Zhang Lesi also asked, “What if he pushes Jiang Cheng out and becomes the boss of our neighborhood?”
It was a very real question.
Just look at how many people scrambled to team up with Cao Jiacai during today’s building sweep.
Su Yu thought about it.
She realized she wasn’t as anxious as she’d thought she’d be.
Because she already had a powerful superpower—a unique one. It gave her a sense of confidence.
But precisely because of that, she understood all the more why Cao Jiacai was so brazen and arrogant.
“If that happens, given Jiang Cheng’s personality…” Su Yu speculated, “she might leave.”
“Someone like Cao Jiacai belongs to the low-awareness crowd. Put him in a security uniform and he thinks he has police powers. Give him a chair and he’ll crown himself emperor.”
“If he became the neighborhood leader, he’d throw his weight around and make the place unsafe.”
“Jiang Cheng wouldn’t stay in an unsafe environment. She’d definitely leave.”
Zhang Lesi didn’t hesitate. “If Jiang Cheng leaves, I’m going with her.”
Su Yu made her decision too. “Then I’ll go as well.”
They guessed further, “Who else would go?”
“Jiangbing definitely will. Jingshuo probably will too. Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan—no question, they’re in.”
The two girls were rock-solid in their resolve to follow Jiang Cheng.
But all of this was based on the pessimistic outlook that “Jiang Cheng can’t beat Cao Jiacai,” “Jiang Cheng can’t do anything about Cao Jiacai,” and “Jiang Cheng will most likely be forced out.”
They sighed.
Then they turned their heads toward the inner room and asked, “Still no announcement?”
“Nope.” The girls inside, snacking, chatting, and picking vegetables, said, “The TV’s been on the whole time—nothing.”
Inside Jiang Cheng’s apartment, furniture and objects kept “flickering.”
The flickering grew faster and faster—Jiang Cheng was becoming more and more adept at using her storage space.
She sat on the sofa, watching everything around her.
“Meow.” A dark shadow appeared at the window and slipped in through the half-open pane.
It was Moli.
Nowadays, Moli didn’t have to stay with Jiang Cheng at all times—but whenever she went out, she’d always catch sight of him nearby.
Today, her building sweep had gone quickly because by the time she reached the upper floors, the zombies in half the building had already been taken out.
Jiang Cheng knew at a glance it was Moli.
The little black cat had grown used to furniture and objects appearing and disappearing in the house. He paid no mind, jumping straight onto Jiang Cheng’s lap, stretching comfortably, then lying down to lick his paws.
“You’re back,” Jiang Cheng said, gently scratching the kitten’s head.
The little black cat licked his paw, then sensed something off. He looked up at Jiang Cheng. “Meow?”
Jiang Cheng answered, “I’ve run into some trouble.”
Moli: “Meow? Meow—”
Jiang Cheng nodded. “You’re right. This is our territory.”
As a human, Jiang Cheng had all kinds of reservations and considerations.
A little cat’s tiny head didn’t have room for so many thoughts.
[This is our territory.]
[Drive him out.]
[Bite him.]
Su Yu and Zhang Lesi’s concerns were entirely justified.
When a person grows powerful, people naturally gravitate toward them.
Cao Jiacai had been in the middle of work when he got into a fight with Zhao Yi and walked off. Xiao Zhao and Xiao Wang had chased after him and come back together.
Xiao Zhao was an earth-type user, Xiao Wang a metal-type user. Xiao Zhao couldn’t match Sister Pan yet, but Xiao Wang was already on par with Cui Haiyang—and it looked like he might surpass him soon.
“With the three of us together, why should we fear anyone?” Cao Jiacai grumbled.
The three of them went back and had a few drinks together.
Xiao Wang was still a bit uneasy. “Everyone’s still working…”
“None of my damn business!” Cao Jiacai glared. “I’m not doing it. Let’s see if Jiang Cheng dares to kick me out! Does she think I’m Liu Hongwang?!”
