Ding.

The call ended, and Cheng Ye was stunned for a while before recovering from the massive influx of information.

Military armored vehicle?

How could something like this be left behind after Cheng Long's sudden death?

No.

The chaotic clues rapidly intertwined in Cheng Ye's mind, gradually making him realize something.

Cheng Long's death probably wasn't just an ordinary "accident" as Liu Bi previously said.

Otherwise, there would be no need to wait until the first external mission was completed before telling him part of the truth.

External mission...

Being able to go on external missions meant he had already established a firm footing at the inspection station.

Yet Ding Yishan's approach was to send him on a risky mission before his first external mission. Now, suddenly, the plan was reversed to have Liu Bi come back to protect him.

Recalling Liu Bi's reaction at the time, Cheng Ye vaguely had a guess in his mind.

Cheng Long's death might have something to do with the inspection station, but it definitely wasn't Ding Yishan behind it.

Otherwise, with Liu Bi's fiery temper, he wouldn't have continued following Ding Yishan's orders; he might have caused chaos long ago.

"Brother B wants me to secure the position of Inspector, yet Ding Yishan insists on doing the opposite."

"When Brother B asked me to plead with him rather than disobeying orders directly, it showed... Brother B surely knew in his heart that Ding Yishan's reason for sending me wasn't just because my position wasn't stable or because the younger generation of Eastern People was too weak and needed a replacement."

"Damn it, why didn't I realize this back then?"

"Could it be that there was miscommunication between Brother B and me, and he assumed I already knew the real reason for going to the North-South Station?"

As for value, Cheng Ye considered that his current skills, while not overwhelming, were at least on par with the average level of the younger generation of Eastern People. Otherwise, Harlem wouldn't have approached him for recruitment early on.

Even at this stage, Ding Yishan still hadn't made any major moves.

Cheng Ye looked up, unable to resist glancing towards the Inner City, suddenly realizing the crux of the issue.

His predecessor left the city and died of fright that same day.

Was it really because they couldn't accept the reality outside and died of fright?

"When Brother B comes back, I must ask him clearly; I can't continue being so confused, not even knowing who the true enemy is!"

Cheng Ye took a deep breath, suppressing the thought of directly questioning Ding Yishan.

Since Ding Yishan had Liu Bi return to protect him and even had Liu Bi call to inform him, it indicated that the path he was on was the right one.

"When I first crossed over, I couldn't imagine any of this."

"Now, having witnessed the darkness of the Wasteland and grasped the inner workings of Shelter City, I've finally started to notice things, no longer living in bewilderment."

Three months in the Wasteland, he had indeed changed tremendously, experiencing what many might in a lifetime.

At least now he had the means to protect himself; even if a surge of infection was about to break out within Shelter City, he had the confidence and strength to survive.

"But the urgent matter now is... to earn money and buy equipment!"

The loan limit for an Intern Inspector was only 100 points, and telling Liu Bi was of no use.

He could only purchase through someone else, but then he wouldn't be able to claim reimbursement through the inspection station.

Already carrying a debt of 107 points, adding another 150 points, Cheng Ye felt a bit overwhelmed.

Fortunately, he wasn't without ways to make money; it would just depend on how ruthless his methods would be.

"It rained the past two days, and not a single car to siphon oil from was seen in Sector A. Now that the rain has stopped, there should be a considerable increase in vehicles, and the 30% city entry tax should provide at least 30 points in income."

"The Rotting Vine infection source given to Qin Feng before, compared to this Stand-In Starfish, the value of the Rotting Vine should be around 60 points, maybe even more!"

"Adding it all up, 90 points should suffice. If not, I'll just ask around the shop to see if I can get credit; after all, there's just a 60-point gap. Even trying my luck in the isolation chamber might unexpectedly close the gap."

Calculating once over, Cheng Ye immediately had a goal.

As for searching this area, that couldn't be neglected either; it'd be best to find one more shooting skill.

Hmm, that Blood Dragon Army combat skill set Miao Yang mentioned is also a good choice.

...

The moon set and the sun rose.

Six thirty in the morning.

Cheng Ye woke up in pain.

He hadn't reached the time the alarm was set for; turning over and pressing on his injured leg, he almost passed out from the pain.

"Fortunately, the Iron Body can immunize pain; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to make it to the inspection station today..."

In strict terms, this was only his second day at the fast-paced station.

After two nights, his charging value had recovered to 39%.

The thought of spending another eight hours on duty today to fully recharge again filled Cheng Ye with motivation.

"Equip, Iron Body!"

The skill bar shimmered, and the piercing, corroding pain vanished instantly without a trace.

Never had he felt such a wonderful sensation.

Cheng Ye moved around a bit, thinking that not even the most potent anesthetic could compare to this instantaneous relief from pain.

"Pain perception is the body's protective mechanism, and it's not good to become too reliant on it."

"But if a Recovery Talent Skill can be combined in the future, then the Iron Body can be used with ease."

Cheng Ye pondered as he wandered to the water room on the fifth floor.

He turned on the faucet, but no water came out. The water had been cut off. This was clearly an attempt to eliminate the possibility of humidity exceeding 99% at its root, not allowing any latent infections to break out prematurely before the storm, causing unrest.

Looking out from the water room window, he saw many water barricades suddenly appear on the street, forcibly dividing the main city into several districts.

