Chapter 5: Storm Brewing, Target Appears!

Lunch followed the usual routine: two packs of nutrient paste for protein and carbs, plus a piece of malt candy for quick sugar.Cheng Ye couldn’t bear to eat the synthetic jerky Liu Bi gave him, saving it as a strategic reserve for emergency energy during external duty.

After lunch, he stayed by the window until the rain eased slightly, then donned a raincoat and headed to the isolation zone.

Perhaps due to the terrifying downpour in nearby Yun City, workers were frantically building flood defenses along the road, making the already narrow alleys feel even more chaotic.

Under a roadside shelter, a few new Happiness City residents huddled together, staring anxiously at the churning black clouds on the horizon.

Their damp resident permits couldn’t secure them a place to stay. For them, finding work quickly was a race against time to secure shelter before the storm hit.

“Inspector Cheng, you’re still at Window 8 today.”

“We had a lot of people this morning, but the afternoon’s even busier. If an emergency arises that you can’t handle, call for station support anytime.”

“Got it!”

Cheng Ye nodded, put on his identity-concealing mask, and strode forward.

From the passage to the front zone, he could see a dense crowd packed in front of the conveyor belts.

At least seven or eight hundred people?

The rain was one reason, and Yun City’s infected tide was another.

Some survivors had no choice but to flee, and Happiness City, being nearby, was the obvious choice.

“Window 8 is now open. Survivors, please line up orderly and enter the isolation cages.”

As Cheng Ye settled at the inspection desk, the tower’s loudspeaker blared.

That’s the iron rice bowl for you. He’d taken the morning off, and despite the crowd, Window 8 stayed closed until he arrived.

As the other seven conveyor belts stirred, an isolation cage was soon pushed before him.

Three figures huddled inside: two women and a man, a common “family” unit in the wasteland.

“Names?”

“Zhou Tian, Yun Zi, Yun Duo.”

Obviously fake names. Cheng Ye pretended to jot them down while summoning the panel.

The blue panel flickered, and the search function displayed their information.

[Zhou Tian, 42%, Searchable Range: Information, Items]

[Yun Zi, 55%, Searchable Range: Information, Items, Skills]

[Yun Duo, 18%, Searchable Range: Information]

“Just asking their names got 55% cooperation?”

Cheng Ye was surprised.

He’d thought cooperation required truthfulness, but the metric was far vaguer than he’d imagined.

Search or not?

He hesitated briefly but decided not to waste a precious opportunity on these three.

From his observations, he’d ranked family unit strengths as follows: one man and two women < one man and multiple women < one woman and multiple men < lone wolf < one man and one woman < one man, one woman, and a child.

This trio was at the bottom tier. They’d struggle to earn a living through manual labor in the buffer zone, so they weren’t worth his search.

But Yun Duo’s low cooperation caught his attention. Tapping the desk, he said, “Yun Duo, see the first thermometer on the table? Pick it up, aim it at your forehead, press, and tell me the reading.”

Startled by her name being called, Yun Duo’s eyes flashed with surprise but she obediently picked up the thermometer.

“Sir, it’s 36.9.”

“Good. Now take the second thermometer, aim at your chest, and tell me the reading.”

“It’s 117.”

“The third.”

“16.”

As Yun Duo reported the readings per Cheng Ye’s instructions, her cooperation on the panel steadily rose.

By the time all three devices were checked, it had climbed from 18% to 44%.

This gave Cheng Ye a rough understanding of how cooperation was measured.

“Alright, you three can go register as residents.”

“What?” Zhou Tian let out a surprised gasp.

“Any problem?”

“S-Sir, you didn’t ask where we’re from, if we’ve faced danger, or if we’re infected?”

“I already know. You’re from Yun City, encountered danger on the way, but had no direct contact with infected.”

“?”

Zhou Tian’s throat bobbed, his face paling.

Yun Zi and Yun Duo gasped softly, their eyes shifting as they looked at Cheng Ye.

“Happiness City Resident Handbook, Rule One: Never question the professionalism of official personnel.”

A trainee inspector didn’t secure a window in just over a month by relying solely on Cheng Long’s connections or Liu Bi’s favor.

Cheng Ye tapped the desk, eyeing the muddy footprints in the cage. “Torrential rains hit. The provincial and county roads from Yun City collapsed two weeks ago. The only passable route is an unmarked rural path known to Yun City survivors. The black sandy soil on your shoes is unique to that path’s rock layer.”

“Look down. The mud splattered inside the women’s jackets is scattered, not dragged, matching panicked flight from danger, not combat.”

“And your knees are trembling too fast for long-distance travelers. It matches the symptoms of Yun City refugees fleeing in extreme fear. So, don’t ask why I’m not checking further. Your vitals are normal, so get to registration and stop wasting my time with nonsense.”

Cheng Ye waved impatiently. The trio shrank back, leaving without another word.

Were Happiness City’s inspectors all this professional?

They hadn’t said a word, yet he knew everything, leaving them feeling stripped bare, no secrets left!

“Next.”

The conveyor belt hummed, bringing another family of one man and two women.

This time, Cheng Ye was faster, verifying cooperation in just over ten seconds before clearing them.

In truth, infected bold enough to openly enter Happiness City’s checkpoint were rare.

Unlike smaller sanctuary checkpoints, which lacked intelligence support and relied on manpower, Happiness City had tools: thermometers, pulse monitors, and respiratory frequency devices.

With a clear travel history and normal vitals, the chance of being infected was negligible.

Of course, some deeply latent special infected existed, but the higher-ups didn’t expect isolation zone inspectors to catch those.

The vast buffer zone and sturdy walls kept all threats outside the inner city.

An hour passed in a flash.

The crowd at the gate didn’t shrink with Window 8’s opening; it grew as time went on.

Cheng Ye had cleared seventy-one people but still hadn’t found a worthy search target.

This was expected.

As survivor numbers grew, the proportion of riffraff only multiplied.

The randomness of the eight conveyor belts further lowered the odds of encountering a strong candidate.

“Based on these survivors’ performances, they’re likely bottom-tier like me.”

“With so many people today, I need to be patient.”

Cheng Ye didn’t want to eagerly search for skills only to find the target’s three skill slots as empty as his own.

Even wasting both chances on strong candidates was better than gambling on these small fry.

Another hour passed.

Bang, bang, bang.

Three gunshots startled Cheng Ye, making him turn instinctively.

In the isolation cage at conveyor belt 4, a man and woman being inspected had their heads blown off by sentries.

Then, the same tentacles Cheng Ye saw yesterday, highly latent “Deathwhisper Tentacles” emerged from their throats.

In small sanctuaries or settlements, these obsession-parasitic infection sources could spawn hundreds of tentacles in a month, easily causing mass disasters.

But fortunately, few in the vast wasteland would obsess over small sanctuaries.

“In a way, the frequent appearance of Deathwhisper Tentacles is a testament to a sanctuary’s strength and influence.”

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

The tragedy at conveyor belt 4 meant that survivors daring to enter the isolation cages after witnessing a headshot had some substance.

As survivor quality rose, a man and a woman appeared at the end of conveyor belt 8, transported in a cage. Cheng Ye snapped to attention.

But just then, a nearby argument stole his focus.

Turning, he thought, “Holy crap, a man, a woman, and a child, the wasteland’s top-tier combo finally showed up?”