Drainage operations were still underway across the Main Urban District, leaving the streets in complete disarray.
The study session therefore had to be relocated to an abandoned grand theater in the suburbs.
Taking advantage of the brief window while the staff swept the premises, Harlin retrieved a thick stack of name lists from a document folder.
Densely inscribed across the pages were names of former instructors who had retired from the Public Security Bureau, along with veterans discharged due to injuries, illness, or other reasons.
"Go and invite the people on this list. Round up three hundred of them to start, and have them take turns lecturing on stage."
After checking off several key names, Harlin paused, then stated the exact compensation:
"Instructors from the Public Security Bureau will receive ten contribution points per lecture."
"Discharged veterans from the three great legions—Blood Dragon, Cross, and Happiness—will receive eight points each."
"Everyone else gets five contribution points across the board. Keep the accounts clear and accurate; submit the bill to the checkpoint later to be covered by public funds."
The staff acknowledged the order and immediately set out to locate the people on the list.
At four o'clock sharp in the afternoon, the study session commenced on time in the abandoned grand theater.
Following a brief opening address by Deputy Stationmaster Harlin, the first instructor stepped up to the stage and recited the standard protocols for handling hydrophilic infected entities.
The audience below, however, showed little interest. This manner of teaching straight from the book offered negligible help in the current crisis.
After all, the casualties occurring now were entirely caused by new infection sources unrecorded in any database; the old playbooks had long since grown obsolete.
"As for the inspectors currently on duty, rotate them in tomorrow to study. There will be an assessment in three days. As for the test question..."
Harlin paused, his tone abruptly hardening. "Within fifteen days, each of you must locate and eliminate an infected entity while on duty!"
That strict?
The hearts of several inspectors seated in the back rows sank sharply. Cold sweat instantly broke out on the foreheads of those accustomed to coasting through their shifts.
Fortunately, Ding Yishan had previously established a rule that demotions would only occur after three failed evaluations, which meant they still had a forty-five-day buffer period.
Once the study session arrangements were in order and Harlin stepped out the door, someone immediately hurried forward to meet him.
"Dario, what is it?"
"Stationmaster, Ding Yishan just summoned Yunfei, Lin Bao, Changhai, and Qiao Yuan. They were in there for about forty minutes."
"What about Lei Hu?"
"He's still at East Checkpoint. He didn't go."
"He didn't go?" Harlin was taken aback, then an unexpected smile flashed across his face. "Good. Ding Yishan brought this upon himself."
"Stationmaster, do you think Ding Yishan realized that Lei Hu has been getting close to us lately?" Dario Haven pressed closely behind Harlin, keeping his voice exceedingly low.
To qualify as an on-duty stationmaster, one first had to reach the rank of Rank 5 inspector.
At present, aside from the chief and deputy stationmasters and the two on-duty stationmasters, there were six Rank 5 inspectors in the checkpoint system.
Four belonged to the East Faction, and two to the West Faction.
Deputy Stationmaster Davidson of West Checkpoint was one, and Dario Haven himself was the other.
"He's not blind. He noticed long ago. But what can he do about it?"
Harlin sneered. "Back before Ding Yishan took power, didn't he also cozy up to our West Faction just to suppress those other Rank 5 inspectors?"
"When it comes to competing for the on-duty stationmaster seat, we shouldn't rush our moves. Let's see what he says first. After all, none of those four—Yunfei, Lin Bao, Changhai, and Qiao Yuan—are pushovers. If he can't maintain the balance, their faction will crumble from within first."
"No rush, huh..."
Dario felt a twinge of disappointment, but he could only nod in agreement.
"Right, Stationmaster. An Easterner inspector reported to North Station today."
"You mean that... Cheng Ye?"
Harlin's brow twitched slightly.
He had an exceptional memory. Since the beginning of the year, although three of the four trainee inspectors across the entire checkpoint system had passed the qualification assessment, only Cheng Ye had secured his graduation certificate in under two months.
That pace ranked second in the checkpoint system's entire history, lagging behind only his own record as deputy stationmaster by a mere half month.
The difference was that Harlin had set his record amidst the crucible of an infection tide, whereas Cheng Ye had approached that benchmark during peacetime.
The two represented entirely opposite paths.
"I recall his combat talent was abysmal. I didn't expect him to have such nerve—daring to go to our North Station."
"More than just nerve. That kid is far from simple. It's obvious he went to our North Station to throw his weight around..."
In a few concise sentences, Dario recounted what had transpired at North Station that morning.
