Theoretical systems on paper often become more valuable for reference the more they expand toward grand directions.

Because listeners need only take the essence and discard the dross, thinking about the special points of this system to extract measures with practical operational significance.

However, at the beginning, Cheng Ye deliberately restrained his output speed, trying to make every sentence clear and easy to understand.

But the further he spoke, his train of thought became like a cleared riverbed, increasingly smooth and clear.

One after another, bold ideas flowed out, those details about district division, power checks and balances, and reward and punishment gradients seemed to have been stored in his mind long ago, just waiting for this moment to pour forth.

Jiang Chuan lowered his head to stare at the paper, his right hand gripping the steel pen moving so fast it had almost become an afterimage.

Half-step transcendent, how terrifying!

The "rustling" sound of the pen tip scratching across paper almost formed a continuous stream, actually able to keep up with Cheng Ye's speaking speed, not missing even those temporarily supplemented details.

At some unknown moment, Ding Yishan had completely stood up from his reclining chair, silently walking to behind the office chair.

He didn't interrupt, just stared fixedly at the defense communicator with speakerphone on.

His gaze was sharp as if wanting to penetrate the radio waves and see the young man speaking eloquently on the other end.

"This is the contract system I've initially conceived," Cheng Ye's voice carried a hint of slight panting. Long periods of high-intensity thinking and output inevitably caused some fatigue. "There may still be many shortcomings that need to be continuously refined according to actual conditions, but this requires more specific data about migrants to improve."

After speaking, he squeezed the somewhat hot defense communicator and glanced at the time.

Good heavens, unknowingly nearly twenty-five minutes had passed.

He suddenly felt a bit guilty. Outputting opinions so wildly, wouldn't this arouse the inspection station's suspicion?

After all, his predecessor in the inner city was publicly recognized as useless, never having contact with any management knowledge.

Why did he suddenly become enlightened after leaving the inner city, able to speak eloquently about construction planning and system design?

However, thinking it over, Cheng Ye felt relieved again.

Compared to him knowing these things, wasn't the sudden improvement in martial prowess even stranger?

A person who was once powerless, in just three short months became a muscle-bound tough guy who could take down high-level fusion entities.

Anyone with intentions who investigated a little would discover how terrifying these changes were.

However, these changes hadn't aroused others' suspicion, so "understanding this knowledge" was all the easier to explain.

After all, what appeared to outsiders was that he was someone who loved reading and pondering.

All those books delivered to the hospital room were the best proof!

"Alright, Inspector Cheng, I've recorded everything you said and will immediately submit it to the station chief for review. If there's any further news, I'll synchronize it with you at the first opportunity. Thank you for your support of the inspection station's official duties and Happiness City's development."

The twenty-odd sheets of white paper spread across the desk were filled densely, the handwriting slightly wavering due to the rushed recording, yet every character was clear.

Jiang Chuan stopped writing and spoke the formulaic words without thinking.

These formulaic words flowed smoothly and naturally. After all, following Ding Yishan for these years, he'd seen many reception scenes and had long formed instincts.

"Alright then, remember to contact me if there's further news. Thank you for the trouble," Cheng Ye's voice came through the receiver, followed by the dial tone of a hung-up call.

The last polite "thank you for the trouble" made Jiang Chuan belatedly realize he'd just been facing Cheng Ye, not a fifth-term or fourth-term inspector from within the inspection station.

"Sir."

"Move aside, let me see."

Ding Yishan's brow furrowed into a knot as he sat heavily in the office chair, grabbing the record papers from the desk and starting to read from the first page.

He subconsciously wanted to pick up a pen to annotate on them, but when his hand came down he realized these were originals and quickly withdrew his hand.

"Go make copies of all these, fifty copies!" Ding Yishan's voice carried a hint of urgency. "Quickly, first copy one set and bring it up to me."

"Yes!"

Jiang Chuan's heart tightened. It had been a long time since he'd seen Ding Yishan show this expression.

He quickly left with the materials. Fortunately, there was a small photocopier on the first floor of the station chief building, very convenient to operate, and soon he'd copied one set.

Ding Yishan took the copies that still carried the scent of ink and immediately began rapidly marking and annotating with his pen.

Human thinking was like this.

Once opened, it would enter a wonderful "flow" state.

In this state, thinking speed might not be much faster than usual, but distracting thoughts would disappear completely, improving work efficiency several times over without exaggeration.

The pen tip swept across the paper, sometimes drawing long lines with prominent emphasis marks behind them, these were parts that were basically achievable and crucial.

Sometimes circling large circles with question marks beside them, these were content needing further discussion and improvement.

Sometimes directly crossing out text with X marks.

Cheng Ye's information was still too limited after all, far less comprehensive than what he, as station chief, possessed.

So about thirty percent of these plans weren't very practical and couldn't form effective systems.

But the remaining seventy percent made Ding Yishan secretly marvel.

