Since everyone was squeezing out as much profit as possible within the rules, Cheng Ye naturally had no reason to put on virtuous airs.
Two words summed up his approach: cut loose!
When it was time to play it safe, stay as low-profile as possible; when it was time to go bold, never hesitate.
Following Raven's instructions, he swiped his identity badge against the charging post, and the charging gun immediately switched to power supply mode.
Uncoupling the gun, Cheng Ye pretended to inspect the housing while subtly manifesting the pendant in his right hand and clicking it into place.
To his surprise, while the Collector pendant could only catch onto the exterior of the socket when plugged into a power strip, this time it sank straight into the interior of the charging gun.
Wait, did it clip through?
Startled, Cheng Ye tilted the nozzle up to peer inside, discovering that only a faint glint of the pendant was visible near the top. Anyone not paying close attention wouldn't notice an object wedged inside at all.
Could it be because the charging gun's circuit is on the inside?
Now that was a major discovery!
Cheng Ye felt an immediate surge of delight as his mind raced, quickly grasping the trick to future "electricity theft."
If the pendant needed to close a circuit to absorb energy, then everything made sense.
On a power strip, the live and neutral lines were close together, so it only had to sit against the outside. But the positive and negative terminals of a charging gun were separated by the length of a pinky finger; to make simultaneous contact, it had to reach deep inside.
This is great. Concealing it right inside means I don't have to worry about anyone noticing anything amiss.
After last night's massive blackout, he had already realized this pendant wasn't something he could easily lose even if he tried.
The moment any unexpected situation arose, it would sound an immediate alarm.
Coupled with the ten-meter recall mechanism, even if someone took the pendant away, Cheng Ye could summon it back with a single thought.
Still, stashing it directly inside the gun without drawing any attention was undoubtedly the safest approach.
Awesome!
Cheng Ye brought up the Collector interface.
He noticed that behind the charging figure in the upper right corner, the lightning bolt symbol indicating an active charge had also changed.
When using 2.5 kW alternating current, the symbol had been a faint grey, looking as if it might fade away at any moment.
Now that he had switched to 7 kW direct current, the symbol had solidified into a firm, solid grey, anchored steadily on the display.
As he focused his intent, two lines of smaller text popped up beside it:
[Current Replenishment Efficiency: Weak (Lv. 3 Energy)]
[Time Remaining Until Full Charge: 13.32h]
It finally displays the replenishment time, and it even added a description for replenishment efficiency?
He hadn't expected the interface to continually unlock new functions like this.
Cheng Ye looked at it for a moment, finding it fascinating.
So electricity wasn't the lowest grade of energy after all—it actually reached Level 3?
"Whenever I'm on duty, nobody touches this charger without my permission. Understood?"
Hanging the gun back onto the charging post, Cheng Ye considered for a moment, then turned to give strict instructions to Raven and Owl.
The two nodded repeatedly in assurance. "Rest easy, milord! This is our checkpoint's private charger. Anyone who dares secretly charge here is stealing checkpoint public property—by the rules, that's a capital offense!"
"Good."
Since charging was tied to battery wear and private chargers were one of an inspector's revenue streams, ordinary people really wouldn't have the nerve to steal power unless they had a death wish.
The only real concern was that Raven and Owl might secretly do favors for others if they saw him leaving it unused for long periods.
But after this warning, Cheng Ye believed neither would have the guts.
"Come on, take me to see the other warehouses!"
Leaving the garage, Cheng Ye headed for the other three warehouses in Quarantine Zone A.
First was Supply Warehouse No. 3. Similar in size to the garage, it held neatly stacked crates of nutrient paste and various isolation gear, with two sets of shelving standing in the corner, packed with boxes of ammunition.
As for the "non-compliant materials" Raven had mentioned, Cheng Ye didn't see any.
Still, since such goods served as a primary source of under-the-table income for on-duty inspectors, nobody was likely to forget to haul them away at the end of their shift, let alone leave them sitting here until the checkpoint purged them after seven days.
"It's been pouring non-stop lately, so nutrient paste might be hard to come by outside," Raven pointed out, gesturing to the crates stacked in the corner. "If you need any, Lord Inspector, there's no harm in taking a couple of boxes when you change shifts."
Cheng Ye gave a noncommittal hum, but had no intention whatsoever of taking any.
With an inspector's authority, there were countless ways to rake in Happiness Coins; there was no need to resort to such crude methods.
Besides, over this recent period, he had gradually figured out the survival rules of the checkpoint:
When others embezzled heavily, he would take just a little.
When others took a little, he wouldn't touch a thing.
That way, even if the upper echelons of Happiness City launched a sudden crackdown, the spearhead wouldn't be pointed at him right away.
"Let's check out the isolation bay."
Right next to Supply Warehouse No. 3 was Isolation Bay No. 1.
Though built side by side, their styles were worlds apart.
Cast from heavy concrete, the isolation bay resembled a rectangular fortress. Rows of small ventilation slits dotted both side walls, each barely five centimeters wide and tall. Styled very much like a modern prison, it exuded a grim, suffocating air.
Rounding the corner to the front, the thick, coarse exterior walls gave off a damp, musty stench.
