Chapter 121

That last sentence had hit him where it hurt, and Cao Jiacai suddenly slammed a fireball onto the ground. With a whoosh, he flew into a rage. “I save people and I’m the one in the wrong?! What a load of crap! Go play by yourselves! Don’t call me again!”

He stormed off, gripping his rolling pin.

Young Wang and Little Zhao exchanged helpless glances before hurrying after him. “Brother Cao! Brother Cao!”

Three superpowered people had left just like that. Two of them were very strong, and the other was currently the strongest person in the entire residential compound.

The onlookers began murmuring among themselves.

Gao Yuxuan kept trying to comfort Zhao Yi. “Forget it, forget it. There’s no reasoning with someone like that.”

They hadn’t even been equals to begin with. Cao Jiacai had only been allowed a seat at the table because of his superpower.

But as a person, he hadn’t changed at all—not in his outlook, nor in his understanding of the world. His narrow-mindedness and resentment toward the wealthy were plain for all to see. Everyone had merely pretended not to notice, choosing to seek common ground while tolerating their differences.

The fundamental reason was that Cao Jiacai’s superpower was simply too powerful. No one could do anything to him.

This time, even Jiang Cheng might be powerless. Jiang Cheng couldn’t possibly expel the strongest superpowered person in the entire compound, could she?

And even if she did order him out, could she actually make him leave?

What had been the name of that cleaner from before? A few men had dragged him out of the compound despite his begging and groveling. It had been useless.

But Cao Jiacai was different. A single blaze from him sent waves of heat crashing over them from a distance. No one could even get close.

What if Jiang Cheng ordered him to leave and Cao Jiacai simply refused? Jiang Cheng’s authority—and her dignity—would be left lying on the ground.

After that, it would be hard to say whether everyone would still listen to her.

In the past, everyone’s combat strength had been roughly equal. Li Jiangbing, the strongest among them, stood firmly with Jiang Cheng, while Jiang Cheng relied on her intelligence to win everyone’s obedience.

But things were different now.

After superpowers appeared, Jiang Cheng, Li Jiangbing, and Song Jingshuo had all fallen into the second tier in terms of combat ability.

At the very top of the pyramid was Cao Jiacai. No wonder he was so arrogant.

Jiang Cheng had done an excellent job leading the compound, and she was fair and impartial enough to make everyone feel secure.

Still, deep down, everyone regretted that not one of their trio possessed a powerful superpower.

If even one of Jiang Cheng, Li Jiangbing, or Song Jingshuo had been a strong superpowered fighter, that would have been enough.

This conflict was reported to Jiang Cheng by Little Fang, one of the security guards, who ran to find her.

Since they had to search the buildings, everyone had split into several teams and gone to different blocks.

By the time Jiang Cheng arrived, all she could see was Cao Jiacai’s retreating figure in the distance. She asked, “What happened?”

Zhao Yi had calmed down and explained the situation to Jiang Cheng. “It wasn’t just the danger of the building catching fire. Several people were burned just now. If Lesi hadn’t rushed over to treat them, it could have been much worse.”

Extensive burns were extremely serious. One wrong turn, and the victim could die from infection.

This wasn’t ancient times, when medical care was primitive. This was the modern world, and even with modern medicine, extensive burns were still incredibly dangerous.

Fortunately, Zhang Lesi had gained a superpower.

Zhang Lesi confirmed it as well. “Yes. They were very serious.”

When it came to her field, she never joked around. Zhang Lesi was extremely serious and firmly supported Zhao Yi.

Cao Jiacai had not cared in the slightest about other people’s pain or lives.

Those who had been scorched were still shaken. “That was terrifying. It’s the first time I’ve realized how dangerous fire really is.”

“When I used to watch TV dramas, whenever fire blocked the way, I’d always think, ‘Why doesn’t the protagonist just run through it?’”

“Now I know. With a fire that big, your skin starts hurting even when you’re several meters away!”

“Damn, it hurt like hell just now. Luckily Lesi showed up.”

Admiration of the strong was a common human instinct.

