Chapter 72

By dusk, when the military trucks arrived, countless people began cheering.

Everyone knew that the supplies were specifically intended for Lekang Home, not for them, but that did nothing to dampen their excitement.

Lekang Home really had suffered a terrible fate.

The rescuers had found several bodies. They had not mutated, which meant they had been killed by other humans rather than zombies.

What had happened? No one wanted to ask.

Many of the people who came downstairs wore blank expressions.

Some were frighteningly thin. They said they had eaten everything in their homes—even cutting up genuine leather belts and boiling them.

They grabbed people by the arms and asked desperately, “Do you have anything to eat? Do you have anything to eat?”

Zhou Wang said that the people in Youth Apartments had been living absurdly behind locked doors. Only now did the young residents of Youth Apartments truly understand what he had meant.

The other two communities were in better shape than Youth Apartments, though neither had suffered anything as horrific as Lekang Home.

After seeing the state of Lekang Home, no one objected to the entire truckload of supplies being given to them.

More importantly, two weeks after the zombie crisis had erupted, the government’s supply line had finally broken through the ring road and reached the residential districts!

What did that mean?

It meant a lifeline!

For the Technology New District, it meant that the area was no longer isolated beyond the Fifth Ring Road. The main artery had been opened, and a steady flow of aid had begun.

They had taken a major step toward returning to normal life.

Many people cheered and cheered until they began to cry.

The tears spread like an infection, passing from one person to the next.

Song Jingshuo’s handsome off-road vehicle led the military truck into the grounds of Lekang Home.

Order there was being maintained by people from three communities, though in practice it was mainly residents of Youth Apartments and Auspicious Jiayuan. The people of Lekang Home had eyes that seemed to glow green with hunger.

They had originally formed five lines, and under the supervision of these people, the lines had been fairly orderly.

But the moment the supply truck entered the community, all five lines fell into chaos.

“Stay in line! No pushing!” Li Jiangbing had been having a good few days lately and had not needed to shout like this in quite some time. “Anyone who causes trouble goes to the back! You’ll be the last to receive anything!”

They had plenty of experience by now. The people assigned to maintain order were all tall, burly men. Otherwise, they simply could not hold the crowd back. They really couldn’t.

Song Jingshuo stopped the vehicle, and Jiang Cheng climbed out of the passenger seat.

The military truck stopped as well. Its doors opened, and several soldiers jumped down. They wore field uniforms, their arms and necks darkened by the sun.

The details had already been communicated by phone while they were on the road, so there was no need for further discussion. The soldiers immediately began unloading the supplies, while volunteers distributed them to the five lines, which was more efficient.

The officer in charge watched as everything began operating smoothly. He stepped back, looked around, and carefully assessed the surroundings.

Some residents were clearly suffering from extreme hunger as they waited in line.

Others were obviously well fed and healthy, and were helping maintain order.

In the distance, piles of zombie corpses rose like small hills—several of them. Forklifts were moving the bodies away.

The stench was overwhelming. The people working over there were all wearing masks or wrapping scraps of cloth over their mouths and noses.

And yet they actually had forklifts.

“Captain Li.”

Someone called out from behind him.

The officer in charge was named Li Feng, a deputy company commander.

When Li Feng heard the woman’s voice, he turned around. “Jiang Cheng?”

Ever since he had accepted the assignment, he had been communicating with this voice. He already knew that the person in charge of the Youth Apartments’ interim committee was Jiang Cheng.

When Jiang Cheng saw the man step back to survey the area, she knew he was the Captain Li she had spoken with over the phone.

But when Li Feng turned around, both of them were surprised by how young the other was.

“That’s me.” Jiang Cheng extended her hand.

Li Feng shook it. “I’m Li Feng.”

Jiang Cheng asked, “Will you be staying here from now on?”

“No. I’ll be going back and forth between both locations. But you can contact me anytime, and I’ll be coming by regularly.”

Zhou Wang also came over and shook Li Feng’s hand. “I’m Zhou Wang, the person in charge of Auspicious Jiayuan.”

Several people from Yujing Xiangyuan crowded forward as well.

Who wouldn’t want to establish a connection with the person in charge of the government’s supply line? Everyone did.

But Li Feng merely nodded at them.

The command center had already made contact with the leaders of many communities. The contact information provided to them was for the people in charge, not ordinary staff.

So although he was surprised that Jiang Cheng was such a young and beautiful woman, he had clearly sensed during their phone conversations on the way that she truly was the person in charge.

Jiang Cheng did not waste a single word. “Captain Li, I’ll take you to see the supply depot. We’ve already cleared it out.”

Li Feng nodded. “All right.”

There were many volunteers maintaining order here, and they seemed to be doing an excellent job. Li Feng called two soldiers over to accompany him, since they were the ones who would be stationed here.

They got into Song Jingshuo’s vehicle.

Zhou Wang and the others each drove a car. Three cars, one from each community, headed together toward Mai Duoduo.

“Mai Duoduo is basically empty now,” Jiang Cheng explained to the three soldiers in the back seat. “Today, we cleared all the zombies out of the building.”

“I chose this place because it’s large enough to store a substantial amount of supplies.”

“It has dedicated loading and unloading entrances, as well as warehouses.”

“Its location serves most of the surrounding communities.”

