Brother Dong’s gaze wandered.
Zhou Wang looked somewhat uncomfortable.
Only Xiao Huang wore a wistful, contemplative expression, then nodded.
Everyone had indeed “figured it out for themselves.”
Aside from Li Jiangbing, the information Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan had summarized was largely accepted and acknowledged by most.
Some had already realized that, following this framework, even Li Jiangbing and Song Jingshuo could find a theoretical basis.
The only truly special case was Jiang Cheng.
Unless another spatial superpower user appeared, that “special status” couldn’t be broken.
And as for Jiang Cheng’s existence—Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan, who spoke of science at every turn and reasoned logically about everything, completely abandoned science and logic whenever Jiang Cheng came up.
“The Chosen Woman.”
Zhao Yi declared with conviction: “I feel like Jiang Cheng is the Chosen Woman of the Youth Apartment.”
She seemed to have been born precisely in response to the times.
“Someone like her is meant to live in chaotic times—to stand out from the crowd and rise to challenges.” Gao Yuxuan asked, “Is there any anime with that kind of theme? A chosen female protagonist?”
Zhao Yi thought for a moment and said, “Usually those are shoujo manga.”
Because anime had gender divides—the ones they typically watched were about a chosen male protagonist saving the world. A chosen female protagonist was more something girls watched.
Gao Yuxuan: “…I guess we could give it a look.”
Just wanted to find someone to project Jiang Cheng onto.
“Preferably the kind where the female lead also has a spirit companion.”
The small square had moved into the Q&A and discussion segment.
Someone said: “According to this, then this time the military should be better off than last time, right?”
Before Zhao Yi could answer, Jiang Cheng spoke up first: “Not necessarily.”
The square fell silent in an instant.
Jiang Cheng’s ability to command attention was still that strong.
Everyone looked at her.
Jiang Cheng explained: “Only a few people had their superpowers activated the afternoon before yesterday. Everyone else activated them gradually yesterday and today.”
“And,” Jiang Cheng asked, “Gao Yuxuan, how strong was your superpower that afternoon?”
Gao Yuxuan held out his hand, pinching his thumb and forefinger together: “Just this tiny bit. Until the night before last, it was only this tiny bit of current. Could only kill ants—even electrocuting a cockroach was iffy.”
“One to two hours,” Jiang Cheng said. “If the military can’t have a large-scale superpower awakening within one to two hours, then although the numbers will definitely be lower than last time because they have experience now, it won’t be as many as you think.”
Jiang Cheng suddenly considered—this could also explain why there were no survivors in the district government building.
No, she immediately dismissed that thought, because any tall building with interconnected spaces and dense crowds would be the same. Schools had survivors.
The main issue was still the small sample size.
You couldn’t make a judgment based solely on information from the district government building—you needed at least two or three, or three or four samples.
But there was no rush. The zombie virus had broken out on the afternoon of August 29th; yesterday was August 30th; and today was already August 31st. Wait a bit longer. If no provisional government was established and no new emergency command center was formed, that would confirm her speculation.
The square erupted into lively discussion.
The main topics revolved around “Can I awaken a superpower?”, “How can I advance my superpower?”, and “Who can share their advancement experiences and methods?”
Almost everyone wanted a superpower.
Except for the elderly from Jixiang Jiayuan, the fact that more and more people were awakening superpowers gave everyone hope—they all felt they still had a chance.
The elderly, however, understood that their physical condition most likely wouldn’t meet the threshold, so they held no expectations.
Still, they hoped the younger ones could all get one.
To witness human evolution in their lifetime—that alone was worth it.
Zhang Lesi said: “Theoretically, there should be a window period. It can’t be that there’s no expiration time. Everyone should still be within that window right now. Nobody knows how long this window will last before it closes.”
“If it closes, does that mean we can’t awaken anymore?”
“Probably. This is just an inference based on basic medical knowledge—it’s not necessarily correct.”
“So what should we do now to increase our chances of awakening?”
“Hmm… exercise?”
“And also try to stay in contact with substances you’re naturally compatible with. Oh, right—don’t go around touching fire randomly. Several people have already burned themselves.”
Over here, those without superpowers were anxiously asking how to awaken.
Over there, the superpower users were clustered together, sharing advancement experiences and insights.
Brother Dong figured things had gone on long enough.
He was already among the stronger superpower users—no need to keep listening.
He went to find Guo Jun: “Help me get a vehicle ready.”
He had his eye on the van that had rescued Xiao Huang yesterday. That van was now parked at the Youth Apartment’s east gate.
Guo Jun had gone through thick and thin with him yesterday and had let bygones be bygones. Besides, Brother Dong had already resigned, and his wages had been settled yesterday. Once he left today, they’d probably never contact each other again.
Guo Jun decided to help him one last time.
But something unexpected happened.
Guo Jun couldn’t get the engine to start—and instead, he shorted out the electrical system.
The center console of the vehicle started smoking on the spot.
