After Downs finished speaking, the office fell into brief silence.

Logically speaking, today's conversation between the two should never have reached this point.

No one had expected that what started as an offhand question and answer would gradually change flavor with Cheng Ye's repeatedly unexpected responses.

Evolving into a tacit mutual probing session.

And awkwardly, the probing results showed that their philosophies seemed to have no conflicts, but rather were highly compatible.

Wait, my philosophy is compatible with a Western fifth-term inspector, the duty station chief of North Station?

What a coincidence?

The moment he reached this conclusion, Cheng Ye wasn't pleased, but immediately realized something was wrong with the situation.

As a first-generation inspector from when the inspection station was established, when Cheng Wu led people away, Downs didn't leave.

This meant he didn't recognize the Idealist faction's philosophy.

Later when the Original Intent faction rose to power and fell, some left, some entered the inner city, but only Downs, this first-generation inspector, remained steady as an old dog throughout.

This was enough to prove he wasn't aligned with the Original Intent faction either.

Neither Idealist nor Original Intent, if Downs shared his philosophy, he should have been squeezed out by the inspection station's factional struggles long ago.

But until today, he still sat firmly in the duty station chief position, able to do whatever he wanted without caring about anyone's opinions, as he said.

This meant that in Ding Yishan and Harlin's eyes, Downs was completely non-threatening.

What kind of person would pose no threat? The answer was obvious.

This guy was probably an old slacker without principles, relying on seniority.

"Station Chief Downs, thank you!"

Cheng Ye's heart sharpened, and he immediately stepped forward to pick up the badge from the desk and pocket it.

In interpersonal relations, the most taboo thing was speaking too deeply when the relationship was shallow.

He felt his relationship with Downs hadn't reached that level, yet Downs was acting so enthusiastically.

It was simply too deliberate.

"Hmm, don't you want to ask anything more?" Downs was stunned, then his smile grew even brighter, the wrinkles at his eyes smoothing out.

"I already know enough for today." Cheng Ye shook his head, his tone frank. "Asking more would exceed what I should touch upon at my level, which would only add unnecessary troubles."

"Not bad, seems you already have a choice in mind."

Downs nodded approvingly. "Station Chief Ding indeed has good judgment, discovering your uniqueness before I did. If you can get through the trainee period, don't always do duty within the inspection station. Happiness City is becoming increasingly unsuitable for someone like you."

"Every transcendent's appearance injects an obsession into this sanctuary city. Even if these obsessions are all positive, protection, construction, order... but when countless obsessions interweave and merge, they'll eventually twist into invisible shackles, forming restrictive rules, leaving no opportunity for change."

"Because these rules are their very lives."

"If you want to realize your ideals, want to break these rules, it's equivalent to..."

Downs paused, swallowing back words that had reached his lips, only sighing softly.

"Try to see the wilderness as much as possible, like your grandfather, better not to come back."

"The buffer zone had all its extending chains severed by the elders 13 years ago, becoming an independent small world. But with only a wall separating them, who can guarantee those chains won't quietly extend out again?"

Speaking thus, he turned to look out the window at the gray sky, his voice so soft it seemed like he was talking to himself. "Only outside is the territory for us ordinary people. No matter how long transcendents' reach is, they're firmly locked in the city by their own obsessions, by conservative old fools like us... locked tight, tight as death!"

Pushing the door open and stepping out, Cheng Ye couldn't help turning back for another look. Downs still stood by the window, his gaze melancholy.

He gently closed the door and looked in the direction Downs was gazing.

In the wilderness beyond the inspection station, at the distant horizon, rain clouds were brewing again. Lead-gray clouds pressed low, as if they might come crashing down at any moment.

But inexplicably, Cheng Ye didn't feel oppressed, but rather suddenly enlightened.

It seemed the reason for Happiness City's special structure was finally unfolding before his eyes bit by bit.

"Inner city, buffer zone..."

"So the high walls protect not just inner city residents, but also transcendents' obsessions?"

Cheng Ye pondered silently, walking down the stairs step by step, considering the authenticity of this explanation.

The orderly appearance of the inner city in his memory now indeed seemed like a prison bound by countless rules.

There was no freedom whatsoever inside. Residents lived stable days like marionettes.

No disputes, no noise, even benefit distribution was arranged properly, living in the "ideal happiness" that outsiders envied.

