The first ray of morning sunlight poured down, warmth seeping through the battle armor into his skin.

The panel notification sound rang softly in his ears, and his heart also began to warm with anticipation.

Cheng Ye supported himself on his knees and stood up, raising his hand. Through the gaps between his fingers, the sun was slowly climbing up from the horizon.

It seemed never to have been so brilliant, so filled with expectation.

The dazed feeling of surviving a catastrophe suddenly struck him.

He clearly understood that he might never be able to return to that familiar homeland, and even his memories of the civilized era were rapidly dissipating through battle after battle.

But when he turned to look at the busy pedestrian street, watching the residents of Tianyuan Mall carrying smiles as they moved infected corpses out of the alleys one by one.

Every person who met his gaze had eyes filled with undisguised respect and affection.

Cheng Ye took a long breath and sat back down in the corner.

"Indeed, I don't want to go back anymore."

He took out the blue medicine Master Tian had prepared and took another sharp inhale.

However, compared to the first use, that cool mint sensation had weakened by eighty percent.

Now it was about the same as cooling oil, only barely able to dispel a bit of drowsiness.

This wasn't because the night's battle had exhausted his mental strength, but rather because during the entire starfish incident, the continuous mental pressure had kept him constantly on edge.

Now that he had completely relaxed, both physical and psychological fatigue surged over him like a tide.

Irresistible, and he didn't want to resist it.

Right now, he just wanted to wait for the buffer zone to lift the infection tide alert, then go home and have a good sleep.

Once the security door was closed, no one would be able to disturb him.

It would be best if he could sleep for three days and nights, driving away all the unease from transmigrating to this wasteland.

Not far away.

Huang Sheng was carrying dozens of boxes of heated nutritional paste, standing at the entrance of the pedestrian street distributing them.

"Captain, time to eat."

"Give me five packs."

Cheng Ye took the slightly warm nutritional paste, tore open the packaging with his teeth, and slowly sucked on it.

Elder Song had somehow approached and sat down beside him.

"Inspector Cheng, tonight's harvest was truly abundant."

The old man rubbed his hands together, his face creased with smile lines. "Please allow this old fool to retract his previous proposal. The community will only take ten percent of all contribution points."

According to current tallies, B-7 district had collected a total of 3,274 infection sources tonight.

According to the collective participation principle, since Tianyuan Community was the main force, the Happiness Third-Class Merit for exceeding 1,000 would also be automatically awarded to the community.

Its honorary value naturally didn't need much discussion, and it would also come with an additional allocation of up to 3,000 contribution points as community public funds.

In other words, almost everyone in Tianyuan Mall could receive about 1 contribution point tonight.

In the buffer zone's ordinary resource system, 1 contribution point had purchasing power equivalent to about 12 happiness coins.

This meant the mall had earned nearly fifty thousand happiness coins in one night, and the funds for repairing the mall were now completely secured.

"Elder Song, I don't have the final say on point distribution. The drones up there are all recording everything."

Cheng Ye couldn't help but shake his head, raising his hand to point at the surveillance drones circling in the air. "Whoever contributed more in battle should naturally get more, and those who contributed less will get less accordingly."

He paused, then added another sentence, "Besides, the community has its community rewards, and I have my own rewards. They're two separate matters."

But Elder Song looked troubled, managing to say something that made Cheng Ye laugh: "That won't do either. This money is too much... We just want to renovate the community environment and fix the facilities we haven't had money to repair these past few years."

"Too much money, far exceeding our budget. We really don't know how to spend it!"

In this day and age, there was actually still the problem of having too much money and not knowing how to spend it?

Thinking about how the inner city had also allocated a huge sum of twenty thousand contribution points, Cheng Ye was immediately amused.

"Doesn't the pedestrian street adjoin the mall? This time, almost all the people inside are gone, so the community can perfectly incorporate the pedestrian street into its management area."

"The pedestrian street..."

Elder Song stroked his beard thoughtfully, then shook his head. "This used to be within the mall's management area, but later, because there were too many outsiders and it was difficult to manage, the community simply gave it up. Taking it back now wouldn't cause any gossip, but the problem is that even if we take the land, we don't know how to use it. We can't convert the entire pedestrian street into residential housing, can we?"

"If everyone lives on bunk beds crammed inside the mall, that's fair. But if some people go outside to live more spaciously, that would immediately cause a lot of dissatisfaction."

"What's so difficult about that?"

Cheng Ye finished one bag of nutritional paste and tore open another. "Autumn is approaching, which is the perfect time for construction in the buffer zone. Tear down all the illegal structures and dangerous buildings on the pedestrian street and rebuild a new one."

"The mall has over four thousand people. They can't all be like migratory birds going out to do odd jobs. With so many women and children, if you want to develop collectively, you need to create sources of income and reduce expenses. You need to ensure everyone has work to do, so the community can remain stable. Otherwise, in two years when there's no money for maintenance, you'll have to go back to the old ways."

"Everyone has work to do?"

Elder Song couldn't help but look dumbfounded, thinking he had misheard.

