Chapter 301: The Board is Reshuffled, Data Updated! |
On October 2nd, Year 35 of the New Era, the Inspection Station convened a general assembly of all Inspectors.
Except for the Chief Contract Management Inspectors of the satellite cities who had specific tasks at hand, or whose construction work had reached a critical milestone and could attend via video conference within network coverage, all other personnel were required to attend in person without exception.
Since the Legion personnel were arriving in the afternoon, Cheng Ye submitted an application to attend virtually, which the Inspection Station quickly approved.
However, Liu Bi, Wang Kang, and Luo Kuke had to take a vehicle back to the Buffer Zone to attend the meeting in person at the usual conference room.
Through the screen, although he could not fully feel the solemn atmosphere in the conference room, seeing the dark expressions on the attending Inspectors' faces was enough to imagine how tense the air must be.
As expected, the moment the assembly began, Halin cut straight to the chase.
"The construction of the first batch of satellite cities has entered the initial delivery and inspection phase. A total of six satellite cities have passed this inspection. They are: Satellite City Number One, Wenlu County, Beachhead Town, Dabo Town, Beiyuan Town, and Xipo Town."
"The remaining satellite cities have all failed and exhibited various clear violations, including shortsighted construction planning, extravagant and wasteful use of resources, and chaotic management models..."
His tone carried a rare, severe criticism, and every point raised was unsparingly tied to specific names.
Halin picked up a list and declared deeply, "All Inspectors whose names are called will return to the Buffer Zone effective today to receive criticism and education. Your Contract Management Qualifications are terminated immediately!"
What?
Contract Management Qualifications terminated?!
Uproar!
The venue instantly erupted into a clamor.
Nearly a third of the Inspectors stood up immediately, their faces plastered with disbelief.
However, Station Master Ding Yishan, sitting in the center of the video feed, remained as steady as a mountain, a faint smile even curling at the corners of his lips.
He wasn't staying passive; the time simply hadn't arrived yet.
Now that the Inspection Station was in direct confrontation with the Legion, this sudden, vigorous internal cleansing clearly had an ulterior motive.
Cheng Ye could roughly guess Ding Yishan's intention. By using the opportunity of purging the satellite city management quotas, he was thoroughly sorting out the internal situation, firmly seizing the qualifications to hold direct dialogues with the Legion, and cutting off the Legion's free allocation and infiltration of the satellite cities at the source.
Once the elimination list was read, the replacement list was announced immediately after.
Aside from Liu Bi replacing Song Hai to become the Chief Contract Management Inspector of East Peace Town...
More than a dozen High-Tier Inspectors had returned over the past few days. Out of the 24 satellite cities, the quotas for 14 were directly replaced. Either the Chief and Deputy Chiefs were entirely swapped out, or only a single, rule-abiding Deputy Chief was left behind.
As Cheng Ye had observed, those satellite cities that engaged in blind construction without a single thought for economic viability were spared no mercy. Even East Ditch Town, managed by the two Third-stage Inspectors Gu Xinjing and Zhang Wen, had its authority ruthlessly stripped away by Ding Yishan.
Tragic!
Too tragic!
Looking at Gu Xinjing's pale face and Zhang Wen's clenched fists and slightly trembling body on the screen, Cheng Ye sighed inwardly. It was hard to reconcile their current state with the busy yet high-spirited figures they were over half a month ago.
Perhaps they only understood at this moment that constructing a satellite city was by no means just building a shelter for the Drifters and giving everyone a place to live.
Taking a step back, one could think that way and act that way, but it absolutely could not be done without any defining characteristics.
Even if they had painted a grand illusion for the leadership, claiming the current actions were merely to lay a solid foundation for future development, it might have been accepted.
However, Gu Xinjing and Zhang Wen had clearly adopted the stance that simply avoiding mistakes was a victory. With such passive slacking, it would be a wonder if Ding Yishan didn't make examples out of them.
What's more, both were Easterner Inspectors and notorious fanatics for "Taking a Side." For them to co-manage a single satellite city was already inappropriate given the current situation.
After a flurry of personnel changes, what surprised Cheng Ye was that Garcia actually had dumb luck.
Despite failing two assessments, he miraculously made it onto the satellite city construction list. The location assigned to him, Cloud Water Town, happened to be downstream from Dabo Town.
