Everyone has different feelings about their first pot of gold.
Some marvel at fate's wonders, others feel gratified that their efforts finally paid off, or when looking back years later, they simply see it as minor hardships on life's journey. Or perhaps on some restless night, when suddenly remembering it, their heart still flutters with indescribable excitement.
But regardless of the taste, this initial gain always leaves a deep mark in memory.
Like a wedge nailed to a certain trajectory in life, no matter how far one travels afterward, looking back always reveals that original mark clearly.
The Dragon Force embryo found on Chu Yunfeng was, for Cheng Ye, the most precious first pot of gold.
The explosive increase in physical attributes it brought directly boosted his survival rate at North Station exponentially, and later showed great power during the Substitute Starfish disaster.
So much so that every time he accumulated enough charging value afterward, Cheng Ye would inevitably think of Chu Yunfeng.
And now, they were meeting again.
In just over half a month, the two people standing at opposite ends of the rain curtain gave Cheng Ye a momentary sense of how things had changed.
Dozens of sunrises and sunsets ago, neither of them had been able to establish themselves in Happiness City but now, it seemed both had taken a big step forward.
"Sir?" Snake saw Cheng Ye standing at the edge of the rain shelter, his brow furrowing and relaxing, his expression changing several times. He quickly stepped over, nervously lowering his voice to ask.
At the same time, he instinctively reached for his sidearm, thinking Cheng Ye had determined that scavenger was a high-risk infected individual and was preparing to act at any moment.
"It's fine, follow normal procedures. He's an acquaintance."
"An acquaintance?"
Snake was stunned, a flash of surprise in his eyes.
When inspectors were on duty, even when encountering people they knew, they rarely spoke so directly about it.
Those who could be openly acknowledged usually meant the relationship was indeed quite good.
Snake immediately understood, and the wariness and coldness on his face when facing solitary scavengers faded somewhat, replaced by a relatively kind smile.
When Chu Yunfeng walked through the passage and came to the window in front of the quarantine area, he immediately stepped forward, "Hello, since you're entering the city alone, according to regulations, please first pass in your resident identification."
While gesturing toward the inspection window, Snake's tone was gentler than usual, though the seriousness in his eyes hadn't diminished at all.
Solitary scavengers had always been key targets for screening, requiring identity verification first to prevent unregistered newcomers from mixing into the buffer zone and adding chaos to the already tense epidemic prevention work.
"Alright, sir, this is my identification," Chu Yunfeng set down the waterproof bags from his shoulders, his movements somewhat clumsy as he reached inside his raincoat through the collar opening, fumbling around his chest for quite a while before pulling out a somewhat wrinkled paper identification document.
Unlike Xinghuo residents, who all had metal badges as identity markers, ordinary residents of Happiness City had to stay for a full year before qualifying to receive badges.
Newcomers like Chu Yunfeng only had this paper certificate.
The document's exterior was carefully laminated, with colorful yarn woven into a crooked protective cover around the edges. One could see it was usually protected with extreme care.
When Snake received the document, his fingertips touched the protruding yarn ball on the woven cover. Looking down, he glimpsed a pattern of three family members holding hands printed on the front, and his expression became even more gentle.
Someone who would knit a protective cover for their identification couldn't be any kind of vicious criminal.
"Please wait, we need to verify this in the system."
"Thank you for your trouble," Chu Yunfeng opened his mouth as if wanting to ask something, his gaze turning half a circle on Cheng Ye's face before swallowing his words back.
He actually didn't know Cheng Ye's name. When they had entered the city at Central Station, Cheng Ye had worn a mask the entire time. He had only remembered this figure through a warrior's keen senses, never seeing his face.
At this moment, he inconspicuously looked at Cheng Ye a few more times, secretly startled in his heart.
What a young inspector!
Looking at his age, he seemed even younger than those idle troublemakers in the shantytowns, yet that stability radiating from within was more solid than many veterans he had encountered.
