Standing at the bus stop in front of the inspection station, Liu Kun waited for a moment.
Only after the previous batch of scavengers had all left did he lift his foot and board the next bus heading to the city district.
The vehicle swayed all the way, its windows covered with a layer of grime, making it impossible to see clearly the shantytowns and tent areas flashing by outside.
"Library Station has arrived!"
The station announcer sounded, and Liu Kun stood up to get off, turning into a narrow alley at the street corner blocked by abandoned pipes.
The surrounding shantytowns were like mushrooms grown from ruins, with corrugated iron roofs covered by plastic sheets, clotheslines hanging old clothes washed pale, and the air mixed with an indescribable stench.
As one of the first batch of shantytowns built back in the day, by today this place had naturally become the most dilapidated area in the entire buffer zone.
About ten minutes later, a completely different figure emerged from the alley entrance.
A stylish black windbreaker hung open, revealing the well-ironed dark shirt inside, sleeves rolled up to the forearms, exposing a mechanical watch on his wrist that had been passed down from the old era but was maintained in excellent condition.
Liu Kun shook his half-dry hair, the previous air of dejection and cowering completely gone. The sharpness and composure between his brows fully relaxed, returning to Director Liu's domineering appearance when wielding power.He gazed at the low shantytowns before him, a trace of complexity flickering in his eyes.
The old generation of inspectors didn't deserve comfort and had to lead by example, living in this place.
Their family's old house was one of the households inside, where he had lived for over ten years.
So much so that even after the Idealist faction took charge, he never had the thought of moving out to live in tube buildings.
Even compared to the bright houses in the inner city, only when he returned here could he feel at peace.
What a pity... Liu Kun sighed lightly.
The buffer zone always lacked potential for outward development. Over the years, it wasn't that no one had proposed external expansion plans, but each time they would be rejected by higher-ups citing insufficient budget and excessive risk, only allowing residents to slowly move outward through voluntary pioneering.
It was stable, but the speed was also slow as a snail.
Until today, Happiness City had lost its leading position and was gradually losing its luster under the pursuit of other sanctuary cities, about to fall back into the ranks of ordinary super sanctuary cities but large ships were hard to turn, and even at this point, Happiness City still couldn't make up its mind.
Every time meetings were held, several factions would still argue incessantly about this.
To restart development like in the great pioneering era without external force was too difficult!
Only with the Walker's appearance did a glimmer of possibility emerge!
Thinking of this, Liu Kun raised his hand to check his watch. The hands already pointed to 2:30 PM.
There was only an hour and a half left until the 4 PM migration assembly.
Yesterday's first meeting, the inspection station was like a backdrop throughout, passively listening to various parties argue but today was different. Even if he had to fight Hou Rui and Carlo Dickinson, paying some price.
He had to let the inspection station grasp some voice and compete for some benefits in this transformation.
They couldn't continue being as accommodating as before, letting everyone think the inspection station was easy to bully and manipulate.
After walking forward for another stretch, Liu Kun turned into an unremarkable courtyard by the roadside.
The iron gate was ajar, and after pushing it open, a gleaming black pickup truck was parked in the yard.
Opening the car door and sitting in the driver's seat, Liu Kun casually pulled out the defense communicator that had been charging in the armrest box. With only an hour and a half left until the assembly, he needed to coordinate with Ding Yishan first.
The phone call went through, first with four or five seconds of busy tone from the receiver, then quickly connected.
But Ding Yishan's side was exceptionally noisy, with boiling voices mixed with the harsh sounds of chairs and tables being moved, as if countless people were crammed into a narrow space. Liu Kun's brows unconsciously furrowed.
"Old Ding, the meeting is about to start. Where are you? Why is it so noisy?"
"Oh, Director Liu!" Ding Yishan's voice carried some urgency, and through the receiver could faintly be heard him coughing lightly while apologizing to people nearby. The surrounding noise receded slightly. "I'm in the inner city, at the meeting venue."
"Why did you go alone?" Liu Kun's voice instantly tensed up, immediately becoming nervous.
Usually when he and Ding Yishan went to inner city meetings together, they would be constantly troubled.
Now with Ding Yishan going to the meeting alone, wouldn't he be stripped of a layer of skin?
Thinking that his delay might have put Ding Yishan in an awkward situation, Liu Kun couldn't help but clench his knuckles, forcibly squeezing several finger grooves into the alloy-made steering wheel.
"The second migration assembly was moved up, moved up to start at 1 o'clock."
"What, moved up?"
