Chapter 111

Jiang Cheng guessed it at once. “Their physiques have been enhanced?”

The two young men answered in unison, “Exactly!”

Zhao Yi’s eyes had started feeling uncomfortable that morning, and the discomfort had steadily worsened as the day went on. After the fierce battle at Mai Duoduo that afternoon, it had reached its peak.

He had even begun to feel dizzy.

He simply couldn’t stand it anymore and had taken off his glasses. That was when he realized he could see clearly which things were trees and which were people.

They remembered what Jiang Cheng had openly told everyone: after the first outbreak of the zombie virus, her physical constitution had been affected, most notably by an increase in strength.

The two men had put their heads together and asked themselves: during the disaster caused by the first zombie outbreak, what weakness did Jiang Cheng actually have?

There was nothing wrong with her mind or her personality. She was better than most people in both respects.

Her only weakness was that she was a woman, and therefore physically weaker than a man.

Yet during the first zombie disaster, that sole weakness had never manifested. Her physical constitution had been improved.

After all, given the circumstances at the time, a leader obviously had to be exceptionally intelligent. But intelligence alone wasn’t enough; they couldn’t be physically frail. At the very least, they couldn’t be weaker than the average man.

Monsters were eating people everywhere, and death lurked around every corner. Someone physically frail could not inspire genuine confidence in others.

In those days, people needed someone strong and courageous to stand at the front.

If Jiang Cheng had fallen below that baseline, then perhaps she could only have served as Song Jingshuo’s strategist and adviser, relying on her intelligence rather than becoming the leader herself.

Actually, “balance” had already existed invisibly from that time onward.

During the first zombie disaster, who knew how many people’s physiques had been quietly improved without their noticing—or had noticed but chosen not to say anything?

Even Jiang Cheng had concealed the matter out of caution.

“That completes the final link in our reasoning,” the two of them declared.

The pair had spent an entire day and night studying superpowers, and now they told Jiang Cheng, “We can summarize everything tonight. Tomorrow, we’d like to explain it to everyone. It seems like quite a few people want to know.”

“Yeah, yeah, I want to know too,” Li Jiangbing said hurriedly.

Jiang Cheng also wanted to hear what the two of them had figured out that she hadn’t. “All right. Let’s have everyone gather in the square tomorrow morning and listen.”

Zhao Yi asked, “Should we ask Zhou Wang and the others to come too?”

For now, superpowers appeared to be humanity’s most effective weapon against the zombies.

If their theory was correct, it might help more people awaken superpowers. This was not something they should keep hidden.

Jiang Cheng said, “All right.”

That evening, the residents of the Youth Apartments heard an announcement over the building’s broadcast system: there would be a meeting in the small square the next morning. Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan would be speaking about superpowers.

Those two had been bouncing around all day.

Everyone was looking forward to it.

Zhou Wang received Jiang Cheng’s phone call.

He knew about the two young men. All afternoon, they had been going around talking to people, asking about their superpowers, what they did, and what they liked.

Zhou Wang himself wasn’t particularly interested.

It was like having excellent grades and not caring much whether you attended extra tutoring after school.

But Jiang Cheng had said, “Maybe this can help other people develop superpowers.”

Zhou Wang thought it over and decided to take part. “All right.”

After hanging up, he felt a headache coming on. Even notifying everyone in Lucky Garden about a group activity was a major hassle now.

Most of the elderly residents didn’t know how to use the internet.

Before, there had been only a tiny handful of highly educated elderly residents in the community who knew how to use the internet, and none of them had survived this time.

Worse still, not every one of the surviving elderly residents even had a cell phone. Those who did generally only knew how to make calls. They couldn’t manage text messages, and many couldn’t read them clearly anyway.

During the previous disaster, there had been no superpowers, and it was nearly impossible for one person to survive alone. Everyone had needed to unite and rely on the strength of the collective to stay alive.

But now, Zhou Wang could survive perfectly well on his own.

Lucky Garden had become nothing but a burden.

Zhou Wang felt exhausted. He desperately wanted to throw off this burden.

That evening, Li Jiangbing began having dinner with Aunt Pan and the others in the property-management office’s meeting room.