With Dabo Town blocking the front and intercepting any Infection Sources and Infected Bodies that might wash ashore from the White Water River, Cloud Water Town could be considered safe and worry-free.
But for a Second-stage Inspector to mingle among a group of Fourth-Stage Inspectors and participate in the third wave of contract management... Cheng Ye secretly guessed this was highly likely related to Garcia Taking a Side with the Legion. The Legion backing him must have struck some sort of deal with the Inspection Station.
As for the specific details of the deal and the compromises made by both sides, Ding Yishan naturally had his own considerations.
Regardless, even if Garcia pranced around downstream and deliberately caused trouble in Cloud Water Town, it wouldn't affect Dabo Town in the slightest.
After the meeting concluded, the personnel inside the Inspection Station were shaken.
The replaced Inspectors had plenty of complaints, but this time Ding Yishan's methods were unimaginably ruthless:
Anyone who dared to question it privately would have their Rank immediately revoked and be ordered to go home and reflect.
Anyone who dared to complain publicly would have the collected evidence of violations, along with the data derived from the supercomputer simulations of their towns, thrown right in their faces, demanding a face-to-face explanation.
More crucially, Halin stood entirely on Ding Yishan's side this time, fully supporting his decisions.
Almost everyone caught scent of the shifting winds at the same time...
The sky over the Inspection Station was about to change!
Watching the staff begin to pack up the conference equipment in the room, Cheng Ye pushed the door open and walked out.
Jiang Chuan, who had rushed to Dabo Town to supervise the meeting, was currently chatting with Mu Shuang in front of the trading post.
Seeing Cheng Ye coming downstairs, Jiang Chuan immediately paused his conversation and greeted him with a smile, "Inspector Cheng, now you should understand why I didn't stay at the Inspection Station, right?"
"Station Master Ding's move is ruthless. I imagine the inside of the Inspection Station will be in chaos for a while."
Cheng Ye shook his head lightly.
Ding Yishan deliberately sent Jiang Chuan away, putting up a facade of refusing outside guests, and no one could do a thing about it.
Even if someone called looking for him, Jiang Chuan could brush them off using the excuse of being stationed in the satellite city.
"The Inspection Station is chaotic, but I'm afraid your place is going to be even more chaotic..."
Jiang Chuan raised an eyebrow. "In a few days, those Fourth-Stage Inspectors who weren't replaced will most likely collude privately and take turns visiting you in Dabo Town."
Unexpectedly, Mu Shuang interjected directly, "Haha, by the time they get ready, Inspector Cheng will probably already be out on Field Duty."
"Oh? You're already prepared?" Jiang Chuan asked in surprise.
"Yeah, almost. Give it another week; I'll set out before mid-October."
Cheng Ye nodded slightly.
The afternoon sun spilled over him, comfortably warm.
Because Dabo Town was situated near two rivers, the air was moist and cool, completely lacking any dry feeling.
At this moment, if he could set up a few camping chairs, lie back comfortably to eat some fruit, and read a novel, it would definitely be absolute bliss.
But the ceaseless hammering and clattering of construction filled his ears, with thousands of people busy building. As the Chief Contract Management Inspector, how could he possibly have any real free time?
"Station Master Ding didn't ask you to bring me any message this time?" Cheng Ye shifted the topic.
"No." Jiang Chuan shook his head honestly. "He said to let me stay in Dabo Town for three to five days before heading back. The Inspection Station needs to 'quiet down' temporarily during this time. Otherwise, I'd be harassed by those complaining folks, and he wouldn't get a moment's peace either."
"Then you just make yourself comfortable. I have plenty of empty rooms here, and it just so happens Mu Shuang gets bored alone, so you two can keep each other company."
Cheng Ye chuckled, casually opening his interface to glance at Jiang Chuan's Cooperation Level.
Very good, 70.7%.
Being able to stabilize at this level showed that Jiang Chuan not only respected him from the bottom of his heart, but they also shared some common ground in their ideals.
It was just that until Jiang Chuan left the Buffer Zone and experienced a shift in his Belief, pushing that Cooperation Level any higher would probably not be so easy.