Hearing how Cheng Ye had seized on psychological weaknesses to easily intimidate a pack of brainless second-generation scions into backing down, Harlin showed little reaction, even finding it faintly amusing.
After all, as the chief examiner for the trainee assessment, he understood Cheng Ye's intellect better than anyone.
If Cheng Ye had truly let himself be bullied by a bunch of good-for-nothings whose only ambition was inheriting inspector status to lord it over others, Harlin would have questioned his own judgment of people.
Yet as Dario continued his report, Harlin's expression quickly shifted.
"Are you certain that after asking only a few questions, he determined the other party was an infected entity, stayed completely composed during the fight, and even saved an observer along the way?"
"Yes. I watched the full video. His performance was..."
Dario considered his words, then offered his verdict: completely at ease and in control.
In the footage he had seen, Cheng Ye truly displayed not a trace of fear. Whether opening fire proactively or in his subsequent retaliation and tactical retreat, his actions had been remarkably decisive.
"Damn it. Where's the video? Bring it over, let me see."
Harlin couldn't help shaking his head, the scene from several days ago flashing through his mind when Ding Yishan had specially approved a hundred rounds of ammunition for Cheng Ye.
Had he misjudged the kid? Was this young man actually a formidable talent endowed with both brains and brawn?
The tablet was quickly brought over.
Frowning, Harlin pressed play, even dragging the progress bar back twice mid-watch before finally corroborating Dario's evaluation.
Indeed, effortless and totally in control!
"Tsk, tsk. The East Faction's younger generation has rotted to the core, yet to think a promising seedling like this could still emerge."
"Mm... arrange for someone to make contact with him. See if we can bring him over to our side."
Compared to Ding Yishan's hesitation, Harlin's attitude was entirely the opposite—frighteningly decisive.
"But... he's an Easterner?"
"What about it? Isn't Lei Hu an Easterner too?"
Harlin gave a surprised look, sizing Dario up and down.
"How many times have I told you? In factional struggles, the most crucial thing is to grasp the other party's true bottom line."
"Cheng Long was Cheng Long; Cheng Ye is himself. This kid grew up living in the Inner City and never touched any of the checkpoint's mess. He doesn't have a shred of loyalty to the East Faction. The only trouble is Liu Bi, and that fool Ding Yishan went and shipped Liu Bi off to the hydropower station! If we don't pull him over now, are we supposed to wait until he gets established?"
"You think this kid is an idiot? I bet he knows full well that Ding Yishan had ulterior motives transferring him to the fast checkpoint. That's why he deliberately picked our North Station as his entry point. It happens to hand us the perfect opportunity."
"Then what about Garcia?"
Dario's mind churned. It seemed Harlin was going all out to seize the stationmaster position.
"He's only just out of critical condition and still lying in the infirmary. If we go recruit Cheng Ye..."
"We can worry about that when he's capable of walking up to me to protest."
Harlin waved his hand dismissively. "Do as I say. It won't take long. As long as the East Faction falls into internal chaos, I'll naturally have a way to prop you up firmly into that on-duty stationmaster seat."
"Understood, Stationmaster!"
At the prospect of rising to on-duty stationmaster, Dario's eyes flared with intense ecstasy. Any remaining doubts vanished into thin air.
Ordinary inspectors scraped and clawed their entire lives, never knowing which day they might fall to an infected entity.
Once you became an on-duty stationmaster, however, you climbed out of the bottom tier and secured the leverage to ascend even higher.
Why was Harlin fighting tooth and nail with Ding Yishan like this?
Everyone knew deep down: Happiness City's sexennial Extraordinary Baptism was already in its fifth year. If he didn't fight for it now, he would have to wait another six years!
During the previous round, Ding Yishan held the advantage, so Harlin chose to lie low and willingly yielded the Extraordinary Baptism.
Who could have foreseen that Ding Yishan would fail so miserably? First, he missed the golden opportunity for Awakening, and afterward, he blundered repeatedly. To curry favor with Happiness City's upper echelon, he not only lost a star general in Cheng Long, but also squandered several veteran inspectors.
Therefore, this time, Harlin would never sit idly by.
The factional fighting that seemed so fierce right now was merely the opening act.
The true storm would only sweep in completely when winter arrived, or perhaps by next spring.
When that time came, every single inspector—whether Rank 5, Rank 4, Rank 1, or even trainee—would be swept up in the tempest!
...
Night fell, and the streetlights flickered on.
A warm yellow halo washed over the quarantine zone, dispelling layer upon layer of the inky darkness creeping in from the wilderness.
