Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 159 The Unlucky Li Matai, the Caravan in its Early Stages!
As we left the mall, the sky was already shrouded in a hazy twilight at 6:30 pm.

After the lively demolition ceremony ended, the stage that had been erected was completely dismantled, and the residents who had gathered there dispersed without a trace, leaving only an empty street, contrasting with the quietly falling snow.

The snowflakes, fine and dense like cotton, drifted down from the leaden-gray sky, soon covering the world with a thin layer of white.

"Sir, please wear a hat, lest you catch a cold."

Da Long caught up from behind, clutching an old leather hat, his tone filled with concern.

"It's okay, it's just a short distance."

Cheng Ye shook his head. The snowflakes landing on his face were slightly cool, but they made him feel comfortable all over.

"Big Dragon."

"You say."

"Take a break. You can't manage such a large community on your own. Don't overwork yourself."

Ok?
Da Long was clearly stunned; he opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Perhaps everyone is used to working hard, working themselves to the bone, as if giving back is something to be taken for granted.

But the affirmation he didn't receive from the district elder was unexpectedly noticed by Cheng Ye, an "outsider."

Before Da Long could recover, Cheng Ye added, "Also, you don't need to go to Da Bo Town for now. I have another important task for you."

"Your Excellency, please speak!"

"Let's not rush it, let's wait until the situation outside stabilizes."

Cheng Ye exhaled and saw Wang Kang walking over from a distance. He smiled and said, "Remember, take a few days off."

"Yes!"

They met up with Wang Kang, and the two walked side by side into the residential area, the snow under their feet making a slight "crunching" sound.

This wasn't the first time it had snowed in Happiness City, but it was the first snowy day they spent together in the buffer zone.

As they chatted and laughed on the way, Cheng Ye suddenly realized that he probably wouldn't be able to go back to his room to sleep for the next couple of days.

Sure enough, when we got to the fifth floor, the room had only had the walls cleaned and the moisture-proof paint applied; the floor tiles hadn't been laid yet.

The wall between the two rooms has already been built, and it looks perfectly natural. It will be fine to hang a curtain or install a small door later.

"We'll work through the night to lay the floor tiles, and everything will be fine the day after tomorrow."

"Okay, just make arrangements."

Cheng Ye nodded in agreement, wandered around for a moment, then picked up the bedding and headed downstairs to the convenience store.

He didn't throw away the things Uncle Dong left behind, including that folding bed, which is just right for now.

Just standing downstairs, snowflakes danced in the halo of the streetlights, and the world was so quiet you could hear the sound of the snow falling.

Cheng Ye suddenly had an idea.

How wonderful! My life should be wasted in this kind of world!
beautiful!

Especially after entering the convenience store, he set up the folding bed, lay down on the recliner, and looked out at the street.

Snowflakes fell softly, and occasionally a pedestrian would hurry by, wrapped tightly in their clothes; the tranquility was indescribable.

To his surprise, several people came to buy things after he opened the door.

Only when they got closer and saw that it wasn't Uncle Dong and the shelves were empty did they shake their heads regretfully and leave.

"We could open a small shop in the future; that would be a good way to generate revenue."

Cheng Ye pondered for a moment, then waited until it was completely dark before pulling down the roller shutter.

I pulled out a can of yellow peaches from the basement, ate it while leaning back in my recliner, and then drowsiness washed over me.

He hadn't slept well all night in the wilderness, and was so busy during the day that he forgot to catch up on sleep. It was not even eight o'clock yet, so he wrapped himself tightly in the blanket and quickly fell into a deep sleep, even dreaming of the tranquility of falling snow.

His biological clock seemed to be completely set; he woke up before the alarm even went off.

The small window above the entrance to the convenience store was so dark that he couldn't tell what was happening. He took out his mobile phone and turned on the screen, only to find that it was just past four o'clock.

When I sat up, I suddenly felt a familiar dizziness and my throat felt a little dry.

