Since he was already assigned to the North-South express post to "send himself to death," Cheng Ye simply skipped work and didn't even bother to call in for leave at the inspection station.
The North and South stations are managed by the Eastern Faction and the Western Faction respectively.
The Central Inspection Station, however, is managed alternately by both factions, and today it happens to be the Eastern Faction's turn under Station Chief He Fei.
"Station Chief He, something came up, and I might not be able to report to the inspection station for now..." Before Cheng Ye could finish, He Fei's hearty laughter came through the receiver, mixed with the rising and falling tones of comms devices in the office.
"Cheng Ye, Station Chief Ding just mentioned you to me. Don't worry, the express post is a heavy responsibility—it's not easy for a newcomer to hold up that flag. So, I'm approving your leave until the day after tomorrow. Prepare well and don't disappoint Station Chief Ding and everyone else!"
On the word "expectation," He Fei particularly emphasized his tone.
The implication was obvious: you can take leave to prepare, but don't think you can bluff your way out of the express post.
"Okay, thank you for understanding, Station Chief He. I will be there on time."
After exchanging a few pleasantries and hanging up, Cheng Ye was surprised to have gained an extra day off, instantly turning his previously tight preparation time into ample time.
He fetched some water, washed his face, the slightly cool water washing away the fatigue of a sleepless night.
Staring at the mirror for a long time, Cheng Ye suddenly pulled out a slight smile.
Suddenly arriving in this unfamiliar Wasteland, everything familiar around him instantly disappeared—friends, family, social connections—especially the change in appearance, causing him an ever-present sense of emptiness and unreality, as if drifting outside the world.
Inside, a voice always shouted: What's the point of struggling? Give up, maybe giving up could instantly return you to the familiar Earth, sparing you the need to be trapped in this man-eating Wasteland, struggling in vain amidst suffocation.
This thought constantly fermented with time.
For the past two months, Cheng Ye would often awaken from nightmares, stand by the window, go to the rooftop, and not once considered "resetting" to try again.
But now, he suddenly found those thoughts in his mind had vanished completely.
It seemed just last night, perhaps along with the growth in strength, they disappeared without a trace.
More mysteriously, when he looked at himself in the mirror, numerous new thoughts surged through his mind:
He suddenly realized, suddenly found, that maybe he...
Suddenly started to like this world?
Reluctant to leave?
Not just because, like Earth, there were people here who genuinely cared about and were kind to him.
But more because this world, fraught with crises and undercurrents...
Was just... so damn exciting!
The strategic contests between people, the factional conflict, calculations that could mean life or death in an instant.
Compared to the repetitive life on Earth, where a secure job meant you could see your entire life ahead in one glance,
This life was simply thrilling.
"Damn, could I be a masochist?"
Finding thrill in stimulation and disdain for monotony should be two completely different characteristics.
Cheng Ye thought for a while, feeling that he tended more towards the latter. It was just that the societal environment had suppressed that part of his personality, making it difficult to express even now.
If he were given another choice between the two worlds now,
Cheng Ye couldn't guarantee that he would firmly choose to return to Earth, to a life as mundane as an NPC.
"With my identity, there's no way I can integrate into the Western Faction."
Not just because of his Eastern features, but also due to the influence of Cheng Long and the identity of Liu Bi. As long as Cheng Ye couldn't cleanly sever those ties, the Western Faction would absolutely not accept him.
"So to survive next, there's actually only one stupid way... Get back at the table and work hard to demonstrate my value."
This, for Cheng Ye, wasn't actually difficult.
Because his current strength had transformed drastically, creating a significant difference from his impression to Ding Yishan.
"Without relying on anyone's help, get through this phase at the express inspection station on my own."
"Then find a suitable opportunity to show my combat power and overall qualities. I don't believe that even if my points are higher than Garcia's, Ding Yishan will still want to blow my cover with the Western Faction!"
Drying the water droplets off his face, Cheng Ye returned to the room and packed the remaining seven bags of nutrient paste into his backpack.
Previously, to quickly get the hang of the Inspector's work, he focused all his energy on familiarizing with inspection processes, relying on rote memorization to pass all the theoretical knowledge assessments, and even broke a small record at the inspection station.
However, such time allocation also resulted in his insufficient understanding of the Infected Body and the entire Wasteland World, or rather, for the sake of survival, he had no heart to understand these things.
Now on rotation to the rapid infection screening post, these are things that must be understood as quickly as possible.
