Chapter 160

Director Yu could only watch helplessly as his boss was carried away by the others.

Some young men came over to greet him. They were the lightning-element guys he had met yesterday. Nervously, he asked, “D-Do I have to go with the team too?”

Some of the young men said, “You’d better sit this one out. Get some more practice first.”

Others said, “Why not send him straight into battle? A little stimulation might help him break through.”

But in the end, they still didn’t let Director Yu go. His superpower was rather weak, and he was a little overweight too. They were worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up.

Most of the survivors had been trapped in high-rises in the city. Taking the elevators was unsafe, so they had to climb the stairs floor by floor.

Just climbing the stairs would be a struggle for Director Yu.

One of the young men warned him, “When we’re gone, you have to run on your own. You absolutely have to run.”

His stamina and lung capacity had to improve.

Everyone said, “Even if zombies are chasing you, you’ll need to be able to run for your life.”

They were curious. “How did you survive last time?”

Director Yu chuckled. “I was on vacation.”

He had gone to a grassland ranch resort where there weren’t many people.

There had been only two or three zombies, and everyone had worked together to kill them. After learning that the entire country had fallen, the tourists had been too afraid to leave.

The resort had plenty of stored food, and most importantly, it had lots of sheep.

In the later stages, everyone ate mutton every day. It traumatized Director Yu so badly that even now, he barely touched lamb.

Mr. Xu was dragged by the metal-element users over to a young man named Cui Haiyang.

“This is the guy. He should be pretty good.”

Cui Haiyang’s eyes lit up. He immediately started manhandling Mr. Xu, squeezing his arm and patting his chest.

“Big bro, those are some nice muscles.”

With a grand wave of his hand, Cui Haiyang declared, “You’re on my team.”

And just like that, Mr. Xu had been assigned.

After breakfast, Mr. Xu collected his armor and crescent shovel, then listened as Cui Haiyang gave him a brief explanation of the job.

Metal-element users were unquestionably the most hardworking among all the superpowered people. They could both fight and work.

Their main task on the road was maintaining the sharpness of the vehicle’s “Blade,” keeping it in such good condition that any zombie foolish enough to ram into it would lose its head.

“We metal users do more work, so we earn more too,” Cui Haiyang explained. “Every day, on top of the team’s performance points, we also get a fixed amount of extra performance points. And if there’s any temporary overtime, we get overtime performance points as well.”

“...” Mr. Xu looked at him. “Why is there overtime?”

“Of course there is. Sometimes we suddenly need something, or a large group of people shows up and we have to rush out a large batch of armor.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I’m telling you, metal-element users are the most valuable of all. The gold standard. Work hard, Brother Xu.”

The teams really were treated well. Just before they boarded the vehicle, the driver handed each person two chocolate bars.

They were meant to replenish their energy during battle.

Mr. Xu tucked his into his pocket.

As a newcomer, Mr. Xu still wasn’t used to fighting with his superpower.

“It’s fine,” Cui Haiyang said. “With muscles like yours, you don’t even need a superpower.”

Mr. Xu reached over and tugged on the chains wrapped around Cui Haiyang. “What’s with this outfit?”

The young man’s armor was wrapped in coils of what looked like chains, giving him a punkish, post-apocalyptic-movie vibe.

Cui Haiyang grinned. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

When they reached their destination and entered the building, Mr. Xu tightened his grip on the crescent shovel.

He might have been getting on in years, but he had spent many years lifting weights and working out. He didn’t want the younger guys to look down on him.

At the same time, he was afraid of losing his life and wanted to hide in the back and slack off.

He was torn.

Inside the corridors, the doors to some offices stood open. The zombies heard the noise and came rushing over.

Mr. Xu began to tense up.

Cui Haiyang walked at the front. He slapped a hand against his body, then flicked two fingers forward.

Several chains shot into the air like snakes.

They wrapped around a zombie’s neck and began spinning at high speed. The zombie’s head dropped cleanly to the floor.

The headless zombie collapsed.

Those weren’t chains.

They were chainsaws. Actual saws!

Mr. Xu’s mouth fell open and refused to close. So this was another way to use a superpower?

What the—?

His plan to slack off and avoid danger vanished completely.

His blood began to race.

What had he built all these muscles for? This was exactly the kind of situation they were meant for!

Mr. Xu charged at the zombies with his crescent shovel, shouting. Before he even reached them, the shovel automatically extended and thrust forward.

A head rolled to the floor.

What a rush!

People like Cui Haiyang, who had relatively powerful abilities, had already begun leading teams on their own.

Cui Haiyang led one team, Guo Jun led another, Aunt Pan led one, Gao Yuxuan led one, Su Yu led one, and Wu Jiancheng led one.

By now, everyone had tacitly accepted that, at least within the teams, superpowered people were expected to take the lead. Ordinary people had to take a subordinate position.

Li Jiangbing was also superpowered, but his ability couldn’t be used in combat, so he didn’t lead a team by himself. He stayed with Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng’s ability wasn’t combat-oriented either, but she had Mo Li.

Mo Li’s combat power was so overwhelming that none of the other superpowered people dared claim they could stand against him.

After all, Director Guo had died in Mo Li’s jaws.

