Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 8 Fake happiness, true adults!
talent?

As he boarded the bus home, Cheng Ye rubbed his aching ribs, abdomen, arms, and thighs.
Well, there really isn't a single spot that doesn't hurt.

"This isn't talent; it's all thanks to my sweat and hard work!"

A slight smile appeared on Cheng Ye's lips.

Although it was tough, I found joy in it.

Compared to standing still day after day, if a little pain can increase strength in this way, then what's wrong with a little more pain!

However, he secretly made up his mind that he must find a skill that could quickly restore his physical condition as soon as possible.

Otherwise, even if his combat power increases, he'll only be a "real man" for five seconds, and he'll need to rest for half a day to recover after each battle.

"Furthermore, getting involved in the direct struggle between the Eastern and Western factions so early would be too disadvantageous for me."

Thinking of this, Cheng Ye felt a surge of resentment.

Garcia is a complete idiot. He's brainless and being used as a pawn, yet he insists on dragging Garcia into the spotlight.

Now look what's happened. He's been beaten to the point of needing emergency medical attention by Liu Bi. Who at the entire checkpoint will stand up for him? Who dares to stand up for him?
Standing behind Liu Bi was the entire Eastern Faction, including Station Chief Ding Yishan!

Deputy Station Chief Harlin? Does he dare send someone to infiltrate Liu Bi's clinic as well?

Or send someone to beat you up like Garcia?
Impossible. That would only give Ding Yishan more leverage to launch an attack and regain more initiative.

After all, while the Western faction is powerful now, it is not strong enough to ride on the neck of the Eastern faction.

As long as Ding Yishan remains the station chief, all the Western faction can do is slowly erode his power and build momentum for Harlin; they will never openly clash with him.

Only when their roles are reversed, with Harlin becoming the station chief and Ding Yishan becoming the deputy station chief, will the situation change significantly.

"Forget it, why think about these things?"

“Brother B is right. No amount of trickery is as important as hard power. If I had the ability to beat Garcia up, this would never have happened.”

For him now, the more important thing is the field mission in half a month. As long as he can survive, he will have plenty of time to figure out how to break the deadlock and profit from the struggle between the two factions.

Cheng Ye took two deep breaths, putting these trivial matters of factional struggles out of his mind, and looked out the car window.

As expected, the rain intensified at night, and there was already noticeable puddles on the roadside.

Although the buffer zone of Happy City is larger than that of other sheltered cities, it has actually exceeded its maximum capacity limit due to the large number of survivors who have recently joined.

Looking along the eaves of the buildings that provide shelter from the wind and rain, one sees canvas tents everywhere, crammed with countless heads of people, their expressions numb, their eyes dull, showing no hope for the future, let alone any semblance of "happiness."

"Happiness. Fake."

Cheng Ye suddenly remembered that when Edmund collapsed yesterday, he was still muttering to himself.

Happiness may exist in this sanctuary, but it will certainly not belong to these lower-class residents.

Only by desperately squeezing through the high walls and into the inner city could one feel a trace of peace in this chaotic world.

hum.

Shortly after, the bus began to slow down and came to a stop five stops away from the electronics factory workers' residential area stop.

The middle-aged driver turned around and shouted to the passengers:
"I'm sorry, the flood control works in the main urban area have blocked the bus routes. You will need to get off at this stop and walk from there."

The car door opened, and Cheng Ye got out of the car as well.

Less than 100 meters ahead from the bus stop, sandbags blocked the road, leaving only a small opening for entry and exit.

Four armed guards stood on either side of the gap, along with two staff members working in the buffer zone.

"Sir, due to flood control measures, the flow of people needs to be strictly controlled. After 8 p.m., you must show proof of residence in the main urban area to enter the main urban area."

So strict?

Cheng Ye was taken aback, but quickly figured out the reason.

The main urban area is formed by the intersection of three old-style central pedestrian streets. Residential buildings, communities, shopping malls, and shops are all crammed together. The drainage system is already old and dilapidated. If refugees are allowed to crowd in all at once, and the flood situation becomes severe, the accumulated water will be impossible to clear.

By controlling the flow of people in advance, we can quickly restore order even if the area is flooded.

When it was Cheng Ye's turn, he didn't take out his room key to wait for verification. Instead, he took out his identification from the checkpoint directly from his pocket.

A circular badge with a giant wall image of Happiness City printed on the front and a large "检" (inspection) character on the back, containing a sensor chip to verify its authenticity.