But he saw that Cheng Ye had already stood up, looking far toward the direction of the Great Wall. "Hmm, the area near Great Wall Station should be completely destroyed. The higher-ups won't allow reconstruction for a short time."

"This is exactly our opportunity. As long as we quickly set up a safe trading area and let scavengers come settle at the pedestrian street, all problems become manageable. Even just opening a shop selling nutritional paste, the daily earnings would be enough to maintain the community's normal operations."

"Additionally... repairing weapons and armor, taking small commodity processing orders, helping with contract work, we could even set up a small factory inside the pedestrian street. Getting the qualifications isn't difficult. If I make a trip to the Works Department, I can secure it. Even if we initially only produce small industrial goods to sell to outside settlements, we can still earn considerable profits."

"With money coming in and everyone having work to do, once the internal and external circulation starts, the collective strength can truly gather, and Tianyuan Community's advantages can truly be unleashed!"

He spoke with great enthusiasm, his eyes seeming to already see the community's bright future.

But Elder Song was completely stunned, looking at Cheng Ye's back and feeling as if he saw another Zhang Can in a trance.

Six years ago, Zhang Can, who had just joined the community not long before, had been just like this, passionately discussing similar ideals in front of him, declaring that he would help the community build factories so everyone wouldn't have to barely survive on odd jobs anymore.

However, there was ultimately a huge gap between ideals and reality.

A greenhorn kid simply didn't understand how difficult it was to seek development on the wasteland.

He naively thought that just by moving his lips and making some grand declarations, he could dig up development funds from barren, parched land.

The result was what they had now.

Before he could even lead the community forward, he was first tortured beyond recognition by the heavy pressure.

"Inspector... Inspector Cheng."

Elder Song stood up, pressing his dry, cracked lips together.

Six years ago, he hadn't interrupted Zhang Can's ideals because he too had once had similar dreams.

At that time, he had also been full of hopes for the community's future, so he could understand that burning passion.

But now, it was time to wake up from the dream. People still needed to move forward with their feet firmly on the ground to walk steadily and quickly.

But he had forgotten that last night, when he learned that Inspector Cheng Ye had come to the mall.

He had inexplicably gambled again, and it was a heavy bet at that.

Fortunately, he had won the gamble.

"The community doesn't have that much funding, and everyone can't possibly waste time this autumn on some ethereal prospect."

Elder Song's words were heavy, almost spoken through gritted teeth, already prepared for Cheng Ye's displeasure.

But he quickly tried to make amends, "This year's celestial phenomena are strange, and this winter will definitely be difficult to endure. So autumn is the best time to accumulate winter supplies. Please understand."

"I can understand."

Cheng Ye nodded lightly. Indeed, pragmatic people were more likeable.

His grand declarations just now, combined with the lofty status of an inspector, would have made most people feel giddy.

"It's good that you can understand, sir..."

Elder Song smiled bitterly, his form of address unconsciously changing to the somewhat more distant "sir."

However, the next second, he suddenly froze, showing an expression of disbelief on his face.

"Elder Song, last night you lent me three hundred people, and we swept clean the infection tide in B-7 district."

Cheng Ye extended his hand, his finger pointing across the crowd busily working on the pedestrian street.

Big Dragon was directing everyone in moving infected corpses. Catching sight of his gesture, he immediately scratched his head and showed an honest smile.

Second Dragon crouched by the wall, seeming not yet to have emerged from Zhang Can's shadow, but seeing him point over, still quickly stood up, smiling and nodding in response.

Every militiaman who had fought alongside him through life and death last night trembled when he pointed at them.

Finally, his finger settled on the front of the mall.

There, a row of figures covered in white cloth lay quietly.

These were the people who had sacrificed their lives last night.

Twenty-six people in total.

Sixteen had been attacked by vomiting fusion bodies, with vital organs burned, and couldn't be saved.

Ten had been killed on the spot by stones thrown by Zhang Can and stray bullets while restraining him.

Fortunately, all these victims were single and hadn't yet started families.

But it still cast a faint shadow over everyone's hearts in the mall, even amid the victory celebration.

"These people... I brought back 274 people."

Cheng Ye took a deep breath, his gaze firm, "I want all residents of Tianyuan Community to know, I want everyone in B-7 district, and even all communities in the buffer zone to understand, that the 26 people who sacrificed themselves following me, Cheng Ye, last night did not die in vain. Their efforts brought Tianyuan not just considerable repair funding, and certainly not just an opportunity to curry favor with an inspector, but the future!"

"The future?"

Elder Song pondered these two words repeatedly.

When he looked up at Cheng Ye again, what he saw was not Zhang Can, but something Zhang Can had lacked.

It was a kind of confidence that couldn't be described in words.

Not empty talk, not self-delusion, and certainly not escapism in the face of pressure.

But truly... man can conquer nature, where there's a will, there's a way!

"Maybe tomorrow or the day after, I'll invest some funds in Tianyuan Community, about twenty thousand contribution points, to help the community rebuild the pedestrian street."

