The team members were clearly standing on the safe path, but he somehow moved to the edge of the dangerous dock, just one step away from the White Water River.

Realizing this, his mind’s perception was like paper being crumpled into a ball, wildly blurred and chaotic.

Yet under the gaze of all the team members, Garcia paused, and a ruthless, ferocious smile suddenly flashed across his face:

"To hell with your illusions!"

Instead of shooting at the team members ahead, he pulled out a palm-sized alloy square box from his waist and pressed the switch.

A dim green light ball popped out with a "pop".

"Want to play this game with me? I’ll play along with you!"

He grinned viciously, flipped open the visor of his battle armor, and grabbed the light ball, shoving it into his mouth.

In an instant, countless green veins crawled up his skin from his throat, and the scene before him shattered like a broken mirror.

Upon closer inspection, where were the team members?

Surrounding him were only the pale-dead faces, their bodies entwined with circles of purple veins, and terrifying blue-gray crab claws had unfolded from their backs.

These "people" slightly lowered their heads, forming a circle, and stared at him intently with hollow eyes.

Upon closer inspection, where was the dock?

He was clearly stepping in water, and it was only the battle armor that isolated him from being invaded by the river water.

"Sir, why aren’t you coming over yet?"

"Sir, why aren’t you getting in the water yet?"

"Sir, why aren’t you dying yet?"

"Sir..."

The dense shouting sounded again, Garcia’s face changed drastically.

Clearly, at this moment, although his body was occupied by the source of infection, entering a burst state, the illusion was still corroding him.

What kind of power is this?

What the hell is that purple vein?

He grabbed the radio abruptly and shouted hoarsely: "Luokuke! There’s danger by the river! Everyone’s been parasitized!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he wedged the flashlight into his chest, turning around and jumping into the water regardless of whether the message got through.

With a "splash", the heavy battle armor dragged him to the bottom of the White Water River, the swift torrents quickly covering over his head, enveloping him, and sweeping him downstream.

Under the light beam from the flashlight on his chest, Garcia widened his eyes to look forward before his visor was filled with water.

This glance left him completely stunned!

Underwater was piled with corpses! Stacked layer upon layer, it reached several meters high, easily numbering in the hundreds or nearly a thousand.

The bodies were all clinging to the concrete of the riverbank, like elongated noodles pulling one another, swaying up and down with the waves in the river.

Each face was covered in a layer of inseparable mud, yet the twisted smiles at the corners of their mouths were visible.

They turned their heads, their pale eyes filled with insatiable greed, with a hint of discontent.

"This is..."

A series of intelligence reports he’d seen somewhere exploded in his mind, jolting Garcia instantly awake.

Time rewinds to two months ago.

On June 14th, a sudden flash flood hit the Lijiang Tributary at dawn, causing water levels to rise seven meters, with all drifters’ corpses stuck under a broken bridge thirty kilometers outside Cloud City...

On June 17th, the broken bridge collapsed, and the corpses drifted along the Lijiang Tributary, merging into the main Lin River...

...

Three in the morning.

The Defense Communication alarm rang, Cheng Ye opened his eyes, feeling most of his exhaustion had faded away.

"Refreshing!"

He got up and moved around a bit, with his attention instantly focused.

Though he had to "sleep" standing, leaning against the wall in battle armor was not much different from resting while lying down, even more comfortable in some ways.

Due to yesterday’s excessive energy expenditure, this sleep was particularly deep and comfortable.

And with the Flame’s vigilance, there was no worry about nearby sources of infection or Infected Bodies approaching, even if Luokuke and Garcia snooped midway, he could react immediately.

After a brief stretch, Cheng Ye nodded towards the No. 3 unit.

Before he could reach the door, it opened, and Huang Liang, having gotten up sometime earlier, led the assigned night patrol team members out in single file.

"Where’s Li Jie?"

"Sir, Li Jie hasn’t woken up yet, so I took the liberty to take his shift this time." Huang Liang chuckled, scratching his head.

"Did you not sleep?" Cheng Ye gave him a once-over, a hint of admiration in his eyes.

