Chapter 73

Li Feng and the others would not be staying here today.

After inspecting Mai Duoduo’s facilities, the two soldiers returned as well and boarded the empty bus with Li Feng for the trip back.

The streetlights came on. Jiang Cheng said to Li Feng, “See you tomorrow.”

Jiang Cheng had originally intended to have either Zhao Yi or Li Jiangbing handle communications with the military’s supply officer. She wanted to keep the supply arrangements under her own control as well.

But the moment Li Feng arrived, she noticed an interesting phenomenon: everyone—all the native inhabitants of this world—became remarkably docile in his presence.

No one fought for authority. Every native resident simply assumed that Li Feng was in charge.

And Li Feng was only a young man who looked to be twenty-five or twenty-six.

Jiang Cheng wisely put aside some of her plans, lest she overreach and make things worse.

The vehicle set off. Li Feng glanced at the rearview mirror.

The leaders of the several residential compounds were still standing there talking. They were all gathered around that girl. The same had been true during their interactions that day. They could not exactly be called blindly obedient, but whenever something happened, they would instinctively look to that girl.

“Company Commander, what are you thinking about?” one of the soldiers in the back leaned forward and asked.

“I’m wondering whether I can apply for some protective gear for them tomorrow.”

“Did you see it, Company Commander? One of the compounds has shields they modified themselves. There are some talented people in that compound.”

“I saw them. There are only a few, and they’re not enough.”

“That’s true.”

At headquarters, Vice Mayor Zheng was listening to a work report.

The green zones were like grass pushing through the soil after a spring rain, displaying a tenacious vitality.

Two armed helicopters and twelve small aerial bombs had finally turned the area around Rainbow Stadium on the Third Ring Road from a red zone into a yellow zone.

For the first time in half a month, he felt that the weight in his heart had eased a little. The country and its people had jointly poured their vitality into his body, giving him hope.

The zombie crisis was unprecedented, something no one had ever seen or heard of before, but in the end, it could not defeat this country or its people.

Vice Mayor Zheng thought of that with relief.

While the combat units and ordinary civilians were resting, the logistics department was so busy they could barely keep their feet on the ground.

The site looked like a massive construction zone. Blinding floodlights were mounted on tall poles. People and forklifts moved back and forth as crate after crate of supplies was loaded onto heavy trucks. Everyone was working at full speed.

Li Feng had successfully secured a batch of riot shields for the area under his responsibility. Then he saw the newest type of protective armor.

He took one look and was immediately impressed. “This stuff is great!”

It was made of white plastic, smooth to the touch. When he tapped it with his knuckles, it felt solid.

Molded to fit the shape of the human shoulders, the upper-body piece resembled a cape. It extended down from the shoulders and fastened in front with a hook-and-loop closure. The neck guard rose behind the head like the shell-shaped collar worn by a princess in a foreign fairy tale, covering the back of the head and the neck.

There was one upper-arm guard, one forearm guard, and guards for both the thighs and lower legs. All of them were secured with hook-and-loop fasteners.

The design was extremely crude. It was obvious that it had been developed in a great hurry to meet an urgent need.

But its advantages were clear: the white plastic was covered in holes, making it breathable.

After all, the temperature had been reaching thirty-one or thirty-two degrees Celsius every day lately, sometimes rising as high as thirty-four. Even the slightest movement left people drenched in sweat.

Li Feng first asked, “Has it been issued to the front line?”

“Of course. The front line comes first.”

But the civilians were on the front line now too. They had never received any special training, yet they had bravely gone out carrying cleavers. The government could not let that courage go unrewarded, so protective gear had begun to be included in the supply shipments as well.

“Give me some of these. The people on my side are going to clear a restaurant street tomorrow. I’ll set out early and deliver them to them.”

“Sure. How many sets do you want?”

On Friday morning, everyone heard a broadcast from the hallway:

“All vehicle teams are to assemble at the usual time. The scheduled assembly time for everyone else has been postponed by forty minutes.”

The residents opened their doors and poked their heads out into the hallway, asking one another, “What happened?”

At the originally scheduled time, Song Jingshuo led the vehicle convoy out first.

Today’s target was the restaurant street.

The so-called “convoy” consisted of four large 535 buses.

These buses were different from ordinary city buses. They were taller and larger, and their engines were supposedly more powerful as well.

They had played a major role in opening up the route along the Fifth Ring Road the day before, and today they were once again the main fighting force.

The lead bus went first, honking continuously to attract the zombies.

It could not go too fast, or the zombies would not be able to keep up. But it could not go too slowly either, since there was a risk of second-generation zombies jumping aboard. The bus windows were fairly sturdy, but not indestructible. No one wanted to take that chance.

The drivers had all gained experience on the road the previous day.

Today, they had come up with a new strategy.

The lead bus attracted the zombies. Once it picked up speed, the zombies in front were crushed beneath its wheels, while most of the others chased after it from behind.

But the bus was too large and too long, making it difficult to maneuver in reverse. Once the zombies had gathered, the lead bus would suddenly accelerate and shake them off.

At that moment, the following bus would charge forward, smashing some of the clustered zombies aside and grinding others beneath its wheels.

The lead bus would use the opportunity to speed away from the restaurant street.

After repeating this process several times, the number of second-generation zombies on the restaurant street had fallen dramatically. At a glance, the street no longer looked quite so densely packed and terrifying.

According to plan, once the vehicle convoy had completed its main task, people were supposed to enter and conduct a thorough, building-by-building cleanup.

