Good News, Bad News!

After seeing off the containment team, Cheng Ye pondered what he had learned while stepping back into the quarantine bays for a thorough inspection. Quarantine Bay 48 had been washed down with high-pressure hoses, clearing the metallic stench of blood in mere minutes. Only the tiny perforations corroded into the walls by the Rotting Vine sap stood as silent testaments to the battle that had just unfolded. "Transcendence..." Stepping outside the bay, Cheng Ye took several deep breaths, yet the trembling in his chest refused to subside. The tangled knot of emotions in his mind felt almost divided into neat shares. Thirty percent was shock at discovering the truth behind transcendents. Thirty percent was a fierce longing for transcendent power. Thirty percent was a quiet dread when facing the unknown. And the remaining ten percent was a creeping desire to delve into the deeper secrets of the wasteland. Did humanity bury its past and sever ties with the Old Era to keep reckless exploration from triggering a catastrophe, or were they secretly treading the same disastrous path, continuing research into the "non-toxic, harmless" S-5? Following that line of thought, Cheng Ye dared not let his mind wander any deeper. The current infected entities were troublesome enough. If an even more horrifying calamity were unleashed, this wasteland—which seemed to be recovering on the surface—would instantly plunge straight back to the brutal nadir of the apocalypse. Besides, something about Qin Feng's explanation did not add up. If it was certain that S-4's reign of terror had ended, why would transcendents still need to hide in the shadows? All they would have to do was step forward and prove it. Sneaking around like that meant there had to be hidden, unspeakable complications. If I could search and extract a transcendent ability... Equip it when I need it, and uninstall it the moment I'm done. Would that circumvent the influence of S-4? After entertaining that stroke of "genius" for a moment, Cheng Ye finally suppressed all his wild urges. It made sense that such secrets were kept from trainees. Even someone as formidable as Brother Bi, a fourth-term inspector, had never once breathed a word about transcendence in front of him. Before one reached the necessary threshold of strength, knowing such things too early would only fuel overambitious delusions or lead someone astray. ... "The people who worked the night shift haven't gone to sleep yet, have they?" "No, sir. The alarm woke them all up just now, and they're soothing the other quarantined personnel." "Good. Have them assemble shortly. I have a few words for them." Having instructed Raven to gather all staff members and guards, Cheng Ye turned his gaze toward Owl. Having just brushed shoulders with death fifteen minutes ago, Owl was still visibly shaken, though he had finally recovered from his initial state of shock. "If you're this easily terrified, how did you ever become an observer?" "Sir..." Owl offered a bitter smile. "I thought I was dead for sure. I never imagined you would step in to save me..." "I'm not made of wood. Do you expect me to just stand by and watch one of my own get slaughtered?" Cheng Ye shook his head, somewhat exasperated. Perhaps in the eyes of Owl and Raven, such an action was enough to make him an anomaly among inspectors. Yet he knew full well that saving the man had merely been an instinctive reflex. It was just that in a dog-eat-dog wasteland, this shred of "instinct" had become an exceedingly rare sight. "Thank you, sir..." Owl murmured, saying no more, though a faint, fervent light flickered in his eyes. Seeing that, Cheng Ye smiled wryly and shook his head, realizing that Owl had etched this life-saving debt deep into his heart. That was a rare commodity, prompting Cheng Ye to entertain further considerations. If he wanted to establish a foothold and stand firm at the checkpoint, relying solely on the favors Cheng Long had left behind would never be enough. Step by step, he needed to cultivate trusted confidants of his own. Owl possessed that potential. As long as Cheng Ye could break free from the current vortex of factional strife between East and West, working through Owl might be a solid place to start. "By the way, is there an Arthur stationed here?" Cheng Ye asked, suddenly recalling the person Liu Bi had mentioned before parting ways. Though he never intended to pin his hopes of survival on anyone else, Liu Bi's claim that this man could keep him alive had piqued his curiosity about the fellow's identity. "Arthur... There are quite a few Arthurs at the station, sir. Which one do you mean?" "Arthur Amir." "Oh, Arthur the machine gunner!" Owl pointed toward Zone F. "He's on duty in the guard tower behind the quarantine corridor." Following the direction of Owl's finger, Cheng Ye glanced over and caught sight of a silhouette holding a gun behind the metal guardrails of the watchtower past the corridor. Cheng Ye understood at once why Liu Bi had said this man could save his life. At the checkpoint, machine gunners held a status above observers like Owl, ranking second only to inspectors. More importantly, as the core defensive strength of the station, machine gunners answered directly to the station master; inspectors had no authority to command them. Such unconstrained status naturally meant he could lend a hand at crucial moments. Looks like I should find some time to make contact. If an unstoppable infected entity ever breaches the perimeter, it might buy me a little time to escape. Keeping that in mind, Cheng Ye waited in place for a short while. Since he was slated to be on duty in Quarantine Zone A for the coming week, it was necessary to familiarize himself with the faces of the station guards and staff. Though it went no further than putting faces to names. "I'm here to do only three things: screen infected entities, kill infected entities, and earn contribution points!" "I won't send you on suicide missions, but by the same token, don't think you can slack off on my watch." "If I catch anyone slacking, even once, don't