Rules Within and Beyond!

The rain roared.

Water poured from the workstation's eaves like a curtain, crashing into the drainage ditch and sending waves rippling through the water.

The little Identity Badge tumbled up and down in the waves, soon swept along and wedged in a lump of sticky yellow mud.

Jamie looked as if he'd seen a ghost, thinking he must have misheard.

What was this arrogant Dongren saying?

He wanted Jamie to pick it up for him?

"Sorry, are you saying you want me to retrieve the badge you just threw away from the sewer?"

The figure beneath the oversized black raincoat nodded. His serious expression immediately drew another round of laughter from those around them.

At the sound of their laughter, Jamie's face turned red and then pale. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Then you'd better—"

Before he could finish,

a cold gun barrel suddenly pressed against him. The chill of the metal shot from his forehead down his spine, freezing the rest of his words in his throat.

The laughter stopped abruptly, and everyone looked on in disbelief.

A gun!

He was crazy—Cheng Ye was crazy!

He actually dared to draw a gun at the Checkpoint and point it at one of their own?

"Go. Pick it up for me."

Cheng Ye repeated himself. The smile vanished from his face, and he looked as cold as if he'd become someone else.

There had been bullying in the orphanage, too.

At mealtimes, the older kids usually ate first. The younger ones only got whatever was left.

But he had always been among the first to eat, ever since he was five.

And it had never been because the older kids were kind.

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"I am."

Cheng Ye forced a faint smile. The gun lowered slowly, pressing from Jamie's forehead down to his chin.

Then the cold muzzle prodded upward, making Jamie's jaw ache.

"Chapter One, Article Three of the Checkpoint regulations: while on duty, an inspector's orders take precedence over everything."

"Anyone who disobeys may be treated as an Infected."

"Mr. Jamie."

The safety clicked off softly. "Please answer me directly. Are you an Infected hiding inside the North Checkpoint?"

Arrogant.

What unbelievable arrogance!

Jamie's throat bobbed twice, but in the end, he said nothing.

Because he had a feeling that if he gave the wrong answer, the smiling lunatic before him wasn't joking. He really would pull the damn trigger!

But the gazes around him felt like countless steel needles pinning his back, and he couldn't bring himself to bend.

He could already imagine what would happen if he picked up the badge: he'd become everyone's laughingstock.

A disgrace to the Xiren, and a stain on the reputation of the entire West Station!

But—

He didn't want to die.

Even if he had to die at the hands of an Infected, he didn't want to be shot by an inspector just because he couldn't bend his back.

"Garcia, the inspector, is still missing, and his life or death is unknown."

"You're just a nobody with no rank or position. Are you really willing to throw your life away over pride just because someone goaded you?"

The Devil's whisper continued in Jamie's ear.

Jamie jerked his head up, terror filling his eyes.

He looked at the people around him. They really were egging him on with their eyes, urging him to use his "life" to prove that Cheng Ye wouldn't dare shoot.

But he—

"I'll pick it up. I'll get it!"

Jamie's legs gave way, and he scrambled toward the drainage ditch.

Under Cheng Ye's faintly amused gaze and the stunned looks of the young people around him, he dug the badge out of the mud, rinsed it in a puddle, and scrubbed it clean. Then he repeatedly wiped it with the cleanest piece of cloth from his collar.

"Inspect—Inspector Cheng."

"Kneel and hand it to me!"

What?

Jamie's eyes widened, bloodshot and furious, his face full of disbelief.

Kneel? You've got to be kidding.

He was the inspector's only son. He could bow his head temporarily to stay alive.

But he would never allow his dignity to be taken from him—not even if it meant he died, or was beaten.

Boom!

A deafening blast erupted beside his ear. Hot air grazed his face, leaving a searing mark.

Jamie froze. Instinctively, a warm liquid trickled down his trouser leg.

He'd fired?

He'd really fired!

No—how could he dare?

Wouldn't he be afraid of the Checkpoint's rules and punishment for shooting a colleague?

The thick smell of Gunsmoke rushed into Jamie's nostrils. His ears still rang, and the stench nearly made him choke, yet his mind had never been clearer.

As adrenaline flooded his body, sensation quickly returned to his stiff limbs.

But now, even though he could feel his strength returning to his legs, he no longer had the courage to stand straight.

Thump.

Jamie dropped to one knee. His teeth chattered uncontrollably as his hand instinctively extended what he was holding.

Some things seemed lost forever: his raised head, the pride in his bones, the dignity of an inspector's son.

But perhaps he had saved something else: the heart still pounding in his chest, the ragged breath in his throat, and the fresh air he kept drawing in.

Under everyone's gaze, he had surrendered his dignity, but saved his life.

Was it worth it?

"Congratulations. You made the right choice."

