The Storm Approaches, The Target Appears!

Lunch, as usual, consisted of two packets of nutrient paste for protein and carbs, followed by a piece of malt bar candy for a quick sugar boost.

Cheng Ye hadn't brought himself to eat the synthetic dried meat Liu Bi had given him. He planned to save it as a strategic reserve, for emergency energy replenishment when he went out on assignments.

After finishing lunch.

He stayed by the window until the rain eased slightly before donning his raincoat and heading towards the quarantine zone.

Perhaps due to the terrifying intensity of the rain in Cloud City next door, workers were seen everywhere urgently constructing flood control works. The already narrow alleyways appeared even more cramped and chaotic.

Under temporary rain shelters by the roadside, a few new residents, clearly fresh arrivals to Xingfu City, huddled together, looking worriedly at the churning black clouds in the sky.

Their damp resident permits couldn't secure them housing. For them, it was crucial to find work without delay, to secure a place to stay before the torrential rain arrived.

"Inspector Cheng, your assigned window today is still number 8."

"There were quite a few people this morning, and I didn't expect the afternoon crowd to be even larger. If there's an emergency you can't handle, feel free to call the station for support."

"Understood!"

Cheng Ye nodded, put on a mask to conceal his identity, and strode forward.

Just standing in the passage leading to the front area, he could see a dense crowd packed in front of the conveyor belt.

At least seven or eight hundred people?

The heavy rain was one reason, and the infection wave in Cloud City was another.

Some survivors had no choice but to leave, and the nearby Xingfu City was naturally the best choice for evacuation.

"Window number 8 is now open. Survivors, please queue up in an orderly fashion to enter the isolation cage."

As soon as Cheng Ye sat down at the quarantine station, the watchtower's loudspeaker sounded at the opportune moment.

It was a stable job, after all. He had taken half the day off this morning. Even with so many survivors queuing outside, window 8 had remained empty and unopened.

As the crowd in front of the other seven conveyor belts stirred slightly, an isolation iron cage was quickly pushed in front of Cheng Ye by the conveyor belt.

Three figures were huddled inside the cage: two women and one man. The common "family" combination found in the wasteland.

"Names?"

"Zhou Tian, Yun Zi, Yun Duo."

The names sounded fabricated, clearly fake. Cheng Ye pretended to lower his head to record them, but in reality, he brought up his panel to check.

The blue panel flickered slightly, and the search function immediately displayed the information for the three individuals.

[Zhou Tian, 42%, Searchable Scope: Intel, Items]

[Yun Zi, 55%, Searchable Scope: Intel, Items, Skills]

[Yun Duo, 18%, Searchable Scope: Intel]

"Just asking for a name already got a 55% cooperation rate?"

Cheng Ye felt surprised.

He had thought the cooperation rate had to be based on these people telling the truth, but he hadn't expected the logic for measuring this value to be far more ambiguous than he imagined.

Search or not?

Cheng Ye hesitated for a moment and didn't waste a precious opportunity on these three.

Based on his observations these past few days, he had summarized the strength of family units into the following tiers:

One man, two women < One man, multiple women < One woman, multiple men < Lone wolf < One man, one woman < One man, one woman with child

The strength of the three people in front of him was at the very bottom. They would struggle to even get by doing manual labor in the buffer zone, so there was no need to waste an opportunity on them.

However, Yun Duo's cooperation rate was so low. Cheng Ye looked up and tapped his finger on the table:

"Yun Duo, right? See the first thermometer on the table in front of you? Please pick it up, aim it at your forehead, press it, and tell me the reading."

Called by Cheng Ye, a flicker of surprise flashed in Yun Duo's eyes, but she honestly picked up the thermometer.

"Sir, the reading is 36.9."

"Very good. Now, please pick up the second thermometer, aim it at your chest, press it, and tell me the reading."

"The reading is 117."

"The third one."

"16."

As Cheng Ye requested, and as Yun Duo continued to report, the cooperation rate on the panel gradually increased.

After the three measurements were completed, it had risen from 18% to 44%.

This change gave Cheng Ye a preliminary understanding of the logic for measuring cooperation rate.

"Alright, the three of you can leave and go to the back to complete your residency procedures."

"Huh?" Zhou Tian couldn't help but show a surprised expression.

"Is there a problem?"

"Sir, aren't you going to ask where we came from, if we're dangerous, or if we're infected?"

"I already know. You came from Cloud City, encountered danger on the road, and didn't have direct contact with infected."

"?"

