Transcendent Baptism, A Visitor on a Rainy Night!

Drainage work in the Main Urban Area was still underway, and the streets were in complete disarray.

The Study Session had to be moved to an abandoned theater on the outskirts.

While the staff cleaned up the venue, Halin pulled a stack of names from a document folder.

The list was densely packed with the names of instructors who had retired from the Public Security Bureau, along with Warriors who had left the service due to injury, illness, or other reasons.

"Invite the people on this list. Let's start with 300 and have them take turns giving lectures."

After marking several important names with check marks, Halin paused and specified their compensation:

"Instructors from the Public Security Bureau will be paid 10 Contribution Points per class."

"Retired Warriors from the Blood Dragon, Crusader, and Xingfu Legions will get 8 points each."

"Everyone else will be paid 5 Contribution Points. Keep clear records and submit the bill to the station for reimbursement."

The staff member acknowledged the order and immediately began contacting people on the list.

At exactly four in the afternoon, the Study Session began at the abandoned theater.

After Deputy Station Chief Halin gave a brief speech, the first instructor took the stage and recited the procedures for dealing with Hydrophilic Type Infected.

The audience, however, seemed wholly uninterested. This kind of rote instruction had little effect on the current situation.

After all, every casualty these days had been caused by New Infection Sources that weren't even in the database. The old strategies for dealing with them were long outdated.

"The Inspectors currently on duty should take turns coming in to study tomorrow. We'll hold an assessment three days from now. As for the test..."

Halin paused, his tone suddenly sharpening. "Within fifteen days, you must find and kill an Infected while on duty!"

That strict?

Several Inspectors sitting in the back felt their hearts sink, especially those who usually slacked off. Cold sweat immediately beaded on their brows.

Fortunately, Ding Yishan had previously set the rule that they wouldn't be demoted until they failed to meet the standards three times. That gave them a forty-five-day grace period.

Once the Study Session had been arranged, Halin had barely stepped outside when someone hurried over to him.

"Dario, what is it?"

"Station Chief, Ding Yishan just summoned Cloud Leopard Changyuan. They were together for about forty minutes."

"What about Lei Hu?"

"He's still at South Station. He didn't go over."

"He didn't?" Halin paused, then smiled in surprise. "Good. Ding Yishan brought this on himself."

"Station Chief, do you think Ding Yishan noticed Lei Hu has been getting close to us lately?" Dario Haven asked, following close behind Halin and keeping his voice low.

To become a Duty Station Chief, one first had to reach the rank of Fifth Stage Inspector.

Besides the station chief and deputy station chief, the Checkpoint currently had two Duty Station Chiefs and six other Fifth Stage Inspectors.

Four from the East Faction and two from the West Faction.

Davidson, the Deputy Station Chief at North Station, was one of them. The other was Dario Haven.

"He's not blind. He noticed ages ago. But what can he do about it?"

Halin sneered. "Back when Ding Yishan hadn't risen to power, didn't he rely on our West Faction to get ahead of those other Fifth Stage Inspectors?"

"We're about to compete for the Duty Station Chief positions. There's no need for us to make a move yet. Let's see what he does first. Those four from Cloud Leopard Changyuan are no pushovers. If he can't keep things balanced, they'll start tearing each other apart from within."

"So we're not rushing..."

Dario looked a little disappointed, but he could only nod.

"By the way, Station Chief, an Inspector from Dongren reported to North Station today."

"Was it Cheng Ye?"

Halin raised an eyebrow.

He had an excellent memory. Since the beginning of the year, three of the four Trainee Inspectors at the Checkpoint had passed their qualification assessments, but Cheng Ye was the only one to earn his graduation certificate in less than two months.

That was the second-fastest time since the Checkpoint system had been established, just half a month slower than the record Halin had set as deputy station chief.

But there was a difference: he had broken the assessment record during an Infected Tide, while Cheng Ye had nearly matched it in peacetime.

Their strengths lay in opposite areas.

"I remember his Combat Talent was especially poor. I didn't expect him to be so bold as to go to our North Station."

"Bold is an understatement. The kid's no simpleton. He went there to make a statement."

In a few words, Dario recounted what had happened at North Station that morning.