The Devil reached out and took the badge, taking with it a piece of what Jamie had lost.

The crowd fell utterly silent.

Those who had shouted, mocked, and egged him on were all stunned into silence by that gunshot.

Under the Checkpoint's rules, they were inspectors' children, above all ordinary people.

But when someone openly disregarded the rules—and even turned them against them—they finally realized they weren't even as untouchable as ordinary guards.

At least guards had official posts, and if they died, the Checkpoint could pursue the matter with justification.

But nobodies like them? If they died, they were simply dead. They might even be branded Infected and ground to dust.

Cheng Ye blew on the Identity Badge as if to remove nonexistent droplets, pressed his lips together, and turned as though to leave.

The crowd quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

But the next second, that breath seemed to be clutched in their throats by an invisible hand.

That madman—he actually hadn't left?

What was he planning to do?

The dark muzzle lifted and swept slowly from left to right across the crowd. Each time it stopped in front of someone, the barrel swayed slightly, as if silently calling roll.

Who was he looking for?

Someone's knees gave way, and he instinctively tried to retreat into the workstation.

Bang.

A shot rang out. The bullet punched a black hole in the epoxy floor, landing precisely in front of the man's advancing toe. It had come within a hair's breadth of shooting through his foot.

The man was scared out of his wits and fell straight onto the ground. "You're crazy! What are you doing?"

"Everyone, don't be nervous."

Cheng Ye toyed with the Identity Badge, a hint of amusement glinting in his eyes. "I suspect an Infected has slipped in among us. Someone kept urging Mr. Jamie to disobey an inspector's orders just now, but I can't tell exactly who it was. What do you think?"

?

Confusion spread across their faces. Then, for some reason, everyone turned as one toward a man in the crowd.

Dozens of gazes focused on him. He felt as if he'd been struck by lightning and nearly collapsed onto his backside.

"N-no, it wasn't me!"

"Was it him?" Cheng Ye turned to Jamie, still kneeling on the ground, and asked gently. "I know you're a good kid. Tell me, was he the one egging you on?"

The two were about the same age, and Jamie was even a year older than Cheng Ye.

But Jamie felt an indescribable strangeness.

At that moment, he wasn't facing a peer or an inspector, but a godfather giving him his baptism.

The godfather asked kindly, "Was it him?"

And he was supposed to reply devoutly, "Yes, it was him. Raul Davidson!"

Davidson?

Wasn't that the surname of the Deputy Station Chief on duty at North Station?

"Good!"

Cheng Ye patted Jamie's shoulder, then turned with a smile. "Mr. Davidson, could you come over here?"

His tone was perfectly friendly, yet Raul sensed the threat of death.

He looked around, only to see everyone else wearing the schadenfreude of people who hadn't been singled out.

Damn them.

They had all been egging Jamie on. Why me? Why me?

"Do I need to repeat myself?"

Cheng Ye raised his Buffalo Combat Pistol in puzzlement, as if about to pull the trigger.

Faced with the overwhelming threat of death, Raul's body stiffened. But unlike Jamie, he ultimately refused to live on his knees in humiliation.

He was the son of Evan Davidson, the Deputy Station Chief on duty.

He would die standing, never live kneeling!

Even if he knelt to Cheng Ye now and survived, his strict father would strip him of his right to inherit the inspector's position once he got home, and he'd end up dying an obscure death in some corner of the Buffer Zone.

Time seemed to freeze.

After a few seconds, Raul finally forced his legs to straighten and walked over, his face flushed and the veins in his forehead bulging slightly.

During those few short steps, he rehearsed what he would say next. Even if he died, he'd die spectacularly.

He would make sure this arrogant bastard knew that not everyone at North Station was like Jamie.

"Mr. Davidson, I need to report to the Station Chief. Could you show me the way?"

"Cheng Ye, I—"

They spoke at the same time, and the air suddenly filled with an odd tension.

Raul jerked his head up, his eyes wide with shock, as if he'd seen a ghost.

Jamie, still kneeling on the ground, was even more stunned. His face turned deathly pale as he instantly understood Cheng Ye's intentions.

Report to the Station Chief?

Show him the way?

Those two short phrases hit him like a hammer, leaving him momentarily unable to breathe.

"Hmm? What did you just call me?"

Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow and calmly slid the gun back into its holster, a puzzled look on his face. "Sorry, I didn't hear you. Could you repeat that?"

All the overwhelming menace and murderous fury vanished. Beneath the oversized raincoat, his face had returned to its earlier calm.

Raul turned and glanced at the stunned crowd behind him. No one had expected Cheng Ye to act so contrary to convention.

He was confused for a moment, unable to make sense of it.

But in the next instant, relief washed over him, and he realized he was soaked from head to toe.

He felt sticky all over, as if someone had just hauled him out of a sewer.