Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 308: The Barren Dilemma, Maintain Reverence!

Stepping out of the Department of Livelihood, the sky was already dyed in a dusky yellow.With winter approaching, the days were growing shorter. It was only just past five o'clock, but the sun had already sunk to the edge of the horizon, leaving only a sliver of afterglow to barely illuminate the sky.

Before returning to the community, Cheng Ye took a detour toward the Inspection Station, planning to score some more free vegetables.

Of course, it wasn't just because he was craving good food. He also wanted to use this opportunity to test Zhou Kuan's culinary skills. He needed to see if the young man's cooking was actually good enough to back up his ambition of opening a restaurant ahead of schedule.

"Inspector Cheng, even though I haven't run a restaurant on my own before, you can rest assured when it comes to my cooking!"

Zhou Kuan followed closely behind Cheng Ye, patting his chest in a gesture of absolute guarantee. "I studied under my master in Hai Province's Hailong Shelter City for nearly ten years. Outsiders all thought my master was the one with the great skills, but in reality, from the third year onward, I was the one cooking many of the restaurant's signature dishes."

He grew more excited as he spoke. "Take a few home-style dishes, for example. Sweet and sour fish is the most popular in Hai Province, and whenever customers came, they'd lick their plates clean... Ah, but the hand-pulled noodles I make are truly top-notch! Many big shots in the shelter city would bring their families to eat every few days. They would devour three to five bowls in a single sitting, refusing to leave until their bellies were round and bursting."

Listening to Zhou Kuan list off that wide variety of dishes, Cheng Ye could not help but lick his lips.

Food is heaven for the people.

Ever since tasting a few flavorful meals, the appetite that had been suppressed by nutrient paste could no longer be contained. From time to time, he just wanted to cook up a dish to add a little flavor to his palate.

However, ingredients were incredibly scarce right now. The small amount of vegetables Jiang Chuan had delivered wouldn't last a week, even if he rationed them strictly.

If he wanted to truly have vegetables with all three meals, he would have to wait until at least next autumn, after the agricultural industry had fully expanded.

"Then why did you come all the way to Happiness City?" Cheng Ye asked.

"It's because Hailong Shelter City relocated." Zhou Kuan sniffled, his tone turning somber. "The climate in Hai Province has become more and more terrifying in recent years. Typhoons hit one after another, blowing for half a month straight. We couldn't do anything at all. Many large shelter cities successively chose to relocate to safer areas. Hailong Shelter City made the decision earlier this year, and the destination was Guang Province."

"Oh? Then why didn't you follow your master and head to Guang Province with Hailong Shelter City?"

Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow, asking the question despite knowing the likely answer, deliberately testing Zhou Kuan's character.

A large shelter city easily boasted a population of two to three hundred thousand people. Naturally, it was impossible to migrate everyone all at once.

According to the documents he had reviewed over the past few days, this type of relocation mostly followed a fixed protocol. First, a basic framework would be built at the destination, like Guang Province, and then the core members would be transferred in batches.

By the time a shelter city officially announced the relocation news to the public, its core strength had actually long since arrived at the new site and taken root.

As for the ordinary residents, they could choose to follow the migration, or leave on their own to find another way out.

After all, a massive migration of hundreds of thousands of people would inevitably attract a large number of infection sources to tail and attack them, making the risk extremely high.

Many shelter cities actually did not want to shoulder this responsibility, terrified of provoking a massive infection tide. They feared investing immense manpower and resources only to end up with nothing. They only maintained this facade because dropping the ball and fleeing would ruin their reputation.

"The migrating population was divided into three batches: one for the youth, one for those with families, and one for the elderly with mobility issues, like my master."

Zhou Kuan sighed, his voice taking on a hoarse quality. "The old man was already sixty-two this year. He had no children his entire life, totally alone. How could his frail body handle a grueling trek of over a thousand kilometers to Guang Province? By the time I escorted him to the neighboring Haiqing Shelter City, we had already missed the migration batch organized by Hailong Shelter City."

"I had originally thought about starting over in Haiqing, opening a small shop and accompanying him for the rest of his life. But the exhaustion of the journey was just too much. Even though Hailong and Haiqing were only three hundred kilometers apart, we had to cross mountains, trudge over ridges, and constantly hide along the way. It even rained twice during the trip. My master couldn't hold on, passing away hastily after just half a month."

"After I buried him, I had no desire to stay in Haiqing either. I was terrified that one day Haiqing would also relocate somewhere else. So, I simply followed a route all the way north to seek refuge with my uncle's family."

Most of the elderly in this era had struggled to survive in the Wasteland during their youth. Years of harsh labor and injuries, coupled with a severe lack of medical care, meant their bodies were far frailer than people of the same age in the Old Era.

