Chapter 157

But Jiang Cheng’s choice surprised Song Jingshuo.

In the most recent batch of messages from Guangxiu District, Jiang Cheng chose a group that had relatively more people but fewer superpowered individuals—and was on the verge of collapse.

Song Jingshuo raised his eyes.

This wasn’t like him.

His way of thinking was very close to Jiang Cheng’s, so this choice didn’t seem like something she would make, either.

There were plenty of groups that had already stated they controlled an entire building, or at least several floors, and had a certain number of superpowered individuals.

If he were choosing, he would prioritize those groups. Bringing them in would mean adding combat power and dependable allies.

Prioritizing the strong—that was his logic, and it should have been Jiang Cheng’s logic as well.

Why was Jiang Cheng doing the opposite?

He didn’t know that if she were considering only the matter of saving people, Jiang Cheng would indeed have made the same choice as him.

But Jiang Cheng couldn’t think only about saving people itself.

She had seriously reflected on the relationship between herself and this world.

And on the mysterious force manipulating and toying with everything from behind the scenes.

Jiang Cheng was keenly aware that she was, in fact, being manipulated and controlled.

This world was both her trial ground and her prison.

She was, in truth, a prisoner.

Whatever had happened between her and that faction before, it was obvious that she had lost.

That meant her previous methods and logic had been flawed.

She had to change.

At its core, Jiang Cheng’s logic was the same as Song Jingshuo’s—

Recruit the strong and eliminate the weak.

The two of them had originally been people who thought this way.

But if acting according to that logic had led to failure the last time, then Jiang Cheng had to take a different path this time.

Jiang Cheng wasn’t considering the act of “saving people” itself. She was playing a game against the force behind this entire catastrophe.

Everyone wore a different expression. Some were clearly thinking, “That’s wonderful,” and even looked moved.

Some had no opinion at all.

Others seemed to have different ideas, but lacked the drive or determination to insist on them.

Since they knew they weren’t capable of being the driver and had tossed all the difficult decisions to the driver, they might as well follow the driver’s lead.

Song Jingshuo didn’t voice any objections, either.

This wasn’t a life-or-death decision where one side had to win and the other had to lose. Perhaps it wouldn’t achieve the maximum benefit he wanted, but so what?

Look—quite a lot of people actually supported Jiang Cheng’s choice.

Many genuinely believed that the weak should be rescued first. The strong could hold out for a while longer, while the weak might die if they couldn’t hold on.

The logic behind this choice was essentially the same as the triage system used in hospital emergency rooms:

Save those who are closest to death first.

Once the decision was made, the team set out.

This time, they took not only four 535s, but also two buses from the television station.

Guangxiu District was the district closest to the Science and Technology New Area. No. 14 Middle School, where Little Huang attended school, was also located there.

The Blade vehicles cut through the zombies along the roadside as easily as knives through vegetables.

“Keep this up, and eventually the roads into and out of the city will be cleared completely.”

“Humans really do need to make effective use of tools.”

The first floor of the target building was occupied by a dental clinic. When the people outside came into view, the zombies inside began ramming themselves against the glass doors.

Gao Yuxuan started rolling his wrists and rotating his ankles.

The zombies smashed through the glass doors in a few blows and surged out in a swarm.

Gao Yuxuan spread both arms wide, looking like a perverted lecher trying to grope someone, while a crackling sheet of electricity spread from him.

The zombies immediately became sluggish.

Li Jiangbing led a group of people forward, taking down one head with each shovel strike.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Guo Jun looked like an old man taking a leisurely stroll.

“Come on, come on. Let’s get inside.”

In commercial skyscrapers twenty or thirty stories tall, it was impossible to lure all the zombies out at once. They could only enter and clear the building floor by floor.

According to the collected information, two floors in this building had sent out distress messages. The survivors had lived on snacks stockpiled in their offices—supplies their colleagues had developed the habit of storing after the initial outbreak—but those supplies were nearly exhausted.

The team cleared the building floor by floor, already familiar with the process. Little Huang and Mo Li showed no abnormalities, and there were no mutated zombies inside the building.

Not every company or floor had a television. Besides the two floors that had sent distress messages, they also found several survivors on other floors, all of them so starved that their cheeks had sunken in.

There were more than sixty survivors in total.

They all smelled awful, and every one of them looked listless.

Each person was given a piece of steamed potato. The potatoes were as large as basketballs and had been cut into neat, square chunks. A little salt was sprinkled over them.

They weren’t particularly tasty, but they were still better than having nothing to eat.

No one complained. They all wolfed the food down.

They couldn’t make a trip into the city just to deal with a single building.

After checking the distress-message records, they found two more buildings in the commercial district and went to clear those as well.

There were also survivors in nearby buildings who hadn’t seen the television but had spotted the team from their windows. They called out for help through the glass.

By the time they finished, they had rescued more than two hundred people from several buildings in the area.

Jiang Cheng also looted the convenience stores, restaurant kitchens, and upscale supermarkets in the commercial district. Food, drinks, ingredients, toilet paper, sanitary pads—she didn’t leave behind a single consumable. Wherever she passed, the shelves were emptied.

Everyone sincerely felt that Jiang Cheng’s spatial ability was incredibly useful.

If only everyone could have one.

There was also a shopping mall nearby.

The mall hadn’t been part of the original plan, but they went anyway because they wanted what was inside.

They found more than a dozen survivors scattered throughout the mall.

After all the zombies had been cleared out, everyone began taking things. Getting supplies from the mall had been the whole reason they came.

