Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 60 The caravan's extravagance: making a small profit!
Human psychology is actually very fragile, especially when people are imprisoned and their human rights are violated.

Although Polk was merely following quarantine guidelines and firing shots to "test" whether the three people in the same isolation ward as the infected person were infected, the so-called accidental injury was defined as an unforeseen incident.

But the entire quarantine zone A was still gripped by panic, with everyone trembling with fear, afraid of becoming the next target.

This fear is far more suffocating than the system of collective punishment, because you have absolutely no idea whether your next roommate is a human or a monster.

To put it bluntly: it's a gamble!

There are two main reasons why there has been no riot yet.

First, no one dares to take the lead. The checkpoint is not an independent institution. It is backed by Happiness City and can mobilize more than 2,000 guards. It is a real violent institution.

Even if someone manages to escape the quarantine zone, where can they go? Can they escape back to the perilous ruins of the city?
Secondly, many people's quarantine period is almost over and they are ready to leave. Even if someone who has only been detained for a day or two tries to persuade them, they will think about leaving soon and are unwilling to take the risk.

With these two factors combined, the quarantined population was divided into different groups.

This is why, even though people are filled with anxiety, the reactions of the crowd are different when the raven comes in.

There was anticipation, fear, anger, and resentment.

"Alright, stop staring at me like that. Whether I want to leave or not is not up to me."

The raven cleared its throat, and its voice came through the loudspeaker:

"Prosecutor Cheng, um, the one who took down the infected person the day before yesterday, it's his turn to be on duty now. He'll be opening the warehouse and releasing people soon, you know what I mean?"

Wow.

The silent crowd seemed to have been turned on, and hundreds of figures stood up in unison.

The isolation ward, which was silent just a moment ago, suddenly became as lively as a vegetable market.

"Sir, I've been locked up for 11 days. Please, please tell Prosecutor Cheng."

"Sir, I will absolutely obey orders. I will answer whatever you ask."

"."

If it were Polk, no one would react so wildly.

Upon hearing that it was Cheng Ye, who had just killed Barrett the day before yesterday, the group immediately realized that they had a chance to leave.

The raven coughed twice, trying to suppress the noisy voices:

"Prosecutor Cheng has limited energy. He will release people in batches, so please keep quiet."

"The people whose names are called next are the first batch; all of them have been in quarantine for more than 7 days."

After all 108 names were read out in turn, the person whose name was called was naturally overjoyed.

Those who had been in quarantine for more than 7 days but hadn't heard their names called could only shake their heads and smile bitterly in resignation.

Although they were disappointed, few people loudly questioned why it wasn't their turn.

After all, everyone is wary of yesterday's events repeating themselves.

It was excellent to have a group of people test out the prosecutor's personality and temperament first.

“For those whose names are called, although your statements are in order, we still cannot completely rule out the risk.”

“Prosecutor Cheng is willing to open the warehouse and release the people, but he is also taking risks, so you need to step forward and pay a deposit.”

"Don't worry, no matter how much this deposit is, the checkpoint will only charge 5% as a storage fee, and any excess will be refunded in full after seven days."

"Did you hear that clearly?"

The isolation ward was completely silent; no one answered or objected.

The raven nodded in satisfaction, gave the staff a look, and the slips of paper were quickly handed out.

sunny.

The morning wasn't too hot yet; the sunlight felt warm on people, dispelling the anxiety of the impending wave of infections.

The impending explosion of the substitute starfish has not affected the operation of Happiness City at all, thanks to the high level of secrecy surrounding the news.

There are noticeably more vehicles entering and leaving the country.

Cheng Ye had only been in the quarantine area for half an hour when three cars arrived at the front and back of the passage, waiting for the checkpoint to open.

Two common Jinbei vans and a very "rare" small pickup truck.

Judging from the arrow markings on the car doors, the three cars should belong to the same team.

The small window on the isolation door slid open, and a bearded man got out of the passenger seat of the pickup truck and handed in two envelopes.

“Sir, we are the Flying Bird Caravan. My name is Carson Parker, and I am the leader of this caravan.”

