Times are progressing, and the environment is changing too.

When the inspection station was first established, rules were strict, and every inspector had harsh KPI tasks.

Those who couldn't complete them would be dragged out to be scolded at meetings, and would also have their salaries docked and ranks demoted.

But as Lee Matteo said, each generation is worse than the last.

After Ding Yishan became station chief, the inspection station had already become a loosely regulated, semi-autonomous organization.

High-ranking inspectors were active outside Shi Province year-round. Apart from returning when tasks were completed, they usually only returned to Happiness City before winter each year, resting and reorganizing until the transition from spring to summer before departing again.

Low-ranking and mid-ranking inspectors weren't idle when not on duty either. They would either take on field missions to gather intelligence or shuttle between various settlements and sanctuary cities.

It was just that in the past six months, influenced by transcendent opportunities, conflicts among the upper ranks gradually permeated down to the lower levels, causing the trend of taking sides to intensify.

Add to that the chain reactions triggered by celestial anomalies, the danger coefficient in the wilderness had skyrocketed, which led to the current "grand spectacle" of nearly a hundred inspectors huddled together in the buffer zone.

Under this special atmosphere, Ding Yishan and Harlin seemed to have vanished, never proactively showing themselves, allowing the inspectors below to form cliques and factions.

By count, this was the first time Cheng Ye had seen this deputy station chief since the trainee assessment ended.

Harlin gave a completely different impression from Ding Yishan.

As the chief examiner for the inspector trainee assessment, Cheng Ye always felt Harlin was somewhat like his high school homeroom teacher.

Toward students with poor grades at the bottom of the class, he was always coldly dismissive, that disdain practically written directly on his face.

But toward top students with excellent grades, his attitude was completely opposite, making people feel like they were bathed in spring breeze.

Unfortunately, Harlin's "spring breeze" only lingered on him for a few short days.

After the cultural assessment ended and it came to the combat assessment phase, he never saw this person's good face again, only the cold indifference of purely business matters.

But now, that spring breeze seemed to have appeared again.

Harlin was already standing behind the isolation door of the inspection area, arms crossed over his chest, a faint, almost imperceptible smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Cheng Ye calmly opened his panel and scanned once.

The result was as expected.

[Harlin, 0%, searchable range: none]

This was the second person he'd encountered with completely zero compatibility since activating the collector.

Chu Xuan being young and repeatedly warned by his parents to be wary of strangers was understandable for having such strong guard.

But Harlin.

Just from this 0% compatibility, he could clearly determine their current relationship.

Couldn't call them enemies, but they probably weren't far from it.

Seeing Cheng Ye remain silent, Harlin didn't find it strange and continued, "Being able to bring back a piece of transcendent mineral material for the inspection station counts as a great achievement. I've already agreed to Station Chief Downs's proposal to help you activate some privileges of a formal inspector in advance. I hope you can maintain this momentum. Not bad!"

So when Qin Feng called, Harlin and Downs were together?

"Thank you, Deputy Station Chief!"

For the first time, Cheng Ye didn't appear so "sensible," deliberately adding the word "deputy" before station chief.

Hearing his implied meaning, Harlin pulled his mouth corners in an uninterested manner and waved his hand, leading two trusted subordinates away.

Only after the three figures disappeared from view did Cheng Ye slowly breathe a sigh of relief.

Going back to before his hospitalization, he could have had a good chat with Harlin about anything without problems.

But now it was different. Ding Yishan had already pushed him to the forefront, introducing him to all the Eastern inspectors.

Having any unnecessary exchanges with Harlin at this point, if their casual conversation got leaked out, while it wouldn't necessarily earn him the label of betraying his camp, there would inevitably be some troublemakers gossiping behind his back.

After the minor interlude, Cheng Ye quickly refocused and activated high-efficiency duty mode!

At the same time, he gradually discovered that Quarantine Zone A was among the four inspection areas the safest, yet highest-yield region.

Because people who could obtain car rental permits mostly possessed certain capabilities, their infection rates were inherently low.

Moreover, these people had extremely high cooperation with inspections, almost never showing resistance, making the process very smooth.

Unlike Lee Matteo's adjacent Zone C, which was responsible for inspecting people from other sanctuary cities and settlements. It seemed leisurely but was actually quite troublesome.

