Chapter 151

After dinner, Mr. Xu and the others lined up with everyone else to collect towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and underwear.

The women were also given sanitary pads and bras.

Everything had been purchased in bulk through Pinduoduo by the people who had stayed behind, after they received calls from the front lines. They had driven forklifts out to collect the deliveries.

Mr. Xu had never worn this kind of supermarket underwear before, but at least he had something clean to change into. The pair he was wearing had been on him for seven days and had gotten shit on them.

Once they had collected their supplies, they were led out through the community’s east gate.

“Wait, weren’t we told there were plenty of vacant apartments?” they asked.

The people maintaining order at the scene were mostly elderly residents and children. The children looked like middle school students. One of them answered, “There are. Just follow us.”

They led the newcomers across the road outside the east gate and straight through the west gate of the community opposite.

“This is Jixiang Gardens. Everyone’s being housed here for now.”

“Aren’t we staying at Youth Apartments?” Mr. Xu asked. “We thought everyone was staying there.”

“I wish I could live at Youth Apartments too,” the child said.

Mr. Xu: “?”

He had no idea what was going on.

The children were students from the private boarding school they had rescued earlier.

By now, the students had figured out the situation. They understood that Youth Apartments was calling the shots in this area.

Among the middle school-aged residents who owned apartments in Jixiang Gardens, there were two people—a boy and a girl—who both had superpowers. They had also joined the team based at Youth Apartments. Everyone was envious of them.

In everyone’s eyes, Youth Apartments was a place to yearn for, somewhere they all wanted to join.

But apparently, they didn’t accept just anyone. Sure enough, this latest group of survivors was entirely taken in by Jixiang Gardens.

The plan was to fill Jixiang Gardens first, then move on to Yujing Xiang Gardens.

The locks on the doors of the vacant apartments had already been opened.

The elderly residents and middle school students assigned everyone their apartments. Generally, people were allocated by beds: however many people could sleep in an apartment was how many people were assigned to it.

Among the refugees from the television station were several couples. They were assigned master bedrooms with double beds, while single people were sent to spare bedrooms.

If they were unlucky, they might end up in a child’s room decorated in a princess or comic-book theme.

When it came to Mr. Xu’s group, they were asked what their relationship was. Once the elderly resident learned that they were familiar colleagues, he assigned Mr. Xu and the director to a master bedroom with a double bed.

The apartment was a fairly spacious four-bedroom unit. Apart from the study, all three bedrooms had double beds.

In the end, six people from the company were assigned to the apartment. The others were housed on the same floor, and the gardener was placed with them as well.

During the assignment process, one of the elderly residents kept a written register and asked, “Does anyone have superpowers?”

It turned out that there was one metal-type, one electric-type, and one wood-type ability user. The elderly man was delighted.

“The wood-type one has to start working tomorrow. Good heavens, that’s a lot of mouths to feed. Xiao Song, Old Lin, and Old Qian have been worked half to death, forcing all those potatoes to sprout for you.”

The gardener had no objections and nodded.

He had been a rural laborer who came to the city to find work. Luckily, instead of having to haul bricks on construction sites, he had found a position at this landscaping company thanks to his experience growing crops.

It was actually work he enjoyed.

In the past, when he moved from office building to office building for various jobs, all those men and women had treated him like he was invisible. Almost no one had ever greeted him or spoken to him.

Now, everything was different. In just these seven days, everyone had been fawning over him.

The gardener had already figured it out: these days, food and drink were the real hard currency.

Back at Youth Apartments, once all the refugees had been taken away and there were no outsiders left in the complex, the east gate was shut and locked. Jiang Cheng then took out the giant zombie.

The team members had all seen it with their own eyes, but although the people who had stayed behind had heard about it, seeing it in person still scared them half to death.

“Holy shit.”

Everyone gathered around the enormous creature, and a chorus of “Holy shit!” rose from the crowd.

Song Jingshuo sighed. “Is heaven trying to wipe out humanity?”

“Of course not,” Jiang Cheng said. “If it wanted humanity wiped out, it wouldn’t have given us superpowers.”

Song Jingshuo: “...Fair point.”

News of Shen Yuehong’s situation was passed along to the people who had stayed behind by the team members, causing another uproar.

Shen Yuehong had fans everywhere. She was warm and approachable, and men and women of every age liked her.

Several of the young women at Youth Apartments learned the whole story and angrily kicked Director Guo.

“That bastard! He’s not even human!”

“We’ll have to start rescuing people everywhere,” Song Jingshuo said.

“We have to,” Jiang Cheng replied.

Everyone had already reached a consensus on this at the previous meeting.

This was a human world. First and foremost, there had to be people for a society to exist. Only with enough people could a complete society be rebuilt.

The moment everyone agreed to establish a government, they also accepted the responsibility that came with it.

Song Jingshuo folded his arms and watched everyone’s commotion.

“I’m honestly surprised you’re this kind of person.”

He meant it.

Selfless and devoted to the greater good.

Song Jingshuo had never imagined that Jiang Cheng would go this far. He had never expected her to be this sort of person.

“What’s wrong with your brain?” Jiang Cheng asked.

Song Jingshuo: “...”

He turned to look at her.

Jiang Cheng rolled her eyes. “I already became friends with you.”

Don’t you know what kind of person you are?

Song Jingshuo: “...”

For once, he had no way to argue.

The two of them had been the first to realize that they were kindred spirits.

They had quickly set aside their rivalry and formed a powerful alliance. Smart people like them knew that one plus one was greater than two.

Li Jiangbing possessed a keen understanding of how to survive in society. He knew that life would be easier if he followed smart people.

