“The day before yesterday, various communities mobilized to head to the Fifth Ring Road to pick up supplies. Quite a few cars took this route, so a considerable portion had already been cleared,” Jiang Cheng said.
But at the time, everyone’s destination was the drop-off points on the Fifth Ring Road—no vehicle stopped along the way.
The zombies that could be run over were run over; the rest that chased the cars on the road, once they couldn’t keep up, simply lingered on the streets.
But back-and-forth chases like this had drawn zombies out from buildings on both sides of the roads, so now the streets were full of zombies aimlessly wandering around.
“One group will handle LeKang Jiayuan, and another will clear this route.”
Jiang Cheng’s original plan had been this route; adding LeKang Jiayuan now didn’t change anything.
“At the same time, we’ll contact the emergency command center and request material support.”
“The foundation of relief still has to be the military, because we don’t have the ability to create supplies out of thin air. Right now, supplies must come from external input.”
People from Yujing Xiangyuan were surprised: “Contact the command center—will they even pay attention?”
Jiang Cheng looked up: “How will we know if we don’t try? I can reach Mayor Zheng’s secretary.”
“Eh?”
Jiang Cheng said: “The reason the government mobilized the masses is that the military can’t push through fast enough. Now that we know at least the Fifth Ring Road is clear, then we can clear a route to the ring road ourselves—no need for the military to slowly advance.”
As she spoke, her fingertip pressed on the map over the Chaoyang area in the southern part of the city, traced a line to the Fifth Ring Road, swept half a circle along the South Fifth Ring to the North Fifth Ring, then moved back and landed on where they were standing right now.
Zhou Wang was the first to say: “I agree.”
People from Yujing Xiangyuan were half-convinced: “You can really reach the mayor’s secretary?”
Jiang Cheng’s voice was steady: “I can call right now.”
“Xiao Jiang, go ahead,” Zhou Wang said. “Whether it works or not, we’re doing this with you.”
Jiang Cheng was a young woman. Zhou Wang had dealt with her before, so he understood her capabilities. The people from Yujing Xiangyuan only knew that Youth Apartments was well organized, but they had doubts about this young woman who was too young and too pretty.
People—especially men—tend to have the ingrained stereotype that someone so young and beautiful couldn’t possibly be a decisive leader.
Sometimes people just need to leverage authority.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Jiang Cheng dialed Secretary Sun’s number.
As soon as he picked up, Secretary Sun addressed her by name: “Jiang Cheng?”
There was a lot of background noise.
For specific operational matters, there was no need to go directly to the top decision-maker. Besides, the mayor’s secretary wasn’t just someone who booked flights and accommodations—being the mayor’s secretary was essentially a reserve position for deputy mayor.
“Hello, Secretary Sun.” Jiang Cheng went straight to him. “On behalf of the three communities—Youth Apartments, Jixiang Jiayuan, and Yujing Xiangyuan—I need to report the situation to you.”
Secretary Sun’s voice was a bit hoarse, as if he had been talking too much. He said: “Go ahead.”
Jiang Cheng succinctly laid out the situation, adding: “Right now, from Huahui Road in the east, to Hongguang Road in the west, to Beidaying Road in the north, to Sitong Road in the south—that area is already a safe zone. At least the streets are clear.”
Secretary Sun asked: “How long will it take you to clear the route to the Fifth Ring Road? I require no active zombies visible on the road surface.”
The way he said it, everyone knew he did indeed have the authority to arrange things.
Jiang Cheng estimated briefly and promised: “Before 4 PM.”
Secretary Sun thought for only a few seconds, then promised: “If you can do that, I’ll send one or two supply trucks over.”
That would solve LeKang Jiayuan’s supply problem.
Jiang Cheng was about to agree when Secretary Sun added: “And if you can maintain that route clear and prepare a suitable staging area, I can establish a permanent supply point for your area.”
The moment Secretary Sun said that, everyone held their breath.
Secretary Sun’s voice was deep: “Jiang Cheng, we’re not short on supplies. What we’re short on right now is people.”
The nation’s strategic grain reserves were enough to feed the entire country for two years.
The problem right now was that the supplies couldn’t be delivered to the people.
The country had a standing military of 2 million.
That sounded like a lot. In the past, whether for earthquakes or floods, it had been enough—capable of rapid, efficient saturation-level disaster relief. Even in the face of an enemy invasion, it would have been sufficient.
But this time was different.
Even the soldiers’ iron bodies couldn’t resist the zombie virus. Zombies mutated from soldiers—especially second-generation ones—were far more formidable than ordinary second-generation zombies.
Military camps, with their dense populations, had become hard-hit areas for the virus—personnel losses had been devastating.
Not to mention that this zombie crisis was nationwide. Except for uninhabited regions, nowhere had been spared. Even if the million-strong force had suffered no casualties, spread across the vast territory of the country, they would have dissipated like drops of mercury scattering on the ground—vanishing in an instant.
A magnitude of “a million” was still too small compared to the entire nation.
In the end, it still came down to the masses.
And the encouraging thing was—the masses were proving reliable.
And Jiang Cheng’s request happened to align perfectly with the command center’s current thinking: open up supply lines and get materials into the hands of the people!
After the call ended, Secretary Sun closed his phone.
In the center of the hall was a large table covered with an oversized map of S City. Mayor Zheng was there, with many staff members bustling about, reporting and logging the day’s combat results from various districts.
Secretary Sun squeezed over and pointed to a spot in the New Tech District, north of the Fifth Ring Road: “Here—send a supply truck there tomorrow.”
The staff member immediately logged it.
Mayor Zheng, listening to the reports, glanced over: “New Tech District? Youth Apartments? How are they doing?”
