Chapter 95

Yes.

If Jiang Cheng were an unremarkable person who faded into the crowd, how could she have left so many unforgettable moments in everyone’s memories?

Every time, she made people sigh, “As expected of Jiang Cheng.”

For a young woman to stand out during a crisis like that and make a whole group of able-bodied men follow her commands and arrangements, she had to be this kind of person.

By this point, many people in the square had already been convinced.

But Jiang Cheng did not end the topic. Instead, she asked, “Let me ask one more time. Did no one feel that same pain in their head on June 15 as they did yesterday?”

She looked toward several people who had already known since yesterday that they had awakened superpowers.

But when they saw her gaze sweep over them, they all shook their heads and denied it. “Yesterday was the first time. Nothing happened on June 15.”

Jiang Cheng nodded. “In that case, I’ll be honest with everyone about something. You all know that I’m very strong, right? I’ve always told everyone that I’ve been strong since I was little—stronger than some men, even.”

Everyone knew this.

Whenever people privately discussed “Jiang Cheng from the Provisional Committee,” they could never avoid mentioning her “beauty, ruthlessness, quick mind, and great strength.”

“I lied,” Jiang Cheng openly admitted.

Everyone was puzzled. They could not understand what there was to lie about regarding her strength. She was strong, and everyone had seen with their own eyes that she did not hide behind others when killing zombies.

Jiang Cheng continued, “On June 15, the sky turned purple, and it felt as though my head was about to explode. When I woke up, I discovered that I had become stronger.”

Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan exchanged startled looks and said in unison, “You mean...!”

Those two understood the fastest. They had been pondering the matter of superpowers all along.

Seeing that most people still looked confused and had not grasped her meaning, Jiang Cheng elaborated.

“Yesterday, many people experienced headaches like I did both times. When they woke up, they had superpowers.”

“But yesterday wasn’t my first time. The last time this happened, I didn’t gain a superpower, but I did become stronger.”

“I realized at the time that something was wrong, but I didn’t find anyone else who was like me. I vaguely sensed that it might be connected to the zombie virus. To keep everyone from becoming overly sensitive and treating me like a potential zombie, I didn’t tell the truth.”

“Yesterday, the exact same thing happened again. This time, I gained a superpower. And this time, there were finally other people like me.”

“So I began to wonder—is it possible that what we call the zombie virus is actually upgrading and modifying us humans?”

“The first time, the modification didn’t succeed. Those who didn’t turn into zombies were people whose modification had failed to complete. I may count as someone who was partially modified successfully. Although I didn’t awaken a superpower, at least my strength increased. Looking back, my physical foundation must have been upgraded.”

“And zombies weren’t the result of an unsuccessful modification. They were... the products of a failed modification.”

“Now the second round has arrived. This time, it may be carrying out another modification based on the previous one. As a result, the probability of success has increased. Some of us successfully upgraded and evolved, gaining superpowers. Others still failed.”

“But those who failed are lucky too, because failing at least means they won’t turn into zombies. The ones whose modification failed completely became zombies.”

“This is the theory I came up with after thinking about it all night yesterday. I believe it makes sense. What do you all think?”

Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan were the first to applaud in support. “That’s exactly what we came up with! We think you’re right!”

The two of them had stayed up late discussing the matter, and their theory was more or less the same as Jiang Cheng’s.

So when Jiang Cheng presented a theory that matched their own ideas, the excitement and delight they felt was something others could not possibly understand.

Most of the residents of the Youth Apartments had received higher education.

When a theory was logically coherent, people were willing to accept it.

The crowd began murmuring, and everyone could not help discussing it with the people beside them.

Jiang Cheng gave them two minutes, then drew the conversation back to the main point.

“So that’s why. Because I had already been affected the first time, when I realized yesterday that the coincidence of the sky changing color and my headache occurring was exactly the same as on June 15, I didn’t need to hesitate. I immediately sent a mass text message to everyone.”

Put that way, this really was so unmistakably Jiang Cheng.

Yes, that was exactly what Jiang Cheng was like.

She could make a decision without the slightest hesitation, immediately and decisively. Everyone had witnessed it with their own eyes and benefited from it personally.