Zhou Tian's Adam's apple bobbed, his expression shifting slightly.

Yun Duo and Yun Zi also gasped softly, their gazes towards Cheng Ye changing.

"Rule number one of the Xingfu City Resident Handbook: Never question the professionalism of official personnel."

A probationary inspector could only secure a window position in just over a month not through the favors left by Cheng Long or Liu Bi's influence.

Cheng Ye tapped his fingertips on the desk, his gaze sweeping over the muddy footprints left by the three people in the quarantine cage. "Heavy rain for days. The provincial and county roads from Cloud City to here collapsed half a month ago. Only a disused rural road, not on any map but known to Cloud City survivors, is passable. The black sand on your shoe soles is debris from the unique rock strata of that rural road."

"Look down. The mud stains on the inside of the two women's raincoats are scattered splashes, not drag marks. This fits with fleeing in panic when encountering danger, but not with combat."

"Furthermore, the frequency of your knee tremors is too fast. It doesn't match the signs of a long journey, but rather is identical to refugees fleeing Cloud City. This is a lingering effect of rushing in extreme fear. So, stop asking me why I'm not checking. Since your vital signs are normal, get going and process your Resident Permits. Don't stand here wasting my time."

Cheng Ye said impatiently. The three immediately shrank their necks and left, not daring to ask another question.

Were all inspectors in Xingfu City this professional?

He hadn't asked anything, yet he knew everything. This made them feel completely exposed, as if stripped bare, with no secrets left!

"Next."

The conveyor belt moved, and another group, a family of one man and two women, was transferred over in the quarantine cage.

This time, Cheng Ye was faster, taking only a little over ten seconds. After verifying their compatibility, he chose to let them pass.

In fact, very few infected dared to openly enter the Xingfu City checkpoint.

This wasn't like the checkpoints in those smaller shelter cities, which lacked sufficient intelligence support and relied on instruments for judgment. Here, it was all done by human assessment.

Thermometer, pulse meter, respiration meter.

As long as their whereabouts were clear and the three vital signs were normal, the probability of being infected was negligibly small.

Of course, there were also those deeply latent special infected, but the high-ranking officials of Xingfu City didn't expect the inspectors in the quarantine zone to discover them.

The vast buffer zone and the sturdy high walls would block all threats outside the Inner City.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye.

The queue at the gate did not decrease with the opening of Window 8. Instead, the bustling line grew larger as time went by.

Cheng Ye had already cleared seventy-one people, but he still hadn't found anyone worth deploying a search on.

This was an inevitable outcome.

The number of survivors increased, and the mixed bag of people within the group would only be amplified exponentially.

Furthermore, the uncertainty of eight conveyor belts would further decrease the probability of drawing a strong individual.

"Based on the performance of these survivors just now, they're most likely like me – bottom-feeders with nothing."

"There are many people today, so I'll have to be patient."

Cheng Ye didn't want to happily search for skills only to find out the other party's three skill slots were as empty as his own.

Even if both chances were wasted on strong individuals, it would still be better than gambling on these weaklings.

Soon, another hour passed.

Bang, bang bang.

Three consecutive gunshots startled Cheng Ye, who instinctively turned his head.

Inside the isolation cage of conveyor belt number 4, a man and a woman undergoing inspection had their heads blown off by a sentry.

Immediately after, tentacles, which Cheng Ye had only seen yesterday, emerged from the throats of the two. These were the highly insidious 'Death Whisper Tentacles'.

These special infectious agents, which parasitized human obsessions, could incubate hundreds of tentacles within a month in small shelters or settlements, easily causing large-scale man-made disasters.

But fortunately, even across the vast Wasteland, few people would have obsessions with small shelters.

"In a sense, the frequent appearance of Death Whisper Tentacles is also a recognition of the strength and influence of the shelters."

Cheng Ye sighed inwardly, quickly casting the faint fear aside.

Because with the tragedy on conveyor belt 4 erupting, survivors who dared to enter the isolation cage after witnessing someone get their head blown off must have some substance.

As the quality of survivors rapidly improved, at the end of conveyor belt 8, a man and a woman stood in a cage being transported over. Cheng Ye quickly perked up.

However, at this moment, a sudden argument nearby drew his attention.

He turned his head.

"Holy crap, a man and a woman, the Wasteland Kings with kids have finally arrived?"

Thanks to Reader 202210 and Ginyah for the monthly tickets, thanks to Loves Domino's, Cool Cola, Missed Golden Rain, and An Ordinary Storyteller for the tips!