Chapter 15

The knives and other blades weren't sent in, partly for fear that they'd break the door open from the inside. And partly because if anything went wrong, the normal people on their side might get hurt.

As for water, there was no need to worry—there was a water dispenser in the meeting room.

The bathroom issue had been resolved from the very beginning. When the first batch of injured had been escorted over, they'd asked, "How are we supposed to use the toilet?"

It was also the property management girl who'd found two large plastic buckets for them.

Everyone had filled their stomachs with ham sausages for now, but Jiang Cheng was looking at the surveillance feed of the meeting room on her computer. She watched for a moment, then raised her head: "When we send things in later, we need to be on full alert."

"They're too quiet," she said. "Once those two go in and explain the situation, once everyone knows what's what, there's no way they'd all stay this calm."

"This isn't right. Something's off."

Li Jiangbing forced down the meat in his mouth and said, "Whatever you say."

Following Jiang Cheng's arrangement, when they unlocked the U-shaped lock and opened the door, a circle of people stood in a semi-arc around the meeting room entrance. Their various "weapons" were all pointed at the door.

Some people inwardly grumbled about whether it was really necessary. But then the door opened—and the people inside charged out!

Li Jiangbing was ready. He swung his baton hard, cracking it across the man's shoulder, then drove it straight into his chest, and finally kicked him back in!

These moves were one fluid motion, done in an instant, completely squashing the plan of those inside to break out.

The two sides faced off—

"Let us out! Let us out!"

"I don't want to die!"

"Back off! Back off!"

"If you don't back off, I'll hit someone!"

Men's shouting filled both sides of the door, deafening in the narrow corridor.

Weapons were thrust out toward the doorway, ready to stop anyone from charging again.

At that moment, everyone thought: Jiang Cheng from Building 2 really had called it.

Jiang Cheng stood in the middle. Li Jiangbing stepped aside, revealing her.

She locked eyes with the man Li Jiangbing had kicked back in. She'd guessed it was him—he was one of the leaders from Building 6, and he'd been bitten on the arm. Earlier in the square, when Jiang Cheng had demanded that all the injured be kept together under supervision, he'd been the first among the injured to speak up in support.

Back then he'd said: "If I do end up turning, I don't want to hurt anyone. You can just put me down directly."

When he'd said that, he probably still believed there was a way out. But when you're truly confirmed to have only one ending, people's minds shift.

A creature's instinct is to survive—even if it means "surviving" in another form.

The unnatural calm in the meeting room told Jiang Cheng that someone was controlling the situation, persuading the others to stay low and wait for their chance.

He was a man in his twenties, well-groomed hair, handsome face, great physique, and good fashion sense. His clothes were brand-name.

He looked like a well-paid white-collar professional with a respectable job. In daily life, probably a charismatic man.

But none of that mattered. The wound on his arm was already bandaged, but he was doomed to die.

Jiang Cheng's voice cut through the shouting.

"Step back," she said. "We're here to bring you food."

"You have two choices: take the food and close the door."

"Or we shut the door right now."

Back in the square, this girl had stepped up on her own initiative. Now, she appeared to have fully taken command.

The man from Building 6 gritted his teeth and stared at her, his face ugly.

Behind him, someone was already crying, fidgeting in frustration.

Then the girl from Building 2 began to count down: "Three... two..."

"Fine!" he barked just before she reached one. "We'll take it. Bring it in."

Things had deteriorated to this point—neighbors at each other's throats. No one wanted to "go in." They said some AIDS patients went around sticking people with needles—who knew whether these people might also out of resentment bite someone just to spread it? If you got bitten, you'd be stuck in there with them.

"Back behind the table, or we're closing the door now," Jiang Cheng said.

The way out was sealed—no telling how many people were crammed into the corridor, everyone armed, all of them having killed mutants that day.

There was no way out. But they couldn't starve either. After a hard morning and nothing but water in that room, they really were hungry.

Nobody wanted to die on an empty stomach either. The people inside slumped back behind the meeting table, heads hung low.

The ham sausages and instant noodles were thrown in. They clattered onto the table, sausages scattering everywhere, some rolling to the floor.

The people inside scrambled frantically—over the table, onto the floor—to grab them.

Morale was broken, the scene was chaos, and the man from Building 6 got shoved aside by the crush. He reached out to steady himself against the wall.

He turned to glance back at the door, only to see the people outside toss a few things in with a clatter, landing on the floor on that side of the meeting table.

Then the meeting room door was slammed shut, and the U-shaped lock clicked into place quickly.

From outside came a voice: "Move that cabinet from the hall over here..."

Inside, a man bit into a ham sausage and asked curiously: "Why'd they give our weapons back?"

Scattered on the floor near the door were the weapons that had been confiscated from them earlier.

Outside, the sound of moving large furniture and the bump of it against the door began.

The man from Building 6 stared at those weapons for a long time. Then he gave a bitter smile.

A group of people walked out of the property management center. It was already midday—the sun was strong and the temperature had risen.

Yet there was a chill in everyone's hearts. Even with the blazing sun at their backs, it felt cold.

The girl walking in the lead had glossy black hair that shimmered in the sunlight. She was beautiful too, conventionally attractive.

But she... wasn't exactly "conventional."

Li Jiangbing rubbed his neck, as if to brush away that subtle discomfort. He glanced to the side and noticed that everyone had either naturally or deliberately let Jiang Cheng take the center position.

But their expressions weren't entirely natural.

Someone let out a sigh: "That guy lives on my floor."

Killing the mutants hadn't felt like this. But locking what still looked like perfectly human people inside that meeting room—that was hard to stomach.

Li Jiangbing stole a glance at Jiang Cheng's profile. She seemed unmoved.

