That cry came from far to near, swift as the wind, arriving with a gust of air.
Little Huang was riding his bicycle, but the pedals weren’t catching at all.
Anyone who’s ridden a bike knows that when the pedals don’t catch, pedaling feels hollow—it means the bike is out of control.
Too fast!
Because Zhou Wang was pushing from behind.
Completely out of Little Huang’s control, so thrilling it was like a roller coaster. Even someone as steady as Little Huang couldn’t help but yell.
When the bike stopped, Little Huang put his feet on the ground and still felt a bit lightheaded, his heart pounding.
“Uncle,” Little Huang took a deep breath, “let’s not do that again.”
Zhou Wang pointed at him from a distance: “Out of practice.”
How to practice? Like you, taking the elevator downstairs when there’s one available but choosing to jump instead?
At your age, you’re starting to do extreme sports!
On the back of the bike was a zombie’s corpse.
Zhou Wang called out to the people of Deqing Li: “Take a look, is this the one?”
Before they turned into zombies, they were all human, and humans have faces. So even though their skin color changed, zombies could still be identified by their appearance.
The people from Deqing Li confirmed: “It’s him.”
With both major threats dealt with, the people of Deqing Li finally relaxed.
Jiang Cheng communicated with the people of Deqing Li and confirmed that there were no other zombies left in Deqing Li.
Actually, the neighborhood was so big that it was normal if a few were locked inside their own homes.
The people of Deqing Li said: “As long as there aren’t any more of those smart, running ones, we can handle the rest ourselves.”
Everyone still remembered what Deqing Li had done back then.
Later, when the zombie disaster ended, people from Shanshui Yayuan went to report the case, and a batch of people were arrested.
Those arrested were the direct perpetrators. But in reality, that incident had been a collective action. Meaning everyone had participated.
Even those who hadn’t directly laid a hand had undergone a complete mental shift during that event.
Everyone in the neighborhood had a tough, fierce streak—even the elderly.
They all had an attitude of “What’s the worst that could happen?” and “If you try to kill me, I’ll take you down with me.”
Jiang Cheng had originally planned to go to the neighboring Shanshui Yayuan next.
The people from Deqing Li waved their hands: “No need. That neighborhood’s empty now.”
Everyone was stunned.
Shanshui Yayuan was originally a low-density villa area, with far fewer residents.
A batch died during the zombie virus outbreak.
Another batch died in the Deqing Li massacre.
The survivors who made it to the end of the disaster collectively reported the case and then all moved away.
Their houses were listed for sale but couldn’t be sold. Though almost every development had seen deaths, the way people died mattered.
Shanshui Yayuan was unequivocally a haunted property.
The people from Deqing Li added: “Right after their property management company pulled out, the zombies showed up again.”
With the property management gone, the neighborhood was completely empty.
So there was no need to go to Shanshui Yayuan. Checking the time, it was about time for lunch.
The vehicle was parked by the roadside.
Aunt Pan set up a stove on the spot. The fireboxes were connected, with eight burners.
The steamers and grill racks were pre-made, gleaming silver. Stored in Jiang Cheng’s space. The buns and twisted rolls were also pre-arranged and stored together.
Now Jiang Cheng took them out and set them on the stove.
The fire-type superhumans blasted flames. Five burners for steaming, three for grilling.
They’d done a headcount beforehand—more people preferred steamed ones anyway.
Everyone took what they wanted, all getting to eat hot buns and rolls.
Autumn really made people sleepy.
After eating, Jiang Cheng gave everyone time: “Rest for half an hour, take a nap.”
People dozed off all over the vehicle, some even snoring.
Until their phone alarms went off one by one, various chord ringtones sounding all at once.
Jiang Cheng opened his eyes too.
The half-hour nap effectively refreshed everyone.
They all stretched.
Jiang Cheng walked to the front of the vehicle and said to the driver: “Let’s go. Head to the Development Zone Government.”
The Development Zone Government was a must-visit.
After surveying the eastern residential area, Jiang Cheng even skipped the western area to prioritize the Development Zone Government.
Because some people had refused to believe the government was completely empty and had to see it with their own eyes.
So let’s go take a look.
The Development Zone Government had a lot of zombies—it was also a good place for everyone to get some practice.
Superpowers all grew stronger with use.
The vehicle drove along, gradually moving away from the residential areas, and soon the Bailiang River came into view.