"Chu Yunfeng, 34, currently registered residence at: E17 Shantytown, requesting rapid identity verification," Snake reported the information into the defense communicator hanging on his chest. As soon as he finished speaking, a response came from the clerical staff on the other side of the quarantine area.
"Received, verifying now!"
Data was being typed, and information scrolled rapidly across the screen.
In just over ten seconds, a clear response came through, "Data correct, match successful, confirmed as registered resident of E17 Shantytown. Note: This resident's registration is less than one month old."
Less than one month?
That made him a complete newcomer!
Snake was stunned. How could a newcomer be Inspector Cheng's acquaintance?
But then his mind suddenly clicked, wasn't Inspector Cheng also a newcomer?
However, in this quarantine area, few people would associate the words "newcomer" with Cheng Ye.
"Sir, no problems."
"Good."
Cheng Ye nodded and pressed the red button on the table.
The isolation door's hydraulic cylinder made a soft "hiss," and the heavy isolation doors slowly opened to both sides, revealing a passage wide enough for four people to enter side by side, much narrower than Zones A and C, guarding against scavengers forcing their way through.
Chu Yunfeng lowered his head, carrying a waterproof bag in each hand as he walked in, guided by Snake to stand within the white marking lines in the center of the rain shelter.
"Mr. Chu Yunfeng, please open your raincoat and place any weapons you're carrying on this table first," Snake gestured with his hand.
Chu Yunfeng nodded without any hesitation.
He reached behind his back, grasped the zipper of the one-piece raincoat, and slowly pulled it down.
This type of one-piece raincoat was most practical in the wasteland. When the zipper was pulled all the way down, it could wrap around the entire body, never allowing rainwater to seep through and wet the inner clothing.
But soon, Snake's expression changed slightly.
When the raincoat was pulled down to chest level, it revealed black leather straps crossing Chu Yunfeng's front.
Every few inches on the straps, there was a holstered pistol. They all appeared to be standard Happiness City guard pistols.
At least seven or eight of them, densely hanging across his entire chest, like some primitive tribal warrior who hung captured bone teeth all over his body as trophies.
"This..." Snake's Adam's apple moved forcefully.
Happiness City scavengers basically all carried one or two guns for self-defense, which wasn't strange.
Even having someone carry three to five guns, both long and short, was understandable but someone who hung pistols in a circle around their chest, in his nearly four years of duty, this was the first time he'd seen it.
However, as the raincoat continued to be pulled down, Snake's expression completely changed, his pupils suddenly contracting.
Chu Yunfeng's waist, abdomen, and even the outer sides of his thighs were all wrapped with layer upon layer of leather straps, so many layers that his original body shape was nearly unrecognizable.
Besides more guns of various models, there were also four cold weapons of different lengths and styles.
Judging by the gleaming edges on their surfaces, these were obviously not ordinary goods, but special weapons mixed with transcendent ore materials.
Most conspicuous was the entire circle of hand grenades at his waist.
The black warheads were round and full, their safety pin rings connected by thin chains that swayed lightly with his movements, each one silently declaring its threatening nature.
Holy shit.
Only these two words remained in Snake's mind, he even forgot to breathe.
This wasn't a scavenger at all, but clearly a walking human armory!
He almost reflexively reached for his sidearm, his field reaction to "great terror" making him forget this was Cheng Ye's acquaintance but the next second, a hand gently pressed on his shoulder.
It was Cheng Ye.
Cheng Ye had somehow already walked over, his fingers slightly cool, but the pressure on his shoulder was steady, instantly suppressing all of the latter's impulses.
Snake turned his head, wanting to find a trace of the same shock on Cheng Ye's face, but discovered that Cheng Ye wasn't even looking at him.
Instead, his gaze was firmly locked on Chu Yunfeng, or more precisely, on all the weapons covering his body.
There wasn't much surprise in his eyes, but rather like seeing some interesting objects, filled with intrigued exploration.
Snake could only turn back, and the two of them just quietly watched as Chu Yunfeng completely removed his raincoat, revealing the pure black combat suit underneath that was stretched tight by the leather straps.
The combat suit was covered with dark red stains, some places clotted into chunks, obviously dried blood scabs.