A fine drizzle began to fall from the sky again.
From time to time, a flash of lightning tore through the clouds, illuminating the distant silhouettes of the ruined city and drawing forth chorus after chorus of howls from mutated beasts.
"Damn weather..."
Matthew Lee saw off the last group in line. Watching the guards escort every one of them into the isolation zone, he finally straightened his spine and reached up to massage his aching shoulder.
How many people had he locked in the isolation zone today?
Huh, seemed he'd forgotten to count.
Still, it was at least shy of two hundred. Every last one of those folks looked extremely suspicious!
"Seven minutes until my shift ends."
Pulling out his defense comm to check the time, Matthew Lee got up and ambled toward the fence separating Zone A and Zone B, intending to chat with Cheng Ye and kill the remaining minutes.
"Inspector Cheng, you've got it so easy here!" Matthew Lee leaned on the wire mesh railing with a sigh. "I've been run off my feet all day in Zone B, while your Zone A had it grand—a single vehicle all day long."
"Is that so?"
Cheng Ye was doing push-ups on the ground, replying without raising his head.
"From where I'm standing, you don't ask people a single question—you just herd them straight into the isolation zone. Doesn't look so busy to me."
"Huh?"
Catching Cheng Ye's drift, Matthew Lee blinked, then laughed nonchalantly. "That's where you're naive! I've slugged it out at the checkpoints for over twenty years. I've seen isolation pod riots, weathered infection tide invasions, and watched factional power struggles that never let up. Yet to this day, I can still stand here laughing and joking with you. What do you think that's down to?"
"It's all because I'm careful enough, cautious enough!"
"Is that so?"
Cheng Ye stood up, unable to resist giving him a thumbs-up.
The two had snatched spare moments to exchange words a few times throughout the day, so they had grown somewhat familiar. Aside from Liu Bi, this veteran inspector was at least the first "friend" Cheng Ye had made at the checkpoint.
Compared to a reckless bruiser like Liu Bi, however, Matthew Lee's caution was carved right into his bones.
In the morning, he had exercised some restraint by detaining one in four, but once the inspection level escalated in the afternoon, it became one in two.
As far as Cheng Ye could tell, the man was simply picking "lucky winners" based on gut feeling and shipping them off to the isolation pods.
"I know what you want to ask: why would a cowardly, death-fearing guy like me come to the fast checkpoint, right?"
Matthew Lee relished Cheng Ye's thumbs-up, grinning slyly. "It's quite simple, really. Don't look down on the inspector badge in your hand. All you need to do is focus on raising that thing's level. Once it reaches a certain point, as long as you don't actively seek death, it's genuinely hard to die."
Having finally found common ground with Cheng Ye, Matthew Lee wore a touch of senior superiority.
"Back when your father was still around, he couldn't stand someone like me. Every time we crossed paths, he'd look down his nose at me without even bothering to lift an eyelid. Who would've thought his son would end up praising me today?"
"Uh..."
Cheng Ye could hardly be bothered to retort.
This guy easily had the thickest skin he had ever encountered—far more wear-resistant than the wire mesh of the quarantine zone.
Just as he was about to press further about inspector badge ranks, however—
Dong.
A crisp chime echoed from inside the checkpoint. Looking toward the watchtower, the yellow flag that had hung all day was finally drawn down.
"Finally, the grind is over."
Matthew Lee rubbed his arms and yawned repeatedly. "Twelve straight hours on the clock—the checkpoint ought to hang a Model Worker medal around our necks."
Before the words had completely left his mouth, he suddenly glanced into the distance, then turned and urged:
"We're off the clock, why are you still standing there? Do you really want to be a model worker and collect a medal?
"Hurry, let's get out of here!"
"Get out?"
Following Matthew Lee's gaze, Cheng Ye saw a beam of light pierce the gloom deep within the curtain of rain.
The headlights swayed as they drew near. Judging by the speed and brightness, it was clearly not a Jinbei van, but a vehicle built for high velocity.
Strange.
He hadn't expected someone to arrive right as the shift ended, perfectly coinciding with the ringing of the chime.
"Move, move, move."
If it were 7:59, Cheng Ye would have naturally waited, but past 8:00, he wasn't a fool.
After all, the chances of infected entities roaming at night were more than ten times higher than during the day.
Yet just as he opened the isolation gate, ready to leave, Raven hurried up to meet him.
"What is it?"
"Sir, that arriving vehicle has already sent a signal to the checkpoint. It's... the lords from the Cross Legion."
"What? The Cross Legion?"
...
Chapter 41