Sixty years old was already considered an advanced age. Moving around in a fixed area was difficult enough for them. To migrate hundreds or thousands of kilometers on foot to an unfamiliar region—even if the journey went smoothly—they wouldn't necessarily survive until the end.

After all, the entire migration relied on measuring the land with their feet. There were no planes, trains, or vehicles to ride.

"My father went to Hai Province during the Great Reclamation Era, but an accident happened. We were attacked by an infection tide, and I was the only one who survived. My arrival in Leaping Wilderness to seek shelter was perfectly timed, neither too early nor too late. If I had been even one step slower, they probably would have already left."

"Why was your uncle's family planning to leave?" Cheng Ye pursued the topic, following the flow of the conversation.

This family had entered the city at the beginning of April. At that time, there was not even a shadow of the infection tide, so it was impossible for them to have acted on rumors.

"It's quite a coincidence." Zhou Kuan scratched his head, his tone laced with a hint of lament. "My uncle went out scavenging with some people and accidentally stumbled upon a windfall. But when it came time to divide the spoils, a dispute broke out, and my uncle accidentally killed two of them.

"Terrified that their enemies would come looking for revenge, he had no choice but to take the whole family and flee to Happiness City overnight. Little did they know, they perfectly dodged the infection tide in June."

"That really is some good luck," Cheng Ye nodded gently.

Whether it was an accident or intentional, the rules among scavengers had always been like this. Before finding any treasure, they were brothers who would share life and death; the moment they found something valuable, they could easily turn into bitter enemies.

If you didn't eliminate others, they would find a way to eliminate you. Everyone wanted to firmly grasp the greatest benefits in their own hands.

"Where are you living right now?"

"In the shantytown south of the city." Zhou Kuan pointed in a direction, then added with some embarrassment, "The money to rent the shop this time also came from my uncle."

"They also believe that things can be grown now?"

"At first, of course they didn't believe it." Speaking of this, a slight smile appeared on Zhou Kuan's face. "They have lived in Shi Province for decades and have never heard of anyone successfully planting crops anywhere. I had to take them out... well, before we entered the city, they watched me plant those things with their own eyes. After seeing the seasonings I grew and tasting them, they finally believed it."

"I plan to open a restaurant, and my uncle will be responsible for growing the vegetables. He doesn't even go out to work anymore. Every few days, he heads outside the city to maintain that little vegetable garden, terrified that something might go wrong."

It had to be said that no matter the era, the resilience of the people at the bottom of society was truly admirable.

Zhou Kuan had explained things in great detail. Even though this was only their first real interaction, Cheng Ye could not help but feel a twinge of sentimentality.

If it weren't for this unexpected encounter today, this family might have actually seized the initiative in Happiness City, becoming the very first to reap the dividends of the restaurant industry next year.

They arrived at the entrance of the Central Inspection Station.

Cheng Ye turned around. "I need to head inside to handle some business. Go home and let your family know that I might be back quite late tonight. I'll pick up some vegetables so we can see just how good your cooking skills really are."

Zhou Kuan's spirits instantly lifted, and he nodded repeatedly. "I'll go right away! Should I wait for you right here later?"

"Yeah, I might need some time. It should take about an hour."

After handling the land leasing procedures, he still had to process a series of steps to accept his field duty missions, and also extract the relevant intelligence along the way. It would definitely take some time.

Walking into the Inspection Station, Cheng Ye navigated a maze of corridors until he reached the Logistics Department. He first requested a bag of vegetables and casually inquired about the latest progress on the Inspection Station's experimental field.

"The experimental field has already expanded to over thirty acres. Right now, we are mainly conducting soil tolerance tests for various types of reserve seeds, preparing for the large-scale sowing next spring." As the staff member explained, they pulled out a stack of bound testing documents.

To his surprise, the documents detailed the growth data of different types of vegetables, as well as staple crops like wheat, rice, corn, and potatoes. The information was incredibly precise, covering metrics like the germination rate, seed setting rate, and stress resistance of each seed type.

To achieve such results in just a few dozen days clearly meant they had used some kind of special method.

However, since the Infection Source Research Institute had ways to supply and nurture them, forcefully ripening small batches of plants was certainly a piece of cake.

Cheng Ye quickly flipped through the pages, his brows gradually furrowing. The data was even more dismal than he had anticipated.

Although Tan Ming had guaranteed that the vitality within a two-hundred-kilometer radius around Happiness City would not be extracted, the soil had been neglected for years and was appallingly barren.

The uncontrollably growing weeds and vines had long since drained the soil of its fertility. Even when using premium seeds adapted to sandy soil

and renowned for their high germination rate, the actual germination rate could only reach about seventy percent. The seed setting rate was even worse, falling below sixty-five percent. The remarks column was densely packed with notes reading, "Requires fertilizer to prevent premature aging."

As for the core staple crops, they were unable to escape the burden of the barren soil either.

