Chapter 164

That evening, after the team returned with the survivors they had rescued, they held a work meeting at the clubhouse after dinner.

While the others were speaking, Jiang Cheng noticed that Song Jingshuo kept reaching for his left wrist with his right hand. He was wearing something there.

He used to wear his name-brand watch on that wrist. Now, what he wore looked like a wooden bracelet.

Jiang Cheng narrowed her eyes and studied it more closely. It wasn’t wood. It was vine.

Several slender vines were twined together in a circle, resembling a bracelet. There was even a tiny green leaf attached.

The leaf was so small that she wouldn’t have noticed it without looking carefully. She only spotted it when Song Jingshuo unscrewed his water bottle and secretly poured some water over his wrist.

So it was alive.

Jiang Cheng knew it definitely wasn’t a “bracelet.”

The opening was too small, hugging his skin almost completely. It couldn’t have been “put on.”

...It must have grown directly onto him.

Song Jingshuo wore a watch because it was a symbol of a successful man. But he wasn’t the kind of man who wore jewelry.

What sort of thing, and for what reason, would someone need to keep wearing on his wrist?

Jiang Cheng narrowed her eyes.

She knew Song Jingshuo too well. He would never do anything unnecessary or useless.

When she looked up, her eyes met Song Jingshuo’s.

Clearly, Song Jingshuo had noticed her scrutiny. He raised his left hand to his chest, rotated his wrist, and crooked the corner of his mouth at her.

Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow.

Song Jingshuo immediately knew that she had guessed most of the truth.

Splitting the team into separate units and having them operate independently had greatly improved efficiency. After two days, the various unit leaders and their members—especially the newly recruited ones—had mostly worked out their differences and settled into a rhythm.

Jiang Cheng decided, “Tomorrow, I’ll lead a team to clear out Renxin Hospital.”

She had been considering the matter of Renxin Hospital for several days.

Now that their population was growing, Zhang Lesi no longer went out with the team. Instead, she stayed at home and “saw patients.”

Her diagnostic ability had made her a “miracle doctor,” but her healing ability could only treat external injuries. It was useless against illnesses.

Fortunately, the people who had been found to be sick over the past few days only needed to take medicine.

But sooner or later—that much was certain—among so many residents, there would be people who needed surgery. They would need anesthesia, medical instruments, a sterile environment, and so on.

They had to prepare in advance. They couldn’t wait until the need arose before taking action. By then, it would be too late.

The next day’s assignments had all been distributed. The meeting was adjourned.

Jiang Cheng and Song Jingshuo left separately. Neither asked about the vine ring on the other’s wrist, and neither brought it up.

Instead, Li Jiangbing caught up with Song Jingshuo and threw an arm around his neck. “What was all that meaningful eye contact between you and Jiang Cheng just now?”

There was no way they could leave him out of anything.

Song Jingshuo pried his thick arm away. “Come on. I’ll show you something.”

The two of them found a secluded corner of the neighborhood, and Song Jingshuo showed it to him.

Li Jiangbing’s mouth hung open for a long while before he finally closed it, utterly speechless. “Even you too... Jiang Cheng has Mo Li too... Why am I the only one...”

Heaven was so unfair. Of all people, he should have become the main combat force. How had he ended up with a water-based ability?

He asked Song Jingshuo, “So, are you going to join the team?”

“No.” Song Jingshuo hadn’t even considered it.

The days when they needed to rely on combat strength to establish authority within the group during the first disaster had long since passed.

Their organizational structure was already in place.

The team had more than enough members, and they were recruiting more every day. New refugees were admitted daily. They were given one day to adjust, and on the third day, they had to come out and work. They didn’t lack one more fighter.

Everyone only needed to find their own place.

Song Jingshuo was now widely recognized as the second-in-command of the temporary government in the Development Zone, as well as the person in charge of all resource management.

Everyone knew that his superpower had no offensive capability, yet no one failed to follow his arrangements and instructions—not even those powerful ability users.

All of this had come about under Jiang Cheng’s leadership and through everyone’s joint efforts: they had established a miniature society governed by order.

When order existed, there was no need to suppress others through force.

Of course, that order had nearly been destroyed by Cao Jiacai. At the time, everyone’s abilities were still undeveloped and had not reached their current level. Cao Jiacai’s combat strength had been on an entirely different tier.

