Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 326: Shadow Space, Terrifying Potential!

[Shadow Puppet World (Lv6; Normal)][Description]: ..

[Entry Requirements]: ..

[Unlock Requirements]: Detected that the Collector possesses 1.3 units of Shadow Cloth. A corresponding size of the Shadow Puppet World can be opened. Do you wish to consume the materials to unlock this skill?

'Only 1.3 units?'

Cheng Ye was somewhat unsure of the criteria the Collector used to determine these units, and the System Panel lacked an option to split units for experimentation.

After a brief moment of consideration, he simply selected to unlock it. He was eager to see exactly what profound mysteries this Shadow Puppet World concealed.

In the next second, the Shadow Cloth on the ground gave a slight tremble. On the surface, nothing seemed to change; it was neither absorbed by the Collector nor did it emit any strange energy.

However, the force binding the Shadow Cloth soon seemingly dissipated. The entire roll of arm-thick fabric suddenly sprang open, slowly unfurling into a rectangular sheet about seventy centimeters long and forty centimeters wide.

At the same time, as the fabric completely flattened out, the skill panel suddenly blurred. All the previous descriptions vanished, replaced by an entirely new interface!

[Shadow Puppet World (Lv6; Normal)]

[Description]: Rumors state that "Shadow Cloth" serves as the direct intermediary medium connecting reality and the Shadow World. Aside from a Shadow-Molded Body, which can survive within the shadows, any other object can only be stored and retrieved within the Shadow World without being devoured by the power of shadows if it is crafted from Shadow Cloth.

[Current Skill Status]: Unlocked [Current Shadow Cloth Reserve]: 1.3 units [Currently Acquired Shadow Puppet Blueprints]:

1. Shadow Pouch (Unlocks at 0.1 units; Ready for crafting)

Function: Store reality-based items (Can store objects with a volume no greater than 10cm x 10cm x 10cm; Weight cannot exceed 20 kilograms)

2. Shadow Box (Unlocks at 1 unit; Ready for crafting)

Function: Store reality-based items (Can store objects with a volume no greater than 50cm x 50cm x 50cm; Weight cannot exceed 18

0 kilograms)

3. Shadow Vehicle (Currently unlocked types: Bicycle; Off-road Vehicle; Semi-truck Cab)

Requirements: Bicycle (7 units); Off-road Vehicle (105 units); Semi-truck Cab (350 units)

Function: Shadow Passage (Driving a Shadow Vehicle grants the ability to traverse the shadow borderlands, completely unaffected by real-world terrain and architecture)

Shadow Puppet Energy (Can consume basic shadow puppets for driving power, deriving special abilities based on the level of propulsion)

Shadow Restoration (Upon sustaining damage, it can automatically submerge into the Shadow World to repair the damage; it cannot be destroyed by any means)

Note: To unlock more shadow puppet blueprints, please conduct a Trait analysis on the "Shadow Puppet World." There will be a certain probability of obtaining brand new blueprints. "My god, this skill is somewhat incredible!"

After reading through the complete introduction of the Shadow Puppet World, Cheng Ye was completely stunned.

Rather than calling it a skill, it was more like he had obtained authorization to use a shadow puppet manufacturing machine.

As long as he inputted the "Shadow Cloth" material, he could craft all sorts of Items according to the blueprints.

A Shadow Pouch, a Shadow Box, and even a Shadow Vehicle?

Seeing that even a semi-truck cab could be manufactured, Cheng Ye instantly recalled the ghost vehicle they had encountered in the Wilderness that afternoon.

If he could craft a semi-truck just like the Seamless Shadow Puppet had, it would be an absolutely heaven-defying asset.

"It can traverse through shadows, which makes it no different from a ghost vehicle! Furthermore, it can't be destroyed, retains the basic Traits of a shadow puppet, and can even use shadow puppets to drive its energy..."

Cheng Ye took a deep breath, instantly realizing the massive value hidden behind this skill.

Weren't this Shadow Pouch and Shadow Box actual, genuine spatial storage equipment?

Being able to store real-world items into the Shadow World shared a wonderfully similar function to his Pendant space.

But on second thought, a shadow puppet giant over three meters tall had ultimately only dropped 1.3 units of Shadow Cloth.

Looking at it this way, Shadow Cloth was likely an extremely rare, top-tier material.

Cheng Ye pondered for a moment before locking his gaze onto the most basic "Shadow Pouch," intending to craft a simple one first to test its effects.