Jiang Cheng even told the more than two hundred survivors rescued from the office buildings, “Take whatever you need. Especially clothes. Everyone should take at least one autumn or winter coat. Ideally, take several.”

The mall had a very standard layout.

The basement level housed a supermarket and a food court. The first floor sold shoes, bags, skincare and cosmetics, watches, and jewelry. The second floor was devoted to fashionable women’s clothing. The third floor carried mature women’s clothing. The fourth floor sold underwear, athletic wear, men’s clothing, and outdoor gear. The fifth floor carried bedding, children’s clothing, and digital products.

Jiang Cheng went straight to the third floor.

There were many women from both the team and the group of survivors on that floor, all searching for clothes. At Jiang Cheng’s reminder, everyone consciously looked for winter cotton-padded coats and down jackets.

Jiang Cheng went directly into the storerooms of the various brands and collected entire bundles of winter coats into her space.

Then she went to the fourth floor and took winter clothes for men.

After that, she went to the fifth floor to collect bedding and children’s clothing.

She continued until her storage space was completely full. She compressed and packed everything as tightly as possible, but eventually there was no room left at all.

She called Li Jiangbing and had him bring people upstairs to carry away all the autumn and winter clothing, cotton-padded coats, and bedding they could collect.

They had brought six vehicles today, so there was enough room.

Everyone was working enthusiastically. Each person loved this feeling of taking whatever they wanted without paying. It gave them an inexplicably satisfying thrill.

Jiang Cheng leaned against the railing of the central atrium and looked down through the open space.

There were people on every floor, taking all kinds of things.

Many people on the first floor were changing their shoes. Fighting zombies had worn shoes out surprisingly quickly, and many people’s shoes were so dirty that they could no longer be washed clean. Some of the shoes people wore every day were also unsuitable for walking such long distances.

The vast majority of them changed into athletic shoes.

Some had taken bags, too. Double-strap backpacks and crossbody bags were the most popular choices, since they could carry a bit of food and water with them when they went out.

Clothes were what most people took. Thin ones, thick ones, underwear, outerwear—people took all kinds.

Those were the mainstream choices. There were non-mainstream ones, too.

Someone had gone to the laptop section on the fifth floor and taken a computer. When asked, his answer was that his own computer wasn’t good enough, so he had taken a better one home to play games.

Someone else had taken a digital camera along with an entire box of memory cards.

“I’ll carry it with me from now on and take more pictures. Maybe one day, my photos will end up in the history books.”

Li Jiangbing had changed into a new pair of outdoor shoes. Clomp, clomp, clomp—he came looking for Jiang Cheng. “Everything’s been loaded into the car. What are you looking at?”

Seeing Jiang Cheng staring intently downstairs, he leaned over the railing to look as well.

On the first floor, two people were rummaging through the display cases of a jewelry store, stuffing gold necklaces and bracelets into their pockets.

Li Jiangbing: “...”

“What a pair of idiots,” Li Jiangbing cursed. “Those two morons.”

Jiang Cheng curled her lips. “How interesting.”

The difference between people could really be that enormous.

Li Jiangbing cursed again. “Even with my limited education, I know that in the future, food and water will be the only things worth anything. Can a huge gold bracelet be exchanged for a steamed bun?”

The vehicles were packed to the brim on the way back.

By the time they returned to the Young Adults’ Apartments, it was already dark.

The cafeteria had prepared meals according to the number of people listed on the notice. This time, they no longer had to sit on the floor to eat. Long tables had been arranged in rows, each with chairs, so everyone had a seat.

Mr. Xu and Director Yu had already eaten with the residents of the complex, but neither of them had gone back. They had found a place to sit, chatting while observing the situation.

Director Yu sighed. “No one’s invited the two of us to move in.”

Mr. Xu comforted him. “Maybe the people in charge aren’t here. Let’s wait until they’re done with their business and see what happens.”

Director Yu knew that was only consolation. That handsome man surnamed Song was obviously in charge. Whenever the team went out, everyone in the complex followed his instructions and arrangements. Whenever anything happened, they all went to him.

Handsome Song certainly knew that two new superpowered people had arrived. That morning, he had been the one to say over the walkie-talkie, “I’ll send someone to meet them at the east gate.”

But Handsome Song hadn’t come over to invite them in with tearful pleas, urging them to move into the Young Adults’ Apartments and enjoy better treatment.

Not like Master Luo.

Master Luo had been taken away first thing that morning and moved directly to a new place.

The two men silently ate strawberries, neither willing to admit that their powers were simply too weak and that they weren’t worth recruiting.

In fact, the two of them had made a lot of progress after practicing all day. Mr. Xu in particular had started with a much better physique than Director Yu. His only disadvantage was that he had spent too little time practicing over the past few days.

Mr. Xu suddenly nudged Director Yu with his elbow. “That’s Jiang Cheng.”

Director Yu looked over. Yes, there was no mistake. They had both seen her on television before. The young girl talking to Handsome Song was definitely Jiang Cheng.

“The big guy next to her must be Li Jiangbing.”

“Those two should be Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan. They match the descriptions.”

“And the two talking to them—are they Shield and Doctor? I can’t tell which is which.”

“It’s easy. Shield is on the left, and Doctor is on the right.”

“...How can you tell?”

“Wasn’t Doctor supposed to be someone you didn’t want to mess with? Look at the girl on the right—she’s punched that young man twice in the three sentences she’s said. All right, the one getting beaten has to be Gao Yuxuan. That makes the calmer one Zhao Yi. Now we can tell the two of them apart as well.”