Most striking was the brand on his chest, a fanged ghost head with cheeks that seemed stuffed with something, bulging outward.
Only after Chu Yunfeng had removed all the weapons from his body, spreading them densely across the entire inspection table, did Cheng Ye finally speak, his tone as flat as asking if someone had eaten, "Is there more?"
"Mm," Chu Yunfeng paused, then honestly nodded, "There's more!"
???
Snake was completely dumbfounded, his eyes wide as copper bells.
More?
This was practically a weapons store moved here, where else could more come from? Surely not grenades hidden in his crotch?
The next second, he saw Chu Yunfeng bend down and untie the rope knots on his right-hand waterproof bag.
The zipper made a "ripping" sound as it opened, and he reached inside, pulling out gun after gun.
Good lord, other people's waterproof bags contained items scavenged from city ruins.
Which weapons shop did you raid?
Inside were all brand-new guard rifles, their barrels still gleaming with cold metallic luster and reeking of gun oil, obviously barely used new goods.
One, two, three...
Twenty-two rifles were arranged in a row in the rain shelter, taking up nearly half the space, their muzzles all pointing toward where the two men stood, like a silent steel forest.
"Is there more?" Cheng Ye's voice sounded again, without the slightest ripple.
"There's more!"
More?!
Snake felt his worldview was about to be overturned.
Chu Yunfeng opened the waterproof bag on his left hand, which also contained mainly guard rifles, but Cheng Ye sharp-eyed spotted two longer guns pressed at the bottom.
The barrels were etched with spiral grooves, the stocks wrapped in anti-slip leather, topped with forearm-length scopes.
Actually sniper rifles?
These required permits to purchase, with extreme power, classified as controlled items.
Interesting.
Which weapons depot did he raid?
Connecting this to the ghost head insignia on Chu Yunfeng's chest, he thoughtfully asked, "Are you injured?"
"No."
"Very good, put the items down, let's start the inspection according to procedure."
Cheng Ye turned and walked back behind the table, pulling out a chair to sit, as if what he had just seen wasn't a pile of weapons enough to arm three squads, but just ordinary goods.
Before truly stepping into the martial arts threshold, he could only vaguely sense Chu Yunfeng's extraordinary nature but now, even though both Chu Yunfeng and Master Tian had Lv4 skills, he inexplicably felt Chu Yunfeng's presence was even more formidable.
How could such a fierce person be content to be an ordinary, law-abiding citizen in Happiness City, struggling to maintain life like those refugees who survived on manual labor?
Not to mention he had a wife and child.
As long as he was determined to put down roots in Happiness City, he would inevitably face layer upon layer of economic pressure.
And going out to "scavenge" was obviously the fastest way to make money.
Snake was still in a daze until Cheng Ye coughed, snapping him back to reality. He hurriedly picked up the detector.
After confirming the readings were stable within safe parameters, he breathed a sigh of relief, "Sir, the data shows no problems."
"Good, come over for questioning."
Cheng Ye nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on Chu Yunfeng as he walked neither obsequiously nor defiantly to the yellow square in front of the isolation table.
He didn't rush to speak, his fingertips lightly tapping on the table surface, his gaze looking him up and down several times before saying, "You recognize me?"
"..." Chu Yunfeng was obviously stunned, as if he hadn't expected him to be so direct.
After four or five seconds of silence, he nodded with difficulty, his voice low, "Yes, sir. We met at Central Station. At that time... at that time my family was being hassled by that inspector, and you stepped in to help us."
"I'm called Cheng Ye. When you saw me, I was still a trainee inspector for this Happiness City," Cheng Ye smiled, "Of course, I still am now."
Cheng Ye...
Chu Yunfeng silently repeated this name several times in his heart, firmly remembering it before looking up again.
"Tell me, where did these weapons come from?" Cheng Ye put away his smile, leaning slightly forward with his elbows on the table and fingers interlaced, "These things aren't something you can just dig up from ruins."