With Cao Jiacai so powerful, it was only natural that many people wanted to team up with him.

Even though everyone no longer feared zombies, that didn’t mean there was no danger left at all. People instinctively felt that if the person leading them was strong, their own danger would be reduced.

Some people abandoned Li Jiangbing and chose to join Cao Jiacai’s team instead.

Who the hell would have thought Cao Jiacai would turn out to be more dangerous than the zombies?

Zombie teeth couldn’t bite through their protective armor. Cao Jiacai’s flames, however, had melted and warped the plastic armor on two people. One person’s metal armor had been heated until it was scorching hot, and he had endured the pain, crying out as he forcibly stripped it off.

Cao Jiacai had even laughed.

Zhang Lesi explained, “And it isn’t only the skin that’s at risk. In a high-temperature fire, a person may look perfectly fine on the outside and still die without warning. Simply put, their skin is unharmed, but their internal organs have already been steamed. There’s no saving someone in that condition.”

What made it worse was that because there were no visible burns or scorch marks, such victims were even more likely to be overlooked.

At a fire scene, medical personnel would naturally prioritize those with visible burns or smoke inhalation. Everyone would ignore the hero who had rushed in and out of the flames to save people.

The hero himself would also think he was fine. Then, all of a sudden, he would collapse—and never get back up.

Only medical professionals understood how dangerous that was.

Seeing Jiang Cheng fall silent in thought, Zhao Yi regretted what he had done.

A shut-in was only a shut-in, not an idiot. Zhao Yi had confronted Cao Jiacai in a moment of anger, but he also understood that, for Jiang Cheng, the situation had subtly changed since the last time.

Jiang Cheng no longer had enough force to suppress Cao Jiacai.

In just a few days, Cao Jiacai’s attitude had grown increasingly arrogant as his superpower improved. Zhao Yi understood all too well that someone like him might soon begin challenging the leader’s authority.

Conflicts between top salespeople and their managers were common in many companies. Once the tension escalated, either the top salesperson left, or the manager did.

As long as the boss wasn’t an idiot, they would usually side with the top salesperson and make the manager leave.

The confrontation between him and Cao Jiacai had just accelerated the escalation.

Once he had calmed down, Zhao Yi regretted it.

Everyone else’s superpowers were still inferior to Cao Jiacai’s. They shouldn’t have intensified the conflict—not until everyone had time to improve and refine their abilities.

Cao Jiacai could be dealt with later.

Starting a conflict now was only putting Jiang Cheng in a difficult position.

He lowered his head and apologized. “Jiang Cheng, I’m sorry...”

Jiang Cheng raised her eyes, surprised. “What are you apologizing for? You didn’t do anything wrong. Whether it’s a building or a person, you can’t just recklessly set things on fire. Fortunately, Lesi was here.”

Then she added, “At least nothing happened today.”

And that was the end of it.

Of course it was the end of it. What else could they do?

Everyone understood that, but some people were still disappointed in Jiang Cheng.

They could certainly sympathize with her. What else could Jiang Cheng do? Roll up her sleeves and beat Cao Jiacai herself?

They could sympathize with her, but that didn’t stop their disappointment from rising.

Zhou Wang watched coldly from the side.

See? This was exactly what he had been worried about.

A crack had appeared in their unity.

If the leader herself lacked sufficient ability, the foundation was unstable.

Would people’s hearts begin to waver? Would the group eventually fall apart?

The zombie corpses had been piled together.

In the past, even when the residents of the Youth Apartments helped their neighbors kill zombies, they wouldn’t have bothered cleaning up afterward.

But now, when they looked around and saw only elderly men and women, they thought, Fine. We might as well see this through and do a good deed to the end.

Wu Jiancheng asked, “Should we burn them?”

If they needed to be burned, he could help.

Jiang Cheng didn’t interfere in matters like this, leaving the decision entirely to Zhao Yi. She also waited for him to make the arrangements.

But Zhao Yi merely rubbed his chin and fell deep into thought.

This time was different from the last. The emergence of superpowers had changed many things, including the way everyone thought.

