"You..."

Jiang Chuan was briefly speechless.

"Hmm? Forgot?" Mu Shuang smiled even more smugly, "When you first became an officer, didn’t you do the same to me? You acted so unfriendly, even pried off my earrings during the search."

As she spoke, her fingers somehow fished out a small flying knife, its blade glinting coldly.

Jiang Chuan’s face changed abruptly, instinctively reaching for his waist, sure enough, the knife had already been taken.

This woman’s speed was even faster than a few years ago, and even more discreet!

"Shuang, Chuan just finished a task, stop bothering him."

Ding Yishan finally looked up from behind his desk, took off the reading glasses from his nose, wiping them while speaking with a hint of helplessness.

"Got it, Chief!"

Mu Shuang immediately put away her smile, gave Ding Yishan a sloppy salute, reluctantly stepping aside, and still made a face at Jiang Chuan.

"Heh, not going to argue with you."

Jiang Chuan took a deep breath, suppressing the helplessness in his heart.

As an officer for Liu Kun and also one of the Ghost Kings of the Hundred Ghosts Gang.

Mu Shuang, having been out there for years, inevitably carried a bit of a rogue scavenger vibe, always doing things her own way.

"Tch, who wants to argue with you." Mu Shuang pouted, sat down on the sofa nearby on her own, spinning the knife swiftly in her fingers, like a butterfly fluttering up and down.

She and Jiang Chuan had quarreled quite a bit in the past few years, but unfortunately, in these past few years, Jiang Chuan’s temperament became more and more composed, harder to "tease," losing a lot of fun.

She originally planned to mock Jiang Chuan for being caught by a group of ordinary community people.

A Half-Step Extraordinary, actually tied up and interrogated by ordinary people.

So embarrassing!

But looking at his calm, unresponsive demeanor now, guessing that even saying it wouldn’t elicit a reaction.

Sigh, boring.

Jiang Chuan ignored Mu Shuang’s little antics and walked straight to Ding Yishan’s desk, handing over a manila folder, "Chief, this is Inspector Cheng’s assessment answer sheet. Additionally, we discovered a lot of situations in Dapo Town this time..."

"Oh, care to elaborate?"

Ding Yishan took the folder, his fingers untied the string at the back, pulling out a thick stack of documents from inside.

He casually browsed through them, his fingers pausing, this stack of answer sheets was more than twice as thick as the one Cheng Ye submitted last time, a full thirty pages or more.

Compared to the other Inspectors’ answer sheets received yesterday, this one’s weight was noticeably heavier.

"After we set off..."

Jiang Chuan began recalling, from what they saw on the road out of the city to encountering the Mutated Malaria Mosquitoes and Guardian Spirit Spiders in the ruins of Dapo Town, to the details of Cheng Ye stopping in front of the hydroelectric station, he told it all in vivid detail.

Though Ding Yishan’s eyes were on the answer sheet, he occasionally interjected with questions, clearly listening attentively.

It’s just that his expression remained unchanged when hearing about the wilderness dangers encountered earlier.

But upon hearing Cheng Ye sitting in front of the hydroelectric station for two hours, meticulously drawing, he couldn’t help but chuckle, "This kid really sees himself as an engineer, does he even plan to switch careers to the Public Works Bureau?"

Even as he said this, when he turned to the hydroelectric station part and his gaze fell on the "Hydroelectric Station Restoration Plan" page, the smile on his face gradually faded. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Although Station Chief Ding didn’t have professional engineering knowledge, having sat in this position for so many years, his insight was well-honed, knowing at first glance whether something was feasible.

Compared to the first answer sheet inclined towards "ideas," this one actually covered specific plan designs, estimated various material quantities and manpower needed, even doing a rough estimate of the power output after restoration, clearly much more solid and feasible.

"After waking up in the morning, we went to the White Water River to fish, intending to catch more fish to bring back to the community, but we encountered an accident..."

Jiang Chuan’s tone grew solemn as he spoke to this point, bowing slightly, "Chief, I owe you an apology. Over the years, I’ve stayed in the inspection station, neglecting the understanding of the wilderness environment. This time, I almost caused a problem due to my recklessness, betraying your trust."

"Oh? What happened?" Ding Yishan raised his head, yet his expression remained calm.

"We encountered a mutated Black Striped Fish King..."

Jiang Chuan did not hide anything, recounting his urgent behavior after encountering the Black Striped Fish King in full detail.

In fact, even if he didn’t say anything, Cheng Ye wouldn’t complain about him.

But having realized the issue, he wouldn’t hide it, especially not from Ding Yishan.

After a moment.

Ding Yishan listened, after a few seconds of silence, slowly spoke, "Considering it, it must have been years since you last executed a task alone in the wilderness, right?"

"Yes, a full seven years." Jiang Chuan nodded.

In these seven years, he either handled daily affairs at the inspection station or coordinated with Ding Yishan in the city, rarely delved into the wilderness.

Occasional outings were in cooperation with team actions, never having been this personally involved.

"Seven years, not short, how many seven years does one have in a lifetime?"

Ding Yishan tapped lightly on the table with his fingers, his tone carrying a tinge of sentiment, "Even the most cautious person, after being in a stable environment for a long time, will gradually lose their sharpness to danger. Especially in these years, you’ve focused more on coordination between people and have gotten used to dealing with opponents with brains, so it’s normal to subconsciously overlook the chaotic threats in the wilderness."

"But Cheng Ye is different, since he started duty, the greatest threat has been these sources of infection, naturally making him more cautious and more vigilant."