Chapter 126

Jiang Cheng hired five people first.

One older man, two middle-aged women, and, in the end, she took on the two married women as well.

The older man had a chef’s certificate. Of the candidates, the two middle-aged women looked the most capable and clean. Jiang Cheng kept both of the other two because they were the youngest. The one without children looked under forty, while the one whose child had died looked only a little over forty. Among all the candidates, they were the strongest and most physically capable.

If everyone was elderly, Jiang Cheng was afraid they wouldn’t be able to keep up physically, so she kept the two younger women.

She had just decided to tell Zhou Wang when she turned around and saw him hurrying over with his phone.

“Jiang Cheng!”

“What is it?”

“Someone at Gaoxin Middle School is calling for help!”

“What do we do?”

Some of the building captains had been sitting, some leaning against things, some playing with fireballs, and others with water spheres in their hands.

At the news, they all gathered around.

“Another job?”

Another one.

Everyone’s eyes lit up.

Interesting. Humanity was no longer satisfied with cowering behind the fences and barely surviving.

Yesterday, everyone had waited all night but never received an official announcement. There was no news that an emergency provisional government had been established.

Strangely, no one had been dejected, pessimistic, or dispirited that morning.

In fact, the last time, although the government had done everything it could, humanity’s eventual victory over the zombies had also relied on the strength of the people.

Humans now had confidence in themselves. They no longer feared zombies and had gained plenty of combat experience. They could no longer tolerate zombies invading their living space.

This time, they didn’t need to wait for the government to issue a call to action.

Nor did Jiang Cheng need to give another impassioned speech about reason and righteousness.

All six building captains were ability users.

They were even more enthusiastic than ordinary people about killing zombies. In the process, they could test the combat methods they had devised for their abilities, and then use battle itself to stimulate and improve those abilities.

Jiang Cheng asked, “What exactly is the situation?”

Zhou Wang said, “It’s someone from our neighborhood. Her husband used to be part of our provisional residents’ committee. His surname is Wang. Do you remember Wang Changhe?”

Jiang Cheng said, “The tall one whose left shoulder was higher than his right?”

“That’s him!” Zhou Wang said. “The day before yesterday, our neighborhood organized a zombie-clearing operation. His family had protective armor, and his wife came out wearing it. But halfway through, she ran off. She said she was going to find her child—their kid is at Gaoxin Middle School. She never came back after that.”

In reality, they had killed enough zombies to clear a path to the underground garage and retrieve a car. The mother had driven off to rescue her daughter.

“I thought she was gone,” Zhou Wang said. “I didn’t expect her to still be alive.”

“She called from a landline.”

“She said there are still over a hundred children at the school.”

Wang Changhe’s wife had lost her phone, and there was no way she could have memorized the phone number.

She and several parents, along with a group of children, had fought their way through the school. Today, they finally escaped from the teaching building into the science building, where all the teachers’ offices were located.

They found a computer that could connect to the internet and logged on to the neighborhood’s residents’ forum.

Little Huang had been a little too diligent. He was practically obsessive about computers.

After the first zombie crisis ended, he had cleaned up the forum and removed all the pinned posts. As a result, the post containing the Jixiang Jiayuan provisional residents’ committee’s contact list had sunk far down the page.

The girl had searched through page after page and finally found it.

Wang Changhe’s wife then used the office landline to call Zhou Wang for help.

Zhou Wang really didn’t want to take on any more responsibility, but the word “children” was like a spell on him. He couldn’t escape it.

So he still went to find Jiang Cheng.

Since everyone was eager to kill zombies and rescue people, Jiang Cheng was naturally delighted.

She hadn’t crossed into this world just to go to work every day and put up with her boss’s nauseating advances.

She had come to this world to face challenges—or trials.

The first time the concept of the “Safety Protocol” drifted into her mind, Jiang Cheng realized that her crossing into this world probably hadn’t been an accident.

Someone—or some organization—had to be manipulating the whole thing from behind the scenes.

But what was their purpose?

After thinking it over again and again, Jiang Cheng could come up with only one possibility: certain television variety shows, where contestants fought with everything they had to clear each stage and win.

Could she be a “contestant” placed into this world?

Gaoxin Middle School was about a ten- to fifteen-minute drive from their neighborhood, or roughly half an hour on foot.