Did you really catch a cold?
With the help of the wild grass's physique, I thought these common ailments would no longer be able to enter my body.

But when I touched my forehead, it was burning hot; I clearly had a fever.

"Perhaps it's because he went out into the wilderness and relaxed afterward."

I never expected that the first step of this new beginning would be a fever and a cold.

Cheng Ye shook his head helplessly, took out a medicine bag from his backpack, took out a fever reducer and swallowed it.

The medicinal effects found in the wasteland are naturally more potent.

In addition, the medicine he bought was a potent one with added crystal powder, and he soon felt dizzy.

So he simply lay down again and took a nap.

When I woke up again, it was already 7:30, and a faint light was coming through the window.

Cheng Ye touched his forehead again and found that the fever had subsided, leaving only a slight lingering drowsiness, but it did not affect his normal activities.

"This medicine is really potent!"

He couldn't help but sigh, and got up to pull open the roller shutter.

Oops.

Snow stopped.

The snow fell all night last night, and the streets were covered with a thick layer of snow that was ankle-deep. The rooftops and tree trunks in the distance were all covered in a white snow coat, and the whole world was dazzlingly clean.

Several women and teenagers, dressed in thick cotton-padded coats, were struggling to sweep the snow at the entrance of the residential area. The brooms were covered with ice shards, and each sweep required a lot of effort. They looked like sanitation workers arranged by the community.

"Let me do it."

Cheng Ye stepped forward and took the large broom from one of the people.

With his strong arms, he took a stance and swept the ground with his broom, piling the snow into neat piles. In no time, he had cleared a path through the street in front of the community.

After running around for a while, I broke out in a light sweat, the lingering effects of my cold completely dissipated, and my mind became clear.

After helping to pile the swept snow to the roadside, Cheng Ye returned to the convenience store, took out four packets of yellow nutritional syrup, and ate them.

After finishing his nutritional drink, he tucked his defense phone into his pocket and strolled toward the newly established flea market in the community.

Unfortunately, few people were willing to brave the freezing cold to set up their stalls during the heavy snow. The usually bustling stall area was deserted, with only a few snow-shoveling workers busy at work.

Cheng Ye wandered around for a while, but no one asked about the price, so he had no choice but to stroll back to the convenience store, move a chair and sit in the sun at the door.

The cooling effect brought by the fog was strange; it didn't affect the temperature of the sun, which remained warm and comfortable.

Cheng Ye lay there for a while, feeling somewhat lost and disoriented.

From being transported to the wasteland to becoming an inspector, and then experiencing various dangers and adventures, he has been working non-stop for nearly four months, his nerves constantly on edge, never daring to relax for even a moment.

Now that I finally have a free day, I don't know what to do with it.

Practice martial arts?

Tiger Power's integration has reached the middle stage; what's lacking is the time for gradual progress, which cannot be rushed.

Monitoring construction?
The pedestrian street has just been demolished, and the new materials won't arrive for another day or two, so we don't need it for now.

The planning for Dabo Town will have to wait until today's quota is released to see if he can make any adjustments.

Need to find a place to recharge and start fusing skills?
This can be!
Without Mr. Zhang's connections, it would be illegitimate to try to get electricity from the Public Works Department, and he was unfamiliar with other places and it would be difficult to obtain a charging card.

"By the way, I'll go research download tools today!"

Cheng Ye suddenly sat up from the recliner, his eyes brightening.

We have a house.

There are cars, though.

The armored military vehicle left behind by Cheng Long was incredibly powerful, but it just so happened to run on gasoline.

In Happy City, gasoline is a strategic resource with strict controls, and its cost-effectiveness for daily use is too low. We can't afford to waste this life-saving strategic resource on commuting.

After thinking for a while, Cheng Ye did not rush to the checkpoint to inquire about information, but instead took out his defense communication device.

I opened my contacts, scrolled through the list of contacts, and ultimately skipped over Jiang Chuan.

He paused on the three characters 'Li Matai' and pressed the call button.

