Wasteland Border Inspector-Chapter 223 - 109: Winning Hearts, Tide Level Calamity! (Part 3)
There was still no second caravan in Zone C, and Cheng Ye secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After the soul-stirring experience in the Void Mist, he really did not have the energy to deal with complex inspection procedures, especially those involving large caravans that required vehicle-by-vehicle searches.
Over at Song Hai’s side, the guards had been instructed to maintain order for the time being, while he leaned against the isolation net, pulled out half a pack of crumpled cigarettes, and stuck one in his mouth.
With a click, the lighter ignited a ghostly blue flame, and the smoke slowly dispersed in front of him, mixing with the mist that still lingered.
Seeing Cheng Ye look over, Song Hai raised the cigarette pack in his hand, pretending to hand it over: "Want one? Good stuff imported from Sand Province, a little something to perk you up."
Cheng Ye shook his head slightly, "I’m not used to it, you go ahead."
"Better if you’re not used to it." Song Hai chuckled, shoving the pack back into his pocket, "These things are precious now, 55 contribution points per pack, each one smoked is one less to smoke, can’t really afford it."
As he was speaking, the bell of the inspection station finally rang out.
Dong, dong!
The two chimes indicated the inspection station was entering a temporary shutdown phase.
The half-hour break for duty exchange had finally arrived!
Cheng Ye returned to the desk to organize the duty records, while Song Hai continued puffing on his cigarette, leaning against the isolation net.
Before Wang Kang could arrive, the inspector taking over in Zone C came in first.
The newcomer appeared somewhat thin and small, dressed in ordinary clothes no different from a scavenger’s.
A black hoodie, cuffed pants, wearing a pair of leather shoes, shoulders slightly hunched, with a face marked by an unexpected maturity for his age.
"Inspector Cheng?"
"Inspector Dong?"
Cheng Ye immediately walked over, and the two shook hands firmly.
Dong Xing, when hospitalized a few days ago, the two had talked for quite a while in the ward; a newly promoted first-phase inspector, but barely.
However, the term "barely" here doesn’t mean Dong Xing hadn’t spent much time at the inspection station.
From internship to first-phase, Dong Xing took about two years and eight months to finally complete it, which is considered one of the slowest batches in the entire station’s records.
It’s not that Dong Xing lacked ability, but his luck was simply extraordinary.
While duty shifts at the inspection station were relatively stable, once he went out on field assignments, he would invariably encounter bizarre troubles.
A perfectly good route would suddenly collapse, vehicles would suffer simultaneous flat tires, or he’d even get grazed by stray bullets from a scavenger brawl hundreds of meters away.
Later, Ding Yishan couldn’t bear it and assigned an experienced third-stage inspector to accompany him on a mission, but that turned out even weirder.
The two were simply recycling a signal tower in the wilderness but ended up encountering a migrating mutated elephant herd. Not only did the mission fail, but the third-stage inspector also broke a leg, taking a good half-year to recover.
And Dong Xing’s field assignment was directly marked as a serious accident, with nine evaluation forms returned for a do-over.
Eventually, he once again steadily obtained nine evaluation forms.
Under the joint recommendation of Ding Yishan and Harlem, the inspection station held a meeting to decide whether to exempt Dong Xing from field assignments.
All inspectors voted in favor, making an exception to allow him to become official.
After all, Dong Xing’s ability had long been sufficient, but his luck was just too uncanny. Sending him out again, no one could guarantee the inspection station wouldn’t invite disaster.
It was better to have him stay solidly at the station, as in these three years of duty, he had never encountered any accidents and made no mistakes.
"Thank you for your hard work; I’ve only just heard about this Void Mist after coming to the station. Inspector Cheng, you weren’t in any danger, right?" Dong Xing took over the duty records, flipping through them gently.
With no airs of a first-phase inspector toward an intern, he rather treated Cheng Ye as if he were a third-stage peer.
"Not really, the Void Mist is quite eerie, that Fog Cave..."
Speaking of which, Cheng Ye nodded towards the corner of the isolation zone, "Some ant wolves came through, but nothing major happened."
Dong Xing nodded, no more questions asked, he placed the record book on the table and said in a deep voice: "I just clocked in and received a notification from the main station saying that the fog won’t clear for the next week or even half a month, with potential transformation into Void Mist at any time. Zone C and Zone B are adjacent, if faced with danger, we should help each other as much as possible."
"Rest assured."
Cheng Ye replied, "I’m next door in Zone B; even if I’m not on duty, I’m mostly keeping an eye on things over at Wang Kang’s side, if anything happens, a shout will reach me, we’ll definitely look out for each other."
"Truly envy Inspector Wang." Dong Xing smiled, and the two shook hands once more.
The brief day tour of Zone C was thus concluded.
From the next door, Wang Kang also finished handing over with Song Hai, and Cheng Ye waved from the isolation net, Wang Kang instantly flashing a smile of relief.
He’s grown!
Just a few days ago, Wang Kang would have easily become panic-stricken.
But now, not only can he maintain composure, but he also shows such steadiness—it is indeed commendable.
Looking at Wang Kang’s relationship with Song Hai, though not intimate, it was at least normal interaction between inspectors.
In this light, Wang Kang’s injuries from yesterday should not have resulted from a clash with Song Hai.
Could it have been the observer, the guard?
Cheng Ye slightly shook his head; that seemed even more unlikely with the inspection station’s rules in place, no one would dare be so bold.
Leaving the inspection area, the Red Mountain Merchant Team’s four trucks had completed sanitation and left amid the clearing fog.
The offloaded two tons of salted fish were piled on the waterproof-covered empty space in front of the garage, with two layers of waterproof cloth underneath.
"This weight, isn’t it over two tons?"
"It’s three tons; the extra ton was specifically sent by Captain Jin as a gift for you." Bao recounted, "He said if they hadn’t rushed to the inspection station, encountering that ghostly fog in the wilderness, not only would the cargo have certainly suffered losses, but who knows how many people would have died."