The distance was neither especially near nor especially far—about the same as the development-zone government offices.

“How are we going to get there?” Jiang Cheng rested her hand against her chin.

They wouldn’t just have to go there. They would have to come back, too.

And it wouldn’t be only their group. There were many people at the school.

After thinking for a moment, she said, “We still need to get some vehicles.”

The Youth Apartments were experts at getting vehicles.

Everyone immediately sprang into action.

Zhou Wang also called each person in his neighborhood who was capable of fighting.

In less than ten minutes, everyone had arrived wearing protective armor. Even Uncle Eighty came along in the metal armor he had made himself.

The long bayonet he had crafted had already been modified into a crescent-shaped shovel.

They had discovered during yesterday’s real battle at Yujing Xiangyuan that a bayonet wasn’t practical. A living human would lose the ability to move—or lose their life—after being stabbed through.

But zombies were different.

Zombies had to be killed by smashing or severing their heads. A bayonet was awkward for chopping.

In the end, Uncle Eighty had copied the crescent-shaped shovel the Youth Apartments had recently made and modified his own weapon accordingly. It worked much better.

Now he planted the crescent shovel on the ground and shouted in a voice like a thunderclap, “When are we leaving?”

The old man was impressive.

His appearance sparked several ideas in Jiang Cheng’s mind.

These days, whenever she thought about anything, she had to approach it from the perspective of supernatural abilities and take their effects into account.

For instance, suppose something required a person to jump from the twentieth floor to accomplish it. In the past, they could have abandoned the idea immediately. There was no point even thinking about it, because no one could jump from the twentieth floor and survive.

But now, under these conditions, someone would simply say, “Have Zhou Wang jump.”

And the impossible would become possible.

With abilities to enhance them, people could let their imaginations run wild and think as boldly as they pleased.

Their supernatural abilities would make it happen.

Jiang Cheng explained the general outline of her idea to the metal-element ability users and asked, “Is it feasible?”

Cui Haiyang immediately nodded. “It is! It absolutely is!”

The other metal-element users chimed in as well. “We can do it! That’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of it?”

Jiang Cheng said, “If it’s possible...”

Everyone waited for her to continue, but she merely smiled and changed the subject.

“All right. Let’s see how things are going with Jingshuo.”

Song Jingshuo had gone to gather vehicles from the neighborhood.

There weren’t many private cars left in their neighborhood, but there were still enough. Jixiang Jiayuan also provided several vehicles.

They collected fifteen suitable cars. Each could carry four or five people, making room for a total of sixty or seventy passengers.

While the vehicles were being prepared, people were also gathering.

In the middle of the bustling preparations, Jiang Cheng suddenly noticed several people watching from a distance with their arms folded. They didn’t seem to have any intention of coming over.

The person in the middle was Cao Jiacai, with two young security guards beside him.

Someone else appeared to be standing behind the bushes, but Jiang Cheng couldn’t see clearly.

A thought stirred in Jiang Cheng’s mind.

She glanced around and, sure enough, spotted Little Fang, the security guard.

Little Fang was only nineteen, but he was brave enough. On the very first day, when the zombie virus had just broken out, he had dared to leave the security booth alone to rescue people.

It was also obvious that he had complete faith in Jiang Cheng. He always joined the group’s operations and was often within Jiang Cheng’s line of sight, so they had quickly grown familiar with each other.

“Little Fang.” Jiang Cheng called to him.

The young man came running over. “What is it?”

“I need you to do me a favor.”

She leaned close and whispered something to Little Fang.

A few people from Cao Jiacai’s group watched everyone bustling about in full swing. The sight irritated him.

“What are they running around for?” Cao Jiacai said. “The compound has plenty of food and water. Why go out there and stir up trouble? If they were going out to find supplies, fine. But why go rescue people? What’s it got to do with us?”

“Rescuing people is still the right thing to do, isn’t it?” Young Wang said.

Young Wang had taken part in the group labor the previous day, working with the other metal-type superpowered people to make metal armor and crescent-shaped shovels.

He had actually enjoyed himself.

It had felt as though he had gone back to his childhood, when he used to hammer iron pots with his father and grandfather.

Now, watching everyone working hard in the distance, he felt a little tempted to join them.