"Not necessary! I recover my energy quickly, four hours of sleep a day is enough!" Huang Liang patted his chest.

"Oh?"

Cheng Ye nodded slightly, making a mental note of this detail, could it be that Huang Liang has a skill for recovering energy?

But now is not the time for detailed questioning, he signaled to Huang Liang to have everyone come out first.

Count the numbers, check the equipment!

Although there are 62 young adults in the Blue Zone, not many are needed for night patrols, 16 people are enough.

Divided into two teams, even if they encounter danger, he can watch over them in time.

Moreover, during daytime construction, personnel still need to patrol, pulling too many people for night duty now can easily lead to a "no one working" vicious cycle during the day.

Soon, everyone’s weapons and bullets were checked.

Huang Liang brought the pre-prepared nutrient paste, two bags per person, crouching on the ground, while drinking water, replenishing strength with the nutrient paste.

But before Cheng Ye could lift his mask, he saw Luokuke hurriedly running over from the distant night with a few people, his steps showing obvious panic.

Closer.

Seeing Luokuke’s pale face, with uncontrollable twitching at the corners of his mouth, Cheng Ye’s heart sank, and he quickly stood up.

The two sides did not immediately approach but first picked up flashlights to exchange codes, three times up, three times down, then twice to the left and right.

Confirming the code was correct, Cheng Ye breathed a sigh of relief, quickly walking up, "What’s wrong?"

"Garcia is missing!" Luokuke rushed over in two steps, with a slight tremor in his voice, "The four patrol teams he led, 32 people, are all missing!"

"What?" Cheng Ye’s expression instantly darkened.

"We switch shifts every hour. Two o’clock was my last shift, he was responsible for patrols between two and three, logically he should be back now, but I just took the people around and they all disappeared, just like the two who vanished suddenly in the daytime!"

"Didn’t you have any contact between you?"

Cheng Ye paused, looking towards the radio hanging on Luokuke’s waist.

"That’s the trouble, you can check your radio, the signal is already completely jammed."

"Huh?" Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment, turned around, and took out the radio issued during the day used for external assistance from his backpack.

This is the most convenient way to observe the signal, more intuitive than testing the radio here.

When a signal is connected, the distress button in the middle will blink a green light every 30 seconds.

But now...

"No problem, huh?"

Seeing the green light still flashing, Cheng Ye looked up, meeting Luokuke’s astonished eyes.

The two took two steps back almost simultaneously, expressionless.

"You see a red light?" Cheng Ye asked in a deep voice.

"Look at mine."

Luokuke picked up the radio on his waist, after a while, the distress button in the middle flashed a circle of green light.

"Green."

"But I see red."

"Press the button in the middle." Cheng Ye took two more steps back, his hand directly pressing on his waist.

Good grief.

Changing perceptions? Or hallucinations? Or have they been parasitized by the infection source?

"Alright!"

Luokuke did nothing else, but as he said, pressed the middle contact button.

Instantly, a piercing voice came from it, "Luokuke! There’s danger by the river! Everyone has been parasitized!"

Huh?

Cheng Ye trembled all over, but what made his heart race was not the information conveyed by this voice.

It was the people beside Luokuke with no reaction at all, and the group of Huang Liang who turned their heads as if they heard nothing.

Only I can hear?

Cheng Ye paused, turned, and beckoned, "Huang Liang, what color do you see in the middle of my communicator?"

Huang Liang leaned over, looked down for a while, "Master, it’s red!"

Boom!

An indescribable sense of fear came from the bottom of his heart.

Cheng Ye was instantly dazed in place, only feeling an indescribable chill rising from his feet, spreading to his scalp.

"Inspector Luo."

"Hmm?" Luokuke had realized something but at this moment dared not make any assertions.

"Should we go to the river to take a look?"

"Let’s go." Luokuke nodded, the group hurriedly headed to the riverside.

Not daring to get close, everyone stood on the path far from the riverbank.

He turned on the flashlight, shining towards the riverbank where a row of crab-men stood, extending endlessly.

Muttering in a low voice, "Can you see, I sprinkled a circle of tracking fluorescent powder by the river, it’s still intact now."

...