As his Intent fell upon it, the unfolded Shadow Cloth on the ground suddenly lit up with a faint glimmer, accurately reflecting a palm-sized corner.

"Huh, why is this thing glowing?" Liu Bi appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but in reality, he had been keeping an eye on the commotion over here using his peripheral vision.

Seeing that inconspicuous piece of white cloth suddenly give off a faint light, he couldn't help but lean in, his tone filled with astonishment.

Cheng Ye stared at that glimmer for a few seconds when a Stroke of Genius suddenly hit him. He turned around and rummaged through the toolbox, pulling out a pair of fine steel scissors.

Following the illuminated outline, he carefully cut that small corner off the edge of the Shadow Cloth.

The moment it detached from the main piece, the fabric in Cheng Ye's hand instantly lost its previous heaviness. It became incredibly light, as weightless as a goose feather.

Immediately after, this tiny piece of Shadow Cloth actually began to transform on its own.

Under the gazes of both men, the flat piece of cloth slowly shrank and folded, ultimately turning into a palm-sized small pouch.

An inexplicable mental connection instantly surged into Cheng Ye's mind. It was similar to the bond he shared with Little Flame after equipping the Heart-Protecting Fire, yet this connection was profoundly stronger.

He tried tugging at this connection with his Intent, and a stream of information immediately flooded his brain, clearly informing him how to use the Shadow Pouch.

After digesting the information, Cheng Ye looked up at Liu Bi, an unconcealable flash of joy gleaming in his eyes.

Miraculous!

Truly miraculous!

"How did this thing change shape all on its own?" Liu Bi had fully leaned in now, his face almost glued to the small pouch as he scrutinized it from top to bottom.

"Brother B, you can see it?" Cheng Ye asked, feeling slightly surprised.

"Of course I can see it..." Before Liu Bi could finish his sentence, an expression as if he had just seen a ghost suddenly appeared on his face.

The small pouch unexpectedly shimmered from top to bottom, flickering a few times like an image with an unstable signal, before completely vanishing from his field of vision.

He subconsciously reached out and waved his hand over Cheng Ye's palm, but he felt absolutely nothing.

"It... disappeared?"

"No, it must have... submerged into the Shadow World?!"

After confirming that Liu Bi truly couldn't see it, Cheng Ye tried to tug at the mental connection once more to make it reveal itself.

Subsequently, the pouch flickered bit by bit and reappeared before their eyes.

Liu Bi hastily reached out and snatched up the Shadow Pouch. He only felt an airy lightness in his hands; there was no physical texture to it whatsoever, as if he were holding a ball of air.

"This..." Liu Bi raised the Shadow Pouch to his eyes, staring at it blankly for a long time before speaking in disbelief. "This couldn't be some fake construct created by the Seamless Shadow Puppet, could it?"

Using the word "fake" to describe a shadow puppet creation wasn't exactly wrong.

The pouch in his hand not only lacked weight, but it also completely lacked the texture a tangible item should possess. It felt like an illusion.

"Brother B, try stuffing something inside," Cheng Ye suggested.

"Stuff something inside?" Liu Bi glanced around, casually picked up a short knife resting on the table, and tried to insert it into the opening of the Shadow Pouch.

However, the moment the blade was halfway in, an indescribable sense of obstruction transmitted back, as if it had hit a solid barrier.

"It won't go in?" He pulled the knife out, walked over to the open toolbox, grabbed a small screwdriver, and tried pushing it into the Shadow Pouch again.

This time, there was no resistance. The screwdriver slid straight into the bag, yet the Shadow Pouch in his hand remained weightless, as if the screwdriver had vanished into thin air.

Liu Bi instantly realized what was happening, a look of sudden comprehension dawning on his face. "It can store items?"

"You've seen materials capable of storing items before?" Seeing that Liu Bi wasn't overly shocked, Cheng Ye felt quite surprised.

"Of course I have. There are quite a few good things out there capable of spatial storage."

Liu Bi nodded repeatedly, his eyes shining with the unmistakable joy of a hunter spotting prey. "Back when I visited Great Sun Shelter City, I saw their Inspectors using a type of storage Backpack. It could hold things three times larger than the Backpack itself without changing its weight in the slightest. I was dying of envy back then."