Cao Jiacai was holding court at the table, chatting away merrily.

He smacked his lips while eating, and flecks of saliva flew from his mouth whenever he spoke. Fortunately, everyone was eating from their own bowls. Unlike in a family setting, there weren’t several shared dishes sitting in the middle of the table.

Li Jiangbing found it rather irritating. He held one hand loosely in front of his bowl to keep it from being contaminated.

Although Li Jiangbing looked like a rough, burly man, his work regularly brought him into contact with high-income clients: rich older women, white-collar career women, elite businessmen, wealthy young ladies, and fussy gay men.

Those people were incredibly particular. They had endless demands.

Li Jiangbing had long since been trained by his clients to pay attention to the details of daily life—trim his nose hair, keep his fingernails neat, shower frequently so he wouldn’t smell, brush his teeth regularly, and even keep mouthwash in his gym bag in case his breath bothered a client after a meal.

When he had first entered the industry, he had thought all of that was ridiculous. But after so much time, it had become part of his lifestyle.

He was already a refined, well-groomed strongman. Watching someone else smack his lips and spray saliva as he talked was genuinely hard for him to tolerate.

Li Jiangbing decided that starting tomorrow, he would take his meal home to eat. He wouldn’t come here just for the convenience of eating together.

Cao Jiacai had been going on and on about how incredible his superpower had been at Mai Duoduo that afternoon.

Of all the property-management staff, only he, Aunt Pan, and Little Fang had gone. Everyone else had missed it.

Caught up in his excitement, he pointed at Li Jiangbing. “Ask Li. Li knows, right, Li?”

Li?

Li Jiangbing raised his eyelids.

The atmosphere in the meeting room turned awkward.

Manager Wang gave an embarrassed laugh.

Yang Xinyan lowered her head.

Little Fang stole a glance at him.

Several people exchanged meaningful looks.

Aunt Pan broke the awkward silence by scolding, “Did you sneak off for another drink? You’re starting to talk nonsense again!”

After scolding Cao Jiacai, she turned to Li Jiangbing and said, “Don’t mind him. A bottle of beer and he starts spouting rubbish.”

Whether she meant his boasting about his superpower or the way he had addressed Li Jiangbing as “Li,” everyone could draw their own conclusions.

Cao Jiacai clicked his tongue.

Li Jiangbing sighed. “They’re zombies, after all. The pressure is enormous. Having a little alcohol now and then helps people relax.”

Cao Jiacai slapped the table. “Exactly!”

Li Jiangbing looked at him. “All we can do is hope the country cleans up this mess quickly and efficiently, just like last time. A month, maybe half a month—sure, it’ll be tough, but it’ll pass quickly. Then everyone can go back to their lives and get on with whatever they’re supposed to be doing. I’ll go back to my job, and you can all go back to yours.”

No matter what kind of job Li Jiangbing held, even if it wasn’t as prestigious as Song Jingshuo’s, he was still a property owner with a deed to his apartment in the Youth Apartments.

There was no way some security guard he barely knew had the right to call him “Li.”

That was a different matter if they became familiar.

Cao Jiacai looked uncomfortable for a moment, then straightened his back. “Once this is over, I won’t keep working here. I have a superpower now.”

The zombies could be wiped out. But surely his superpower wouldn’t disappear just because the zombies did.

Even if life returned to the way it had been, he was already an incredible superpowered individual.

He slapped the table and declared, “When the time comes, I’ll do whatever I want. Why can’t I do whatever I want?”

He had the air of a man who owned the whole world.

Li Jiangbing grinned. “What are you planning to do?”

He asked, “Work as a boiler operator at a heating plant? Perform fire-breathing tricks at a circus? Wait!”

He jabbed his finger repeatedly at the air. “Roast sweet potatoes! That’s a good one! Perfect for a fire-type ability!”

“Or roast mutton skewers! Roasted mutton skewers would be pretty good too!”

Li Jiangbing’s little mouth was sharp enough to draw blood.

Little Fang turned away, trying to hold back his laughter. Yang Xinyan didn’t even dare look up, afraid she would burst out laughing.