"Hey, Prosecutor Cheng?" The call connected, and Li Matai's voice carried a hint of surprise. "That's unusual. Is this the first time you've called me? Is there something you want to ask me?"

"Of course, otherwise we wouldn't dare to call our busy Prosecutor Li."

Cheng Ye chuckled. "Do you have time? I want to ask you something."

"You're free? I'm currently looking to rent a shop near Giant Wall Station, but I'm having trouble finding someone to help me choose one."

After saying that, he added, "Aren't you on vacation today? Come over, and we can have a chat."

"Okay, I'll be right there. Please wait a moment."

Cheng Ye readily agreed.

Rather than directly asking Jiang Chuan, the clerk, Li Matai, a seasoned veteran who had been working at the checkpoint for many years, was clearly more familiar with the intricacies of the station.

Among the many veteran inspectors at the checkpoint, even Liu Bi doesn't own a private car. It's definitely not because he can't afford to buy or use one, but because there's a special set of rules behind it.

Perhaps "buying a car" is not the optimal solution. For these intricacies, you can't go wrong asking Li Ma.

After hanging up with Li Matai, Cheng Ye called Wang Kang again, wanting to tell him where he was going.

Unexpectedly, Wang Kang on the other end of the phone sounded groggy, mumbling "I know, Brother Cheng" a few times before falling silent again, clearly having fully entered vacation mode. "When I first started on duty, I wasn't this happy."

Cheng Ye shook his head, but the smile on his face did not disappear.

He could now somewhat understand what Huang Sheng meant when he said that our generation was capable of enduring hardship.

Grabbing his backpack and pulling down the shutter of the convenience store, Cheng Ye strode towards the bus stop.

A dozen minutes later, the bus slowly approached Jubi Station. Before it had even come to a complete stop, Cheng Ye saw Li Matai on the platform.

He was making a phone call with his defense communication device, his brows furrowed, and he was muttering curses under his breath; he was clearly agitated.

"What's wrong?" Cheng Ye asked, getting out of the car, somewhat puzzled.

"Didn't you see the Defense Communicator? The first batch of contracted personnel list has been released!" Li Matai waved the Defense Communicator, his tone full of suppressed anger.

"Ok?"

Cheng Ye's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly took out his defense communication device.

Sure enough, an unread message popped up at the top of the screen with a particularly eye-catching title:

[Notification from the checkpoint regarding the allocation and eligibility confirmation of the first batch of contracted areas]

He quickly tapped the link, his gaze sweeping over the list of designated areas, where the first batch of twelve open areas were prominently displayed.

These are all "hot spots" previously marked on the map, such as transportation hubs like Wenlu County, or redevelopment sites near the core area of ​​Xingfu City.

"As expected, Dabo Town wasn't included in the first batch, but that's not surprising."

Cheng Ye thought to himself, not surprised at all.

Compared to these twelve popular areas, Big Wave Town has absolutely no advantages to speak of.

Fish catch—I've never seen an inspector pay attention to that stuff.

After all, the purpose of building satellite cities is to attract displaced people. If these displaced people are forced to fish and cause casualties, their satisfaction level will drop to zero. In that case, there will be no rewards and a bunch of punishments.

The hydroelectric power station, needless to say, might be of interest to some people if it were located in Dabo Town.

But if placed in the villages surrounding Dabo Town, no one would pay any attention to this thing.

He continued scrolling down, and when his gaze fell on the "Regional Corresponding Inspector" section, he suddenly stopped.

Instead of the previously rumored two inspectors, each region is assigned three to four inspectors, clearly indicating that the final person in charge will be determined through a 'selection competition' process.

Upon seeing Li Matai's name appear in the list, Cheng Ye immediately understood why he was cursing.

Li Matai chose Dongping Town, which is not near Xingfu City, but adjacent to the industrial zone.

It was an affiliated town of Xiasha County. Although it had some industrial base back then, its remote location meant it was not included in the industrial zone.