But Jiang Cheng held the greatest trump card, the most terrifying killing move.

If Cao Jiacai hadn’t stepped forward, Jiang Cheng might never have released Mo Li. Or perhaps Jiang Cheng had been waiting all along for Cao Jiacai to make his move, giving her an excuse to bring Mo Li into the open.

In any case, if they insisted on discussing combat strength, Mo Li was more than merely in a class of its own. Mo Li existed on an entirely different level—and was absolutely loyal to Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng possessed the greatest force. She had no desire to become queen or ruler.

What Jiang Cheng wanted was order.

That was everyone’s good fortune.

On the morning of September 8, Jiang Cheng led her people in seizing and clearing Renxin Hospital.

A group from Changxing District contacted Jiang Cheng.

“We’ve established the Changxing District temporary government.”

Once again, this confirmed that the government had been deliberately wiped out.

Jiang Cheng had been certain of it for some time.

If there were still anyone left in the government, there was no way there wouldn’t have been even a single announcement by now.

If there were still anyone left in the government, they should have mobilized the military. No matter how many soldiers were still alive, they would have been stronger than ordinary civilians.

Li Feng’s phone could no longer be reached.

Jiang Cheng guessed that he was dead.

Even if he was still alive, it would be very difficult to contact him.

The Eastern Military District was not in S City. In fact, it was closer to N City and J City than to S City, not to mention the various counties and towns scattered between them.

It was only because S City was so important that, the last time around, they had abandoned the surrounding cities, sacrificed the smaller counties and villages, and diverted their main manpower and supplies to S City first.

Jiang Cheng would not spend even a second dwelling on missing Li Feng. In truth, she did not miss him.

He was merely a partner she had worked with briefly.

Every single one of her companions in the Youth Apartments was closer to her and more important than he was.

That afternoon, Jiang Cheng met with the people from Changxing District at the television station. They broadcast a live announcement declaring the establishment of the Changxing District temporary government and updated the subtitle message that had been playing on a loop.

Thinking of broadcasting all the rescue messages on television on September 6 had truly been an inspired strategy.

Just yesterday alone, they had received countless text messages saying things like, “We’ve rescued the people trapped in such-and-such building.”

One after another.

Yang Xinyan entered the new information into the system while crying.

When asked why she was crying, she said she didn’t know either.

The updated information meant that those capable of rescuing people would not waste time rushing to places that had already been cleared.

Yue Chao and several other television station employees had also created an electronic map. They marked the safe zones in Shilong District, Changxing District, and the Technology New District in green.

Compared with the Technology New District, the strongholds in Shilong District and Changxing District looked like tiny green beans.

The entire residential area of the Technology New District was a green safe zone.

They also consolidated messages from the text alerts, such as, “We’ve cleared out such-and-such building. There are no more zombies,” and, “We’re using such-and-such shopping mall as our base. Any survivors nearby can come here for shelter.”

The messages were broadcast as subtitles while the locations were marked on the map.

Green dots, scattered here and there.

Like sparks from a prairie fire.

The half-grown boy scouts from No. 14 Middle School became anxious when they saw the new broadcast.

Because when they went out to rescue others that morning, they ran into another group that had come to help as well. Both sides were there to rescue the same people.

Although the two groups cooperated happily and bravely, there was still one problem...

“If we don’t establish the Guangxiu District government soon, someone else will beat us to it!”

“That’s right! We have more people. Those others only had a few dozen today. Since we have more people, we should be the ones to form the government!”

The students were frantic with worry, afraid that someone else would establish the district government before them.

Their minds were filled with just one thought: “We have to be the government!”

They put their heads together and studied how they could establish a government.

First, they had to confirm that everyone in the district government was really dead. After that, the people could establish a new government on their own.

“Where exactly is the Guangxiu District government?”

“I know! On Huairou Road!”

“And where’s Huairou Road?”

Even middle school students born and raised in the city did not really know the different districts all that well.

Many of them were only familiar with the route from home to school, along with the commercial areas they occasionally visited with their classmates.

Once they left their own neighborhoods, they were completely lost in the vast city.

Fortunately, they had a map.

After confirming the location, they had to deal with the problem of transportation.

“How are we going to get there?”