The question Jiang Cheng had been required to answer—“Why did you know the virus was coming in advance?”—had received an answer everyone accepted.

People sighed one after another. “Thank goodness Jiang Cheng is that kind of person.”

“If it were me, I definitely would’ve hesitated. I probably wouldn’t have sent that message to everyone.”

“Yeah, absolutely.”

Su Yu especially admired Jiang Cheng for this quality—for her decisiveness and determination.

After thinking it over, Su Yu realized that if she were in Jiang Cheng’s place, it would be difficult for her to make such a firm decision at once.

She would certainly have worried, “What if it’s only a coincidence?” and “What if nothing happens and everyone blames me or laughs at me?”

The most likely outcome was that she would have her own suspicions but lack the courage to warn anyone else. Instead, she would hide by herself first, wavering and hesitating.

That kind of decision was more in keeping with her personality.

Jiang Cheng suddenly clapped twice, interrupting the noisy discussion. “All right. Everyone, line up by building. Let’s count how many people we have.”

This meant the six building heads had work to do.

The building heads of Buildings One, Two, and Four—Wu Jiancheng, Li Jiangbing, and Song Jingshuo—were all still there.

Nie Kuizhang, the head of Building Three, had died.

The head of Building Five had never shown up. No one had seen him, and he might not have returned at all.

The head of Building Six had mutated into a zombie, and the residents of his building had gone to kill him yesterday.

Now, people had stepped up to take charge of Buildings Three, Five, and Six. None of them were strangers. They had all been members of the Provisional Committee, and everyone had already worked together long enough to be familiar with one another.

The residents formed six lines to count the number of people present.

When Li Jiangbing saw that half of Wu Jiancheng’s hair was gone, he stared in shock. “What happened to your hair?”

Wu Jiancheng looked miserable. “Don’t ask.”

Li Jiangbing guessed immediately. “You set yourself on fire, didn’t you?”

He remembered that Wu Jiancheng had a fire-based ability, so he figured it out at once. He was delighted.

Wu Jiancheng planted his hands on his hips. “Don’t laugh. I discovered an especially useful application for my superpower yesterday.”

Li Jiangbing perked up. “What is it?”

Wu Jiancheng gave a mischievous grin. “Putting out fires. Didn’t see that coming, did you?”

When people heard the words “fire-based ability,” the first thing they thought of was starting fires.

But the reverse application was putting them out.

In the middle of the night, Wu Jiancheng had been jolted awake after setting himself on fire. When he opened his eyes, half the room had already gone up in flames.

There were no firefighters to call during a disaster like this. If another fire broke out in the middle of the crisis, whether anyone survived depended entirely on luck.

But things were different now.

Wu Jiancheng’s superpower was controlling fire.

It was a little difficult for him to make the flames burn that fiercely, but whenever he wanted to put them out, the fire went out silently wherever his superpower reached.

More effective than a fire extinguisher.

That was an incredibly valuable ability. Practically a lifesaving function.

Li Jiangbing tried to find fault with it, but couldn’t come up with anything. All he could do was give him a thumbs-up. “Awesome!”

Song Jingshuo said, “Get to work first!”

“Right, right!”

Counting everyone was simple. They formed six lines, with ten people in each group, making the total obvious at a glance.

Building One: 69 people.

Building Two: 113 people.

Building Three: 74 people.

Building Four: 85 people.

Building Five: 47 people.

Building Six: 53 people.

Property management: 10 people.

Including the property-management staff, there were 451 people in total.

That was why sweeping through the buildings yesterday had gone so quickly.

There were simply so few people.

So very few.

Once the numbers were announced, the little plaza fell silent.

The last time, there had been nearly two thousand people in the entire residential complex. When they had gathered in the plaza, the crowd had stretched out as far as the eye could see.

Everyone had already been through one zombie disaster. They understood that, given the current situation, those who had not returned were probably never coming back.

Building Two had the most people. Why?

Because the residents of Building Two had interacted with Jiang Cheng the most. As a result, the greatest number of them trusted Jiang Cheng—and the greatest number had returned.

