Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 187 Waiting for the Best Price, the Fat Pig Academy!

Ding Yishan and Harlin will obviously not accompany them when they leave the buffer zone to select manpower from the refugee contingent.

After notifying them of the relevant timeframes, the two left with the documents.

At this moment, Jiang Chuan walked in, followed by a team of as many as sixty clerks.

"Dear inspectors, we will be accompanying you through the upcoming assessment. Each team will be assigned two staff members to respond to your needs: one will be responsible for supervising the assessment, and we ask that you refrain from any violations; the other will be dedicated to responding to your requests, so please inform him directly if you have any questions."

After Jiang Chuan finished speaking, he began to assign clerks according to the list.

The prosecutors assigned to Westerners were all Eastern clerks, and vice versa.

Jiang Chuan himself served as the chief clerk, overseeing the entire assessment process.

"Prosecutor Cheng, this is Jervy, and this is Link. If you have any needs, just let us know." Two Western clerks stepped forward.

Despite the discord between the inspectors at the checkpoint, the lower-level staff were not affected.

Cheng Ye nodded slightly in acknowledgment. Seeing that some prosecutors had already gotten up and left with the documents, he also stood up.

Interestingly, everyone seemed quite calm inside the venue, but as soon as they left the station building, they quickened their pace, even jogging, as if afraid of falling behind others.

Especially those prosecutors in the first and second phases, they seemed to have already made up their minds, and they hurried out, as if they were afraid that if they were late, the person they had their eye on would be picked by a higher-ranking prosecutor.

"Prosecutor Cheng, aren't you going to run?"

Seeing Cheng Ye walking slowly, Yang Xingwen caught up from behind and asked curiously.

"No rush, I'm still thinking about who to choose."

"Hey, you're really calm." Yang Xingwen smiled, quickened his pace, and rushed forward.

After all, whether it's young adults or families, the total number of people is limited. If you go too late, you'll probably only get what others have left.

"Xiaokang, why aren't you in a hurry?"

As the prosecutors ran past him, Cheng Ye turned his head and noticed that Wang Kang also looked calm, which made him a little curious.

"Brother Cheng, if they're randomly selecting refugees outside, we definitely need to run fast."

Wang Kang shook his head, "But these are all people who have been screened by the checkpoint. Since they voluntarily participated in the assessment for the reward, they must have their own thoughts and plans. It will probably take some effort to recruit them. It's not that going early gives you an advantage."

"clever."

Cheng Ye smiled and simply pulled Wang Kang to sit down on a bench in the checkpoint's official area, while Jiewei and Link stood behind the bench to wait.

With so many people, how can I stand out and be unique?
This isn't like going to a supermarket to steal eggs. Since the homeless people outside have made up their minds to take the risk, they certainly won't just follow any inspector.

It may seem like the prosecutors are choosing the people, but in reality, it's also these people choosing the prosecutors.

Unfortunately, most of the junior inspectors didn't think of this. It wasn't until the first round of people had left that they saw the third and fourth inspectors slowly walking out of the station building.

Everyone was chatting and laughing, not like they were going to take an exam, but more like they were going camping in the wild.

Seeing the two people sitting on a bench not far away, the fourth-term prosecutors did not change their expressions, but the third-term prosecutors cast some strange glances at them.

Gu Xinjing, in particular, asked curiously as she walked over, "Aren't you in a hurry?"

"No rush, we have four hours anyway, and there are 20,000 people. No matter how we choose, there will be some left for me," Cheng Ye replied with a smile.

"Not bad, it seems Song Hai's assessment of you was indeed correct. Keep it up. If you encounter any problems you can't handle later, feel free to call me." Gu Xinjing nodded slightly and casually recited a number.

Cheng Ye quickly agreed and immediately took out his defense communication device to write down the number.

Last time, Gu Xinjing teamed up with Garcia, but they were ultimately eliminated after suffering a setback.

This time, he is partnered with another prosecutor who has been in custody for three terms. With the two working together, their chances of winning seem quite high.

"Prosecutor Cheng, aren't you going to write this down?" Zhang Wen, who was next to him, also spoke up with a smile, reciting a string of numbers as well.

