Lv. 2 Talent: Iron Body

Cooperation rate: Perfect! The chime indicating that a search was available rang in his ears. Cheng Ye had never felt two words could sound so melodious, so wonderful. It was as though a stripped screw had suddenly locked into its threads, turning steadily within a rusted nut. Every rotation produced the crisp rasp of metal against metal, sending shivers of sheer satisfaction down his spine! "Hang on a moment. I need to calibrate the equipment." After reassuring Dai Zun, Cheng Ye looked toward the testing apparatus, though in truth, he pressed the search command with his mind. Lines of shimmering phantom text flickered across the interface. Five seconds later, they assembled into an information display Cheng Ye could read. [Dai Zun] [Lv. 1 Skills]: Locked [Lv. 2 Skills]: Talent: Iron Body (Rare: reduced pain perception, increased physical resilience, confers immunity to a minor portion of non-fatal injuries) Talent: Firearms Affinity (Common: slightly increases mastery over firearms) Skill: Cross Standard Slashing Technique (Common), Cross Standard Marksmanship (Common) [Lv. 3 Skills]: Locked ... *What?* *There are actually tiers?* Cheng Ye froze for an instant. When searching for Lv. 1 skills, the panel had merely dumped every skill onto the screen at once, making it a dizzying mess that left him hard-pressed to choose. Yet the Lv. 2 interface before him was entirely different. It not only subdivided abilities into talents and skills, but also clearly distinguished their quality tiers, making relative strengths obvious at a glance. For instance, while both were talents, Iron Body currently emanated a faint purple glow, marked as [Rare] in its description field. Firearms Affinity was also a talent, but it shone with a white glow labeled [Common]. *Now this is much more intuitive. I don't have to puzzle over their names to guess what they do...* Perhaps because Dai Zun was too young, he had not mastered many Lv. 2 abilities; only two standard Cross Legion skills were listed on the panel. Without the slightest hesitation, Cheng Ye focused his intent directly on the highest-tier entry, Iron Body. Searching across levels carried only a 25 percent success rate. Yet for some unexplainable reason, he felt certain he would succeed this time. Because Dai Zun on the floor had not chosen to cooperate out of fear or intimidation; he had chosen to cooperate because he genuinely wanted to live and trusted him from the bottom of his heart. A faint purple tint washed across the entire interface. The display began to flicker. One second later. The Civilization Collector did not disappoint! [Search Successful] [Civilization Collector has successfully recorded: Iron Body (Lv. 2; Talent)] *It actually worked?!* The interface automatically shifted. The Iron Body entry in Dai Zun's skill column gleamed faintly, then flickered and was copied into the equipable skill slots. An irrepressible wave of wild joy erupted in Cheng Ye's chest. He felt as if his thoughts had frozen in that moment, the overwhelming delight threatening to burst free. Though he had possessed a premonition before initiating the search, how could a mere hunch compare to seeing Iron Body appear with his own eyes in the equipable skill slots on his personal panel?! "Inspector?" Dai Zun was at a loss. Seeing Cheng Ye's back trembling slightly, he instantly grew nervous. "Is something wrong with the machine?" "Nothing. Just give me another moment. The machine is booting up." Suppressing his exhilaration, Cheng Ye called back. He closed the panel and took two deep breaths before finally reining in the churning emotions. Whether Dai Zun was infected or not no longer needed testing by any machine. However, the quarantine procedure permitted no oversights. Bypassing it would inevitably arouse suspicion. Cheng Ye still followed standard operating procedure. Along the way, he had to cut off a small piece of tissue and send it for testing. About ten minutes later, Raven returned, bringing the expected news. "All right, you've passed!" Cheng Ye peeled off his rubber gloves, tossed them into the quarantine zone's waste bin like a basketball, and walked over with a smile. "Huh?" Dai Zun stared blankly, suspecting his ears had deceived him. Only when Cheng Ye repeated the words did his eyes widen, raw jubilation shattering all restraint across his face. Outside the quarantine gate, Wu Rui's back stiffened as well. His tower-like frame shuddered before he dragged a rough palm vigorously across his face, then slammed a heavy fist against the wire mesh with a dull thud. Tense for so long. His heart had been stuck in his throat the entire time. Thank heavens, the final outcome had not let them down! "Captain Wu, I'm from the Inner City as well and just off duty. I'll escort him over. Any issue with that?" Cheng Ye walked up to the gate and asked. Wu Rui hesitated for only a fraction of a second before nodding heavily. "No issue at all. I'll make the arrangements right now. Bring him to the Happiness Gate, and someone will be there to receive him." "Understood." Bringing along another person would require another round of inspection procedures. Just as Cheng Ye turned to leave, a voice came from behind. "May I ask the inspector's name?" "Cheng." "Cheng... May I ask what your relation is to Cheng Long?" "He was my father." A flicker of astonishment crossed Wu Rui's face, quickly shifting into expected acknowledgment. *No way. Is Cheng Long famous even in the Cross Legion?