Guo Jun / Brother Dong: “…”
Brother Dong couldn’t quite believe it: “Aren’t you the strongest among the electricity-types?”
Yesterday that young guy from the Youth Apartment could start a car too, and he didn’t short out the electrical system.
Guo Jun craned his neck and said: “That’s exactly why—because I’m too strong!”
As they spoke, the car caught fire.
Luckily, Brother Dong was standing outside the vehicle with the door open, and Guo Jun quickly got out.
A car fire takes only a few dozen seconds—smoke was billowing up in no time. It drew the attention of people in the Youth Apartment complex.
Everyone ran out to see what was happening.
Security guard Xiao Fang saw the car on fire and was about to head to the security booth for a fire extinguisher.
Wu Jiancheng said: “No need!”
He was about to go put out the fire, but Cao Jiacai beat him to it.
Cao Jiacai walked over, stopped a few steps away, and made a grabbing motion in the air—and pulled all the flames off the car!
A roaring fireball spun in front of him.
Waves of heat rushed toward them.
Aside from Wu Jiancheng, everyone else stumbled backward.
There was a major difference between fire-type abilities and water-type abilities.
When Li Jiangbing manipulated water, he had to have water first. He could only manipulate as much water as he had. With lots of water, he could control a large amount; with little water, only a small amount.
But for fire-types, a single spark was all it took.
The three elements of combustion were fuel, oxidizer, and ignition source. Though no one could explain the principle, here the superpower replaced the fuel.
And the oxidizer—oxygen—filled the world between heaven and earth, inexhaustible and boundless.
So as long as a fire-type had a single spark, how large a fire they could control depended solely on the strength of their superpower.
Or rather, it depended on what Gao Yuxuan and the others had asked Zhang Lesi—”Can you restore people’s blue?”—that “blue.”
This was actually a gaming concept: red was HP, blue was mana.
Using magic consumed mana. Without blue, you couldn’t cast spells.
This concept could indeed be applied to the superpowers at hand, because Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan had already experimented with the critical threshold of “blue” depletion during practice.
A nosebleed was the warning sign.
Pushing further meant switching from consuming blue to consuming life itself.
Ears bleeding, coughing up blood, and when the eyes ached and bloody tears flowed—that person wasn’t far from death.
As if deliberately showing off.
Cao Jiacai didn’t extinguish the fireball in his hand immediately. Instead, he looked around smugly and said in his less-than-standard Mandarin: “Everyone, back off.”
As the crowd retreated, the fireball in his hand roared and grew larger.
The distance they’d backed up wasn’t nearly enough—the heat blasted their faces, burning their skin, and the exposed skin on their arms and necks ached! Many people screamed!
Everyone hurriedly scrambled back again. Someone fell, and their hand got stepped on by others.
Jiang Cheng was there too, but she wasn’t worried.
Though the scene was chaotic, Cao Jiacai’s goal was to show off and intimidate—he wouldn’t actually cause real trouble.
Sure enough, Cao Jiacai withdrew the fireball, turning it into two mini fireballs the size of pigeon eggs that twirled around his fingertips like many middle-aged and elderly men playing with walnuts. But much more dexterous—more like how some young people flip coins across their knuckles, over and over.
He smiled smugly at everyone: “Look at you.”
Many people cursed him under their breath. Especially the ones who’d fallen and been stepped on.
But only in their heads.
Everyone had a mental scale.
Just like during the last zombie outbreak, Li Jiangbing was called “Brother Li” wherever he went and practically strutted through the complex.
This time was the same—except physical strength alone wouldn’t cut it anymore. Now, it was about who had the stronger superpower.
Someone couldn’t help but complain.
Cao Jiacai chuckled: “Just a joke.”
As he spoke, his gaze swept over Jiang Cheng and Li Jiangbing.
Jiang Cheng followed his gaze and saw Li Jiangbing’s fists clenched, veins bulging on his arms.
She walked over and gently patted Li Jiangbing on the back.
Normally, one would pat the shoulder, but Li Jiangbing was just too tall and massive. So Jiang Cheng patted his back directly.
Li Jiangbing turned his head, saw it was her, and relaxed.
Cao Jiacai walked past the two of them with a smirk and headed back into the complex.
His superpower was indeed formidable. With just that one grab, the van had no flames left at all—only smoke, which choked everyone badly.
Zhou Wang looked at Brother Dong and Guo Jun standing next to the vehicle and asked: “What happened?”
Brother Dong said: “I wanted to drive home.”
This time there weren’t as many cars on the road, and this one was ready to go—the doors weren’t even locked.
It was unclaimed property. If the Youth Apartment could use it, naturally so could he.
In fact, the car he’d driven home last time—the one still with the keys in the ignition—hadn’t been claimed by anyone even up until the day before yesterday when the zombie virus broke out again.
Brother Dong had no intention of returning it. But he also felt guilty and hadn’t dared to drive it over. He’d taken the suburban bus here.
So now he had no transportation.
Though he could run fast, his home was in the outer suburbs—way too far.
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