As it happened, Jiang Cheng was a woman who wanted to hold the authority among a large group of men, and she needed someone to back her with force.

And so, one plus one plus one was born.

At the beginning, the Iron Triangle had come together purely because of mutual benefit.

Only after facing zombies again and again did they gradually come to understand one another, develop trust, and ultimately become true friends who would risk their lives for each other.

But they also had to remember what kind of people they truly were.

Jiang Cheng’s eyes were deep and dark.

Song Jingshuo was silent for a moment.

“Then you...”

“Those in a position must attend to the duties of that position,” Jiang Cheng said frankly. “I simply want this position.”

It was a reason Song Jingshuo could completely understand and accept.

Even if the position offered no material benefits, the sense of control it provided was itself an accomplishment in life.

Song Jingshuo had once been that kind of person too. But perhaps because he now had Jiang Cheng, he no longer had any desire to seek power.

In fact, he was entirely satisfied with the current situation.

As it was confirmed that no one had survived in the government, he increasingly understood that this time there would be no government support like before, with endless supplies being transported in from elsewhere.

Now, they couldn’t even reach the various government departments outside S City. No one answered the phones.

This time, they were clearly in it for the long haul.

He hadn’t become a farmer. He had gained control over everyone’s food supply.

Aunt Pan had been right.

Once all the unnecessary splendor and excess of society had been stripped away, the most important people were the ones who made things and the ones who grew things.

Even the superpowers humanity had been granted seemed to possess an underlying logic.

“What are your thoughts on supplying food in the future?” Jiang Cheng asked.

“Potatoes,” Song Jingshuo replied.

“We’re refugees now. We can’t still be dreaming about delicacies, can we?”

“Potatoes are the greatest blessing in times of famine.”

“There’s one more thing,” Song Jingshuo said quietly. “In a couple of days, I’ll have the strawberry fields plowed under under the pretext of planting some other crop.”

“Fruit will be rationed from now on.”

“As a luxury item and a reward.”

“We’ll adjust it depending on the situation. Vegetables might be rationed too.”

Jiang Cheng glanced at him, the corners of her lips curling upward as she held out her fist.

Song Jingshuo lightly bumped his fist against hers.

The best teammates were those who didn’t need to say much. A hint was all it took.

More likely, they simply happened to give voice to thoughts the other had already considered.

“I discussed this with Zhou Wang all the way here today,” Jiang Cheng said. “Let’s give these people a day off for now, so they can adjust.”

“After that, we’ll need to change things. Communal meals definitely won’t work.”

“Right.” Song Jingshuo nodded. “History has already proven that.”

A society could not be flat.

People could be equal in terms of rights, but they could never receive exactly the same treatment.

That was because the contributions each person made were destined to be different.

Those who were capable could do more, but doing more had to mean receiving more.

A stable society necessarily needed clearly differentiated levels and a structured hierarchy.

Jiang Cheng said, “We have to guarantee better treatment for our own people.”

“No problem,” Song Jingshuo replied.

The residents of the Youth Apartments had already settled into a working system during the first disaster.

This time, four hundred people had left their posts without hesitation and defied their superiors to return to the Youth Apartments simply because of a single mass message from Jiang Cheng—and survived as a result.

How could that not count as a selection process?

Those who had not trusted Jiang Cheng enough, or who had been too weak and hesitant to act, had been filtered out.

The four hundred residents who had returned were incomparable to the others in terms of organization, discipline, trust in Jiang Cheng, and willingness to obey her.

It was no longer just a triangle of power.

There were Cui Haiyang, Su Yu, Wu Jiancheng, Zhang Lesi, Zhao Yi, Gao Yuxuan, and Aunt Pan.

As well as outside support from Guo Jun, Zhou Wang, and Little Huang.

Together, they had formed a solid structure, with everyone finding their own place within it.

The four hundred people from the Youth Apartments were both their foundation and their core.

Beneath them, priority could be given to the original residents of Jixiang Jiayuan. There weren’t many of them, and most were elderly. Besides, they had a certain sentimental bond with the place.

The superpowered individuals and able-bodied laborers among the refugees would have to earn better treatment or status through their own efforts.

Those who had nothing would not starve. They would have potatoes to eat, and they would not be bitten to death by zombies, because they were protected by the collective.

Under the circumstances, simply being alive was already something to be grateful for.

After the day ended, Jiang Cheng returned to her apartment, took a shower, and changed into comfortable clothes.

She switched on the floor lamp beside the recliner and picked up the top book from the stack on the floor, continuing to read from the place marked by a folded page.

Mo Li leaped onto her lap, then squeezed through the gap beneath the book and settled against her chest.

The longer small animals were raised, the more attached they became to the people who cared for them, much like children.

Jiang Cheng gently scratched the cat’s head with her fingertips. Mo Li began to purr contentedly.

Jiang Cheng stroked the cat and read her book.

She had not told Song Jingshuo everything she was thinking.

Why, exactly, did she want to claim that position?

Jiang Cheng suspected that the zombie virus had most likely followed her into this world.

She had been sent here to undergo a trial.

The first time, she had not even left the Technology New District.

The second time, the government—which had played a major role in the first disaster—had been specifically wiped out.

So what, exactly, would count as victory this time?

It absolutely could not mean merely scraping by alone, or with a small group of people.

Absolutely not.

Jiang Cheng did not believe that the organization that had sent her into this world could have such a narrow vision.

She needed to broaden her horizons and think on a grander scale.

The government was gone. Then she would take its place, shoulder that responsibility, and become the person others followed.

Everything was for the sake of victory.