The Development Zone Government, which administered the entire high-tech new district, sat right by the river.
The compound was spacious, and the building had five stories, square and symmetrical. From a distance, that kind of architecture was unmistakably government.
Everyone shed their relaxed postures and straightened up.
Because this place was different—it wasn’t just about clearing out zombies.
Although they’d declared themselves a provisional government, many people still felt deep down that they were amateurs. They were still hoping the legitimate government would step up and take charge.
The people of this country had an unimaginably stubborn attachment to the word “legitimate”—it had always been that way.
Little Huang stared fixedly at the building.
Zhou Wang looked at the building, then at Little Huang beside him, and leaned in to whisper: “Maybe you shouldn’t get out of the car…”
Little Huang turned his head: “I’m fine, Uncle. I’m fine.”
He gazed at the structure as it grew closer and closer.
Just as they were about to reach the entrance, Little Huang said softly: “If we run into her later, Uncle, don’t make a move. Let me handle it.”
Zhou Wang put his palm on the back of Little Huang’s head and gave it a firm rub.
The established combat formation kicked in—the blade vehicles and Mo Li went in first.
The zombies came pouring out.
Once most were dealt with, the team members charged in as well.
Gao Yuxuan was going to run another new experiment today.
One of the most important guiding principles in Gao Yuxuan’s work was cost-effectiveness.
If something performed well but cost too much and wasn’t cost-effective, it would still be abandoned.
This mindset was deeply ingrained in Gao Yuxuan’s brain.
Everyone naturally assumed that electric-type superpowers, like fire-type and metal-type, should be offensive powerhouses.
Gao Yuxuan had always felt that wasn’t cost-effective.
Although yesterday’s experiment wasn’t a complete success, it gave him inspiration—who said electric-type had to be offensive?
Why couldn’t it be support-type?
He always carried a voltage pen with him. Yesterday he’d already measured several data points.
After comprehensive consideration, he chose the value he believed had the best cost-effectiveness.
Today, the issue of electricity leaking from his body was mostly under control. Using high-voltage electricity to charge himself was a bit reckless, but it actually worked. His superpowers were now much stronger than before.
He could now fire multiple electric currents simultaneously, even weaving them into a mesh.
He strictly controlled his output according to his measured data. At this output level, the currents wouldn’t freeze zombies like they did yesterday. But they still disrupted the activity in the zombies’ brains.
This manifested as the zombies losing coordination and moving sluggishly.
Regular zombies would trip over themselves.
Second-generation zombies clearly suffered impaired coordination and slowed down.
Game skill: Control·Slow.
With his superpowers greatly enhanced, Gao Yuxuan could now slow down a whole group at once.
This move was especially useful inside buildings.
As soon as they entered a corridor, zombies would crowd and surge forward.
Activate skill: Control·Slow.
Then Li Jiangbing led the team forward for a round of clean-up.
The coordination was highly efficient and much safer.
Through tireless research, Gao Yuxuan finally found the most cost-effective cooperative strategy.
Su Yu also figured out a new way to use her superpowers: Domain.
After leveling up, her superpower could cover a much larger area and she could freely control its shape.
She enclosed her teammates in a protective dome as they entered the corridor, then expanded the dome to match the corridor’s shape.
This not only pinned the zombies in the hallway against the walls but also blocked the zombies inside various offices at their doorways, preventing them from getting out.
The zombies frantically pounded against the protective barrier blocking their way.
The people inside the dome moved to the office entrances and lopped off the heads of the zombies clustered there with a few strikes of their shovels.
The efficiency wasn’t necessarily as high as Li Jiangbing and Gao Yuxuan’s team. But the safety was absolutely top-notch.
Aunt Pan and Zhao Yi also developed a new skill: Interception.
The two placed their hands on the walls, and the smooth surfaces began to ripple like waves.
Soon, horizontal “bars” extended from the walls, segmenting the corridor into several cages. The zombies were trapped inside.
They cleared section by section, retracting the “bars” from each section as they finished.
The efficiency wasn’t great, but it excelled in safety.
Speaking of this surge of research into practical superpower applications, it was all driven by Gao Yuxuan.
Zhao Yi leaned more toward theory. He liked studying the origins of superpowers and the reasons for directional branches in their development.
Gao Yuxuan preferred delving into more practical techniques.
By the time the government building was fully cleared, it was past four in the afternoon.