When it came to the main event, Cheng Ye actually sat down, his lazy expression creeping back onto his brow.

"I'll supervise the use of these funds and control the general direction of progress. Elder Song, you wouldn't mind me also taking shares in Tianyuan Community, would you?"

A moment later.

Elder Song was carried away on a stretcher.

Cheng Ye hadn't expected that the old warrior who had crawled out of the infection tide would have such an intense reaction, nearly getting so excited he had a heart attack.

Fortunately, Zhu Xiang knew quite a bit about emergency care and intervened in time, preventing what could have been a tragic case of extreme joy turning to sorrow.

"Captain, what did you use to stimulate him?"

"What he wanted."

"Ah? What do you mean?"

Zhu Xiang was somewhat puzzled.

An old warrior in his sixties who had long seen life and death and was accustomed to the wasteland's cruelty, what could he still want?

"Don't you have ideals?"

"Of course I do." Zhu Xiang was confused for a moment, then his face lit up with joy. "Thank you, Captain. After this ends, I should be able to get a small management position at the Medical Department, and won't have to follow those people running around doing meaningless busy work anymore."

"Once you become a manager, what do you want to do?"

"Hmm..."

Zhu Xiang fell silent for a moment, then smiled frankly, "Promote medical privatization, I suppose. We can't manage the inner city's Medical Department, but the outer city's Medical Department has no competition now and has gradually entered a state of stagnation. In the past, there were often new drugs to control infection sources being released for trials, but there haven't been any in recent years."

"Controlling infection sources? Isn't that what the Infection Source Research Institute does?"

"No, this starfish epidemic powder was also developed by the Medical Department. The Research Institute just lent its name and provided some Stand-In Starfish data."

He sighed. "If we could continue researching this, the epidemic powder shouldn't have such severe side effects, and we might have been able to save more people."

"Keep it up!"

Cheng Ye stood up and heavily patted Zhu Xiang's shoulder.

How wonderful.

No matter what the Idealist faction's true purpose was, and no matter how much they had contributed to the buffer zone.

Whether these contributions were more positive or negative.

One thing was undeniable.

From old warriors in their sixties down to middle-aged people frustrated in the system.

Everyone harbored ideals in their hearts, still carrying the lofty goal of changing the world, not defeated by the wasteland's bleak reality.

As the saying goes, one person gathering firewood makes a small flame, but many people gathering firewood makes a roaring fire!

As the ranks of idealists continued to grow, someday figures capable of changing the world would emerge from among them.

It's just that before then, they might have to endure brutal elimination and selection, as well as many sacrifices.

Ding.

7:41 AM, exactly eight hours since the Stand-In Starfish outbreak.

In an instant, the message notification sounds from defense communicators formed a continuous stream, covering the entire buffer zone.

Like opening a new chapter, all survivors suddenly picked up their defense communicators and opened the notifications.

[Happiness City Broadcasting Station, Survival Alert Lifted]

[Dear residents, when this message reaches your terminal, Happiness City has successfully weathered the terrifying infection tide and is about to welcome the dawn of rebirth on the post-disaster ruins.

In the past eight hours, you may have fought bloodily on the front lines, or perhaps cowered trembling under your bed.

But regardless of how you survived the crisis, we extend our most sincere gratitude to you. It is the perseverance of each and every "you" that allowed Happiness City to pass through another life-and-death barrier, bringing us one step closer to the vision of "ultimate happiness."]

[Current street defensive fortifications have not yet been dismantled, please remain patient: We will gradually clear obstacles within 72 hours and restore normal order to the buffer zone]

[Please do not go out at will. Starting from the publication of this announcement, all inspection stations will be closed for 7 days. Besides maintaining internal environments and reinforcing isolation barriers, this will also reserve time for inspectors to summarize this infection tide and prevent similar crises from recurring]

[Medical facilities are currently operating at overload capacity. Please do not go there on your own if injured. Report your personal injuries through the defense communication system, and we will allocate medical resources according to injury priority to ensure you receive proper treatment.]

[Infected body disposal locations for each sector have been published through terminals. Please click for details. Private disposal is strictly prohibited, as is private concealment of infected bodies. The Works Department will organize personnel to uniformly clean up infected bodies to prevent secondary infection incidents]

[By decision of the Buffer Zone Joint Command: For the next 15 days, daily necessities supply will be uniformly allocated by the coordination center. Each person may receive 5 bags of nutritional paste daily at no cost during this period. Please take only what you need as we all get through the resource allocation period together]

[Damaged infrastructure is being assigned to specialists for repair. Communities without power or water, please don't worry...]

[...]

[Infection Tide Brief Battle Report Summary:

Fallen sectors: 17 (A1, A2, A3-C11 entire areas) Death toll: 132,500 (estimated)

Follow-up treatment: We will uniformly extract contribution points and happiness coins from deceased persons' accounts, using the full amount for buffer zone repair projects. Thank you for each deceased person's silent dedication. Happiness City will remember you.]

[Final friendly reminder: Today is Monday, don't forget to return to work on time, thank you!]