to interrupt him. He shook his head and said, "Captain Zhang, Twin Moon Lake is still a cooperative Gathering Place of Happiness City to this day. If you try to force your way in, we will not be able to stop you, but I will definitely report the news of the Winter Moon Ore truthfully to Happiness City."

"That is exactly why cooperation benefits both, while division harms both!"

Hearing the threat, Captain Zhang was not annoyed at all. Instead, the smile on his face grew wider. "If Happiness City finds out about this Winter Moon Ore, they will definitely hollow it out completely, leaving not a single scrap behind. Just like the Redstone mine at Red River Gathering Place back in the day. Sooner or later, your Twin Moon Lake will be annexed and absorbed as well."

He leaned forward, his tone turning seductive. "But our Great Banyan is different. This is a long-term business. In the first year, we will only mine forty percent of the reserves, ensuring the remaining sixty percent is kept for Twin Moon Lake to operate. In the years to follow, we will only mine the annual increment and never touch the core sixty percent."

"Forty percent..." Zheng Dayou bit his lip. "Can this ratio be lowered any further?"

"Lord Zheng, forty percent is already our bottom line!"

Captain Zhang abruptly dropped his smile and spoke flatly, "Over the years, many factions have scouted around Twin Moon Lake. You hid it deeply enough that no one managed to discover any trace of the Winter Moon Ore. If it were not for Vice Lord Zhuang proactively reporting it, we really would have thought that Twin Moon Lake had gone all these years without suffering an Infection Tide simply because of its small size and good luck."

During the first half of the sentence, Zheng Dayou managed to feign calmness. But upon hearing the words "Vice Lord Zhuang," his face instantly darkened, and his hand gripping the teacup suddenly tightened.

The only people in Twin Moon Lake who knew about the Winter Moon Ore were him and Vice Lord Zhuang Jing.

As the saying went, one could guard against a thousand things, but a thief in the house was impossible to stop.

With the abandonment of the central trade route, Twin Moon Lake had fallen into an awkward predicament, and Zhuang Jing had long harbored intentions of leaving.

This Winter Moon Ore was actually his pledge of allegiance, offered to Great Banyan to join the Guanghong Alliance.

"You using this precious Winter Moon Ore just to isolate the Infection Tide is truly a massive waste. If only you had approached us sooner, sending two thousand soldiers to garrison here every winter would not have been a problem at all."

Captain Zhang tapped his finger on the table, sighing with a hint of exasperation at their failure to live up to expectations. "The true use of this ore is to create high-strength Energy Isolation Mediums. Adding a structural layer of Winter Moon Ore into protective suits can help conceal a person's aura, allowing them to probe deeper into high-risk areas. Making a special coating out of it allows for the rapid construction of genuine safe houses in the Wilderness. Even if one were to be extravagant and forge weapons from it, its lethality against special Infected Bodies is incredibly significant."

"But look at what you have done. You only know how to grind it into powder and sprinkle a ring around the Gathering Place, thinking only of reducing the attention of Infection Sources,"

"and Infected Bodies. To be honest, the amount of Winter Moon Ore you have wasted over the years would be enough to build ten Twin Moon Lake Gathering Places."

These successive rebukes slammed into Zheng Dayou's heart like heavy hammers. His face alternated between green and pale. His lips moved, but he could not utter a single word.

Over the years, it was not that no one had suspected the anomalies of Twin Moon Lake—why it could isolate the deadly Petrification Curse, and why it could pass every winter peacefully.

But the Trait of the Winter Moon Ore was inherently heaven-defying. It could isolate the detection of Infection Sources and even resist the Petrification Curse. How could it possibly be discovered by conventional detection Instruments?

Back then, it was he who had accidentally passed through this desolate land and discovered the profound mysteries of the Winter Moon Ore. Only then did he make up his mind to stay, single-handedly building the Twin Moon Lake Gathering Place.

In the beginning, when the Gathering Place's scale was small, he could go down into the mine and extract it by himself, sprinkling the ore powder all around the perimeter.

Later, as the Gathering Place gradually grew and manpower fell short, he finally shared this secret with Vice Lord Zhuang Jing.

He never imagined that his judgment of character would be so poor. He was actually betrayed by the person he trusted most, having the information sold out from under him. Now, he was completely being roasted over an open fire, caught in a dilemma with no way forward or back.

