Chapter 25: Means, courage, and bloodiness!

"That's all I know. If the Inspector has any other questions..."

"there is none left."

Cheng Ye did not continue to trouble the guards at the door who were obviously at the bottom of the food chain at the checkpoint.

It's not that he suddenly became kind-hearted, but through a simple understanding, he had guessed where the trouble he might face would come from.

But, is it a big problem?

If you want to gain a foothold in the inspection station, you don’t rely on your father being xx, but on your means, courage and bloodiness.

In a sense, this is still an extension of the wasteland, but with a few more protective rules.

His fingertips brushed across the Buffalo combat pistol at his waist, and the touch of cold metal climbed up his arm along his palm.

He looked up and glanced at the dark shooting holes on the city wall.

Noticing that the guard manning the machine gun was deliberately avoiding his gaze, Cheng Ye suddenly chuckled:

"Okay, they should be ready. Please open the door for me."

"Ah... ok, ok!"

The tall guard seemed to be pardoned. He took three steps in one and returned to the gate at a rapid speed to swipe his card to verify his identity.

Boom.

The heavy explosion-proof door was slowly pushed open from the inside out. When the entrance was wide enough for three people to pass through side by side, the scene inside gradually became clear.

It’s not as high-tech as the inner city, and the overall style is very much in line with the old-world feel of the buffer zone.

A straight main road paved with gray-black epoxy resin floor extends to the end of Area E. Several trucks waiting to leave the city are being inspected at the end.

On both sides of the road, square workstations are neatly arranged, with dark green plastic steel windows half-open. Acrylic electronic signs are erected at the doors, and red LED digital tubes scroll through the words "Information Room", "Archives Room", "Reporting Room", "Inspection Room", "Disinfection Station", etc.

There had been heavy rain all night, and the buffer zone was flooded, but there wasn't much water here.

Several workers in blue work clothes pushed the squeegee broom back and forth to clean the area. As soon as the rain fell, it was pushed into the gutters on both sides, leaving only winding water marks.

"Just go to the reporting room and a staff member will help you register as a North Station Inspector."

"Thank you very much."

The tall guard felt surprised that Cheng Ye didn't make things difficult for him and thanked him.

When he said earlier that he was a tool, he was not belittling himself at all, but rather stating an established fact.

After all, there is no such thing as a wasteland with idlers. It is their honor to be used as a tool by the Inspector.

But now, he had a strange feeling in his heart.

"It must be my imagination. How could the prosecutor treat us as human beings?"

The door is closed.

Looking at the gradually blurred figure in the rain, the tall guard shook off the absurd idea along with the rain.

Yes, it must be his illusion!

...

After entering Area E, Cheng Ye did not rush to report, but stood there and looked around for a while.

Whether it was the staff coming and going or the people sweeping water on the roadside, they all had Western faces.

His face, an Oriental man, was indeed very eye-catching at the North Station.

But the strange thing was that everyone acted as if they didn't see him, and no one cast any strange looks at him.

Even when he cast his gaze upon them, they would avoid him in fear, as if he were a monster.

"Are you so afraid of me?"

This surprised Cheng Ye a little, and he thought to himself that he must have made the right move.

Instead of going to South Station as the first stop, he didn't understand the rules among the flowers and was pushed into a ditch and died.

He would rather go straight to North Station and be prepared for a fight to the death from the beginning.

Just like now, everyone knows that he, the Eastern prosecutor, is here to "cause trouble". Ordinary people who are unable to get involved in factional struggles are naturally busy clearing themselves of any wrongdoing for fear of being implicated.

The remaining enemies became clear at a glance in an instant.

Twenty or thirty pairs of eyes looked over from the various workstations on the roadside. Even when Cheng Ye turned his gaze back, those eyes did not avoid him, but were full of amusement and disdain.

In the few minutes after the guards delivered the news, they had retrieved all of Cheng Ye's information, and also found out the reason why Cheng Ye was transferred to the rapid quarantine post.

