After Mu Shuang finished speaking, she herself didn't quite know how to continue.
As the "Ghost King Mu" of the Hundred Ghosts Gang, she had already touched the threshold of Unity of Heaven and Man, a half-step transcendent master.
As long as she didn't encounter true transcendents, she could practically walk sideways across the wasteland. Few could threaten her.
In all her years roaming the surrounding provinces, even masters of the same level rarely detected her tracking.
Yet returning to Happiness City, she had capsized in front of a trainee inspection official. It was embarrassing to even mention.
"He discovered you?"
The rage on Ding Yishan's face gradually faded, replaced by several degrees of interest. His fingertips tapped lightly on the desktop, "Were you careless, or..."
"Impossible that I was careless," Mu Shuang immediately shook her head, her tone certain. "I never even touched those four Dao Embryo realm individuals, staying hidden in the shadows the entire time. There's no reason he could have traced me through them."
"That is strange," Ding Yishan raised his eyebrows slightly.
"I'm inclined to think he's completely turned Zone B-7 into his own territory. That Tianyuan Community has over four thousand people now completely aligned with him. From the 'Tianyuan Mall' at one end of the street to the 'Market' at the other, even the street sweepers throughout Zone B-7 are his people. As long as outsiders enter the area, he doesn't need to investigate personally, his subordinates will pass the information up to him.""A local tyrant?" Ding Yishan couldn't help saying, then laughed at his own words.
The thick killing intent from before completely disappeared, leaving only irrepressible curiosity.
"You could say that. He feels more like a ghost king than me. Well, his subordinates are all his little ghosts."
Mu Shuang finished wiping her hair and casually tossed the wet towel to Jiang Chuan, adding, "By the way, if I weren't used to the room Jiang Chuan arranged for me and had to rearrange furniture and change the layout every time I returned, I really wouldn't have discovered the listening device stuck behind the bed board."
"Then you should thank me, otherwise you'd have been tied up and taken to the community," Jiang Chuan rarely laughed, his tone carrying some teasing. "I later had more contact with that Big Dragon from the community. He's a good person, but his younger brother Second Dragon is full of cunning ideas. This was probably his suggestion."
"No, I think it was Inspector Cheng's idea," Mu Shuang shook her head. "I asked about that listening device at the Industrial Department. He had Sun Weicheng process the order, spending 280 contribution points. To catch me, this 'suspicious person,' he really was willing to spend."
Investigated so thoroughly?
Even the source of the listening device had been completely traced through visits?
"So what do you mean now?" Jiang Chuan pondered. Since Mu Shuang was saying this, it definitely wasn't to tell Ding Yishan about Cheng Ye's extremely strong investigative abilities.
"I want to be captured by him, but I'm warning you, I'm not going to surrender without a fight like you did."
As Mu Shuang spoke, seeing the unstoppable smile on Jiang Chuan's face, she glared at him fiercely.
"Being captured by him, do you also want to experience Inspector Cheng's interrogation abilities?"
"Well, didn't you say last time that Inspector Cheng asked all irrelevant questions? I'm quite curious what he would ask me after learning my identity."
Mu Shuang blinked, "Additionally, I want to compete with him. I'll also disguise myself as Dao Embryo realm and see what methods he uses to catch me. The encirclement tactics used against those few small fries were too elementary."
"Why are you so playful? This isn't the time for games."
Jiang Chuan quickly shook his head, looking toward Ding Yishan. "Sir, Inspector Cheng has been incredibly busy recently. When I delivered Master Zhang's batch of books to him a few days ago, he had to squeeze time out from the Mechanical Department to come get them."
"If Little Shuang messes this up and makes Inspector Cheng think she's deliberately causing trouble, leaving a bad impression, it'll be difficult to approach and protect him later."
