Chapter 141

That cry came rushing closer, fast as the wind, and then swept in with a gust.

Little Huang was riding a bicycle, but the pedals weren’t taking any pressure at all.

Anyone who has ridden a bicycle knows that when the pedals offer no resistance, pedaling feels strangely weightless. It means the bicycle has gone out of control.

Too fast!

Because Zhou Wang was pushing from behind.

The bicycle was completely beyond Little Huang’s control. It was thrilling, like riding a roller coaster. Even someone as steady as Little Huang couldn’t stop himself from yelling.

When the bike stopped in front of them, Little Huang planted his foot on the ground, yet he still felt a little light-headed. His heart was pounding.

“Uncle.” Little Huang took a deep breath. “Let’s not do that again.”

Zhou Wang pointed at him from a distance. “You need more practice.”

How was he supposed to practice? By taking the stairs instead of the elevator and jumping straight out of the building like you, Uncle?

Their leader was getting on in years and had started doing extreme sports!

A zombie corpse was strapped to the bicycle’s rear seat.

Zhou Wang called out to the people from Deqingli, “Take a look. Is this the one?”

Before becoming zombies, zombies had all been human. Humans had faces, so although a zombie’s skin changed color, it could still be identified by its features.

The people from Deqingli confirmed it. “That’s him.”

With both major threats dealt with, the people of Deqingli finally relaxed.

Jiang Cheng spoke with them for a while and confirmed that there were no other zombies left in Deqingli.

The residential complex was huge, so it was normal if one or two people happened to be locked inside their homes.

The people of Deqingli said, “As long as they aren’t the kind that can run around and think like humans, we’ll deal with them ourselves.”

Everyone still remembered what Deqingli had done back then.

After the zombie disaster ended, the people from Shanshui Yayuan had gone to the police and reported them, resulting in the arrest of quite a few people.

Those arrested were the direct perpetrators. But in reality, the incident had been a collective action. That meant everyone had taken part.

Even those who hadn’t personally lifted a hand had undergone a complete change psychologically during that incident.

Everyone in the complex had developed a fierce streak, even the elderly.

They all carried the attitude of, “Worst comes to worst, I’ll die,” and, “If you want me dead, I’ll take you down with me.”

Jiang Cheng had originally planned to visit Shanshui Yayuan next, since it was right next door.

But the people of Deqingli waved it off. “There’s no need. Their complex is empty.”

Everyone was stunned.

Shanshui Yayuan had originally been a low-density villa community, with far fewer residents.

The zombie virus outbreak had killed some of them.

The massacre at Deqingli had killed another group.

Those who survived until the disaster ended had all reported the incident to the authorities and then moved away.

The houses couldn’t even be sold after being listed. Nearly every development had suffered deaths, but not all deaths were the same.

Shanshui Yayuan was unquestionably a haunted housing complex.

The people of Deqingli explained, “Their property management company pulled out, and then zombies showed up again.”

Even the property management company had withdrawn. The entire complex was now completely empty.

In that case, there was no need to go to Shanshui Yayuan. It was about time for lunch.

They parked the vehicle by the roadside.

Aunt Pan set up a stove on the spot. Its firebox was connected, with eight burners in all.

The steamers and roasting racks had been prepared in advance, polished to a gleaming silver. They had been stored in Jiang Cheng’s spatial ability, along with the steamed buns and flower rolls, which had already been arranged and packed away.

Now Jiang Cheng took everything out and set it on the stove.

The fire-element ability users sent flames roaring forth. Five burners were used for steaming, and three for roasting.

They had counted everyone’s preferences beforehand, and more people had wanted steamed food.

In any case, everyone took what they wanted and got to eat hot steamed buns and flower rolls.

Autumn really did make people sleepy.

After everyone had eaten their fill, Jiang Cheng gave them some time. “Rest for half an hour. Take a nap.”

The vehicle was soon filled with sleeping people. Some were even snoring.

They slept until the alarms they had set on their phones went off. All sorts of polyphonic ringtones rang out together.

Jiang Cheng opened his eyes as well.

Half an hour of sleep had done a good job of restoring everyone’s energy.

Everyone stretched.

Jiang Cheng walked to the front of the vehicle and said to the driver, “Let’s go. We’re heading to the Development Zone Government offices.”

The Development Zone Government offices were a place they had to visit.

After surveying the residential areas in the eastern district, Jiang Cheng had even abandoned plans to visit the western district for the time being, choosing instead to prioritize the Development Zone Government offices.

There were still people who refused to believe that the government had truly vanished. They had to see it with their own eyes.

So they would go and see.

The Development Zone Government offices were crawling with zombies, making the place an ideal training ground for everyone.