The data showed that the wheat ears were generally short and the grains shriveled. The corn fared even worse; the germination rate was only sixty percent, and the lodging rate in the later stages accounted for thirty percent.

Potatoes, relying on tuber propagation, barely managed to withstand some of the pressure, achieving a germination rate of seventy-two percent. However, they yielded very few tubers, and the ones they did produce were incredibly small. Rice, on the other hand, was completely unsuited for sandy soil. In the limited trial plantings, the sprouting rate barely surpassed fifty percent, and large swathes withered before they could even head. The documents explicitly noted that the sandy soil had terrible water and fertilizer retention capabilities, making rice completely incompatible.

Looking at the overall picture, the core data for all staple crops was far below normal levels. Prompts to add fertilizer, retain soil moisture, and prevent pests and diseases completely filled the remarks columns.

To put it bluntly, no one had ever surveyed the soil conditions in Shi Province, nor had they ever considered the possibility of planting here. Naturally, they had not cultivated any appropriate seeds.

With the current soil fertility, it simply could not support the demands of next year's spring sowing. They either had to quickly find an efficient way to supplement the fertilizer, or continuously improve the seeds to cultivate varieties capable of adapting to Happiness City's climate and soil conditions.

Cheng Ye took out his Defense Terminal and snapped photos of all the staple crop data.

East Peace Town was going to launch massive agricultural operations next spring, and Leaping Wilderness had to synchronize its pioneering and sowing efforts. With such dismal data, the first year's harvest would likely leave everyone deeply disappointed.

Of course, opportunity was also hidden right within this mess.

Whoever could cultivate suitable seed varieties would undoubtedly achieve a massive accomplishment.

This was something that would not only contribute to Happiness City but also facilitate his own future industrial layouts. Cheng Ye made up his mind; no matter what, he had to thoroughly research this over the winter.

Once the fresh vegetables were packed, Cheng Ye took the documents and headed straight for the Station Building, where he finalized the procedures to accept three field duty missions.

Clutching the mission approval slips, he then made a beeline for the Fifth Floor Intelligence Room presided over by Halin.

Knock, knock.

Cheng Ye tapped lightly on the door, and Halin's voice drifted from inside, the man not even lifting his head. "Come in."

"Teacher Halin, I'm here to collect the intelligence related to my field duty missions."

"Give me the approval slips." Halin took the papers, scanned them quickly, and casually instructed, "Fourth bookshelf. Third row, sixth file; third row, tenth file; and fourth row, third file."

Cheng Ye walked over to the designated bookshelf and searched the exact coordinates. Sure enough, he found the intelligence files corresponding to his three missions.

Just as he was about to leave, he paused, turning back to ask, "Is there anything I need to pay special attention to regarding these missions?"

"Always maintain reverence."

Halin set down the red pen he was using to correct reports and slowly raised his head, displaying the same sharp gaze Cheng Ye remembered from the training camp. "Whether you are a Source-Binder or a Transcendent, that strength is meant to keep you alive, not to let you place yourself above ordinary people. As long as you haven't reached the point where you can completely ignore technological weapons, even a completely ordinary person could easily take your life by holding a high-explosive bomb."

"Remember, never underestimate the methods of ordinary people. Some have long since been pushed into a dead end and have nothing left to lose. Dragging you down to the grave with them would actually be an achievement in their eyes. But you are different. You have no margin for error. You must be more cautious than anyone else."

"Thank you for the warning, Teacher Halin." Cheng Ye's heart gave a jolt as he hurriedly nodded in agreement.

Halin and Liu Bi were practically polar opposites.

The former believed that experience could help avoid ninety percent of all trouble, while the latter firmly believed that experience was the most lethal trap of all.

There was no way to determine who was right and who was wrong.

But Halin had reviewed an incalculable amount of intelligence, and the lessons he had distilled from countless cases were indeed worth pondering deeply.

Seeing that Halin had lowered his head once more, Cheng Ye took his intel and turned to walk out the door.

However, just as he took a single step into the hall, Halin's voice suddenly rang out from behind him again. "Have a safe trip."

Cheng Ye's footsteps paused slightly. He gave a slight nod before walking straight toward the stairwell without looking back.

He was quite curious about what had actually transpired between Halin and Ding Yishan that night to make the man willingly retreat to the intelligence room and abandon the fierce power struggle within the Inspection Station.

But after glancing at the System Panel and seeing that Halin's cooperation level had already reached forty-one percent, he ultimately suppressed his urge to pry.

Some things were better left unknown.

Knowing too much meant having to shoulder the pain of others. Retaining too many complicated memories—that was true misery.

This fact had already been vividly demonstrated by Wang Kang, and his path as an Inspector had been smooth sailing precisely because of this

'ignorance.'

By the time he headed downstairs, the sky had completely darkened.

