Life in One's Time, the Vortex of Struggle!

After leaving the library, Cheng Ye opened his panel and glanced at his Charge Value.

44%

Based on a maximum of 200 units, the remaining 6% amounted to 12 units.

"I'm only missing this last little bit. I'll charge it up at home tonight, and tomorrow I'll have enough for a search."

The power supply available to Buffer Zone residents was still far too restricted.

It wasn't that Cheng Ye hadn't considered sneaking into a factory or looking for the charging ports on a bus or transport truck. They were bound to have high-powered outlets.

But after thinking it over, he still felt it was too risky.

With his current identity and strength, he couldn't afford the consequences if anyone discovered him.

If someone reported his abnormality to the Inner City, and he was mistaken for some kind of special Infected, disaster would strike in an instant.

"Stay calm. Don't do anything reckless!"

Cheng Ye silently repeated the words to himself, quickly putting the thoughts he shouldn't have had out of his mind.

He looked up at the sky.

A fine rain blurred the view, and the dark clouds hung low overhead just as they had before. Another downpour was probably on its way.

Sure enough, the Main Urban Area went under lockdown at once in response, and the bus he took back was empty again.

By the time Cheng Ye had gone through the identity checks and returned to the Electronics Factory Staff Residential Area, it was nearly half past nine at night.

Uncle Dong's shop had closed early. Lights were still on in the kitchen of the Big Meat Canteen, where they were probably preparing ingredients for the next day.

"I really need to get used to living alone soon."

Cheng Ye shook his head.

The past two months had flown by. He'd been busy practicing martial arts and passing the inspector's examination, so he hadn't found the days hard to bear.

But with Liu Bi gone, he didn't even have anyone left to talk to.

It was as if his thoughts had been sensed. Cheng Ye had just reached the fifth floor and hadn't even opened the door when the Defense Communicator clipped to his waist rang.

He took it out and looked. Cheng Ye sighed. As expected, it was Sister Luo.

His "father," whom he'd never met, had certainly been lucky to make such a loyal friend in the Wasteland.

Cheng Ye wouldn't have dared promise that he'd look after a friend's child so devotedly after that friend's death.

"Hey, Sister Luo. I just got home."

Cheng Ye shut the security door and answered.

"You're starting at the Fast Track tomorrow. Why are you still getting home so late? You should be resting."

"I went to the library to read for a while. Mostly, I've never fought Infected face-to-face, so I wanted to prepare as much as I could in advance. That way, I'll be able to handle things calmly when the time comes."

There was a two-second silence on the other end.

"Cheng Ye, don't keep yourself so tense. Try to relax." Luo Xiaoxue spoke as slowly as she could, reassuring him. "I was in much the same state as you when I first went to the front line. I thought of the Infected as monsters, and was terrified I'd lose my life if I let my guard down for even a second. But after I'd faced them in real fights a few times, I realized most of my fears had been in my head."

"The Infected are still mortal flesh and blood, when all's said and done. Those so-called special abilities only become truly lethal when they gather into a Large-scale Tide. Just follow what I told you yesterday, and you'll be able to hold out until your Brother B comes back."

It had to be said that Liu Bi and Luo Xiaoxue were both terrible at political maneuvering.

They both knew that the personnel reshuffle had already pulled Cheng Ye into the vortex of struggle between the East and West Factions. Yet they still clung to a faint hope that he could keep his head down until the trouble passed.

Had I overthought it?

A trace of confusion flashed across Cheng Ye's eyes, but disappeared the next second. His gaze turned firm again.

He only had one life. He couldn't afford a Second Trial and Error.

Until he had the strength to ignore any and all conspiracies and tricks, there was nothing wrong with preparing for the worst.

"I know what I'm doing, Sister Luo. Don't worry. Going to the library to read counts as relaxing, doesn't it? Besides, Brother B pushed me too hard when we trained a few days ago. I'm still sore all over."

"You really are. You've changed so much, you're practically a different person."

Luo Xiaoxue laughed on the other end.

"Then get some good rest. Your Brother B made all the arrangements before he left. No one will give you a hard time when you go to South Station tomorrow. It's all East Faction people there, and every one of them owes your father a favor."

"South Station?"

Cheng Ye's smile vanished. "Sister Luo, barring any surprises, I plan to go to North Station first."

"What?"

A kettle clattered to the floor on the other end, followed by Luo Xiaoxue's roar. "Have you lost your mind? North Station is full of West Faction people. Are you a Newcomer who wants to die even faster?"

"Garcia's still lying in the infirmary. The West Faction people hate Liu Bi. You were trained by Liu Bi himself. Won't they target you the moment you get there?"

Luo Xiaoxue sounded unusually agitated.

If she hadn't met Cheng Ye and didn't know his temperament or the way he thought, she might have assumed the kid had made a rash decision and that a little persuasion would change his mind.

But she knew Cheng Ye had his own way of thinking and made his own decisions. That was precisely why she couldn't understand why he'd risk going to North Station!

She couldn't bear to imagine what Liu Bi would do if he came back to hear that Cheng Ye had stubbornly headed for North Station from the start and met with an accident.

Even seasoned East Faction inspectors dreaded being rotated to North Station for a long time.

And a Newcomer who'd never worked at a Quick Checkpoint, who was still only a Trainee Inspector, was going to the enemy's stronghold? Wasn't that just asking to die?

"Besides, the Station Chief might not give you a hard time, but it's the underlings who make life difficult. Those guards and staff on duty will find ways to give you trouble at every turn!"

