Jiang Cheng guessed immediately: “Your physique improved?”
The two young men said in unison: “Yes!”
Zhao Yi’s eyes had been bothering him since morning, getting worse as the day went on. After the big battle at Mai Duoduo in the afternoon, the discomfort peaked.
He even felt a bit dizzy.
He couldn’t take it anymore—he took off his glasses, and realized he could see clearly enough to tell trees from people.
They remembered that Jiang Cheng had openly admitted that after the first zombie virus outbreak, her physique had been affected—manifesting as increased strength.
The two of them put it together: during the first outbreak, what had been Jiang Cheng’s weak point?
Her mind and personality were flawless, superior to many.
Her only weak point was that she was female, with less physical strength than men.
Yet during the first zombie disaster, that single weak point had never materialized. Her physique had been enhanced.
Consider the situation back then—a leader obviously needed exceptional intelligence. But no matter how brilliant, they couldn’t be frail—at least not weaker than the average man.
Back then, monsters ate people, and death lurked everywhere. A weak person couldn’t inspire genuine confidence.
People needed a strong, courageous figure to stand at the front.
If Jiang Cheng had fallen below that baseline, she probably would have been relegated to being Song Jingshuo’s strategist and advisor rather than the leader herself.
In fact, from that time onward, the concept of “balance” had invisibly existed.
During the first zombie outbreak, who knows how many people had had their physiques subtly enhanced without noticing—or without mentioning it.
Even Jiang Cheng had kept it hidden out of caution.
“That closes the final loop in our logic,” they said.
The two of them had been researching abilities all day and night. Now they told Jiang Cheng: “We can summarize everything tonight. We want to present it to everyone tomorrow—we can tell people are eager to know.”
“Right, right—me too,” Li Jiangbing quickly chimed in.
Jiang Cheng was also curious about what they’d uncovered that she didn’t know: “Alright. Tomorrow morning, let everyone gather in the square.”
Zhao Yi asked: “Should we invite Zhou Wang and his group too?”
Abilities, as it stood, were an effective weapon for humanity against zombies.
If their theory was correct, it might help more people awaken abilities. This wasn’t something to keep secret.
Jiang Cheng: “Sure.”
That evening, the Youth Apartments residents heard the building-wide broadcast—a meeting in the small square tomorrow morning. Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan would be speaking about abilities.
Those two had been buzzing around all day.
Everyone was looking forward to it.
Zhou Wang received Jiang Cheng’s phone call.
He knew those two young guys—they’d spent the whole afternoon chatting with everyone, asking about abilities, occupations, hobbies.
Zhou Wang himself wasn’t that interested.
If your grades were already good, you wouldn’t care much about after-school tutoring.
But Jiang Cheng said: “Maybe it could help others awaken abilities?”
Zhou Wang thought about it and decided to participate: “Alright.”
After hanging up, the headache started again. Even notifying people about group events at Jixiang Jiayuan was a hassle now.
The elderly generally didn’t use the internet.
The two highly educated elderly who’d been rare exceptions in the complex hadn’t survived this time either.
Worse still, not all the surviving elderly even had phones. Some who did only knew how to make calls—text messages were beyond them.
During the last disaster, without superpowers, it was nearly impossible to survive alone. People had to band together to make it through.
But now, Zhou Wang could easily survive on his own.
Jixiang Jiayuan had become a complete burden.
Zhou Wang felt exhausted and desperately wanted to shake it off.
That evening, Li Jiangbing started eating with Auntie Pan and the others in the property management meeting room.
Cao Jiacai was in high spirits, chatting and laughing at the table.
Not only did he smack his lips while eating, but he also sprayed spittle when talking. Fortunately, everyone ate from their own bowls, not family-style with shared dishes.
Li Jiangbing found it a bit annoying. He casually shielded his bowl with his hand to avoid contamination.
Despite looking like a rough guy, Li Jiangbing’s work frequently put him in contact with high-income clientele: wealthy women, white-collar ladies, elite men, well-bred young ladies, fussy gay men, and so on.
Those people were incredibly particular! So many rules!
Li Jiangbing had long been trained by his clients—trim nose hairs, clip nails, shower frequently so there’s no body odor, brush teeth regularly, keep mouthwash in the gym in case of bad breath after meals…
When he first started, he’d thought it was all ridiculous. But over time, it had become his lifestyle.
He was now a refined husky of a man, and watching someone smack their lips and spray spittle really got under his skin.
Li Jiangbing decided he’d just take his meal back to his place tomorrow—skip the communal dining.
Cao Jiacai was going on and on about how awesome his ability had been at Mai Duoduo that afternoon.
Since only he, Auntie Pan, and Xiao Fang from the property team had gone—no one else had seen it.
Caught up in his storytelling, he pointed at Li Jiangbing: “Ask Xiao Li—Xiao Li knows. Right, Xiao Li?”
Xiao Li?
Li Jiangbing lifted his eyelids.
The atmosphere in the meeting room grew awkward.
Manager Wang gave an awkward smile.
Yang Xinyan looked down.
Xiao Fang peeked sideways.
A few people exchanged glances.
Auntie Pan broke the tension with a scolding: “Did you sneak a drink again! Starting to talk nonsense!”
After scolding Cao Jiacai, she turned to Li Jiangbing: “Ignore him. One beer and he starts rambling.”
As for whether the rambling was about his awesome ability or calling him “Xiao Li”—you could interpret that however you liked.
