Chapter 166

Those pairs of eyes had not lost their brightness in the face of disappointment.

Although they still lacked the ability to shoulder the responsibilities of government, they were still wonderful, weren’t they, adults?

They were truly a pleasure to watch.

Jiang Cheng couldn’t help smiling.

Technology New District, Youth Apartments.

Someone called out to everyone, “Jiang Cheng is livestreaming!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and hurried to the common room to watch.

“Which district has established a government this time?”

Every day brought something new to get excited about.

“Sounds like Guangxiu District. I heard Xinyan mention it at lunch.”

“Guangxiu District is close by. It can link up with Technology New District.”

Everyone watched the livestream expectantly, but what aired was not what they had imagined.

【First, a safe base.】

【Second, a wood-type superhuman who can continuously supply food.】

【These are the two most basic and essential conditions for establishing a government.】

【After that, a set of principles must be established as soon as possible. Systems for managing supplies and distributing compensation for jobs must be clearly defined.】

【Without these things, it will be difficult for a base to expand. As the population continues to grow, all kinds of disorder will appear.】

【Later, the rules and regulations of Technology New District, along with the detailed provisions, will be shared with every district for reference.】

【More than forty groups of survivors were rescued yesterday. The information will be updated later.】

“Huh? Why are there suddenly so many requirements? What happened to the new government in Guangxiu District? I wanted to see what the people there looked like.”

Everyone began buzzing with discussion.

Song Jingshuo guessed, “They must have run into people who didn’t meet the requirements. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have suddenly brought all this up.”

At first, there hadn’t been any requirements at all. If you were capable, you could simply step up and do it.

【In addition, it has been confirmed today that no survivors remain in the Guangxiu District Government. Guangxiu District has yet to establish a new government institution.】

【However—】

Ah, here came the turning point.

Everyone perked up their ears.

【The senior division of S City No. 14 High School, located on Firearms Camp Road in Guangxiu District, has been jointly established as a safe zone by more than three hundred surviving students, teachers, and parents.】

【The students have successfully rescued more than one hundred survivors. This morning, they eliminated all the zombies inside the Guangxiu District Government Building.】

【At present, the school can provide classrooms and bedding for communal living. Its food reserves are still sufficient.】

【Going forward, it will also receive material support from the temporary government of Technology New District.】

【Survivors who are homeless may go there for shelter.】

【Survivors who have not yet escaped danger may also seek help from the students of No. 14 High School.】

【The following are the contact numbers for the students of No. 14 High School...】

A huge group of students appeared on camera.

Every one of them wore gleaming silver armor and a neatly pressed school uniform. Each held a crescent-shaped shovel and stood with their chests thrust out, struggling to maintain a stern expression.

Song Jingshuo: “...”

Everyone: “...”

All right. Now they understood everything.

The television station had sixteen shuttle buses in total. At the beginning, Jiang Cheng and the others had driven away six. Later, Changxing District and Shilong District took another five between them, leaving five behind.

The metal-type superhumans had removed all the seats, leaving only the bus compartments.

There were simply too many children from No. 14 High School. They couldn’t all fit if they had to sit in the seats.

The lower sections of these buses could be opened, revealing large luggage compartments.

The “cages” were all collected and stored away. The bicycles that had been linked together were separated as well and stuffed into the luggage compartments. They crammed in as many as they could.

The adults had originally suggested simply leaving the bicycles behind, but the children couldn’t bear to part with them.

Many of them were riding their own bicycles, beloved possessions they were unwilling to abandon.

Besides, the bicycles were a means of transportation. They might need them again in the future.

The adults did their best to accommodate them. Once the storage space was full, Jiang Cheng put the rest away herself.

“Let’s go.”

They drove several buses and took the children back to No. 14 High School in Guangxiu District. It was on the way back to Technology New District, too.

The teachers and parents had already seen their children on television. Their anxious hearts finally relaxed, leaving them both furious and proud.

They had never expected that the “Jiang Cheng” from the television would personally bring the children back.

Several teachers and parents came to shake Jiang Cheng’s hand.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. We’ve caused you a lot of trouble!”

Jiang Cheng briefly explained to the adults the agreement she had reached with the children.

“Technology New District will continue to support your supply of materials and treat this place as a safe base.”