However, Cheng Ye wasn't disappointed. Although he couldn't search for Jiang Chuan's Lv.4 Skill for the time being, his Limit-Breaking Tendon Gate, that enviable Limit-Breaking State, Death Resistance, and those thirteen Lv.3 Normal Skills were all within his grasp now.
It was worth noting that before these two days of massive searches for Lv.1 Skill Fusion, he had already plucked all of Liu Bi's skills clean.
And the results displayed on the interface matched Liu Bi's own account perfectly.
Brother B's hidden talents were indeed special, but his manifested talents were correspondingly much more mediocre.
Because he lacked the blessing of a transcendent bloodline, his Lv.4 Skills consisted only of two solitary combat skills, and the Embryo-Embracing reaching the Spirit Nurturing Realm.
One was a fierce saber technique used for close combat, and the other was a top-tier marksmanship skill that allowed him to repeatedly hit the bullseye with his eyes closed.
Placed in the circle of ordinary people, reaching this level purely through personal effort was indeed impressive.
But compared to those Special Ability Users born with halos over their heads, it was far inferior.
As for his Lv.3 Skills, they were even more astonishingly lacking, with only an excellent-grade Tiger Roar Physique, and even his Tendon Gate was merely at the excellent level.
In comparison, even Miao Yang's manifested talents were slightly better than Liu Bi's. It was no wonder he had been eliminated in the first round by Mr. Xiacang back then.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chuan's Tendon Gate was at the very pinnacle—a Limit-Breaking Tendon Gate, bearing an absurdly high value.
Cheng Ye seriously suspected that if Jiang Chuan hadn't stayed in a mixed mire like the Buffer Zone, but instead went to a quiet place to devote himself to cultivation, or simply altered his Belief, his achievements with such talent wouldn't necessarily be much worse than Liu Bi's.
But Jiang Chuan was still relatively young; he was 36 this year, merely one year older than Liu Bi.
Furthermore, due to the residual state of transcendent power, he looked like a young man around 25, with time leaving no obvious marks on him.
As long as he made the turnaround in time, he could absolutely become a standard case of a late bloomer.
After dismissing Jiang Chuan and Mu Shuang, letting them wander around Dabo Town, Cheng Ye strolled toward the Hydroelectric Station to continue sorting through the documents on hand.
Meanwhile, the Legion personnel had clearly timed things perfectly. Less than half an hour after the meeting ended, two military pickups rolled over the flat asphalt road, kicking up fine dust before steadily parking in front of the Dabo Inspection Station.
Wang Rui pushed the car door open and stepped out, casually unhooking binoculars from his waist and raising his eyes to gaze at the outline of the town entrance in the distance.
Beside him stood another man, similarly clad in a Commander's uniform with the exclusive shoulder insignia of the Heavy Machinery Faction. He was much younger, just over thirty, still carrying a lingering sharpness between his brows. At this moment, he was also observing the town through his binoculars.
Half a minute later, the young man spoke first, "Uncle Wang, this Dabo Town really looks pretty good!"
"It does have something going for it." Wang Rui entirely agreed, then asked back with a smile, "What, has Commander Lu taken a liking to Dabo Town?"
"Look at what you're saying. It's not that I've taken a liking to it, it's just the result of comparing it to the other satellite cities."
Lu Zheng smiled and shook his head. "The terrain here can't be considered superior, and there are no natural chokepoints. Right next to it is a river that could erupt with danger at any moment; who knows, one day a Transcendent Mother Source might drift down the current. If the Legion stationed troops here, everyone would have a sense of crisis, making it much easier to train soldiers."
"It's more than that." Wang Rui jutted his chin out. "Have you finished reading the files on Dabo Town?"
"Of course. This Inspector Cheng has quite an appetite, at least no smaller than his father's."
Lu Zheng added thoughtfully, "He built the satellite city here, occupying the two river channels. In the future, he's going to take up his post in the Leaping Wilderness, which is also on the upper reaches of the Linjiang River. This means he'll inevitably have to open up this waterway, establishing an express channel straight from the Leaping Wilderness to Happiness City."
Wang Rui smiled and nodded. "So, bringing you over this time was also because you are the only one in our Heavy Machinery Faction who understands naval construction. This is a perfect chance for you to feel out his bottom line and see just how big his ambitions are!"
