The solution to the soybean issue was simple.
Actually, they could have just asked the kitchen staff to sun-dry the beans. But there was an even simpler method—Zeng Qiang told Song Jingshuo: “Just make them ripen fully and dry out on their own.”
Song Jingshuo had never tried that before. He gave it a shot, and to his surprise, it actually worked.
The pods visibly turned yellow and brittle before their eyes. When shaken, the beans inside rattled audibly.
Zeng Qiang marveled: “So fast.”
In actual farming, from full ripeness to the pods and beans dehydrating and hardening takes 12 to 20 days.
With superpowers, it took just a few minutes.
The squad gathered and headed out again.
Everyone had strangely started to feel a “nine-to-five grind” when killing zombies.
Gao Yuxuan and Guo Jun ditched their full-body metal armor today—it was too cumbersome—and went back to wearing regular protective gear.
Waving goodbye to the squad, those staying behind in the neighborhood didn’t idle either.
There were no dedicated cleaners anymore. Cleaning duties in the neighborhood were now assigned to residents outside the squad.
Everyone was now registered, and Song Jingshuo had a complete roster. He had drawn up a duty roster.
Some swept the courtyards, others hauled garbage. Earth-type superpowered individuals followed along, transporting the trash to the street-side park outside the west gate, where they opened up the soil, dumped the waste in, and buried it.
Song Jingshuo stood up from his vegetable plot and gazed at the relatively clean and tidy neighborhood courtyard. A thought suddenly struck him: “Actually, it wouldn’t be so bad to just live on like this.”
He asked Zeng Qiang: “Am I crazy?”
What about his promotion? His pay raise? His penthouse apartment? His life steadily climbing to the peak?
Zeng Qiang was now Song Jingshuo’s fixed work partner—a senior agricultural technical advisor.
He crouched in the field, chuckling.
With schools and kindergartens prioritized—cleared and survivors rescued—everyone felt more at ease.
Today, they began patrolling the residential areas.
Overall, the entire residential district had very few zombies.
Occasional stragglers on the streets were dealt with on the spot.
Most residential complexes had already cleared out the zombies inside their own compounds over the past few days.
The situation in each complex was similar to Jixiang Jiayuan—the vast majority were elderly.
They also spotted the students who had been rescued from Gaoxin Middle School the day before.
They were wearing metal armor gifted by Cui Haiyang and his people, and carrying weapons.
Spotting the familiar No. 535 large vehicle, the students came running over excitedly: “It’s you guys! Why are you here?”
Only a day had passed, yet it felt like a reunion after a long separation.
Jiang Cheng told them about the formation of the Tech New District Provisional Government, a coalition of several neighborhoods. The students chimed in: “Our neighborhood wants to join too!”
But it was actually quite inconvenient, since their neighborhood was a bit farther away.
The kids said: “We have bicycles! We want to join the squad!”
Jiang Cheng didn’t agree outright, nor did she flatly refuse. She told them: “First, get your own neighborhood organized and elect a leader. Is there any adult in charge right now?”
At that, the kids got angry.
The demographics of this neighborhood were similar to Jixiang Jiayuan’s. But its current state was closer to Yujing Xiangyuan—namely, no one was stepping up to take charge.
Yujing Xiangyuan, being close to Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan, had been influenced by them and at least had someone willing to step up and take on leadership, and had joined the Tech New District Provisional Government, keeping up with the times.
In this neighborhood, the few young and middle-aged adults noticed that the majority were elderly and immediately realized that if they became the leaders, they’d be responsible for all those old people.
That was a burden.
No young adults were willing to step up. They had ransacked the nearby convenience stores, stockpiled enough supplies, then shut their doors and lived only for themselves.
It was the elderly who were taking care of things.
When the kids returned, they couldn’t find their parents either—it was the elderly who organized meals for them.
Over twenty kids now had weapons and armor, and they had taken on the responsibility of clearing out zombies—eliminating every last one hidden in the corners and rooms of the neighborhood.
The old and the young huddled together for warmth.
Jiang Cheng nodded approvingly: “If the adults won’t take charge, then you do it yourselves. Act like adults.”
The students gripped their weapons tightly and nodded firmly: “Okay!”
Most of the elderly had no armor, and their weapons were just kitchen knives and the like.
After a headcount, Cui Haiyang led the metal-type superpowered individuals to craft gear on the spot.
The goal was to ensure everyone had armor and a weapon.
That way, everyone could fight—or at least defend themselves—without needing the Tech New District squad to spare resources to protect them.
Jiang Cheng instructed them: “Get your neighborhood organized—mainly hygiene and security. Either elect a head person or form a committee for joint management. You’ll need a designated contact person for our side. Can you get online? Check our neighborhood’s owner forum for specific contact info—we have a dedicated post for everyone. You’ll see it right away.”
“Does your neighborhood have any wood-type superpowered individuals who can provide a steady food supply? If not, contact us and we’ll figure something out.”
Jiang Cheng could tell that she herself had changed too.
Two months ago, at most she’d have helped out Jixiang Jiayuan next door, since they were close and mutually dependent.
Back then, supplies were tight, and she insisted on reciprocal exchanges for everything—never working for free.
But now things were different.
Was it because supplies were still plentiful?
When the government she had once admired never showed up again—when she decided to take up the banner of “government” herself—all her logic and principles had shifted.
Responsibility came rushing in.
It was quite heavy.
But she could carry it.
It was interesting.
She, a transmigrator, wanted to see how far she could go in this world.
The students looked as if they’d been injected with adrenaline—the light in their eyes growing even brighter.
It was hard to imagine these were all children who had lost their parents.
Still so strong, holding their weapons, with smiles on their faces.
Everyone boarded the vehicles, ready to head to the next neighborhood.
