Chapter 109: Chapter 109

"Looks like I need to go back and thoroughly study the handbook again."

Cheng Ye thought to himself, "Previously I just crammed for the assessment, didn't really absorb the nuances inside. Otherwise, encountering this kind of situation, my judgments could be more precise."

The handbook contained numerous case studies, but he had only aimed to pass the assessment back then, swallowing everything whole and remembering roughly.

But realizing this belatedly wasn't too late. He could slowly make up for this lesson.

And this time it wouldn't be simple rote memorization. With ready examples to compare and ponder, understanding would certainly be more thorough.

Just inspecting the first truck took half an hour.

"Sir, no problems." Snake jumped down from the cargo hold, patting dust off his hands, "No traces of infection source contamination found inside the truck."

On the other side, the workers had also completed weighing all ingredients and reported, "Each piece of nutrient paste ingredient has weight variance within 1 kilogram. The possibility of hiding things can basically be ruled out."

"Then drive it out for disinfection."

Zone C workers found no problems, and Little Black reported no anomalies either.

As a first-day Zone C inspector, he naturally couldn't find flaws out of thin air.

"Thank you for your wise judgment, sir!"

When the driver walked past the inspection desk, he specifically bowed his head and flattered, then followed worker guidance to start the truck and drive toward the disinfection area in front of the garage.

There, the entire vehicle would undergo thorough cleaning, especially removing possible infection sources attached to tires and chassis, preventing the truck from causing contamination spread when entering the buffer zone.

The bearded man raised his hand, and the second truck slowly drove onto the scale. The screen displayed: 15.5 tons.

Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow, suddenly realizing what Zone C's inspection difficulty really was.

Checking for infected entities might not be the focus. Catching hidden goods in cargo was the main work.

Otherwise, working here for a day would be pure waste of time. Who expected to live on the pittance the inspection station paid?

Moreover, a notice had just been issued two days ago that until next summer, all inspector monthly salaries would be cut in half. Now as a trainee, he only made 250 coins per month.

The second truck stopped.

The driver got out and underwent inspection according to procedure. All data remained normal, then he stood in the corner waiting.

As the cargo door was pulled open with a crash, inside wasn't nutrient paste but stacks of long rectangular objects wrapped tightly in waterproof tarpaulins, looking more organized than the nutrient paste ingredients.

Before Snake could reach out to lift the tarpaulin, a strong fishy sea smell surged up from below, carrying a salty breath that shot straight to the nostrils.

Cheng Ye paused, then saw the tarpaulin being completely pulled away. Inside, neatly arranged, were all long strips of salted dried fish!

More than ten tons of salted dried fish?

In just one moment, everyone present licked their lips.

Although drinking too much bland nutrient paste had almost numbed their taste buds, it didn't mean they'd lost their pursuit of food.

Even Cheng Ye couldn't help but swallow, inexplicably wanting to taste what this salted dried fish was like.

Only Little Black remained calm, ears drooping as it sniffed around the cargo pile, dutifully searching for unusual scents.

"Sir, this bunch of old smugglers definitely know Little Black's abilities."

Snake put down the tarpaulin, his face looking somewhat unpleasant, his tone carrying annoyance, "So these two cargo holds are loaded with such strong-smelling goods, deliberately covering other scents to make it difficult for Little Black to distinguish..."

Meeting the young Inspector Cheng, he also wanted to show off his abilities and gain recognition.

But who would have expected to encounter a group of veterans? This was somewhat of a direct slap in the face.

"Don't be hasty. First check infection risks, do your proper job well before anything else."

Cheng Ye softened his tone to comfort him.

Seeing he wasn't agitated at all, everyone gradually calmed down and continued working with their heads down.

The salted dried fish couldn't get wet, so workers had to bring large rain shelters from behind and quickly set them up. Thick waterproof cloth was laid on the shelter floor before they began moving the dried fish out in batches for inspection.

This completely matched Cheng Ye's understanding of Zone C inspection work from when he was on duty in Zone A last week.

It was all dirty, exhausting work!

But this inspection still couldn't find anything. The salted dried fish were tightly packed, stacked and bundled together airtight. Just looking around couldn't tell if anything was hidden.

Cheng Ye glanced sideways, catching the bearded man's mouth curling into a subtle smile that was fast as an illusion but carried an indescribable arrogance.