If Cheng Long had allocated all his talent points to combat, personal charisma, and character.

Then this Cheng Ye had allocated all his talent points to intelligence and professional ability.

He wasn't like Cheng Long at all.

Instead, he was the same type as the inspection station's founding station chief, Cheng Long's father, Cheng Ye's grandfather.

Cheng Wu, they were the same type of person!

Could it really be true that talent was passed down through alternate generations?

"Contract, contract."

Half an hour passed.

Ding Yishan flipped through the twenty-odd record pages with rustling sounds, the paper edges becoming frayed from his handling.

The regional contract system proposed by Cheng Ye was like a seed that had taken root and sprouted in his mind, but something was still missing, making the entire plan like a house without a foundation, unable to be completely implemented.

Still lacking something, still lacking a key element!

He stood up irritably, pacing back and forth in the office.

His shoes made dull creaking sounds on the floor. This sound was like a thorn, making him increasingly agitated, so he simply bent down to remove his shoes and socks, casually throwing them in the corner, stepping barefoot on the cold floor.

The old-fashioned wall clock on the wall went "tick-tock," each sound striking his nerves.

Ding Yishan suddenly turned around, flying up to punch the wall clock. It was a rare item he'd managed to find at the flea market with great difficulty, but now the glass cover shattered, the hands twisted, completely silenced.

Even the shirt collar on his body felt like a tightening noose, making breathing difficult.

He grabbed the collar and yanked hard. The sound of tearing fabric was particularly harsh in the quiet office. The shirt was torn to shreds and thrown on the ground.

Even his pants were removed, leaving him in an almost naked state, with no external objects to disturb him.

Too painful.

This pain wasn't because the contract system was unfeasible, quite the opposite, it was because this system was far too easy to implement.

He even had a premonition that even if he, a station chief without much "voice," presented this proposal at tomorrow's meeting, the probability of it being passed on the spot could be as high as ninety percent.

But the problem lay right here.

After contracting out the outer city's construction, in the end, the inspection station would become a complete joke!

This system completely distributed power to the migrants, making the inspection station a mere tool in the entire process, having to coordinate resources and maintain order while gaining no benefits, instead shouldering all the unavoidable responsibilities and endless troubles.

Was this reasonable?

If purely as a high-level member of Happiness City, Ding Yishan felt it was very reasonable, sacrificing one inspection station to achieve the entire expansion of Happiness City was worthwhile.

But he was the station chief of the inspection station. Sitting in this position, he had to consider not only the interests of all of Happiness City, but also the survival of the inspection station and the future of 150 inspectors.

Wait.

The future of the inspectors?

In an instant, he suddenly turned his head, his gaze falling through the large floor-to-ceiling window on the distant inspection station.

Boom.

An indescribable inspiration exploded in his mind, like muffled thunder that had been suppressed for long finally tearing through the clouds, bringing torrential rain that washed away all other thoughts.

"I understand!"

"I understand!!!"

Ding Yishan instantly rushed back behind the desk, grabbed a sheet of white paper, seized his pen and began writing rapidly.

Those inspirations, those clever ideas, those thoughts, like floodwater released from a dam, all transformed into implementable plans under his pen.

Contract, why must migrants be the main body, letting them contract an area?

Why, why couldn't inspectors contract an area and select newcomers for construction?

Were Happiness City inspection station's inspectors weak?

Throughout the wasteland, they were renowned figures.

Everyone knew this inspection station was newly founded, everyone knew the inspectors here held honored positions and outstanding abilities.

This being the case, why not let the inspectors step out of the inspection station and buffer zone, this small world, and actively take responsibility in the outer city, take on obligations?

This way, wouldn't power be firmly held in the inspection station's hands?

This way, wouldn't the inspection station be able to legitimately profit during outer city construction?

"Sir, sir?"

Jiang Chuan, holding a stack of freshly copied documents, came to the office door and suddenly stopped in his tracks.

His gaze swept through the open door into the room, and he was completely stunned.

Chaos everywhere, broken glass and fabric scraps scattered about, as if infected entities had invaded.

Behind the office desk, Ding Yishan wore only underwear, his hair disheveled, ink stains on his face, writing while laughing maniacally like a demon, frightening to behold.

Jiang Chuan's heart tightened. He quickly placed the copied documents on a nearby cabinet and ran over.

"Sir, why don't you rest a bit? The earliest batch of migrants won't arrive until the day after tomorrow morning. We still have all of tomorrow to think about and discuss these issues," Jiang Chuan cautiously advised, his tone full of worry. "I think you might be too tired. That Walker's transcendent ability is evil, maybe it's even assimilated you."

"Walker, Walker is good, Walker is wonderful!"

Ding Yishan seemed not to hear Jiang Chuan's words, still acting like a madman, muttering under his breath.

He made a grand stroke, writing the final line on the paper, then suddenly lifted his head.

Whoosh.