"Prosecutor Zhang, Prosecutor Gu, I wish you good luck in your assessments." Cheng Ye wrote down both numbers and looked up with a smile.

"Lend your auspicious words."

The two nodded at the same time, then turned and left.

As he watched the two figures disappear, Cheng Ye felt a strange sensation in his heart, but he also vaguely guessed the reason.

It seems that the Eastern faction is not a monolithic entity; these people who are good at choosing sides each have their own camps.

Song Hai, Gu Xinjing, and Zhang Wen should be in the same camp.

"Song Hai's evaluation of me?" Cheng Ye shook his head thoughtfully.

Although it is not yet clear what exactly Song Hai said, being able to strike up a conversation with three third-term prosecutors from the Eastern faction is indeed a good start.

However, among the four prosecutors above him, apart from Brother B, no one is willing to contact him yet, which probably proves the saying true.

Genius is just the threshold to meet me.

Those who could reach the fourth term must have been exceptionally talented geniuses back then.

It is not enough to merely demonstrate potential; one also needs sufficient strength and means to step into the limelight.

Otherwise, after Liu Bi deliberately elevated his seniority, Cheng Ye himself would not be willing to be a junior to these fourth-generation colleagues, and the fourth-generation colleagues would not want to lower themselves to be his peers.

The clock struck 2:30 sharp, and the assessment officially began.

Cheng Ye didn't rush to set off. He first called Da Long to arrange for the community staff to leave the city. Then he closed the documents and, led by two clerks, headed towards the assessment location.

This was Wang Kang's first time leaving the city, so he was inevitably a little nervous. However, he was clearly not given the chance to calm down and vent his emotions.

As soon as you step out of the checkpoint, you will face one test after another.

I boarded the shuttle bus, which headed towards the open space in front of the North Checkpoint.

Before long, the refugee formations were seen enclosed by yellow cordon lines, with many military vehicles parked around them to maintain order and ensure safety.

"Wow, that's quite a show of force!"

Cheng Ye glanced at it from afar. Twenty thousand people didn't sound like a lot, but when they were actually lined up in formation in front of him, the scene was still enormous.

At first glance, there were countless heads everywhere, as if there was no place to put your feet.

However, as the shuttle bus drove a little further forward, large oval-shaped flat-topped sunshades appeared at the front of the formation, making it look somewhat like a university club recruitment scene.

Two inspectors sat under each awning, accompanied by ten guards and two clerks, resembling a job interview.

Every now and then, homeless people would come forward and have face-to-face conversations and inquiries with the prosecutors.

"As expected, we can't just go out and pick the players directly."

Cheng Ye found it amusing. He could see that although Yang Xingwen had managed to snag a front-row tent, he could only sit inside and smile bitterly, because there were no refugees queuing up to ask for advice in front of the tent.

Other prosecutors were in a similar situation; even senior prosecutors only had three to five people questioning them in front of their tents.

It's clear that these 20,000 refugees know some of the assessment rules. They're not in a hurry to make a choice right now; they're just staring at the tents from afar, clearly waiting for the inspectors to make their move first before they pick and choose.

However, the checkpoint had obviously taken this into account and ultimately only allocated 16,000 slots.

The displaced people themselves must also fight for it; if they just stand by and watch, they may very well lose the election.

"Prosecutor Cheng, there's only one sunshade left." Link turned his head, his tone slightly embarrassed.

Compared to the sunshades in the front row, the 32nd sunshade was already off to the right of the refugee formation, at least seven or eight hundred meters away from the first sunshade.

"It's alright. Whether it's the last one or not depends on the methods used."

Cheng Ye smiled.

The 32nd, or possibly the 1st.

Who decided that the side that starts first is the first one?
Since they were all centered around the refugee contingent, the location of the sunshades was neither particularly good nor bad.

The shuttle bus came to a stop, and the two got off and walked into the sunshade.

On a table about five meters long and two meters wide, there were "recruitment tools" provided by the checkpoint.

A portable typewriter can quickly print promotional materials as required by the inspector.

Two large loudspeakers were used to promote their ideas.