“Pretty well,” Secretary Sun said. “Xiao Jiang called me for support. They’re planning to rescue a nearby fallen community tomorrow—one that hasn’t received any supplies yet. They’re worried that even if they save the people, there won’t be anything for them to eat.”
Mayor Zheng was deeply gratified: “These young people have a conscience.”
As long as the younger generation still had their conscience, no matter what difficulties the nation faced, the next generation held hope.
Mayor Zheng had no idea he was praising the wrong people.
It wasn’t that the young people of Youth Apartments lacked a conscience—but neither Jiang Cheng, nor Song Jingshuo, nor anyone else had thought of rescuing LeKang Jiayuan first. What they wanted was to connect the New Tech District to the Fifth Ring Road, which would connect them to the government.
Young people were used to going it alone; their atomization was far greater than that of middle-aged people. More than saving others, their instinct was to save themselves.
“Brother Zhou…” On the way back, Song Jingshuo sighed. “I really have changed my view of him.”
Compared to the younger generation, older people had more human warmth.
He hadn’t expected Zhou Wang to still think of LeKang Jiayuan.
After Secretary Sun mentioned the possibility of establishing a supply point, no one objected anymore.
Youth Apartments, Zhou Wang, and Yujing Xiangyuan had reached a basic agreement. Now they needed to go back and arrange their manpower for tomorrow.
Jixiang West Street was packed with people.
Because Youth Apartments’ east gate and Jixiang Jiayuan’s west gate both opened onto this street. Jixiang Jiayuan had adopted the same strategy as Youth Apartments—everyone had to undergo a full body check upon returning.
Similarly, like Youth Apartments, with so many people returning at once, individual checks by a few people weren’t feasible, so they paired up for mutual checks—fours and sixes, tens and eights, all entering together.
There were too many people at the east gate, so Jiang Cheng, Song Jingshuo, and Wu Jiancheng circled around to the west gate. The west gate also had plenty of people, but it was more open. Jixiang West Street was too narrow—it felt crowded and uncomfortable.
“Jiang Cheng!” Someone suddenly called out to her.
Jiang Cheng looked over. Su Yu, He Tian, and two other girls came over together. Their eyes were all red.
Su Yu sought confirmation from Jiang Cheng: “Is it true that Peng Ze was injured?”
“He’s not coming back, is he?”
“Jiangbing told us. Is it true?”
Li Jiangbing had returned ahead of Jiang Cheng and the others to manage the order of the main group as they re-entered the community. He had told Su Yu about it.
To avoid Nie Kuizhang, He Tian hadn’t stuck with her own building’s group but had stayed with Su Yu instead.
The other girls were also shocked when they heard the news.
In truth, everyone knew that it was impossible for no one to get hurt. But when the person was someone you knew, someone familiar, someone you had deep affection for—it was still unbearably painful.
Song Jingshuo instinctively looked at Jiang Cheng again. He didn’t know why he kept finding himself observing her.
Maybe it was because Jiang Cheng was just too calm.
Of course, Jiang Cheng could laugh and joke. But when things turned bad—the worse they got, the more others panicked—the calmer she became.
Only this time, when she heard the news about Peng Ze, her emotional control hadn’t been as flawless as usual.
Perhaps it was because Peng Ze had such a strong presence.
He didn’t really have any particularly outstanding qualities. But when Jiang Cheng needed to discuss decisions, she called Song Jingshuo. When she needed physical force, she called Li Jiangbing.
Beyond them, the person she called on most often was almost always Peng Ze.
Not even Zhao Yi—because Zhao Yi had his own responsibilities that required him to be on-site every day. But Peng Ze was always following Jiang Cheng, always charging forward the moment his name was called.
Jiang Cheng was silent for a moment, then answered briefly: “Yes.”
The girls all started crying.
He Tian, in particular, asked: “He’s not coming back at all?”
Jiang Cheng didn’t answer.
He Tian tried hard to hold back her tears but couldn’t. She wiped her face, turned, and ran off.
The other girls chased after her.
Peng Ze wasn’t the only one who didn’t come back.
None of the injured returned. Everyone knew what coming back meant—there was no point.
Those who had been with them hadn’t stopped them from leaving either.
Just go—go somewhere else, turn quietly, and be put down by strangers.
That was better than forcing familiar hands to do it.
They all knew each other too well. It was too hard.
Jiang Cheng set those emotions aside. She still had many things to do, many arrangements to make.
Back in the community, many people couldn’t wait to shower and eat. The building broadcast system came on again, and Jiang Cheng informed everyone of Secretary Sun’s promise.
“A supply line?”
“A supply point?”
Everyone got excited. It felt like they could see the first light of dawn after holding out for so long.
This whole zombie mess would eventually end.
Everyone would eventually return to normal life.
Many costs had been paid—for instance, the neighbor next door hadn’t come back today. But from the perspective of humanity as a whole, those costs were unavoidable.
[Tomorrow, we split into three groups.]
Jiang Cheng’s voice rang out over the broadcast.
[The path-clearing team.]
[The rescue team.]
[The cleanup team.]
The supply point needed a space. It would have personnel, and they couldn’t be exposed in an open area without any barriers—they needed some protection against zombies.
Initially, Jiang Cheng’s first thought was to set it up inside the community. If it were there, Youth Apartments would inevitably gain some conveniences.
But in reality, Youth Apartments had always been the least short of supplies in the area. If the supply point were inside Youth Apartments, there would be a large number of non-residents coming and going.
The downsides outweighed the benefits. Forget it.
Jiang Cheng immediately thought of a good location—the Duoduo Supermarket building.
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