Did he really think this inspector had no way to deal with him?

Cheng Ye suppressed his surging thoughts and bent down to examine dried fish with the workers.

Everyone had a competitive spirit, even suppressing their longing for the dried fish, working more carefully.

"Sir, the cargo hold interior has been inspected, no problems."

Snake finished his inspection circuit and jumped down to join the examination team.

Suddenly someone groaned quietly. Cheng Ye looked toward the sound and saw a worker's palm had been sliced open by a sharp spike on a fish mouth, with fresh blood flowing down between his fingers.

"Sir, these are dried swordfish, a specialty of our Red Mountain Shelter City. Be careful when examining them!"

The bearded man shouted from outside.

Cheng Ye turned to look. Their eyes met. The bearded man's face showed no expression, neither humble nor arrogant as he shrugged, as if saying this had nothing to do with them, you brought it on yourselves.

Cheng Ye felt a trace of amusement.

Having stayed in Happiness City for so long, he was used to everyone being respectful and deferential toward inspectors. This was the first time he'd encountered someone showing expressions other than respect.

That bit of probing, defiance, and arrogance instead made him feel this oppressive world suddenly gained some vitality.

He stood up, removed his fish-scented rubber gloves, threw them into the nearby isolation box, turned, and sat back behind the desk.

The driver crouching in the corner and the bearded man outside the isolation net both tensed simultaneously. Seeing Cheng Ye wasn't reaching for his gun but starting to flip through the cargo manifest, they both simultaneously sighed in relief.

Honestly, they themselves got headaches reading this manifest after writing it. There was no need to worry about Cheng Ye seeing any tricks in it.

"Me?" Being suddenly stared at by Cheng Ye, the bearded man called out, "Sir, my name is Jin Dafei."

As soon as he finished speaking, the values on the panel slightly changed, flashing a line of text.

[Jin Dafei, 11%, Searchable Range: Intelligence]

"Such low cooperation?"

Cheng Ye shook his head silently, mentally reciting 'smuggling high-value items' and clicking intelligence search.

If Jin Dafei's arrogant attitude alone wasn't enough to stimulate him into searching.

But that recent statement stirred something in his heart.

Jin Dafei said this swordfish was Red Mountain Shelter City's specialty. Since it could be transported all the way to Happiness City, it meant this merchant caravan wasn't second-hand dealers trafficking ordinary goods. There were most likely other "specialties" hidden on the trucks.

And a truck of salted dried fish, good quality, could easily bring in three thousand points of income.

The value of those hidden specialties would definitely not be low!

Even with only a 15% commission, it might equal several days of earnings in Zone A.

Characters flashed rapidly across the panel. This time Cheng Ye deliberately focused his vision on Snake and the others.

Sure enough, as the surrounding environment suddenly darkened, everyone's movements instantly froze, as if someone had pressed pause.

The next second, the scene shattered completely and reconstructed in the blink of an eye. A huge garage appeared before his eyes.

Four cargo trucks were neatly arranged, with six pickup trucks with weapon-mounted beds lined up in front, plus two off-road vehicles, likely the caravan's escort force.

Jin Dafei stood at the front. A short man approached and handed over a document folder. The two conversed in low voices.

Cheng Ye focused his mind, and his view suddenly zoomed in, immediately hearing their conversation clearly.

"Everything arranged properly?"

"Don't worry, all done according to plan."

Jin Dafei spoke and strode to the truck loaded with dried fish, seemingly casually pointing at several swordfish.

Immediately subordinates stepped forward, gripped the rear half of the fish head and pressed down sharply, prying open the fish mouth, unhesitatingly reaching into the sharp oral cavity to pull out a small bag of faintly glowing powder from deep in the fish belly.

Indeed there were goods!

Cheng Ye quickly zoomed in for a closer look. The swordfish's oral cavity was indeed sharp. That worker had been cut by this thing earlier.

But once you gripped the rear part of the fish head, you could bend the fish mouth to a fixed angle, allowing fingers to avoid the spikes and reach inside.

The powder was hidden in the fish body cavity. People unfamiliar with the trick, seeing those menacing oral spikes, would definitely give up inspection.

Finding the first hiding spot, the intelligence scene didn't end.