Because of the requirement to select areas within a 60-kilometer radius on both sides, Dongping Town was never included in Cheng Ye's selection range.

But others were different; for example, Li Matai clearly didn't think too much about it.

They only thought that Dongping Town had an industrial base and was close to the industrial zone, so it would definitely be given priority for development.

Now, all four prosecutors have been selected to work in Dongping Town, and a round of competition is about to begin.

There were exactly two people from the East and two people from the West.

Cheng Ye was familiar with the two Dong people; they were Song Hai and Gu Xinjing, two faction-selection fanatics, and three-term prosecutors like Li Matai.

He was even more familiar with the other Westerner, so familiar that he couldn't be more familiar with him!

Garcia!
"Prosecutor Li, you're in luck~" Cheng Ye tried to hold back, but couldn't help making a sarcastic remark.

What is this called?
It's said that enemies are destined to meet, and when fate brings people together, nothing can stop it.

Li Matai was already furious, and Cheng Ye's words made his face even darker: "It was definitely intentional, there was definitely something fishy going on. Making me partner with that idiot Garcia is worse than letting me go to the wilderness and lead the refugees to build something from scratch."

But why choose the East instead of Garcia, the team-fighting maniac?

There was no choice at all, and Song Hai and Gu Xinjing were clearly old partners, so the possibility of him being eliminated was extremely high.

Scroll down further to find the content of the third round of assessment.

However, once he got to this point, he was no longer qualified to look at the attachments; he could only glance at Li Matai and make a regretful expression.

"Let's go, weren't you going to look at the shops?"

"Sigh, this has ruined my good mood for the whole day. I might as well just get eliminated. I'm not going out." Li Matai shook his head.

Although he was a slacker, in such a major event involving all prosecutors, it wasn't considered slacking off by a third-term prosecutor to just stay at the checkpoint.

That's called incompetence!

But there's no way around it; choosing a partner is troublesome.

"It's only the third round, so you're not outright eliminated. They might even let you go somewhere else in the end?"

"Maybe."

After walking a few steps, Li Matai quickly regained his composure.

“I plan to invest in a shop here at Giant Wall, specifically for industrial fast-moving consumer goods.”

"Oh? Are you planning to find sales channels for your contracted sales points?"

"I'd say it's about 50/50," Li Matai sniffed, his tone slightly ambiguous. "The main thing is that I feel that investing in Giant Wall Station means I won't lose money no matter what I do."

What he didn't say was that if the selection of the contracted points hadn't gone wrong, he would have said directly that he was "paving the way for the contracted points." But now it's still uncertain whether the contracted points can be obtained, so this path is obviously not feasible. He can only change his tune and smooth things over for now.

How much are you planning to invest?

"Five thousand points, I guess. A shop here starts at two thousand points. With the cost of inventory and renovations, five thousand points is just enough to get started. It's not cheap."

"Rich people," Cheng Ye smacked his lips, a hint of envy in his voice.

He thought he had accumulated enough points, but Li Matai was able to take out five thousand without hesitation.

"It's all the money I've saved up for my funeral over the years, from running errands and working at the station," Li Matai said with a smile, but it was clear he was just making excuses.

The two chatted as they strolled around, their eyes scanning the newly built Giant Wall Station area.

Since the night of the starfish eruption, when this place was blown into ruins, the reconstruction has been incredibly fast.

This time, however, the neighborhood is no longer the winding alleyways of the past, but has been transformed into a modern pedestrian street:
The shops lining the roadside were one after another, with their flying eaves and wooden railings, somewhat resembling the Lijiang Old Town that Cheng Ye had visited before his time travel. It was clear at a glance that it wouldn't be a pleasant place to stroll around.

why?
That's out of touch with reality!

He casually asked about a shop on the inner side, and the rent was three thousand points.

As for the two thousand, it has to be hidden in the deepest corner of the block, a corner that almost no one would visit.

Therefore, the people who invest here are mostly wealthy, and they would never allow small businesses to enter.

