Chapter 131

When the people from the laboratory building left the cafeteria, the cafeteria auntie had stuffed two steamed buns into each of their hands.

At noon, each of them had eaten one bun and saved the other as a backup.

Now that rescue had arrived, they all had armor on and supernatural abilities at their disposal. They wolfed down the buns they had saved, then picked up their weapons: cleavers, rolling pins, and crowbars.

“Let’s go!”

During the previous disaster, Xiao Dan and her husband had fought zombies alongside the people from Youth Apartment. They had some experience with coordinated combat, so they had even worked out a battle plan: once the door opened, the first two people would use chairs to shove back any zombies trying to charge inside. Then everyone else would fight their way out.

Who could have guessed that when the plan was put into action and the door opened, just as the zombies were about to rush in, they would suddenly vanish right before everyone’s eyes?

The group stood there, completely dumbfounded.

A few seconds later, a black cat as large as a leopard sauntered inside.

“A cat!” Wang Yunya couldn’t help exclaiming softly.

“What a huge cat!”

“No matter how big it is, it’s still not as big as the one just now.”

“Why are there so many cats?”

“Did the entire cat squad mutate?”

Mo Li could adjust its body size to suit the situation. When facing a horde of zombies outdoors, a larger body provided greater impact force. But inside a building, such a huge body would be difficult to maneuver, so it had shrunk to the size of a leopard, making it more agile and adaptable.

Of course, the people in the office had no idea that the cat in front of them was the very same enormous black cat they had seen outside through the window, the one as big as an elephant.

They still thought these were several different cats.

Suddenly, their vision blurred. A gust of wind swept across their faces, and someone appeared beside the cat.

Xiao Dan cried out in delight, “Brother Zhou!”

It was Zhou Wang, the uncle who moved like the wind.

Wang Yunya was equally excited. “Uncle Zhou!”

Zhou Wang said, “Everyone all right? Come on. If you’re fine, then follow me.”

He turned his head. “Lizi, Lizi, lead the way!”

Unable to hold back her curiosity, Wang Yunya asked, “Uncle Zhou, why are there so many powerful cats? There was an enormous one outside just now.”

She had never seen a cat that big in her life. It had been as huge as an elephant!

It looked like something straight out of a science-fiction movie.

“It’s just this one. There’s only one,” Zhou Wang said. “It can grow bigger or smaller.”

Zhou Wang was filled with emotion.

Jiang Cheng was truly deep and unfathomable. Who knew what other trump cards she had hidden?

No wonder she hadn’t panicked in the slightest when he warned her to beware of Cao Jiacai.

In fact, people like Zhou Wang and Song Jingshuo could both guess that Mo Li had not suddenly evolved today.

It might not even have evolved during this latest outbreak of the virus.

It was simply that Jiang Cheng had chosen today to reveal it.

She had kept this card hidden all along, only turning it over at the very end.

Zhou Wang said, “You’ve all seen it before. It’s Jiang Cheng’s cat from Youth Apartment.”

Xiao Dan and Wang Yunya looked incredulous. “That one?”

Everyone in the neighborhoods nearby knew of Jiang Cheng from Youth Apartment.

The image of the little black cat that often perched on her shoulder was already deeply etched in people’s minds.

Who would have thought that little black cat could be so extraordinary?

Zhou Wang said, “If I can become a human speedster, then it’s not that strange for a cat to grow bigger.”

Indeed, after the second outbreak of the zombie virus, many humans had gained supernatural abilities. As a result, people found it surprisingly easy to accept Mo Li’s mutation.

At this point, everyone was simply hoping that no animals would turn into zombies.

Wang Yunya herself possessed a fire-based ability, and there were several other ability users in the office as well, so accepting this was even easier for them.

Together, they headed outside.

The corridor was littered with zombie corpses. The zombies had vanished from sight just moments ago because Mo Li had pounced on them and bitten them to death.

Zhou Wang gave them a quick lesson as they walked. “There are many different kinds of supernatural abilities. They can be classified by the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—as well as special abilities. I’m wind-based. I control air currents.”

“That vehicle just now? It was operated from inside by several metal-type ability users. The idea came from Jiang Cheng, and it’s incredibly practical.”

“Right? You all saw it yourselves.”

Xiao Dan asked, “Brother Zhou, has the government sent any news?”

Zhou Wang sighed. “I’m afraid we can’t count on the government this time.”

Xiao Dan’s heart sank. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, “Did anyone from the residential compound come back later?”

She had left the compound and gone to the school to look for her daughter.

When she reached Preschool Street and saw that it was filled with mother zombies, she knew she couldn’t force her way through. A small car was too easy for the second-generation zombies to pounce onto and cling to, making it extremely dangerous.

They had learned all this from the previous disaster.

Fortunately, she had reacted quickly. She immediately put the car into reverse, ignoring traffic laws, scrapes, and collisions, then turned around and fled.

She shook off the zombies on Preschool Street with her speed, then took a detour behind the stadium and circled around to the middle school.

She knew roughly what the situation in the compound was like. Before she left, Zhou Wang had been leading a dozen or so young, able-bodied men. Everyone else was elderly.

She herself could technically be counted among the young and able-bodied.

But she couldn’t bring herself to abandon her daughter.

Some people had said, “Go.”

They understood her desperate desire to save her child.

Others had said, “Don’t go.”

They believed going would only mean throwing her life away, and that abandoning the child in the compound would be safer.

But she had come anyway, ignoring everything else.

She couldn’t get in touch with the child’s father. He had most likely died somewhere in the city. She had thought that if she was going to die, she might as well die together with her daughter.

Now it seemed that no one had to die after all.