"Ah, sir at the checkpoint!"

The staff member took it, stuck it on the sensor of the defense communication device, and immediately became extremely respectful upon seeing the prompt.

"The rain may get heavier in the next few days. If you need anything, you can call the Public Works Department at any time using the Defense Talk app. We will provide you with 24-hour emergency service."

"Thank you for your hard work."

Cheng Ye nodded slightly, took the badge, and walked forward.

His dark raincoat covered most of his face, but the fair skin peeking out from his forehead still drew envious glances from the refugees huddled in roadside tents.

The inner city, with its high walls, is divided into different levels, and the same applies to the buffer zones.

Although it is only a little over ten kilometers long, it is divided into suburban areas, near suburbs, urban areas, and the main urban area.

Cheng Ye is so young and lives in the main urban area; he can definitely be considered a winner in life.

We passed through the gap and continued forward.

The buildings in the main urban area are dilapidated and the pipelines are aging, but there is not much standing water on the roadside.

Sandbags were piled up in front of the shops along the street, the highest ones almost waist-high, with shredded vines stuffed into the gaps.

Every four or five hundred meters, there is a foreman from the Public Works Department, with a few temporary workers squatting by the drainage ditch, either using a shovel to dig out the clumps of silt or directly using their hands to remove the garbage stuck in the drain.

A metal megaphone hung around the foreman's neck, its hoarse voice repeating the same message: "Unblocking the pipes, overcoming difficulties together, and welcoming a happy and prosperous life."

All these divisions made Cheng Ye feel as if the world had truly gone mad.

The inner city technology seen in the memories of the predecessor, even the slightest hint of it, could bring about a tremendous qualitative change in the buffer zone.

However, the higher authorities chose to control the export of technology, allowing the buffer zone to linger in its outdated state, keeping the ordinary residents living there on the precarious path of barely having enough to eat, barely surviving, and barely getting warm enough to stay warm enough to avoid freezing to death.

"Without stark contrasts, there would be no desire to fight tooth and nail to get into the inner city."

Cheng Ye also saw numbness in the foreman's eyes.

Clearly, for some people who are just drifting through life, the more they understand the inside story, the more confused and hopeless they feel about the future.

As I hurried through several outlying blocks toward the city center, I noticed an increase in foremen and construction teams.

Suddenly, Cheng Ye stopped in his tracks.

At the end of the street corner, under a building that bore the sign 'Tianyuan Mall,' he saw a somewhat familiar figure mingling among the temporary workers, diligently carrying sandbags to plug up any points in the mall that might be flooded. A short distance away, a woman was sheltering her child under a makeshift tent from the rain.

"He's a real man, though."

The large sandbags used to block the water weigh at least seventy kilograms.

The ordinary workers are thin and weak, and it takes two people to lift a sandbag together.

Chu Yunfeng carried a bag on each of his two shoulders, looking relaxed as if he still had energy to spare.

"Unfortunately, in the buffer zone, one person cannot support the whole family by simply doing manual labor."

Cheng Ye stood in the shadows at the street corner, watching the construction team work for more than ten minutes.

They waited until Chu Yunfeng went to the assembly point behind the mall to move new sandbags before approaching the foreman.

"That big guy, the strong one, what's his background?"

The middle-aged foreman was being questioned, and when he turned around and saw that it was a young man, he frowned and was about to explode.

But the next second, when he saw a badge suddenly appearing in Cheng Ye's hand, his expression changed drastically.

"Your Excellency, that man was a refugee who came to the city this afternoon. I saw that he was strong and was asking around for food, so I brought him here to work."

"He does the work of four people, how many jobs does he get paid?"

"Hmm," the foreman hesitated for a moment, secretly assessing the relationship between Chu Yunfeng and Cheng Ye.

One was a refugee who had just arrived in the city, and the other was an adult at the checkpoint.
If the two had any relationship, Chu Yunfeng wouldn't have ended up doing manual labor here.

Having figured this out, the foreman honestly replied, "Sir, you know the rules for laborers in the city: no matter how many people's work you do, you can only get paid per person."

"He's strong, so he's more likely to be chosen for work than others. It's fair."

Give him four jobs.

Cheng Ye waved his hand, adopting an unquestionable tone, "If there are any problems, have someone from the Public Works Department contact me."

"It's perfectly clear."

The foreman broke out in a cold sweat on the back of his neck and quickly nodded in agreement.

But even after watching Cheng Ye leave, he didn't dare to mention verifying the badge or recording his identity information.