Someone else chimed in: "What else can you do? There are so many people in this complex. If you don't contain it, one bites another, one infects another, and everyone's done for."

Li Jiangbing saw Jiang Cheng turn slightly to look at the person who said that.

It wasn't someone else—it was the leader from Building 4. A tall young man, sharp and alert, handsome as well. Earlier in the square, when Jiang Cheng had given him a look, he'd picked it up immediately.

They'd exchanged names before—his was Song Jingshuo.

Li Jiangbing saw approval flicker in Jiang Cheng's eyes, but then she turned back, as if lost in thought.

What was she thinking about?

The square was already burning. Flames shot into the sky, and even from a distance, they could feel the wave of heat.

Fire... it was a truly terrifying thing.

The number of people in the square didn't shrink; it grew. Those who had been watching from their homes, seeing that the mutated individuals in the neighborhood had mostly been cleared, now felt bold enough to come downstairs.

People who had been in the garden all along and those who had just emerged from their buildings were exchanging information with one another.

One side was telling the other about the precautions for killing the mutated, while the other side was sharing what the broadcast news had said and what new updates had appeared online.

Many people were coming downstairs now because they were afraid that if they didn't join the group in the garden, they'd be left behind—unable to get timely information, easily marginalized when something happened.

Humans are, after all, social animals. Herd animals.

The fire burned fiercely. These were all neighbors. Many had been seen and encountered in the neighborhood before. They'd shared elevators, some had worked in the same area or even the same office building, and some had even formed carpool groups together.

Now familiar faces were being incinerated. Their families had no idea that they had already died here.

Someone couldn't hold back their tears.

Men and women alike.

This community was mainly made up of young people who had left home to fend for themselves. Seeing their neighbors being burned, many felt as if they were looking at themselves.

Li Jiangbing let out a sigh and, out of habit, turned to look at Jiang Cheng. But he saw her gathered with Song Jingshuo and the leaders of the other buildings, talking about something.

Li Jiangbing snapped to attention and hurried over to eavesdrop.

"This has to be the priority. It's the most urgent thing right now. Everything else can wait," Jiang Cheng said firmly. "This afternoon is crucial. Tomorrow won't work."

Li Jiangbing didn't dare interrupt to ask what it was about; he just pricked up his ears and listened.

Song Jingshuo said, "What if they haven't opened the doors?"

Jiang Cheng said, "We have numbers, and we have tools. Breaking down a door isn't hard."

Someone let out an "ah" sound, tinged with hesitation.

Jiang Cheng's gaze shot over. Li Jiangbing could swear her eyes seemed to say, "You've already killed people, so what's a little more?"

But Jiang Cheng didn't say it outright. Instead, she said, "Everything happening now falls under the principle of emergency necessity."

Apartment residents in this young-people's complex tended to be young and, on the whole, well educated.

Someone like Song Jingshuo, or the former leader from Building 6 who had been locked in the meeting room and tried to lead a charge out—these were clearly people with good education and sharp minds.

When Jiang Cheng mentioned "the principle of emergency necessity," the building leaders all accepted the idea and nodded in agreement.

But not everyone was highly educated. Unfortunately, Li Jiangbing happened to be the one dragging down the average educational level of the neighborhood.

He had no idea what "the principle of emergency necessity" meant. He scratched his head in frustration and finally couldn't hold back, blurting out, "What are you talking about?"

Jiang Cheng turned to see him and raised an eyebrow. "Perfect timing. I have something to say to everyone. Jiangbing, help me shout a few lines and get everyone's attention."

Oh, she orders him around like it's second nature.

Li Jiangbing felt oddly reassured, cheerfully agreeing: "Alright."

The large crowd of residents in the central plaza was immersed in restless unease and an oppressive, unspoken gloom when suddenly a booming voice like a copper gong roared out: "Over here—! Everyone come over—! There's something important to announce—!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw the building leaders gathered under the vine-covered pergola beside the central plaza.

The girl from Building 2, Jiang Cheng, stood on a bench in the pavilion, tall and poised, sweeping her gaze over the crowd.

"I'm Jiang Cheng from Building 2, the main contact person for our community's interim owners' committee," she said.

She deliberately avoided a title like "leader" that might invite challenges, choosing instead to call herself the "contact person." Song Jingshuo and Li Jiangbing both glanced at her.

"...There's a lot to do," Jiang Cheng said from her elevated spot. "Sealing the various entrances to the complex, dealing with the corpses in the buildings, sweeping each floor door to door to root out any mutated that slipped through—these are all urgent."

"But there's one thing that's the most urgent of all, and it must be done right now."

"Our community needs to organize itself immediately and use this afternoon to go to the Duoduo Supermarket and stock up on emergency supplies!"

"Rice, flour, oil, salt, sugar! Toilet paper! These essential things!"

"Only this afternoon—it absolutely has to be this afternoon!"

Sure enough, voices of doubt rose from the crowd: "Why?"

Jiang Cheng's gaze landed on them. "Because this is our community's greatest advantage."

"Our community," she raised her hand and began counting off on her fingers one by one for everyone, "is young, well-educated, quick to rally, strong in action, and can use the internet to communicate information. Also, most of us live alone, so we have room for individual isolation, which means the rate of secondary infection from attacks by the mutated is extremely low!"

"Think about those communities where three generations live under one roof, with five or six people in a single household. There's no way they could clear out their mutated and create a safe environment the way our community did in one morning."

"I estimate that most communities won't be able to do it until tonight at the earliest."

"That means this afternoon, a lot of people simply can't leave their own neighborhoods. This afternoon is time that our community's residents earned by using our own strengths."

"By tomorrow, when large numbers of people start coming out to stock up, our advantage will be gone."

"So it has to be today—this very afternoon—that we, the residents of this young-people's apartment complex, organize ourselves and go out to buy supplies!"