Exhaling deeply, Ding Yishan leaned back, his entire body slumping in the office chair, his face showing satisfied expression.

Exhilarating!

If they could really execute according to this plan, the inspection station would gain unprecedented development opportunities. Whether they could return to the founding inspection station's status was hard to say, but they could definitely be ten times, a hundred times higher in status than now!

But these core ideas actually extended from a trainee inspector's suggestions?

Ding Yishan fell into confusion for a moment, his eyes somewhat vacant.

Seeing he was no longer laughing maniacally, Jiang Chuan breathed a slight sigh of relief, but his gaze unconsciously shifted slightly, landing on the paper filled with writing.

At the very top was written a line of large characters, ink still wet, penetrating through the paper.

[Opinion Paper on Inspectors Contracting Outer City Construction]

Inspectors, contracting?

Pushing open the door, light scraping sounds came from the balcony corner, all the flower pots had been moved there.

Wang Kang and Liu Yi were squatting there, one shoveling soil, the other carefully burying obtained seeds in the dirt. Light fell on their profiles, the room warm and cozy, quite a picture of peaceful times.

Luo Xiaoxue sat on the sofa, holding a book seemingly reading, but her gaze rarely fell on the pages.

Hearing the door open, she and Wang Kang turned their heads simultaneously, both showing slight smiles.

But those smiles appeared somewhat forced to Cheng Ye's eyes, forming a stark contrast with the innocent radiance on Liu Yi's face.

"Everything alright?" Luo Xiaoxue closed the book and spoke first. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself."

"Small matter, might even be an opportunity," Cheng Ye winked. "Come, time to eat. I'll teach you how to eat this good stuff."

The beef on the table had thawed. Cheng Ye acted as if nothing had happened, pulling over the induction cooker to start boiling water.

The seasonings Li Changfeng brought were rich. He selected some flavor enhancers to add to the water.

Soon, light fragrance began rising from the pot.

Using a knife to cut the beef into thin slices, arranging them along the grain on plates.

When everything was prepared, except for Liu Yi still enthusiastically shoveling dirt, Wang Kang also sat over, but neither had much appetite, their eyes clearly showing worry.

Because when Cheng Ye was talking in the room, his voice wasn't small, especially the frenzied output later, they had vaguely heard quite a bit.

However, many things become frightening when heard unclearly. These fragmentary pieces of information gradually outlined a vague storyline in their minds.

For example, several keywords: five hundred thousand, more than five hundred thousand, infected entities, infection sources, large groups of people, responsibility.

Connecting these, a terrible guess surfaced in their minds.

Could it be that before winter arrived, there was an infection tide of no less than five hundred thousand surging toward Happiness City?

Steam rose above the induction cooker, creating a haze over half the table.

Silence slowly heated up like water in the pot.

Luo Xiaoxue could still contain her curiosity, but Wang Kang finally couldn't hold back, leaning forward to ask, "Brother Cheng, is an infection tide coming?"

"Infection tide?" Cheng Ye was stunned, looking completely bewildered. "Where did you hear that?"

"Wasn't that what you just said in the room?" Wang Kang pointed toward the bedroom. "Something about five hundred thousand, infected entities, can't hold them back..."

"I just said that?" Cheng Ye was even more confused. After thinking carefully for a long time, he waved his hands with bitter laughter. "What infection tide, don't overthink it. It's people, five hundred thousand people migrating over."

"What?" This time it was Luo Xiaoxue who cried out. The chopsticks in her hand clattered against the bowl rim as she exclaimed in shock, "Five hundred thousand people?"

"Yeah, this matter has a long story. If I'm going to explain it to you, I have to start from last night."

It really was a long story.

Because nobody could have imagined that he'd gone to Xinghuo Sanctuary City last night, riding flying wings around in the middle of the night, and when visiting the inspection station happened to encounter someone affected by the Walker.

This morning upon returning, he coincidentally discovered the same model backpack at the inspection station entrance, following the trail to discover the Walker's traces, ultimately stirring up such a mess.

If this story got out, probably no one would believe it.

Even Cheng Ye himself thought it absurd, like a string of coincidences forcibly twisted together by fate.

But life was like this, you never knew whether accidents or tomorrow would come first, much less whether seemingly troublesome events might hide opportunities.

Right now, the Walker's appearance was not only not a disaster, but like an opportunity for Happiness City.

Even though many people felt somewhat uneasy, there was no way to escape, only to face reality.

After quickly recounting last night's exciting experiences and explaining the viewpoints he'd just output to Jiang Chuan.

Seeing the two completely stunned, unable to recover for a long time, Cheng Ye smiled and picked up several beef slices to put in the pot.

Steam scattered before his eyes, carrying the elegant fragrance of the meat of Yaksha Bull.

For some unknown reason, he had a vague premonition that these peaceful days probably wouldn't come again for a very long time.

"I just hope heaven will bless us that besides migrants, no other troubles will arise!"

[NEXT CHAPTER]