The plaza buzzed with noise again.
Residents had come downstairs to cooperate with the interim committee’s request—to drop off their cardboard boxes, packaging, and plastic bottles. While watching the commotion just now, they’d been holding onto these items.
Now they got moving again.
Previously, everyone had just tossed their things down and left, leaving the cleaners to sort and bundle them.
Now, many people were stacking them neatly as they set them down, and some even helped organize things—reducing the cleaners’ workload when it came time to bundle.
People also said “thank you” and “thanks for your hard work” to the cleaners.
The cleaners responded with nods and grunts of acknowledgment.
The security guards also dispersed and returned to their posts.
Everyone could feel it—after this incident, the cleaners and security guards all had clearer, more focused eyes.
So the sentiment of “why should we still have to work” hadn’t been limited to that one middle-aged male cleaner alone.
This was actually for the best. Once everything was out in the open, people’s minds were more at ease.
When Li Jiangbing and his group returned, they happened to catch Liu Hongwang kowtowing to Song Jingshuo on the open ground inside the gate—thumping his head against the ground.
Li Jiangbing and the others were completely baffled: “What’s going on here?”
Peng Ze leaned in and explained: “He said he wouldn’t work because he wasn’t getting paid. Jiang Cheng fired him on behalf of the interim committee. Now he’s no longer a property staff member, which means he’s not part of our community anymore. They’re making him leave. And now he’s regretting it.”
Liu Hongwang was a mess of snot and tears: “Brother! Mr. Song! I was wrong! I was really wrong! Where am I supposed to go out there? You’re sending me to my death!”
Li Jiangbing and the others exchanged glances.
Song Jingshuo’s expression remained indifferent.
He turned and murmured something to the people beside him, and a few young men went over and hauled Liu Hongwang up.
Li Jiangbing and his group quickly moved their carts aside to clear the way.
Ignoring Liu Hongwang’s wailing, the men carried him to the gate and forcibly shoved him out.
They also pushed his bicycle out after him.
To be fair, there was some reluctance in everyone’s hearts. Being hard-working young people, some had already helped tie Liu Hongwang’s personal belongings onto his bike.
They even gave him a stick: “Here, for self-defense.”
And they stuffed a few magazines and a roll of tape into his hands, instructing him: “Wrap these around your arms—helps against bites.”
Liu Hongwang’s face was ashen as he watched the community gate close before him. A security guard he knew locked it from the inside.
Song Jingshuo walked up to the gate and said through the gap: “Find shelter while it’s still daytime. It’s much more dangerous at night.”
Liu Hongwang ground his teeth, his face contorted.
In the end, he turned his head away, stuck the stick among his belongings, mounted his bike, and rode off.
At Jiang Cheng’s request, both the east and west gates of the community were now staffed with two people on duty at all times.
Song Jingshuo asked the two security guards: “You both know him, don’t you?”
The two guards exchanged glances and just murmured in acknowledgment.
“Even if you know him, you can’t let him back in,” Song Jingshuo said. “There’s no going home now—this place is your home too. You eat, drink, and sleep here just like we do. If you let him in, he’ll hold a grudge. He could cut electrical wires or damage pipes, and you’d be affected too.”
“You need to think clearly—you don’t have anywhere else to go. Right now, this community is your home.”
“Protect your own home.”
This guy’s speech was no worse than Jiang Cheng’s, Li Jiangbing thought with a silent whistle of admiration.
The guards nodded repeatedly: “Got it, got it.”
Any lingering dissatisfaction in their hearts had been cleared up by Jiang Cheng’s reasoning.
The community belonged to the residents. They weren’t residents—so they needed to work for the residents, exchanging their labor for the right to stay in the community.
It was unfair how fate had created such disparities between people, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Whatever other thoughts they might have, they’d push them down for now and focus on staying put.
Around this area, the youth apartments were the most reliable and safest place to be.
Song Jingshuo walked over to Li Jiangbing and looked at their carts—every single one piled high.
“Good haul?”
“Mission accomplished. Where’s Jiang Cheng?”
“In the plaza.”
“Let’s go, let’s go find Jiang Cheng.”
The group wheeled their shopping carts clattering toward the small plaza. Sure enough, Jiang Cheng was there.
“Jiang Cheng! Look what we found!” Li Jiangbing bellowed from a distance.
The hardware store had been a treasure trove.
Li Jiangbing and his group had found over twenty bags of quicklime.
“This is great,” someone said. “Perfect for disinfecting the garden.”
Corpses couldn’t be completely reduced to ash—even a crematorium’s high-temperature furnace would leave behind bone fragments. And with the youth apartments’ open-air burning, the temperature could never get high enough. After burning, there was still a large “pile.”
