Lv.2 Talent: Iron Physique!

Lv.2 Talent: Iron Physique!

Cooperation Degree.

Perfect!

A searchable prompt sounded in his ear.

Cheng Ye had never imagined that these two words could sound so pleasing, so wonderful.

It was as if a stripped screw had suddenly caught in the threads, slowly turning inside a rusted nut, each revolution accompanied by a crisp metallic scrape that made his scalp tingle with pleasure!!

"Wait for me a moment. I need to calibrate the equipment."

After reassuring Dai Zun, Cheng Ye looked toward the detector, but in reality, he used his mind to select Search.

A string of illusory characters flashed across the panel.

Five seconds later, they assembled into an information panel Cheng Ye could read.

[Dai Zun]

[Lv.1 Skill]: Lock On

[Lv.2 Skills]:

Talent: Iron Physique (Rare, reduces pain, increases physical toughness, and grants immunity to some non-lethal injuries)

Talent: Firearm Affinity (Common, slightly improves control over firearms)

Skill: Crusader Standard Slash Technique (Common), Crusader Standard Shooting Technique (Common)

[Lv.3 Skill]: Locked

"?"

"There are tiers, too?"

Cheng Ye paused. When he had searched for Lv.1 skills, the panel had listed every skill in one go, leaving him overwhelmed and unsure which to choose.

But the Lv.2 interface before him was completely different. Not only did it separate talents from skills, it also showed their quality tiers, making it easy to tell which were stronger.

For example, Iron Physique was a talent, and it now glowed with a faint purple light. Its note was marked [Rare].

Firearm Affinity was also a talent, but it glowed white and was marked [Common].

"This is much clearer. I don't have to figure out what each skill does from its name anymore."

Perhaps because Dai Zun was so young, he hadn't learned many Lv.2 skills. The panel listed only two Crusader Standard techniques.

Without hesitation, Cheng Ye focused his thoughts on the highest-tier skill, Iron Physique.

Searching above his level had only a 25% chance of success.

But for no reason he could explain, he felt certain he would succeed this time.

Because Dai Zun, lying on the ground, hadn't agreed to cooperate out of fear of him. He genuinely wanted to live and trusted him enough to cooperate from the bottom of his heart.

A dim purple glow spread across the entire interface.

The panel began to flicker.

One second later.

The Civilization Collector didn't disappoint!

[Search successful]

[Civilization Collector successfully recorded: Iron Physique (Lv.2; Talent)]

"It really worked?!"

The panel switched automatically. Iron Physique on Dai Zun's skill list glimmered, flickered, and was copied into the skill slot available for equipping.

Uncontainable joy exploded in Cheng Ye's chest.

His thoughts seemed to freeze in that moment, and his overflowing happiness almost burst out of him.

Even though he'd had a hunch before searching, how could that feeling compare to seeing Iron Physique appear with his own eyes in the skill slot on his personal panel?!

"Inspector?"

Dai Zun was at a loss. Seeing Cheng Ye's back trembling slightly, he grew nervous. "Is something wrong with the equipment?"

"It's fine. Just wait a little longer. The equipment is starting up."

Cheng Ye forced down his excitement and replied.

He closed the panel and took two deep breaths, finally managing to suppress his turbulent emotions.

There was no real need for the equipment to check whether Dai Zun had been infected.

But quarantine procedures allowed no room for error. Skipping a step would inevitably arouse suspicion.

Cheng Ye followed the standard procedure anyway. He also had to cut off a piece of flesh and send it for testing.

A little over ten minutes later, Raven returned with the expected news.

"All done. You passed!"

Cheng Ye pulled off his rubber gloves and tossed them into the Quarantine Zone's trash bin like a basketball. Then he walked over with a smile.

"Huh?"

Dai Zun froze, wondering if he'd heard wrong. Only after Cheng Ye repeated himself did his eyes widen, his joy instantly sweeping away all restraint.

Outside the isolation door, Wu Rui's back stiffened as well. His tower-like frame shuddered, then his rough palm swept hard across his face before he slammed it against the Isolation Net with a dull thud.

He'd been tense for so long.

His heart had been in his throat the whole time.

Thankfully, the final result hadn't disappointed them!

"Captain Wu, I'm from the Inner City too. I'm off duty now, so I can take him there. Is that all right?"

Cheng Ye walked to the door and asked. Wu Rui only hesitated for a moment before nodding firmly.

"No problem. I'll get in touch with them now. Take him to Happiness Gate. Someone will come to meet you there."

"Okay."

With one more person came another round of inspection procedures. Cheng Ye turned to leave, but a voice sounded behind him.

"May I ask your name, Inspector?"

"My surname is Cheng."

"May I ask what your relation is to Cheng Long?"

"My father."

A flash of surprise crossed Wu Rui's face, then quickly gave way to understanding.

No way. Was Cheng Long famous even among the Crusaders?

Cheng Ye paused, but didn't stop walking. He told Owl and Raven to lift the stretcher and follow him.

As they made their way along the isolation corridor, Dai Zun's pale face still bore the dazed look of someone who'd narrowly escaped death.

At the exit, Cheng Ye hesitated, but finally called Station Chief Towns.

In theory, an inspector had the authority to requisition a vehicle in special circumstances, but this was North Station, after all, and it was Xiren territory.

"Station Chief, here's the situation..."

