The idea of forming a merchant team wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision for Cheng Ye.

As early as his first encounter with the ’Flying Bird Merchant Team’ at the North Station, he was astounded by the substantial profits derived from buying low and selling high.

Mutated Crystals, furs, bone powder, amber...

Just these common items, when collected from the gathering places and sold in the Buffer Zone, could fetch several times the profit margin.

Back then, he was tempted by the thought, but after some inquiries, he gradually realized that for a merchant team to delve deep into the wilderness gathering places for procurement, it required solid connections to get through various checkpoints, such as the challenges and competition within the gathering places, and dealing with infection sources and mutated creatures along the way.

As an Intern Inspector who had never ventured into the Wilderness, he would find it nearly impossible to make progress without a mature network, so he temporarily put the idea aside.

But now things are different. After his recent outing into the Wilderness, he’s gained a clear understanding of the dangers outside.

Additionally, with Happiness City launching the construction of Satellite Cities, the entire landscape around Chuan City is about to undergo significant changes.

The old trade routes to the gathering places remain monopolized by those long-established merchant teams, but new routes connecting the various Satellite Cities present a vast blue ocean awaiting development.

Cheng Ye is keenly aware that there must already be merchant teams contemplating this new route, aiming to leverage differentiated competition to capture a share of the market.

But can ordinary people’s merchant teams compare in scale to those led by Inspectors?

The construction of Satellite Cities is primarily led by major Inspectors. Before the basic infrastructure is complete and before the management systems are established, inspection stations serve as the most powerful individual units within each Satellite City.

A merchant team initiated by Inspectors may not earn numerous privileges, but at the very least, they can enjoy more convenience and favoritism in aspects such as passage, security checks, and resource allocation, compared to ordinary merchant teams.

These seemingly subtle advantages are precisely the key driving force at the early stage of a merchant team’s establishment.

Once the Satellite Cities are fully constructed and the market shape is set, trying to squeeze in and compete will be as difficult as climbing to the sky.

"Merchant team..." Matthew Lee repeated the words, initially shaking his head instinctively, but after a few seconds, he nodded slightly, gesturing for Cheng Ye to follow him out.

They walked out of that street and went to a sales center run by the Civil Affairs Bureau at the street corner, found a private meeting room, and sat down.

Just as Cheng Ye sat down, Matthew Lee directly spoke up: "Do you know that Inspectors are not allowed to form merchant teams? That’s an old rule of the inspection station."

"Hmm?" Cheng Ye was slightly startled; he indeed did not know this.

Could it be that the higher-ups were worried the Inspectors might abuse their power for personal gain?

Like letting vehicles pass freely under the pretext of the merchant team, increasing the risk of infection sources leaking?

However, from Matthew Lee’s tone and the fact that he brought him here to talk, it didn’t seem like the regulation completely blocked the way.

"The rule was set by the initial inspection stations, and it’s still being enforced today after all these years."

Matthew Lee mused, "A few years ago, some Inspectors suggested amending this rule, proposing that once the environment stabilized, the inspection stations also needed revenue generation. They suggested that when Inspectors went on field assignments, they should lead a merchant team to circulate materials, which could bring back considerable revenue for the inspection station. However, it never made it to a formal meeting for a vote, and the proposal just faded away."

"That’s impossible, the inspection station won’t amend regulations just for our ideas." Cheng Ye gently shook his head.

Even though he had gained a bit of influence with Old Ding, he hadn’t truly reached a point where he could take the lead.

Moreover, even if he did have that kind of influence, he couldn’t openly propose amending regulations to form merchant teams, as that would be like branding himself as seeking personal gains.

"It’s impossible," Matthew Lee nodded in agreement with Cheng Ye’s judgment, but a knowing smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, "but this rule, well, it’s been circumvented privately for a long time, here’s the situation..."

Saying so, he straightforwardly pulled out his Defense Communication device, tapped the inspection station’s emblem and entered.

There were many small icons Cheng Ye hadn’t seen before, seemingly features that could only be unlocked by Third-stage Inspectors.

After some operations, a ’task panel’-like interface popped up, and Matthew Lee handed over the device: "Take a look at this."

"Am I allowed to see it?"

"Of course you can, if you don’t tell, I don’t tell, who would know I showed it to you."

He truly is an old hand, thoroughly understanding which rules can be bent and which need to be handled with caution.

Cheng Ye took the Defense Communication device, scanning from top to bottom.

[Inspection Station External Procurement Task List]

[1. Procure 18 tons of ’Three-Star’ quality products or above from Hequan Shelter City (Difficulty 2)]

[2. Procure 10 tons of ’Devil Tree Flower’ from Tiancheng Gathering Place (Difficulty 4)]

[3. Procure 20 tons of ’Peak Gold’ from Four Fjords Shelter City (Difficulty 3)]

[4. Procure 80 pieces of ’Super Energy-Collecting Photovoltaic Panels’ from Rainbow Light Shelter City (Difficulty 5)]

[5...]

"Oh?"

Scrolling down, there were 10 items per page on the procurement task list, with four pages displaying currently.

The fourth item was the Rainbow Light Shelter City, supporting Double Moon Lake’s Dazhang, behind which was the Super Shelter City.

Cheng Ye clicked on the Super Energy-Collecting Photovoltaic Panels, and a line of small descriptive text popped up.

It described a specialized technology that can efficiently store electricity in low light environments, with very high power generation efficiency.

"Procurement task..."

Cheng Ye pondered, placing the Defense Communication device on the table, "What is the reward for the procurement task?"

"1%-5% personal gain, depending on the difficulty of the procurement task."

Matthew Lee explained, "Take the procurement of these Super Energy-Collecting Photovoltaic Panels from Rainbow Light, for instance. They are their core product, so even if sold to Happiness City, the price would surely be sky-high. However, Happiness City doesn’t have that much funding for you to go on a spending spree, only providing a fixed amount based on internal evaluation pricing. If you can procure all 80 panels within this budget, you’ll get a direct 5% commission reward, at least several thousand points."