How could he dare?

As the top of the power pyramid in the buffer zone, the checkpoint firmly controls the core lifelines such as personnel flow, material allocation, engineering scheduling, and field dispatch. Not to mention a grassroots foreman like him, even the head of the Public Works Department would have to bow down to the inspector. For him to go and verify his identity was simply asking for trouble.

As for how to explain giving someone three extra jobs, it's simple: just report it.

After all, in the buffer zone, lying and embezzling won't get you killed, but if you take the blame for the prosecutor, they'll investigate to the end and kill a lot of people before they stop.

"Qinghui, son, are you starving?"

Chu Yunfeng opened his coat, revealing five bags of nutritional syrup and two pieces of candy inside. A faint smile finally appeared on his face, which had remained stern since entering the city.
"The traveling merchant we encountered earlier wasn't lying. In Happiness City, as long as you're willing to work, you can really earn a living."

"Dad, weren't there only two bags? Why did the boss give you so many?"

The adults could still endure it, but the children were already starving. They were pleasantly surprised and picked up the candy, crunching away with relish.

Those watching from the families of the other workers under the tent couldn't help but lick their dry, cracked lips.

“I don’t know either. When the boss contacted me, he only said that he would pay me based on the number of people, but just now he paid me for four jobs based on the actual number of people. He said that my father is strong and doesn’t slack off, which made him look good. He’s very satisfied?”

Chu Yunfeng was somewhat puzzled.

Normally, he would have been suspicious and wondering if there was some kind of conspiracy behind this.

But the events of the entire day had left him in a state of utter confusion.

In this wasteland-famous Happy City, the people are incredibly polarized. One inspector is so insistent on collecting entry fees that he's driven him to the brink of murder, while another acts like a philanthropist from a bygone era, treating them exceptionally well, which still leaves him somewhat incredulous.

Moreover, the second prosecutor was suppressing laughter the entire time, which made Chu Yunfeng even more puzzled, unable to understand what had happened.

Once you get to the city, finding a job is another matter.

Some foremen disliked him and preferred to have a group of skinny refugees dawdle and waste time.

Some foremen, like the boss just now, treated him very well. They made him work without saying much and even paid him four wages in the end.

The stark change in attitude made Chu Yunfeng's long-standing vigilance against the rampant wasteland somewhat ineffective.

"Yunfeng."

Yu Qinghui beckoned her over and whispered, "I just saw a young man standing next to the boss. The boss seemed to respect that man a lot. I wonder if there's any reason for it?"

Yu Qinghui emphasized the pronunciation of the character "他".

The unspoken understanding between the two made Chu Yunfeng immediately realize which "he" was being referred to.

"Are you sure? He was wearing a mask this afternoon."

"It's pretty close. I can't see the face, but the body shape, habits, and posture are very obvious. It's impossible for anyone else to match so many personal characteristics. The only thing is that something is strange."

"What's strange?" Chu Yunfeng quickly asked.

"I feel like he walks a lot like you, the way he exerts force. I didn't see him at first, but it's just so similar, so..."

As Yu Qinghui spoke, he began to stutter a little. He couldn't very well say that it was like seeing a younger, thinner version of Chu Yunfeng from when the two of them first met more than ten years ago; that would be too far-fetched.

"He looks like me?"

Chu Yunfeng was shocked. "I didn't notice him sitting there this afternoon, but he suddenly helped me. Could it be that there's something between us?"

"I don't know if I'm seeing things, it's nighttime and it's raining."

Yu Qinghui's explanation seemed more like an attempt to cover up the truth.

The two had been venturing into the wasteland for many years and never stopped training. Martial arts practitioners have sharp ears and eyes, so how could they be mistaken?

Chu Yunfeng remained silent for a while, sometimes shaking his head and sometimes nodding, before finally picking up a bag of still-warm nutrient solution and handing it to Yu Qinghui.

"Drink up. No matter what, or what his purpose was, he helped us twice. We have to repay that favor."

"In the future, I will find some opportunities to repay him tenfold."

After saying that, he paused slightly, "Right now, our most important task is to find a place to stay as soon as possible before the storm hits, and to have a stable job to make a living. Don't think about anything else."

Here's a 4-word thank you to peidajia for the generous donation! You're a long-time reader of my previous book, and I'm truly grateful for your support—I'm bowing down in gratitude! PS: Please add this to your favorites, follow my reading, and vote! Your support means a lot to me!

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(End of this chapter)