"Hey, Jiang Chuan, when you were tied up, why didn't you mention leaving a bad impression!" Mu Shuang clicked her tongue and quickly turned to Ding Yishan to explain. "Station Chief, I'm not playing around blindly. I want to understand Inspector Cheng's operational style in advance. After all, I'll need to follow him on missions and protect him in the future. If his investigative abilities are really this strong, working together cooperatively afterward will be more seamless, preventing chaos when the time comes."
"What you say does make some sense."
After pondering for a moment, Ding Yishan nodded slightly. "Here's what we'll do. You can try if you want, but you must follow a rule. If he truly perceives something wrong with you and moves to capture you, you can try to run and see what methods and approaches he uses to respond. But if he doesn't treat you as a 'suspicious person' and doesn't plan to capture you, don't deliberately provoke him into trying to catch you. Don't interfere with his proper business."
"Great! Thank you, Station Chief!" Mu Shuang immediately nodded, showing a pleased smile on her face.
"Additionally..." Ding Yishan's gaze suddenly became serious, his tone also becoming more grave. "Before we determine the background and origins of those four Dao Embryo realm masters, your primary task is still protecting Cheng Ye. Don't put the cart before the horse, understand?"
"I understand!" Mu Shuang put away her smile and nodded solemnly.
No matter how much she enjoyed playing around, she understood this was a special period. Unknown masters infiltrating the buffer zone and targeting Cheng Ye was absolutely not something to take lightly.
After Mu Shuang pushed the door and left, the atmosphere in the office immediately became heavy.
Connecting this to the assassin organizations just mentioned at the meeting, Ding Yishan immediately pulled out his defense communicator and dialed "Carlo Dickinson's" number.
"Minister Carlo, this is Ding Yishan," his voice carried several degrees of urgency. "We just discovered unknown masters who infiltrated the buffer zone and have been monitoring our inspection officials. The guard personnel you mentioned earlier may need to be arranged ahead of schedule."
"Someone dared to infiltrate the buffer zone?!" Came Carlo Dickinson's furious voice through the receiver, though he quickly regained composure. "Station Chief Ding, rest assured. I've already arranged the guard team personnel list. First thing tomorrow morning they'll enter the buffer zone in batches. I'll send you a copy of the list shortly. After they arrive, you can arrange them as you see fit, prioritizing protection of key inspection officials."
"Alright, thank you for the trouble." Ding Yishan hung up the phone and turned to look at Jiang Chuan again.
"Achuan, you don't need to investigate those four people's entry routes anymore. I'll report this matter to Director Liu shortly and let the Security Department take over. They have more complete information networks and can investigate faster."
He paused, then instructed, "Keep a closer eye on Little Shuang. Don't let Cheng Ye actually treat her as an enemy and hurt her."
"Mm, alright." Jiang Chuan instinctively nodded, but just after responding, he realized and looked at Ding Yishan puzzledly. "Sir, do you think... Inspector Cheng can really catch Mu Shuang?"
No matter what, Mu Shuang was still half-step transcendent, and at her peak period. Even he wasn't confident he could take her down now.
Even disguised as Dao Embryo realm, that was only in direct combat. Abilities like perception and escape were far beyond what Dao Embryo realm could compare to.
"Whether he can catch her is hard to say, but Little Shuang won't use guns, while Cheng Ye really knows how to shoot."
Ding Yishan suddenly looked over, his tone carrying some teasing. "If he pulls out that Thunder-1 shotgun, could you withstand one shot?"
Jiang Chuan thought seriously for a moment and answered honestly, "If it hit non-vital areas, I could probably take one shot, but if it hit vital spots..."
Seeing him seriously analyzing this hypothetical scenario, Ding Yishan couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Stop thinking about it randomly. I've never seen anyone fire just one shot. When Cheng Ye fought that fusion entity, he practically wanted to stuff the gun barrel into its mouth to fire."