Cheng Ye walked out of the Inspection Station carrying the bag of vegetables. Sure enough, Zhou Kuan was still waiting by the entrance. Upon seeing him, the young man quickly approached, though his expression was noticeably more unnatural than before.

Cheng Ye swept his gaze around, landing on a middle-aged man standing near the corner of the street. He understood instantly.

"Inspector Cheng, let me carry that! Let me!" Zhou Kuan hurriedly reached out to take the bag, his tone anxious.

"Your uncle is here?" Cheng Ye asked calmly.

"Huh?" Zhou Kuan froze, then explained with a hint of embarrassment, "He... he was worried about me, saying I might have been scammed. No matter how much I explained, it was useless. He insisted on following me here to see for himself."

"Oh? You think he was worried about you?" Cheng Ye chuckled.

A man who was capable of killing his fellow scavengers over a windfall, yet decisive enough to pull out his savings to let a nephew he hadn't seen in years rent a storefront.

These two actions alone were enough to prove just how terrifyingly sharp the man's sense for opportunity truly was.

Zhou Kuan stammered for a moment before finally admitting honestly, "He... he was worried that I'd swallow all the benefits by myself."

"Remember, being honest with me will only bring you benefits. Alright, go call your uncle over as well."

Cheng Ye gave the order. While Zhou Kuan went to fetch the man, he picked up his Defense Terminal and searched for this family's information.

However, looking at the expanded information list, he suddenly found it hard to maintain his composure.

Fuck.

Zhou Kuan's uncle was actually named... Zhou Changhai?

You've got to be kidding me.

No wonder the ancients strictly observed name taboos; this name was seriously bad luck!

Scrolling further down, he saw that Zhou Changhai's family consisted of a full seven members.

Besides Zhou Kuan, there were four children—three boys and one girl. They were all around twenty years old, right at the prime age for physical labor.

"In... Inspector Cheng." The middle-aged man trotted over nervously, his attitude more than ten times as respectful as Zhou Kuan's.

Cheng Ye looked up to examine him. The man in front of him truly looked no different from the scavengers commonly seen around the Inspection Station.

He was wrapped in a coarse, patched-up coat that had been washed until it was pale. His posture was slightly hunched, and his hair was yellowed and messy. At a glance, it was obvious he suffered from chronic malnutrition.

His cheeks were so gaunt that his cheekbones jutted out, and his skin was a deep brown, darkened by prolonged exposure to the brutal sun. The corners of his eyes and forehead were etched with dense wrinkles, looking like old tree bark that had been heavily weathered by wind and sand.

"You know how to farm?" Cheng Ye cut straight to the chase.

Zhou Changhai paused for a moment before nodding profusely, eagerly displaying his worth. "When I was young, I worked as a transient harvester in Hu Province, so I know a bit. I understand the whole farming process, I just haven't touched it in years."

A transient harvester?

What an archaic term.

Cheng Ye had a vague impression of it; it seemed to have been very common in the Shaanxi and Gansu regions back in the nineteen-eighties.

When farming households lacked sufficient manual labor, they needed to hire migrant short-term workers to intensively harvest the wheat. These nomadic harvest workers were known as transient harvesters.

Later, with the popularization of agricultural mechanization, the efficiency of wheat harvesting massively increased. Farmers no longer relied on manual labor, and the transient harvester groups gradually faded away.

To think that this old profession had actually resurfaced in the Wasteland.

"Let's go. We can talk while we walk."

Cheng Ye took the lead, heading toward the B7 sector, and asked casually, "How did you end up running all the way from Hu Province to Leaping Wilderness in Shi Province?"

"During the Great Reclamation Era, I followed a construction crew everywhere, traveling all the way from Hu Province to Shi Province. Later on, working here provided food and shelter, and there wasn't any major danger. By sheer coincidence, I ended up staying. Counting the days, I've lived here for nearly fifteen years."

Zhou Changhai appeared respectful, but his answers were neither overly humble nor arrogant, and every sentence hit the nail on the head.

Compared to Zhou Kuan's greenness, he clearly understood much better what Cheng Ye actually cared about.

"Do you have the guts to go pioneering in a satellite city?" Cheng Ye asked abruptly.

Zhou Changhai's expression changed slightly, but he immediately gritted his teeth and replied, "I have the guts!"

"You're a smart man who knows how to seize an opportunity." Cheng Ye clicked his tongue, getting straight to the point. "My name is Cheng Ye, the contracted Inspector of Dabo Town. Pack your things, and head to East Peace Town to report in two days. The Inspector there is a very close friend of mine. Right now, East Peace Town is reclaiming massive amounts of land in preparation for next year's planting."

"I am giving you a chance. You won't have to slowly climb the ranks like everyone else; you'll be able to lead a pioneering team right from the start. But whether you can achieve outstanding results and permanently change your family's fate—that will depend entirely on your own hard work!"