Heavily armed patrol officers were shuttling through the streets, the loudspeakers at their waists blaring incessantly since dawn:

"Comrade He Fei, the director on duty at the Central Inspection Station, has sacrificed. The epidemic prevention level of Happiness City is temporarily raised to A-level. Please cooperate with the routine large-scale inspection, thank you!"

"The central..."

The paper couldn't cover the fire. The news of He Fei's sacrifice had already started spreading in small circles yesterday afternoon.

Rather than continuing to cover it up, it would be better to take the opportunity of making the information public to deploy the complete control measures in advance.

However, these control measures couldn't be too absolute. Forcing everyone to stay inside their homes would only backfire.

After all, Wastelanders are not as mentally stable as modern people, and nearly everyone has firearms in their hands.

If they realized contact-based infections had mixed in, the Buffer Zone would face two extreme outcomes:

Either everyone would panic and assume they were infected, leading to extreme actions they wouldn't normally dare think of.

Or the inspection stations would open wide, and all the residents of Happiness City would disperse and flee, only to return in the future as an infection wave made of Stand-In Starfish.

"Unfortunately, the Inner City itself is overwhelmed, and Happiness Corps has thrown all its forces into large-scale inspections, leaving no room to also take care of the Buffer Zone."

"The threat of these contact-based infections indeed lives up to the evaluation of being comparable to a plague-level infection wave. In a way, the larger the scale of a Shelter City, the more dangerous it becomes. A city the size of Happiness City might have already reached the destructive power of a Disaster Level infection wave."

Cheng Ye stood at the window for a long time before sighing deeply, releasing all his chaotic thoughts.

He suddenly understood why humanity has never been able to rebuild civilization, only managing to survive on patches of land in Shelter Cities on the Wasteland.

As long as such bizarre infection threats exist, the higher the density of people, the more terrifying the lurking crisis becomes.

These Shelter Cities that rise from the Wasteland seem like islands of civilization, but they are more like powder kegs enclosed by high walls.

If a source of infection with contact-spreading characteristics like the "Stand-In Starfish" gets in, the very population density becomes the most deadly fuse.

When hundreds of thousands of people are compressed within the high walls, any small lapse in control could set off a chain collapse, threatening the core of human gathering far more than the threats in the Wilderness or urban ruins.

At the same time, this also answered another doubt in Cheng Ye's mind.

Why, despite there being so many unrestricted Shelter Cities with generous welfare in the Wasteland, are there still so many small settlements?

Perhaps those people are survivors who escaped from destroyed Shelter Cities.

Staying in the Wilderness, due to lower population mobility, at most one encounters direct attacks from infected bodies.

Yet, staying in a Shelter City, though it seems beautiful, sometimes one wouldn't even know how they died.

"Why hasn't the water come on yet?"

As work time approached, other residents on the fifth floor came one after another to fetch water and wash up. Realizing the water was still off, they began to grumble.

"It stopped yesterday afternoon and hasn't come on yet. What is the Public Works Bureau doing?"

"Exactly, we have to complain, or else these people won't care about the people's livelihood."

"Luckily, I have some water stored over here. If anyone wants to wash their face, come and get some."

"Is there enough to wash my hair? Forget it. I'll just wash my face."

Someone came with a bucket, while Cheng Ye stood by the window pretending to send a message on his Defense Communication, secretly observing these people.

What made his heart sink abruptly was that out of the seven people who came to the water room, four had faint starfish-shaped marks appear on their foreheads after washing their faces.

The marks flashed like faint gray patterns, disappearing quickly like an illusion. If Cheng Ye hadn't been watching intently the whole time, he wouldn't have noticed.

"Hey, do you want to wash your face? There's still some left in this bucket."

The middle-aged man whose forehead had just flashed with a starfish mark approached with a smile, scaring Cheng Ye into an unconscious step back, his back hitting the window glass with a thud.

"No need, uncle, I've already washed."

"Eh, what are you afraid of? Afraid we're dirty?"

The middle-aged man saw Cheng Ye dodge, mistaking it for disgust at using water others had used. He smacked his lips, shook his head helplessly, and left with the bucket.

Before leaving, he mumbled: Young people these days really can't endure hardship. Back in our days, we used to wash with water filtered from the sewers.

"Damn, this infection source has no outward symptoms and is indistinguishable from normal people. Fortunately, Happiness City's tracing capabilities are strong. How would other places prevent and control this?"

After the middle-aged man left, Cheng Ye quickly returned to his room and poured water from the kettle to wipe his forehead.

Luckily, no marks appeared in the reflection of the window.

Moreover, compared to this clumsy method, he had a more reliable way to verify.

With a slight mental motion, the panel flashed suddenly.

Switching to the Collector page, no "parasite" prompt popped up, and the skill bar remained unchanged.

It served as a real-time detector, allowing him to monitor his infection status instantly.

"If I ever walk the Wilderness alone, this function might prove extremely useful..."

Cheng Ye thought as he opened the wardrobe, cutting the previously ill-fitting clothes, then wrapping the parts of the clothing likely to touch others with scraps of cloth.

He put on the inspection gloves, and the black mask and brown hood distributed by the inspection station.

He glanced at the window.

Suddenly, he felt a mix of confusion and familiarity, as if returning to a special time.

"Now it's just the calm before the storm, hoping to develop a clearance method quickly."

"And I must start racing against time!"

...

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