"Don't worry, Uncle Wang. You older folks might have a generation gap when communicating, but we're both young men; things will definitely go smoothly between him and me." Lu Zheng agreed readily, then suggested, "How about this, you play the bad cop and I'll play the good cop, and we'll try to get closer to him and fish for information?"
Both... young men?
One would just be 20 after this year passes, and the other was already 31 now.
With a full eleven years between them, they didn't look like peers no matter how you sliced it.
An overly young yet far more composed face than Lu Zheng's flashed through Wang Rui's mind. He shook his head to himself. "Forget about good cop and bad cop. This kid has some real skills. If he wants to make a bet with us, what's the harm in taking him up on it?"
"Both sides are just taking what they need with mutual demands anyway. Being a bit more sincere will actually make it easier to draw closer."
"Uh..." Lu Zheng was taken aback. This wouldn't be strange coming from someone else's mouth, but it didn't sound like something Wang Rui would say.
After all, Wang Rui's codename within the Legion was "Pangolin." He was an expert at psychological warfare, specializing in finding breakthroughs from a person's weakest points.
"Don't be surprised," Wang Rui explained calmly. "I usually have a good eye for people, but I misjudged him once. He has already proven himself with his strength, so I will naturally respect him."
"Alright then."
Lu Zheng nodded in agreement, suddenly catching sight of an off-road vehicle driving out from behind the Inspection Station.
Because Luo Kuke had gone to attend the meeting, the Dabo Inspection Station was temporarily closed, so Cheng Ye had to come and open the gate himself.
The off-road vehicle parked in front of the quarantine zone, and Cheng Ye pushed the door open to step out.
From a distance, he waved enthusiastically, his face brimming with a sunny smile. This unpretentious demeanor unexpectedly earned him a bit of goodwill from Lu Zheng.
At least compared to other Inspectors, this young Inspector Cheng's aura really suited his tastes.
"Commander Wang, welcome to Dabo Town for your inspection!"
Cheng Ye pushed open the gate of the Inspection Station, his gaze falling on the man beside Wang Rui. He asked with a smile, "And this Commander is?"
"Fourth-Level Commander of the Legion, Lu Zheng. He is also one of the rare talents within the Crusader Legion who understands naval construction."
Wang Rui picked up the conversation, his tone carrying a hint of probing. "We came bearing sincerity today. Now we'll just have to see how Inspector Cheng's sincerity measures up."
"Inspector Cheng, nice to meet you!" Lu Zheng appropriately extended a hand.
Level One Commander was the highest rank, which was the level Wang Rui held.
Level Four was the lowest, but they were still important figures within the Legion.
The moment their hands clasped, a special energy transmitted from Lu Zheng's palm, hovering in Cheng Ye's hand for a moment.
"Oh? You are..." Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow.
"We're the same kind of people," Lu Zheng explained with a smile. "When I was young, I loved to charge forward, picking only high-difficulty missions and diving straight into danger wherever it was. Naturally, running into some accidents was unavoidable."
Feeling the dense aura transmitting back from Cheng Ye's palm, Lu Zheng felt a jolt of awe in his heart.
As fellow A- grade Source-Binders, the strength of the Infection Source within Cheng Ye's body was not the least bit weaker than his own; it even vaguely felt stronger.
Of course, if he knew that the aura of the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse he sensed was only about a quarter of its full strength, and that its complete form had already been evolved into a Transcendent Mother Source by Tan Ming, his jaw would probably hit the floor.
"Same kind of people?" Cheng Ye's smile deepened.
As expected, having fame and power was incredibly convenient. Even high-quality search material had learned to deliver itself straight to his door.
He quietly opened his interface and glanced at Lu Zheng's initial 27% Cooperation Level, and was somewhat surprised by Wang Rui's Cooperation Level reaching as high as 31%.
These two really had come brimming with sincerity today, far more genuine than the previous time.
"Please come in. Dabo Town welcomes both Commanders for inspection!"
Cheng Ye didn't dwell on the topic of Source-Binders. Today's core purpose wasn't to discuss combat and survival. Since Wang Rui had brought someone who understood naval construction, he had clearly already figured out Dabo Town's layout.
He originally thought he would have to waste his breath painting grand illusions, but to his surprise, the Heavy Machinery Faction had already conducted their own clear investigation, saving him a lot of effort.