Therefore, they can forget about doing business with ordinary people in the satellite cities outside. They can only sell to the "adults" with official positions in the buffer zone, as Old Zhou said.

"How's my shop? Not bad, right?"

Li Ma stopped in his tracks. Cheng Ye looked around and saw that the shop was spacious and the windows facing the street were bright.

Moreover, its location is in the middle of the street, and its facilities are indeed quite good.

Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?

"Of course it's the truth."

"This shop is terrible. At best, you can break even. There's basically no chance of making a profit," Cheng Ye said bluntly.

Li Ma was taken aback for a moment, then stepped aside to let him into the shop to talk, his tone full of surprise: "Oh? Tell me, how exactly is it garbage?"

"Let me ask you a question first: who are the main passengers at Giant Wall Station?"

Li Matai thought for a moment and said with certainty, "There are definitely two types. One type is newcomers who have just arrived in Happiness City and are curious about the inner city. The other type is caravans of all sizes that travel between the buffer zone and the wilderness."

"So you're selling industrial fast-moving consumer goods, are you planning to do business with them?"

"Otherwise what?" Li Matai retorted. "Let the caravans buy them in bulk, and then they can transport them to satellite cities and refugee camps to sell to ordinary people. Do you think I can directly connect with consumers in satellite cities?"

“It sounds fine, but you haven’t considered the math.” Cheng Ye shook his head. “Your goods go through caravans, and they’re bound to mark up the price and make a profit. If I open a direct-sale store near a satellite city and sell directly to consumers at a price lower than the caravans’ quotes, do you think anyone will still buy your goods?”

Li Matai's expression changed slightly; he really hadn't considered the impact of "factory direct sales."

No matter how you calculate the price of goods that have passed through middlemen, it can never compare to getting goods directly from the source.

“And don’t forget, you’re not the only one who wants to build factories and produce fast-moving consumer goods in satellite cities right now,” Cheng Ye added. “Unless you can guarantee that your products are of exceptionally high quality or have exceptionally low costs and are absolutely competitive, you can easily be squeezed out of the market.”

Seeing Li Matai remain silent, Cheng Ye continued, "That's the first point. The second point is even more crucial: the competition here is too fierce. Look at this street; there are dozens of shops waiting to be rented. Once they're all rented out, hundreds of shops will be crammed together, selling all sorts of things. Customers won't know which one to shop at all. In the end, either the whole street will be deserted and no one will come, or everyone will be undercutting each other, and in the end, no one will make any money. Instead, it will further isolate ordinary people."

“I have considered this point.” Li Matai frowned in thought. “But the buffer zone is only so big. If we rent it in other places, ordinary people would like to go there, but caravans would not want to come. This is a contradiction in itself.”

"Wrong, this is the old buffer zone, not the future buffer zone."

Cheng Ye shook his head, not promoting his pedestrian street.

Even if it's a pedestrian street, he didn't want it to be built in this way, with so many shops built just to sell things.

To be built as a central buffer zone, it must possess unique competitive advantages.

His understanding of pedestrian streets is simple: a large information hub, complemented by high-end service facilities. Even if you sell things, you should sell high-quality items that scavengers absolutely cannot afford, items that everyone can immediately see that demonstrate the strength of the pedestrian street!

As for the place open to ordinary people, that was the important thing he planned to tell Da Long last night.

To build an image and credibility in the minds of ordinary people, one must start from the smallest things and work step by step.

Once we've accumulated enough, we can find a place to set up a base, even if it's in the southern or northern suburbs, and we won't have to worry about ordinary people coming to visit.

Happiness City has not shown any signs of this yet.

"I'm planning to set up a caravan that will only run transport routes between satellite cities, taking a completely new route that no one has ever traveled before. Would you like to invest?"

　P.S.: Two chapters released simultaneously, 1.4 words updated! It's almost the end of the month, please vote with your monthly tickets! I'm already working hard to update!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)