Chapter 68

On the Wednesday of the second week after the zombie virus outbreak, the weather was poor. The sky was overcast, lending everything a distinctly tragic air.

Jiang Cheng went downstairs early, as she usually did. Since the crisis began, her schedule had become even stricter and more disciplined than before.

Song Jingshuo was the same.

They were the first and second people to arrive at the little garden square.

Jiang Cheng patted the head of Mo Li, who was inside her crossbody bag, then walked over and held out her fist to Song Jingshuo.

It was one of Li Jiangbing’s favorite gimmicks, though Jiang Cheng and Song Jingshuo rarely did it themselves. This time, however, Song Jingshuo didn’t hesitate. He raised his hand and bumped fists with her.

Jiang Cheng asked, “How many people do you expect will come?”

“I can’t predict that,” Song Jingshuo replied.

Jiang Cheng smiled.

People began coming downstairs.

Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan lived in different buildings, but they arrived one right after the other. The two had called each other before leaving.

Peng Ze came with a look of grim determination.

Li Jiangbing was down fairly early as well.

The building managers had all arrived ahead of time. The only one missing was Nie Kuizhang.

Many familiar faces appeared, greeting one another and asking what everyone had brought for lunch. Rice balls were by far the food mentioned most often.

Master Luo and his wife came over and greeted Jiang Cheng. “We’re going too.”

More and more people filled the square.

Su Yu came downstairs pulling a handcart piled high with magazines. “Has anyone not finished preparing their protective gear? I’ve got magazines here.”

The fashion and film magazines had once been her beloved collection. Now, in addition to their entertainment value, they had acquired a far more practical use. Taped around the arms, they had proven highly effective protection against zombie bites.

So far, no one at Youth Apartments had ever had a magazine-wrapped arm bitten through.

Paper really was an incredible thing.

When the employees of Maidouduo moved into Youth Apartments yesterday, Li Jiangbing and the others had followed the principle of taking everything they could carry and brought over a large quantity of supplies from Maidouduo. Among them was tape.

Those without protective equipment crowded around Su Yu to collect magazines and tape. Everyone helped one another wrap the magazines around their arms and legs.

Jiang Cheng didn’t need to make any further mobilizing speech. The moment people were willing to come downstairs, they had already made up their minds.

Song Jingshuo scanned the crowd and finally spotted Nie Kuizhang, the building manager of Building Three. He had come too. With that, all six building managers were present.

He glanced at his watch. It was 8:51.

At that moment, Jiang Cheng’s phone suddenly rang. She looked at the caller ID and answered. “Brother Zhou?”

The caller was Zhou Wang from Auspicious Garden.

“I saw that your community has gathered,” Zhou Wang said. “We’ve gathered too. Where are you starting? We’d like to go with you.”

“We’re planning to start outside the west gate,” Jiang Cheng replied. “We’ll clear the road circling the community first.”

The east gate of Youth Apartments led to Auspicious Garden, while the west gate opened onto a roadside park.

There were zombies in the park as well. The last time they had driven their private cars to Station 535, they had run over quite a few along the way. But since they had never cleared the park systematically, there were certainly still zombies left.

Jiang Cheng continued, “We’ll clear the road around the community first, then move on to the mixed-use building to the south.”

“Let’s do it together,” Zhou Wang said.

Jiang Cheng agreed. “All right.”

The roads were connected in any case. The communities were laid out in neat squares, with streets running through them in a grid. There was no such thing as “your road” or “our road.”

Following the instructions, the security guard at the east gate opened it and let the people from Auspicious Garden in.

They were considerably fewer in number than the residents of Youth Apartments, though that was understandable. Auspicious Garden was a standard residential community with people of all ages, and most of those who had come were able-bodied men.

Even Little Huang, a skinny middle-school student, had come along.

Applause suddenly broke out at Youth Apartments, warmly welcoming the newcomers from Auspicious Garden.

At that moment, all the previous disagreements and barriers seemed to vanish. Everyone became one—not residents of one community or another, but simply human beings who were still alive.

Jiang Cheng narrowed her eyes as she watched it all.

The core members from both sides had joined forces as well. Jiang Cheng noticed that these men—whether they were older brothers or uncles—seemed somewhat different from a week ago. But so many people had been changed over the past few days that it was hardly surprising.

Song Jingshuo checked his watch. “It’s time.”

Everyone turned to look at Jiang Cheng.

The people from Auspicious Garden were still somewhat astonished by this young girl’s ability to rally others. How could the central leader of a community of more than a thousand people be a young woman?

Jiang Cheng drew the fire axe from the small of her back and raised it high.

Everyone held their breath.

She brought the axe down through the air and announced, “Move out!”

A roar erupted from the crowd.

“Let’s go!”

“Move out!”

“We can’t go on living like this!”

“That’s right!”

Humanity was going to reclaim its living space.

Su Yu tightened her grip on her steel pipe. He Tian held a kitchen knife, while several other girls naturally clustered together.

Li Jiangbing instructed them, “Just stay behind me. Don’t get too close to the front.”

The girls whispered among themselves, “He seems pretty reliable.”

Su Yu had been looked after by Li Jiangbing more than once. She nodded. “He’s a good guy.”

He Tian said, “Yeah. Unlike some people.”

Most people had grouped up with residents from their own buildings, since they knew one another better.

He Tian had deliberately come over to join Su Yu because she didn’t want to stay near Nie Kuizhang.

The west gate opened, and the main force set out.

Meanwhile, a few stragglers from Auspicious Garden were still hurrying over through the east gate.

The security guard was speechless. “Couldn’t you all come together?”