This made things even simpler.
He first led the two on a brief tour around Dabo Town, introducing the infrastructure planning that had already been implemented.
Looking at their expressions, they had clearly already visualized all this content from the files. Cheng Ye wasn't surprised and led them straight to the temporary reception room that had just been built yesterday.
The reception room was still crude, with only a few wooden tables and a dozen chairs. But after entering, neither of them minded the rough environment. Instead, they increasingly felt that Cheng Ye was sincere.
The satellite city was just starting out, and what you saw was what you got. There was no intent to falsify anything or put up a strong front, and this grounded honesty actually put people at ease.
On the table, two stacks of handwritten documents from Cheng Ye were already piled up.
Coincidentally, Cheng Ye had already prepared these two documents. One was for himself, and the other was for the Legion, with identical contents.
Now it worked out perfectly—each Commander could have a copy, just enough to go around.
"Commander Wang, Commander Lu, my environment here might be crude, but the etiquette for receiving guests is absolutely not compromised."
Cheng Ye stood up, pulled open a desk drawer, and fished out a packet of Cloud Mist Tea. This was something given to him a long time ago by Dario, the lackey of the Westerner Fifth-Stage Inspector Halin.
He had been constantly busy running around and hadn't found the time to enjoy it since bringing it from the Buffer Zone to the satellite city, but now it finally came in handy.
Tearing open the aluminum foil packaging, he tossed the tea leaves into a kettle. As the boiling water cascaded down, a fresh fragrance instantly permeated the whole room, bringing a refreshing sensation shrouded in mist.
Though Wang Rui and Lu Zheng weren't men who lusted after luxury, they couldn't help but feel their spirits lift at this moment.
"Inspector Cheng, you're too polite!"
Feeling this level of respect, the two simultaneously stood up and bowed slightly as they accepted their teacups.
The three sat back down. Without rushing to taste the tea, they immediately opened up the conversation.
"Three days ago, I mentioned the bet to Commander Wang. Since you two have personally come to Dabo Town today, I assume you are interested in our cooperation. Over these three days, there must have been quite a few communication shifts between the Inspection Station and the Legion, right?" Cheng Ye went straight to the point.
"There were indeed some changes."
Wang Rui nodded lightly, his tone frank. "Station Master Ding's methods are brilliant. Using our Heavy Machinery Faction as a breakthrough point, he made contact with the Legion's Soldier-Civilian Faction and the Strong Army Faction. Additionally, the Elite Faction has now actively approached the Inspection Station. Barring any surprises, the three major pro-war factions in the Buffer Zone will be these three."
This was intelligence that Cheng Ye previously didn't know, yet Wang Rui revealed it without reservation, fully showing his sincerity.
However, Cheng Ye had already thoroughly studied the Legion's factional data and was naturally no stranger to this:
The three major factions were all pro-war.
Among them, the Soldier-Civilian Faction emphasized that the foundation of war lay in resource support, opposing the consumption model of "fighting without nurturing."
This was the exact opposite of the Heavy Machinery Faction's ideology, making them the faction in the Legion that placed the utmost importance on material reserves.
After the Construction Corps was disbanded back in the day, many veterans joined this faction, so the Inspection Station could be considered to have some say within it.
The Strong Army Faction was currently ranked second in the Legion, just below the Iron Blood Faction. They advocated for forming alliances and uniting all forces that could be united.
Long before the construction of the satellite cities, the Strong Army Faction had maintained a close relationship with the Inspection Station. Most of the Inspection Station's weapons and equipment were provided by them, and even the source of some military equipment available for exchange within the contribution system lay with the Strong Army Faction.
As for the Elite Faction... this was a very special faction.
The reason they were called special was because they advocated refusing the large-scale conscription of ordinary soldiers. Instead, they believed in concentrating all premium resources to cultivate elite troops, equipping core soldiers with customized weapons, and conducting systematic special training to forge a "one-against-a-hundred" vanguard legion.
This seemed to share similarities with the Silver Cross teams in the Crusader Legion and the Blood Dragon Squads in the Blood Dragon Legion, but in reality, it was the exact opposite.
This was because the Silver Cross and Blood Dragon were built on a universal promotion mechanism, where soldiers from the bottom continuously rose through the ranks.