Having offended the Western inspectors, how dare you break into the northern checkpoint? Do you really think Westerners are soft persimmons that can be manipulated at will?

Furthermore, ordinary people in the station just want to make a living and are afraid of offending the inspectors.

They are not afraid.

After all, they are all people who are going to inherit their fathers' positions as prosecutors. Who would take seriously a young man whose father died early and took office early?

In the strange atmosphere, Cheng Ye walked towards the reporting room.

The staff on the roadside immediately fled and went into the alley of the workstation.

The young people in the large and small workstations opened the doors tacitly and stood at the door in twos and threes, surrounding Cheng Ye and the reporting room in the center.

"Hello, I'm a trainee inspector, reporting to the express checkpoint on my first day."

Walking to the window, Cheng Ye took out his ID badge.

The reporting room was about 20 square meters, and a young man in his twenties was sitting in front of the window.

He had a standard Western face, with gray-blue pupils, a few dark red bloodshot streaks in the whites of his eyes, and greasy hair sticking to his forehead. One could tell at a glance that he had stayed up late the night before.

"Do you know the rules of the express checkpoint?"

The young man looked Cheng Ye up and down, muttered something, and showed no intention of taking the identity badge.

"have no idea."

Cheng Ye shook his head honestly. "I was an intern at the Central Main Checkpoint before. This is my first time at the Express Checkpoint. I'm not sure what the special rules are here."

"I don't know."

The young man stood up and couldn't help but chuckle. "Inspector Cheng, you don't know that every trainee inspector who reports to the rapid inspection station must prove their ability to take up the post on their first day."

"How do you prove this?"

"It's very simple." The young man said, picked up a few pieces of white paper and walked out of the house. Standing beside Cheng Ye, he pointed into the distance, "Do you see those trucks waiting to leave the city at the end of the passage? Yes, the third one. All the cargo declaration forms on the truck are here. But when we checked, we found that several items did not match the numbers."

"As long as you can find three, you'll pass the reporting inspection."

Following the direction the young man pointed, Cheng Ye squinted his eyes and looked around.

There are a total of six trucks currently under inspection. The other five are trucks owned by Westerners, while the third is a truck owned by Easterners.

"So simple?"

The young man was stunned for a moment, then smiled slightly teasingly, "It's that simple."

Cheng Ye and the others don't dare to do anything outside the rules, but within the rules, it would be so interesting to let the Dong people fight each other.

"Pike, he's coming, let's close the truck."

"OK."

Noticing that Cheng Ye was already walking towards the truck, 'Pike' who was in charge of the inspection immediately put away the information sheet in his hand.

"Well, sir, your cargo is fine."

"Yeah?"

The anxious Dongren driver immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

In the past, he always entered and exited from the South Station, but after the heavy rain last night, the road from the suburbs to the South Station was completely blocked, so he had no choice but to come to the North Station to declare customs.

These people had really big appetites. He stuffed nearly two hundred happiness coins into their mouths before they finally nodded.

"etc..."

But just as the Dongren driver was about to get in, Pik raised his hand again and said, "Sorry, a trainee inspector believes there's something wrong with your cargo. Please get out of the car and cooperate with a secondary inspection."

"What?"

Following the direction pointed by Pique, the Dongren driver's face suddenly changed.

Damn it.

He actually saw a Dongren inspector at the North Checkpoint. What...what was going on?

"Sir...sir?"

Facing Cheng Ye, the driver was obviously at a loss.

In the past, for such trivial matters as vehicle inspections, one might not encounter an inspector personally inquiring even if he made a hundred trips.

It would be fine if I were at the South Station, where I'd seen some familiar faces, but at the North Station...

If the contraband in the car is found, there is no doubt that you will die!

Every industrial product smuggled out of Xingfu City can be sold at double or even triple the price of normal freight.

