"Are you okay with Tian Lei taking risks out there? Or can you control her?"

The words landed.

Master Tian was taken aback, his eyes suddenly dimmed, and the hand at his side unconsciously clenched.

"Can you accept relying solely on luck to escape if a crisis similar to the Starfish disaster erupts again?" Cheng Ye didn’t pause, but continued questioning, with an unavoidable reality in his tone.

Master Tian was stunned again, his lips moved, but he couldn’t say a word, the color on his face gradually faded.

"If your family met with an accident due to unknown dangers, Master Tian, could you accept it?"

"You don’t want to take risks, but the dangers of this world won’t stay still. They will move, actively seek you out, and won’t spare you just because you’re hiding in a corner."

Cheng Ye ripped open a bag of beer, tilted his head back and took a large gulp. The icy liquid sliding down his throat didn’t quell the heaviness in his heart: "When the Void Mist opened, I went through the Fog Cave to Firewood Shelter City. Honestly, it has completely changed there now. If you went, you probably wouldn’t recognize it. They built numerous huge shelter cities, divided into areas A, B, C, D, and even used the abilities of the infection source to pile up towering protective mountains..."

"But do you know what I saw there? When I went, a neighboring shelter city, much larger than our Buffer Zone, was destroyed by an infection source without any resistance, and not a single person in the entire city managed to escape."

"Do you guess how the current migration wave erupted? That’s right, a monster also went through the Fog Cave, from Firewood to Happiness City. All this chaos now was caused by it, and we... have no way to deal with it, just letting it leave boldly." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

A world where resources aren’t considered scarce and civilization seems to be being restored but deadly danger can drop from the sky at any moment, is far more terrifying than a world visibly ravaged by zombies and mutant beasts, with resource scarcity.

Because you never know if the present happiness and peace might become hell on earth the next second.

Having worked hard till now, equipped with an Extraordinary Ability, Cheng Ye muses that he has a bit of security.

But Master Tian... where does his sense of safety come from?

Born from ignorance!

Born from helplessness!

"Inspector Cheng was talking about... Guardian Extraordinary?"

"You know?"

"In the Wasteland, only such level of monsters can have such a terrifying influence." Master Tian shook his head, eyes staring blankly out the window, as if lost in distant memories, "Do you know why I left the assassin line?"

"Hmm?"

"Because my beliefs were completely distorted by a Guardian Extraordinary."

Master Tian’s voice was as light as the wind yet carried a heavy past, "My father was one of the first-generation Extraordinary, with mighty power, flirtatious everywhere he went. And the offspring of the Extraordinary have some probability of inheriting special genetic talents. Unfortunately, I didn’t initially gain this power, so those days in the Firewood, I could only rely on driving trucks for a living."

"Later, during an unexpected attack by an Infected Body, I awakened my genetic talent in a life-and-death moment, and with this ability, gradually walked down a one-way street."

Master Tian’s eyes became complex, as if returning to that chaotic era.

"The Great Exploration era, heroes rose in masses, small and large forces were constantly battling. Initially, I only wanted to survive, leveraging my genetic talents to participate in some power struggles, earning survival resources as a mercenary. But as my power increased, I began to become dissatisfied with this kind of life. By chance, I became an assassin, earning by assassinating power heads."

"It was an extremely chaotic era, messy down to the bone."

Master Tian paused, his tone carrying a trace of complexity, "At that time, not only ordinary people would be bounty targets, even... Inspectors like you would become prey on the bounty list."

Was the Great Exploration era so wild?

What Jiang Chuan told was an overall situation, but Master Tian was narrating the struggles at a deeper level.

Cheng Ye did not interrupt, just listened quietly, waiting for Master Tian to continue.

"In repeated killings, I gradually provoked many enemies, and many people regarded me as a thorn in their eyes, wanting to eliminate me."

"They wanted to extract my genes and study the source of genetic talents. It’s worth mentioning that at that time the Extraordinary had disappeared completely. The most powerful were those of us who had awakened genetic talents, and ordinary people called us ’Superpower Users.’"

"I killed others, others wanted to kill me, and I, in turn, killed them. Day after day of slaughter made me more and more fatigued with this life. I began yearning to retire, to lead a normal life, living peacefully. But unfortunately, at that time, four assassination forces simultaneously put out a bounty on me, with hundreds of high-grade assassins chasing me, including more than a dozen Superpower Users, all quite powerful."

"Though my survival skills were considered strong, I couldn’t withstand the other’s overwhelming numbers, ultimately getting pushed to a dead end, nearly dying in the Wilderness."

Saying this, Master Tian’s gaze softened a bit, "It was my current wife who saved me. She was also an assassin at that time, but only a third-rate one, always following killer groups to earn contribution, never succeeding in any personal missions."

"She didn’t dare to claim my head for the reward because she knew, with her capabilities, she couldn’t hold onto that reward and would instead invite a killing disaster. Yet she also didn’t want to live that life of uncertainty anymore, so ultimately, she chose to save me, letting me spend the rest of my life repaying her."