Every arrival brought large batches of goods. Not only could they not seek personal gain from them, but they also had to carefully inspect each item, guarding against contamination by infection sources.

At the same time, it was also the place most prone to conflicts aside from Zone B.

Because there were always many "geniuses" from surrounding settlements who wanted to join Happiness City but were unwilling to go through the central inspection station for proper screening and isolation, trying to exploit loopholes to break through.

And these geniuses with peculiar brain circuits often had surprisingly high infection probabilities. Basically, out of ten people who came, six were infected entities.

The inspectors' income mostly came from these geniuses.

As for Zone D, it was responsible for inspecting special personnel, such as sentries on patrol duty, inspectors on field missions, inner city guard teams, and so forth.

Safety was indeed safe, but basically there was no hope for any additional income. At the same time, the inspection procedures were the most cumbersome of all four areas. After all, you couldn't reasonably put your own people in isolation areas for ten days to half a month.

Comparing it all, Cheng Ye suddenly understood that being assigned to Zone A for duty was actually pretty good.

Although the probability of encountering fierce infected entities was highest here, but...

He pulled out the Thunder-1 hidden under the desk and without hesitation squeezed the trigger to the bottom.

Boom.

Boom.

The continuous thunderous roars made the air tremble. The three infected entities that came charging wildly from the just-stopped Grand Cherokee were instantly blown apart, half their bodies shattered by the shotgun blasts, with dark green foul-smelling fluid splattering all over the isolation net.

Not only was Lee Matteo next door startled, but even the crowd queuing outside the inspection station was frightened into instinctively stepping back, raising a chorus of alarmed cries.

"There are still these types of brutes who charge in without saying a word?"

Cheng Ye walked forward carrying the Thunder-1, steadily aiming the muzzle at the three infected entities' heads, and squeezed the trigger again.

The shotgun blast roared through the air until the three corpses were completely pulverized and motionless. Only then did he breathe a long sigh of relief, turn around, return to his desk, and press the communicator to report.

"Codename: Green Giant, infection progress: Stage 2, has been inspected and killed by Trainee Inspector 'Cheng Ye'!"

A response quickly came through the communicator, "Received. Cleanup team will arrive immediately. Please Inspector Cheng continue maintaining scene stability!"

Not all infected entities possessed stealth capabilities requiring isolation observation to discover.

Many infected entities had clear trigger conditions, just like the few "Green Giants" before him whose skin had completely turned green and swollen up.

Their infection source was a special type of caterpillar. After being parasitized, once the host encountered a lethal threat, it would immediately trigger a Stage 2 outbreak state.

Those three people just now subconsciously identified him, the inspector, as threatening, directly triggering the infection outbreak.

Unfortunately, they didn't encounter him when he first started duty.

Wallace quickly arrived with people. Looking at the mess in the inspection area, his expression turned bitter.

But such was the cleanup team's responsibility. Under Cheng Ye's murderous gaze, the cleanup team went forward and quickly hooked out three fist-sized caterpillars from the shredded flesh.

Two had already been killed by the shotgun blasts, leaving only one still wriggling.

"Inspector Cheng, this living one is worth 10 points, but the dead ones are only worth 2 points each."

"No matter, just take them away!"

Cheng Ye magnanimously waved his hand. He wasn't the poor wretch he used to be, needing to tighten his belt to get by.

In normal times, he might have practiced with the Cyclone Spike, but now with thousands of eyes watching him, he didn't want to wrestle with infected entities in the inspection area for a few contribution points. Too embarrassing!

Wallace nodded and led people to take the Green Giants away.

Subsequently, staff pushed high-pressure water guns in. Water jets washed over the ground, and the blood stains and fragments from moments before were instantly cleaned away, leaving only a faint bloody smell in the air.

Obviously, the people queuing behind for inspection all showed some unease on their faces.

Fortunately, Cheng Ye didn't "see red" as they had imagined, still conducting inspections according to procedures in a businesslike manner.

Those with qualified indicators and completely confirmed whereabouts were directly released to leave.

Those with qualified indicators but unverifiable whereabouts, or even conflicting accounts, had to enter isolation chambers during this special period.