There were also two large boxes of badges, which were used to distribute to refugees and determine the number of recruits.

Cheng Ye picked up a badge, looked at it, and immediately laughed.

"Brother Cheng, why are we Little Blackie?"

Wang Kang was dumbfounded. He turned to look at the tents next door, where they were all decorated with colorful words and symbols.

"This is so eye-catching, it's the mythical beast of our South Checkpoint."

Cheng Ye smiled and waved the badge in his hand; the big black dog pattern on it was incredibly lifelike.

"Little Blackie is in charge of checking whether caravans are hiding anything. Now that he has received this badge, it is a good omen."

Cheng Ye put down the badge.

I looked into the drawer under the desk and found some common tools, such as tape, notebooks, and ballpoint pens.

Sure enough, it's unrealistic to expect to recruit people using what the checkpoints provide.

When Ding Yishan left, he announced the start of the assessment, meaning that from that moment on, the real test had begun.

Now, whatever means are used to recruit vagrants, it is a reflection of the prosecutor's personal ability.

Surprisingly, no sooner had the two sat down than a dozen young men broke away from the group of refugees and walked over, two of whom went straight to the sunshade.

Cheng Ye subconsciously opened the panel and glanced at the cooperation rate. The people in the tent next to him all had a cooperation rate of at least 20%, and there were quite a few people with a cooperation rate of over 30% in the more distant areas.

Since they volunteered to participate in the assessment, their level of cooperation is not surprising.

But the two people in front of me were only a strikingly low level of cooperation.

interesting.

Are they mercenaries who accepted the mission from Pinghai Tower?
Or was it a pawn sent by someone Cheng Long had offended to interfere with his assessment?
Cheng Ye remained calm, a slight smile appearing on his face, and signaled the guards to let them pass one by one.

Link quickly took out two nameplates and placed them in front of Cheng Ye and Wang Kang respectively. The first person to step forward was a middle-aged man wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, with slightly bulging muscles, who looked like he was in his prime and capable of working.

He stepped forward, bowed slightly, glanced at the name on the nameplate, and said, "Prosecutor Cheng, are you still recruiting young and strong men here? I can bring 50 capable young and strong men to cooperate with your assessment and guarantee to complete all the tasks you issue."

"Oh?" Cheng Ye said calmly. "I can accept them, but your team..."

"The checkpoint is offering us 100 Happiness Coins for three days. We'd like to ask you to give us an additional 100 Happiness Coins on top of that. What do you think?"

Good heavens, so they came to do business with him and Wang Kang because they're young?
Cheng Ye immediately realized that he had misunderstood the other party's origins and had not expected that there would be such a person in the refugee group.

Because in the brief moment he hesitated, the man's level of cooperation suddenly increased, jumping to over 20%.

"If there are 50 people, and we give them an extra 100 Happiness Coins, that's 5000 Happiness Coins."

"That's really daring of a thought!"

Cheng Long only left him a little over five thousand Happiness Coins, and these people are asking for so much.

Do you really think you're something special?

Cheng Ye gave a wink, and the guard immediately understood, saying to the man, "Please leave."

"Prosecutor Cheng, please reconsider. How about 80, 80 Happiness Coins?" the man called out somewhat unwillingly, but Cheng Ye's expression remained unchanged from beginning to end.

After he left, Cheng Ye turned to Link and asked, "Is this allowed?"

“If you promise them compensation privately, that would be against the rules; but if you use your initial points to exchange for funds for them, that would comply with the assessment regulations,” Link replied immediately, clearly having anticipated this.

It seems that this was taken into account when the refugees were selected, and that only completely honest people were not chosen to be included in the formation.

This is a test in itself, since not everyone assigned to the satellite city will be obedient.

The able-bodied men are indeed willing to work, but you can't pay everyone the same for their work. It's not surprising that some people are making extra demands.

As soon as the first man left, the second man quickly stepped forward; he was indeed there to "sell" as well.

However, the price is much cheaper, only 50 Happiness Coins per person, and you can also help Cheng Ye screen people in the refugee group according to his requirements, such as those who can build structures, those with strong vigilance, or those who are efficient at work. Any requirements can be met.