Someone said: “Let me call them first.”
Because they had classmates over there. After returning the day before yesterday and clearing out their own neighborhoods, they had since gotten in touch.
The students didn’t have phones. Mobile phones hadn’t reached that level of ubiquity yet—maybe college students had them, but middle schoolers mostly didn’t.
But the students used the same messaging app as Jiang Cheng and her people, and could stay in touch with their classmates.
They had also picked up a few phones from around the neighborhood.
Now they had ways to contact each other.
“Xu En’s mom is in charge over there now,” this student said. “His mom is pretty capable.”
Back at the school that day, besides Wang Yunya’s mother Xiao Dan, there were several other parents—and one of them was Xu En’s mother.
Those parents had shown considerable courage and sense of responsibility.
Too bad not a single one was in this neighborhood.
The convoy moved on. Xu En’s mother had already come out with her people to meet them.
“Our neighborhood is clear of zombies already,” she said.
She was astonished that Youth Apartments had taken the lead in establishing the Tech New District Provisional Government.
She looked a bit lost: “So the district government is just… gone? Completely?”
“Completely,” Jiang Cheng glanced at the time. “We’ve spent much less time today than expected. Next we’ll head to Deqingli and Shanshui Yayuan. We’ll see how things are there. If we have time this afternoon, we’ll go check out the district government office.”
Xu En’s mother asked about the situation, then fell silent in thought.
Xu En was a teenager with a faint downy mustache, also clad in silver metal armor—and he was an earth-type superpowered individual.
He called out: “Mom!”
His mother locked eyes with him for a moment, then finally nodded. She turned back to Jiang Cheng and said: “Let my boy join too.”
This neighborhood was already being managed by Xu En’s mother, which was good.
And Xu En was a superpowered individual. Jiang Cheng jerked her chin toward the big bus: “Get on!”
Xu En was a little excited and asked: “Which vehicle is the cat on?”
Everyone laughed: “That one.”
Xu En got on the vehicle where Mo Li was and became a member of the Tech New District Provisional Government’s zombie-clearing squad.
As soon as he got on, he spotted Wang Yunya: “You’re here too?”
Wang Yunya: “Hehe.”
The people of Deqingli still remembered Jiang Cheng.
They hadn’t expected the government to show up, but they got Jiang Cheng instead.
Four large vehicles had arrived, and everyone was equipped with armor and standardized weapons. They had a completely different presence.
The people of Deqingli greeted them like saviors and immediately asked for help: “There are two zombies!”
“These zombies have become smart—they can run!”
“We’ve been trying to catch them for days but just can’t—they’re too fast.”
“We’ve dealt with all the other zombies, but we can’t catch these two. No one dares to go out alone anymore.”
Those two zombies were hiding somewhere unknown, and several people who went out alone had been bitten. Those had also been dealt with. But they still couldn’t catch the two.
It was driving everyone crazy.
If this had been two months ago, it would’ve been hard to believe—even the elderly no longer feared zombies.
With just a few sets of armor, everything had turned around.
Humans had started chasing zombies instead.
Human adaptability was truly remarkable.
From the description, these two were clearly third-generation zombies—they had developed intelligence.
Li Jiangbing hoisted his crescent-moon shovel onto his shoulder and called out to the vehicle: “We’ve got work!”
“Brother Zhou, don’t doze off—wake up! Your job’s here~!”
“Xiao Huang, yes, you too.”
“Oh, look at our Mo Li—he’s already darted out. He knows there’s work, huh. Oh, you’ve gotten this big? So cute, cute, cute, cute.”
Spring drowsiness, autumn fatigue—Zhou Wang was currently suffering from autumn fatigue. He rubbed his eyes and got off the vehicle.
First, he stretched. Then he bent left, bent right, twisted left-back, twisted right-back.
Then he did some leg stretches.
Li Jiangbing: “…”
Zhou Wang complained: “This bus’s crappy seats are killing my back and butt.”
Li Jiangbing: “Don’t you bring your own cushion?”
Zhou Wang: “Still uncomfortable. Can’t stretch my legs—cramped and awful.”
Zhou Wang was a middle-aged man with a successful career. He’d owned a private car for years and hadn’t ridden a bus in a long time.
It was pure torture.
After stretching enough, he took a deep breath, and the airflow condensed.
Whoosh—he vanished.
Deqingli was a really huge neighborhood.
Unlike Jixiang Jiayuan or Yujing Xiangyuan—which were commercial residential complexes with just a few buildings—this was a vast, sprawling compound.
Xiao Huang couldn’t run as fast as Mo Li or Zhou Wang. He borrowed a bicycle from someone in the neighborhood and rode around on that.
The people of Deqingli: “…”
This wasn’t how they’d imagined it.
They’d pictured the four-vehicle team fanning out in squads, wearing armor, carrying weapons, and conducting a methodical, grim-faced house-to-house search.
Instead, they got a middle-aged corporate slave, a middle school boy, and… was that a cat or a leopard?
Before long, the black cat that had been leopard-sized returned as a giant cat the size of an elephant.
In its mouth was a zombie.
At this size, carrying it didn’t hinder movement. Leopard-size would’ve dragged it on the ground. The leopard form was usually for agility inside buildings.
As for maximum size?
That was just for showing off.
After waiting a while longer, people were getting bored—some had even started dozing off.
Several students from Deqingli were catching up with Xu En and Wang Yunya, sharing what had happened in the past two days since they’d parted.
Suddenly, from a distance, Xiao Huang’s voice rang out: “Aaaaaaaaaah—”
Everyone jolted upright!
Was Xiao Huang in danger?
But then they thought again—no, Xiao Huang’s superpower was danger avoidance.
This was the young prodigy who could waltz through a horde of zombies like they weren’t even there.
Everyone was baffled.
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