Cheng Ye explained Dai Zun's circumstances in a few words and was about to explain why he needed to requisition a vehicle when hurried footsteps suddenly sounded through the receiver.

No one had expected Towns to rush straight down from his office.

Normally, it wasn't unusual for the station chief to come in person. But a Duty Station Chief had only died that very noon, and making contact with someone whose infection risk hadn't been completely ruled out was hardly a wise choice.

"Station Chief Towns, you... maybe you should keep your distance?"

When they were still more than ten steps apart, Cheng Ye called out to warn him.

To his surprise, Towns pursed his lips and quickened his pace with a scornful look. He muttered, "Back when the Checkpoint was founded, your grandfather and I were the ones who cut the ribbon. You think I'm like He Fei?"

The Checkpoint's founding?

Cheng Ye paid no attention to Towns bragging, but he caught an important detail.

His predecessor's grandfather had been there when the Checkpoint was founded?

That was impressive.

"Enough. He hasn't been infected. I'll authorize a vehicle for you. Hurry and take him for treatment."

Towns crouched to examine the wound and spoke with complete confidence. Then he gave Cheng Ye an odd look.

"It's only your first day, and you've already stirred up trouble at the station, killed an Infected, and now saved someone from the Crusaders. Cheng Long... even Cheng Long wasn't as capable as you were back in the day."

"Uh..."

Cheng Ye neither agreed nor disagreed, taking it as a compliment.

But he also understood that Towns was reminding him that he'd been getting far too much attention today.

As the saying went, what went up must come down. If he kept standing out, he was bound to attract attention he didn't need.

But to be fair, even though Towns had considered the issue, he hadn't thought about one thing from Cheng Ye's perspective.

"I'd like to keep a low profile, but if I keep too low a profile, I'll die."

The Dajinbei roared out of the Checkpoint, its tires leaving a conspicuous black streak on the ground.

The jolting made Dai Zun cough repeatedly, flecks of blood appearing at the corners of his mouth.

"Hey, take it easy. We've got an injured passenger."

Cheng Ye couldn't help reminding the driver, who eased his foot off the pedal and gave an apologetic grin.

Only for urgent official business like this would the authorities overlook the power consumption.

For ordinary official business, there were strict standards. If power usage exceeded the limit, the penalty could range from a fine to outright dismissal. It was like getting kicked out of a group chat for driving an old-era economy car that used more fuel than average.

"Hey, can you still talk?"

"Yes."

"I want to ask you something. It won't violate the Crusaders' rules, will it?"

"Ask away, Inspector."

Dai Zun was a little curious about the inspector before him, who was even younger than he was.

Cheng Ye was nothing like the old hands at the Checkpoint, who were afraid of taking responsibility and afraid of danger, and always carried around a suffocating air of bureaucracy.

You could say he had the fearlessness of a young calf that didn't know to fear a tiger.

But the strange thing was that his manner was exceptionally steady, without any of the awkwardness or inexperience of a newcomer.

Even Captain Wu Rui had taken orders from him without the slightest discomfort or sense of being overpowered.

"My big brother, Liu Bi, is an inspector too. He went with an Engineering Team from the Inner City to support the Hydroelectric Station the day before yesterday. Have you heard anything about him?"

"Liu Bi."

Dai Zun thought for a moment, then shook his head. "The Crusader Legion is responsible for guarding the entire Industrial Zone, which is divided into eight sectors. The Hydroelectric Station is in Zone B, and we guard Zone F. They're more than ten kilometers apart. But don't worry. At least as of noon today, the Hydroelectric Station hadn't been breached by the Infected."

Realizing that Cheng Ye didn't know the Industrial Zone, Dai Zun briefly explained how things worked there.

Because the Hydroelectric Station's power supply varied by season, Xingfu City had to run production at full capacity from early summer to mid-autumn to stockpile enough supplies for its own use and trade throughout winter and spring.

So every year in mid-spring, large-scale recruitment took place in the Buffer Zone. Tens of thousands of people—and sometimes over a hundred thousand—were brought into the Industrial Zone at once.

Then, when the power supply declined in mid-autumn, the workers were sent back to the Buffer Zone to prepare for winter.

Such large-scale population shifts naturally attracted the attention of nearby Infected, who streamed toward the Industrial Zone to harass and attack them.

"Too bad spring recruitment was already over when I crossed over. I missed the spectacle."

Cheng Ye couldn't help sighing.

Every Sanctuary City had a survival strategy suited to its circumstances. Xingfu City's "migratory bird production model" was particularly ingenious, far ahead of those used by other Sanctuary Cities.

It not only perfectly addressed the infrastructure challenges of transmitting power over long distances, but also cleverly resolved the defensive dilemma between residential areas and the Industrial Zone.

Summer and autumn were the peak seasons for survivor migration.

By drawing the attention of nearby Infected to the Industrial Zone, the city avoided the risk of an Infected Tide caused by people gathering together.

Then, once the migration wave ended in winter and spring, the Industrial Zone's workers returned to the Buffer Zone. Everyone could defend a single location, maximizing their chances of surviving an Infected Tide.

"There's no absolute good or bad. There are pros and cons. It's peaceful as long as you don't run into a rampaging Infected Tide, but this year..."

Dai Zun sighed. "Since the start of the year, Infected Tides have broken out several times more often than before. Who knows what kind of Infected Tide will swarm toward Xingfu City this winter?"