But what about the future?

Zhou Wang counted on his fingers. “As of this morning, six had come back, then seven, eight, nine... Hmm, nine in total.”

That few?

Xiao Dan’s heart sank further and further.

Zhou Wang said, “There are more people next door—the Youth Apartment. Over four hundred of them.”

Then he sighed again. “Look downstairs. Two hundred people have come to rescue you.”

Zhou Wang was always sighing. He really did have an astonishing number of things to sigh about.

Everyone stopped and looked outside through the corridor windows.

Several large buses had driven in. Countless people poured from them like a rising tide.

Some wore white plastic armor, while others wore silver metal armor. They looked like a futuristic combat team—especially impressive.

Everyone carried a weapon.

Many of the weapons looked the same, resembling the ancient weapons seen in television dramas. What were they called? Crescent-bladed shovels?

They looked extremely useful.

Xiao Dan’s sinking heart finally steadied, and hope rose within her.

When the cafeteria doors opened again, many of the students burst into tears.

“Where are Wang Yunya, Zhang Minghe, and Xu En?”

“I’m here! I’m here!” Wang Yunya called from behind the adults as she entered. “We’re all alive!”

The students cheered and rushed over to hug the group. They cried and laughed at the same time, pushing aside the adults who had come to rescue them.

The cafeteria auntie wiped away her tears as well.

Jiang Cheng walked inside and looked around. “A cafeteria...”

Song Jingshuo said, “Perfect.”

Li Jiangbing asked, “...What are you talking about?”

Song Jingshuo replied, “About not leaving empty-handed.”

Jiang Cheng remained expressionless as she stepped on Song Jingshuo’s foot and walked away.

Song Jingshuo maintained his elegance and composure.

Jiang Cheng went straight to the wall, where a row of wheeled food carts stood. Each cart had four shelves, and each shelf held forty or fifty stainless-steel trays.

One by one, the carts vanished from in front of Jiang Cheng.

Song Jingshuo said to Li Jiangbing, “See? Not leaving empty-handed.”

Li Jiangbing: “...”

Li Jiangbing said, “Honestly, you were better before...”

Back then, he had worn a dress shirt and tie, a luxury watch on his wrist, and an expression of kind benevolence—false sincerity and all.

Li Jiangbing felt a pang of nostalgia.

But they could never go back. Never again.

“Take whatever you can.”

The Youth Apartments were going to start serving communal meals.

These stainless-steel trays could be taken back and used either as tableware for everyone or as raw materials for Metal-type superpowered individuals.

“Take the chopsticks too.”

“And the soup buckets.”

“That huge iron pot looks great.”

“And that one-meter-twenty spatula.”

“Take it all, take it all!”

The survivors were stunned. “What is this?”

Zhou Wang said, “A Spatial-type superpower.”

The middle school students exclaimed, “That’s so cool!”

Jiang Cheng kept taking things until the space inside her was so “full” that her head began to ache. Only then did she stop.

She looked over the students. There were a few parents among them, along with two middle-aged women.

Li Jiangbing put his hands on his hips. “Not a single teacher?”

The students lowered their heads dejectedly. “The teachers told us to run to the cafeteria because there was food there, enough to last for many days. They stayed behind to cover our escape. Later, we closed the doors, but all we could hear was the zombies pounding on them...”

During the first zombie outbreak, some people had literally starved to death.

There were no such deaths in the Youth Apartments or Auspicious Garden, but that didn’t mean the same was true everywhere else.

Not every residential complex had been as lucky as those two and obtained supplies from the very beginning.

For many survivors, the memory of the first zombie outbreak wasn’t “fear.”

It was “hunger.”

When everyone woke up and discovered that the zombie virus had returned, the teachers quickly made their decision.

“The cafeteria has tall walls, sturdy doors, and food!”

The teachers chose the cafeteria as a shelter for the children.

They had made the right choice.

There were more than ninety middle school students in the cafeteria.

Everyone who attended High-Tech New District Middle School lived in the Technology New District.

What should they do next?

Jiang Cheng asked the students what they wanted.

“I want to go home.”

“Me too. Could you give me a knife? We’re short on weapons.”

“Same here. Fighting with chairs is awful. We can only defend ourselves, not attack.”

When facing zombies, humans without weapons or armor would be at a severe disadvantage unless they had an overwhelming numerical advantage.

But with weapons—and armor—the situation was completely different.

The vast majority of the middle school students wanted to go home.

Even though they had already called and could no longer reach their parents, they still wanted to go home.

Their determination was unwavering.

A school had more than a thousand students, and Jiang Cheng didn’t take all the stainless-steel trays. She left some behind because she still needed room to store other things.

Cui Haiyang, Uncle Eighty, and the other Metal-type superpowered individuals made armor and weapons out of the stainless-steel trays right there on the spot.

The students responded with repeated cries of “Wow!”

Wu Jiancheng gave several Fire-type superpowered students an impromptu lesson on using a rolling pin as a track to accelerate fireballs, allowing them to attack from a distance.

Gao Yuxuan taught the only Lightning-type superpowered student one-on-one, explaining the difference between precision training and intensity training, as well as techniques for controlling lightning snakes and lightning nets.

Aunt Pan told the two Earth-type superpowered students, “You can’t have any distractions in your mind. You have to focus on it completely. Tell it what you want it to become. The fewer distractions you have, the more obediently it will follow your commands.”

In the end, everyone received armor and a weapon of their own.

The weapon of choice was the crescent shovel.

More and more people were discovering how useful crescent shovels were. Many had abandoned their original weapons, whatever they might have been, and switched to crescent shovels instead.

The adults said, “Come on. We’ll take you home.”