Chapter 167

Xiao Dan was furious. “Of course we make them return the vegetables they stole!”

“But what if the stolen vegetables have already been thrown into the pot?” Zhou Wang asked. “Or even if they return them, how do you plan to punish the thieves afterward?”

Xiao Dan suddenly fell silent.

Because she had no idea how to punish the people who had stolen the vegetables.

She might not even have considered the question.

Zhou Wang asked her, “Do you know Cao Jiacai?”

Xiao Dan hesitated. “I’ve heard of him.”

Zhou Wang continued, “That day, when you called me from school for help, Cao Jiacai blocked me from going. Do you know how Jiang Cheng handled it?”

Zhou Wang’s eyes were dark and distant.

After all, she was the person who had once led an entire apartment complex in weathering a zombie disaster.

Xiao Dan said, “I heard she let a black cat bite him to death.”

“When the first zombie outbreak began, there was a cleaner in their property-management office who went on strike during the first few days and refused to work. Have you heard about that?”

Xiao Dan had.

No one had mentioned it during the first zombie disaster.

Later, Cao Jiacai reported the matter to the police. The police, worn down by his persistence, called Jiang Cheng to verify the story, which had worried everyone at Youth Apartments.

When the zombies broke out again this time and Mo Li directly bit Cao Jiacai to death, everyone realized that this outbreak was different from the last one.

People stopped hiding things behind euphemisms. Instead, deliberately or otherwise, they began revealing the truth to outsiders—the people who had joined the apartment complex later, neighboring partners, and others.

Jiang Cheng’s companions were no longer worried that this would be considered a “crime” in peacetime.

That was how Jiang Cheng handled things.

It was evidence that offered a glimpse into her character and methods.

“Do you know when that was?” Zhou Wang asked. “There were zombies everywhere outside, and Jiang Cheng drove that man out. She was sending him out to die.”

“You found the people who stole the vegetables using the surveillance footage. Can you drive them all out to die?”

Zhou Wang delivered the question like a blow straight to the soul.

There was no need to think about it. Xiao Dan blurted out, “How could I do that?”

She had neither the authority nor the ability.

Several large fields had been stripped bare. It could not have been the work of just one or two people—there had to be at least a hundred.

And forget a hundred; even if it had only been one person, she could not drive a refugee out to die just for stealing vegetables.

“Jiang Cheng dares to let people die,” Zhou Wang said. “That’s why, ever since the incident in June, several thousand people have listened to her. Have you ever seen anyone dare to ignore her?”

“But you want to drag all these people out into the open, and you have no way to deal with them. Do you still plan to run things? I’m definitely going to replace you.”

“Because after this, no one will listen when you speak. You won’t be able to manage anything anymore.”

“You’re used to working on your own, I know. You have a sharp tongue, and most people can’t win an argument with you.”

“But managing a group is different.”

That night, Xiao Dan went home in a daze and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

The next morning, while everyone was collecting their potatoes, Zhou Wang gave a speech.

With both hands resting on his stomach, he had the air of a corporate executive. “It’s good that everyone’s been able to improve their lives.”

“But if you want to improve your life, you have to put in the work. This is the only time you’ll get something for free. There won’t be a next time.”

“Either come out and work for performance points, or find a way to feed and clothe yourselves.”

“Superpowers are useful, sure, but humanity survived for thousands of years before anyone had superpowers.”

“There are only a handful of wood-element users. Are you just going to sit around and wait for them to grow everything for you? If a wood-element user doesn’t plant your food, are your own hands suddenly useless?”

“Find some plastic or foam boxes. I’ll also find some earth- and metal-element users and ask them to make a batch of planters for everyone.”

“Sister Xue and Sister Qian have already agreed to raise a batch of seedlings for everyone. Take them home and grow your own food.”

“Don’t just sit around waiting for someone to put food in your mouth.”

There was no way to stop people from growing vegetables individually.

Jiang Cheng and Song Jingyu had already discussed the matter in their meetings. In fact, they encouraged everyone to do so.

The primary reason for rationing fruits and vegetables was that supplies were genuinely scarce. The first priority was to secure basic necessities—in other words, to make sure everyone had enough potatoes to keep from going hungry.

The secondary purpose was to use them as rewards to encourage people to participate in collective work.

But they were not trying to coerce or suppress anyone with food.

Xiao Dan’s plan for large-scale cultivation would undermine the authority of the temporary government, and that was absolutely unacceptable. But if ordinary residents wanted to grow a few vegetables on their balconies to improve their lives and make efforts to save themselves, they should be encouraged and supported.

Xiao Dan had exhausted herself pleading with Auntie Xue to open up the vegetable fields, yet no one remembered her contribution.

Zhou Wang solved the problem by getting everyone a batch of planters, boxes, and seedlings. Everyone thought he was capable and thanked him with smiles and praise.

Watching everyone’s happy faces and hearing their gratitude toward Zhou Wang, Xiao Dan vaguely felt that she had somehow been set up.

But she could not say how she had been set up, or who had done it.

Every step had been her own idea. She had done everything herself. Even when others tried to advise her and she refused, she had ignored them.

She had caused the whole mess herself. So who, exactly, had set her up?

She could not figure it out. She felt lost.

As a full-time mother, she had always believed she was still connected to society.

The products and insurance policies she sold required her to constantly seek out customers and persuade them to buy. She had interacted with so many people—how could she possibly have become disconnected from society?

But even if you met many people while working sales on your own, each relationship was still a one-on-one connection.

Be a little more forceful, a little thicker-skinned, and you could close the deal.

But the essence of “society” lay in the interactions among multiple people.

Only within a group did complicated, multilayered relationships emerge. You had to see through people’s motives, goals, and circumstances; sort out the connections among them; react quickly; adapt on the spot; and constantly adjust your approach.