Liu Kun was suddenly stunned, looking down at the notification bar of the defense communicator. Sure enough, several unread messages had accumulated.
Earlier he had only taken them as routine notifications, but now clicking on the topmost one, there was indeed an inner city notice.
The second migration assembly was adjusted to today at 13:00, with notification time at 11:30 AM.
This was definitely intentional!
Could it be that someone knew about my plans to go out and deliberately used this opportunity to create trouble?
Liu Kun's expression instantly darkened. This was troublesome.
Fortunately, Ding Yishan's voice sounded relatively calm, "Don't worry, I told them you'd be here soon. It's just right now, hurry over."
"Mm."
Liu Kun responded, his tone carrying suppressed gloom, "Carlo Dickinson didn't give you trouble, did he?"
"Carlo Dickinson..."
Ding Yishan paused, couldn't help but look up at the big bald head sitting at the table, looking at him kindly and waiting for him to finish the call to discuss plans together.
Shaking his head lightly, "No, Director Dickinson is discussing the upcoming settlement plan with me."
Thud.
Liu Kun's heart felt like it was viciously gripped by something.
Carlo Dickinson would discuss settlement plans with Ding Yishan? More likely he was taking advantage of his absence to force Ding Yishan's head down in agreement, right?
From the emotion-suppressing tone in Ding Yishan's voice, he heard a different flavor but at this moment, as the inspection station's only transcendent, as the inspection station's only influential high-level official.
He couldn't panic, much less become flustered!
Liu Kun took a deep breath, his voice becoming steady again, each word carrying unquestionable power, "Don't worry, I'll be right there!"
"Good!"
As soon as Ding Yishan's response ended, the phone was hastily hung up.
Liu Kun suddenly shifted gears and stepped on the gas, the engine letting out a roar.
Thin black-green patterns suddenly crawled up from the back of his hands, spreading along his neck like vines, quickly weaving strange designs on his cheeks, his eyes also flashing red for an instant.
Seconds later, the patterns quietly disappeared, as if they had never appeared.
The black pickup shot out of the courtyard like an arrow from a bow, speeding toward the inner city.
The good mood from discovering the promising seedling Cheng Ye had completely disappeared, leaving only overwhelming killing intent and anger.
Screech.
Tires ground over the slippery ground, splashing a string of muddy water. The black pickup suddenly stopped in front of Happiness Gate.
The metal barriers hadn't fully risen yet. The guard captain was about to step forward to signal for a stop and inspection when the driver's window had already whooshed down, an icy gaze shooting directly over, carrying unquestionable authority.
"What?" Liu Kun pointed at the inspection-exempt sticker on the window.
"Di-Director Liu!"
The guard captain's whole body stiffened, hurriedly standing at attention and saluting.
Having just hit a snag with Ding Yishan this morning, he dared not provoke this Director Liu who was known for being difficult to deal with, hastily waving to signal passage, throwing all security procedures to the back of his mind.
But unfortunately, Chu Hong happened to wander to the gate at this moment.
Since being scolded by Ding Yishan this morning, he had been restless, always feeling something big was about to happen, and consequently found everyone displeasing to his eyes.
Now just arriving at the guard post, he saw a pickup truck charging in regardless, and although it had an inspection-exempt sticker, it had skipped even the most basic identity verification, immediately making him furious.
"How bold!"
Chu Hong's brows knotted, rolling up his sleeves to intercept, already starting to berate, "Who has such audacity to break into Happiness..."
Before his words fell, an indescribable tremendous force suddenly rushed at him, like an invisible wall slamming hard into his chest.
Boom!
Amid all the guards' exclamations, Chu Hong's body flew backward like a leaf caught in a gale.
"Smack," he slapped against the alloy wall of the gate, bringing down a string of dust as he slid down.
The pickup stopped steadily inside the gate, the car door opened, and Liu Kun stepped out.
His black windbreaker fluttered in the wind as he walked step by step like a furious lion ready to strike to Chu Hong who was sliding down the wall, looking down at him from above.
"Di-Director Liu?"
The moment Chu Hong clearly saw who it was, his scalp went numb and cold sweat streamed down from his temples.
How could someone stumble twice in the same place? And within one day?
Chu Hong was about to stubbornly argue a few words when Liu Kun's icy voice crashed down.
"Starting tomorrow, the city gate guard captain will be replaced. Chu Hong, pack up your things."
"There's a job in the ruins. The Hundred Ghosts Gang has been restless recently. I plan to send you there to suppress things for a while."
"Wh-what?" Chu Hong was shocked and pale, no longer caring about dignity, struggling to get up, but was pinned in place by the fierce look that flashed in Liu Kun's eyes.