"This is our exit form, and this is our entry declaration form. Please check them."

Cheng Ye returned to the table and opened the envelope.

There's nothing unusual about leaving the city; even if you're carrying a large amount of contraband, they won't write it down.

Customs declaration form is one of the privileges of caravans.

The checkpoint has established a special credit scoring system:
Vehicles with a credit score below 60 must unload all items from their vehicles and undergo a full inspection when entering the city.

Those who score between 60 and 80 points can be exempted from moving items, but must cooperate with staff to open and inspect the boxes.

For scores above 80, only an import declaration form needs to be filled out, and the cargo and goods on the vehicle need to be registered accurately.

Of course, as an inspector, Cheng Ye still had the right to order his staff to open and inspect the boxes.

Even if you disassemble the car into parts and puncture each tire, it's still within the rules.

If any unregistered items are found on the declaration form, the caravan credit branch will immediately clear the credit and will also have to pay a hefty fine.

Therefore, this is both a privilege and a constraint.

Although it was Cheng Ye's first time encountering this situation, he didn't feel unfamiliar with it. He immediately focused his mind and began to check the customs clearance records.

[Mutant Beast - Alien Crystal, Quality: Common, Quantity: 17]

The very first line of cargo records is invigorating.

Mutant crystals are the most valuable part of a mutated beast, similar to gallstones, and have only a very small chance of forming in the brain of a mutated beast.

Its effects are similar to those of the extraordinary plants affected by S-3, possessing many magical properties.

For example, Master Tian openly admits to adding some crystalline powder to the liniment he prepares for injuries.

For example, in buffer zones, important large machines use special lubricants with added crystalline powder, which can significantly extend the machine's lifespan.

However, ordinary people find it difficult to utilize the mutated crystals because their effects are completely undetectable from their appearance.

Even a super-protected city like Happiness City cannot accurately identify the function of each crystal.

It can only be classified simply using a set of special equipment, but this also makes Happiness City one of the first sheltered cities to achieve large-scale utilization of alien crystals.

"For ordinary quality, the price per unit is 2 points."

"17."

Cheng Ye quickly calculated that, based on a 30% tax on people entering the city, this alone would earn him 10 contribution points.

That's a huge sum of money! Today's first order has already completed one-third of the goal he set last night!

"It seems the heavy rain a couple of days ago really caused a backlog of goods, which turned out to be a boon for me."

Cheng Ye was secretly thrilled. He continued reading.

In addition to the mutated crystals, the Flying Bird Caravan also brought back a lot of derivative materials from mutated beasts and precious metals.

[Mutant Beast Fur, Quality: Common-Excellent, Quantity: 25]

[Mutant Bone Powder, Quality: Poor, Quantity: 750kg]

【Scarlet Honeycomb, Quality: Regular, Quantity: 12 jars (250g jars)】

【Seeds of the rotten bone flower, quality: ordinary, quantity: 3 bags (25g bags)】

[Old-era amber, quality: poor, quantity: 71 pieces]

Gold bar, quality: 24k, quantity: 380g

Silver jewelry, quality: 800 silver, quantity: 71 kg

【.】

We won't go into detail about fur and bone meal.

The former is the best material for winter clothing, while the latter is used in construction.

Bone meal is mixed with clay to make bone mud bricks, which are much harder than ordinary red bricks and are one of the most in-demand materials for large-scale construction projects in autumn.

Scarlet honeycomb is a byproduct of mutated beasts. It is highly poisonous and of little value, but it is highly sought after by scavengers because it is extremely effective when applied to arrowheads for hunting mutated beasts.

The Bone-Rotting Flower is used in conjunction with Scarlet Bee Honeycomb. After the flowers are dried and ground into powder, they can attract some carrion-eating mutant beasts, creating conditions for hunting them.

As for old-era amber, its nature is somewhat similar to gambling on stones. Many people firmly believe that extraordinary plants or special mutated seeds can be found inside, thus achieving instant wealth.

Therefore, despite the small size of the relevant market, the demand for purchases has never diminished.

However, counterfeiting of this product is rampant, especially in some small clusters where it is often used as a pillar industry.

