Chapter 608: The Interception

"The Contraband is too heavy. Carrying too little isn't worth the effort, but carrying too much will slow me down severely."If the opposing Patroller turns out to be an athlete, that could be a real problem.

"Better not to carry any at all, and go with a defensive strategy."

Huang Shengjie made his decision quickly. He left the materials on the conveyor belt, put on the Inspector Armband, and strode briskly out into the mist.

Before leaving, he caught a glimpse of Zhou Wanlin already working rapidly at the operations console beside the miniature train, presumably setting up the loading and unloading sequence.

According to the notice board, delivering cargo by train required following a specific procedure, and if the arrangement was off, half the shipment could be sent back.

But Huang Shengjie clearly had no time to worry about the train right now. As Zhou Wanlin had said, each person focusing on their own role was the most efficient approach.

His immediate priority was to locate the opposing community's Patroller and keep close watch on them, making sure the other community could not earn any additional returns through smuggling.

Huang Shengjie sprinted through the fog of the outer field. At regular intervals, circular Safe Zones were marked on the ground.

Leaving the warehouse area, he turned directly to the left, toward the side of the venue where his community's overhead walkway was located.

Based on the floor plan, Community 23's cells were in the upper left and his own community's cells were in the lower right. If the opposing Patroller intended to pass materials through the window bars into the prison, they would have to approach from the upper left section of the main prison structure to reach Community 23's cells.

Since both communities' cells sat closer to their respective warehouses, Huang Shengjie would have to run at full speed if he wanted to cut the opposing Patroller off in time.

He reached the vicinity of Safe Zone 7 in the left-centre of the outer field and stopped for a moment, catching his breath while wondering if he had miscalculated.

"Strange. Where is everybody?

"Could I have missed the other Patroller entirely?

"That's possible. If they're also using a defensive strategy, they'd head straight for our community's cells. So they'd be in the right half of the field while I'm in the left, and we'd be completely split. That would be awkward."

He looked up at the condition of the cell windows.

The bars were extremely narrow, and the windows were nearly two metres off the ground, which meant Huang Shengjie would have to stand on tiptoe with his arms stretched high just to have a chance of pushing materials through the gaps.

"Ahem!"

Standing outside the window, Huang Shengjie gave two deliberate coughs.

He knew this was Community 23's cell block, filled with opposing players, but he still wanted to check whether any kind of communication through the window bars might be possible, and to see if he could fish for information.

He quickly realised, however, that this was pointless. The workshop inside the prison was emitting a constant mechanical roar that swallowed all other sounds.

Even if he shouted at full volume from outside, the players inside would have little chance of hearing him.

"They really have to play prisoner for three and a half hours in that kind of environment. That's rough."

Just as Huang Shengjie was debating whether to cross to the other side of the field to look for Community 23's Patroller, a figure suddenly darted out from around the corner of the wall ahead.

She was wearing the 'Inspector' armband and had three units of raw materials in each hand, doing her best to shuffle forward with short, rapid steps.

The two of them came face to face and both stopped dead.

Zhou Xiaoying's expression shifted instantly. She spun around and broke into a run, both hands weighed down by the heavy materials, giving her the lurching, swaying gait of a wobbling hen, which was somewhat comical to watch.

"Hey, wait!" Huang Shengjie called after her quickly.

But Zhou Xiaoying's short, rapid steps grew faster still.

Huang Shengjie jogged forward a couple of paces and closed the gap with ease.

Zhou Xiaoying had already managed to retreat into Safe Zone 5, however, and stood inside it looking somewhat flustered, "Don't come any closer! I'm in the Safe Zone. If you step in, that's a violation!"

Huang Shengjie raised his hands quickly to signal her to calm down.

"Zhou Xiaoying! Don't you remember, we met during the Pain Game."

Zhou Xiaoying was still visibly rattled, "I know! But don't come closer anyway! We're on opposing sides in this game!"

Huang Shengjie found himself caught between exasperation and amusement. He genuinely hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

Back on the walkway earlier, he had seen three vague figures on the opposing walkway in the distance, but they had been too far away to identify. Only now did he realise that he and Zhou Xiaoying had been assigned as Patrollers for their respective communities, and were now squaring off directly against each other. There was something almost poetic about it, two rookies going beak to beak.

Though on reflection, it made sense.

The game's selection mechanism was deeply unkind. One round of filtering before entry, another round inside the game, effectively extracting the three weakest players from each community.

Zhou Xiaoying was young, and among the three players in her group she was presumably the pick of the litter, which was why she had been assigned the Patroller role.

Huang Shengjie had crossed paths with her during the Pain Game. She wasn't dim, but she wasn't anywhere close to sharp either.

The situation just now was a case in point. Zhou Xiaoying hadn't needed to warn Huang Shengjie at all. In fact, she should have said nothing.

Because if Huang Shengjie had stepped into the Safe Zone, he would have triggered a Minor Violation and used up one of his community's precious allowances.

But Zhou Xiaoying had clearly been more panicked than he was. Under the pressure, her mind had temporarily seized up and the warning had slipped out.

Huang Shengjie looked at the materials in Zhou Xiaoying's hands and said helpfully, "Why don't you set those down for now? They're pretty heavy. Aren't your arms getting tired?"

Zhou Xiaoying blinked, then quickly lowered the materials to the ground and rubbed the red grooves the handle had dug into her fingers.

She seemed to be weighing something, but after a glance at Huang Shengjie, she quickly realised there was nothing she could do.

As things stood, Huang Shengjie entering the Safe Zone would trigger a Minor Violation on his part, so she didn't need to worry about that for now.

But the moment she picked up the materials and stepped out of the Safe Zone, Huang Shengjie would be on her immediately, and a single touch while she was carrying materials would be a violation on her part.

If she left the Safe Zone without the materials, he couldn't trigger a violation by touching her.

But the moment she moved far enough away, Huang Shengjie could pick up the materials himself and deliver them into Community 2's cells.

Zhou Xiaoying was stuck, caught between options, which was precisely the outcome Huang Shengjie had planned for.

The materials were heavy, which meant that when two Patrollers were of comparable physical condition, the one carrying materials would never outrun the one who wasn't.

Huang Shengjie had not known in advance what kind of player the opposing community would send as their Patroller. The reasonable assumption was the physically strongest of their three. If it turned out to be an athlete, carrying materials himself would likely put him at a disadvantage.

Better, then, to carry nothing and play pure defence, sticking closely to the opposing Patroller. That would give him the flexibility to respond to anything.

But after seeing who the opposing Patroller actually was, he realised he had been overthinking it.