even dream of staying at this checkpoint." "That's all. If you haven't slept, go catch up on your sleep. Those coming on shift, keep your eyes peeled!" With those four sentences concluded, Cheng Ye dismissed the group. As the crowd dispersed, some muttered among themselves, some expressed surprise, but most were simply curious. Cheng Ye's rough, direct style perfectly aligned with their stereotype of an Easterner inspector. Yet was Cheng Ye truly a reckless brute? No one thought so. Raven had already let slip earlier that this Easterner inspector had been personally escorted by Raul, who had specifically instructed them to take him seriously. Furthermore, he had locked onto an infected entity among hundreds of people at a glance and accurately determined the man was infected with just a few words. Such rock-solid professional competence was an inspector's true foundation at the checkpoint. "Don't just stand there. Where's the other warehouse?" "Oh, right away!" Raven and Owl both snapped to attention, only then realizing that this inspector hadn't even had time to visit the quarantine zone before running headlong into an infected entity in the isolation bays. Talk about incredible luck! "For every complete duty cycle, two observers and ten staff members are assigned to assist the inspector, alongside twenty patrol guards responsible for monitoring quarantined personnel and mounting counterattacks if an infected entity is encountered." "If any personnel are lost, the station replaces them the following day to prevent shortages." Standing before the massive doors of Dormitory Warehouse No. 2, a faint rank odor drifted past, mingling with the distinct sweat smell characteristic of Westerners. Cheng Ye leaned forward to look. To be fair, the accommodations provided by the checkpoint were by no means poor. Although they were bunk beds, each had been deliberately sized to one and a half meters wide by two meters long, making them exceptionally spacious. Between every four bunks stood a large solid-wood table, resembling the ones found in the Survival Library. In addition, each bunk had a small locker beside it, granting everyone their own private storage space. Even by Cheng Ye's standards as a modern person, this was far superior to certain eight-man or ten-man university dormitories. "Alright, let's head to the quarantine inspection zone up ahead." Having gained a rough sense of how the fast checkpoint operated, Cheng Ye breathed a quiet sigh of relief. There was good news and bad news. The good news was that while danger lingered within the quarantine zone, the overall situation remained within manageable bounds, requiring no undue panic. The bad news was that the casualty rate for inspectors at the fast checkpoint was exceptionally high, proving that the danger in the quarantine inspection zone likely exceeded what he had previously envisioned. Moving forward, the front half of the quarantine zone was once again cordoned off with iron plates and chain-link fencing. Cheng Ye reached out to touch the barrier, his heart tightening. The material was not ordinary steel, but the same special alloy as the flooring. It had merely been coated in paint to resemble ordinary metal on the surface. Could this be meant to deceive the infected? Certain unique infected entities could corrode steel, but Happiness City had yet to encounter a single case capable of corroding this special alloy. After passing through three consecutive alloy doors, Raven came to a halt. "Inspector, sir, this is the quarantine inspection zone where you'll be working." The so-called quarantine inspection zone looked remarkably like the pay-to-play chain-link basketball courts found in city plazas before Cheng Ye had transmigrated. The square space covered no more than three hundred square meters, divided cleanly down the middle by a yellow line on the floor. One half belonged to the inspector; the other half belonged to the subjects being inspected. Each area contained an alloy desk. Similar to the setup at the Central Main Checkpoint, the desk in the screening area held various testing devices, while the desk in the inspector's section was meant for personal belongings. The only difference lay in three additional buttons mounted on the surface. "This is your workstation," Raven explained, pointing at the tabletop. "The button on the far left controls the door behind you. The center button operates the entrance door for outsiders. The button on the far right is the lock switch. Once pressed, the station immediately dispatches rescue personnel, but until they arrive, neither door can be opened by any means." Raven paused, unclipping the defense comm at his waist. "The button on the side here is the comms key. Whenever you press it, I can hear you on my end." "Understood. I know how it works." Having earned nearly full marks on his trainee assessment, Cheng Ye was naturally familiar with these basic installations. Standing there, his view extended through the chain-link mesh, granting him a clear sightline of the yellow line outside the station master's office window and the armed corridor used to channel crowds. Affected by the torrential rain, neighboring Zone B—which primarily screened scavengers and ordinary vagrants—currently had a dozen or so people lining up, waiting for the channel to open. Zone A, responsible for inspecting vehicular convoys, was entirely deserted. "Under what circumstances am I required to open the isolation door and step beyond the yellow line?" Cheng Ye voiced the question that concerned him most. Since Downs had explicitly stated that staying behind the yellow line was safe, it proved beyond doubt that immense danger lurked beyond it! Raven and Owl exchanged a glance before the latter stepped forward. "There is only one circumstance that requires you to cross the yellow line." "Whenever an Inner City official on an active mission comes under attack within three kilometers of the checkpoint and sends out a distress signal, the station requires the four duty inspectors to immediately venture past the yellow line to carry out a rescue!"