But today, that step had been temporarily postponed.

Jiang Cheng, Li Jiangbing, and the others who did not have vehicles had all gone to Mai Duoduo to wait for Li Feng. Li Jiangbing in particular was practically rubbing his hands together with impatience.

The reason was that Li Feng had called Jiang Cheng very late the previous night to tell her that he had secured a batch of armor for them.

He had used the word “armor.”

Li Jiangbing was dying to see what this so-called “armor” looked like.

Li Feng and his companions had taken turns supervising the loading throughout the night. They had set out early that morning so the people in the Science and Technology New District could receive the protective gear as soon as possible.

The four buses entered Mai Duoduo’s loading entrance and stopped in the unloading area.

All three compounds had sent people over, and forklifts and handcarts were ready.

Li Feng leaped nimbly from the bus and called out, “Unload the armor first!”

Everyone had been waiting for that. They surged forward all at once.

Once Li Jiangbing got his hands on a set of armor, he spent a long while examining it by touch. Puzzled, he said, “Why does this thing look so familiar? I must have seen it somewhere before.”

Li Feng immediately solved the mystery. “They requisitioned several plastic medical-equipment factories. They used to make braces for broken bones.”

Everyone suddenly understood.

No one complained about the crude design. To have produced something like this in only a few days, the mold designers must have poured their hearts and souls into it.

They put on the upper-body pieces first, then fastened the arm and leg guards into place. Everyone helped one another adjust the straps to the proper tightness.

After two weeks of fighting zombies, they immediately recognized how practical the equipment was.

It was excellent!

Jiang Cheng asked, “How many sets are there in total?”

Li Feng replied, “Four hundred.”

Jiang Cheng made the decision on the spot. “Two hundred sets for the Youth Apartments, and one hundred each for the other two compounds.”

Li Feng was taken aback and was about to say something, but then he suddenly realized that the people from Zhou Wang’s compound and Yujing Xiangyuan had not said a word.

He looked at the several older men, only to discover—much to his surprise—that they did not seem to have any intention of objecting at all.

Jiang Cheng seemed to understand his surprise and confusion. She offered a concise explanation: “Our residential compound is the main fighting force in this area.”

Zhou Wang nodded. “Yes.”

The people from Yujing Xiangyuan did not deny it either.

So it was true. Since that was the case, Li Feng did not interfere with their distribution arrangements and agreed to their plan.

In just half a month, the Tech New District had already developed its own factions.

Sure enough, wherever there were people, there was a world of rivalries.

The only two people at the scene who were unhappy were Li Jiangbing and Nie Kuizhang.

That was because the armor came in three sizes—large, medium, and small—to accommodate different body types. But the two of them had rather unusual physiques.

One was too muscular, and the other was too fat.

Li Jiangbing’s arms were so thick that the arm guards couldn’t even fit over them. Unless he strapped the leg guards onto his arms—but then someone else would have to go without leg guards.

The upper-body armor was even worse. It was only half as wide as his shoulders and couldn’t be put on at all.

Building too much muscle had its downsides.

Li Jiangbing had spent the whole morning looking forward to getting the armor, only to end up empty-handed.

All the combatants who had taken part in the battle were waiting inside the supermarket. The people from each residential compound stayed together with their own groups.

Once everyone transported the armor from the unloading area into the supermarket, it naturally caused quite a stir.

Each residential compound organized its own people to collect their supplies. There was no need for Li Feng and his people to maintain order at all, which saved them a great deal of effort.

Song Jingshuo called. “We’re almost done here. How are things on your end? How’s that armor?”

“Quite impressive,” Jiang Cheng praised. “It’s incredibly cool.”

Song Jingshuo: “...What?”

Jiang Cheng said, “We’re getting ready to leave.”

Seeing the combatants from the three residential compounds preparing to head for Food Street, Li Feng was tempted to go along as well. “Then we’ll come with—”

Jiang Cheng cut him off immediately. “No.”

“You’re in charge of the supply line. You can’t risk losing people in battle. We have more than enough combatants on our side, but we can’t take over your work.”

“Your job is extremely important. No one can replace you.”

Li Feng: “...”

Li Feng found the whole thing strange. Jiang Cheng’s tone and reasoning sounded incredibly familiar. What did it remind him of?

A leader.

Yes, that was exactly how leaders talked. As a deputy company commander, he used the same tone when speaking to his soldiers.

But Jiang Cheng was a young, beautiful woman, which made the incongruity especially striking.

Curious, Li Feng asked, “Jiang Cheng, are you a civil servant?”

Jiang Cheng denied it. “No. I’m just an ordinary resident.”

Li Feng particularly wanted to suggest that after the zombie crisis was over, she should try taking the civil service exam. He felt that she was exceptionally well suited to working within the system.

But there was no time to bring that up at the moment. He merely nodded and reminded everyone, “Be careful.”

He watched them leave, then turned back to work with the volunteers, sorting the supplies and preparing for the distribution that would follow.

He did not see Jiang Cheng again until the afternoon.

Thanks to the new armor, no one had been injured that day.

Jiang Cheng had specifically come back to find Li Feng. “Please be sure to report this to your superiors. This armor is extremely effective!”

She also made a request. “Could you send us more?”

Li Feng said, “Not for the time being. We’re already manufacturing it around the clock, but the demand is simply too high.”

Jiang Cheng offered him a bargaining chip. “Give us another two hundred suits, and we’ll take Renxin Hospital.”