Chapter 138

Manager Wang was merely speculating, judging others by his own standards.

Zeng Qiang had taken Song Jingshuo aside to talk about fertilizer—really, that was all.

The three people with Manager Wang watched from a distance. First, Zeng Qiang said something, and then Song Jingshuo’s face turned utterly shocked.

Aunt Pan: “Huh?”

Although Song Jingshuo had been in a somewhat foul mood lately and had become rather sharp-tongued, he was, on the whole, the sort of person who kept his emotions firmly under control.

He was always composed and proper, and rarely ever lost his poise.

Aunt Pan began to wonder. “Surely he didn’t really ask for a girl?”

Under the shade of a tree, Song Jingshuo said, “You... How could you...”

Zeng Qiang had already anticipated his reaction.

It was a perfectly normal response.

He said, “The amount of fertilizer we’ll need in the future is going to be enormous. If my observations are correct, your superpower only accelerates the plants’ development, but the nutrients they need for that development don’t decrease at all. In fact, they may consume even more nutrients than plants growing normally.”

“If you can’t accept this plan, then you’ll have to accept the other one,” he said.

Song Jingshuo had no idea how many nutrients normal plants consumed, but the plants he accelerated certainly absorbed them at an astonishing rate.

After a plot of land had been accelerated through one growth cycle, Aunt Pan only had to touch the soil to tell that all its fertility had been depleted.

Zeng Qiang was right.

Song Jingshuo calmed himself and said, “What’s the other plan? Let me hear it.”

In truth, he had already decided that no matter what, he was choosing the other plan.

Zeng Qiang said, “We’ll have to start collecting feces. I mean everyone’s feces. Then we’ll make manure for you to use.”

Song Jingshuo’s spirit shattered.

Actually, if he hadn’t been a wood-type superhuman, if he hadn’t been the person specifically responsible for growing vegetables, collecting human feces and turning it into manure wouldn’t have been that big a deal.

It wasn’t as though they were asking him to eat shit.

But unfortunately, he was precisely the person in charge of growing the vegetables.

What difference was that from making him eat shit?

Song Jingshuo said, “Isn’t there any—”

Zeng Qiang anticipated the question and cut him off with the answer: “No.”

His tone was firm and final.

“You have only two choices,” he said. “Something disgusting, or something even more disgusting.”

There was more than a hint of malicious amusement in his voice.

People liked to say that men remained boys until the day they died, or that making friends was incredibly simple for men.

Few people ever mentioned that men actually competed fiercely with one another.

Someone like Song Jingshuo—who made plenty of money and was handsome to boot—was a natural enemy to other men.

Zeng Qiang was delighted to watch his control over his expression finally fail.

Song Jingshuo stood there with his hands on his hips for a long while. In the end, he said, “Come on. Let’s go tell Jiang Cheng.”

If they were using human feces, there was probably no need to report it. Song Jingshuo could make that decision himself.

Zeng Qiang had already guessed which option Song Jingshuo had chosen.

Song Jingshuo led Zeng Qiang to Jiang Cheng. There were people nearby, so Song Jingshuo leaned close and quietly explained the situation in Jiang Cheng’s ear.

Jiang Cheng also showed a look of surprise.

After a moment’s thought, she asked, “What if it transmits a virus?”

Zeng Qiang said, “I’ve observed them. While zombies are alive, their bodies have indeed undergone mutations. But after death, they rot just like human bodies. We’ve all seen stray cats, dogs, flies, and crows eat zombie flesh. Yet so far, there haven’t been any zombie cats, zombie dogs, zombie flies, or zombie birds.”

“Your cat has even bitten zombies to death. Its mouth came into direct contact with zombie bodily fluids, and it didn’t mutate either.”

“Earlier, when we burned zombie corpses, if there had been a virus, it would have spread through aerosols long ago. But that didn’t happen.”

“So, I believe zombie corpses can safely be used as animal-based organic fertilizer.”

That’s right. The soil inside the foam boxes Zeng Qiang was carrying contained chunks of zombie corpses he had secretly brought home in July.

He had several boxes like that at home.