"Oh, right, doesn't Kindling Shelter City also have storage bags?" Liu Bi slapped his thigh. "Although they aren't as miraculous as this one in our hands, they can still pack quite a lot. Didn't you see any the last time you went to Kindling?"

"Nope, I only stayed for half the night last time. Where would I get the chance to see those?" Cheng Ye shook his head.

'Good heavens.'

Cheng Ye secretly clicked his tongue in wonder. He had originally thought this Shadow Pouch was a one-of-a-kind rarity, but he never expected that Humans had long since researched similar storage equipment, even mass-producing and selling them.

"Those storage Backpacks are outrageously expensive!" Liu Bi clicked his tongue, still repeatedly playing with the weightless Shadow Pouch in his hands. "They sell for eighty thousand Contribution Points a pop. Even Brother Long couldn't bring himself to buy one back in the day. Now look at us, we can actually make one ourselves using what the Seamless Shadow Puppet left behind?"

As he spoke, he fished the screwdriver out and stuffed it back in.

He tossed it back and forth several times, the excitement on his face not fading in the slightest. He looked just like a kid who had received a new toy.

Cheng Ye didn't reply. He directly pulled out his Defense Terminal and searched for currently available storage equipment based on Liu Bi's description.

Sure enough, there were quite a few varieties.

A full eight overlord-tier shelter cities were selling them publicly, including Kindling and Great Sun, the two apex shelter cities of the Great East region.

However, carefully browsing through the descriptions, this storage equipment could largely be divided into three categories:

The first type was the storage Backpack that Liu Bi had mentioned.

The Backpack itself was a physical item, its internal space modified through special technology to store objects larger than its own volume.

Depending on the price, the cheapest could achieve double the storage space, while the most expensive could reach five times.

But there was a strict weight limit. The total loaded weight of the Backpack couldn't exceed 250 kilograms, otherwise it would be damaged.

The second type was the storage box, primarily used for long-distance supply transport.

The principles were roughly the same as the storage Backpack, but the storage Space was much larger, and the weight limits were far more lenient, capable of carrying a staggering 25

tons at maximum.

The drawback was poor stability. Once subjected to intense turbulence, the internal Space could easily collapse, causing the supplies inside to vanish into thin air.

The third type was similar to the Shadow Pouch in their hands. The volume and weight of the stored items had nothing to do with the external shape of the equipment, and were solely bound by its own hard limits.

But the price for this type of equipment far exceeded the former two. The starting price alone was three hundred thousand Contribution Points, an absolutely ridiculous amount.

"Shadow Cloth is a material dropped by the Seamless Shadow Puppet. It makes sense that Humans managed to obtain samples and research the technology behind the storage Backpacks..."

Staring at the price tags on the Defense Terminal, Cheng Ye knew perfectly well that if he sold this Shadow Pouch, it would undoubtedly fetch an astronomical price. However, instead of rushing to celebrate, he began pondering the usage restrictions of this item.

He attempted to unequip the "Shadow Puppet World" skill.

Almost instantly, the Shadow Pouch in Liu Bi's hand gave a gentle tremble. Like a severed signal, it disappeared without a trace.

"Eh? Why is it gone again?" Liu Bi froze in surprise, instinctively grasping at the empty air.

A flash of understanding crossed Cheng Ye's eyes.

Equipping the Shadow Puppet World skill was equivalent to turning himself into an anchor connecting reality and the shadows.

Once the anchor disappeared, the Shadow Pouch lost its foundation. Naturally unable to maintain its form, it would immediately retreat back into the Shadow World.

With a flicker of his thoughts, he re-equipped the Shadow Puppet World.

As that familiar mental connection rushed back into his mind, Cheng Ye tugged at his Intent once more. The air before him shimmered faintly, and the Shadow Pouch drifted weightlessly into his palm.

Opening the bag to check, the screwdriver Liu Bi had placed inside earlier was still resting peacefully within, completely unaffected by the unequipping and re-equipping of the skill.

"Why does this thing only listen to you?" Liu Bi leaned over, his eyes brimming with curiosity. "How come I can't command it?"

"It's probably because I personally finished off that shadow puppet giant, thereby forming a direct connection with this Shadow Cloth." Cheng Ye had no way of explaining the existence of the System Panel, so he casually made up a somewhat reasonable excuse.

Liu Bi experienced a sudden epiphany, followed by a regretful smack of his lips. "So you're saying this precious treasure can only be used by you?"

"The restrictions shouldn't be that rigid. Let me think about it..."