Although the children had failed to establish a government, the adults were still overwhelmed with emotion at the remarkable achievements they had managed to accomplish.

Jiang Cheng inspected the food stores in the cafeteria.

The grain reserves were indeed still abundant and seemed capable of lasting quite a while.

But Jiang Cheng noticed that the refugees being sheltered there were freely coming and going in the cafeteria. One person lifted the lid of a large steamer and took two steamed buns.

No one said anything. Only the cafeteria auntie looked displeased when the person left the lid crooked, muttering as she walked over to set it straight again.

Jiang Cheng said nothing either.

Some lessons couldn’t be taught. People had to put them into practice themselves and learn by running into the wall.

Still, she called the four students in charge aside and spoke with them privately for a while. Only then did she wave goodbye to everyone, get into the vehicle, and leave.

The people in charge were two boys and two girls.

These boys and girls were at precisely the age when the sexes divided into opposing camps and competed with one another over everything. Everyone insisted that the genders had to be equal, so they had elected two boys and two girls—four students in total—as the main people responsible for the student body.

All four were superhumans to begin with, and powerful ones at that.

They were also class officers or members of the student council and had some experience with management. As a result, people were relatively willing to follow them.

After the adults from Technology New District had left, the students’ excitement still hadn’t settled down. They surrounded their own teachers and parents, chattering away.

“Teachers, do you know what Auntie Jiang’s superpower is?”

“It’s ‘spatial storage’!”

“It’s the kind of concept you only see in science-fiction novels!”

“And it isn’t ordinary spatial storage. She has her own personal space that she carries with her and can put tons and tons of things inside.”

“She’s insanely awesome!”

“She was so cool! She put her hands behind her back and glanced over, and I immediately stood up straight.”

“Me too!”

Everyone was talking at once, their excitement running high.

At that moment, someone noticed that the four people in charge were unusually quiet, their expressions somewhat dazed.

“What’s wrong with you guys? What did Auntie Jiang say to you privately?”

One of them came back to himself. “Oh, nothing.”

“Yeah, she just told us to manage things properly and stuff.”

After brushing off the curious students, the four boys and girls glanced at one another without saying a word.

【If anyone commits an assault against a woman, don’t hesitate. Once the crime is confirmed, kill them.】

【If you truly can’t bring yourselves to kill someone, contact me directly. I’ll handle it.】

【There are still plenty of supplies, so there shouldn’t be any killings over the struggle for resources.】

【So the collapse of order will certainly begin with the violation of women.】

【In troubled times, harsh measures are necessary.】

【Maintaining order is difficult, but destroying it is easy.】

【Keep an eye on the younger girls, especially those in junior high. They’re too young and don’t understand anything. They think everyone is a good person.】

【You four are different. You’re seniors in high school, so you’re adults now, right?】

【From this moment on, learn to be adults.】

The four of them looked at one another, all feeling somewhat dazed.

How naïve. She actually thought she could run a government.

Only now did she understand that this was truly something only adults could do.

Being an adult sounded terrifying.

Tech New District.

Xiao Dan had finally recovered somewhat over the past couple of days.

Wu Yan and Tao Xiaoxiao had been a great help. They had borrowed a laptop from the Youth Apartments, and once they put everything into spreadsheets, it all became quantifiable and manageable.

Everything was clear and orderly at a glance.

When people were too busy and exhausted, they had no time to think about anything else. But now that Xiao Dan had caught her breath, she had started thinking again.

She waited for Auntie Xue and Auntie Qian to finish work.

Every day, Auntie Xue and Auntie Qian were assigned a certain amount of work to complete. Once they finished it, they could leave.

But they both enjoyed the atmosphere at the Youth Apartments. Their coworkers there were all tall, handsome young men with impeccable taste in clothes and refined manners. How could that not be enjoyable?

They often stayed there for a long time.

As a result, Xiao Dan had to wait for ages. It was already evening before she finally saw them.

The three of them went to a pavilion in the residential complex to talk.

“I was thinking,” Xiao Dan said, “that we should grow some things here in our own neighborhood too. We don’t have to plant much—I’m worried about tiring you two out. But we should at least grow something. We can’t keep asking them for everything over there.”

