The roar of the rain was deafening.
Water cascaded from the eaves of the workstation like a solid curtain, slamming into the drainage ditch and kicking up churning waves. The small identity badge tumbled through the froth, quickly caught and pinned inside a clump of sticky yellow mud.
Jamie stared as if seeing a ghost, convinced he had misheard.
What was this arrogant Easterner saying?
*He wants me to go fetch it for him?*
"Excuse me? Are you telling me that the badge *you* just threw away is something *I* should fish out of the gutter for you?"
Beneath the voluminous black raincoat, the figure nodded. That earnest look immediately drew another burst of derisive laughter from the onlookers.
Hearing the jeers, Jamie's face flushed red and pale by turns. He ground his teeth. "Then I'm afraid you'll—"
Before the words were out, an icy barrel suddenly shoved against him. The chill of the metal shot straight from his forehead down his spine, instantly freezing the rest of his sentence in his throat.
The mocking laughter died in an instant. Disbelief washed over every face.
A gun!
He was insane. This Cheng Ye had lost his mind!
How dared he pull a gun at a checkpoint—and point it at his own people?
"Go on. Fetch it for me."
Cheng Ye repeated the command. The smile had vanished from his face entirely, replaced by a cold detachment so stark he seemed like a different person.
Bullying existed in orphanages too. In the cafeteria, the older kids always ate first; only after they finished did the scraps fall to the younger ones. Yet from the time he was five years old, he had always been in the first group to eat.
And it was never thanks to the older kids' benevolence.
"You... trying to scare me?"
"I am."
Cheng Ye forced a slight smile as the barrel pressed steadily downward, sliding from the forehead down to the chin. Then he nudged the cold muzzle upward, digging painfully into Jamie's jaw.
"Checkpoint Regulations, Chapter One, Article Three: While an inspector is on duty, his orders override all else.
"Those who disobey may be treated as infected entities.
"Mr. Jamie."
The faint, crisp click of the safety disengaging echoed softly. "Answer me directly. Are you an infected entity lurking within North Checkpoint?"
Arrogant.
Unfathomably arrogant!
Jamie's throat bobbed with difficulty, but silence was all he could muster. Deep down, he sensed that if he said the wrong thing next, the smiling madman before him would not hesitate. He wasn't joking—he would pull the goddamned trigger!
Yet the stares boring into his back felt like countless steel needles, pinning his spine straight and refusing to let him bend.
He could already foresee that if he crawled down to retrieve that badge, he would become the laughingstock of everyone here. He would be a disgrace among the Westerners, dragging down the reputation of the entire West Station!
And yet...
He didn't want to die.
Even dying at the claws of an infected entity would be better than being shot dead by an inspector just because he was too proud to bend his back.
"Garcia, an inspector, is currently missing with his fate unknown.
"You're nothing more than an unranked nobody with neither rank nor office. Are you really going to throw away your life just for your pride, all because a few people egged you on?"
The devil's whisper kept ringing in his ears.
Jamie jerked his head up, eyes wide with terror. He looked at the people around him; they truly were egging him on with their eyes, encouraging him, trying to use his life to prove that Cheng Ye wouldn't dare shoot.
But he...
"I'll get it! I'll pick it up!"
Jamie's legs gave out, and he scrambled on all fours toward the drainage ditch.
Under Cheng Ye's faint, mocking gaze and the dumbfounded stares of the surrounding youths, Jamie dug the badge out of the yellow mud, rinsed it clean in a puddle, and finally rubbed it repeatedly against the cleanest part of his collar.
"In... Inspector Cheng."
"Kneel, and hand it to me."
*What?*
Jamie's eyes widened, bloodshot and frantic, his expression one of pure disbelief.
Kneel? Was this a joke?
He was the only son of an inspector. He could bow his head temporarily to stay alive, but he would never surrender his dignity. Even if it meant dying, even if he took a beating—
*Boom!*
A deafening roar erupted beside his ear. A scorching blast of air grazed his cheek, leaving a searing burn mark behind.
Jamie froze completely. Involuntarily, a warm stream of liquid trickled down his pant leg.
*He fired?*
*He... he actually shot!*
*No, how could he dare?*
Firing at a comrade—was he completely unafraid of punishment under checkpoint regulations?
The pungent stench of gunpowder rushed into Jamie's nostrils while his ears rang continuously. The choking smell nearly suffocated him, yet his mind had never been clearer.
Flooded with a wild surge of adrenaline, his stiffened body rapidly regained sensation. But at this moment, even though he felt strength returning to his legs, he no longer possessed the courage to stand upright.
*Thud.*
Jamie dropped to one knee, teeth chattering uncontrollably as his hands instinctively extended the badge forward.
Something seemed to have been lost forever: his raised head, his deep-seated pride, his dignity as an inspector's heir. Yet something more appeared to have been preserved: the heart still hammering wildly in his chest, the ragged breaths caught in his throat, and the fresh air continually rushing into his lungs.
Before everyone's eyes, he had offered up his dignity, but he had bought back his life.
Was it worth it?
"Congratulations. You made the right choice."