Hearing that Cheng Ye had exploited their psychological weaknesses to drive off a group of brainless trust-fund brats in no time, Halin barely reacted. In fact, he almost laughed.

As the chief examiner for the Trainee Inspector assessment, he knew Cheng Ye's intelligence better than anyone.

If Cheng Ye had really been bullied by a bunch of idiots who thought becoming Inspectors would make them superior to everyone else, Halin would have had to wonder whether his judgment of people had been wrong.

But as Dario continued, Halin's expression soon changed.

"You're sure he only asked a few questions when they met, then figured out the other person was an Infected? And during the fight, he stayed calm and even saved the Observer?"

"Yes. I watched the full video. His performance..."

Dario considered it for a moment, then described him as completely at ease.

In the footage Dario had seen, Cheng Ye hadn't shown any fear. Whether firing first or returning fire, then retreating, he had acted decisively.

"Damn. Where's the video? Bring it here. I want to see it."

Halin shook his head, unable to stop thinking of how Ding Yishan had personally authorized a hundred bullets for Cheng Ye a few days earlier.

Had he misjudged the kid? Could Cheng Ye be a ruthless talent, excelling at both brains and brawn?

A tablet was soon brought over.

Halin frowned and pressed play. He even dragged the progress bar back twice before finally accepting Dario's assessment.

He really had been completely at ease!

"Tsk, the East Faction's current generation is a complete mess. I didn't expect them to produce such a promising talent."

"Hmm. Arrange for someone to approach him and see if we can bring him over to our side."

Compared to Ding Yishan's hesitation, Halin's response was the complete opposite—decisive to the point of being alarming.

"But... he's Dongren."

"What's wrong with being Dongren? Lei Hu is Dongren too."

Halin looked surprised and gave Dario a once-over.

"Have I not told you this several times? In a factional struggle, the most important thing is to understand the other side's background."

"Cheng Long is Cheng Long, and he's himself.

"The kid's lived in the Inner City his whole life. He's never been involved in the station's mess, and he has no sense of belonging to the East Faction.

"The only problem is Liu Bi. But that fool Ding Yishan sent Liu Bi to the Hydroelectric Station. If we don't recruit Cheng Ye now, should we wait until he's established himself?"

"Do you think the kid's stupid? I bet he knows Ding Yishan had another motive for transferring him to the Quick Checkpoint. That's why he deliberately chose our North Station as his way in. But that gives us an opportunity too."

"What about Garcia?"

Dario's thoughts churned. It seemed Halin was going all in to win the station chief position.

"He's only just out of critical condition. He's still lying in the Medical Center. We're going to recruit Cheng Ye..."

"We can talk about it when he's capable of coming to me and complaining."

Halin waved a hand. "Do as I say. It won't take long. Once the East Faction is thrown into disorder from top to bottom, I'll find a way to secure the Duty Station Chief position for you."

"Yes, Station Chief!"

At the thought of becoming a Duty Station Chief, wild joy flared in Dario's eyes. He no longer had any reason to question Halin.

An ordinary Inspector could toil all their life and still end up killed by an Infected one day.

But becoming a Duty Station Chief meant escaping the Bottom Layer and gaining the chance to climb higher.

Why else was Halin fighting Ding Yishan so fiercely?

Everyone knew the reason. Xingfu City held its "Transcendent Baptism" once every six years, and this was the fifth year. If they didn't fight for it now, they would have to wait another six years!

Ding Yishan had held the upper hand during the last round, so Halin had chosen to avoid his edge and give up the Transcendent Baptism.

Who could have guessed that Ding Yishan would prove so useless? First, he missed his chance to awaken. Then he made one poor decision after another. To curry favor with the High Level figures in Xingfu City, he had not only lost Cheng Long, one of his most capable Warriors, but several key Inspectors as well.

This time, Halin absolutely wouldn't sit back and do nothing.

The factional struggle, fierce as it seemed, was only the beginning.

The real storm would come with winter—or perhaps not fully sweep in until spring next year.

When it did, every Inspector—Fifth Stage, Fourth Stage, First Stage, or even Trainee—would be caught up in it!

Night fell, and the streetlights came on.

Warm yellow light washed over the Quarantine Area, driving back the darkness that had spread from the wilderness.

A light rain began to fall again.