"If they were robbed from other scavengers or survivors, you should understand Happiness City's rules. All supplies will be confiscated, and you'll be fined an equivalent amount. If the situation is extremely severe, such as maliciously causing multiple casualties, it will be directly viewed as challenging Happiness City's order, treated as a hostile force, and subject to judgment under Happiness City law."
Actually, Cheng Ye was clear in his heart that since Chu Yunfeng dared to bring these things openly to the inspection station, even removing the weapons without any concealment, it was enough to prove these items' origins were explainable.
But his reason for reminding him was mainly because the final determination of these rules wasn't in the inspectors' hands.
But rather with the purchasing point, where there were specialized appraisers who would conduct a series of detailed examinations through traces like wear patterns on weapons, fingerprint residue, serial number records, and so forth.
Even if Chu Yunfeng could fabricate a self-consistent story, as long as the appraisal results determined these weapons were robbed from ordinary survivors, the consequences would be exactly what he had just described.
"They were taken from the Hundred Ghosts Gang."
"Oh?"
Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow. This name had been quite unfamiliar before, but now it was very familiar.
The first time he'd heard it was when inspecting the four brothers, discovering that Li Kuang had fought the Hundred Ghosts Gang.
These past two days on duty in Zone B, he'd often heard this name from scavengers' mouths.
The so-called "Hundred Ghosts Gang" referred to the largest scavenger faction in Chuan City ruins, bar none.
Of course, this "largest" didn't refer to how strict their organizational hierarchy was, or how many capable fighters they had under them.
The essence of the Hundred Ghosts Gang was more like a loose alliance, a platform for surrounding settlements of scavengers to communicate.
Simply put, it was a wasteland version of an "adventurers' guild."
Any scavenger organization with more than fifty people could go to the core area of Chuan City ruins to find the Hundred Ghosts Gang's leader "Ghost King," submit their activity range and supply lists, register and file, and they'd be considered members.
After joining, the biggest benefit was being able to barter at the seven outposts the Hundred Ghosts Gang had scattered throughout the ruins.
Scarce medicines, weapons and ammunition, food resources, even "safe route maps" of the surrounding areas.
Their prices were basically the same as Happiness City's buying and selling prices, sometimes even more affordable.
Cheng Ye had a vague guess that behind the Hundred Ghosts Gang should be Happiness City's secret support.
It was even possible that the inspection stations making first-line contact with city ruins were the masterminds.
After all, order in Chuan City ruins couldn't be chaotic. As Happiness City's first filter, the Hundred Ghosts Gang's existence served as a perfect buffer.
Not only could it provide early warning for Happiness City and assist the Blood Dragon Corps in maintaining order among surrounding settlements, avoiding most infection source threats.
It could also directly manage scavengers and settlements, defining various organizations' activity ranges through trade and registration, equivalent to adding an invisible fence to the chaotic wasteland but this fence only managed the big picture.
Whether the small organizations that joined below committed evil, robbed solo scavengers' supplies, or killed people, the Hundred Ghosts Gang never interfered.
For example, Big Head Ghost mentioned by the four brothers was an organization that specialized in "honey traps."
The Hundred Ghosts Gang couldn't possibly kick out this group just because of what they did. After all, scavengers living in the wasteland didn't have much moral bottom line to speak of, and their principles were flexible.
Never mind Big Head Ghost who specialized in evil, even those scavengers who usually seemed honest and made their living picking up scrap materials wouldn't mind robbing when encountering naive fat sheep.
Once they established a "prohibition on evil" rule, it would be equivalent to setting themselves up as a moral standard, turning the Hundred Ghosts Gang into an organization with a clear stance, which would instead make them enemies of the scavengers.
"Which ghost head?"
"Glutton Ghost," Chu Yunfeng raised his hand, his fingertip lightly tapping the fanged ghost head pattern on his chest.
"They specifically target migrants," Chu Yunfeng's voice grew heavy, "A while back, large numbers of people left Happiness City wanting to try their luck elsewhere. Glutton Ghost set up seven or eight checkpoints in the surrounding areas, specifically robbing those solitary migrants."