Auntie Qian looked surprised. “Are we short on anything here? Don’t we have enough vegetables to eat?”

The residents of Auspicious Home had fewer basic benefits than the residents of the Youth Apartments, but they were hardly reduced to the level of refugees who received only one potato a day.

Residents of Auspicious Home were allotted vegetables, meat, and fruit.

Zhou Wang had negotiated all of that. After all, Auspicious Home had taken in the refugees and provided housing for a large number of them.

The people at Auspicious Home felt that their treatment was quite acceptable. There were many elderly residents, after all, and they did not contribute as much as the young people at the Youth Apartments. The fact that those young people were willing to support and provide for them without complaint was already quite good.

But Xiao Dan was not satisfied.

In her mind, things were still divided much as they had been during the first disaster: the “Youth Apartments” were one group, and “Auspicious Home” was another.

As far as belonging was concerned, she was part of Auspicious Home.

And now that she had become the person in charge, she desperately wanted to secure more benefits for Auspicious Home.

“Enough is enough, but having only ‘enough’ is such a miserable feeling,” she said. “I was thinking that if we had some supplies of our own, we’d have a lot more flexibility. We wouldn’t have to ask them for everything or let them hold all the power over us.”

Auntie Qian and Auntie Xue couldn’t relate to her at all.

Their own benefits were exceptionally good—they belonged to the first tier.

The young people at the Youth Apartments were also highly capable, and they treated the two older women with great respect and affection.

If one compared it to a school, the two of them were like distinguished retired experts brought back on special appointment: their supplies were abundant, and their status was highly respected.

Whenever Xiao Song assigned them work, she did so in a soft, gentle voice.

They had never felt that they were begging anyone or being controlled by anyone.

But Xiao Dan had made a living doing odd jobs and selling insurance. She was not someone who would easily give up or retreat. She would do everything she could to persuade the other side.

In the end, Auntie Xue couldn’t hold out any longer and was won over.

She agreed to establish a vegetable garden in the residential complex. There was no need to encourage the plants to grow at the same high efficiency as those at the Youth Apartments. Here, she could maintain an ordinary garden. She would simply give the plants a little boost in the morning before leaving and again after returning at night, making them grow faster than normal.

It wouldn’t be particularly tiring.

After Xiao Dan left, Auntie Qian said to her, “Aren’t you working against Xiao Song’s arrangements by doing this?”

Auntie Xue gave an awkward little smile. “We’re only growing some vegetables. Look, I didn’t agree to fruit. I understand that benefits have to be tiered in order to manage people properly.”

The matter of restricting fruit and establishing different levels of benefits was something Song Jingshuo had specifically discussed with them and with the new Master Luo.

Both women had lived through historical periods in their youth, and they understood perfectly well that egalitarian “big pot” distribution could not work. Once Song Jingshuo explained it, they were able to understand and support it.

“I just felt sorry for Little Xiao,” Auntie Xue said. “She’s having a hard time too.”

Auntie Xue really did open several vegetable plots in the garden. She gave them a boost twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. It was easy and took almost no effort.

Every day, Xiao Dan watched the vegetables in the garden grow a little larger, and she was delighted.

Having supplies she could control herself made her feel more secure and more satisfied.

On the evening of the third day, Auntie Xue gave the vegetables another boost and told her, “One more boost tomorrow and they should be ready.”

Xiao Dan was thrilled.

It turned out she had celebrated too soon.

After sleeping through the night, she woke up on the morning of the fourth day to find that every vegetable in the garden had been stolen.

Xiao Dan was furious.

When Zhou Wang came home that evening, she hurried after him, complaining, “Can’t we get the surveillance cameras in our complex fixed?”

The surveillance system at Auspicious Home had “broken down” during the first zombie disaster, in order to cover up certain things.

“If the cameras weren’t broken, I could find the culprit right now,” she said.

Zhou Wang had noticed the vegetable plots several days ago. He had simply chosen not to say anything.

Sure enough, exactly what he had expected had happened.

Hearing her say this, Zhou Wang stopped and sighed. “Fortunately, the cameras are broken.”

Xiao Dan stared at him in astonishment.

Zhou Wang turned around. “If the cameras weren’t broken, and you found out who stole them, what would you plan to do?”