The Iron Rice Bowl, the Civilization Collector!

"I wished for an iron rice bowl job, but I didn't say it had to be in a wasteland!"

How did he even transmigrate?

At a gathering celebrating his graduate studies graduation at age 26, egged on by friends, Cheng Ye half-jokingly made a wish: to quickly find a high-paying, stable "iron rice bowl" job.

Who knew that when he woke up, he'd directly transmigrated into this wasteland sanctuary city called "Xingfu City."

The previous body's father had been an inspector in Xingfu City, tragically killed during a field mission.

According to the rules, the original owner, who had grown up in the Inner City, had to leave the High Wall and come to the Quarantine Zone to inherit his father's profession. But in just one day, he'd been so terrified he'd swallowed poison and killed himself.

By the time Cheng Ye woke up, he'd already become the third-generation inheritor of this "inspector" identity.

Luckily, an inspector did count as an iron rice bowl.

With a three-month probationary protection period and no field missions, as long as he didn't court death, the casualty rate was still pretty low.

"Half a month left until my first field mission. I have to get used to this kind of scene. Fast."

Staring at Edmund, who was gradually stopping his convulsions, Cheng Ye let out a heavy sigh and finally forced the churning nausea back down into his stomach.

"Also... activate!"

Raising his hand to grip the star pendant on his chest, Cheng Ye's vision flashed, and an illusory interface only he could see popped up.

[Civilization Collector]

[Current Activation Progress: 97.4%]

The interface flickered with a faint blue light, rippling like waves, gently swaying and calming Cheng Ye's anxious mood a little.

This pendant was one of the legacies left behind by the previous body's father.

Unfortunately, the previous body had been too frightened to discover this secret. It was only when Cheng Ye was rummaging through the belongings and accidentally knocked it into a power strip that he found the pendant could absorb electrical energy, activating this mysterious interface.

"I hope this thing is useful once it's activated, or I'm screwed."

Cheng Ye silently prayed.

For a modern person who'd experienced a knowledge explosion, eliciting information while standing guard at the gate wasn't hard. But going into real combat and clashing head-on with infected bodies? He really didn't have the confidence.

After all, the infected in this world weren't like the zombies in American blockbusters, relying on blood plasma and roars to carry the scene. Apart from gathering into a zombie horde and having some combat power, a lone one could even be easily taken down by an adult.

In this wasteland world, even the most ordinary infection source—like the tentacle the sentinel had just blown to bits—could resurrect a dead human on the spot.

As long as no one pointed out the fact that they were "dead," these infected corpses could walk, talk, and live in human society like normal people, until the infection source inside them accumulated enough power to trigger a second large-scale infection.

And those stronger infection sources, like "Dandelion," would instantly release spores covering a two-kilometer radius upon death. If a human inhaled even a single spore, they'd become a new infected body.

Comparing their strength, if he had a choice, Cheng Ye would rather have one of those brainless cheat abilities like "Hundredfold Reward" or "Sign-in To Get Divine Skill." Failing that, something like "Two Realms Gate" or "Infinite Upgrade System" would do.

But reality was cruel. The supposed cheat ability, "Civilization Collector," sounded very plain just from those five words.

Speaking of plain.

Footsteps sounded in the distance. Four cleanup crew members, bare-chested, seemed to need that word even more to describe them.

No protective suits, no weapons—just a body bag, a shovel, and an isolation box for containing the infection source.

Laughing and chatting among themselves, the four first opened the iron cage, used the shovel to cleanly kill the still-convulsing Edmund, then directly grabbed the tentacle covered in suckers with their bare hands and stuffed it haphazardly into the isolation box.

After the containment was done, while the remaining three cleaned the isolation cage, the leader turned his head and smiled. "Inspector Cheng, the specific contribution point reward will be as usual. Once the infected stage is confirmed, it'll be sent to your personal account."

"Alright. Please treat the brothers to some drinks on me."

Cheng Ye nodded lightly, then fished two bottle-cap-sized coins from his pants pocket and tossed them over lightly.

The man caught them, his smile growing even brighter, but he still said, "How can I accept this?"

"Flynn, no need to be polite between us. Just get here faster next time when you clean up for me."

"Leave it to me. I'll be there the moment I'm called, won't delay the inspector's work."

Flynn patted his chest, not caring at all that Edmund's blood plasma was sticking to his skin.

This roughness and "plainness" made Cheng Ye's eyelids twitch, and it took a while for him to calm down.

For the rest of the half-day.

Perhaps affected by Edmund, the number of survivors choosing Conveyor Belt 8 dropped sharply.

With no one coming for half an hour, Cheng Ye simply packed up his table and clocked out early.

What did it mean to have an iron rice bowl?

As an inspector, even though he could never enter the Inner City again for the rest of his life, he'd also gained many privileges in return.

Compared to inheriting his father's profession, slacking off at work, leaving early, accepting bribes... ahem, those were just appetizers.

Because he'd dealt with an infection source, when passing through the checkpoint, Cheng Ye made a point to follow the rules and submit a health report.

It only took a few minutes, and it made the checkpoint station chief, "Ding Yishan," think highly of this young man.