As for those with unqualified indicators, there was no room for negotiation. All were treated as latent infected entities and isolated separately in batches.

Time quickly came to four in the afternoon. Seeing shift change approaching, Cheng Ye called over Raven, who was responsible for record-keeping, to tally the data.

"How many people passed through in total, how many were isolated?"

"377 people passed through, 121 people were isolated."

"Hmm, so that's close to a 25% isolation rate?"

Cheng Ye nodded slightly.

Although one couldn't carve a boat to find a sword, the data from 13 years ago after the Nightmare Parasite still had reference value.

On the first day, Quarantine Zone A's isolation rate had reached 56%. Now it was only half of that, which could be considered a good result.

Of course, the situation at adjacent Quarantine Zone B was completely different.

The crowd that had previously gathered and queued outside had long since dispersed, leaving only a few hundred people still hopefully waiting at the entrance, watching the activity inside, hoping for a chance.

Throughout this entire day, the number of people who actually entered Zone B for inspection was probably less than a hundred.

And with Lee Matteo's "methods," he basically sent them all to isolation without a word, with very few managing to pass through smoothly.

"You really are relaxed here."

Cheng Ye leaned against the railing at the boundary between the two areas, raising his chin.

"Of course." Lee Matteo sat in his chair with his legs crossed, "Even if residents wanted to return to Happiness City, they wouldn't choose today when the inspection station just reopened. Any fool knows today has the highest probability of infected entities appearing, and the inspection standards are strictest. Who would ram into the muzzle?"

"Believe it or not? At least half of the people I sent in today are infected entities, just not yet at the outbreak stage."

"I believe it."

Cheng Ye smiled and pulled a packet of nutritional paste from his pocket, tore open the packaging, and took a sip. "Old Lee, I won't be coming next week, and probably won't be coming to the North Station for duty anymore."

"Huh?"

Lee Matteo jumped up from his chair like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his face that had been stern all day suddenly squeezing out a sickeningly sweet smile:

"What did you just call me?"

"Old Lee." Cheng Ye was amused by this reaction and repeated it.

"Hey, I love that nickname! Call me that from now on!"

Lee Matteo's eyes crinkled into slits from smiling, waving his hand. "If you're not coming, then don't come. What's good about staying in this crappy place? Kid, you've got guts, you're cut out for big things. Let me tell you, from the day I became an inspector until today, it's been over ten years, and I've never dared set foot in South Station!"

As his words fell, Cheng Ye couldn't help feeling a warmth in his heart.

Apart from Liu Bi, Lee Matteo was the only inspector among all of them who truly cared about him.

Not only because their philosophies aligned, but their temperaments were very compatible too.

"The inspection station is burying your talent."

"Then hurry up and gain power, then dig me back out again. By the way, don't believe that nonsense I told you that day about how impressive we inspectors are when we go out. Actually, I only went out a few times when I was young. Back then the Pioneer Corps was building everywhere, Happiness City's sphere of influence was expanding rapidly, and we inspectors' power benefited from the Corps' glory."

"But these years since the Corps disbanded, surrounding settlements and sanctuary cities have risen one after another. Happiness City's situation isn't as glorious as before. Maybe when you go out on field missions, you'll be hassled by inspectors from other sanctuary cities. Even more likely, some people might not think much of our Happiness City at all."

Lee Matteo grinned, his tone carrying some jest, but his eyes showed no ripples, as if he had long grown accustomed to this marginalized state.

But what surprised him was that Cheng Ye actually nodded seriously, as if he really planned to dig him back out someday.

"Hmm?"

Lee Matteo was stunned, a flash of surprise crossing his cloudy eyes.

"Stay alive. There will come such a day. I get the feeling your words just now sounded like you were giving me your last testament."

"Get lost, hurry up and hand over your shift, don't curse me here!"

Lee Matteo laughed and cursed, raising his hand to slap the railing. If it weren't for the isolation net between the two areas blocking him, he would probably have charged over to chase and beat him.

But as Cheng Ye finished his nutritional paste and turned away, a barely perceptible regret flashed in his eyes.

Will there really come such a day?

But, will I still be able to wait for it?