Cheng Ye had wondered before why it was so divided. Now finally someone had answered this question.

Anyone who dared break the happiness inside or destroy the rules within was equivalent to demanding all transcendents' lives.

"However, this explanation is somewhat extreme..."

Stepping out of North Station, Cheng Ye stopped and turned to look at the five-story station building.

Downs had somehow appeared at the end of the corridor, quietly watching him.

Their gazes met in the air. The old man's face showed a smile, raising his hand in a gentle wave, as if he truly considered himself a benevolent elder.

But could someone who maintained his position through two internal conflicts really be that simple?

Cheng Ye nodded slightly, turned toward the bus stop, but silently raised Downs's threat level another notch in his mind.

Worthy of being a duty station chief, he indeed had some skills.

One nonsensical grand theory after another, with carefully packaged conspiracy theories embedded in between.

Describing transcendents as floods and beasts, depicting sanctuary cities as cages, praising the wilderness as a utopia.

Hmm, this set of conspiracy theories might be enough to fool naive youngsters like Wang Kang, might scare the silly boy into wanting to leave Happiness City tomorrow to seek opportunities in the wilderness.

But for his soul from modern society, upon careful consideration, the logical holes were too numerous to withstand scrutiny.

Going to the wilderness, escaping sanctuary cities, avoiding transcendents, what problems could this solve?

Nothing at all!

When Downs said these things, he seemed to completely forget what qualified him to sit in the inspection station pointing fingers at the current system.

He didn't realize at all that leaving Happiness City for the wilderness, he'd just be roadkill.

Clearly he could rely on Happiness City to develop slowly, yet he insisted on running to compete with scavengers for scraps?

For what?

Hating Happiness City with the intensity of two people, talking about change meant hurrying away.

This mentality deliberately magnified the constraints brought by transcendents while ignoring the peaceful environment these people supported.

The so-called fear of chains extending out was, at bottom, just condemning high-level transcendents' will and thoughts with one stroke.

The original body had lived in the inner city for so many years. Though without freedom, he could grow up safely in this chaotic world, having opportunities to learn poetry and literature without worrying about the next meal.

Happiness City's four factions had fought for so many years, with open and covert struggles never ceasing, yet the sanctuary city still stood firmly on this wasteland.

"Obsession... He probably doesn't even know what obsession truly is, just guessing from an ordinary person's perspective, trying to instill in me the philosophy that transcendents and ordinary people are opposed, not knowing I could become transcendent right before his eyes!"

Thinking of this, Cheng Ye found Downs's theory increasingly absurd. At least the upper levels used philosophies to divide factions, each with their own reasoning and advantages. This guy directly divided people into ordinary people and transcendents.

Such crude opposition, yet the solution offered was escaping to the wilderness. It had to be said, Downs might have his own self-consistent logic.

But he might have forgotten that for most people, just staying alive was difficult enough.

Even Cheng Ye, as an inspector, had only just escaped the life-and-death line and gained the capital to survive.

Wang Kang next door was still on his first day of duty, could die at any moment.

So-called philosophies, factions, freedom ultimately had to be built on the foundation of being able to survive.

Just like if he really could bring all the Tianyuan Community people outside, freedom would be freedom, but where would the startup resources come from?

Weapons and ammunition, living supplies, civil construction, basic resources...

None of these could be lacking. Otherwise, rashly going out would be like him standing in the office theorizing on paper.

After all, massive Happiness City had over a hundred thousand people migrating away.

Building influence, what would he rely on to attract these people to stay, what would he rely on to protect these people?

Only by staying in this buffer zone, relying on Happiness City's power to block outside dangers, using inspector status to build a team, silently accumulating strength and developing.

When the day came that conditions were fully mature, only then would he be qualified to step into the wilderness and seek true freedom.

Moreover, the elders at least severed the extending chains and provided twenty thousand points of resources to support his development of Tianyuan Community, cultivating his team, attempting to change the buffer zone.

But what about Downs?

Just moving his lips, advising him to venture into the wilderness, not letting him stay in the buffer zone to develop steadily.

If one's convictions weren't firm enough, hearing this might really get drawn in.

But Downs would never know that no matter what philosophy he chose, it wouldn't affect gaining transcendent power. With this premise, why worry about factions?