"Not bad. This Cheng Ye has his father's style. Sharp, decisive, knows how to use his head to solve problems."

"Mhm, most importantly, he follows our rules!"

"Too bad his combat talent is too poor, and his courage is average. I wonder if he'll survive his first field mission." Deputy Station Chief Halin shook his head.

He was in charge of combat training, and out of all the new recruits he'd ever led, Cheng Ye's performance ranked among the worst.

Sometimes, Halin even felt that Cheng Ye was like a human from the Old Era—startled by the sound of a gun firing.

"Combat Talent is poor. Isn't Liu Bi giving him special training?"

Ding Yishan frowned, somewhat dissatisfied with Halin's attitude. "I've told you many times, we need to be more tolerant of newcomers. Here, you go tell Liu Bi that before going on field duty, Cheng Ye gets a daily quota of one hundred free training bullets. These quotas will be charged to the checkpoint's public expenses."

"Yes, sir."

Halin immediately agreed verbally, but after turning around, he curled his lips, a flicker of undisguised disdain flashing in his eyes.

The station was divided into East and West Factions. Ever since Cheng Ye's father, Cheng Long, died in the line of duty during a field mission, the East Faction had lost a General, and its influence was now waning.

Ding Yishan had lost his head, grasping at straws in desperation, actually thinking of propping up Cheng Ye, this greenhorn kid.

With talent like his?

Even if he approved ten thousand rounds, it would probably be a waste.

Thus, Halin didn't bother to stop him.

It was public expenses anyway, so let him use them. Did the High Level of Xingfu City really lack these bullets?

Passing through the Quarantine Zone, he entered the Buffer Zone.

Old residential building complexes lined both sides of the narrow roads, a Pedestrian Street crammed with Refugees, and shopping malls converted into temporary shelters.

Compared to the dazzling, neon-lit Inner City, this place still looked like the Old Era, but it gave Cheng Ye a familiar, warm feeling, as if he had returned to modern times.

After weaving through several alleys, Cheng Ye sniffed and returned to his home in this wasteland.

'Chaoyang Electronics Factory Staff Residential Area'

Don't let the name fool you—it was one of the genuine "luxury homes" in the Buffer Zone.

A spacious living area of twelve square meters per person was enough for Cheng Ye to exercise in his room without worrying about bumping his head when getting up at night, unlike the Ordinary Residents of the Buffer Zone, where families of four or five were crammed into spaces the size of a toilet.

At the entrance of the staff residential area, there were also three shops.

From left to right, they were 'Uncle Dong's Convenience Store', 'Big Meat Canteen', and 'Resource Trading Station'.

The first two were private stores, while the latter was one of the Buffer Zone's official shops, responsible for recycling and selling rare resources.

"Uncle Dong, give me two packs of Nutrient Paste and a pack of Malt Bar Candy."

Entering the convenience store, Cheng Ye called out skillfully.

"Also, my Defense Communicator is dead. I won't be going home for a bit, so let me charge it here for a while, okay?"

"Go ahead, charge it. It's the Flood Season lately, so electricity fees are temporarily suspended."

Xingfu City had a Hydroelectric Station for power. It was currently the summer Flood Season, with abundant electricity, so the High Level had simply handed out some benefits, temporarily waiving electricity fees.

Cheng Ye pulled out his Defense Communicator, which looked like an old brick phone, and plugged it into a Power Strip. Then, without a trace, he took off his pendant, stuffed it into an empty socket, and covered it with the Defense Communicator.

It had been over two months since he discovered the pendant. Based on the percentage and consumption rate, it would take two thousand kilowatt-hours of electricity to activate it.

Only Xingfu City had the capability for this. In any other Sanctuary City, it would probably take a year or half a year to gather that amount.

To avoid being discovered for using so much electricity, Cheng Ye was very careful. Aside from the initial period when he charged it entirely at home, he would later find a convenience store, use the excuse of charging his Defense Communicator, and connect the pendant to "steal" electricity.

The convenience store's wiring was mostly 2.5 square millimeters, so the pendant could charge about two kilowatt-hours per hour—pretty efficient.

Now, there was only a gap of fifty kilowatt-hours left before activation. If he charged it at home tonight, he should be able to meet the activation conditions by tomorrow morning.

"Here you go, two packs of Nutrient Paste, one pack of Malt Bar Candy. Xiao Cheng, just give me three Happiness Coins."

Uncle Dong was an old Warrior in Xingfu City, about fifty-five years old. He had retired because his right arm was injured and he could no longer hold a gun.

"How can that be? Outside, the lowest price is five coins. Even if you were close with my dad, you still need to make a profit."

Cheng Ye took the Nutrient Paste, which looked like Blood Plasma, twisted open the cap, and drank while pulling out money to pay.

Happiness Coins were the circulating currency in Xingfu City, used for daily necessities like eating and renting. Unlike the scarce Contribution Points, his Previous Body's father had left nearly five thousand of them when he died, more than enough for him to spend lavishly on his own.

Besides, an Inspector's monthly salary was five hundred coins. Just for himself, he couldn't spend it all!