Because of the cargo declaration form, most of the profit from the price difference will be taken away by the checkpoint when entering the city, and the driver will only keep a small amount. Everyone tacitly agrees to this and pretends nothing happened.

But now they are stopped and searched before leaving the city. Once the contraband is exposed, the consequences will be unimaginable!

"I received a tip from the reporting staff... There are several discrepancies between the cargo on your vehicle and the declaration form, so I came here to check."

"Ah?" The driver's face turned dark instantly and he couldn't help but look at Pique.

However, what made his heart sink was that Pique lowered his head at this moment, obviously avoiding his questioning gaze.

Okay, okay, you took the money and reported me, do you want me to die?

There was a hint of madness in the driver's eyes, and even the look he gave Cheng Ye was filled with a bit of hostility.

But who would have thought.

"Don't be nervous. I remember you seem to be... Mr. Zhang from the Autumn Grocery Store in Dongcheng District, right?"

Cheng Ye made up a name, smiled slightly, and deliberately slowed down his speech. "I bought a charger for the Defense Communication System from you before. Why don't you remember me?"

"Charge...charger?"

The driver was obviously stunned. His surname was Bai, not Zhang, and he had never heard of any Autumn Grocery Store in Dongcheng District.

But when Cheng Ye said this, the driver suddenly reacted and realized that there might be a turning point in the situation.

Now that he could survive, his burning anger instantly disappeared, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly responded, "Sir, how could I, Old Zhang, forget you? I didn't expect to see you on duty at the North Station!"

"You're leaving the city on a rainy day. The roads around North Station are slippery during the rainy season, so it's hard to get out. Why don't you go through South Station?"

Cheng Ye walked around the so-called truck and kicked the burrs on the edge of the tire with his foot.

There is no oil production around Xingfu City, and all trucks are new energy battery vehicles. Their square heads and square bodies look very much like the big Jinbeis of the old era.

"Well, to be honest, sir, I was planning to go through the South Station last night, as it was closer. But it rained heavily all night, and the water in the city was too deep to drive through, so I had to go around to the North Station to borrow the road."

After all, he is a skilled person who has been engaged in freight smuggling for many years.

"Lao Zhang" replied subconsciously, his mind racing, thinking about the individual pronunciations that Cheng Ye had just deliberately emphasized.

If you want to survive long in this line of work, it is not enough to just have good eyesight, you also need quick wits when facing danger.

The roads at North Station are slippery during the rainy season...

North Station, slippery roads...

After extracting the keywords, Lao Zhang swallowed and immediately realized what Cheng Ye was reminding him.

It will be difficult to get out immediately afterwards. This sentence is not a final word, which means that there is still hope for this matter.

As for why not go from South Station...

Seeing clearly the struggle between the Easterners and Westerners at the checkpoint, Lao Zhang's pupils shrank slightly, and he understood everything in his heart.

"Sir, you know Lao Zhang, and you must know that Lao Zhang never does anything illegal or disorderly."

"If there really is something that doesn't match the number, it's definitely not mine. It's the goods from the group that came last night. They asked me to help take them out."

"Oh? Who?"

A gleam of light flashed in Cheng Ye's eyes, and he showed a satisfied smile, which made Lao Zhang even more convinced of his own judgment.

He simply gritted his teeth and looked directly at Pico, saying, "It's Camilo Luke from Xicheng District, a worker at the Wisteria Factory. He asked me to take some things to the gathering place outside, saying it was agreed upon beforehand."

"Wisteria Factory..."

This is a Western factory specializing in small industrial products. Pique's face changed and he wanted to say something.

But unexpectedly, Cheng Ye's face turned serious and he interrupted him directly, "Take it out and let me see it. I heard there are three copies, right? Maybe these are the ones that have problems."

"Okay, sir, please wait a moment."

Opening the rear hatch of the big golden cup, Lao Zhang quickly took out three black oil-paper packages from it.