"Two days should be enough for me to get familiar with the common infected body handling methods."
Cheng Ye donned his raincoat, picked up his backpack, and headed out.
After a few phone calls delayed him, it was already past eight, and the main city area was bustling again.
As he walked past, several low-lying areas were indeed flooded, and the residents living there could only use buckets to scoop out the water, looking quite embarrassed.
Perhaps due to the influx of new residents, large disaster relief canopies were set up at the entrances of a few large malls.
Any resident newly joined to Happiness City could collect free nutrient paste here with a resident ID, three packs per day per person, for three days.
In addition, the Public Works Bureau had set up several 'work-for-relief' recruitment canopies.
Cheng Ye squeezed into the crowd, his gaze scanning over the scribbled handwriting on the posters, finding they were mainly concentrated in three directions:
1. Repairing old underground drainage facilities and various pipelines.
Payment was per capita, with each person earning 16 credits a day, equivalent to 8 packs of nutrient paste, making it a lucrative job compared to above-ground drainage work.
However, it was also quite difficult, as the underground environment was very complex and filthy, with a high probability of injury.
2. Collaborating with official teams to continue expanding the horizontal area of the Buffer Zone.
Currently, the Buffer Zone was expanded based on the old industrial zone of Chuan City, with mostly open wilderness and abandoned factories nearby.
Creating more living space could naturally accommodate more refugees, ensuring individual living space.
Similar payment per capita, with each person earning 12 credits a day.
3. Leaving the Buffer Zone to scavenge in the city ruins or going to designated locations to obtain resources.
According to the usual practice, after the summer rains, a period of cool, breezy autumn days would follow with no rain.
Simple canvas tents couldn't withstand the cold winter, so building materials could only be prepared in advance before winter.
Starting work in autumn, more wind and rain-proof dwellings could be expanded before the cold winter arrived.
Due to the high risk, the reward for this task was uncertain, with the final reward determined by the type and weight of materials recovered.
"Winter..."
The first two jobs were the current development directions of the Buffer Zone, mainly focusing on repairing the old city and horizontal expansion.
This wasn't surprising, as those high-rises left from the old times had become perilous buildings after years of exposure to the elements, and repairing them was far more difficult than tearing them down to rebuild.
Coupled with elusive mutant beasts and highly threatening infected bodies, the city ruins had always been a life-forbidden zone, ventured only by some scavengers.
However, the latter job reflected the current hidden dangers of the Buffer Zone from the side.
Refugees were flooding in like a tide, and the Buffer Zone had long been overwhelmed, reaching its capacity limit.
"Once winter arrives, everything will be frozen for miles, and the dam's power will be insufficient for even the Inner City, let alone the Buffer Zone, which will definitely have a large power outage. Forget about heating... If there's no frantic expansion in the coming autumn, those living in tents, every single one of them, will turn into popsicles."
Squeezing out of the crowd, Cheng Ye wiped the water droplets from his face and quietly warned himself.
With the thickness of the walls in the tube buildings, as long as the outside temperature dropped below minus twenty degrees, it would definitely be no different from an ice cellar inside, and disease would set in within days.
But now was not the time for him to worry about surviving the winter. First, he needed to find a way to survive the rapid infection screening to be qualified to talk about coping with the subsequent natural disasters.
He got on the bus, the muddy wheels rolling over the accumulated water, the bus body shaking violently on the muddy road.
Clutching the handrail, Cheng Ye's gaze swept past the blurred rain outside and the rapidly retreating dilapidated buildings.
He usually headed south to the training ground from the main city for training, but this was his first time heading north.
Unlike the south, which was full of empty spaces and factories, the north used to be an industrial living zone, with tightly packed residentials along the roadside, walls covered in moss and cracks.
Some windows were missing glass and were haphazardly nailed with broken wooden boards, while others were wide open, revealing a few pairs of eyes filled with deathly stillness.
All the way forward, when the bus's announcement system hoarsely shouted "Library Station," Cheng Ye stepped off the bus, alone under the gaze of the passengers inside.
Wet, hot wind mixed with rain hit his face, splashing onto his rain boots.
Looking up ahead, a three-story building that once was a community service center had been converted into a so-called library, warm yellow light pouring through the glass windows.
On this overcast and rainy day, the whole world seemed wrapped in a murky cool color scheme.
The orange light in the rain curtain unexpectedly stirred a rare sense of familiar "Happiness" within Cheng Ye's heart.
...