The devil reached out, taking the badge—and with it, taking the part of Jamie that was lost.
The surroundings fell dead silent.
Those who had clamored, jeered, and incited Jamie just moments before were shocked into absolute quiet by that single shot.
Under checkpoint rules, they were the heirs of inspectors, standing above all ordinary people. But when someone openly flouted the rules, and even turned those rules against them, they realized with a shock that they weren't even equal to low-ranking guards.
At least guards had official roster status; if a guard died, the checkpoint had clear grounds to investigate. But unranked nobodies like them? If they died, they were dead. If anything, they might just be branded "infected entities" and burned to ashes.
Blowing on an imaginary droplet on the identity badge, Cheng Ye pursed his lips and turned, as though preparing to leave.
The crowd secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Yet in the next second, that breath was choked back as if gripped by an invisible hand.
That lunatic... he hadn't left?
What was he planning to do?
The dark muzzle rose once more, sweeping slowly across the crowd from left to right. Every time it lingered before someone, the barrel twitched twice, as if silently taking attendance.
Who was he looking for?
Someone's knees buckled, and they instinctively tried to step back into the workstation.
*Bang.*
A gunshot cracked through the air. A blackened crater was punched into the epoxy floor, landing precisely in front of the toe the man was about to step back with—missing his foot by a fraction of an inch.
Scared out of his wits, the man collapsed flat on his backside. "Are you insane? What do you want?"
"Don't be nervous, everyone."
Toying with the identity badge, Cheng Ye let a trace of amusement surface in his eyes. "I suspect an infected entity has slipped in. Just now, someone was egging Mr. Jamie on to disobey an inspector's orders, but I can't quite tell who it was. What do you all think?"
Confusion flickered across their faces, and then, spurred by an unseen initiator, everyone turned in unison toward one person in the crowd.
Dozens of gazes locked onto him at once. Stricken as if by lightning, the man nearly fell backward onto the ground.
"N-no, it wasn't me!"
"Is it him?" Cheng Ye turned his head and spoke softly to Jamie, who was still kneeling on the ground. "I know you're a good kid. Tell me, was he the one egging you on?"
They were clearly about the same age—in fact, Jamie was a year older than Cheng Ye.
Yet Jamie felt an intensely bizarre sensation.
In this moment, he wasn't facing a peer, nor an inspector, but a godfather administering his baptism.
The godfather asked kindly: *Is it him?*
And Jamie felt he ought to answer with devout reverence: "Yes, it's him! Raul Davidson!"
*Davidson?*
Wasn't that the surname of the Duty Deputy Station Master at North Station?
"Very good!"
Cheng Ye patted Jamie on the shoulder, turned his head with a smile, and said, "Mr. Davidson, would you mind stepping over here?"
Though his tone was remarkably amiable, Raul felt the suffocating chill of death.
He glanced around, only to see gloating in the eyes of everyone who hadn't been picked.
*Damn bastards.*
*Every single one of them was egging Jamie on. Why me? Why pick me?!*
"Do you need me to repeat myself?"
Cheng Ye raised the Bison combat pistol inquisitively, gesturing as though ready to squeeze the trigger.
The immense threat of death made Raul stiffen instantly. Yet in the end, he didn't choose to kneel for survival the way Jamie had.
He was the son of Duty Deputy Station Master Evan Davidson.
He would rather die standing than live on his knees!
Even if he knelt to Cheng Ye now and survived, once he returned home, his strict father would strip him of his succession rights as an inspector, leaving him to waste away and die in some forgotten corner of the Buffer Zone.
Time seemed to freeze.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Raul forced his stiffened legs forward. His face flushed red, and veins pulsed faintly against his temples. Over those few short steps, his mind scrambled to rehearse his words. Even if death was the outcome, he would go out boldly.
He wanted this arrogant bastard to know that not everyone in North Station was like Jamie—
"Mr. Davidson, I need to report to the station master. Could you please show me the way?"
"Cheng Ye, not everyone—"
Both spoke at once. A delicate stillness instantly filled the air.
Raul snapped his head up, eyes wide with horror, as if he had seen a ghost.
Jamie, still kneeling on the ground, looked even more stunned. His face drained of color as Cheng Ye's intention dawned on him.
*Report to the station master?*
*Show the way?*
Those few words struck like heavy hammers, leaving him momentarily unable to catch his breath.
"Hmm? What did you just call me?"
Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow and unhurriedly slid the gun back into its holster, wearing a look of mild confusion. "My apologies, I didn't hear clearly. Would you mind repeating that?"
The overwhelming malice and ferocity vanished completely; beneath the oversized raincoat, his face was once again calm and composed.
Raul turned his head to glance at the stunned onlookers behind him. No one had expected Cheng Ye to make such an unconventional move.
Raul stood dazed for a second, unable to fully process it.
Then, in the next breath, a wave of survival euphoria crashed over him. Only then did he realize he was soaked through from head to toe.
Sticky and wet, as if he had just been fished out of a sewer.
"In... Inspector Cheng. I said... it would be my honor to show you the way."
Chapter 26