He wasn’t taking part in the group operation, but he had grown accustomed to the order and discipline of Youth Apartments’ actions. Compared with that, the loose and scattered way Auspicious Garden operated made him feel that inferior goods should simply be discarded when compared with better ones.

But there was nothing to be done. Many people hesitated and wavered. Only after seeing so many others leave, realizing which way the crowd’s heart was turned, and being swept up in the atmosphere could they finally grit their teeth, stamp their feet, and follow.

The important thing was that they came.

The roadside park wasn’t very large. It had only been built a few years earlier, so the trees were still small and didn’t obstruct the view.

Drawn by the noise, the zombies rushed toward them. The suicide squad leading Youth Apartments’ forces worked together with practiced coordination. The U-shaped forks needed no explanation, and the cabinet doors modified by Cui Haiyang and the other engineering-minded men had been fitted with handles for easier use. They were practically rectangular shields, and they worked extremely well.

The shield bearers had the best protective gear.

With nothing to do in the community these past few days, the engineering-minded men had spent their time racking their brains over such equipment. Using the limited tools available through the property management office, they had developed all kinds of protective gear, which was now being given to the suicide squad.

Everyone had finally realized that the best way to fight zombies was through overwhelming numbers.

Fully armed and facing the charging zombies, even if one person made a mistake, the weapons of those beside them would immediately reach out. Most of the time, a single strike was enough to kill a zombie.

There were simply too many people. Before those at the back had even made it out through the west gate, the people at the front had already cleared the roadside park.

The residents of Youth Apartments and Auspicious Garden had joined forces, forming a formidable fighting force.

After setting out from the west gate of Youth Apartments and clearing the roadside park, they turned south and began moving along the small road that encircled the community.

With Jixiang Jiayuan joining the effort—and with the two residential communities already connected into one larger safe zone after the streets of Jixiang West had been blocked off—the planned route now included Jixiang Jiayuan as well.

But even so, there were still far too many people.

When they reached the turn toward South Street, the group split into two. Half of them would circle the two communities, clearing the streets around them. The other half headed for the commercial-residential building south of the communities.

Jiang Cheng, Song Jingshuo, Li Jiangbing, and Wu Jiancheng remained with the group circling the communities. Nie Kuizhang, Peng Ze, and Zhang Tao separated from them and went to the commercial-residential building.

Everyone gripped their weapons tightly, their gazes resolute as they followed the people leading the way.

Including Jiang Cheng, they all shrank into a mass of dark heads on the surveillance screens.

Vice Mayor Zheng stared at the screens. As he watched more and more people gather and organize themselves, they finally overcame their fear, selfishness, and wishful thinking under the call to action and began saving themselves.

The surveillance operators continuously relayed new information.

“People from xx Community, xx Jiayuan... Everyone in the area from xx Street to xx Street is coming out!”

“People from xx East Neighborhood and xx West Neighborhood are out too!”

“We can see people on xx Street!”

The voices rose and fell one after another.

Ordinary citizens picked up their weapons and walked out of their homes.

Even those who had once been timid, cowardly, or selfish were given strength and courage the moment they became part of a collective under the nation’s call.

And it wasn’t happening only in S City. At that very moment, the same scene was unfolding across the country.

Cities, county towns, villages, and townships!

It was like something that belonged only in the history books. No one had expected to witness it with their own eyes in their lifetime.

Vice Mayor Zheng’s eyes grew damp.

On the morning of June 27, the half of the residents led by Jiang Cheng cleared the streets surrounding the two communities.

When they reached the southeast side of Jixiang Jiayuan, they encountered the residents of Yujing Xiangyuan.

In the past, they had merely been strangers brushing past one another on the street.

In recent days, the people from Youth Apartments had sneered at Yujing Xiangyuan’s disorganized leadership, while the residents of Yujing Xiangyuan had cursed Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan for clearing out Mai Duoduo.

Yet when people from all three communities unexpectedly met at this street corner, they actually broke into cheers.

“It’s Yujing Xiangyuan!”

“Jixiang Jiayuan!”

“And Youth Apartments too!”

They had cleared less than a kilometer of street, but it felt like a momentous victory—a grand reunion of allied forces.

Jiang Cheng and Zhou Wang quickly conferred with Yujing Xiangyuan’s leader, clarifying the directions and areas each group would be responsible for clearing. Then everyone split up again and continued forward in their respective directions.

With people from Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan present, the residents of Yujing Xiangyuan no longer needed to worry about Jixiang East Street, which was shared by Yujing Xiangyuan and Jixiang Jiayuan. Jiang Cheng, Zhou Wang, and the others headed that way, while the Yujing Xiangyuan residents went in the opposite direction.

Viewed from above, one would have seen a sea of dark heads splitting off at the intersection.

The streets were open, with clear lines of sight, allowing people to gather and form an effective defensive formation. As a result, the likelihood of injury was relatively low.

Even so, people were still injured inside the commercial-residential building south of Youth Apartments.

As the name suggested, the building contained both commercial and residential spaces. Only a small portion of it was occupied by residents; most of the tenants ran small businesses. There were beauty salons, gyms, dental clinics, and all kinds of other establishments.

The interior was divided into spaces that followed no standard layout. Everything depended on how each business had chosen to renovate its unit.

In such an environment, it was impossible for a large number of people to gather and create an effective defense with virtually no blind spots.

Injuries were ultimately unavoidable.

The first person injured was someone Jiang Cheng knew well: Peng Ze from Building Three.

The head of Building Three, Nie Kuizhang, shouted, “Peng Ze—”

The few zombies already had their skulls smashed in. They were thoroughly dead.

Peng Ze covered his injured ear. When he took his hand away, his palm was covered in blood.

Peng Ze felt as though he could hear his own heartbeat.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Each beat was clear and enormous.