Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 41 Extraordinary Baptism, A Visitor Arrives on a Rainy Night!
Drainage work is still ongoing in the main urban area, and the streets are in a mess.

The study session had to be moved to an abandoned grand theater in the suburbs.

While the staff were cleaning the area, Harlin pulled out a stack of names from a file folder.

The list is densely packed with the names of instructors who retired from the police department back then, as well as soldiers who retired due to injury, illness, or other reasons.

“Go and invite the people on the list. Let’s get 300 people first, and have them take turns giving lectures.”

After checking off several important names, Harlin paused, then gave the specific payment:

"The instructors from the Public Security Bureau are paid according to 10 contribution points."

"Eight points for each retired soldier from the Blood Dragon, Cross, and Happiness Legions."

"Everyone else will be settled based on 5 contribution points. The accounts must be kept clear and reported to the station later for public funds."

The staff responded and immediately began searching for the people according to the list.

The study session started promptly at 4:00 PM in the abandoned grand theater.

After a brief speech by Deputy Station Chief Harlin, the first instructor took the stage to recite the response procedures for hydrophilic infectious agents.

However, the audience seemed uninterested, as this rote learning teaching method proved to be of little help in addressing the current situation.

After all, the casualties now are all caused by new sources of infection that are not recorded in the database, and the old response strategies are outdated.

"The inspectors currently on duty will be asked to take turns coming for training tomorrow, and they will be assessed in three days. The test questions will be..."

Harlin paused, then his tone suddenly became more serious, "Within fifteen days, you must find and kill one infected person while on duty!"

So strict?

The prosecutors sitting in the back row felt a sudden chill, especially those who usually just coasted along; cold sweat instantly broke out on their foreheads.

Fortunately, Ding Yishan had previously set a rule that "demotion would only occur after three failures to meet the standards," so there was a 45-day grace period.

Once the study session was arranged, Harlin had just stepped out when someone quickly came to greet him.

"Dario, what's wrong?"

"Stationmaster, Ding Yishan just summoned Yunbao Changyuan and stayed for about forty minutes."

"Where is Lei Hu?"

"Still at the East Station, haven't gone there yet."

"Didn't go?" Harlin was stunned for a moment, then a smile of surprise flashed across his face. "Well, Ding Yishan asked for it."

"Station Chief, do you think Ding Yishan discovered that Lei Hu has been getting close to us lately?" Dario Havin followed closely behind Harlin, his voice extremely low.

To become a duty station chief, one must first reach the level of a fifth-term prosecutor.

Currently, in addition to the station chief, deputy station chief, and two duty station chiefs, there are six fifth-term inspectors at the checkpoint.

There were four people from the East faction and two from the West faction.

Davidson, the deputy stationmaster of the North Station, is one, and the other is Dario Havin.

"He's not blind; he noticed it a long time ago. But what could he do?"

Harlin sneered, "Back when Ding Yishan hadn't taken office, didn't he also side with our Western faction to suppress those fifth-term prosecutors?"

"Next, we'll be vying for the position of station chief. We won't make any moves yet; let's see what he has to say first. After all, Yunbao and Changyuan are no pushovers. If he can't maintain the balance, things will fall apart first."

"Isn't there a rush?"

Dario was slightly disappointed, but he could only nod in agreement.

"By the way, stationmaster, an inspector from the East reported to the North Station today."

"Is it that Cheng Ye?"

Harlin raised his eyebrows slightly.

He has an excellent memory. From the beginning of the year until now, although three of the four trainee inspectors in the station have passed the on-the-job assessment, only Cheng Ye has obtained his "graduation" certificate in less than two months.

This speed ranks second since the checkpoint system was established, only half a month slower than his record as deputy station chief back then.

However, the difference is that he broke the assessment record back then while riding the wave of infection, while Cheng Ye approached that number in a peacetime state.

The two have exactly opposite inclinations.

"I remember he had terrible combat skills, but I didn't expect him to be so bold as to dare to go to our North Station?"

"Not just young, this kid is no ordinary person. He's clearly here to establish his authority in our Northern Station."

In a few words, Dario recounted what had happened at the North Station that morning.

Hearing that Cheng Ye had easily driven back a group of brainless second-generation rich kids by exploiting their psychological weaknesses, Harlin didn't react much, and even wanted to laugh.