Watching Cheng Ye leave the inspection area, Lee Matteo gently shook his head, the regret in his eyes gradually fading until it completely disappeared without a trace.

Like water ruffled by wind, it rippled gently once, then returned to calm again.

Knock.

"Come in."

Station Chief Downs's voice came from inside the room, carrying a barely noticeable fatigue.

Cheng Ye took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Behind the deep walnut executive desk, the old man still sat in that leather swivel chair, holding a pen in his hand, brow slightly furrowed, gaze focused on the spread-out documents, as if contemplating some thorny problem.

After Cheng Ye entered, he gently closed the door, stood in the same old position as before, hands at his sides, waiting quietly.

Of course, he didn't forget to open his panel for a quick scan.

Surprisingly, Downs's compatibility was actually 27%, far higher than Harlin's.

You had to know, Ding Yishan was currently pushing him into position.

As the Western duty station chief, no matter what, he should show some attitude, but Downs still had this value, which already represented something.

After more than ten seconds, Downs didn't look up, but suddenly spoke, his tone like he was talking to himself:

"Cheng Ye, I'm facing a difficult problem right now. I want to talk to someone about it and hear their opinion."

"Listen, if you want to answer, then speak up. If you don't want to answer, that's fine too. I won't force you."

Just as Downs was about to elaborate, unexpectedly Cheng Ye suddenly interrupted, "Are there benefits?"

"Benefits?"

Downs finally looked up, a flash of surprise crossing his face, but he quickly managed a smile. "I still have two evaluation forms in my hand. If you want them, it depends on your performance. Additionally, I can give you a piece of information, the kind you want to know."

"Good!"

Cheng Ye nodded decisively.

Since Downs had opened his mouth, regardless of whether he responded or not, following the other party's rhythm would inevitably put him in a passive position.

Better to be direct and turn the tables, seizing the initiative first.

Moreover, the current situation wasn't like half a month ago when he needed to keep a low profile. Now that he was on stage, he had to perform when it was time to perform.

Especially between Harlin and Downs, they weren't a unified block, and there were no outsiders present.

"Double Moon Lake Settlement, 620 kilometers away from us, is one of the rare places in Shi Province where crops can be grown, and also a production site that supplies nutritional paste raw materials to our Happiness City. But now they suddenly want to terminate cooperation. According to recovered intelligence, Greater Camphor Sanctuary City offered them a higher price and also provided them with a batch of important industrial equipment."

Downs put down his pen, his fingertips lightly tapping the desktop, and said gravely, "Now, what do you think we should do to keep this raw material production site?"

Greater Camphor Sanctuary City?

Cheng Ye quickly searched his memory. This was a small sanctuary city with a population of just forty to fifty thousand.

Located southwest of Happiness City, about a thousand kilometers in straight-line distance.

As for Double Moon Lake Settlement, he hadn't heard of it.

"How far is Greater Camphor from Double Moon Lake?"

"It used to be 570 kilometers, but now they've built a bridge, so it's only 450 kilometers."

450 versus 620, distance slightly favored them.

Additionally, they had higher prices and a batch of important industrial equipment.

From any angle, Greater Camphor Sanctuary City held absolute advantages, while Happiness City had no competitiveness.

"How does Greater Camphor's industrial level compare to ours?"

"About our level from fifteen years ago. They can only produce some small gadgets."

After Downs answered, his face suddenly showed some hope.

This was the difficult problem Harlin had thrown at him today. He had called six second-term inspectors over midway, but everyone shook their heads upon hearing it, even hastily giving suggestions without asking for specific details.

Either use force to threaten, forcing Greater Camphor Sanctuary City to actively give up Double Moon Lake, or making Double Moon Lake Settlement afraid to cooperate with Greater Camphor.

Or raise prices to compete, feeling that Greater Camphor's industrial strength was inferior to Happiness City's. Whatever the other side could give, Happiness City could naturally give too, making it a competition of financial resources.

Very simple and crude. Happiness City had always done this before, directly crushing with advantages. But if it were really so easy to solve now, Harlin wouldn't have specifically thrown this difficult problem at him.

Actually, Happiness City's raw material procurement points for nutritional paste had been increasingly lost in recent years.