As soon as he finished speaking, the smile on his face faded and his tone became somewhat heavier. "Additionally, find an opportunity to go to Tianyuan Community to see those four captured people. If they're stubborn, transfer them to the inspection station's interrogation room first. Don't drag it out too long in the community, lest complications arise."
"But if the interrogation reveals something..."
He spoke halfway, then suddenly sighed and stopped there, not continuing.
Some things didn't need to be made explicit. Jiang Chuan understood perfectly.
What troubled times indeed.
If it were old grudges left by Cheng Long, that would be easier to handle but the current situation was mixed with covetousness from surrounding super sanctuary cities, mercenaries appearing from who knows where, and whatever damned assassin organizations...
These parasites hiding in the shadows had clearly been silent for over ten years, yet now they couldn't wait for the next Great Development Era to arrive before eagerly showing their heads.
They craved chaos, hoping to leverage the turmoil to trigger a new round of rising power.
But they didn't know that sanctuary cities that had developed for over ten years in stable times no longer wanted to return to those days of displacement and wandering.
Whoosh.
The office chair turned in response, and Ding Yishan leaned back against the chair back, his gaze falling on the pattering rain curtain outside the window, and also on the refugee camp illuminated by searchlights.
Actually, there was one thing he really didn't want to admit but perhaps, the next Great Development Era had already begun!
Four-thirty at night.
The lights in the Mechanical Department warehouse were still blindingly bright.
The last seat was steadily installed in the SUV's driver position. Cheng Ye waved his hand, having two apprentices bring towels and a small vacuum cleaner.
The remaining cleaning work wasn't complicated, just wiping away metal debris and dust remaining in the car, then spraying some maintenance oil on the seat rails and door hinges.
He himself was so exhausted he was nearly collapsed, sitting down heavily on the pile of parts packaging boxes all over the floor, accepting the enamel water jar an apprentice handed him and gulping down most of the cold water.
The icy water flowing down his throat barely suppressed the heavy feeling in his eyelids.
My goodness.
So exhausting!
He had known that screwing in bolts would be hard work, but hadn't expected it to be this troublesome.
The three old masters couldn't hold on any longer. Working until midnight, they rubbed their aching backs and took their leave, since their age was there and they couldn't endure this kind of all-night work.
Sang Tao and Sang Zhe still had energy, currently crouching beside another pickup truck with wrenches, fine-tuning the chassis height while occasionally discussing, wanting to adjust the suspension parameters to the state most suitable for wilderness road conditions.
Fortunately, the remaining interior installation only required "assembly according to diagrams" and didn't involve complex mechanical principles. The apprentices had learned for several days and could handle it.
Even so, when Cheng Ye made rounds checking, he still spotted quite a few errors at a glance.
There was no choice. As mechanical assembly reached maximum proficiency, his eye was exactly like Sang Hezheng's.
Some errors were crystal clear with just one glance.
He could only direct the apprentices to reassemble, providing guidance for a while, truly getting a taste of being a master craftsman.
The rain outside the warehouse had somehow become lighter, the pattering sound coming through the iron roof no longer violent but adding a sense of tranquility.
When the apprentices finished cleaning the SUV's interior, Cheng Ye immediately perked up. Supporting himself on his knees, he stood up and climbed into the driver's seat.
He manually adjusted the seat height, slid the rails forward and back, and adjusted the steering wheel angle.
All adjustments were purely manual mechanical, but the adjustment range was extremely wide. In less than half a minute, he found the seating position that best fit his body shape.
However, the moment his fingertips gripped the steering wheel, Cheng Ye suddenly felt somewhat embarrassed.
Two lifetimes as a person.
He had slept in dozens upon dozens of beds, from the hard wooden beds of the orphanage to the iron frame beds in university dormitories, to his current single bed but personally sitting in a comfortable seat, touching a car steering wheel with his gaze level ahead, this was his first time.
Cheng Ye didn't have a proper driver's license.