After all, as the chief examiner for the internship assessment, he knew Cheng Ye's intelligence better than anyone else.

If he were to be bullied by those incompetent fools who were hoping to inherit the prosecutor's position and become a superior person, he would start to doubt whether he had made a mistake in his judgment of people.

However, as Dario continued to repeat himself, Harlin's expression quickly changed.

"Are you sure he only asked a few questions upon meeting the person, yet he was able to determine that the other person was infected, and that he remained calm and collected during the battle, even managing to save the observer?"

"Yes, I've seen the full video, his performance."

Dario thought for a moment and gave the assessment that he handled it with ease.

In the video he saw, Cheng Ye was indeed not afraid at all. Whether it was firing the gun first or retaliating and retreating, he acted quite decisively.

"Damn it, where's the video? Let me see it."

Harlin couldn't help but shake his head, the scene from a few days ago when Ding Yishan specially approved a hundred bullets for Cheng Ye flashing through his mind.

Could I have misjudged him? Is this kid a formidable character skilled in both literature and martial arts?
The tablet arrived quickly.

Harlin frowned and pressed play, even dragging the progress bar back twice before finally accepting Dalio's assessment.

Indeed, she handled it with ease!
"Tsk tsk, the Dongpai faction is completely rotten this generation, but I didn't expect to produce such a promising talent."

"Hmm, you arrange for someone to contact him and see if you can win him over to our side."

In contrast to Ding Yishan's hesitation, Harlin's performance was completely different, decisive to the point of being frightening.

"But...he's from the East?"

"So what if he's from the East? Isn't Lei Hu from the East too?"

Harlin looked surprised and sized up Dario a few times.

"Haven't I told you a few times that in factional struggles, the most important thing is to understand the other side's strengths and weaknesses?"

"Jackie Chan is Jackie Chan, and he is himself."

This kid has lived in the inner city since he was a child, never involved in the station's messy affairs, and has no sense of belonging to the Eastern faction whatsoever.

The only problem is Liu Bi. Unfortunately, that idiot Ding Yishan sent Liu Bi to the hydroelectric power station. If we don't win him over now, are we going to wait until he's firmly established himself?

“Do you think this kid is stupid? I bet he knows that Ding Yishan has ulterior motives for transferring him to the express station, so he deliberately chose our North Station as the entry point, but it also gave us an opportunity.”

"What about Garcia?" Dario's heart was filled with mixed emotions. He thought to himself that Harlin was really going all out to win the station chief position.

"He's only just pulled through the emergency treatment phase and is still in the medical center. We're going to try and win Cheng Ye over."

"Let's wait until he's able to come up to me and protest."

Harlin waved his hand, "Do as I say, and it won't be long before the Eastern faction is thrown into chaos, and I'll naturally find a way to help you secure your position as station chief."

"Yes, Station Master!"

Upon hearing that he could be promoted to the position of station chief, Dario's eyes lit up with ecstasy, and he no longer had time to question it.

An ordinary prosecutor might spend their entire career working hard, only to be taken down by an infected person one day.

But once you become the station chief, it's like jumping out of the bottom and having the capital to climb up.

Why did Harlem and Ding Yishan fight like this?

Everyone knows perfectly well that Happiness City's "Extraordinary Baptism" takes place every six years, and this year marks its fifth year. If we don't seize the opportunity now, we'll have to wait another six years!
In the previous round, Ding faced overwhelming odds, so Harlin chose to temporarily avoid the limelight and voluntarily relinquished his chance for the Extraordinary Baptism.

Unexpectedly, Ding Yishan failed to live up to expectations. He first missed the opportunity to awaken, and then made one bad move after another. In order to please the higher-ups of Happiness City, he not only lost Cheng Long, a key general, but also lost several core prosecutors.

Therefore, Harlem will definitely not sit idly by this time.

The seemingly intense factional struggle at present is merely the beginning.

The real storm won't fully arrive until winter, or even next spring.

At that time, every prosecutor, whether they are in their fifth, fourth, or first term, or even a probationary period, will be affected by this storm!

As night falls, the street lights come on.

A warm yellow halo bathed the quarantine area, dispelling the inky darkness that had spread from the wilderness.