Many areas also had leftover fluids and residue. The entire community needed a thorough disinfection.
But there would be a huge amount of household waste to handle in the days ahead. Even though they’d brought back so much disinfectant and bleach this time, it probably wouldn’t be enough in the long run.
“And these.” Li Jiangbing had everyone bring out their haul. “Take a look.”
“Whoa, so many steel pipes? Where’d you get these?”
“From that hardware store on the street.”
“A hardware store—no wonder.”
Jiang Cheng took a steel pipe and tested its weight, gesturing with it: “If it were cut to this length, it’d be easier to swing.”
Exactly—as long as they were cut to the right length, these pipes were perfect as zombie-killing weapons. The weight, hardness, and thickness were all ideal.
“Can we cut them?” Jiang Cheng asked the property staff.
Yang Xinyan said: “Probably—the engineering department has a cutting machine. Master Luo and the others know how to use it.”
Everyone got busy again.
The disinfectants were all taken to the clubhouse for storage.
Jiang Cheng had already appointed Zhao Yi as the person in charge of that area. Since he was in environmental engineering, it was a perfect fit.
Cutting the steel pipes didn’t even require Master Luo’s help. A bunch of engineering majors among the residents eagerly volunteered: “I can do it! Let me!”
They even started arguing over what the optimal length for a steel pipe weapon should be.
The plaza was noisy and bustling, and somehow that helped ease Yang Xinyan’s discomfort.
Su Yu happened to come down just then.
She was responsible for posting on the forum, and after posting, she’d been chatting in the group chats. She was meticulous about organizing things too—she only came down after she’d finished sorting everything, carrying her cardboard boxes. She saw the plaza was lively.
Many people were crowded around Jiang Cheng. Su Yu couldn’t easily squeeze through, so she went over to say hello to Yang Xinyan instead.
In the community, there were more men than women, and the girls naturally gravitated toward each other for support, forming their own group. They’d pulled each other in one by one.
But no one had pulled Jiang Cheng in.
It wasn’t that they were excluding her—everyone just instinctively felt that… Jiang Cheng would be too busy.
Even Su Yu felt that way. And since she was already on the interim committee, she could relay any special needs the girls had through the committee chat group.
Or they could just find Jiang Cheng directly if needed.
Yang Xinyan had already joined the female residents’ group and was familiar with Su Yu and the others. Seeing Su Yu, she immediately filled her in on what had just happened—
A cleaner who’d tried to go on strike had been expelled.
“Miss Jiang is really…” Yang Xinyan was a bit scared now. “Formidable.”
Here, “formidable” wasn’t an adverb of degree—it was an adjective.
Su Yu completely understood the word and the feeling.
This was the third time—after smashing Mai Duoduo’s glass doors and breaking into the pharmacy.
“Otherwise it’d be hard to manage…” she began to defend Jiang Cheng.
But then both of them suddenly realized the opposing nature of their identities—one was a resident, the other a property staff member. In this incident, the two of them were actually on different sides.
They both felt awkward.
Yang Xinyan quickly said: “I understand, I understand.”
Now that the entire community—above and below ground—had been cleared, many residents felt safe enough to come downstairs and stroll around.
Of course, most people still carried “weapons” with them when they wandered about.
One bite from a zombie and you were done for. Even if you didn’t mutate, the interim committee wouldn’t let it slide. So it was safer to carry a weapon while wandering around.
Many residents who’d never known each other before—all lone wolves—now suddenly felt a desire to socialize.
They’d greet each other, ask for names, exchange contact info, and add each other to groups.
Strangers had become comrades-in-arms. Some had fought back-to-back together, and some had even saved each other’s lives.
The community’s atmosphere had changed completely from before—it was almost like a big mixer.
After Li Jiangbing handed over the disinfectants to Zhao Yi, he washed his hands of that whole side of things.
Aside from people like Zhao Yi, who worked in environmental engineering, who would be interested in garbage disposal? Li Jiangbing certainly wasn’t.
Though the community was busy and lively, there wasn’t any major crisis requiring him to stay glued to Jiang Cheng’s side. So he headed to the property management office to watch the engineering guys cutting steel pipes.
On the way, he spotted Su Yu.
He liked gentle, sweet-looking girls. He’d misjudged Jiang Cheng, but he felt he wouldn’t misjudge Su Yu—she was much more demure, inside and out.
Not that he was saying Jiang Cheng wasn’t consistent inside and out. No, not at all.
He called out to Su Yu: “Want to come take a look?”
