Chapter 50: Attentiveness

District 3, Arbiter Headquarters.

“Chen Ling, is it?”

An Arbiter carefully verified Chen Ling’s identity before handing him two sets of black-and-red uniforms and an Arbiter ID card.

Chen Ling changed into his uniform, had lunch at headquarters, and in the afternoon, took his oath of office in the headquarters square, followed by a speech from the leadership. This whole process made Chen Ling feel more and more like he had returned to modern society…

Even nearly four hundred years after the Great Cataclysm, some human habits had persisted, from which one could glimpse the shadows of pre-cataclysm civilization.

The only thing that surprised Chen Ling was that the “leader” giving the speech wasn’t Han Meng, but another two-stripe Arbiter he hadn’t seen much of.

“Where is Officer Han Meng? Why isn’t he the one speaking?” An Arbiter nearby also asked.

“Don’t you know? I heard the Arbiters of District 3 rebelled two days ago… It was that Ma Zhong, who led two other Arbiters to ambush Officer Han Meng, only to be killed in return.”

“Ah??? Really?”

“Of course it’s true. It’s said that Officer Han Meng was furious that night and, before Aurora City could issue official documents, executed Ma Zhong and the other two on the spot, along with killing over fifty other Arbiters who had conflicts of interest with them… Haven’t you noticed that a large number of Arbiters are missing today?”

“Damn, killing so many people at once, isn’t that cutting off the arm of the District 3 Arbiters? Is Officer Han Meng that ruthless?”

“Now, in the entire District 3, there are only two Arbiters left… one is Officer Han Meng, and the other is this Xi Renjie on stage. This Xi Renjie was promoted by Officer Han Meng himself; although he’s only a two-stripe, his background is very clean.”

“But I heard that because Officer Han Meng didn’t report it in time and took matters into his own hands, Aurora City is very angry and might deal with him during this period.”

“So that’s why he couldn’t show up…”

“Sigh, what a pity.”

“……”

Hearing the conversation nearby, Chen Ling’s eyebrows raised slightly.

He suddenly remembered what Han Meng had said yesterday afternoon at his home after a long silence: “Whether you believe me or not, I have always been fulfilling my duty… If you truly feel that this world lacks justice, why not become it yourself?”

Chu Muyun’s previous assessment of Han Meng also mentioned his sense of justice… Looking at it this way, Han Meng really seemed to have something to him.

After Arbiter Xi Renjie finished his speech, he began assigning tasks to the newcomers, as well as the streets each would be responsible for patrolling. As the only Arbiter from Frost Street this year, Chen Ling was naturally assigned to Frost Street.

After Han Meng purged the District 3 Arbiters, the internal state of the Arbiters was indeed much cleaner…

Thinking this, Chen Ling walked out of headquarters and headed straight toward Frost Street.

As an Arbiter on his first day, he needed to patrol his assigned street to let the residents get familiar with him, which was also a form of “asserting sovereignty,” a regulation within the Arbiters.

Ever since he put on this uniform and walked out of the Arbiter headquarters, passersby on the road would walk around him, not even daring to make eye contact.

“Officer… would you like a peach?”

A hoarse, elderly voice came from the side.

Chen Ling turned his head to see an old woman with white hair pushing a wooden cart full of peaches, speaking in a raspy voice.

“No, thank you.” Chen Ling waved her off.

“Officer, please try one… I pushed these over from District 4 this morning. The peaches there are good and cheap…” She grabbed Chen Ling’s sleeve, her cloudy eyes filled with pleading.

Chen Ling followed her gaze and saw an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes lying on the fruit cart. As the biting cold wind swept across the earth, the baby seemed to be shivering.

“Just take one bite, if it’s not good, you don’t have to pay.” She picked the largest peach from the cart, carefully wiped it with her hem for a moment, and handed it to Chen Ling.

Chen Ling did not eat it, because he wasn’t sure if there was anything else inside the peach, like… poison.

When this thought appeared in his mind, he was startled himself… because the person he once was, was not like this.

If it were the him from before the Great Cataclysm… no, even the him from yesterday, he would definitely have reached out to help. Even if he couldn’t do much, he could at least buy a few peaches as an act of kindness.

This was his mercy and his persistence, but now, these things seemed to be fading bit by bit…

Chen Ling looked at the old woman for a moment, then finally spoke:

“How much for these peaches?”

“One copper coin per jin.”

“Give me two jin.” Chen Ling took out two copper coins from his pocket with an expressionless face and handed them to her.

Seeing this, the old woman immediately took the coins with both hands, bowed to Chen Ling several times, muttering thanks, and then picked out a few of the largest peaches from the cart and put them in a bag.

At the same time, Chen Ling suddenly spoke:

“That child has a fever, take him to get some medicine.”

Chen Ling, possessing the 【Secret Eye】, could tell at a glance that the infant’s condition on the cart was not right, and offered the reminder.

The old woman paused, struggle and guilt appearing in her eyes as she looked at the baby, but she didn’t say anything, only silently picking two more peaches for Chen Ling.

She didn’t weigh them, but even with the naked eye, Chen Ling knew these two bags of peaches were definitely more than two jin.

“Thank you, Officer, thank you, Officer…” After thanking Chen Ling repeatedly, she pushed the cart forward.

Until she met the next passerby, she would hurry up and plead: “Sir, would you like some peaches? Peaches pushed over from District 4…”

The cold wind blew her face and the baby’s face red, but it did not blow down that old and frail body.

Chen Ling touched his pocket and shook his head helplessly.

He only bought two jin purely because he only had two copper coins left in his pocket… The silver coins he had gotten from Qian Fan had long since been lost in the pool of blood at the residence.

As soon as he stepped onto Frost Street, he noticed many people secretly standing at their doorways, looking in this direction… Seeing Chen Ling walking over in his uniform, they whispered to each other.

“Oh my, Officer Chen Ling!”

The first shop at the end of the street was the cake shop Chen Ling had visited before.

Seeing Chen Ling walk over, the owner immediately put on a fawning smile, “Officer Chen Ling, you look so handsome in that uniform!”

“Boss Li.” Chen Ling walked to the shop entrance and asked the residents of Frost Street standing at their doorways, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, everyone is here to see you!”

“See me?”

“Yes! We heard that the Arbiter previously responsible for patrolling our Frost Street was killed by Officer Han Meng… Today is the day the new Arbiter takes office, so everyone wants to see who will be in charge of this street from now on…

When the list of Arbiters who passed the assessment was released on the street that day, everyone guessed it might be you, after all, you’re one of us from Frost Street…

And look, you really came!”