"Twenty percent," Zheng Dayou took a deep breath, his tone carrying a final struggle. "If you only take twenty percent, we are willing to provide the manpower to help mine. I know how to accurately locate the veins, and I also know how to store it short-term at room temperature. We can reach a long-term cooperation. The growth of the Winter Moon Ore requires feeding it Plant Vitality. With us acting as a cover on the surface, it is absolutely impossible for anyone to discover the secret here."

"Twenty percent... is too low!"

Captain Zhang decisively shook his head, though his tone had noticeably softened a bit.

For the next few minutes, the two went back and forth haggling over the distribution ratio, ultimately settling on twenty-five percent.

The intelligence space shattered with a boom, returning to the dining table.

Cheng Ye reached out and plucked a grape, placing it in his mouth to savor its sweet taste, but his mind had drifted completely elsewhere.

Twin Moon Lake actually possessed such a miraculous ore?

It could isolate the Petrification Curse and even prevent detection by Infection Sources?

It sounded somewhat similar to the material of the Obsidian Battle Armor, which could conceal the aura of living creatures.

But the Obsidian Battle Armor was priceless, requiring a full million Contribution Points. Its materials were bound to be extremely scarce.

Meanwhile, the Winter Moon Ore could actually be used by Twin Moon Lake as "protective powder" to sprinkle in a ring around the Gathering Place. Furthermore, a mere twenty-five percent share was enough to satisfy Great Banyan's appetite. Its reserves were likely quite substantial.

However, a question naturally followed. Since Twin Moon Lake had already reached a cooperation agreement with Great Banyan, why did Zheng Dayou proactively reveal the news of the Winter Moon Ore?

They clearly could have mined it secretly and quietly exchanged it for supplies. There was absolutely no need to expose this secret in front of them, the Inspectors of Happiness City.

Pondering this, Cheng Ye simply ran another intelligence search.

A moment later, he exited the intelligence space with sudden realization, somewhat understanding why Zheng Dayou looked so overworked and exhausted.

Twenty-five percent only satisfied Great Banyan's appetite, but Radiant Rainbow Shelter City's appetite was still massive.

A total of fifty percent of the Winter Moon Ore had to be mined this year and supplied to the Guanghong Alliance.

If they failed to deliver on time, Radiant Rainbow would directly dispatch personnel to garrison at Twin Moon Lake and fully take over the mineral vein. At that time, all the ore would be shipped away completely, and Twin Moon Lake could forget about getting even a scrap.

This style of forceful plundering indeed matched the behavioral logic of a Hegemon-Tier Shelter City.

A tiny Gathering Place simply lacked the qualifications to negotiate terms, especially when those qualifications were bluffed by hiding under the grand banner of Happiness City.

It was likely because their investigations revealed that Happiness City had already given up paying attention to Twin Moon Lake. Moreover, considering the construction of the satellite cities and the influx of millions of people, Happiness City was already too overwhelmed to fend for itself.

Only then did Radiant Rainbow Shelter City dare to demand an exorbitant price, directly forcing dead-end terms without the slightest worry that Twin Moon Lake would resist.

In that case, was Zheng Dayou proactively revealing the news of the Winter Moon Ore right now to probe Happiness City's attitude?

Except, the Armored Vehicle had only driven in half a day ago, and prior to that, there had been absolutely no notification that Inspectors were coming.

'Such a bold action of surviving in the cracks and pulling chestnuts out of the fire—he actually made the final decision in just half a day. He is not even afraid that in the end, the two Hegemon-Tier Shelter Cities will directly carve up all the Winter Moon Ore and destroy the Twin Moon Lake Gathering Place in the process.'

'...'

One moment he was feeling the beauty of a small Gathering Place, and the next, he caught a glimpse of the bloody truth of survival hidden behind this stability.

Cheng Ye could only click his tongue. Grasping the means of production without developing the corresponding power to protect it was inherently the greatest source of calamity.

If it were him, even if he had to take advantage of this time to hollow out the mineral vein and flee, he would absolutely not stay behind to linger on his last breath between two colossal behemoths. Navigating between them like this would likely result in being devoured until not even bone scum remained.

However, just as he was pondering, Liu Bi's hearty laughter rang in his ears. "Happiness City has never restricted its affiliated cooperative Gathering Places from interacting with other shelter cities. Since you have already reached a mining agreement with Great Banyan and have a stable source of supplies, then we can rest assured."

