Chapter 19

Jiang Cheng moved quickly because she knew exactly what she needed, unlike many people who scurried around like headless flies. She and Li Jiangbing finished their shopping pretty fast.

They had originally planned to wait by the checkout counters for Master Luo, but surprisingly, Master Luo and his group were already there waiting for her.

The flatbed cart Master Luo’s group brought had bags of rice packed tight and solid. The rest of their haul was mostly pickled vegetables, salted duck eggs, and canned goods. That was the suggestion Jiang Cheng had made, and Master Luo fully agreed, following through on all of it—toilet paper included.

Even though these were all necessities, and those two young folks Jiang Cheng and Song Jingshuo had given their word, Master Luo still worried they might have bought too much.

The white-collar workers living in the complex earned much higher salaries than he and his crew did, but at the end of the day, those people were the ones fronting the money. He was afraid that buying too much would make them resentful.

But the first thing Jiang Cheng said when she walked over was: "Is that enough? With as many people as you’ve got, maybe you should haul over a bit more."

Master Luo’s worries eased, and he nodded repeatedly: "It’s enough, it’s enough. My wife did the math—this will last us two weeks."

Everyone’s expectation for the situation ahead was the same: things might be chaotic for a few days, then the government would step in, just like in every disaster before, and turn things around swiftly.

The current shopping spree was just to get through that "first few chaotic days."

It was his wife who said: "To be safe, buy enough for half a month."

Jiang Cheng glanced over what they’d bought. It was clear Master Luo was a man who took advice well—or at least he agreed with her reasoning. Either way, it gave Jiang Cheng a sense of relief.

"Let’s wait for Song Jingshuo," Jiang Cheng said. "We agreed to meet up with him."

Her expression was light, and there was nothing unusual in her tone or manner when she mentioned Song Jingshuo. It gave everyone the impression that the two of them were simply splitting the financial burden, nothing more.

In truth, Jiang Cheng didn’t need the help.

After using her parents’ inheritance to buy the apartment in the youth complex, she still had a sum left over. She had stashed that money away untouched, reserving it for emergencies.

Since last night, she’d known an emergency had arrived.

She wasn’t afraid of having to dip into those funds. Compared to money, some other things mattered far more.

A person had to know what took priority.

Because the supermarket was short on staff, a few people who weren’t cashiers were manning the registers, and fewer checkout lanes were open, so the lines moved slowly.

The first batch of owners who paid for their items didn’t dare head out alone either. Though the 800 meters of road outside had already been cleared of mutants, who could guarantee that one or two wouldn’t suddenly appear from somewhere else?

The original mutants were one thing, but it was the infected ones you had to worry about. Infected mutants moved quickly and were agile. If you weren’t careful and one bit you, you’d be locked up in the property management conference room.

Everyone knew by now that those who’d been bitten by mutants were locked in there to wait for death.

That woman from Building 2—the one who looked all sweet and pretty—her behavior really didn’t match her face, did it.

But the hesitant mumbling and mutual questions of "What do we do?" and "Should we go back together?" were overheard by that woman from Building 2.

Jiang Cheng shouted toward the people outside the checkout area: "Whenever you gather a group big enough, head back—don’t wait for everyone. Pack in as many people as you can, and stay safe!"

A lot of people answered: "Okay, got it."

Those who checked out first waited until seventy or eighty, even close to a hundred people had gathered, then left in groups together.

People were still queuing up behind.

Everyone had a handcart. Word was that the carts had been restocked from the warehouse.

Many young people had always turned their noses up at those handcarts—those were things middle-aged aunties and uncles used. They never thought they’d end up buying one for themselves. Turns out they were actually super convenient.

Song Jingshuo finished his shopping too.

When he walked over and saw Jiang Cheng already standing with Master Luo, his heart gave a slight lurch. But Jiang Cheng spotted him and waved first: "There you are. Let’s split it half and half."

Song Jingshuo relaxed, came over, and split the cost of the property staff’s food supplies with Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng said: "Let them go first. We’ll cover the rear."

Song Jingshuo nodded: "Same thought."

They were the ones who had organized everyone to come out; they had to make sure the main group got back safely. They couldn’t leave people behind.

And so, groups of a few dozen at a time, they retreated.

The core members of the temporary owners’ committee and the suicide squad stayed behind to cover the rear. When they finally had a staff member broadcast over the intercom three times to confirm there were no owners left behind in the supermarket, the last group of a few dozen, including Jiang Cheng, was ready to leave.

A dozen or so staff members from BuyDuo Supermarket watched them with longing in their eyes: "You guys are really leaving just like that..."

Reluctant to see them go.

After all the bustle, silence suddenly descended. Out on the road outside, biting monsters were still roaming.

Jiang Cheng noticed one of the staff members was the person she had struck up a conversation with earlier—that tough guy who had ridden his motorcycle all the way to get to work. He seemed to be some kind of shift supervisor.

Jiang Cheng asked him: "Are you going back home?"

The man said speechlessly: "I’m not an idiot."

That morning, he had left the house completely unaware of what was happening. Only after stepping out did he learn there were monsters on the streets. He’d survived purely thanks to his motorcycle. But at the time, his mind had been locked onto one track—he never considered just turning back home. He only thought about charging through those monsters to get to work.

One one-way trip like that was enough. He wasn’t about to make the return journey.

"I’ll just stay here for now," he said. "There are beds in the dorms."

And there were even beds and mattresses on sale in the store, already made up with bedding, so they could sleep on those directly.