Jin Dafei turned and walked toward the fourth truck. The cargo hold was piled with ball-shaped sea sinew rope. Cheng Ye wasn't unfamiliar with this, the handbook had emphasized it as Red Mountain Shelter City's signature specialty.

Made from repeatedly pounding and weaving deep-sea cartilage algae fibers, with toughness comparable to steel wire but weighing only one-eighth as much. Whether used industrially as buffer rope or sold retail as tools, it had extremely high value.

Jin Dafei crouched down and picked up a sea sinew rope ball from the top layer.

The rope surface had a translucent amber color, tightly wound. He pinched around the top of the rope ball with his fingers, suddenly finding a slightly thicker rope end, and gently pulled along the texture.

The originally airtight rope ball bloomed layer by layer like a flower, revealing a bundle of silver thin wire coiled in the center.

The thin wire was hollow seaweed gel tubing. Cutting one end immediately poured out pale blue powder.

"Steel crystal powder that can increase mechanical service life. Happiness City has great demand for it. As long as we can bring it in, this trip will earn at least..." The short man leaned over, extending one finger.

One hundred, or one thousand?

Cheng Ye was tremendously shocked. If it was the latter, calculating 20% tax, wouldn't this thing be worth five thousand points?

Holy shit, this feeling was getting to his head.

If he could catch this, wouldn't he directly earn 750 points?

"The slip knot won't be noticed, right?"

"Absolutely not. It looks no different from ordinary rope balls. Only by finding that guide rope can it be opened."

The short man patted his chest in assurance, "I had many people try, not one could find the flaw. Additionally, I mixed some crystal powder at the bottom of the cargo hold. Their attention will definitely be drawn away by those things."

Jin Dafei nodded slightly.

As his words fell, the intelligence space suddenly shattered.

Cheng Ye snapped back to awareness, finding himself still in the inspection area with frozen time flowing again.

Workers were still examining dried fish, and Snake was bandaging the injured person's wound.

He frowned at the panel.

[Intelligence Target: Jin Dafei]

[Specified Direction: Related to smuggling high-value items]

[Intelligence Quality: 0.9 grade (Information quality decreased by 0.1 after specifying target)]

[Current Replay Count: 4]

"This time I was fairly lucky, only decreased by 0.1"

Cheng Ye thought and simply clicked replay, entering the intelligence space again.

This time he focused on observing how Jin Dafei found that guide rope after getting on the truck.

After replaying twice consecutively, he finally discovered a clue.

The guide rope of the sea sinew rope was mixed with extremely fine shell powder that would reflect weak luster at specific angles. Unfortunately, this luster was too weak, only barely visible in nighttime dim light.

Now even on a rainy day, anyone would have difficulty discovering this secret marking. You'd probably need to close the cargo door and shine a flashlight to find it.

"Really impressive. People will think of any clever tricks to make money!"

Cheng Ye could only marvel.

The mutated crystals in the fish belly, he didn't know the exact quantity, but the value was at least over one thousand points.

If they could hide it successfully, that was an extra 200 points. Adding the steel crystal powder's 1,000, no wonder this merchant caravan went to such lengths to hide things. This profit already exceeded one truck of goods.

But now, these "additional earnings" would benefit the inspection station.

And calculating at 15% commission, the Red Mountain merchant caravan would bring him nearly one thousand points in enormous income, enough to buy a basic technology for establishing a factory. With a bit more, he could even buy a 10kwh battery.

Truly, without windfall, people don't get rich. Without night grass, horses don't get fat.

Speaking of which, this kind of "small money" shouldn't be converted to contribution points by the inspection station, right?

Cheng Ye closed the panel, unable to suppress a smile tugging at his lips.

To be honest, just one inspection made him somewhat fall in love with Zone C's mode.

This placed more emphasis on inspectors' individual professional abilities than Zone A. Average ability meant pure time waste, but strong ability meant doubled or even multiplied earnings.

"Thank you for funding community construction. The residents of Tianyuan Community will definitely remember you!"

He stood up, his gaze meeting the bearded man's and finally settling on the salted dried fish on the ground.

This stuff seemed to have long-term storage potential.

If he could conveniently confiscate some, even when winter came and he went to the wasteland ruins, he wouldn't worry about food!