Although it was still far from reaching the warning line, the downward trend kept expanding, with no sign of recovery for a long time.

Those settlements that originally fought to supply goods, many now like Double Moon Lake, actively proposed terminating cooperation.

On the surface, it was surrounding sanctuary cities rising up and poaching Happiness City's raw material points.

But the deeper reason was that Happiness City's industrial progress was becoming increasingly slow, gradually being caught up by surrounding sanctuary cities.

Perhaps there were still huge gaps in heavy industry, but in light industry concerning people's livelihoods, the differences between them were no longer vast.

Happiness City could no longer radiate throughout Shi Province like before, let alone harvest resources from surrounding provinces.

And once the competitive bidding door was opened, with a first Double Moon Lake, there would be a second Double Moon Lake.

Nutritional paste prices would skyrocket, either borne by residents or squeezing city finances.

But if they didn't compete on price and didn't use force, having not been on field duty for many years, Downs couldn't think of how to properly resolve such matters for the moment.

"Are there other settlements around Double Moon Lake?"

"Yes."

Hearing this, Downs's expectations immediately diminished. He could already guess what Cheng Ye was going to say.

"If you only give me one evaluation form, then my answer can only be: support this settlement, let them eliminate Double Moon Lake and take their place."

"Hmm?"

Downs raised his eyebrows. He had guessed the answer correctly, but this straightforward bargaining was unexpected.

Wait, could this kid be retaliating against me for grading him last time?

He really wanted to resist asking, but ultimately followed the conversation thread, "What if I give you two evaluation forms?"

"Two forms, then tell Double Moon Lake that the industrial equipment they're trading from Greater Camphor, Happiness City can also provide, but it requires more sincerity in exchange."

"Heh." Downs couldn't help but snort softly, smiling helplessly, "They're not fools. When they can easily get it from Greater Camphor, why would they spend extra sincerity to trade with us?"

"Precisely because they're not fools and want to develop, that's why they would abandon the massive Happiness City and turn to a small sanctuary city with only tens of thousands of people."

Cheng Ye chuckled. The real situation couldn't possibly be this simple and would require much more intelligence information support, but weren't they just theorizing on paper right now?

"So we just need to tell them that we Happiness City don't compete with Greater Camphor on short-term gains. We only provide long-term support for one place's development. What Greater Camphor can give, we can give. What Greater Camphor can't give, we can also give. But we need to see sincerity, more sincerity."

"Sincerity..."

Downs frowned, "You mean, give them empty promises?"

"This isn't empty promises, but our sincerity, the confidence that Greater Camphor can't match even if they tried their best."

Cheng Ye shook his head, "Competition can be about who gives more, but it can also be about who gives more irreplaceable things. Using our strengths against their weaknesses, is a small Double Moon Lake worth competing with Greater Camphor over burning resources?"

"We just need to show our advantages. Smart people will naturally know how to choose. If their eyes only see Greater Camphor's bit of industrial equipment, it's useless no matter what we say. But if they care about these things, we can immediately regain the initiative."

Downs fell silent for a while, then suddenly asked, "What if I add another piece of information?"

Cheng Ye barely hesitated, "Don't bother with Double Moon Lake. Go directly to Greater Camphor for cooperation, have them help purchase surrounding raw materials, then leak the cooperation news to Double Moon Lake while spreading word that we're going to support settlements around Double Moon Lake."

"Contact Greater Camphor..."

Downs was stunned, pondering silently.

This was an angle he had never considered after taking on this difficult problem, because subconsciously he had treated Greater Camphor as an enemy, thinking about competition without considering that both sides could also contact and cooperate.

Following this angle, Downs naturally wasn't stupid. With slight realization, he grasped the key point, "Continue!"

"For Greater Camphor, as long as there's no past grievances, contacting and cooperating with us has all benefits and no harm."

"But for Double Moon Lake, the cost of confrontation far exceeds the benefits of cooperation. This is something they cannot bear."

Cheng Ye said lightly, "Since Happiness City doesn't want to use force or spend money, the advantage we can utilize is our massive scale."

"Our scale lies in being able to make any choice that can bypass them, crush them, or replace them."

"While Double Moon Lake has much more to consider."

[NEXT CHAPTER]