Of course, you have to add money.

"These people are so damn realistic!"

After the man was driven away, Wang Kang couldn't help but complain, "If we had that much funding, why would we need to hire them? We could just go to the community in the buffer zone; they'd be much more proactive."

The 100 Happiness Coins promised at the checkpoint are not enough; you need to add another 100. If you have special abilities, you need to add another 50-100.

Based on the daily wage, that's 100 Happiness Coins a day. Is this really a place to get rich?
"Don't rush, this is probably just one of the tests at the checkpoint."

Cheng Ye found it amusing.

He was very familiar with the tricks of human resource agencies. Back in college, he would inevitably encounter these unscrupulous agencies during his winter and summer breaks when he went out to work and study.

They quote one price to the factory and another price to the workers, making a profit from the difference.

Are the so-called 50 able-bodied young men who come to help with the work, or the people with special abilities, really his own people?
not necessarily.

It's highly likely that after receiving a definite promise of compensation here, they'll return to the refugee contingent to recruit more people.

Even if each person only receives 20 Happiness Coins, they can earn a thousand without doing anything.

Looking around, the other prosecutors were in similar situations, with recruitment agencies coming to them.

Some people, like him, rejected the offer without even thinking, while others argued with the agent.

Many of them are senior prosecutors, perhaps because they have dealt with all sorts of shady characters and are not averse to this approach.

This involves the art of negotiation.

The existence of intermediaries is to save some trouble. If the goal can be achieved at a reasonable price, it is not a bad solution.

After dealing with more than a dozen intermediaries who came to his door frantically promoting their resources, one of the inspectors finally couldn't hold back any longer, stood up, picked up a megaphone, and went to the front of the stage.

Cheng Ye glanced at the screen and was surprised to find that the first person to step forward was Zhao Jia, who had called him before.

"Wanzi Town is recruiting! We need two hundred hardworking young and strong men. In addition to the basic salary, each person will receive an extra 30 Happiness Coins as compensation. Wanzi Town has a safe terrain, with very little activity from infected or mutated creatures in the surrounding area, making it the most suitable place to build a satellite city. During the assessment process, we will ensure the personal safety of everyone."

The rest of the conversation was mostly nonsense and nobody paid attention, but the phrase "an extra reward of 30 Happiness Coins" immediately caused a stir among the refugees.

As the saying goes, there must be a brave man under a heavy reward.

In the blink of an eye, more than fifty young men walked out of the formation and went to the sunshade to register.

Seeing this, the other inspectors under the sunshades stopped hiding and stepped forward to speak out.

Before the senior prosecutors could make their move, the junior prosecutors took the most direct approach, distributing badges representing their status one by one.

However, as if by unspoken agreement, no one offered more than 30 coins as a reward. Depending on the terrain, the reward was either 20 or 25 coins, with a maximum of 30 coins.

Moreover, the number of young and strong men recruited was also uniform, all being two hundred people. They did not try to recruit 500 young and strong men into the team all at once, which was probably due to consideration of the initial points.

To satisfy these people's need for extra rewards, we need to work on the points system and find families with children and elderly members to fill this gap.

In just over ten minutes, the formation was reduced by more than four thousand people.

Of the six thousand young and middle-aged people, less than two thousand were still observing and not in a hurry to sign up.

"Brother Cheng, should we also..."

"No rush, didn't you see that the senior prosecutors haven't taken any action yet?"

Cheng Ye responded, inwardly sighing, "Indeed, it's the simplistic thinking of the academics; they always only consider ideal scenarios when doing things."

Why do senior prosecutors prefer to negotiate with intermediaries rather than directly recruit staff at high prices?

Once the door is opened to promising people extra rewards to join, what will happen to the remaining 300 positions?
Do you really think those families of seven would willingly become mascots just to fill the gaps in their points?

The first round of recruitment has come to an end, and Zhao Jia, who spoke first, stepped forward again and continued:

“We need 20 families of seven. We promise that the children and elderly in each family will not have to participate in heavy labor tasks. They only need to take care of their own safety, and we will provide the necessary protection and supplies.”

The impassioned words fell silent.

