Once Song Yongfeng—the "outsider"—departed, the atmosphere between the two loosened noticeably.
Even though their last encounter had merely been a hurried glimpse when Cheng Ye's predecessor first emerged from behind the tall wall, without even exchanging a greeting, Cheng Ye felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity around Luo Xiaoxue.
If he had to describe it, she was almost a female version of Brother B.
There was not a shred of awkwardness in her demeanor. The way she spoke, handled matters, and treated people felt thoroughly generous and candid.
After a few polite pleasantries, Cheng Ye promptly shifted the subject.
"Sister Luo, when did Brother B set off?"
"Not long after he got off the phone with you," she replied. "Those folks from the Inner City aren't like us in the Buffer Zone. Whatever they do, they act as if infected entities are snapping at their heels."
"I don't know much about the hydroelectric plant. Brother B..."
"No need to worry about him. He and your father walked that route to the hydroelectric plant at least a hundred times; he could make the trip with his eyes closed. As for infected entities..."
As Luo Xiaoxue spoke, she pulled a palm-sized booklet from her shoulder bag.
"The hydroelectric plant is Happiness City's most vital asset. Two five-hundred-man garrison units are stationed there, so you don't need to fret about safety at all. Put it this way... even an infection tide strong enough to smash through our Buffer Zone's defenses would struggle to get anywhere near the plant. It's just that he'll have to stay over there for a while and won't be able to come back right away.
"You, on the other hand—with the relentless downpours lately, the frequency of hydrophilic infected entities is bound to spike dramatically. I put this booklet together myself. It covers methods for dealing with common hydrophilic infected entities. It might not be as exhaustive as what your Brother B would assemble, but you can study it alongside the inspector training materials to cross-reference and learn."
"Thank you so much, Sister Luo! I've really put you out."
Cheng Ye quickly accepted the booklet, offering heartfelt thanks.
In terms of combat prowess, Liu Bi was naturally superior, but when it came to organizing information, Luo Xiaoxue was clearly being modest.
During a break from training earlier, he had heard Liu Bi mention it in passing.
Eight years ago, the checkpoint didn't hold nearly as much authority as it did now. Back then, the Buffer Zone was jointly administered by the checkpoint and the Public Security Bureau.
The former handled outpost duty and sentry watches, while the latter dealt with infected entities and guarded regional security.
At the time, Luo Xiaoxue had been an instructor at the Public Security Bureau, responsible for training and mentoring new recruits on regular days, and rushing to the front lines to fight infected entities head-on whenever an infection tide surged.
Later, following several restructuring rounds in the Buffer Zone, the Public Security Bureau was dissolved by Happiness City's high-level leadership, and all its authority and personnel were merged into the checkpoint.
Luo Xiaoxue happened to become pregnant around that time, so she chose to simply step away and become a "full-time homemaker."
Years had flashed by since then.
Cheng Ye flipped open the handbook and marveled softly, "Sister Luo, you haven't lost a bit of your former brilliance. If I read through this, can I count as your student too?"
"Hey, you brat, you're quite... glib, aren't you!"
Luo Xiaoxue blinked in surprise, then rolled her eyes at him with a deepening smile.
Liu Bi had talked about him plenty lately, and she had long formed a general impression of Cheng Ye in her mind.
Clever, hardworking, diligent, and remarkably talented—calling him a younger Cheng Long wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Yet only after interacting with him today did she realize that the real Cheng Ye and the Cheng Ye in Liu Bi's stories were practically two entirely different people!
A sentence like the one he just delivered was something an honest soul like Cheng Long couldn't have managed if he spent a lifetime trying.
"I'm not being glib, just stating the honest truth."
Cheng Ye blinked. "Still... are there really that many hydrophilic infected entities wandering around our Shi Province?"
With a cursory flip through the pages, he saw records for at least sixty distinct sources of infection.
What was more, every infection source possessed unique abilities. Facing multiple types at once would present a challenge far greater than the sum of its parts.
"Plenty!" Luo Xiaoxue nodded emphatically. "Shi Province has an extensive water network, which naturally draws a steady stream of hydrophilic infected entities. Now that the rain belt is shifting south, no one can say for sure whether they'll migrate along with it. Besides, the ones I compiled here aren't even the full picture—they're only the varieties that have appeared around Happiness City over the past ten years.
"Committing these to memory will be enough to keep you from panicking during standard ambushes. As for those individuals that manage to retain some level of sanity after being infected... Liu Bi told me you took down a Deathwhisper Tentacle carrier just the day before yesterday?"
"Yes. He seemed to have been possessed by a Deathwhisper Tentacle after drowning, clinging to life through sheer obsession until he reached Happiness City."
"Right. That sort of infected entity is precisely what calls for the utmost vigilance! Ordinary infected entities only lurk in the shadows to stage ambushes. As long as you remain cautious, understand their special abilities, and have the checkpoint at your back, it's difficult to fall into their traps.