"They don't kill people, just rob them and let them go, but without supplies and weapons, migrants can't last three days in the wasteland. They either starve to death or get targeted by infection sources, no different from killing them directly."
"Many people, with no other choice and not wanting to return to Happiness City to start over as newcomers, simply joined Glutton Ghost's mortal enemy, Red Hair Ghost's side."
"The two sides have been fighting in the ruins recently, seven or eight battles, from the department store in the east city to the refinery in the west city, never stopping. I also joined Red Hair Ghost, and these..." He pointed at the pile of weapons on the ground, his tone matter-of-fact, "are my spoils of war."
Good lord, spoils of war?
Chu Yunfeng spoke so seriously that Cheng Ye listened somewhat astonished, almost unable to keep his expression straight.
"What banner does Red Hair Ghost fight under?"
He suppressed his surprise, deliberately drawing out his tone with a hint of curious interest.
"Protection fees," Chu Yunfeng didn't notice the change in Cheng Ye's tone and continued seriously, "Red Hair Ghost isn't exactly good people either, but at least they don't rob randomly. Their rule is to provide manpower to clear infected entities around settlements, designate a safe zone, then collect supplies monthly from settlements as protection fees. Usually it's construction waste that scavengers don't want, not worth much in trade, but Red Hair Ghost has specialized ways to handle it."
"They control a small building materials factory in the south city, can produce rebar and prefab panels, and bought some small equipment from Happiness City that can operate normally. Usually they provide both materials and labor, helping settlements that need it build walls and construct watchtowers."
"Of course, taking orders occasionally issued by Happiness City is the main business, repairing some damaged facilities outside the city, like roads and bridges. That stone bridge on the west side of Linjiang that was washed away last month, they led people to repair it. This is the main source of income."
Interesting.
Cheng Ye listened with great interest. Compared to the scattered, emotionally charged complaints from other scavengers' mouths, Chu Yunfeng's description was obviously closer to reality, neither deliberately beautifying nor deliberately smearing, just matter-of-factly describing a faction's survival method.
This was the real wasteland ecology.
No absolute good or evil, only struggling to find ways to survive on the edge of rules.
Glutton Ghost made money by robbing migrants, Red Hair Ghost established themselves through protection fees and construction orders. Everyone had their own way of living.
"So how did Red Hair Ghost end up fighting with Glutton Ghost?"
"Initially it was just a small conflict. Glutton Ghost's people robbed a batch of building materials, but this batch had already been reserved by Red Hair Ghost. As a result, Glutton Ghost intercepted it, and the two sides had a fight over this. Everyone thought that was the end of it."
"But Glutton Ghost didn't swallow this insult. Later, when Red Hair Ghost was helping East Village Settlement build watchtowers, they spent three days setting up the rebar framework, but Glutton Ghost sent people to sneak over at night and secretly dug out the soil from the tower foundation. It almost collapsed, equivalent to ruining Red Hair Ghost's reputation. After being discovered, they became mortal enemies and have been fighting recently."
"I see..."
Cheng Ye thoughtfully rubbed his chin.
This explanation wasn't complex, and although he had no way to verify its truth, the purchasing point presumably had ways to verify it.
"These weapons are what I got from raiding one of Glutton Ghost's hideouts with others," Chu Yunfeng said, pulling two pieces of white paper folded and stored in waterproof bags from his pocket, "This shows the specific location of the hideout. I also recorded the combat process on the back. Red Hair Ghost's side can testify."
Cheng Ye took them and glanced at the testimony, which basically matched what Chu Yunfeng had said. What wasn't mentioned were just some combat details and distribution processes.
Flipping to the back, Red Hair Ghost's boss 'Red Hair' had personally written a paragraph and stamped it with his seal, roughly praising Chu Yunfeng for being very brave during combat and earnestly requesting the inspector's fair judgment.
Tsk, they had this whole thing organized quite systematically.
"This Tiger Brother?"
Chu Yunfeng hesitated, his ears slightly reddening, as if mustering great courage before speaking, "My alias with Red Hair Ghost is Tiger Feng."