A light drizzle began to fall again.

Every now and then, a bolt of lightning would tear through the clouds, illuminating the outline of the distant city ruins and eliciting howls from mutated beasts.

"What a horrible weather."

After seeing off the last group of people in line and watching everyone being escorted into the quarantine area by guards, Li Matai straightened up and rubbed his sore shoulders.

How many people were locked up in the quarantine area today?
Oops, I think I forgot to count.

But there must be at least two hundred people, and every single one of them is highly suspicious!
"Seven minutes until I can leave work."

Li Matai took out his defense device, glanced at the time, got up, and strolled towards the isolation fence between Zones A and B, intending to chat with Cheng Ye for a while to kill time.

“Prosecutor Cheng, you’re really having a lot of free time here!” Li Matai sighed, leaning against the wire mesh fence. “I’ve been working non-stop in Zone B all day, but in Zone A, you’ve only had one car pass by all day.”

"is it?"

Cheng Ye did push-ups on the ground and replied without looking up.

"I noticed you didn't ask them anything upon meeting them, and just sent them straight to the quarantine area. Aren't you busy?"

"what?"

Understanding the meaning behind Cheng Ye's words, Li Matai paused for a moment, then laughed nonchalantly, "You don't understand. I've been working at the checkpoint for over twenty years, witnessed riots in the isolation wards, withstood waves of infection, and endured countless factional struggles. Yet, I can still stand here today and chat with you so easily. What is it that I rely on?"

"It's because I was careful and cautious enough!"

"Is it?"

Cheng Ye stood up and couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

The two had managed to steal a few moments to chat today and had become quite familiar with each other. At least, apart from Liu Bi, this old prosecutor was the first "friend" he had made at the station.

However, compared to Liu Bi, a reckless man, Li Matai's caution was practically ingrained in his bones.

In the morning, they were still keeping the "free gift on the fourth day" policy in check, but in the afternoon, as the inspection level was raised, it became "free gift on the second day".

In his view, it was entirely based on intuition to select "lucky ones" and send them into the isolation ward.

"I know you want to ask, why would I, a coward, come to the fast checkpoint, right?"

Li Matai enjoyed Cheng Ye's thumbs-up, grinned with a sly smile, and said, "It's actually very simple. Don't underestimate that prosecutor's badge in your hand. You just need to focus on upgrading this thing. Once you reach a certain level, as long as you don't deliberately court death, it'll be hard to die even if you want to."

Having finally found a topic to talk about with Cheng Ye, Li Matai revealed a sense of superiority as someone who had come before him.

"Back when your father was still alive, he looked down on people like me. Every time we met, he would look down on me and wouldn't even bother to lift his eyelids. Who would have thought that his son would praise me now?"

"Uh"

Cheng Ye was too lazy to complain.

This guy has the thickest skin I've ever seen, even more resilient than the barbed wire in the quarantine area.

However, just as he was about to ask about the prosecutor's badge rank...

thump.

A clear bell rang out from inside the checkpoint, and looking up at the watchtower, the yellow flag that had been hanging all day was finally taken down.

"We've finally made it through."

Li Matai rubbed his arms and yawned, "Working 12 hours straight, the station should give us a model worker award to wear around our necks."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly glanced into the distance, then turned back and urged:
"What are you standing there for after get off work? Do you really want to be a model worker and get a medal?"

"Hurry, get out of here!"

"withdraw?"

Cheng Ye followed his gaze and saw a beam of light piercing through the darkness deep within the rain curtain.

The lights swayed as it approached, and judging from its speed and brightness, it was clearly not a large van, but a vehicle capable of high-speed travel.

Weird.

Unexpectedly, someone arrived right at the end of the workday, and coincidentally, it was right when the clock struck midnight.

"Let's go."

If it were 7:59, Cheng Ye would naturally wait, but he's not stupid if it's past 8 o'clock.

After all, the probability of infected individuals appearing at night is more than ten times higher than during the day.

However, just as he opened the isolation door and was about to leave, the raven hurriedly came to greet him.

"what happened?"

"Sir, the arriving vehicle has already sent a signal to the station; it's the Crusader's lord."

"What, the Crusades?"

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(End of this chapter)