Supernatural abilities grew stronger with practice.

The vehicle drove on, gradually leaving the residential complexes behind. Before long, they saw the Bailiang River.

The Development Zone Government offices, which managed the entire High-Tech New District, stood beside the river.

The grounds were spacious, and the five-story building was square and symmetrical. Even from a distance, its design clearly marked it as a government building.

Everyone put away their relaxed expressions and straightened up.

This was different from the other places they had visited. It wasn’t merely a matter of clearing out zombies.

Although they called themselves a provisional government, many people still felt, deep down, that they were just an unofficial ragtag outfit. They were still hoping that the legitimate government would emerge and take charge.

The people of this country had an almost unimaginable devotion to the idea of legitimacy. It had been that way since ancient times.

Little Huang stared fixedly at the building.

Zhou Wang looked at the building, then at Little Huang beside him. He leaned closer and whispered, “How about you stay in the vehicle...”

Little Huang turned his head. “I’m fine, Uncle. I’m fine.”

He gazed at the building as it drew closer and closer.

When they were almost at the entrance, Little Huang said softly, “If we run into her later, Uncle, don’t attack. Let me handle her.”

Zhou Wang placed a hand on the back of Little Huang’s head and rubbed it hard.

Their established battle formation was activated. Dao Cart and Mo Li went in first.

The zombies surged out.

Once most of them had been killed, the members of the battle team charged inside as well.

Today, Gao Yuxuan was going to conduct another experiment.

One of the most important guiding principles in Gao Yuxuan’s work was cost-effectiveness.

If something had excellent performance but cost too much, making it poor value for money, then he would still abandon it.

That way of thinking had taken root in his mind.

When people saw an electrical ability, they naturally assumed it should become an offensive power, like fire or metal abilities.

Gao Yuxuan had always felt that this wasn’t cost-effective.

Yesterday’s experiment hadn’t been particularly successful, but it had given him inspiration. Who said electrical abilities had to be offensive?

Why couldn’t they be support abilities instead?

He always carried an electric pen with him. Yesterday, he had already measured several sets of data.

After weighing everything, he chose what he considered the most cost-effective output level.

Today, he had basically brought the problem of accidentally leaking electricity under control. Charging himself with high-voltage electricity had been a little reckless, but it had genuinely worked. His supernatural ability was now much stronger than before.

He could fire several streams of electricity simultaneously, even weaving them into a net.

He controlled his output strictly according to the data he had measured. At this level, the electricity could no longer paralyze zombies as it had the day before. However, it still disrupted the activity of their brains.

The result was a loss of coordination and reduced speed.

The ordinary zombies tripped over themselves and fell outright.

The second-generation zombies were clearly suffering from impaired coordination as well, their movements becoming sluggish.

Game skill: Control—Slow.

Because his supernatural ability had grown so much stronger, Gao Yuxuan could now slow an entire group with a single move.

This technique was especially useful inside buildings.

As soon as they entered the corridor, the zombies came charging toward them in a tightly packed mass.

Skill activated: Control—Slow.

Li Jiangbing immediately led a group of people forward and launched into a wild assault with their shovels.

The combination was highly efficient—and much safer.

Gao Yuxuan tirelessly studied their abilities, and finally figured out the most cost-effective way to combine their attacks.

Su Yu had also worked out a new way to use her superpower: domains.

After advancing and upgrading, her superpower could cover a much larger area than before, and she could control its shape at will.

She enclosed all her teammates in the barrier and led them into the corridor. Then she expanded the barrier to match the shape of the corridor.

Not only did it crush the zombies in the corridor against the walls, it also blocked the zombies inside the offices at their doorways, keeping them from getting out.

The zombies frantically slapped at the protective barrier blocking their path.

Once the people inside the barrier reached an office doorway, they used a few shovelfuls to chop the heads off the zombies packed together there.

Their efficiency might not have matched that of Li Jiangbing or Gao Yuxuan’s team, but their safety was unquestionably second to none.

Aunt Pan and Zhao Yi had also developed a new skill: interception.

The two of them pressed their hands against the wall, and the smooth surface began to ripple like waves.

Before long, horizontal “fences” extended from the wall, dividing sections of the corridor into several prison cells. The zombies were trapped inside.

They cleared the corridor one section at a time, retracting each section of “fence” after the zombies inside had been dealt with.

Their efficiency was nothing special, but they had the advantage of being very safe.

Speaking of which, this wave of enthusiasm for developing practical methods of using superpowers had all been sparked by Gao Yuxuan.

Zhao Yi leaned more toward theory. He liked studying the origins of superpowers and the reasons behind the emergence of their various branches.