No one paid any attention.

The seven-member family members standing in the refugee contingent remained unmoved, as if they hadn't heard a thing.

"Huh?" Zhao Jia paused for a moment, then picked up the megaphone and repeated himself.

Still, no one paid any attention to them.

An intermediary seized the opportunity to step forward: "Prosecutor Zhao, you give 30 extra happiness coins to the able-bodied men, but why don't you give them to these families?"

“Why would I give them anything? I don’t need them to do any work!” Zhao Jia said matter-of-factly.

“But you need the points they provide,” the agent chuckled softly. “You may have misunderstood something. If they didn’t want to work and only wanted to slack off, they would never have passed the migrant screening and entered the formation to cooperate with your assessment.”

"What?" Zhao Jia was stunned.

"Yes, your promises to them are meaningless. The children in the formation are already teenagers, and they also want to earn more money with their own hands to ease the burden on their families."

The agent cleared his throat, "If you'd like, I can help you find 15 families by giving each family an extra 150 Happiness Coins. How about that?"

150!

When divided among everyone, that's an extra reward of over 20 Happiness Coins. The extra reward for one child is almost comparable to that for a young adult?

Zhao Jia's expression immediately became uncertain. After scolding the guards and driving away the intermediary, he sat back down, his thoughts completely in disarray.

Seeing this, others quickly shouted for recruitment, but they also encountered similar awkward situations.

If prosecutors need the labor of able-bodied young people, don't they also need the points provided by a family of seven?
When there is demand, there is market.

A family of seven clearly understands the value of their points better than young adults, especially those prosecutors who have already selected young adults and have huge gaps in their points that must be filled by a family of seven. At this moment, they are caught in a dilemma and have become the most tempting "fat pigs".

If we don't take this opportunity to slaughter these people, they'll really think that those who can maintain three generations under one roof in the chaotic wasteland are good people.
"Brother Cheng." Wang Kang's lips trembled slightly, feeling as if his worldview was collapsing again.

The harmonious memories of getting along with the community are fading away quickly. The people in front of me are no longer companions who strive for common goals and do not care about worldly interests, but have become people with faces that only care about immediate returns.

"Xiaokang, you don't really think everyone in the community is a good person, do you?"

Cheng Ye turned his head and tapped his finger lightly on the table. "Do you know what Da Long's nickname is to outsiders?"

"Poison Hand Dragon?"

"Do you know why he's called that?"

"do not know."

"Then let me tell you, the number of people he has crippled or disabled is already over four figures."

Cheng Ye spoke calmly, as if he were talking about something ordinary, “This reputation wasn’t earned in the buffer zone, but rather it’s the impression he left on outsiders from the moment he joined the Pioneer Corps, based on his ruthlessness.”

"What?" Wang Kang was completely stunned. Da Long, who had always been obedient in front of Cheng Ye and him, was actually such a ruthless person?

"But do you know why he behaves so well in front of me?"

Wang Kang remained silent, but his expression subtly changed, clearly indicating that he already had an answer in mind.

The renovation of the shopping mall, the reconstruction of the pedestrian street, the promises made by the factory, and the anticipation for the future.
It was precisely because of these things that Cheng Ye did that the people in the community loved and respected him from the bottom of their hearts and listened to him.

"Remember this: whether it's the wasteland or the old era, money is the foundation of everything!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a gasp of surprise came from the group of refugees.

Many people turned their attention to them, but their gazes were not fixed on the sunshade, but rather on what lay further behind them.

Wang Kang subconsciously turned his head to look, and the expression on his face instantly became vivid.

Not far away, a convoy of six vehicles was slowly approaching, lined up in a straight line, making them quite conspicuous.

Three hundred militiamen in black shirts followed behind the car, each with a short knife and a pistol at their waist. Their steps were orderly, exuding a chilling aura.

Cheng Ye stood up, shook his neck, and gently patted Wang Kang's shoulder.

"Watch carefully, learn well, you have a long way to go!"

　P.S.: Two chapters delivered in this race against time! Prosecutor Cheng's rise to power will certainly not follow the usual path of compromise. The main plot is about to begin, hehe~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)