"Listen to me. If anything happens to you at North Station, your Brother B will smash the whole Checkpoint!"

Luo Xiaoxue grew more and more agitated, her voice trembling. She sounded ready to burst out of the Defense Communicator if Cheng Ye didn't agree at once.

"Sister Luo, calm down. Don't scare Yiyi. Just listen to me—"

Cheng Ye hadn't planned on explaining so much, but when he thought of how kind Liu Bi's family had been to him, he realized that if he didn't make his choice clear, Luo Xiaoxue might worry herself awake every night.

"I know everything you said. Don't worry. Didn't you say yesterday that I'm as clever as people from the Old Era?"

"Then why are you being so stubborn now?"

"I'm not being stubborn. It's human nature. Sister Luo, let me ask you something. What kind of relationship do you think there is between the inspectors and the staff and guards below them?"

Luo Xiaoxue was silent for a few seconds before replying gravely, "There are only two ways to become an inspector. You either inherit the position from your parents, or the Station Chief appoints you when a vacancy opens. People who have no hope of climbing the ranks might be friendly to you. But the ones eligible to take over will hate you because you have no children or heirs. They'll want to tear you apart."

"Wrong!"

Crack!

Thunder exploded outside the window.

The rain began to intensify. Huge drops pelted the glass with a sound like war drums.

"Wrong?"

"Sister Luo, there's far more going on at the Checkpoint than you realize."

Cheng Ye got up and opened the window, letting the roar of the rain drown out his voice. "As long as the people at the top don't abolish the Hereditary System, anyone at the Checkpoint who dares show interest in a position will offend every inspector from both the East and West Factions and make an enemy of them all."

"Put yourself in their shoes. If Brother B wanted to pass his inspector's position to Yiyi one day, but someone at the station had their eye on it, would you just stand by?"

"The two factions may fight tooth and nail in some matters, but in others, the inspectors all share the same interests. Even if they hate me to the point of wanting me dead the very next second, they still wouldn't dare cross the line before I die."

Luo Xiaoxue fell silent for a long time. All they could hear through either end of the call was the patter of rain.

She had never looked at it from that angle before.

But now that Cheng Ye had brought it up, and she thought it through, it did seem to make sense.

The limits of her time had made it difficult for Luo Xiaoxue to distinguish the relationship between inspectors and the guards below them.

It was easy to understand if you imagined the Old Era. The Station Chief of a Checkpoint was the emperor, and the inspectors under him were feudal lords.

If a feudal lord died without an heir, the emperor could award his territory to a meritorious minister or general.

But if the feudal lord was still alive and someone was eager to kill him to seize his territory, would the emperor tolerate it?

Would the other feudal lords tolerate it?

Even if everyone wanted that feudal lord dead, they still wouldn't tolerate a minister below him entertaining such a thought.

Why?

Because who could guarantee their own heirs would always be able to hold on to an inspector's position?

If no one spoke up for me today, then tomorrow I'll be the one shackled—and I'll have only myself to blame.

That was why Cheng Ye wasn't worried at all about being given a hard time by the people below him at North Station.

And even if someone was foolish enough to make the same mistake as Garcia, Cheng Ye had plenty of ways to deal with him.

"But wouldn't South Station be the same?"

Luo Xiaoxue had held back for a while, but in the end, she still sounded unconvinced.

Even if the people below didn't give him trouble, would the West Faction inspectors and the Station Chief let him off?

"That brings us to another question, Sister Luo. Can you trust me?"

Cheng Ye sighed.

There were some things he couldn't say outright. For example, Ding Yishan was the one most eager to see him dead right now, while Halin might not actually want him to die at North Station.

After all, if Cheng Ye, with his "3" points, died, the East Faction could immediately appoint someone powerful to replace him, someone with at least "6" or "7" points, filling the gap in their Combat Power.

Meanwhile, the West Faction had just lost a "General." With one side weakened and the other strengthened, the two factions would return to a delicate balance.

So going straight to North Station was a relatively safe choice, even if he wasn't familiar with the Fast Track.

If he followed Liu Bi and Luo Xiaoxue's advice and went to South Station, he wouldn't know the first thing about how things worked there. It would be perfectly normal for a Trainee Inspector to meet with an accident.

"I can trust you, but I... and your Brother B don't want to see anything happen to you."

"Brother Cheng Ye, me too!" Liu Yi's voice rang through the communicator. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she wasn't about to be left out.

"Haha, why aren't you asleep yet, Yiyi?"

"There's thunder! I'm scared! Daddy's not home, so I'm worried about him!"

"Don't worry. Next time your dad goes out, how about I go with him and protect him?"

"No way! Daddy says you're weak. He says I should protect you when I grow up."

Ouch.

That stung.

"Sister Luo, take Yiyi to bed already. I promise, nothing will go wrong."

After Yiyi's teasing, the atmosphere wasn't as serious as before.

"Besides, even if they do give me a hard time, I can just head straight to South Station tomorrow. They won't dare say anything."

"Then promise me?"

She seemed to realize she couldn't talk him out of it. Luo Xiaoxue sighed and finally relented.

It wasn't that she couldn't think of a way to argue with Cheng Ye. It was that the way he'd behaved last night, and the maturity he was showing now, brought back a hazy memory of how she'd felt the first time she met Cheng Long many years ago.

"I promise. I'll stay alive until Brother B comes back!"