He watched helplessly as Liu Kun turned and got back in the car, the pickup engine roaring again, charging straight into the inner city depths, leaving only a black shadow that grew more distant.
The moment the shadow disappeared from view, that special force that pressed down suffocatingly finally dissipated, and Chu Hong's body slowly slid down from the wall to the ground.
He raised his hand to wipe his face, his palm full of cold sweat. The panic and disbelief on his face gradually solidified into an indescribable dejection mixed with deep pain.
Heaven, was it really about to change?
Ding Yishan was unusually tough today, and Liu Kun even used thunderous methods directly.
What was the inspection station trying to do?
The black pickup crushed over the stone path in front of the meeting venue, steadily stopping in the designated parking space.
Liu Kun sat in the driver's seat, his chest rising and falling twice. He took a deep breath to suppress his churning emotions and pushed open the car door.
For a moment he wanted to use transcendent power to see the situation inside the meeting venue but then he mockingly curled the corner of his mouth. What good would seeing it do? What should have happened had already happened.
During this speedy drive, his mind repeatedly played various scenarios:
Perhaps Ding Yishan was lowering his head, being scolded by someone slapping documents on the table, or perhaps he was clenching his fists but swallowing his words amid people's mocking laughter, or perhaps... Each detail of these imagined scenes pierced his heart like needles.
And all of this was because of him.
Because he wasn't there, unable to uphold that pitiful bit of order, the Technology faction and Transcendent faction dared to so wantonly bully Ding Yishan.
"Old Ding, I've made you suffer."
Liu Kun silently moved his lips to the air, rehearsing in his mind what he should say when he saw Ding Yishan, his Adam's apple rolling once with unspeakable bitterness.
He climbed the steps, taking two steps toward the meeting hall entrance when his gaze was suddenly nailed by the scene on the wall.
Two human-shaped holes were prominently visible, the cement debris at the edges still bearing fresh white marks. Warm yellow light poured out from the holes, casting mottled light spots on the ground that stung his eyes.
Sure enough, had they already started fighting?
When yesterday's meeting ended, this wall was still intact. In just one day, there were two more holes.
"Still need fists to speak, to talk about rules, huh."
He murmured in a low voice, then laughed grimly, the laughter carrying some self-mockery and some desperate resolution.
He should have seen through all this damned mess long ago.
No matter how well one spoke or how thoroughly one explained principles, in the end, it came back to the starting point where whoever had the harder fist was right.
"Director Liu, you've arrived."
The guard standing at the entrance saw him approaching and immediately straightened up respectfully to greet him, his eyes carrying some cautious awe.
In the past, Liu Kun might have nodded kindly and casually asked about the situation inside but today, he only walked past the guard without looking sideways, not even lifting an eyelid.
The hem of his windbreaker swept past the guard's trouser leg, bringing a gust of wind.
He was already impatient.
Against an old-school transcendent like Yuan Gang, without deeper fusion, he had no confidence at all.
But against Hou Rui pushed forward by the Technology faction and that Carlo Dickinson who always liked to fan the flames, these two youngsters who dared to act wildly in the meeting hall relying on their youth, today he absolutely had to let them properly taste what real strength was.
Arriving at the third floor, the noise coming from behind the heavy wooden door was already surging like a tide, with arguments and table-slapping sounds faintly audible.
Liu Kun took a deep breath, the power surging in his chest almost ready to burst through his skin. His gaze was sharp as a knife, the corner of his mouth curving into an icy arc.
He reached out and pushed the door.
Boom.
The entire solid wood door was like a shield struck by tremendous force, slamming hard into the wall behind it. Spider web-like cracks instantly appeared in the brick joints, dust falling down.
Liu Kun stepped in, his leather shoes making dull echoes on the floor.
His gaze swept across the entire venue like an eagle, carrying crushing authority.
The noisy meeting hall was like having the pause button pressed, instantly falling into dead silence.
Wait, where was Ding Yishan?
Liu Kun's gaze suddenly froze, locking onto the front row position on the right side like radar.
He almost couldn't believe his eyes. Ding Yishan was sitting in the front seat that originally belonged to Carlo Dickinson, with an unfinished cup of tea in front of him, still holding a document in his hand, his face showing the same astonishment as everyone else, staring blankly at him.
That chair, not to mention Ding Yishan, even he had never had the opportunity to sit in it.
Liu Kun's steps halted in place, the anger in his heart inexplicably stagnating for a moment.