Cheng Ye couldn't help suspecting this guy might have wanted to follow Cheng Wu away back then, only to be disdainfully left behind by Cheng Wu.

Otherwise, why did he always have that passive-aggressive resentful woman expression whenever Cheng Wu was mentioned?

"However, the wilderness indeed needs to be seen, to understand the outside situation. Can't work behind closed doors."

Getting on the bus, Cheng Ye pulled out his defense communicator. It was already five PM. Wang Kang had called at four-thirty, when he was talking with Downs and couldn't answer.

"Little Kang?"

"Brother Cheng, I finished my shift." Wang Kang's voice came through the earpiece, carrying the fatigue of someone who had just laid down a heavy burden.

Cheng Ye leaned back in the bus seat, looking at the darkening sky outside the window. "How did the first day feel?"

"Pretty, pretty good..." Wang Kang's first sentence still forced composure, but the second sentence barely started before his voice obviously couldn't hold up, carrying an uncontrollable sob.

Scared by infected entities?

"Where are you?"

"On my way home, almost at the city district entrance."

"Then go home first."

Cheng Ye softened his tone. "Make some hot water, rest a while before deciding whether to go to the training ground."

Hanging up, looking at the darkened defense communicator screen, Cheng Ye couldn't help sighing softly.

After a day of maneuvering and thinking, even he felt physically and mentally exhausted, let alone Wang Kang on his first day of duty as a trainee inspector.

Sure enough, when he returned to the tube building and knocked on the door, the first thing he saw was Wang Kang's bruised and swollen appearance.

His left cheek was highly swollen, dried blood scabs still at the corner of his mouth, even his eye corners were bruised purple, looking particularly disheveled.

"What happened?"

"Encountered... infected entities, ran while fighting, fell myself."

Wang Kang kept his head down, voice muffled, eyes somewhat evasive, obviously stammering and lying.

But Cheng Ye looked him up and down and didn't pursue the real situation.

As long as he could return alive, these injuries weren't serious.

Even if Wang Kang had been bullied by other inspectors, there was no need to dwell on it now.

Tomorrow he'd go to South Station for duty. With him watching, he could slowly understand the situation and settle accounts later.

"Go to my room, there's bruise medicine. After applying it, we'll continue training tonight."

"Tomorrow I'll take the first shift, you stay home and rest until noon before coming."

Wang Kang nodded lightly, his lips moved, ultimately only saying quietly, "Thank you, Brother Cheng."

At the training ground, with Miao Yang responsible for leading practice, Cheng Ye sat on a bench at the side, opening his defense communicator to examine the newly activated permissions.

In the corner of the screen desktop, a very conspicuous inspection station logo had appeared, the central inspection station's badge design.

After clicking in, currently only one lonely function was placed at the top.

[Contribution]

Cheng Ye lightly tapped, the defense communicator screen flickered twice, jumping to the contribution module.

Then a line of notification popped up.

[Jade Birth Stone has been recovered and completed, value: 18650 points]

[Contribution points obtained: 559]

"Huh, such high efficiency?"

In just half a day, the jade crystal's contribution had been settled.

According to the 30% ratio, he should have received 5586 points, but the top only showed 559 contribution points.

"Ten-to-one ratio conversion?"

Cheng Ye nodded slightly, understanding in his heart.

It seemed these contribution points and actual contribution points indeed had no direct equivalence, but were a special internal currency.

He continued scrolling down the interface, discovering this contribution module's layout was somewhat similar to the material purchase station, with several major categories below. But with current permissions, only the first three were viewable:

Vehicles, Equipment, Medical.

Clicking into vehicles, the screen paused, then began lagging, taking four or five seconds to slowly refresh rows of data.

The moment he saw the first line of content, Cheng Ye blinked hard, subconsciously thinking his eyes were playing tricks.

[Rhino Tank]

[Rental: 800 points/day]

[Deposit: 8000 points]

[Note: Tank comes with supporting personnel, no salary payment required]

[Note: Shell costs 100 points/shot, rental requires prepaying for 4 shells, automatic refund if unused]

"Rhino tanks can be rented too?"

Cheng Ye was completely stunned, his finger suspended above the screen, forgetting to move.

He'd heard this name before when talking with Liu Bi on the phone. The power station seemed to have over twenty of them.