"1.5kg of gold, if that were in modern times, it would be worth over 300,000 yuan."

"It's a pity that the industrial properties of gold have long been replaced by synthetic metals since it was acquired in Happiness City. Now 100g only contributes 20 points."

Memorizing material purchase prices is a required exam for trainee inspectors.

Cheng Ye hadn't understood why before, but now he suddenly realized.

This is the very foundation upon which prosecutors want to establish themselves!

With the Happiness Coins circulating among ordinary people in the market, where can one afford superior weapons or improve one's strength?

They could only accumulate funds little by little by collecting taxes on people entering the city.

After some calculation, the Flying Bird Caravan was able to acquire supplies worth as much as 133 contribution points.

A 30% tax rate resulted in a staggering 34 points.

"It was a great start, and it already met my expectations."

Cheng Ye couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

It's not that I feel my goals are too low, but rather that my luck seems to have been consistently good ever since I arrived at the North Station.

Such a situation is rare, occurring only once every ten days to two weeks, and requires several conditions to be met:
Due to a natural disaster, I was on duty in Area A when I happened to encounter a caravan returning with a full load of goods.

Four conditions are required, and none can be missing.

In addition, the delivery slip envelope contained two '100' happiness coins.

It’s so profitable!

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No."

Seeing the smile on Cheng Ye's face, Carson knew that this was a sure thing.

In fact, he slipped the 200 happiness coins in when he entered the passage, because he was afraid of being harassed.

Fortunately, the amount of goods recovered this time was quite large, several times more than usual, so it's likely that no matter which inspector comes, they will be polite.

"I'll take my number. Come in and get checked according to the procedure."

"Ok!"

A caravan with three vehicles is considered medium-sized in the buffer zone.

Thirteen people got off the car and quickly took off their clothes; no wounds were visible to the naked eye.

When the numbers were reported again, all the data were normal.

This is the norm. If every person who went out got injured and had to be carefully examined, probably no caravan would dare to venture out at all.

"The car is coming in. I need someone to check the goods. Is everything alright?"

"Of course, no problem. Whatever the prosecutor says, we'll do, and we'll fully cooperate with whatever he says!"

Carson put on an honest smile, and his previously uneasy mood completely relaxed.

Compared to wandering through city ruins and wasteland wilderness, no one would resist the safety of a sanctuary city.

Even if there is exploitation here, isn't this the way things should be?

The shelter city needs to develop, and the inspectors also need to become stronger. If a group of weak people with no power are guarding this place, how can we talk about the safety of hundreds of thousands of residents in the buffer zone?

He was more than willing to pay that money!

Three vehicles slowly drove into the inspection area. Cheng Ye called over two staff members to check the goods item by item according to the declaration form.

The inspection was completed in a short time.

The list basically matched the actual items, with no discrepancies, except that the weight was overstated by about 15%.

"Everything is normal, you know the rules, right?"

"Of course I understand. I will arrange for a car to wait at the checkpoint entrance for the adults to hand over the shift."

Compared to Carson's proficiency, Cheng Ye felt like a complete greenhorn.

But then he thought about how easily he had earned 34 points, and as he watched the convoy leave, he couldn't help but smile.

A 30% tax on people moving into cities is indeed necessary and should be levied.

Just a moment ago, a thought did flash through his mind: if he seized all the goods, he could immediately save enough money to buy a set of equipment.

Fortunately, there were regulations that restricted this greed, which suppressed it.

If there were no such restriction
Generators, batteries, water purifiers, ventilation equipment, heating equipment, monitoring systems, central computers, and various household appliances—these are all hard-to-find items that can only be purchased with contribution points.

He may not need them right now, but if he wants to build a shelter outside the city in the future, these things will be indispensable necessities.

Contribution points are definitely better the more you have!
"Sir, the security deposits have been tallied and are in these bags according to the groups!"

The sound of a raven came from behind.

Cheng Ye turned his head and saw that he was carrying four document bags full of slips of paper.

"So fast?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Let's start sorting. Help me pick out the 5 people with the highest deposits and the 5 people with the lowest deposits in each group!"

(End of this chapter)