Gao Yuxuan preferred to explore more practical techniques.

By the time they finished clearing out the government building, it was already past four in the afternoon.

Jiang Cheng was in the district chief’s office.

The district chief was the head of the development zone’s government. Since the development zone was wealthy, his office was spacious and imposing.

Behind the desk and office chair stood an entire wall of bookshelves, filled with many weighty tomes.

Jiang Cheng narrowed her eyes and studied them for a moment before walking over. She extended a fingertip and slowly ran it along the spines of the books.

Many of these books were renowned works. They embodied the mainstream values and worldview of the country and formed the theoretical foundation upon which it had been established.

With “Jiang Cheng’s” memories, Jiang Cheng of course knew how important these books were—works such as Xxxxx Thought and the Xxx Quotations.

But “Jiang Cheng” had never truly read those imposing volumes. She had merely learned some general summaries of their ideas at school.

When Jiang Cheng’s fingertip reached the most important works, those books vanished into thin air.

The building had five floors. Although there was an elevator, there was no need to crowd inside it.

People on each floor simply threw the zombie corpses out of the windows and into the courtyard.

Down below, Zhou Wang used a layer of air currents to catch the falling corpses and slow their descent, preventing zombie fluids from splattering everywhere when they hit the ground.

Little Huang had been using his eyes to search the entire time, but he still hadn’t found his mother by the end. After all, with so many heads crammed together, there was no way to lift them one by one for a closer look.

They dealt with the bodies by burying them on the spot.

Aunt Pan, Zhao Yi, and several other earth-type superpowered individuals worked together to dig an enormous, extremely deep pit in the middle of the courtyard.

If it was deep enough, there would be no need to disinfect the area separately.

Although supplies were currently abundant, that was only because there were so few survivors. No new supplies were coming in at the moment, so they still had to conserve whatever they could.

When the pit had been filled in again, Zhou Wang glanced secretly at Little Huang.

But Little Huang was remarkably calm.

It was the adults who seemed grief-stricken. Many of them had finally accepted the fact that there were no survivors in the development zone’s government building.

Jiang Cheng stood on the steps at the entrance, watching everyone finish up.

Suddenly, someone approached her.

Jiang Cheng turned her head. It was Zhao Yi.

“There isn’t a single person,” Zhao Yi said. “We checked everywhere, including the underground cafeteria and the civil-defense shelter. Not one survivor.”

From a probabilistic standpoint, it made no sense.

There had been survivors in the middle schools.

There had been survivors in the elementary schools.

Yet in such a large government building, there wasn’t a single one.

Jiang Cheng said, “I told you from the beginning.”

She had said that an outside force had specifically targeted the government for elimination.

Zhao Yi was now inclined to accept that conclusion.

But he still challenged her. “Jiang Cheng, how did you come up with the idea of a targeted purge?”

The conclusion was far too specific.

It was difficult for anyone to reach a correct judgment based on such a small sample size—unless she had concealed some of her observations, or possessed other information that no one else knew.

Deep down, Zhao Yi vaguely felt that Jiang Cheng definitely knew something others did not.

After all, the Chosen Protagonist couldn’t possibly be that simple. She must be keeping something in reserve.

For example, she had hidden the fact that her physique had been enhanced and that she had become stronger.

Or she had concealed Mo Li’s mutation.

Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan had searched online for keywords related to animals becoming infected or mutating. In the process, they discovered a post on another forum in which someone had asked whether animals could mutate.

Gao Yuxuan had minored in computer science and was a top student.

He precisely traced the poster’s network address to S City, the Technology New District, Youth Apartments, Building Two.

The post had been published on June 19.

That early. So very early.

Jiang Cheng had kept Mo Li hidden until the Cao family tried to seize power, only then bringing Mo Li out into the open.

But that was fine. The Chosen Protagonist was supposed to be this incredible.

Both Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan accepted it. In fact, they were delighted by it, feeling that it was only fitting for her.

But Zhao Yi truly wanted them to share information. He desperately wanted to know what exactly Jiang Cheng knew that no one else did.

Of course, there was no way Jiang Cheng could tell him the truth.

She gazed at the people busying themselves in the courtyard and said only, “A woman’s intuition.”

I, a memory-lost person, did not cross into another world of my own volition.

Someone—or some force—must have sent me here.

That force clearly possessed the ability to kill me, yet chose to let me live.

It made me face a world suffering from a zombie outbreak.

Clearly, this was a test or trial meant for me.

The first time, I won.

But the trial was not over. Clearly, my opponent had no intention of letting me win.

So the government, which had played such a major role in the first stage, was specifically wiped out.

Because only by doing this—

could the second stage—

increase in difficulty.