Manager Wang’s eyes wandered as he stared fixedly at the ceiling.

Cao Jiacai’s expression darkened. He snorted. “I can always find something else to do.”

But when he thought about it carefully, if social order were restored and life returned to the way it had been, he really couldn’t think of anything he could do with a fire-type superpower.

Was he seriously going to roast sweet potatoes or mutton skewers?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt there was no point in a civilized, orderly society. All he could do was work as a security guard and spend the rest of his life wasting his talents.

When Li Jiangbing had nearly finished eating, Aunt Pan said, “You go on back first. Don’t wait for me. I still have pots to wash.”

Cao Jiacai let out an exaggerated cry. “What? You’re still washing the pots? You already cooked—how hard did you work? You’ve got superpowers now, and you killed so many zombies today. How could we possibly make you wash the pots?”

Cao Jiacai’s gaze swept across the room and landed on Manager Wang.

Manager Wang’s face looked awful.

This was already the second time they had experienced a zombie disaster. So much had happened during the previous outbreak that, by now, there was no need to spell things out.

The identities people held in a society governed by law and order became meaningless in times of chaos.

Manager Wang had spent the entire day trying to make himself look useful. At the same time, he had worked hard to preserve the dignity that came with being a manager.

And now, that bastard Cao Jiacai was trying to strip him naked in front of everyone.

Cao Jiacai really did have that intention.

But Li Jiangbing’s earlier words had genuinely affected him. When he considered that they might eventually have to return to an orderly society, Cao Jiacai ultimately decided to let Manager Wang off the hook. He pointed at him. “You. You’ll wash the pots today. From now on, take turns.”

He continued grumbling, “If your cooking weren’t so awful, we wouldn’t have made Big Sister cook in the first place. She works hard killing zombies—how could we make her wash dishes too?”

“One slap, and whoosh—up comes a spike!”

“One slap, and whoosh—up comes a spike!”

“On a concrete floor, no less!”

He even imitated how Sister Gao had slapped the ground and sent stone spikes thrusting up in the shopping mall that afternoon.

Manager Wang had been spared. He let out a long breath of relief and hurriedly played along. “Exactly, exactly. Big Sister, Big Sister, once you’ve finished eating, just go back. Don’t worry about this place. I’ll arrange for them to take turns cleaning up later. You only need to go home.”

Li Jiangbing left with Aunt Pan.

As they passed the service center, they saw that the television mounted on the wall was still on. Everyone was waiting for a government announcement, listening to the television for any sound of one. The property management office had also left this television on while they waited.

The first zombie-virus outbreak had begun at nine or ten o’clock on Saturday night, and the government had issued an announcement by Sunday morning.

Although the announcement had not said so explicitly, the government had in fact already been mobilizing forces to secure the water, electricity, and gas supplies.

This outbreak had begun yesterday afternoon. It was already the second night, and the streetlights had come on outside the property management center. So why hadn’t there been any government announcement yet?

For the first time, Li Jiangbing found himself hoping that Jiang Cheng wasn’t quite so clever, that she wasn’t so good at predicting things.

After walking for a while, he suddenly remembered that he was walking with Aunt Pan. He turned his head and saw her walking quietly with her lips tightly pressed together, apparently deep in thought.

“Auntie, what are you thinking about?” Li Jiangbing asked.

Aunt Pan glanced at him and made up her mind. “There’s something I need to tell Little Jiang later.”

Old Luo had said that it was Cao Jiacai who had gone to the police station to report them and ask for Jiang Cheng to be arrested.

But Old Luo had also said that they couldn’t be the ones to pass the message along. It was enough for her to know; she wasn’t to tell Jiang Cheng or the others.

After all, they were residents, and the others were the property management staff. They weren’t all one big group.

But now another zombie outbreak had begun.

Jiang Cheng was a girl who admired capable people. Cao Jiacai was capable now, and Aunt Pan was afraid that Jiang Cheng didn’t understand the situation and would place her trust in him blindly.

Cao Jiacai was no good. He couldn’t be trusted.

Aunt Pan ultimately decided to tell Jiang Cheng about it.