After saying that, he directly added, "Our trip here is mainly to recover some items previously agreed upon, such as the supplies we supported you with back then, the parts that still have not been settled to this day."

Good heavens, Brother B was truly direct.

Cheng Ye subtly swept a glance from the corner of his eye. Sure enough, a faint flash appeared in the depths of Zheng Dayou's eyes, and his hands resting on the edge of the table involuntarily tightened.

Even though he quickly realized it and relaxed again, this lightning-fast reaction could not fool anyone.

Liu Bi's direct refusal to interfere caused all of Zheng Dayou's calculations to completely fall through.

"Yes, we have completely prepared the items, just waiting for the two Inspectors to take them away."

Zheng Dayou nodded repeatedly. "Let us eat first. After the meal, you two Inspectors can get a good night's rest. Tomorrow, I will personally bring the account books over, and we will do a detailed accounting to ensure all the outstanding debts are settled at once."

During the rest of the banquet, Zheng Dayou did not mention a single word about the Winter Moon Ore again, as if he had completely given up struggling and was entirely focused on just getting through this meal.

In such a setting, Cheng Ye naturally would not take the initiative to ask. Instead, he suppressed his thoughts and focused on eating his food in peace.

Along the way, he also familiarized himself with these ruling-class figures of Twin Moon Lake, laying a good foundation for searching their skills.

This trip could not be made in vain. Time was a bit tight right now, so there was no way to stay and grind everyone's Cooperation Level to full one by one.

But as long as his Rank increased by one more level, a 50% Cooperation Level would be enough to search for Lv4 Skills, which was not that difficult.

When that time came, he could easily pluck away all their skills, and even have a chance at Wang Sheng's Lv5 Skill.

After the meal, the night sky had already darkened.

Zheng Dayou personally led the way, arranging their accommodations in the safest Phase Three area.

Here, a small building specifically for hosting outsiders had also been constructed. The courtyard walls were towering, and two armed guards stood on duty at the entrance.

It could only be said that the interior layout was at least ten times more luxurious than Inspector Cheng's own doghouse.

Every room was a suite, complete with a living room and a private bathroom. The interior even featured a refrigerator, which was fully stocked with seasonal vegetables and fruits.

In addition, the living room had a small TV with a DVD player equipped underneath. Next to it, a disc rack neatly held over a dozen optical discs.

Through inquiry, he learned that Twin Moon Lake had not yet received energy support from Radiant Rainbow. They had only purchased over a dozen high-capacity batteries from Great Banyan at a steep price. Normally, they relied on solar panels to store energy, barely maintaining the Gathering Place's power supply.

"Inspector Cheng, I will sleep in the vehicle to keep watch tonight. You rest easy and do not worry about me!"

"Alright, thank you for your hard work!"

After communicating with Zhang Daping via radio, Cheng Ye sat down in the living room, turned on the TV, and randomly inserted a disc.

What played was not an old film from the Old Era, but a movie shot after the New Era. The opening credits even bore the production logo of Radiant Rainbow Shelter City.

The sets and filming techniques of the movie reeked of amateurism, but the actors performed with exceptional dedication. It told the story of a group of Drifters abducted by Wilderness Hunters, who relied on their courage and ruthlessness to outwit and outfight their captors to escape.

The realism of its filming could only be described with the words "authentic and visceral," not lacking in plot segments that would make one cough awkwardly.

Perhaps because he had not watched TV in a long time, Cheng Ye was watching it with great relish. Before long, a knock came from outside the door.

Liu Bi had just taken a shower. Draped in a loose cloth garment with water still dripping from his hair, he pushed the door open and carelessly plopped down onto the chair next to the sofa.

"Your Brother Niu has already checked. There is no recording equipment in here, nor are there any surveillance cameras."

Cheng Ye turned his head in surprise. "Brother B, you saw through it?"

"I am not an idiot. That guy wanted to use us but would not be honest, so I deliberately played dumb for him."

Liu Bi scoffed, and the two of them chuckled in unison.

However, Liu Bi laughed naively, while Cheng Ye laughed twice but then stopped in contemplation.

"Then, when we encounter this kind of situation, how should we generally handle it?"

"The simplest way is to send the information back and let the higher-ups decide..."

Liu Bi said calmly, "Of course, if you are interested, we can go take a look at that Winter Moon Ore tomorrow!"