"That's all I know. If the Inspector has any other questions..."
"No more questions."
Cheng Ye didn't continue to make things difficult for the few guards at the door, who were evidently at the bottom of the food chain at the inspection station.
It wasn't that he suddenly became benevolent; rather, from this brief interaction, he had already guessed where his potential trouble might come from.
But, is it a big problem?
To stand firm in the inspection station, what you rely on is not your father's influence, but means, courage, and bloodthirstiness.
In a sense, this place is still an extension of the Wasteland, only with a few more protective rules.
His fingertips brushed over the Wild Bull Fighting Handgun at his waist, the cold metal sensation creeping up his arm from his palm.
Looking up, he glanced at the dark muzzle openings on the city wall.
Noticing that the guards operating the machine guns were deliberately avoiding his gaze, Cheng Ye chuckled lightly:
"Alright, they should be ready too. Help me open the door."
"Ah... okay, sure!"
The tall guard, as if granted an amnesty, turned three steps into one and rushed back to the door to swipe his card and verify his identity.
Thunk.
The heavy blast door was slowly pushed open from inside out, and as the opening became wide enough for three people to pass through side by side, the internal scene gradually came into view.
It wasn't as high-tech as the Inner City, and the overall style was very much in line with the old-era style of the Buffer Zone.
A straight main road paved with gray-black epoxy resin floor extended to the end of E District, where a few trucks waiting to leave the city were being inspected at the end.
On both sides of the road, square workstations were neatly arranged, with half-open dark green steel-plastic windows. Acrylic electronic signs stood at the doors, with red LED digital tubes scrolling words like 'Data Room', 'Archive Room', 'Report Room', 'Inspection Room', 'Disinfection Station', etc.
After a night of heavy rain inundated the Buffer Zone, there wasn't much standing water to be seen here.
A few workers in blue overalls moved back and forth with squeegees, pushing the rainwater into the side gullies right as it fell, leaving only meandering watermarks.
"You just need to go straight to the Report Room. Someone there will help you register as an Inspector for the North Station."
"Thank you."
Having not been made difficult by Cheng Ye and even receiving a thank you, the tall guard found it peculiar.
Earlier, he said that he was a tool, not because he was belittling himself, but because he was stating an established fact.
After all, the Wasteland doesn't nurture idle people, and being treated as a tool by the esteemed Inspector is considered an honor.
But now, there was a strange feeling in his heart.
"It must be my illusion, how could there be an Inspector who treats us like humans?"
The door closed.
Watching the gradually blurring silhouette in the rain, the tall guard shook off the ridiculous thought along with the raindrops.
Yes, it must have been his illusion!
...
After entering E District, Cheng Ye didn't rush to report but stood in place for a while, observing.
Whether it was the bustling workers or those sweeping away water by the roadside, they were all Westerners.
As an Eastern face standing at the North Station, he certainly stood out.
But strangely, everyone acted as if they didn't see him; no one cast him any peculiar looks.
Even when he looked at them, they seemed startled and would dodge his gaze, as if he were some dangerous beast.
"Are they that afraid of me?"
This surprised Cheng Ye a bit, yet made him feel that his move was correct.
Rather than heading to the South Station first and stumbling unknowingly into trouble amidst the flowery chaos, only to be pushed into a ditch and fall to his death,
he preferred to head straight to the North Station, ready for confrontation from the start, to fight to the death if need be.
Just like now, everyone knew that this Eastern Inspector was here to "stir up trouble," so ordinary people who had no ability to get involved in factional battles naturally distanced themselves, afraid of being implicated.
And what's left are the enemies, now immediately apparent.
A couple of dozen pairs of eyes looked at him from the various workstations along the road. Even as Cheng Ye looked back, those eyes didn't waver, full of amusement and disdain.
Within the few minutes it took for the guard to pass on the information, they had already pulled up Cheng Ye's records, and incidentally figured out why Cheng Ye had been assigned to the quick inspection post.
To offend a Western Faction Inspector and still dare to rush to the North Inspection Station? Do they really think Westerners are easy to manipulate?
Moreover, ordinary people in the station are just there to scrape by, afraid of offending an Inspector.
But they are not afraid.
After all, they are the ones set to inherit their fathers' Inspector positions, who would take notice of a "young brat" who rose to power early because his "father died early"?
In this eerie atmosphere, Cheng Ye headed toward the Report Room.
The workers by the roadside immediately fled, each diving into the alleyways of the workstations.
Meanwhile, the young people inside the workstations tacitly opened the doors, standing in twos and threes at the entrances, implicitly surrounding Cheng Ye and the Report Room in the center.
"Hello, I am an Intern Inspector. It's my first day reporting at the quick inspection station."
He walked up to the window and took out his identity badge.
The Report Room was about twenty square meters; a young man in his twenties sat by the window.
He had a standard Western face, grey-blue pupils, with a few dark red veins in the whites of his eyes, and his greasy hair clung to his brow, evidence of a night spent staying up.
"The rules of the quick inspection station, do you know them or not?"
The young man sized up Cheng Ye, muttering without the slightest intention to take the identity badge.
"I don't know."
Cheng Ye honestly shook his head, "I was previously an intern at the Central Main Inspection Station, and this is my first time at the quick inspection station. I'm not yet familiar with any special rules here."