The building captains were mainly registering whether people had armor and whether they possessed superpowers.

While they were busy with that, those who had already registered came over to ask, “Jiang Cheng, are we going to Mai Duoduo today?”

They were all experienced now: burn the corpses, grab whatever they could, and stockpile trash.

The same process might have to be repeated all over again.

That actually sounded pretty good. Mai Duoduo had restocked, so the store should have every kind of item now.

Jiang Cheng didn’t answer right away. Instead, he asked, “Does everyone still have enough staple food?”

“We do.”

“I haven’t finished what I had before. But I don’t feel secure without some food on hand, so I went to Mai Duoduo and stocked up on several more bags of rice.”

“Me too!”

Even people who had once embraced minimalist living had awakened their inner hoarders after experiencing the previous zombie disaster.

They were no longer minimalists. They stocked up on whatever they could—especially food.

“Mai Duoduo is different this time,” Jiang Cheng said. “Last time, it was a weekend night, and the supermarkets were closed, so they were relatively empty.”

“Yesterday was afternoon, when the supermarkets were open as usual. There were definitely people inside. Maybe not many, but there had to be some.”

“Everyone has enough food for now. And... to be honest, I’m guessing the supplies in the supermarket’s storeroom are probably about the same as last time, but this time...”

“There are fewer people, so the supplies aren’t as urgently needed.”

There were fewer people.

Three words, spoken so casually.

Where had all those people gone?

They were all at work. All those exhausted wage slaves working themselves to the bone to support themselves and their families.

Trapped at their workplaces, unable to return.

It was heartbreaking just to think about.

Next door, at Auspicious Garden, there were probably only elderly people and housewives left by now.

Husbands and dual-income couples were likely all stranded downtown.

The elementary and middle school students were trapped at school. Vice Mayor Zheng had ordered schools to make up the classes interrupted by the zombie disaster. The children were attending school throughout August.

If they couldn’t break out, they would all end up like the people at Renxin Hospital.

Everyone sighed.

Some of the people here who had stayed upstairs yesterday were learning about superpowers for the first time.

Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan were responsible for explaining things to everyone. “The most obvious sign we know of so far is a headache. It feels as if someone is sticking a needle into your brain. It keeps stabbing the same spot, one jab at a time.”

Someone immediately spoke up. “Me! Me! I’ve had a headache since yesterday. Does that mean I’m about to get a superpower?”

And it wasn’t just one person.

When superpowers came up, Li Jiangbing felt sorry for Song Jingshuo.

He was strong in every way—so how had he ended up being the only one without a superpower? Jiang Cheng had one, and so did Li Jiangbing. The three of them were supposed to be an ironclad trio.

As everyone enthusiastically discussed superpowers, Li Jiangbing put a hand on Song Jingshuo’s shoulder and comforted him. “It’s fine. Look, people with superpowers are still in the minority.”

That was true. Those with superpowers were a minority; most people didn’t have any.

The majority hadn’t leveled up or evolved. They were still ordinary people.

But Song Jingshuo merely glanced at him.

“Huh?” Li Jiangbing knew him far too well and immediately noticed. “What’s going on? You got one? You have a superpower now, don’t you?”

Song Jingshuo looked away.

So he really did have one!

Li Jiangbing was delighted. “You got a superpower and didn’t say anything? Come on, tell us. What type is it? Fire? Metal? It can’t be earth, can it? That doesn’t suit you. Hey, mine doesn’t suit me either.”

As far as Li Jiangbing was concerned, he should have had a metal-type ability. Fire would have worked too, or earth at the very least.

How had he ended up with water?

Li Jiangbing was incapable of keeping anything to himself. He put an arm around Song Jingshuo’s shoulders and called out to Jiang Cheng, “Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng! Jingshuo has a superpower now, but he won’t say what it is!”

Jiang Cheng came over.

Li Jiangbing shook Song Jingshuo by the shoulder. “Tell us!”

With Jiang Cheng there too, Song Jingshuo had no choice but to pull something from his trouser pocket.

Li Jiangbing took a close look, then even leaned over and gave it a sniff.

“Huh? This is... isn’t this a radish?”