Because he simply had no time to test for one during university. Every day after classes he had to work three part-time jobs. The money he earned through work-study was partly returned to the orphanage, partly kept as startup capital for post-graduation entrepreneurship, a full fifty thousand yuan.
He had even planned that after earning money later, he would first buy a cheap car for transportation. He never expected an accidental transmigration would make that fifty thousand yuan a number he could never use.
"Fifty thousand yuan couldn't buy such a good car anyway."
Cheng Ye murmured softly, his fingertips gently brushing over the car's components.
The molded decorative panels were wear-resistant ones he had specifically chosen. The steering wheel was a genuine leather piece dismantled from the scrap yard. Even the foot pedals beneath his feet had their edges polished by himself.
The texture was delicate, joints fitted perfectly, so perfect it made his heart soar with satisfaction.
Although this car had no radio, no car air conditioning, and certainly no large central control tablet standard in modern new energy vehicles.
The dashboard only had a palm-sized screen displaying only the most basic information:
Gear position, speed, remaining battery charge, and estimated range.
But so what?
This was a car he had assembled with his own hands. Every screw, every wire harness had been touched by his sweat. It was no longer cold machinery but had become a "companion" with warmth and emotion.
"When I gradually upgrade it later, everything that should be there will be there!"
Cheng Ye patted the steering wheel, his eyes full of anticipation.
This SUV had reserved many upgrade interfaces. Whether central control screens, intelligent car systems, or more advanced sensors, they could all be installed bit by bit later.
No need to be greedy now. Keeping the core driving functions and using it as a reliable transportation tool first was fine.
As for learning to drive, he already had an idea.
After greeting Sang Tao and Sang Zhe, Cheng Ye reached out to move the gear lever, gently pushing it into "forward gear," and slowly pressed the accelerator with his right foot.
Whoosh.
The motor made a slight humming sound as the SUV slowly drove out of the warehouse, its tires crushing through accumulated water on the ground, splashing tiny droplets.
A few raindrops fell on the windshield, quickly spreading into wet marks. Cheng Ye hurriedly flipped the windshield wiper switch.
Watching the two black rubber strips swing left and right, immediately wiping the rainwater completely clean, he smiled silently.
"Inspector Cheng, are you going out?"
Just as he drove to the Mechanical Department entrance, the guard on duty quickly approached, curiously examining this brand new silver SUV that hadn't been painted yet.
"Mm, going out to familiarize myself with the car's condition. Please open the gate," Cheng Ye rolled down the window and nodded with a smile.
"Right away!" The guard efficiently pulled open the iron fence, watching the SUV smoothly drive through the gate and couldn't help but look a few more times.
Really beautiful.
Those big tires looked reassuring.
Driving onto the buffer zone's main road, Cheng Ye gripped the steering wheel and slowly explored, sometimes lightly pressing the accelerator to feel the smooth thrust from the motor, sometimes lightly tapping the brake to adapt to the brake pedal's feedback force.
The road was wide, and at night there were no pedestrians or other vehicles, creating no driving pressure whatsoever.
After trying for a while, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly:
"So driving an automatic transmission car is this simple!"
He had always watched others drive before. Now that he was personally hands-on, he discovered that as long as you mastered direction, gas pedal, and brake, driving on open roads was surprisingly easy.
When he reached the wilderness later, it would probably be even simpler, because there were no traffic rules. As long as he didn't roll over, he could drive however he wanted.
After familiarizing himself for over ten minutes, Cheng Ye's courage gradually grew, and the extent he pressed the accelerator became greater and greater.
From initially only daring to press 10%, gradually increasing to 50%, finally simply flooring the accelerator.
The wet ground made the tires slip slightly. The ABS indicator light on the dashboard immediately lit up, power was cut off in time, and the car body quickly regained stability.
"Interesting!"
He became interested and simply turned off ABS, pressing the accelerator again.
