The times are progressing, and the environment is changing too.

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

Failure to complete them would result in being reprimanded at the assembly, along with salary deductions and demotions.

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

By the time Ding Yishan became the head, the inspection station had become a loosely regulated, semi-autonomous organization.

The high-level inspectors were mostly active outside the Stone Province, returning to Happiness City only during the winter prelude to rest before heading out again in the spring and summer transition.

The low and mid-level inspectors weren't idle when not on duty either; they either took on external missions to gather intelligence or shuttled between various gathering places and Shelter City.

However, in this past half-year, due to the influence of the extraordinary opportunity, the conflicts among the higher-ups gradually seeped to the lower levels, causing a surge in factionalism.

Adding to this, the chain reaction triggered by astronomical disturbances led to a spike in the danger level of the wilderness, resulting in nearly a hundred inspectors crowding in the buffer zone in a "spectacle."

Amid this special atmosphere, Ding Yishan and Harlem seemed to vanish, never appearing willingly, allowing the inspectors to form cliques.

This was the first time Cheng Ye saw this deputy head since his intern evaluation ended.

Harlem gave a completely different impression from Ding Yishan.

As the chief examiner for the intern evaluation, Cheng Ye always felt Harlem was somewhat like his high school homeroom teacher.

To the underperforming students, he showed eternal disdain, as if the scorn was written on his face.

Yet, to the top students, his attitude was the opposite, as refreshing as a spring breeze.

Unfortunately, Harlem's "spring breeze" only lasted a few days for him.

After the cultural evaluation ended, moving into the martial power evaluation phase, Harlem's favorable demeanor disappeared, replaced by a businesslike indifference.

But now, that spring breeze seemed to return.

Harlem was already standing behind the isolation door of the inspection zone, arms crossed over his chest, a faint smile playing on his lips.

Cheng Ye subtly opened the panel for a glance.

The result was as expected.

[Harlem, 0%, Searchable Range: None]

This was the second person he encountered with a complete lack of cooperation after activating the collector.

The young Chu Xuan was understandably cautious around strangers after multiple reminders from his parents.

But Harlem.

Just from this 0% cooperation rate, the nature of their relationship was clear.

Not enemies per se, but not far from it either.

Seeing Cheng Ye remain silent, Harlem wasn't surprised and continued, "Bringing back a piece of Extraordinary Ore for the inspection station counts as great merit. I've agreed to Director Towns' suggestion to grant you some formal inspector privileges in advance. Keep up the momentum, well done!"

So when Qin Feng called, Harlem was with Towns?

"Thank you, deputy head!"

For the first time, Cheng Ye didn't act so "mature," purposely prefixing 'deputy' before the station head title.

Recognizing the implicit meaning, Harlem gave a disinterested curl of his lips, waved, and left with his two confidants.

Only when their figures disappeared from view did Cheng Ye slowly exhale.

Before he was hospitalized, he could have a good, open chat with Harlem about anything.

But now, things were different, with Ding Yishan having pushed him into the spotlight, making him known to all Eastern inspectors.

Further interaction with Harlem now.

Casual chats could easily be misconstrued and spread by others.

It wouldn't necessarily label him a traitor, but idle gossip could certainly arise.

After the small episode passed.

Cheng Ye quickly refocused and switched to high-efficiency duty mode!

He gradually discovered that quarantine Zone A was relatively safe and the most profitable among the four inspection zones.

Because those with car rental licenses generally possessed certain abilities, with low infection rates.

Moreover, they cooperated highly during inspections, with almost no resistance, making the process very smooth.

Unlike Matthew Lee's neighboring Zone C, responsible for inspecting arrivals from other shelter cities and gathering places, seemingly leisurely yet actually problematic.

Every arrival often brought large amounts of goods, from which no personal profit could be made, yet requiring meticulous checks to guard against infection source contamination.

Meanwhile, it was the place most prone to conflict except for Zone B.

Because many "geniuses" from surrounding gathering places hoped to join Happiness City without undergoing formal inspection and quarantine at the Central Inspection Station, trying to exploit loopholes.

And these geniuses, with their peculiar mindsets, often had astonishingly high infection rates, with six out of ten being infected bodies.

Inspector's earnings mainly came from these geniuses.

As for Zone D, responsible for inspecting special personnel such as patrolling sentinels, external mission inspectors, and inner city guards.

Safe, indeed, but offering little extra income, while the inspection procedures were the most cumbersome of the four zones, as one couldn't rightly confine their own in quarantine for ten days to half a month.

In comparison, Cheng Ye suddenly understood that being assigned to duty in Zone A was quite fortunate.

Although the likelihood of encountering fierce infected bodies was the highest here, but...

Cheng Ye unhesitatingly pulled out the Thunder 1 hidden under the table and pulled the trigger.

Boom.

Boom.

The continuous explosions reverberated, shaking the air, as three infected bodies that had just burst out of the Big Golden Cup were instantly shattered, with half their bodies blasted apart by shotgun blasts, greenish-black putrid liquid splattering the isolation net.

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