* Cheng Ye was slightly taken aback, but he did not break his stride, ordering Owl and Raven to lift the stretcher and follow him. As they moved along the quarantine corridor toward the exit, Dai Zun's pale face still held the dazed expression of a man who had narrowly escaped death. Reaching the exit, Cheng Ye hesitated briefly before dialing Stationmaster Downs's number. By rights, requisitioning a vehicle under special circumstances fell within an inspector's authority, but this was North Station after all—the Westerners' domain. "Stationmaster, here's the situation..." Cheng Ye summarized Dai Zun's condition in a few words. Just as he was about to explain the necessity of requisitioning a vehicle, hurried footsteps came through the receiver. To everyone's surprise, Downs had rushed straight down from his office. Under ordinary circumstances, the stationmaster showing up in person would not be surprising. But just this afternoon, an on-duty stationmaster had fallen in the line of duty; rashly approaching someone whose infection risk had not been fully ruled out was clearly far from prudent. "Stationmaster Downs, would you... perhaps stand back a bit?" When Downs was still a dozen paces away, Cheng Ye called out a reminder. Unexpectedly, Downs curled his lip with disdain, quickening his pace while grumbling under his breath, "When this checkpoint was founded back in the day, your grandfather and I cut the ribbon ourselves. You think I'm like He Yun?" *When the checkpoint was founded?* Cheng Ye paid no heed to Downs's boasting, but he caught an important piece of information. His predecessor's grandfather had actually been one of the old hands who founded the checkpoint? *That impressive?* "Enough. He hasn't been parasitized. I'll grant you a special approval for a vehicle. Take him for medical treatment at once." Downs crouched down, examined the wound, and spoke with absolute certainty. Then he cast a peculiar glance at Cheng Ye. "This is only your first day. You turned the station upside down, took out an infected entity, and now you've saved someone from the Cross Legion. Cheng Long... Cheng Long back then wasn't nearly as capable as you." "Uh..." Cheng Ye gave no definite response, taking it as praise. Yet he also understood Downs was warning him that he had drawn far too much attention today. As the saying went, extremes led to reversals; continuing to shine so brightly would inevitably draw unwanted attention. That said, although Downs had considered the matter, he had not looked at it from Cheng Ye's perspective. *I'd love to keep a low profile, but keeping too low a profile means dying...* ... The Jinbei van roared out of the checkpoint, leaving prominent black tire marks on the ground. Dai Zun was jolted into repeated coughing fits, flecks of bloody foam seeping from the corners of his mouth. "Brother, slow down a bit. We've got an injured man here," Cheng Ye could not help but caution him. Only then did the driver ease his foot off the floorboards, an embarrassed grin on his face. Only on such emergency official duties would the higher-ups waive tracking electricity consumption. Under normal duties, strict quotas applied. Exceeding power limits meant deductions at best, and direct termination at worst—much like how drivers in the old era who pushed commuter cars past average fuel consumption would be kicked out of their owner chats. "Buddy, can you still talk?" "I can." "Mind if I ask you a few things? It won't violate your Cross Legion regulations, will it?" "Speak freely, Inspector." Dai Zun was also somewhat curious about this inspector who was even younger than himself. Cheng Ye's conduct bore no resemblance to the old schemers at the checkpoint who dreaded responsibility and feared danger, reeking of suffocating bureaucratic formality. One might say a newborn calf feared no tiger. Yet the strange thing was that his style was remarkably steady, without the slightest awkward greenness of a rookie. Even Squad Leader Wu Rui had been ordered around by him, entirely without the awkward friction of someone feeling overpowered. "My elder brother, Liu Bi, is an inspector too. Two days ago, he went with an Inner City engineering team to reinforce the hydroelectric station. Do you have any news of him?" "Liu Bi..." Dai Zun pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "The Cross Legion is responsible for defending the entire Industrial District, eight zones in total. The hydroelectric station is located in Zone B, whereas we guard Zone F, separated by over a dozen kilometers... But don't worry. At least before noon today, the hydroelectric station hadn't been breached by infected entities." Having said that, realizing Cheng Ye was unfamiliar with the Industrial District, Dai Zun briefly explained the general situation. Because the hydroelectric station's energy supply was seasonal, Happiness City had to operate production at full capacity from early summer to mid-autumn in order to amass enough resources for both self-use and trade through winter and spring. Therefore, every mid-spring, massive recruitment drives were held in the Buffer Zone, enlisting tens of thousands—or even over a hundred thousand—workers into the Industrial District at once. When power generation dropped by mid-autumn, the workers were demobilized back to the Buffer Zone to prepare for winter. Such large-scale movement of personnel naturally drew the attention of surrounding infected entities, which constantly converged on the Industrial District to harass and attack it. *It's a pity that by the time I transmigrated, the spring recruitment had already ended, so I didn't get to witness that grand spectacle,* Cheng Ye could not help thinking. Every sanctuary city had survival strategies tailored to local conditions, and Happiness City's "migratory production model" was particularly ingenious, its concept far surpassing other shelters. It not only perfectly solved the infrastructure strain of long-distance power transmission, but also deftly resolved the defensive dilemma between residential areas and the Industrial District. Summer and autumn were peak seasons for survivor migration. The Industrial District actively drew the attention of nearby infected entities, neatly averting the risk of infection tides triggered by population concentration. And once the winter-spring migration wave ended, the Industrial District personnel withdrew back to the Buffer Zone. With everyone holding a single position, survival rates against infection tides were maximized. "There's no absolute good or bad; you can only say it has pros and cons. When you don't run into an infection tide riot, things are indeed stable. But this year..." Dai Zun sighed. "Since the start of the year, the frequency of infection tide outbreaks has multiplied several times over. Who knows what grade of infection tide will surge toward our Happiness City this winter!" ...