The car's rear indeed began barely perceptible lateral sliding, but now his constitution had been enhanced by talent. His body's reaction speed and balance perception far exceeded ordinary people. Almost the instant the car's rear slid, he keenly captured the change in the car body's center of gravity.
His right hand quickly counter-steered, his left foot lightly supplemented power. The SUV drew a smooth arc in the middle of the road, actually completing a perfect circular drift!
"Awesome! So awesome!"
The lateral G-force's pushing sensation made his heart race, and he couldn't help but cry out in a low voice.
This feeling of controlling machinery and breaking through balance was more intoxicating than any training.
After playing for a full half hour, Cheng Ye finally stopped the car and took a long breath.
He looked at the dashboard. This car was equipped with two motors that normally would only start the rear one. You needed to press the mechanical button on the armrest to start the front motor.
Single motor drive, zero to sixty acceleration was about eight seconds.
With dual motor drive, zero to sixty acceleration could directly break into under six seconds.
Although dual motors were basically unnecessary in the wilderness, abundant power reserves could always provide extra confidence when encountering danger.
What satisfied him even more was the battery configuration. The SUV and two pickups all used 150-degree first-generation large batteries. After that bout of "violent driving" just now, energy consumption soared to 33 degrees per hundred kilometers. Even so, a full charge was enough to support 450 kilometers.
More than sufficient for round trips between the buffer zone and Dapo Town, and completely no problem for visits to surrounding satellite cities.
As for the three cargo transport vehicles, although they used 200-degree batteries with higher energy consumption, their average range could also stabilize at over 400 kilometers, completely meeting the merchant company's initial transportation needs.
Stopping the car and rolling down the window, Cheng Ye extended his left hand out the window, imitating those people he had seen in modern times.
It really was quite pleasant.
Taking a deep breath of the moist air outside, feeling raindrops pattering on his arm, his heart became increasingly settled.
The most important part of the merchant company's framework foundation had been completely established.
Next, as long as personnel were in place and the satellite cities' infrastructure stabilized and began having material needs and output, the merchant company could immediately begin operation.
Cheng Ye estimated this day wouldn't be far off. According to the first batch of satellite cities' construction speed, infrastructure would be completely stable in approximately fifteen to twenty-five days. Even if they continued gathering refugees then, they wouldn't blindly expand outward.
And that idle labor force would naturally need more industries to satisfy employment.
"When all is said and done, infrastructure still needs to be laid out first. Wonder how the power grid installation is going."
Cheng Ye muttered while driving the SUV back to the Mechanical Department.
After tossing about for most of the night, the Sang brothers couldn't hold on either and went to sleep. Only a group of apprentices still had plenty of energy, busily working around the remaining five vehicles.
Some were applying masking film to window edges, others were carrying paint guns and adjusting paint concentration, preparing to give the car bodies final paint treatment.
The car frames came from the factory already sprayed with silver-white primer. What they needed to cover now was military green paint specifically chosen by Cheng Ye, also the most common vehicle color throughout Happiness City.
It wasn't that he liked being low-key, but really that now wasn't the time to be unconventional.
Refugees outside in the wilderness, roaming infection sources, and those eyes hiding in the shadows would only pay more attention to eye-catching colors. The most plain military green could blend with surrounding environments, avoiding unnecessary trouble.
Cheng Ye leaned aside and watched for a while. By the time the apprentices finished spraying the last transport vehicle's roof and moved the car to the warehouse's ventilated corner to dry, the sky had completely brightened.
He pulled out his defense communicator to check. The time was already six-ten.
Yawning, he walked out of the Mechanical Department and jogged all the way back to the Electronics Factory residential complex.
When he reached the fifth floor, Cheng Ye deliberately paused.
The door to 529 had also been replaced with the same security door as before. The dark gray metal panel gleamed coldly. Compared to the creaky old wooden door from a week ago, the sense of security was instantly maxed out.
He pulled the key from his pocket, slowly inserted it into the lock and turned it twice, deliberately waiting two seconds before pushing the door open.