He had only wanted to try it out. Then the zombie crisis ended.

The corpses hadn’t decomposed enough yet, but leaving them there hadn’t caused any problems. Unexpectedly, the zombie trouble had begun again, and the Finance Guy had started growing vegetables.

It was almost as though fate had arranged it all.

Jiang Cheng said nothing. She only looked at him.

Everyone knew that Jiang Cheng was hard-hearted. If she hadn’t been that kind of person, she couldn’t have led everyone through their previous journey.

But a person had to experience that hard-heartedness directed at themselves before they could truly understand what Jiang Cheng was like.

After holding Jiang Cheng’s gaze for several seconds, Zeng Qiang suddenly understood.

He nodded. “The property office still has a few bags of chemical fertilizer. They’ll be enough for Jingshuo for a few days. During that time, I’ll have him help me grow some vegetables. I’ll be the first to eat them.”

Song Jingshuo shot him a glance.

A live human experiment.

But Jiang Cheng hadn’t forced Zeng Qiang into it. He had volunteered.

If he wanted everyone else to eat it, he had to be willing to go first himself.

That was only reasonable.

Song Jingshuo and Zeng Qiang left Jiang Cheng together.

Song Jingshuo didn’t say a word.

Zeng Qiang consoled him. “It’s all the same, really.”

He said, “Everything in this world eventually returns to dust. Tombstones and graves are merely ways for the living to entrust their feelings and memories. Underground, everything is the same. Sooner or later, it all returns to nature, gets absorbed by plants, and is then eaten by living creatures before being excreted as human or animal feces.”

“There are plenty of animal-based organic fertilizers on the market too.”

“Using animals, humans, or zombies is fundamentally no different.”

“It’s all the same. You eat it, and in the end, it becomes feces.”

Zeng Qiang sighed with boundless emotion.

“Besides, you can’t taste the difference at all.”

The corners of Song Jingshuo’s mouth twitched.

Ever since the zombie crisis, a great many people had become philosophers.

Li Jiangbing had been right. They were all freaking lunatics.

Zeng Qiang carried his foam boxes away.

Song Jingshuo returned to growing vegetables.

Aunt Pan, Manager Wang, and the others had already replenished the fertilizer in the plot. When they saw him return, she said, “Come on.”

The moment Song Jingshuo began, he sensed the difference.

“Chemical fertilizer?” he asked.

Aunt Pan said, “Yes. What else would it be?”

Song Jingshuo said nothing more and focused on activating his superpower.

It was different—far too different.

Plants fed chemical fertilizer were like people eating compressed biscuits.

They had to eat it, but it was an unpleasant experience.

And unlike the feeling from earlier, when Song Jingshuo had protected the roots of those few seedlings and then watched them shoot up at an astonishing rate, the plants here showed no such vigor at all.

That was when Song Jingshuo realized he could never go back.

Zombie fertilizer was still the best.

At noon, everyone enjoyed a decent lunch and admired the soybeans, which had grown as large as grapes.

“Tomorrow, we’ll be drinking soy milk,” everyone said happily.

After eating their fill, the people from Yujingxiang Garden and Jixiangjiayuan also arrived. The Tech New District Zombie-Clearing Squad boarded their vehicles and set out on their first mission.

Today’s targets were two private kindergartens and one private school. One of the kindergartens and the private school were on the same street. The other private kindergarten was elsewhere.

But since they had decided to reclaim the entire Tech New District, everyone agreed that they should clear out the kindergartens and school first. Only then would they feel at ease.

The bladed vehicles went in first, with Mo Li following behind, slaughtering their way through.

The special thing today was Guo Jun and Gao Yuxuan. Their armor was different from everyone else’s, protecting them from head to toe.

The process of making those two suits of armor revealed the differences between metal-type superhumans.

Everyone’s superpowers were the same, that much was true.

But several of them had studied or worked in fields related to machinery, with Cui Haiyang being the most representative example.

When he made this kind of full-body armor for Gao Yuxuan, he already knew how to connect and reinforce the joints, as well as how to design the armor so it could be opened, closed, and locked securely.