Burning large numbers of corpses had been an unavoidable measure at the time.

Human resources, material supplies, and environmental conditions had all been severely limited. They had no choice but to deal with the bodies somehow.

Back then, everyone had been trapped inside the residential complex, so in the end, they had simply burned them there.

Even after the disaster was over, people with sensitive noses still complained that the small square at Youth Apartments smelled awful.

It wasn’t impossible. At the time, a large amount of corpse fluids had seeped into the ground. Even if they had later been burned dry and evaporated, residual substances might still have remained and continued to give off a smell.

Now that they had superpowers, Zhao Yi had completely overturned their previous method of disposal. He wanted to bury the bodies.

He himself had an earth-based superpower, and with Aunt Pan—the strongest earth-based superhuman—digging holes would be no problem. It wouldn’t require a great deal of manpower or labor.

The key was where to bury them.

He called over someone who worked in civil engineering, stomped his foot, and asked, “How deep is the ground here above the roof of the underground parking garage?”

The civil engineering specialist said, “The total thickness is at least 1.5 to 2 meters. It won’t be less than 1.5 meters. That’s a city regulation. Otherwise, the trees in the residential complex won’t have enough depth for their roots and won’t survive. They’d just be blown over in a strong wind.”

“That thickness includes both the layer of soil above the garage and the garage’s roof slab. So if you’re only considering the soil layer, it’ll be less than that.”

Someone nearby chimed in, “Then it definitely won’t be deep enough!”

The man continued, “When burying bodies, 1.5 meters is the minimum depth. If you don’t reach that depth, go ahead and bury them—but they’ll be dug right back up. Humans might not be able to smell anything, but stray cats and dogs can. They’ll smell the bodies and dig through the soil to pull them out.”

“And if it’s less than 1.5 meters, you won’t solve the maggot problem either. After a while, you’ll take a look and—good grief! That whole patch where the bodies were buried will be crawling with long, wriggling maggots.”

The people around them nearly gagged from his description.

Zhao Yi and the civil engineering specialist: “...”

Gao Yuxuan dry-heaved twice and eyed the man suspiciously. “What exactly is your field, bro? Forensics?”

“Heh heh.” The man gave a somewhat sinister smile. “It has nothing to do with my profession. I’m just a fan of detective and crime novels.”

If shut-ins could be divided into factions and categories, Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan would belong to the sunny, clean-cut type.

They usually held down decent jobs and earned fairly good incomes.

They had good living habits and kept their homes clean, tidy, and cozy. Once they became adults, the money they earned was their own, and their parents could no longer control how they spent it. They were free to spend it on their hobbies.

Their homes had bright display cabinets filled with their beloved figurines. Some of the larger ones could cost several thousand, or even tens of thousands, of yuan.

No matter. They were worth it.

The man in front of them, on the other hand, clearly belonged to the gloomy, damp type of shut-in.

He seemed like the sort who would turn off the ceiling light while reading crime novels and leave only a desk lamp on, deliberately creating a dark and eerie atmosphere.

A little frightening.

Still, as frightening as he was, he had offered useful advice at a time like this.

The civil engineering specialist said, “That won’t work. Not only is the soil layer too shallow, you also have to consider all the utility lines buried underneath. The others might be manageable, but you absolutely can’t contaminate the drinking-water pipes.”

That was a very important issue.

Jiang Cheng said, “What about the roadside park outside the west gate?”

The west gate he referred to was the west gate of Youth Apartments.

Jiang Cheng continued, “We also have to consider what’s beneath the road.”

If they peeled up the asphalt, there would be natural soil underneath. The Technology New District had no subway, and there wouldn’t be an underground parking garage directly beneath the road either. It was genuine bedrock and soil beneath the surface.

In the end, they chose the roadside park outside the west gate.

That was because asphalt was even harder to deal with than concrete and would consume far too much of their superpower.

Jiang Cheng said, “Pile them together. Keep them packed tightly. I’ll put them in my storage space.”

Zhao Yi: “Ah!”

Jiang Cheng: “?”