Cao Jiacai glared at him. “You’ve got a servant’s bones. You’re actually volunteering to work? We’re not lowly laborers anymore! We have superpowers now! Get your head straight!”

Young Wang hesitated. “But they have powers too. And they’re college students.”

Cao Jiacai cursed. “They’ve all read so many books they’ve read their brains stupid.”

He had seen it with his own eyes.

Those college-educated people would buy breakfast from a street stall, then thank the vendor after paying.

They were giving the vendor money, yet after handing it over, they actually thanked him?

Wasn’t that idiotic?

Just then, Little Fang came running over.

Here was another little fool—someone who refused to stick with his own kind and insisted on following the property owners around.

Cao Jiacai no longer considered Little Fang one of “his own.” He watched him approach with narrowed eyes and asked, “What do you want?”

“Miss Jiang asked me to find out whether you’re going on the operation later.”

Cao Jiacai sneered. “I’ll go if I feel like it, and I won’t if I don’t.”

Little Fang scratched his head. “So... are you going or not?”

He couldn’t understand plain speech. Cao Jiacai grew annoyed. “I’m not going!”

Little Fang glanced around furtively and leaned closer. “Miss Jiang said it’s fine if you don’t go, but don’t make a big deal about it.”

He continued, “Miss Jiang said that if you make a scene, it won’t look good. It’ll make her seem unable to control you, and everyone else will be unhappy too. If you don’t go, other people might hear about it and refuse to go as well. Then Miss Jiang won’t be able to assign anyone to do anything.”

Those words pleased Cao Jiacai immensely.

“She’s not stupid after all,” Cao Jiacai said. “Looks like everyone knows exactly what’s going on.”

Who was stronger? Who deserved to be the leader?

Cao Jiacai’s heart began to itch with excitement. He lifted his foot and was about to head over.

A hand reached out from behind the bushes and stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Cao Jiacai began, “Weren’t we going to find a big—”

The other man cut him off, gave him a meaningful look, and shook his head.

Cao Jiacai glanced at Little Fang and said, “I’m not going. You tell her that. Don’t think she can order me around.”

Little Fang looked at the man hiding behind the bushes, then ran back to find Jiang Cheng.

After Little Fang had left, Cao Jiacai finally asked the other man, “Weren’t we going to find a big opportunity to drag her down? I’d say this is the perfect time.”

Everyone over there was working themselves into a frenzy. This was exactly when he should go over, slam his hand on the table, and turn against her.

“Hey—Jiang Cheng! You’re a woman! You’re not even that capable! You have no right to be our leader! Starting today, I’m the leader!”

Yes, that was exactly how Cao Jiacai imagined it happening.

“Don’t rush,” the other man said.

He continued, “They’re going to get a large vehicle. That’ll be useful later, and we need one too. Let them get it first. Once they bring it back, we’ll step forward and overthrow Jiang Cheng. Then you can become the leader!”

Cao Jiacai sighed admiringly. “You college students really do have better brains!”

Little Fang ran back and told Jiang Cheng, “He said he isn’t going.”

“Did you tell him everything?” Jiang Cheng asked.

“I did.” Little Fang lowered his voice. “He actually wanted to come over. He looked like he was marching over to make trouble. But someone nearby stopped him.”

“Who?”

“Someone from Building Four. He used to follow Brother Song around all the time. What was his name... Wang something Tian?”

Jiang Cheng narrowed her eyes and looked over. The man behind the bushes revealed half his body. Sure enough, he was someone familiar from Building Four.

Wang Haotian.

Why had he stopped Cao Jiacai? Jiang Cheng had been trying to lure the snake out of its hole.

It was only a matter of time before Cao Jiacai challenged her authority and tried to seize leadership of the group.

His thoughts were written all over his face. He made no effort to hide them.

But he still hadn’t done anything. If he didn’t throw the first punch, how could Jiang Cheng justifiably defend herself?

Jiang Cheng had never been the kind of person who waited for others to make the first move, passively allowing events to unfold.

She had wanted to give him a little push and speed things up, but she hadn’t expected Wang Haotian to interfere.

“Forget it.” Jiang Cheng reached back and stroked the little black cat resting on her shoulder.

He’s not taking the bait. Then make your appearance at the school.