“It also has employee dormitories. The former employees aren’t living there anymore, so you can requisition them.”

They arrived as she finished speaking.

After taking a quick tour, they found quite a few people still inside, sorting and cleaning.

The earlier rush to buy supplies had left the supermarket in a complete mess, with many shelves knocked over. Some of the goods had also been traded to Youth Apartments by Brother Dong.

Jiang Cheng had arranged for people to clean up the supermarket and clear space for the supply depot.

Li Feng was extremely satisfied with the choice, especially with the volunteers working there. Many of them were young, and they looked energetic and full of spirit.

So many people were working together without any disorder. Someone was clearly directing them.

That person came running over. “Jiang Cheng!”

It was Zhao Yi. He said, “What do you think? Is this arrangement all right?”

Jiang Cheng looked at Li Feng. “What do you think?”

The empty shelves had been pushed together, creating a spacious area in front.

Li Feng praised it succinctly. “Very good.”

His skin was dark from the sun, but it could not hide his strong brows and bright eyes. His features were sharp and handsome, and his shoulders, back, and waist were exceptionally straight.

He took another brief look around to familiarize himself with the surroundings, then left the other two soldiers there and followed Jiang Cheng and the others back to Lekang Home.

With strong men maintaining order, the distribution of supplies went smoothly. By the time they returned, most of the residents of Lekang Home had already received their share.

Many people simply found a spot in the garden, sat down where they were, and began eating. Because Jiang Cheng had contacted the authorities in advance and reported the situation, the first truck sent specifically to Lekang Home contained not rice, flour, cooking oil, and other staples, but bread, sausages, pickles, salted duck eggs, and other ready-to-eat foods that required no cooking.

The truck was emptied quickly. But the residents of Lekang Home had finally eaten a satisfying, filling meal.

People placed plastic stools in the shade and sat together, discussing the situation in the Technology New District.

Jiang Cheng unfolded the map she carried with her.

When Li Feng noticed the map in her hands, he also noticed that the black shape inside her shoulder bag was actually a cat.

Li Feng was caught off guard. Ever since their first phone call that afternoon, he and Jiang Cheng had communicated with remarkable ease. After meeting her in person, he was even more certain that she was organized, clear-headed, and efficient.

In a time like this, she was an outstanding partner to have.

Then he suddenly discovered that she carried a cat with her wherever she went, and his impression of her immediately took a nosedive.

“Our target tomorrow is Food Street.” Jiang Cheng had already marked it on the map with a colored pencil.

“We made contact with Deqing Li today, and they’ll be acting together with us. But the people from Shanshui Yayuan haven’t replied.”

“Deqing Li is a high-density residential community. Its population is larger than that of our several housing complexes combined.”

“If we clear out Food Street, this area, this area, and this area will all be connected. We can basically consider the whole stretch a safe zone.”

The reason she said “basically” was that the area was too large. There were too many streets, shops, and hidden corners. It was impossible to confirm in a short time that every inch of it was completely clean.

But for now, “basically” was good enough.

“The original population should have been around six thousand. We have no idea how many are left now.” Jiang Cheng had looked up the information online the day before.

She had also told Li Feng the original populations of Youth Apartments, Jixiang Jiayuan, and Yujing Xiangyuan before asking him, “Will there be fresh supplies tomorrow?”

Li Feng nodded. “We can transport a shipment of rice, flour, cooking oil, salt, and sugar tomorrow.”

The people from Youth Apartments were inevitably disappointed. They weren’t short on rice or flour, but they were sick to death of canned food and desperately wanted some fresh vegetables and meat.

The people from Jixiang Jiayuan and Yujing Xiangyuan, however, were all thrilled.

The residents of Youth Apartments didn’t want to seem inappropriate, so they restrained their expressions and maintained an appearance of calm.

Li Feng was secretly puzzled.

The people from the other two complexes were older, and those in charge were all middle-aged. But compared with them, how were these younger people from Youth Apartments so much steadier?

He didn’t know that this was simply the embodiment of the saying: With food in hand, the heart remains calm.

Jiang Cheng asked, “Can you keep the supplies coming?”

Captain Li straightened his chest. “The country has enough strategic grain reserves to feed the entire population for two years. And this year, the southern grain-producing regions had a bumper harvest in April and May, most of which has already been stored. The central wheat-growing regions completed their summer harvest earlier this month. The only area affected is the northwestern wheat-growing region, and they’re already organizing emergency harvesting efforts. The government has done far more these past few days than everyone thinks—not just killing zombies. The first thing the country thought of was ensuring food security.”

These facts had first been explained within the military, to reassure the soldiers. Now the soldiers were passing them on to the civilians, reassuring the people.

This was exactly the information Jiang Cheng wanted to know, and she was very satisfied.

Captain Li spoke clearly and acted decisively, which pleased her even more.

Her fingertip moved across the map. “From here to here...”

Everyone listened as she explained their plans for the next few days.

Li Feng gradually grew astonished. The unfavorable impression created by the cat faded away, replaced by a clear new understanding.

This girl... was planning to use the supply points as a base and turn the entire Tech New District from yellow to green, step by step.

The entire Tech New District.

No wonder. No wonder the older men were sitting quietly and listening to her.

No wonder she was the one in charge.