When saying this, his eyes were somewhat evasive.
When using this alias in the ruins, he only felt it was fierce and intimidating enough, but standing under the inspection station's rain shelter and saying it to Cheng Ye, he inexplicably felt somewhat ashamed.
Cheng Ye couldn't help but smile slightly, not exposing his embarrassment, just nodding, "Alright, no problems."
Opening his panel for a glance, the honest man's cooperation level had already risen to 75%.
He felt that if he intimidated him a bit more, reaching over 90% shouldn't be a problem, but to reach 100%, he'd have to wait for a more suitable opportunity.
It was just that Liu Kun might return at any time today, so he needed to save his charging value. Cheng Ye wasn't in a hurry to search right now.
The last time at Central Station, the two hadn't had a chance to get acquainted, including later at the shopping center where communication wasn't convenient.
Now was different, finally having a chance to get closer and get to know each other.
Cheng Ye closed the panel, his voice becoming gentler, "This is a special period. You can take ordinary supplies directly to the purchasing point, where you'll only need to pay 5% tax, but these guns, especially those grenades and two sniper rifles, are all controlled items that individuals can't bring into the buffer zone at will according to regulations."
Hearing this, Chu Yunfeng's face showed a trace of nervousness, this was exactly what he was most worried about.
Seeing this, Cheng Ye continued, "Here's what we'll do. I'll temporarily store the items in the inspection station's warehouse and have someone from the purchasing point come tonight to inventory and register them. If you're not in a hurry for money, after the investigation is complete, the money will be directly transferred to your account in a few days. If you're in a hurry..."
He thought for a moment and added, "Tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock, come wait for me early at the South Station entrance. I'll have someone calculate everything clearly for you on the spot."
Chu Yunfeng nodded repeatedly, his anxious heart settling by more than half. Finally, he rubbed his hands together, appearing somewhat hesitant.
"What's wrong? Is there something else?" Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow.
"Inspector Cheng, could I... could I ask you for a favor?"
Chu Yunfeng's voice was extremely low, almost drowned out by the rain.
His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. According to the experience that boss 'Red Hair' had taught him before returning to the city, in this situation, he should immediately put on a grateful appearance.
Best would be to seize the right moment and kneel directly, kowtowing while describing how difficult it was in the ruins, how many cuts he took to grab these weapons, how there were children at home waiting for life-saving money...
Red Hair had patted his chest guaranteeing that as long as the performance was realistic, eight or nine out of ten inspectors would soften and reduce the secret commission from 50% to around 40%.
Why not the 5% that ordinary scavengers should have?
Nonsense, that small commission was set for those honest people who dug ruins and searched for materials, not for people like them who licked blood from knife edges in the ruins and fought with other factions.
Happiness City didn't encourage private fighting on the surface, but secretly restricted things earned through "killing" even more tightly.
If you dared to treat other people as prey, you had to be prepared to have half taken away. This was an unwritten rule with no room for accommodation.
Even taking things to Ghost King for exchange, explaining their origin, the commission would only be higher, at least 60% starting, and you'd still have to look at their mood.
The only way was to sell retail to scavengers and individuals, but this was too troublesome. Everyone lacked bullets, few people would lack guns, and even if they bought, they'd go to Ghost King's place where the source was legitimate, convenient for future exchanges or emergency use.
This batch of weapons had a total value exceeding 2000 Happiness Coins, not counting the contribution points the grenades and sniper rifles could exchange for.
10% less commission would still net over two hundred, enough for an ordinary worker to toil for nearly half a month.
Only now, standing in front of Cheng Ye, Chu Yunfeng's knees felt filled with lead, unable to bend no matter what.
Those prepared crying tones and pitiful scenes all turned into dry silence when they reached his mouth because he instinctively felt that Cheng Ye wasn't the kind of inspector Red Hair had described, nor would he like him doing this.
Especially remembering the look in Cheng Ye's eyes when watching him remove the weapons one by one, without greed or disdain, only an appreciation that surprised him.
