The words issued by the government must be interpreted word by word, picked apart character by character.
Many people don’t understand this.
Some people on the Provisional Committee do. They nod.
“Reconstruction” placed in such an announcement is certainly not empty talk.
“The information we’ve gathered over the past few days is just what we’ve seen from a few forums. All we know is that people were beaten to death at the neighboring Jixiang Jiayuan.”
“The government has far more information at its disposal than what we know.”
“City surveillance—cameras are everywhere.”
“Emergency calls have also been restored.”
The municipal government is essentially able to monitor the entire city. They definitely see and know much more.
“As for those few from Buy Duoduo—they’re mainly stock clerks, usually doing heavy labor. Regardless of height, they definitely have considerable strength.”
“If it weren’t for that, there wouldn’t have been just injuries.”
“Most likely, the food they kept for themselves won’t be safe anymore.”
Jiang Cheng pauses.
The room fills with sighs. Everyone had experienced the chaotic scene of Monday, when people from Jixiang Jiayuan rushed wildly through Buy Duoduo grabbing supplies. They can all clearly feel that sense of “loss of control.”
Song Jingshuo leans against the cabinet with his arms crossed, looking at the sea of dark heads, then glances at Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng lets them whisper among themselves, letting the emotions fully ferment.
Once it quiets down, she speaks again: “These past few days, our Provisional Committee has done an excellent job, as witnessed by all the residents. Of course, we can’t discount the contrast provided by our neighbors.”
At that last line, some laugh, some click their tongues.
But everyone agrees with Jiang Cheng’s words.
“Until government rescue arrives in our new district, until life returns to normal, the Provisional Committee will not disband.” Jiang Cheng asks, “For now, our community doesn’t have a food crisis. Everyone took stock yesterday, right? Half a month, a month—is it enough to eat?”
Everyone nods: “It’s enough.”
“No issues.”
“We can hold out.”
That Monday, everyone had a shopping cart per person, doubling their carrying capacity—it really solved a huge problem.
That’s why everyone feels so secure inside, able to sit here and laugh.
“Then we can skip the food topic.” Jiang Cheng says, “The main topic we need to discuss today is—order.”
“It’s divided into two parts: internal and external.”
“Internally, our Provisional Committee must ensure that everyone within the community abides by the law.”
Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan are both present.
They were originally members of the Provisional Committee, among the first group to go downstairs and fight the zombies. They just didn’t stand out in the crowd before, only starting to leave an impression after they voluntarily stepped forward on Tuesday.
The otakus exchange glances at these words, each catching a hint of surprise and confusion in the other’s eyes.
Is there really someone who wouldn’t obey the law?
“I’m not saying something is bound to happen.” Jiang Cheng says, “But I hope everyone understands that even though the police can’t mobilize right now, even though the government is in difficulty, the law remains the foundation that guarantees everyone’s safety. Only when everyone abides by the law can we create an environment where everyone can live in peace.”
“So before government rescue arrives, before the national system is restored, the Provisional Committee will not hesitate to stop and manage any illegal acts committed by anyone in the community, and when necessary, that also includes punishment.”
The girl sits at the dining table, speaking with ease.
Her voice isn’t particularly loud or passionate, but everyone hears her clearly.
When she says “punishment,” no one laughs. They all remember how she fired and expelled that cleaner.
Under the current circumstances, expulsion is almost equivalent to murder.
Many people were present at the time, but almost no one objected. Because everyone stood on the same side as her—the homeowners’ side. From that standpoint, that cleaner was harming the interests of all of them. And if he had succeeded, the remaining staff—other cleaners, security guards, and maintenance workers—if they all went on strike, the homeowners would suffer even greater losses.
So, everyone supported that murder.
Now, everyone can also understand her thinking. They just can’t help secretly guessing what kind of measures she would take if such a situation were to arise.
…
They can’t imagine it.
But they support it.
“Any objections?” Jiang Cheng says. “If you have any opinions or suggestions, speak up now. We’re gathered here today for this meeting precisely to make things clear.”
She says: “We—our own people—need to reach a consensus first.”
The phrase “our own people” makes everyone in the room feel good. But no one volunteers to speak up first.
Song Jingshuo sweeps his gaze across the room and calls someone out: “Zhao Yi, share your thoughts?”
The otaku is startled and stammers: “N-no objections. Whatever Jiang Cheng says, I agree.”
Jiang Cheng smiles and asks: “Yuxuan?”
Gao Yuxuan quickly says: “I agree.”
Jiang Cheng scans the room, and everyone she looks at chimes in with “No objections” and “I agree.”
This motion passes.
Jiang Cheng: “Next, let’s talk about external matters. I believe it’s necessary to strengthen the community’s defenses. I predict that in the days ahead, we may become a target.”
Everyone is sitting on the floor—some cross-legged, some hugging their knees. Hearing this, they all instinctively crane their necks, straighten their backs, and perk up their ears.
“There’s no supply resupply now,” Jiang Cheng says. “Jixiang Jiayuan is relatively lucky—they managed to grab supplies alongside us. But the other nearby residential complexes are probably running out of food.”
“Did everyone check their community forums this morning? The day before yesterday and yesterday, it wasn’t just Shanshui Yayuan—Yujing Xiangyuan, Deqing Li, and Lekang Jiayuan all spontaneously went downstairs too.”
Someone can’t help saying: “Spontaneous? They’re running out of food, so they finally dared to go out and try.”
“They’re worse off than Jixiang Jiayuan.”
“The only ones nearby are us and Jixiang Jiayuan; the others aren’t doing well.”