"Entities retaining remnants of sanity are a different story. They disguise themselves, deceive your judgment, and some can even slip past detectors. You have to weave meticulous verbal traps to catch their slips.
"Conveniently, let me walk you through a few classic cases—all ones your Brother B and I ran into personally."
Fearing that Cheng Ye might let his guard down, Luo Xiaoxue explained everything in meticulous detail. The depth and substance of her guidance far surpassed the trainee inspector courses Cheng Ye had attended.
Above all, these experiences were not the superficial drills taught in trainee classes; they were practical insights forged only through firsthand encounters with infected entities.
With his survival in the days ahead on the line, Cheng Ye listened with rapt attention, interjecting questions from time to time.
Even though this was their very first conversation, their back-and-forth flowed with astonishing ease.
*Ding-dong.*
When the bank closed at half past eight and the staff pushed open the doors to leave, the two of them were still seated outside the entrance, deep in spirited conversation.
"Come on. Your Brother B isn't home tonight anyway, so there's an extra bed. Let's head back to our place and keep talking!"
One taught, one listened.
One asked, one answered.
The questions were incisive, the answers thorough.
Luo Xiaoxue patted the armrest of the bench. The way she looked at Cheng Ye was no longer as an outstanding junior, but as an uncut gem!
In her six years as an instructor, she had seen plenty of prodigies, yet not a single one could compare to Cheng Ye.
That instinct to infer the whole from a single part, that capacity for rapid comprehension—Luo Xiaoxue had only ever read of such qualities in books describing humans of the Old Era.
Legend had it that during that era, humanity did not have to fret over survival, nor did they pursue martial power. Their brain activity had been exceptionally developed, and their speed in learning and absorbing new knowledge was several times that of wasteland humans today.
"Ah, wouldn't that be inconvenient?"
Cheng Ye scratched his head. "I still have one day off tomorrow before reporting for duty the day after. How about tomorrow we..."
"What tomorrow? Right now, tonight!"
No wonder those two got along so well—Liu Bi and Luo Xiaoxue shared the exact same temperament.
Seeing her insistence, Cheng Ye couldn't refuse and followed her onto the bus bound for the outskirts.
"Come over whenever you have free time from now on. You're on your own these days anyway, right?"
"Yeah..."
*Wait, why does this feel increasingly familiar?*
*Why does it feel like I'm facing my graduate advisor all over again?!*
Cheng Ye couldn't help recalling how, back when he passed his graduate entrance exams, his assigned advisor had said the exact same thing. Back then, he had naively believed he was about to inherit his mentor's true wisdom, and that fast-tracking into a doctoral program might even be on the horizon.
Before long, however, he discovered the advisor told every single student the exact same line. Calling them over wasn't to impart knowledge, but to exploit them for unpaid labor, leading quite a few neighboring lab groups to mock them as galley slaves.
"What are you spacing out for?"
"Ah, I was just thinking that I really ought to come over more often to learn from you, Teacher Luo."
"Tsk, tsk..."
Luo Xiaoxue clicked her tongue. This knack for feeding people smooth talk without batting an eye was something neither Liu Bi nor Cheng Long had ever learned, nor could many inspectors she had encountered. Yet Cheng Ye seemed to have mastered it entirely on his own.
"Earlier, I thought you managed to become a trainee inspector in just two months by leaning on the favors Long-ge left behind..."
"I don't need those favors right now, nor can I use them."
"True enough."
...
The bus swayed along. By the final few stops, only the two of them remained aboard.
The Chemical Plant Staff Housing District was genuinely remote. No matter how spacious the residences might be, Cheng Ye would never choose to live here.
Otherwise, just traveling to the Central Checkpoint each day would require over half an hour on the bus to start with, to say nothing of visiting the library to read or going to the South Station on the other side of the Buffer Zone. It would be no different from returning to modern life to suffer through morning and evening rush-hour commutes.
Entering the residential complex, Liu Bi's home was on the fifth floor of Building Four.
Before Luo Xiaoxue could even pull out her key, the security door pushed open from the inside, revealing a small head tied into a ponytail.
"Yay! Mama, why did you only just..."
Before the sentence finished, catching sight of Cheng Ye standing behind Luo Xiaoxue, the little head instantly retreated. Only a pair of bright, dark eyes peeked cautiously through the crack in the door.
That lively glint of cleverness brought a fond, doting smile to Cheng Ye's lips.
"Yiyi, this is your Brother Cheng Ye, Uncle Cheng's son—the one your father talks about every day."
"B-Brother Cheng Ye?"
The slightly babyish voice seemed completely out of place against the grim tone of the wasteland, yet it gently eased the tension Cheng Ye had been carrying.
Indeed, newly sprouting hope was always the greatest bulwark against fear.
Chapter 17