This appreciation inexplicably made Chu Yunfeng feel that honest speaking would actually be more reliable than fake emotional performance.
"Speak."
Seeing Chu Yunfeng remain motionless for a long time, even showing some constraint on his face, Cheng Ye found it somewhat strange and could only soften his tone, "As long as it doesn't violate regulations, I'll help if I can."
This sentence was like a reassuring pill. Chu Yunfeng took a deep breath and finally looked up, "Inspector Cheng, I'm a bit short on money. I know the rules require a 50% cut, but I urgently need money to change housing. The shack I was assigned before has been leaking, with water seeping through the wall cracks. I've patched it several times and kept repairing it, but nothing works."
He spoke haltingly, but his eyes carried a determined honesty.
Success or failure rested on this one sentence, absolutely no tricks.
Cheng Ye was stunned, then smiled. He thought Chu Yunfeng was going to pull some big stunt, but it turned out to be this.
"I'll calculate it at 40% for you. Also... contribution points probably aren't useful to you. For those few items' income, I'll have the purchasing office convert them to Happiness Coins at a 1 to 10 ratio. How about that?"
He paused and added, "Also, I'm personally very interested in information about the Hundred Ghosts Gang. Just write down what you know about those factions' movements outside the city, hideout distributions, and rumors about the ghost heads you know, and give it to me. Consider it payment for this favor I'm doing you."
Chu Yunfeng suddenly looked up, a flash of surprise in his eyes. He hadn't expected it to go so smoothly.
He originally thought being able to negotiate down to 40% would be thanking heaven and earth, never expecting to also get the highest exchange rate for Happiness Coins, and even have the "payment" arranged for him.
Finally, he was startled again, that surprise turning into deep complexity, stuck in his throat. After a long while, he could only squeeze out, "Thank... thank you, Inspector Cheng."
"Alright, 7 o'clock tomorrow morning, wait for me at the South Station entrance," Cheng Ye waved his hand and pressed the button on the table, "Your luck is pretty good... if you'd come back a day later, I'm afraid it wouldn't have been so easy."
Chu Yunfeng didn't understand this sentence, but he detected a trace of gravity in Cheng Ye's tone.
"Yes!"
He nodded firmly, grabbed the raincoat from nearby and put it on, his movements much lighter than when he'd arrived.
No unnecessary pleasantries, no looking back, he strode through the isolation door, his figure quickly disappearing at the end of the passage.
Snake watched from the side in amazement, only coming back to his senses after Chu Yunfeng had gone far.
"Snake."
"Yeah."
"Go check these weapons, see if there are any abnormal traces, pick them out in advance if there are."
"Yes!"
Just a small matter.
As long as it was within his authority, it was just a matter of saying a few words.
Thinking about connecting with Chu Yunfeng again, Cheng Ye couldn't help but feel somewhat excited. After all, Miao Yang's highest skill was only Lv3. To go further, he still needed to work on Chu Yunfeng.
Moreover, Chu Yunfeng obviously wasn't an ordinary person. Maybe like Jiang Chuan, he was hiding special physical talents?
Just as he was pondering this, more scavengers began walking through the passage.
Opening his defense communicator to glance at the time, it was already 11:30. The next wave of incoming foot traffic was about to peak.
Cheng Ye collected his thoughts and refocused his attention on inspections, but until Wang Kang came to take over his shift, he still hadn't seen any sign of Liu Kun.
Was he planning to wait until afternoon, or evening?
But by then there would be fewer and fewer scavengers, how would it be convenient to hide his identity?
"Brother Cheng, you go rest. I'll handle this," Wang Kang had just finished washing his hands, shaking off water drops, already assuming the posture of taking over the duty but just as Cheng Ye stood up, planning to hand over the duty post to Wang Kang, the corner of his eye caught sight of another flow of people surging from the distant passage entrance.
Taking a look, his eyes narrowed and his heart began racing uncontrollably.
"Xiao Kang."
"Hm?"
"You go rest in back for a while. Today's situation is different, I'll work a longer shift!"