The sliding steel isolation door in the center was as heavy as a floodgate, its surface painted in glaring yellow letters with two slogans:
[ISOLATION IS AN HONOR; EVASION IS A CRIME]
[ISOLATE FOR HAPPINESS CITY; ISOLATE FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY]
In Cheng Ye's expectation, this place would hold at most some undocumented vagrants with no status, no money, and no shelter.
In reality, before he even drew close, he could already hear a clamor as loud and chaotic as a bustling wet market.
"How many people are in quarantine?"
"Two hundred and seventy-one."
Are they crazy? That many?
If this were all the quarantined people in the entire North Station, that would be one thing—but nearly three hundred people locked up in Zone A alone?
How many people even left the city each day? Did everyone have to spend several days here before getting out?
Cheng Ye's brow twitched. He watched Raven verify his identity, and the heavy doors of the isolation facility slid open to both sides.
Dampness, rot, the sour reek of sweat... a murky stench hit them in the face like a physical blow, making the nostrils ache.
Looking inside, the isolation bay truly was modeled after a modern prison.
Crisscrossing metal walkways ran throughout, while isolation cells were tightly packed in a honeycomb pattern.
Inside each cramped room of less than five square meters, four iron bunk beds were stacked, leaving only a narrow passageway and a corner drainage drain, jammed with people like sardines in a tin.
Hundreds of eyes turned toward them at once—some dull, some wooden, some savage. A few people, noticing Cheng Ye was an Easterner, flashed looks of surprise.
Cheng Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, stepping forward instead of backing away, meeting their gazes directly.
Visibly, the raised heads, like rolling waves pressed down by an invisible giant hand, quickly ducked back down.
Heh.
Seeing how young he was, quite a few had probably thought he was a soft touch they could push around.
Little did they realize that once inside, they had already surrendered their right to live into someone else's hands.
If an unscrupulous inspector locked them in with a high-risk infected entity, it would be a guaranteed death sentence.
Wait...
Cheng Ye caught on fast, his mind immediately brightening.
If they had surrendered their right to live to others, didn't that mean... these people's cooperation rate would be far easier to raise than those being inspected inside the isolation cages outside?
While the odds of drawing a "golden legendary" might not match carefully scouting people outside, it at least provided a steady pool of search targets!
With that thought, Cheng Ye's interest was piqued, his eyes sweeping across the cells.
He happened to have an available search right now. If he could find a suitable target, why not run a search?
After all, with the charging post replenishing energy, he would accumulate enough for another search by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.
Compared to passively hoarding charges while waiting endlessly for ideal targets, boosting his strength as quickly as possible was clearly far more worthwhile.
"Milord, milord! I've been quarantined for seven days! Please let me out!"
"Milord, I can prove I'm definitely not infected! Look at my energy—I'm a thoroughbred workhorse! I toil day in and day out; even the virus wouldn't have the heart to infect me!"
"Milord, I want to report someone! He... he's definitely infected! Every night he stares right at my ass, and he's always putting his hands on me!"
"Milord..."
As Cheng Ye walked down the corridor, the people inside the cells gripped the bars and screamed like madmen.
Hearing someone make a report, Cheng Ye instinctively turned his head.
Holy hell, what a magnificent bear of a man!
Round face, buzz cut, little mustache—the burly man shouting the accusation fit the stereotype to a tee.
As for the guy he was reporting—well, Cheng Ye would believe it if someone said they were poured from the exact same mold.
"Milord, I was just messing with him! How could I be infected..."
"Milord, he's lying! Last night he shoved his sock in my mouth so I couldn't call for help..."
Great.
They're having their own little game, aren't they?
Not bothering with their soap opera, and realizing he was very likely just a prop in whatever roleplay they had going on, Cheng Ye shook his head and kept walking forward.
The world truly had no shortage of bizarre spectacles.
The survivors who had traveled thousands of miles were already a mixed bag, but the people locked in these isolation bays truly showed what a vast gulf existed among them.
To find a suitable search target...
Suddenly, Cheng Ye paused, stopping before the cell labeled "48."
What a powerfully built fellow!
Sitting on the lower bunk of Bed No. 2 was a man whose frame rivaled Brother B's.
Tall as an iron tower, his muscles coiled like rebar, veins bulging on his exposed forearms, hair bristling stiff like steel needles—the man radiated an explosive sense of raw power.
"You. Come here!"
Called out by Cheng Ye, the man blinked, then slightly hunched over as he leaned toward the front of the cage.
"What's your name?"
"Barrett Stuart."
"When were you put in?"
"Four days ago."
"Why?"
"Because out of our entire eight-man team, everyone died except me. The inspector deemed me a high infection risk, so I have to quarantine here for fifteen days before I can leave."
"Fifteen days? That long?"
Cheng Ye remained impassive, quietly opening his interface.
[Barrett, 57%. Search Scope: Intelligence, Items, Skills]
Sure enough, with people locked in the isolation bay, he didn't even need to pressure them for their cooperation rate to easily surpass 50%.
Cheng Ye didn't hesitate, immediately triggering the search with a thought.
He didn't ask for much—just a skill that could boost his combat prowess.
Yet in the next second, as he looked at the panel that materialized before him, colossal waves of shock surged through his heart.
[Search Successful!]
[Barrett Stuart (Parasitic State)]
...
Chapter 30