Fire Sprout on his shoulder had already jumped out, red down completely covering the little guy's round body. It was tilting its head alertly, looking left and right, but didn't transmit information like usual.
"Huh, that gaze watching me is gone today?"
Cheng Ye was somewhat surprised. Ever since the house renovation was completed and he moved back, there had been several gazes observing from the shadows every day.
He had already caught four with the community militia, leaving only the last clever one they hadn't managed to capture yet.
Those four captured ones were stubborn. Even when Elder He stepped in, no valuable information could be interrogated.
As for cooperation level, from the moment of capture, they all showed a bizarre 100%.
However, these past days busy assembling vehicles and grinding mechanical skills at the Mechanical Department, Cheng Ye had no excess charging value to use for "information searching." Now that vehicle assembly was almost complete, he could finally spare time to try prying something from these four people's mouths.
Entering the room, he shook his head and temporarily put this matter aside. Perhaps that last lookout had temporarily withdrawn, or maybe was plotting something else. The most important thing now was catching up on sleep.
Pressing the light switch by the entrance, "whoosh," warm yellow light instantly filled the room.
The two rooms were actually about the same size, but because there was no bed, they appeared much more spacious than before.
The previously pitted cement floor had been laid with smooth light gray tiles, with gaps wiped clean without a speck of dust visible.
The walls previously blackened by mold had not only been painted with two layers of moisture-proof paint but also papered with cream-colored wallpaper. Not a trace of damp moldy smell remained.
After the entire room was completely renovated, compared to its dilapidated appearance when he first moved in, it was worlds apart.
By the window sat a work table two and a half meters long and eighty centimeters wide. On it were scattered wrenches, screwdrivers, soldering guns he had brought back from the Mechanical Department, plus several unassembled small parts and circuit boards scattered to one side.
Against the wall facing the doorway connecting the two rooms sat a brown three-person sofa he had found. It looked somewhat worn, with some worn leather on the armrests, but was exceptionally comfortable to sit on.
In front of the sofa was a wooden coffee table of modest size with three finished books placed on top.
By the entrance wall was a simple shoe cabinet. Cheng Ye casually placed his keys on the cabinet surface and sank into the sofa, his body instantly enveloped by soft filling.
The fatigue from consecutive nights seemed to be drawn away by more than half. He couldn't help but take a long, comfortable breath.
Comfortable!
These stable days of development, every time he returned home to nest and zone out for a while, his whole body felt light and refreshed.
After recovering from that wave of fatigue, he got up and picked up the books from the coffee table, walking through the newly opened doorway in the wall.
The doorway had no door installed, only a light gray cotton door curtain hanging. A gentle lift allowed passage.
The adjacent room's structure hadn't changed much, only the previously broken wardrobe that wouldn't close had been replaced with a large wardrobe reaching the ceiling, sufficient to store his clothes and battle armor.
Beside the wardrobe was an equally ceiling-high moisture-proof bookcase occupying half a wall. Behind glass doors were neatly arranged nearly four hundred books.
Some were those delivered during his hospital stay, others were brought by Jiang Chuan a few days ago.
Cheng Ye casually opened the bookcase, returned the finished books to their places, and pulled out several he hadn't read.
The layout around the original wooden bed had also changed considerably.
Behind the door stood a tree-branch-shaped clothes rack. At the head of the bed sat a white bedside table with an extendable silver desk lamp extending from it. The lamp arm could bend freely, perfectly illuminating the head of the bed.
Cheng Ye hung his clothes on the rack, charged his pendant, and after lying on the bed pressed the lamp switch. Warm white light fell precisely on the book pages.
He flipped two pages, but his gaze gradually became blurry as days of fatigue finally completely surged up.
Pulling down the main switch by the bed head, the desk lamp went out along with the living room light, and the room fell into quiet darkness.
Within minutes, steady breathing sounds were echoing in the room.