At the time he'd only thought they were military corps heavy weapons, never imagining they could brazenly appear on the inspection station's rental list.

No, could these things really be rented?

And looking at the notes, it wasn't just for show, but could actually fire shells?

Cheng Ye was somewhat dumbfounded, his fingertip rapidly swiping the screen, the shock in his heart growing stronger.

Good heavens, this contribution system's ferocity made the material purchase station look tame by comparison!

He'd been holding a gold mountain while running to rummage through sewers for garbage!

Rows of data refreshed, more vehicles appeared in succession:

[Sparrow Helicopter]

[Rental: 500 points/day, deposit: 5000 points, note: limited to 300km radius mission deployment]

[Black Hawk Helicopter]

[Rental: 1200 points/day, deposit: 10000 points, note: requires third-term or above inspector authority approval]

[Defender Patrol Armored Vehicle]

[Rental: 200 points/day, deposit: 2000 points, note: can install heavy machine gun module (additional 10 points/day)]

[Sweeper Armored Personnel Carrier]

[Rental: 80 points/day, deposit: 800 points, note: single trip capacity 12 people, includes basic defensive armor]

[...]

Vehicle names appeared one by one, from land heavy weapons to air support, like browsing a Grand Theft Auto 5 vehicle list, completely exceeding Cheng Ye's understanding of "inspection station authority."

However, for these vehicles, Cheng Ye had no specific perception and didn't know if the prices were cheap or expensive.

Continuing to swipe, he went directly to find the Grand Cherokee. The information on the interface finally gave him some sense of reality:

[Brick Transport Vehicle]

[Range: 100kwh version, 650km]

[Rental: 15 points/day]

[Deposit: 150 points]

[Note: Driver not included, inspector must bring own driver or rent additionally (2 points/day)]

[Note: If damaged, full deposit deducted. If repairs needed, costs paid by inspection station]

"Damn you, Downs, making me go out and suffer!"

Cheng Ye stared at this data for several seconds, then scrolled up and down to confirm the display was correct, suddenly feeling his earlier shock couldn't describe his current mood.

He could only slap his thigh and mentally greet Downs's entire family.

15 points?

What concept was that?

His current 559 points were enough to rent this 100-degree battery version that the material purchase station didn't even have, drive it around for a month with surplus.

Even if he broke the car, wrecked it completely, he'd only need to compensate 150 points. He could afford to wreck over three cars.

What did this represent?

It represented the inspection station's sufficient trust and support for inspectors under this contribution system!

And what about Downs? Constantly advising him to leave the buffer zone and blindly venture into the wilderness. Wasn't this clearly making him throw away watermelons to pick up sesame seeds?

In an instant, Cheng Ye suddenly felt Downs might really treat him like those naive fools living in the inner city who knew nothing of the world, trying to deceive him, because such fools shared a common trait of harboring baseless expectations about the outside world.

Just like Wang Kang, only after being taken around the shantytown by Big Dragon did he believe how vicious it was outside.

That's not right.

After thinking for a while, Cheng Ye realized that if it were that day when he first went to North Station and nothing had happened, Downs thinking this way would be understandable, because then he indeed acted like a hothead, firing twice in the inspection station.

Brainless hotheads were completely unsuitable for the inspection station. Plus with the Cheng family's natural burden of hatred, running away might be a good choice.

But now, with Ding Yishan publicly wanting to promote him, with Downs's seniority, he should logically understand the inside story and shouldn't treat him like a fool.

Unless...

Cheng Ye suddenly thought of a possibility.

When studying, he'd more than once seen online those "monsters" who clearly had high-paying respectable jobs, were life winners in others' eyes, yet always felt the air outside was sweeter.

After these monsters ran out at any cost, even if they fell to picking up garbage on the streets, they didn't feel they were suffering but instead proclaimed they'd gained freedom and found their ideal life.

Could Downs be this type of person?

Really believing from the heart that outside was better?

"If he's not deliberately trying to fool me with ulterior motives, then he's both stupid and bad."

"This kind of person isn't even as good as Lee Matteo, no, not even close to Lee Matteo!"

"When I become station chief someday, I'll definitely exile this guy to the wilderness to experience it properly, let him know just how wonderful and attractive the outside world really is."

"Hmm, better to throw him to Double Moon Lake and let him personally experience what the wilderness means!"

[NEXT CHAPTER]