The teams forged by the Elite Faction, on the other hand, were based on screening. They were extreme to the point of having an entire unit of Source-Binders internally. "And what about the situation in the other satellite cities?" Cheng Ye pressed.
"That, we aren't too clear about." Wang Rui smiled and shook his head, clearly not actually ignorant, but rather needing Cheng Ye to show more sincerity in exchange.
Cheng Ye pondered for a moment before saying deeply, "Just a moment ago, the Inspector of East Peace Town was replaced. Inspector Liu Bi took over, replacing the original Inspector, Song Hai."
However, Wang Rui and Lu Zheng's faces showed no ripples of surprise. Clearly, they had already learned this news before the Inspection Station's official announcement.
"East Peace Town is the outer perimeter stronghold of the current twenty-four satellite cities, sitting on a vast expanse of arable land. With Lower Sand County waiting to be developed right beside it, its potential is considerable, making it extremely suitable for agricultural development. Meanwhile, my Dabo Town is right next to the water system, able to connect all the shelter cities up and down the Linjiang River through its waterways, making it far more suited for an industrial layout."
Cheng Ye raised his hand to gesture. "Please, take a look at the proposals in front of you. Before we talk about specific conditions, I'd like to first explain my plans for these two towns. I can guarantee that none of this content was in the files you saw previously."
As his words fell...
Lu Zheng immediately flipped open the proposal, frowning slightly as he began to browse through it with rapt attention.
Wang Rui, however, took an unhurried sip of his tea and smiled with narrowed eyes. "Inspector Cheng, compared to the planning and prospects of two satellite cities, I am actually much more interested in you personally. I looked through your previous personal information, and well... there truly isn't a single line that matches your current performance. I suppose either the statistics staff made an error, or your abilities have already surpassed the scope of their understanding."
He paused and added, "Because there are quite a few discrepancies in the files of the various Inspectors, and much of the information won't be fully updated until next year or even several years from now, the Legion internally joined forces with several Inner City departments to conduct a new round of evaluations on all Inspectors at the Inspection Station, just so each faction could screen out Inspectors whose ideals aligned with theirs. Do you want to take a look at your evaluation results for this round?"
"Oh? There's such a thing?" Cheng Ye was slightly surprised and also picked up his teacup to take a sip.
Wang Rui took out a stack of documents from his leather briefcase, pulled out the blank white sheet on top, and slid it across the table to Cheng Ye.
Cheng Ye set down his teacup and raised his eyes to sweep over the paper. The contents were clear and distinct:
[Cheng Ye (Original Resident; Inspector)]
[Personal Strength]: B- (A- grade Source-Binder, Dominant Mutation Special Ability User. Ability Tendency: Combat. Possesses the ability to independently execute the Containment of a Disaster-grade Infection Source.)
[Personal Potential]: A+ (His growth speed is extremely fast. Whether in personal strength or mental maturity, he far exceeds his peers, demonstrating cognition and foresight that surpass the current environment. There is currently no complete information to explain the source of his abilities, making it impossible to estimate his potential ceiling in detail. However, given his family history—his grandfather Cheng Wu having a potential rating of SSS+, and his father Cheng Long having an SSS rating—his potential ceiling is preliminarily estimated to be: SS-grade or above.)
[Stability]: E- (Given that there is no definitive conclusion regarding his family's history of defection, an analysis of all his behavioral trajectories determines that the probability of his defection remains above 80%, with a success rate of over 99%. Therefore, the original supercomputer judgment is maintained.)
[Threat Level]: None (This data is provided by the Elders, so no subjective inferences are made.)
[Behavioral Tags]:
Ego-Driven: The core starting point of all actions is the maximization of personal benefit. Rule Disregard: Refuses black-and-white choices, accustomed to walking on the edge of the rules. Boundless Means: Sets no moral limits on the methods used to achieve a goal; can win uprightly with strength, but is also willing to use schemes and exploit others' weaknesses without any psychological burden. Emotionally Stable: Prioritizes stripping away emotional interference when analyzing problems, maintaining calm decision-making even in high-risk scenarios. Risk Tolerance: Has an extremely high acceptance of high-risk, high-reward situations. (Tags are sorted by intensity; this may be biased and is for reference only!)
[Detailed Information Source]: .