But Jiang Cheng had met with Dong Ge and his group from Buy Duoduo yesterday, and only people from Yujing Xiangyuan and Deqing Li went to Buy Duoduo.
Everyone guesses: “Probably because of the restaurant street.”
Jiang Cheng nods: “I think so too. They probably can’t get through.”
The other two complexes would have to cross a restaurant and entertainment street to reach Buy Duoduo. That street has not only many restaurants but also bars and coffee shops.
Remember, the zombie virus outbreak happened on Saturday night, and it’s summer now.
Who knows how many people were on that restaurant street at that time. Even normally, popular restaurants would have queues of dozens or even over a hundred people.
“Jeez.” Someone imagines it and can’t help rubbing their arms, feeling their hairs stand on end.
“But even for Jixiang Jiayuan, the supplies they managed to grab that trip probably weren’t as much as ours,” Jiang Cheng says. “Yet they have more family members per household than we do. Also, there’s Yujing Xiangyuan—if people from there cut through Jixiang Jiayuan, they can reach us.”
“The situation in our community isn’t just visible on our own forum—people are even talking about it on Jixiang Jiayuan’s forum. Anyone who goes looking will see that Youth Apartments has plenty of supplies.”
“I’m worried that under the current circumstances, some people driven by extreme hunger will set their sights on us and take desperate risks.”
The atmosphere in the room suddenly turns serious.
Everyone agrees with Jiang Cheng’s concern: “It’s possible, really possible.”
Jiang Cheng throws the question to everyone: “Let’s discuss it.”
When it came to decision-making, everyone wanted to avoid eye contact. But when it came to specific measures at this practical level, they were all eager and enthusiastic.
The room buzzed with heated discussion.
Jiang Cheng took her own cup to the kitchen to get some water. Song Jingshuo’s kitchen had a water purifier with drinkable tap water—very convenient.
The Provisional Committee currently only had Jiang Cheng and Su Yu as women; the rest were men.
Although the first group that went downstairs to kill zombies were all men, later on, brave women like Su Yu also came down to participate. But the girls were at a disadvantage when it came to their awareness of power. Years of social conditioning had left them with little subjective willingness to proactively seize and hold onto power.
So when the Provisional Committee was established, they only watched from afar.
Later, only Su Yu got pulled in by Jiang Cheng simply because they lived in the same building.
With more men, they were very proactive in handling these matters, and soon came up with many useful suggestions.
Earlier this year, after a string of burglaries, the railings around the community had already been fitted with anti-theft nets with steel spikes. Only the east and west gates didn’t have them—those needed to be installed.
That stuff was priced by the meter, and they had installed exactly as much as they’d bought, with no leftovers.
But that didn’t stump the engineering guys. In particular, the ones with engineering backgrounds offered plenty of feasible suggestions.
The limitation was what materials were available in the property management warehouse.
Jiang Cheng asked the one who’d spoken most enthusiastically: “What’s your name?”
“Cui Haiyang.”
Cui Haiyang. Li Jiangbing knew him—he was the one who’d done the main cutting of those steel pipes.
The people on the Provisional Committee, strangers who hadn’t known each other before, were starting to become familiar with one another day by day.
“Alright. Cui Haiyang.” Jiang Cheng made the call. “You’re in charge of this.”
“Got it.”
They also talked about how the windows at Youth Apartments didn’t have security bars, making the first and second floors relatively dangerous, and how to prevent intrusions.
Master Luo offered a very practical suggestion: “Would rat glue work?”
The property had a batch of rat glue—since it was needed long-term, they’d stockpiled quite a lot. And they were large sheets that had to be cut to size.
“Put it under the windows. It’s super sticky—it’ll trap both feet at once.”
That way, intruders wouldn’t be able to stand and would basically end up flat on their faces.
Others suggested making tripwires and other small traps.
Then the topic started to diverge, veering off track, going further and further afield, becoming more and more animated.
“Alright, alright. We’ll start a dedicated thread later where everyone can post their suggestions and specific methods.” Jiang Cheng had to knock on the table to pull the conversation back.
Maintaining survival order—both internally and externally—was the main agenda for today’s meeting. After those two matters were discussed, they moved on to other miscellaneous issues.
The clubhouse had been used for trash storage since Tuesday. Although Zhao Yi and the others had taken various measures, they couldn’t completely eliminate the odor given the limited conditions.
Actually, this morning Song Jingshuo and Jiang Cheng had already noticed that the smell was starting to drift into the gym.
And now that everyone was cooped up at home, the gym was being used frequently—not just for working out, but also for socializing.
Song Jingshuo suggested moving the gym equipment out of the clubhouse. They finally decided to distribute the machines across the first-floor lobbies of each building.
And other small matters of that sort.
There was also one bigger issue. Jiang Cheng said: “The bodies on Jixiang West Street need to be dealt with—they’re too close to us.”
Jixiang West Street was the road sandwiched between Youth Apartments’ east gate and Jixiang Jiayuan’s west gate. To get to Buy Duoduo, you’d go out the east gate and take this road.
Jixiang Jiayuan was one of the earlier-built developments in the new district, so the east-west roads were named after their community.
Jixiang West Street ran right next to Youth Apartments, and the bodies on that street were now decomposing badly.
Yesterday, when Jiang Cheng met with Dong Ge at the east gate, she saw the situation outside and felt it needed to be cleaned up.
Things like this required someone to bring them up—otherwise, most people would see it, think it was unpleasant, but wouldn’t step up to do anything about it.
When humans live together in groups, someone has to step up and take charge.
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