Cheng Ye sat back down, gently tapping his fingers on the table as he carefully compared the Shadow Pouch with the storage equipment he had found on the Defense Terminal.

Physical storage equipment, be it a Backpack or a box, had to be carried on one's person. Not only was it cumbersome, but it also carried the risk of being lost or damaged.

But the Shadow Pouch was different. It was the equivalent of directly carving out an exclusive storage Space within the shadow layer, and the skill acted as the key to open this Space.

With the skill in hand, he could access it anytime; without the skill, the key became invalid, and the Space would temporarily seal shut.

Moreover, the size of the storage Space was directly determined by his reserves of Shadow Cloth. The more Shadow Pouches and Shadow Boxes he crafted, the larger the shadow Space he could dominate.

'If I want to give the Shadow Pouch or Shadow Box to someone else to use, I'll have to keep the Shadow Puppet World skill equipped at all times to maintain the connection with the shadow Space. I wonder if there's a distance limit, though...'

Cheng Ye stroked his chin. 'If I use it myself, there wouldn't be so much trouble. Once items are packed inside, unequipping the skill won't affect anything.'

At this thought, his train of logic abruptly paused. Two words popped into his head: 'Entrapment scheme.'

If an unwitting person were to take the Shadow Pouch and store valuable items inside, all he had to do was quietly unequip his skill. The Shadow Pouch in the other party's hands would vanish, and wouldn't everything inside belong to him?

This thought sent a wave of secret delight through his heart, but it also made him even more certain that the Shadow Pouch definitely had a distance limit!

"Brother B, hold onto this, let me test something out."

Cheng Ye passed the Shadow Pouch over and instructed, "If it suddenly disappears, flick your flashlight to warn me."

"Alright." Liu Bi quickly accepted the Shadow Pouch, clutching it tightly in his hand.

Cheng Ye turned and walked out of the courtyard, marching forward with sweeping strides. Before he could walk very far, an object appeared out of thin air in his hand—it was none other than the Shadow Pouch.

He walked a bit further before the beam of a flashlight finally swept through the night sky from behind him.

Cheng Ye immediately halted his steps, turning around to head back.

After several tests, he finally figured out the distance limit. It was a straight line of about four hundred and sixty meters, shy of five hundred meters.

"If I'm the only one who can use it, the safety factor is absolutely maxed out, but its economic value is basically zero."

Cheng Ye muttered to himself. Suddenly, he thought of a crucial issue. "Wait, that's not right. This Shadow Cloth dropped from the shadow puppet giant. If it has such a tight connection to the Seamless Shadow Puppet, logically it should have been taken back by it long ago. Could it be... it's currently still within a five-hundred-meter radius of me?"

The moment this thought surfaced, he snuffed it out instantly.

Impossible.

That sticky sensation of being watched had vanished without a trace long ago. If the Seamless Shadow Puppet were truly still lying dormant nearby, that would be far too horrifying.

The crux of the matter probably didn't lie in the creations of the Shadow Puppet World itself, but rather in something much deeper...

"More blueprints, and also shadow puppet refinement!"

Cheng Ye violently slapped his thigh, instantly figuring out the key element.

Shadow Cloth could only be mass-produced through shadow puppet refinement. This skill likely concealed the most Core mysteries.

If he could use shadow puppet refinement to allow others to establish a connection with the Shadow World, then the Shadow Pouch could be freely handed over for anyone to use.

Perhaps there was even some sort of special blueprint that could directly craft a Shadow Pouch equipped with an innate shadow anchor, completely shaking off the reliance on his skill.

Figuring out these two points, Cheng Ye felt completely enlightened.

This was undeniably a skill worth digging deeply into—one he absolutely had to dig deeply into, possessing a terrifying potential!

And it wasn't just the Shadow Puppet World. That seemingly easily collected shadow puppet refinement was the true main event.

However, Humans fundamentally couldn't use it. To touch upon it, one had to be infected by a Seamless Beast.

'But I'm different. I can have the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse bear this Infection Cost for me, while I simply reap the benefits brought by the skill.'

With this in mind, Cheng Ye gazed up into the heavy night sky, realizing the crucial point.

Shadow puppet blueprints could only be acquired by analyzing the Shadow Puppet World, but if he wanted more Traits...

"I can't let that guy get away. I have to find a way to track him down and make him drop more gold coins..."

"Yeah, I need more Traits!"