The imagined scenes of Ding Yishan being bullied shattered to pieces, replaced by this completely unexpected sight but suddenly, the meeting room immediately became lively again.
Lan Ni and Zhao Kai directly stood up, their faces wearing unprecedented ingratiating smiles:
"Director Liu has arrived!"
"Quickly, quickly, Director Liu please come in quickly, we were just waiting for you!"
As soon as the two finished speaking, the meeting hall instantly exploded.
Except for Yuan Gang in the main seat, even the previously confrontational Hou Rui and Carlo Dickinson suddenly stood up, their faces piled with unfamiliar kind smiles.
"Old Liu, you're finally here!"
Hou Rui pushed up his glasses that had slid to his nose tip, his tone as familiar as an old friend of many years, "This meeting can't proceed without your Public Security Department. We were just saying we should find someone to urge you along."
Carlo Dickinson patted the empty seat beside him, his voice booming, "Director Liu, quickly sit here! Someone, bring another chair!"
"No need to trouble."
Yuan Gang's voice came from the main seat. This Deputy City Lord who was usually stern actually wore a rare faint smile on his face, his gaze warmly sweeping over, "Sit next to me. Coming so late, has something in the buffer zone kept you too busy to touch the ground?"
As for the door that had been crashed with cracks, everyone ignored it and paid no attention.
They even thought it was normal.
After all, the inspection station was so impressive today, but Liu Kun was late, so it was natural he would be this anxious.
Thus.
Amid the chorus of compliments, Liu Kun couldn't quite grasp the tone. He pondered and put on a faint smile, following Yuan Gang's indication to sit beside the main seat.
Only when his bottom touched the chair did his head suddenly explode with a "buzz."
I... sat in the main position?
I... rose to power?
He instinctively looked up ahead. The department heads in the front row all showed natural smiles in their eyes, without a trace of their usual perfunctory attitude.
Looking left and right, Hou Rui was holding a pen writing and drawing on documents, occasionally looking up and nodding at him in acknowledgment. Carlo Dickinson held a tea cup and took a sip, his gaze showing obvious goodwill toward him.
Even Yuan Gang separated a stack from the thick pile of documents in front of him and pushed it over:
"Take a quick look. All the other departments' proposals are complete, only missing your Public Security Department's."
"As for coordination work..." Yuan Gang paused, his gaze turning to Ding Yishan sitting in the front seat.
"Station Chief Ding, you'll still be in charge. After all, Liu Kun came from the inspection station. Having you handle the outer city security work from start to finish is much better than letting miscellaneous people get involved."
"Deputy Deputy City Lord Yuan, rest assured!" Ding Yishan immediately stood up, his gaze sweeping the entire venue, his voice resonant, "The outer city security work will be personally handled by Director Liu, guaranteed to be foolproof. If anyone has any opinions, you can raise them now, and Director Liu can personally answer them."
As his words fell, approving laughter rang throughout the meeting hall. Everyone's face showed just the right amount of agreement, without any sense of incongruity.
Liu Kun even read a trace of cautious flattery from those smiles.
"Then it's settled. Security work will still be headed by the Public Security Department. First get the basic plan out for everyone to review."
Seeing no objections, Ding Yishan sat down efficiently, his fingers lightly tapping on the table surface. The meeting hall immediately filled with the rustling sounds of searching for documents and low discussions.
Only Liu Kun still sat rigidly in his chair, his fingers holding the documents tightening slightly. A strong sense of unreality surged like a tide, almost making him wonder if he had hit his head when pushing the door!
Old Ding was presiding over this migration meeting that would decide the future of Happiness City and the buffer zone?
How was this possible?
He suddenly looked down, his gaze nailed to the stack of documents Yuan Gang had handed him.
On the top page beside the title, bold black characters clearly read:
[Happiness City - Outer City Settlement Plan, Version 1.0]
[General Supervisor: Ding Yishan]
[General Responsible Department: Inspection Station]
[Estimated Settlement Population: 450,000-650,000 people]
[Specific Plan: The inspection station will dispatch 30-60 inspectors to handle settlement work in a contracting manner, during which all departments will fully cooperate, advancing the settlement plan by district, requirements...]
"Ding Yishan, general supervisor?"
"Inspection station, general responsibility?"
Liu Kun couldn't sit steadily anymore, unconsciously murmuring aloud, his voice as light as sleep-talking.
He couldn't help but turn his head to look at Ding Yishan.
He saw that this station chief who used to follow behind him as "gentle and weak" now showed an unprecedented sharpness between his brows, seeming to be...
Wait, Old Ding achieved Unity of Heaven and Man?!