"Open!"

The oil paper package was opened from the corner, revealing a colorful PCB board, which was full of electronic components.

"How dare you! This is an industrial product that is expressly prohibited from being exported by individuals in the buffer zone!"

Cheng Ye showed a bit of "anger": "This Camilo Luke doesn't want to live, right? He actually dared to smuggle this kind of thing out."

"Alright, you can go now. I'm going to get to the bottom of this today and see who's so bold as to violate the rules of the buffer zone so brazenly!"

"Yes, yes, sir."

Seeing Cheng Ye waving his hand, Lao Zhang's eyes lit up and he thought to himself that he was not destined to die.

Although he seemed to be involved in the dispute between the East and West factions, he made up his mind that next time he would enter and exit from the South Station even if the sky fell. He would even breach the contract if he really couldn't get out.

This damn North Station, those damn Westerners, go to hell.

The big golden cup started up with a roar, leaving behind three bags of oil paper, and the tires skidded on the water marks as it fled.

It was visible to the naked eye that not only Pique had an ugly expression on his face, but all the Westerners who saw this scene from a distance looked as if they had eaten a dead fly.

That’s it?

Speaking of the oil-paper bag, Cheng Ye curled his lips. It was indeed a child's trick, so naive.

"Three copies, is that enough proof?"

"You...are awesome." After receiving the badge handed to him by Cheng Ye, the young man walked into the room with a grim expression and quickly tapped on the keyboard to complete the employment procedures.

The young people outside the reporting room looked at each other in bewilderment, their expressions showing surprise and astonishment, but more of a sense of frustration, like young people who have the strength to do their best but have nowhere to use it.

The expected dog-eat-dog fight did not happen. Cheng Ye used his power to suppress the opponent lightly. The Eastern driver cooperated to divert the conflict and put the hat on the Western driver's head.

"Jamie, I'm saying...you're not really going to let him get the job so easily, are you?"

A voice came from the headset, and Jamie, who was about to hand the badge back to Cheng Ye, looked even uglier.

"Your uncle was beaten by Liu Bi and sent to the clinic. He's still receiving emergency treatment."

"Shut up!"

Jamie cursed inwardly, but his fingertips loosened their grip for some unknown reason, and the badge fell to the ground with a "click".

The water was flowing on the road.

When he caught up with it, the badge had been swirled by the current to the edge of the sewer and was stuck in a pile of garbage.

"Well done, you humiliated him like that and made him pick it up in the trash!"

There was laughter coming from the headset. The group of young people surrounding him didn't understand what was going on and thought Jamie was humiliating Cheng Ye in this way, so they all applauded softly.

This made Jamie a little overwhelmed at first, but after being encouraged by these people's eyes, he suddenly became bolder:

"Inspector Cheng, you didn't catch it yourself. Do you need my help?"

"Oh, really?"

Cheng Ye scratched his head and smiled honestly, "No need, I can pick it up myself."

After saying that, he lowered his body and walked towards the gutter. Amidst the sneers, he bent down to pick up the badge from the garbage pile and rubbed it on his trouser leg.

"Hahaha, coward."

"How dare you come to our West Station with such courage?"

"The inspector who searched through the garbage dump was really an eye-opener!"

“…”

The mocking sounds came one after another. Although it did not cause any trouble to Cheng Ye, this kind of mental insult made them enjoy it.

Even Jamie showed a somewhat disdainful smile, as if he had taken the lead in winning a victory against the Easterners.

"Hello, report completed."

Cheng Ye walked back and wiped his ID badge clean with his clothes. "Now I am the inspector of North Station, right?"

Not knowing why Cheng Ye asked this, Jamie was stunned for a moment, then snorted.

But the next second, he was suddenly stunned.

Cheng Ye, who had just been smiling, shook his wrist, and the badge drew an arc in the air and returned to the sewer along the same route.

"Go, pick it up for me!"

...