Every so often, lightning tore through the clouds and lit up the outline of the distant City Ruins, rousing the Mutated Beasts into a chorus of howls.

"This damn weather."

Li Maitai sent off the last group of people in line. After watching the guards escort everyone into the Quarantine Zone, he finally straightened up and rubbed his aching shoulders.

How many people had he sent into the Quarantine Zone today?

Huh. He seemed to have forgotten to count.

Still, there had to be nearly two hundred. Every last one of them looked suspicious!

"Seven minutes until I get off work."

He checked the time on his Defense Communicator, got up, and strolled toward the Isolation Net between Zone A and Zone B. He planned to chat with Cheng Ye and kill the last few minutes.

"Inspector Cheng, it sure is quiet over here!" Li Maitai sighed, leaning against the railing. "I've been on my feet all day in Zone B, while you've had it easy in Zone A. You only had one vehicle come through all day."

"Is that so?"

Cheng Ye was doing push-ups on the ground and answered without looking up.

"You don't ask people anything when you meet them. You just send them straight into the Quarantine Zone. Doesn't sound like you're busy either."

"Huh?"

Li Maitai caught his meaning, paused, then laughed it off. "You don't understand. I've spent over twenty years at the Checkpoint. I've seen Isolation Pod riots, survived Infected Tide invasions, and watched factional struggles of every size rage without end. Yet I'm still standing here, chatting with you. Know why?"

"Because I'm cautious. Extremely cautious!"

"Is that right?"

Cheng Ye stood up and gave him a thumbs-up.

They had stolen a few moments to chat throughout the day and had gotten fairly familiar with each other. Apart from Liu Bi, this old Inspector was the first "friend" he'd made at the station.

Compared with Liu Bi, that hothead, Li Maitai's caution was practically ingrained in his bones.

In the morning, he'd been sending one person in every four. By the afternoon, after the inspection level went up, he'd switched straight to one in every two.

As far as Cheng Ye could tell, he was picking "lucky winners" on a whim and sending them into the Isolation Pods.

"I know what you want to ask. Why would a coward like me come to a Quick Checkpoint, right?"

Li Maitai basked in Cheng Ye's thumbs-up, grinning with a smug, shameless look. "It's simple. Don't underestimate that Inspector Badge in your hand. Just focus on raising its level. Once it reaches a certain point, you'd have to go out of your way to get yourself killed. Otherwise, it'd be harder to die than you think."

At last, Li Maitai had found something to talk about with Cheng Ye. His expression took on the smug superiority of a seasoned veteran.

"Back when your father was still around, he looked down on people like me. Every time we met, he'd look down his nose at me without even bothering to lift his eyelids. Who would've thought his son would praise me now?"

"Uh..."

Cheng Ye could hardly be bothered to comment.

That guy had the thickest skin he'd ever seen—more durable than the barbed wire around the Quarantine Area.

Just as he was about to ask about the Inspector Badge's level, however—

Dong.

A clear bell rang from inside the Checkpoint. Looking toward the watchtower, he saw that the Yellow Flag that had flown all day had finally been taken down.

"Finally made it to the end of the shift."

Li Maitai rubbed his arms and yawned. "Twelve hours straight. The station ought to hang a medal around our necks for model workers."

Before he had even finished speaking, he suddenly glanced into the distance, then turned and urged Cheng Ye on.

"Why are you still standing around after your shift? Do you really want to be a model worker and get a medal?"

"Come on, hurry up and get out of here!"

"Get out of here?"

Cheng Ye followed his gaze. Deep in the rain, a beam of light cut through the darkness.

The light swayed as it drew nearer. Judging by its speed and brightness, it clearly wasn't the Dajinbei. It was a vehicle capable of traveling at high speed.

How strange.

Someone had arrived right at the end of the shift—and, by sheer coincidence, just as the bell rang.

"Come on, let's go."

If it were 7:59, Cheng Ye would have stayed. But it was past eight, and he wasn't stupid.

After all, Infected were more than ten times as likely to come out at night as during the day.

But just as he opened the Isolation Gate and was about to leave, Raven hurried over.

"What is it?"

"My lord, the vehicle that just arrived has sent a signal to the station. It's someone from the Crusader Legion."

"What? The Crusader Legion?"