Uncle Eighty, however, couldn’t do that.

If you asked Uncle Eighty to reproduce a copy of the original armor, he could manage it. With a sample right in front of him, all he had to do was imitate it.

He could make the crescent shovels, too. Their shape and structure weren’t difficult.

Some knives and even scissors were no problem either. Take scissors, for example: Uncle Eighty understood how they were constructed, so he could reproduce them.

But armor this complicated—armor that had to open, close, and lock securely so it wouldn’t suddenly spring open during a fight—was beyond him.

He simply had no concept of how it worked.

If you didn’t even know what you were trying to make, how could you possibly make it?

In the end, both sets of armor turned out well, and both Gao Yuxuan and Guo Jun were satisfied.

Everyone else, however, was thoroughly fed up with Gao Yuxuan. He kept leaking electricity, and since the metal armor conducted it, he was always shocking people whenever they were in the vehicles.

Gao Yuxuan felt deeply wronged and curled up by himself in a corner.

The kindergarten and the private school were located on the same street.

Everyone chose to go to the private school first, because they all knew that visiting the kindergarten afterward would leave them in an extremely gloomy mood.

The Blade Vehicle and Mo Li went on a killing spree in the school courtyard. Like everyone else, Gao Yuxuan and Guo Jun stayed in the vehicles outside to watch.

They let the Blade Vehicle and Mo Li kill for a while before the two men in iron armor got out.

The main reason was that their armor was relatively heavy, making them less agile. If the zombies in the courtyard were too densely packed, they might fail the test and end up trapped inside.

Then they would have to trouble Mo Li to rescue them.

So they waited until the Blade Vehicle and Mo Li had thinned the horde out before going in.

Everyone pressed against the car windows to watch the spectacle. The other few electric-type ability users were especially interested.

Although the two men were wearing full-body metal armor, it was covered in countless ventilation holes. Their human scent still drifted out to the zombies.

The zombies roared and lunged at them.

Gao Yuxuan had always fought from a distance. He had never stood there like a pillar and simply refused to fight back as he did today.

He closed his eyes, chose to trust Cui Haiyang, and began discharging electricity throughout his body.

The test was a success.

The zombies that pounced on him stuck to his armor and began shaking like sieves. Without outside help, they couldn’t break free.

The zombies behind them leaped forward and became stuck to the zombies in front.

Before long, Gao Yuxuan was surrounded by layer upon layer of zombies and couldn’t move at all.

He carefully controlled the current, keeping it at the most cost-effective level.

In other words, he output the minimum amount of electricity sufficient to hold the zombies in place and prevent them from escaping.

With that tiny amount of power, he could stick so many zombies to himself.

It was practically a control skill straight out of a video game!

Li Jiangbing shouted, “It’s our turn!”

The car doors opened. Li Jiangbing led a group of people charging out and into the school. They raised their crescent shovels and began hacking at the necks of the zombies wrapped around Gao Yuxuan.

Some of their shovels had wooden handles. The handles of the all-metal ones had already been wrapped in insulating tape.

One swing, one head.

Their efficiency was impressive.

Guo Jun, meanwhile, was conducting a different kind of test.

He also used electricity to stick a large number of zombies together. Once there were enough of them, he released a powerful surge of electricity in an instant.

Gao Yuxuan was testing control. Guo Jun wanted to test control combined with area-of-effect attacks.

Of course, this had all been Gao Yuxuan’s idea.

But Guo Jun’s test couldn’t be considered a success.

The total amount of electricity needed to stick a large number of zombies together and kill them was indeed slightly less than what it took to kill them one by one.

When killing them individually, Guo Jun attacked from a distance, sending out a long serpent of electricity that lost power along the way.

An area attack could indeed reduce some of that loss, but the savings weren’t especially significant. They were certainly nowhere near as impressive as Gao Yuxuan’s.

At the same time, releasing enough electricity in a single instant to kill so many zombies nearly drained Guo Jun completely.

Fortunately, Li Jiangbing’s group was nearby and rushed over to help.

Gao Yuxuan was such a menace!

Note: The information about composting came from the internet.