Jiang Cheng was in the district chief’s office.
The district chief was the top official of the Development Zone Government, and the development zone had money, so his office was very large and impressive.
Behind the desk and the office chair was an entire wall of large bookshelves, filled with many hefty volumes.
Jiang Cheng narrowed her eyes and looked for a moment, then walked over and ran her fingertips along the spines, moving slowly.
Many of these books were famous, carrying the mainstream values and worldview of this country, forming the theoretical foundation upon which the nation was built.
Jiang Cheng had “Jiang Cheng’s” memories, so of course she knew of these remarkable books—like Thoughts on XXXXX, like Quotations from XXX, and so on.
But “Jiang Cheng” had never actually read these weighty tomes, only vaguely studied some ideological summaries in school.
When Jiang Cheng’s fingertips brushed over the most important works, those books vanished into thin air.
The building had five stories, and although there was an elevator, there was no need to crowd into it.
The people on each floor simply tossed the zombie corpses from their level out the windows into the courtyard below.
Zhou Wang was downstairs, using a layer of airflow to cushion the falling bodies and slow their descent, preventing zombie fluids from splattering everywhere.
Little Huang had been scanning with his eyes the whole time, but in the end, he never found his mother. After all, there were so many heads piled together, and there was no way to pick each one up for a closer look.
The method of disposal was burial on site.
Aunt Pan, Zhao Yi, and several other earth-type superhumans worked together to dig an enormous, deep pit in the middle of the courtyard.
Because if it was deep enough, there would be no need for special disinfection.
Though supplies weren’t lacking at the moment, that was only because there were so few survivors. Ultimately, there was no resupply coming, so whatever could be saved should be saved.
When the pit was finally filled back in, Zhou Wang stole a glance at Little Huang.
But Little Huang was unusually calm.
It was the adults who looked somber and grief-stricken. Many had finally accepted the fact that there were no survivors in the Development Zone Government.
Jiang Cheng stood on the steps at the main entrance, watching everyone handle the cleanup.
Suddenly, someone approached.
Jiang Cheng turned—it was Zhao Yi.
“Not a single person,” Zhao Yi said. “We checked everywhere, including the underground cafeteria and the civil defense shelters. Not a single survivor.”
Statistically speaking, that didn’t even make sense.
Middle schools had survivors. Elementary schools had survivors.
And a government building this big had zero survivors.
Jiang Cheng: “I told you before.”
Jiang Cheng had said it was a targeted purge of the government by external forces.
Zhao Yi was now inclined to accept that assessment.
But he still pressed with a question: “Jiang Cheng, how did you even think of targeted purge?”
That conclusion was way too pointed.
It’s hard for people to make accurate judgments based on too little data—unless she’d hidden some samples or other known conditions.
Deep down, Zhao Yi had a vague feeling that Jiang Cheng must know something others didn’t.
The destined heroine couldn’t possibly be that simple—she was bound to keep a few cards close to her chest.
Like hiding that her physique had strengthened and she’d grown stronger.
Like hiding Mo Li’s mutation.
Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan had searched online for keywords about animal infection or mutation, and found that someone on another forum had posted a question much earlier, asking whether animals could mutate.
Gao Yuxuan traced the poster’s network address.
He was a top student who’d minored in computer science.
He pinpointed the address to S City, Tech New District, Youth Apartments, Building 2.
The post date was June 19th.
That was the very first day the military had entered S City to begin rescue operations.
That early. So early.
Jiang Cheng had kept it hidden until the Cao family incident, only then attempting to seize control and revealing Mo Li.
That was fine—the destined heroine was supposed to be this impressive.
Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan both accepted it, even found it pleasing—of course she was that good.
But Zhao Yi truly wished they could share information. He desperately wanted to know what else Jiang Cheng knew that no one else did.
But how could Jiang Cheng possibly tell him the truth?
She gazed at the busy people in the courtyard and simply said: “Woman’s intuition.”
I, the amnesiac, am by no means a willing traveler to this other world.
Surely some person or force has cast me here.
That force clearly has the power to kill me, yet lets me live.
And puts me in a world ravaged by a zombie outbreak.
Clearly, this is a test or a trial for me.
The first time, I won.
But the trial isn’t over—it’s very obvious that they don’t want me to win.
So they conducted a targeted purge of the government, which had played a major role in the first phase.
Because only this way—
In the second phase—
The difficulty can be upgraded.
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