Cao Jiacai clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Li Jiangbing sighed: “It’s all zombies—stress is high. A little drink now and then can help relax.”
Cao Jiacai slapped the table: “Exactly!”
Li Jiangbing looked at him and said: “We can only hope the state cleans up this mess quickly, like last time. A month or half a month—tough, but it’ll pass soon enough. Everyone gets back to life, back to work. I’ll go back to my job, and you’ll go back to yours.”
Li Jiangbing, whatever job he had, even if it wasn’t as prestigious as Song Jingshuo’s, was still a homeowner at the Youth Apartments—he owned his unit.
It wasn’t some unfamiliar security guard’s place to call him “Xiao Li.”
That was different if they were close.
Cao Jiacai felt a bit uncomfortable for a moment, then puffed out his chest: “Once this is over, I won’t be staying here anyway. I’ve got superpowers now.”
Zombies could be eliminated. But superpowers wouldn’t just disappear along with them, right?
Even if life returned to normal, he’d already be a badass ability user.
He slapped the table and declared: “I’ll do whatever I want then. What can’t I do?”
Full of “I’ve got the world in my hands” bravado.
Li Jiangbing chuckled: “What are you planning to do?”
He asked: “Stoke boilers at the heating plant? Or do a fire-breathing act at the circus? Wait!”
He jabbed his finger in the air: “Roast sweet potatoes! That’s a good one—perfect for a Fire-type!”
“Or maybe lamb skewers! Lamb skewers work too!”
Li Jiangbing’s tongue was plenty sharp.
Xiao Fang turned his head to suppress a laugh. Yang Xinyan didn’t dare look up, afraid she’d laugh out loud.
Manager Wang’s gaze drifted, staring only at the ceiling.
Cao Jiacai’s expression soured, and he snorted: “I can always find something else.”
But when he thought about it—if social order was restored and life went back to normal—he really couldn’t think of any way to use his Fire-type ability.
Would he really end up roasting sweet potatoes or lamb skewers?
Thinking like that, what was so great about a civilized, orderly society? He’d just be a security guard his whole life, wasted talent.
Seeing Li Jiangbing was almost done eating, Auntie Pan said: “You go on ahead—don’t wait for me. I’ve still got pots to scrub.”
Cao Jiacai let out a strange yell: “What? You’re scrubbing pots? You already did the cooking—so much work. You’ve got superpowers, you killed so many zombies today—how can you still be scrubbing pots?”
Cao Jiacai’s gaze swept across the room and landed on Manager Wang’s face.
Manager Wang’s expression was extremely grim.
This was the second zombie outbreak. During the last one, too much had already happened. By now, nothing needed to be said.
The identities people held in an orderly, lawful society became meaningless in times of chaos.
All day long, Manager Wang had been trying hard to make himself seem useful. At the same time, he struggled to maintain his dignity as the manager.
Now, was this bastard Cao Jiacai about to strip away that dignity completely?
Cao Jiacai was indeed thinking about it.
But Li Jiangbing’s words had actually affected him. Thinking about the possibility of returning to an orderly society, Cao Jiacai ultimately let Manager Wang off. He pointed a finger: “You—you’re scrubbing the pots today. From now on, take turns.”
He grumbled: “If you all didn’t cook so terribly, we shouldn’t even have Auntie doing the cooking. She worked so hard killing zombies!”
“Slap her hand—up pops one!”
“Slap her hand—up pops another!”
“And that was concrete floor!”
He even mimicked Auntie Pan’s afternoon move of slapping the floor to raise stalagmites.
Manager Wang, relieved to have been spared, quickly chimed in: “Exactly, exactly. Auntie, Auntie—just eat and go home. Don’t worry about this. I’ll arrange for everyone to take turns cleaning up. Just go rest.”
Li Jiangbing walked out with Auntie Pan.
As they passed the service center, the TV on the wall was still on—everyone was waiting for a government announcement, leaving the TV on for sound. The property management had theirs on too, waiting.
The first zombie outbreak had happened on a Saturday night around 9 or 10 PM, and a government announcement had come by Sunday morning.
Though the announcement didn’t say it directly, they’d already been mobilizing forces to secure water, electricity, and gas.
This outbreak had been yesterday afternoon. Now it was the second evening. As they stepped out of the property center, the streetlights were already on. Why was there still no government announcement?
For the first time, Li Jiangbing wished Jiang Cheng weren’t so smart, so good at predicting.
After walking a stretch, he suddenly remembered he was walking with Auntie Pan. He turned his head—Auntie Pan was walking silently, lips pressed tight, as if lost in thought.
“Something on your mind, Auntie?” Li Jiangbing asked.
Auntie Pan glanced at him and made up her mind: “There’s something I need to tell Xiao Jiang later.”
Old Luo had said it was Cao Jiacai who’d gone to the police station to report Jiang Cheng and have her arrested.
But Old Luo had also said they shouldn’t be the ones spreading it—just let it be known to themselves, and not tell Xiao Jiang or the others.
After all, they were residents and they were property management—two separate groups.
But now the zombies were back.
Jiang Cheng was the type who valued capable people. And now Cao Jiacai was capable—Auntie Pan was afraid Jiang Cheng, not knowing the full story, would put too much trust in him blindly.
Cao Jiacai wasn’t a good person. He couldn’t be trusted.
Auntie Pan still decided to tell Jiang Cheng.
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