To wipe out the zombies inside a district government building, they would have to send out a large force. They couldn’t possibly walk there.

It was a little far.

“Teacher Zhang, you can drive, right?”

Everyone hoped that Teacher Zhang would go out onto the streets, find a public bus, and bring it back for them to use as transportation.

Look at the people in the Technology New District. Their incredibly cool “Blade Vehicle” was a public bus too. You could even see the route number on it: Route 535.

But Teacher Zhang firmly refused.

“No.”

“You’re all still minors. We’ve already discussed this. We’re going to stay here and focus on ensuring your safety and taking care of your daily needs.”

“Establishing a government isn’t something children should be worrying about. Stop daydreaming and let the adults handle it. In a district as large as Guangxiu, there are bound to be capable people who will step forward.”

But we are the capable people! Why couldn’t the teacher understand that?

The “we” Teacher Zhang referred to included not only the teachers, but also several parents.

In other words, the adults had discussed it among themselves and completely rejected the students’ idea.

The middle schoolers were terribly discouraged.

It felt like getting an excellent score of ninety-eight out of a hundred, proudly showing it to your parents, only to be scolded for losing two points and told to reflect on your mistakes.

As the “adults” of No. 14 Middle School, the teachers and parents were now so busy looking after the refugees they had rescued that they barely had time to breathe.

They thought that their firm rejection had put an end to the matter.

But they had forgotten that children of this age were at their most rebellious.

That night, the cafeteria was still lit.

Teacher Zhang went over to take a look and found many students kneading dough.

During this period, everyone had to take turns helping out in the cafeteria. Many of the students had learned to cook, and they had even learned how to steam mantou.

“What are you doing?” the teacher asked.

One quick-witted, silver-tongued student immediately replied, “There are too many refugees. We’re making some mantou for them.”

“Oh.” Teacher Zhang was a little touched.

Their idea was wildly impractical, but they really were good kids.

The teacher reminded them, “Don’t stay up too late. Go to bed early.”

The students agreed.

But Teacher Zhang had forgotten that when children this age set their minds on doing something, there was no stopping them.

The next morning, the teachers and parents woke to discover that the school was strangely quiet.

Only the cafeteria staff were in the dining hall. Confused, they said, “Are they all still asleep? Why hasn’t anyone come for breakfast?”

Teacher Zhang realized something was wrong and ran to the classrooms where the students slept.

They were empty.

A parent came running over. “I checked. A huge number of bicycles are missing from the bike shed! Those little rascals!”

Some of those little rascals were their own children too. Their wings had grown strong enough to fly.

The autumn morning wind was already a little chilly.

The road was filled with sneezes, but there was even more laughter.

And the crisp ringing of bicycle bells.

No cars? Then they would use bicycles.

They built metal cages, each one enclosing seven or eight bicycles, all linked together.

Students who couldn’t ride sat on the connecting bars between several of the bicycles.

The outside of the metal cages was modeled after the “Blade Vehicle,” covered with blades arranged all around them like skirts.

But bicycles weren’t fast enough to produce the Blade Vehicle’s effect of instantly slicing off a zombie’s head.

That didn’t stump the children.

Their young minds quickly came up with a solution: they could adjust the blades and make the blades shoot out on their own to kill the zombies.

The people in the Technology New District had evolved from “Blade Cars” to “Blade Vehicles.”

The students couldn’t successfully imitate the “Blade Vehicle,” so they explored on their own and came up with a “Blade Car.”

They cut down zombies all along the way.

As luck would have it, Guangxiu District was in the north, making it the closest of the city’s eight districts to the Technology New District, which lay on the outskirts.

That meant every time the Technology New District’s convoy entered the city, it had to pass through Guangxiu District.

Over the past two days, the convoy had repeatedly expanded, adding more vehicles. Each unit took a different route.

They entered the city in the morning and left in the evening. With every trip in and out, they slaughtered large numbers of wandering zombies on the streets.

The students saw countless headless zombies and severed heads rolling everywhere.

“Ugh, it stinks!”

“So gross!”

It might have smelled awful, but the breeze brushing against their faces as the teenagers raced toward their goals and ideals was cool and gentle beyond words.

A journey taken in youth was better than any luxury or budget trip.

When young people wanted to do something, they simply went out and did it.

Wait until they grew up, and it would be too late!