Su Yu had been using a frying pan as her weapon, but it was a bit heavy and not very convenient to carry around when things happened. She’d always been reluctant to use a kitchen knife.
Even now, watching her companions sever zombies’ necks and chop off their heads still made her uncomfortable.
At least with a frying pan, the body stayed intact.
So she followed Li Jiangbing.
The property office was packed. A lot of people had heard about the steel pipes and had come hoping to get one. Compared to chair legs or mop handles, steel pipes were definitely more effective.
The cutting machine was in the engineering department, and the room couldn’t hold that many people. Everyone was crammed into the hallway.
Someone was pressed against the wall, against a door. Turning their head, they were startled to find that the door was welded shut: “What happened here?”
Someone in the know said: “That’s the meeting room.”
The people in front looked up and indeed saw a sign reading “Meeting Room” on the door: “Ah, so that’s the one…?”
“Yeah!”
“Are those people still alive?”
“Who knows.”
“Why was it welded shut?”
“Apparently the people inside lost it and smashed the surveillance camera. That way, no one outside could see what was happening inside. So the interim committee just sealed the door completely.”
“Damn…”
People are always curious. One person couldn’t resist leaning in and pressing their ear against the door.
After listening for a moment, their expression suddenly changed. They jerked upright and stepped back two paces, stomping on the foot of someone behind them, who yelped in pain: “Watch it!”
Someone else asked: “What’s wrong?”
That person said: “Listen for yourself.”
Several others grew curious and pressed their ears against the door. Even the one whose foot had been stepped on couldn’t help but lean in.
…
Exhalation.
Not normal breathing.
It was the sound of deep, forceful exhales—right by their ears!
Several people were startled and straightened up, exchanging uneasy glances.
“You heard that, right?”
“You heard it too?”
They confirmed with each other.
Think about it—even if they’d killed each other off, theoretically, there should still be one survivor left at the end, right?
“Why isn’t it banging on the door?”
Whether they were first-generation or second-generation zombies, they all followed their instincts to attack living humans. If they encountered an obstacle, they’d charge at it mindlessly.
This one was standing right behind the door—so why wasn’t it mindlessly banging on it?
“Does it know it’s useless? So…”
“But doesn’t that mean it has intelligence?”
They squeezed out a small space. Others noticed and asked, “What’s going on?”
They replied: “There should still be a zombie in there.”
Someone said: “Don’t worry about it. It’s welded shut anyway.”
That made sense—they didn’t need to do anything.
But the few of them exchanged glances, and in the crowded hallway, their hair suddenly stood on end.
They subtly shifted their positions, trying not to get too close to that door.
Li Jiangbing came down with Su Yu. As soon as he arrived, he saw the crowd packed in. He bellowed: “How’s it going? Let me see! Move aside, move aside!”
Everyone made way for him, and he brought Su Yu inside.
The first batch had already cut several pipes of different lengths. Many who’d come to watch were testing them out, taking turns swinging them around.
Li Jiangbing didn’t lack a weapon himself, but he pushed others aside: “Let the girl try first. Girls first.”
He pushed Su Yu forward.
Su Yu tried several of them and found one that felt particularly comfortable in her hand.
Li Jiangbing waved his hand decisively: “Take this one.”
No one objected, and Su Yu gripped it in her hand: “Thank you.”
In truth, many people lacked effective weapons and all wanted a steel pipe. That’s why so many were crowded here—they were all trying to grab one. There were too many people and too few pipes.
But no one dared to object when Li Jiangbing spoke, so Su Yu got first pick.
Su Yu thanked Li Jiangbing and squeezed out with her new steel pipe in hand.
The property office was in the basement of Building One, where the air wasn’t great to begin with. With so many people packed in, the air quality was even worse.
After squeezing out and coming up from the basement, Su Yu immediately pulled out her phone and composed a text message:
[They’ve brought back steel pipes and are cutting them at the property office. Lots of people are crowded there waiting. If you don’t have a good weapon yet, come quick. I already got one—it’s really effective.]
She was going to send it to a few of the girls she knew. Text messages cost per message, so it wasn’t the most economical, but it was faster than calling everyone individually.
After thinking it over, she added: [If you can’t get one, try asking Li Jiangbing—he has sway.]
She sent the message out as a group text.
Jiang Cheng, Song Jingshuo, and Li Jiangbing had formed a triangle.
A triangle was stable.
And the triangle formed by these three people gave Su Yu a sense of security.
Things were good like this.
She hoped nothing else would happen.
The youth apartments were bustling and lively—chaotic but orderly.
Then, on the afternoon of the third day of the zombie crisis, the government announcement that had been looping on repeat finally updated.
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