Today, Jiang Cheng also kept Zhou Wang and Little Huang at her side instead of letting them form their own teams. The destination assigned to her team was known to contain a mutant zombie.

The emergency message read: “It looks like a spider. It can climb walls and walk across ceilings. It’s incredibly fast!”

Little Huang sensed it as soon as they entered the building.

“It’s a little dangerous.”

But the danger was nowhere near that of Director Guo.

Whether that meant they were incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky was hard to say. They had encountered Director Guo on their very first day of battle, which had raised everyone’s expectations—and their danger threshold—far too high.

Even Brother Dong had come along today.

The emergency message had mentioned something being “fast,” so Jiang Cheng had Zhou Wang drag Brother Dong over as well.

Brother Dong had rested for two days and felt that some of his energy had returned.

As long as a person lived among other people, they could absorb at least a little of the vitality around them.

The two wind-element users quickly located the “spider zombie” described in the message.

It really did look like a spider. It had eight legs—

No, six legs and two arms.

Those six legs were actual human legs. Two of them still had trouser legs attached. Although the fabric had rotted away from the body, it was clear that they belonged to the zombie itself.

The other four legs were completely bare, and two of them appeared to be women’s legs.

When the zombie crawled along the floor, its belly faced downward and its back faced up.

Its two arms were at the front, while the six legs behind it all bent downward. It truly looked like a spider. The person who sent the message hadn’t exaggerated.

It couldn’t spin webs, since it wasn’t a real spider. But it could climb walls, and when it crawled upside down across the ceiling, it moved so quickly it looked like a fading shadow, effortlessly defying gravity.

Watching the zombie skitter across the ceiling, Li Jiangbing grew frantic. He kept urging Mo Li, “Sweetie, get in there! Come on, get in there!”

Mo Li only glanced at it.

“Meow~”

Jiang Cheng fell silent.

Li Jiangbing asked, “What did he say?”

Jiang Cheng replied, “He said, ‘There’s no need for me to go.’”

Li Jiangbing: “...”

Was Mo Li actually looking down on the zombie for being too weak?

As it turned out, Mo Li really wasn’t needed. The spider zombie was fast, but Zhou Wang and Brother Dong were fast too.

The two of them chased after it like the wind, hacking off its legs one by one. The spider zombie grew slower and slower, until finally they cut off its head as well.

It was completely dead.

Everyone gathered around the monster, sighing. “How can a person become something like this?”

Jiang Cheng also stared at the hideously deformed zombie.

If “God” was testing her, then did “God” also turn humans into monsters?

“God” wasn’t even satisfied with ordinary zombies anymore, but had begun creating creatures like this for the sake of sheer novelty.

During the lunch break, Jiang Cheng took out her phone, which was still on silent, and noticed a missed call from the property management office. It was probably Yang Xinyan.

Jiang Cheng called back. “...Is that so? That’s great. All right, give me their number and I’ll call them.”

After hanging up, Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow. “Apart from us, someone else has established a provisional government.”

Everyone was astonished.

The call went through immediately.

“Hello?”

Jiang Cheng said, “Hello, I’m Jiang Cheng from the Science and Technology New District.”

The other party sounded delighted. “Hello, Jiang Cheng. We’ve finally managed to get in touch with you.”

Jiang Cheng said, “Could you tell me about your situation?”

The other person composed himself before saying, “We’re in Shilong District. We’ve confirmed that there are no survivors at the Shilong District Government Office. We’ve established the Shilong District Provisional Government. We hope to receive your advice and assistance on what to do next.”

Jiang Cheng carefully asked about their circumstances.

More than a hundred people had gathered there, half of them coworkers from the same state-owned enterprise. The rest were people they had encountered and gathered along the way over the past few days.

They had originally taken control of an old residential compound and settled there. Then they saw Jiang Cheng’s televised broadcast. They no longer wanted to hide away and had decided to step forward as well.

Jiang Cheng and the others had already visited the municipal government office, and the government they had established was also a district-level government.

So today, the group went to the Shilong District Government Office, where they were currently located, and confirmed that there were no survivors. Following the example of the Science and Technology New District Provisional Government, they established the Shilong District Provisional Government on the spot.

Jiang Cheng asked, “Do you have a sustainable source of food?”

“Yes,” the other person replied. “We cleared out a supermarket and stocked up on quite a lot of food. We also have someone with a wood-based superpower. She’s already started growing vegetables.”

As long as they had someone with a wood-based ability who could provide a steady source of food, they had the foundation for development.

Everything else could be acquired gradually.

Jiang Cheng said, “How about we meet? At the television station?”

The other party sounded surprised.

Jiang Cheng continued, “First, it’ll be easier to discuss things in person. Second, we’ve received a huge number of distress calls. Today, we’ve expanded our team and divided it into seven groups to rescue survivors. But given the size of S City, we’re still far too stretched thin.”

“Now that you’re here, I hope you can take over the rescue operations in Shilong District. If that’s acceptable, let’s meet at the television station. If everything checks out, we can hold a live broadcast, announce your information, and officially hand over the affairs of Shilong District to you.”

“I also hope this will encourage more capable people to step forward.”

“With the government gone, we’ll establish one ourselves.”

The other person seemed to have caught fire as well. “All right, Jiang Cheng. See you at the television station!”