"You guys," Jiang Cheng reminded him, "count how many of you there are and set aside enough food for yourselves."

"Don’t stand guard over a giant warehouse and end up starving yourselves."

Her words left them exchanging glances.

The supervisor thought it over, his expression growing more and more grim, and he nodded firmly: "Got it."

Jiang Cheng turned to catch up with the main group, and the man shouted after her: "Hey—thanks!"

Jiang Cheng twisted her head and gave a small chin-up gesture in reply.

Several dozen people dragged and carried their supplies out of the supermarket.

The staff immediately locked the doors behind them. Then they stood together behind the glass door, watching the group from the youth complex disappear from sight.

The feeling of "everything seems normal" faded, and deep inside they felt adrift and uneasy again.

Song Jingshuo walked along the road, glancing over at Jiang Cheng.

Song Jingshuo had a double-strap backpack on his back. He didn’t have that kind of middle-aged lady’s shopping cart—instead, he dragged a large business travel suitcase he’d brought to the supermarket for hauling goods.

Jiang Cheng pulled a handcart and shouldered a big athletic backpack, stuffed until it bulged.

Song Jingshuo felt the urge to show that a man could be more capable than a woman by offering to carry her things or lift the heavy stuff. But that backpack of Jiang Cheng’s clearly weighed a ton. Song Jingshuo compromised: "Jiang Cheng, put your bag on top of my suitcase."

Jiang Cheng refused: "No need. I can carry it fine."

Li Jiangbing chuckled: "Don’t let Jiang Cheng fool you—she’s slim, but she’s got serious strength."

The people nearby nodded, and one said: "Yeah, no kidding. Today I saw a mutant, and she swung her bat at it—one hit and its head exploded."

Jiang Cheng thought back. It must have been during that stretch where she’d taken down several mutants in a row. Her body had warmed up, the bat had felt natural in her hands, and that swing had gone exceptionally well—one clean shot, instant headshot.

At this moment, she didn't want to be modest, nor could she afford to be. Instead, she said with a touch of bravado, "That's right, I really am that strong."

Everyone acknowledged it.

Song Jingshuo's little bit of cunning had backfired, and he gritted his teeth slightly, no longer wasting words.

Jiang Cheng glanced at Song Jingshuo.

It wasn't that Song Jingshuo bore any real ill will, but someone like him was clearly accustomed to office politics, and used to being the one in control. In everything he did, he wanted to fight for the lead.

Just an elite white-collar worker used to workplace competition.

They took a turn, veering off the main road onto a street running between residential compounds.

Jiang Cheng kept looking back. Song Jingshuo, now paying close attention to her, asked, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Cheng said, "I'm thinking about whether we should seal off the entrances at both ends of this street..."

That way, they could reduce the possibility of mutants from outside the block getting in.

Everyone looked at her.

But she immediately dismissed the idea herself: "Forget it, let's not think about that for now."

There was no usable material. There was also another compound's gate on this street, and who knew how many mutants were lurking inside that compound.

Besides, the project was far too large. Jiang Cheng knew very well that she didn't have the ability to command or mobilize so many residents to do such labor.

Although she had successfully organized the collective purchase for all the residents, precisely because of that, the neighbors' most urgent needs had already been met, and the corpses in the compound had even been burned. Moving forward, for everyone, it was clearly easier and safer to just stay put inside their homes and wait for the government's rescue.

Moreover, the compound was originally a gated community. As long as the gates were kept shut, the mutants outside couldn't get in anyway.

That was more than enough for the residents.

Everything else was just Jiang Cheng thinking too much, too far, too big.

But Song Jingshuo understood in an instant what she was thinking, and also why she gave up.

Song Jingshuo suddenly felt a bit deflated—while he'd been playing his little tricks, Jiang Cheng was considering expanding their defense perimeter.

How could that not make a person feel ashamed?

"Let's leave it as is," he said softly. "What we have now is already good enough."

We've done our best.

Jiang Cheng nodded. "You're right."

It was comforting to have someone whose thoughts could sync with hers.

Just as the compound's gate came into view, Jiang Cheng's phone vibrated.

Jiang Cheng tucked the axe into her belt, pulled out her phone, glanced at it, and said with a slight tightening of her expression, "Li Yuan of Building 3—isn't he on duty at the property management office?"

Immediately, the person in charge of Building 3 replied, "Yes! We helped him buy rice and flour."

Jiang Cheng answered the call, listened, and said, "Okay, got it. We're almost at the compound. We'll drop off the supplies and head over right away."

After hanging up, everyone looked at her. She said, "Someone in the meeting room has mutated."

"The people in the meeting room handled it themselves."

Using the weapons she'd left them.

"We'll go check it out later."

Meeting room headcount: minus one.

The good mood that everyone had been in after the successful collective purchase suddenly sank. In silence, they walked together toward the compound gate.

The security guard was waiting anxiously inside the gate. "You're finally back. Is there anyone else behind you?"

"No, we're the last group."

"Old Luo said to lock the gate as soon as you all got back."

"Lock it. Thanks for your hard work."

The compound's main gate used an electric sliding gate for vehicles, and an electromagnetic lock gate for pedestrians.

The security guard added a chain lock to the electromagnetic lock gate, because if the power went out or there was a malfunction, the electric gate wouldn't open on its own—but the electromagnetic lock would demagnetize and fail, leaving the gate open.

With the chain lock in place, everyone felt much safer.

Turning back to look at the compound, though it was separated from the outside by just this one iron gate, a sense of security welled up inside them.