Without that kind of environment, people gradually became dull in some ways, while becoming stubborn in others—without realizing it themselves.

That was the true meaning of becoming “disconnected from society.”

Although everyone from Mr. Xu’s company had been assigned a job, they still had to line up for their basic supplies.

They stood among the crowd and listened to Zhou Wang’s speech. Once it was over, they went their separate ways.

Mr. Xu said to Director Yu, “All that work for nothing.”

There had really been a huge number of people stealing vegetables the night before. As soon as everyone heard that the vegetables were almost ripe and would be harvested the next day, they had all taken plastic bags downstairs.

The apartment complex had been practically haunted the previous night.

Even when people saw acquaintances, they did not greet them. They simply kept their heads down and stole vegetables.

It was eerily quiet.

Mr. Xu’s group had strength in numbers and managed to steal quite a lot.

Only Wu Yan and Tao Xiaoxiao had insisted on wrapping scarves around their faces, saying, “It would be so embarrassing if Xiao Dan saw us.”

That did not stop each of them from tucking four large heads of cabbage under an armpit and tiptoeing upstairs.

The vegetable-field affair had passed just like that. The two of them had now gone to comfort Xiao Dan.

That was how the workplace worked. The person joining you in cursing someone else might very well be that “someone else.”

Director Yu rubbed his face. “Ha, I figured that out ages ago.”

Mr. Xu was starting to lose patience with him. “Are you done yet?”

Director Yu chuckled. “You’re jealous of me.”

Climbing stairs really was one of the fastest ways to lose weight.

After training, Director Yu’s superpowers had improved by leaps and bounds, and he had already begun taking part in team missions.

After climbing stairs for just a few days, he had already lost a whole round of weight.

His jawline had even emerged!

Every morning and evening, he occupied the bathroom for ages, gazing into the mirror and admiring his jawline.

Whenever he spoke, he would unconsciously—or perhaps quite deliberately—tilt his chin upward.

Mr. Xu sneered. “I’m a muscular hunk. Why would I be jealous of a fat guy like you?”

Director Yu replied, “Being fat is only temporary. The face is eternal.”

He used to claim that he had been the campus heartthrob back in school, with countless girls chasing after him. Everyone always said he was full of it.

Now that he had slimmed down, everyone finally believed he hadn’t been boasting.

Even Wu Yan and Tao Xiaoxiao had become much gentler when speaking to him, and their smiles were far more sincere.

They were no longer the superficially flattering remarks and insincere smiles that praised him on the surface while mocking him underneath.

On the map produced by Yue Chao and the others at the television station, green points were gradually increasing in number.

Not only were there more safe zones capable of taking in and sheltering people, such as No. 14 Middle School, but temporary district governments had also been established one after another in three urban districts—Fuyang District, Wuxing District, and Shennan District—as well as one suburban district, Yaohu District.

Zheng Junwei, the head of the temporary government of Shilong District, watched Jiang Cheng appear on television time and time again. Rubbing his chin, he smiled.

“Interesting.”

What was interesting?

The process of establishing a temporary government.

First, you had to confirm that no one from your district government had survived.

Then you and a group of capable people established a government on the spot.

Was that the end of it?

No, no, no. The most interesting part came next—

You had to obtain recognition from Jiang Cheng’s temporary government of the Technology New District. Only then could your government be considered successfully established.

Everyone throughout S City agreed on one thing: only a temporary government recognized by Jiang Cheng was a genuine temporary government.

Was it because Jiang Cheng controlled the television station?

That was certainly one factor, but it wasn’t the only one.

Jiang Cheng and the people of the Technology New District had already become the “orthodox” authority in the hearts of S City’s residents.

You needed Jiang Cheng’s personal seal of approval—she was practically a living imperial seal—to join the ranks of the legitimate governments.

Otherwise, you were an unorthodox faction, a local armed force, or at best a self-proclaimed local ruler. No one would acknowledge you.

Yaohu District was a distant suburban district, yet its people had driven for two hours into the city just to meet Jiang Cheng, receive her official recognition, and be granted the proper credentials.

The district governments were supposed to be equals within the administrative structure.

Zheng Junwei, a former general manager of a state-owned enterprise, found the whole situation very interesting.

He had met plenty of capable young subordinates before.

But within a large organizational structure, capable young people might be allowed to become top salespeople or senior technicians. It was far more difficult for them to rise into the upper levels of management.

That was because, within an organization, ability was only one factor. Seniority and the traditional order of advancement also played a major role.

Jiang Cheng was too young.

That was Zheng Junwei’s first impression when he saw her: too young.

Her skin looked impossibly flawless and elastic.

Wrinkles were the true certificates of experience.

Yet the moment he interacted with her, he sensed the sharpness within her.

It was impossible to suppress.

In times of chaos like these, she was exactly the sort of person who ought to rise to prominence.

It was a perfect example of the saying: heroes are made by the times.

The Technology New District.

Auspicious Garden kept taking in refugees—both those rescued by the district and those who had come seeking refuge on their own—and it was finally full.

The new refugees began to be sent to Imperial View Garden.

The wood-element superpowered individuals at Imperial View Garden were recruited, and the community began to fall under the management of the Technology New District.

Because Auspicious Garden had already provided a successful example, the recruitment of Imperial View Garden went smoothly.

In fact, the people there were even happy to be brought under the district’s administration.

“It just feels more secure this way,” they said.

On September 15, a district government was established in Chaoqing District in the urban area. In the suburbs, a district government was established in Yunshan District.

On September 16, student representatives from No. 14 Middle School in Guangxiu District called Jiang Cheng. Their voices were filled with dejection.

“Auntie Jiang, can we come seek refuge in the Technology New District?”