Now Sister Pan didn’t have time to fry him peanuts, so he made do with potato chips to go with his liquor, crunching one after another. “If Liu Hongwang had my skills back then, he wouldn’t have been driven out and died out there.”
That whole affair had always bothered Xiao Zhao and Xiao Wang.
That incident had made it crystal clear to them that they and the residents were from different groups. It felt awful.
Only Xiao Fang was simple-minded enough to think Jiang Cheng was in the right.
Later, when Cao Jiacai talked about going to the police station to report Jiang Cheng and have her arrested, they hadn’t gone along, but they’d supported it.
After Cao Jiacai came back disappointed, they’d even treated him to drinks and cursed the state of the world together.
Why should others be college-educated white-collar workers while I’m just a security guard?
Blaming fate, blaming the world, blaming everyone else.
After they’d had their fill, Xiao Zhao and Xiao Wang left. Cao Jiacai stayed alone in his room, watching through the window as the residents trickled back home, one after another.
He also saw Jiang Cheng and her group cross the neighborhood and head toward the west gate.
As they walked, they naturally positioned Jiang Cheng in the very center, at the front.
Everyone gravitated around her.
Cao Jiacai had seen such sights before when he was out in the neighborhood, but this was the first time he’d looked down from above.
It made the formation clearer and more obvious.
The person in the middle was the leader. Only the leader was surrounded, placed at the center, walking ahead of everyone.
Cao Jiacai’s heart grew warm with desire.
He wanted to stand in that position too.
Cao Jiacai thought he was the only one who felt this way. He never imagined that some residents actually hoped he’d become the leader.
After dinner, as he was getting ready to sleep, someone knocked on his door.
Cao Jiacai used to have a roommate—it was Jiang Cheng’s rule: two people per room.
After the zombie outbreak ended and everything returned to normal, the interim committee dissolved, Jiang Cheng went on a business trip and vanished from S City. But with so many empty apartments in the neighborhood, Cao Jiacai had kicked his roommate to the next unit and took a room for himself.
He opened the door. Two male residents he vaguely recognized greeted him, “Brother Cao.”
Residents used to call him Old Cao. Lately, many had started calling him Master Cao—probably the utmost respect these bastards could muster.
Screw that.
See? Here were people calling him Brother Cao.
“You’re—what’s your surname again?” Cao Jiacai said. “I remember you. You’re from Building 4, right?”
The man smiled. “Yeah, I’m from Building 4. My name is Wang Haotian.”
“Brother Cao,” he said, “can we come in and have a chat?”
What could two residents, condescending to visit him, possibly want?
Cao Jiacai let them in, suspicious.
The three of them sat on the sofa and the bed, talking.
Wang Haotian made small talk first. “Brother Cao, this place is pretty comfortable to live in, isn’t it?”
Cao Jiacai: “Yeah.”
Wang Haotian asked, “Living alone? I thought it was supposed to be two people.”
Cao Jiacai grew wary. “What are you getting at?”
Wang Haotian said, “Brother Cao, with all these empty units, why do you think they still make you share a room?”
Cao Jiacai frowned.
Wang Haotian revealed the answer himself: “It’s to keep you from getting too comfortable and forgetting your place. Cramming you together, leaving empty units unused—it’s a reminder that you’re beneath the residents, here to work for them. Guess whose idea that was?”
Cao Jiacai exploded in rage. “Jiang Cheng! Was it her? Was it?!”
Wang Haotian gave a thumbs up. “Brother Cao catches on quick—figured it out right away.”
Cao Jiacai launched into a string of curses.
Wang Haotian and the other guy chimed in now and then: “Right. Exactly. That’s it. No doubt about it. Fucking hell.”
After Cao Jiacai had vented enough, he stopped and asked, “What exactly are you two here for? Quit beating around the bush. Just say it.”
Wang Haotian and the other man exchanged a glance.
Wang Haotian sat up straight, heartfelt and indignant. “Brother Cao, this neighborhood is big enough—it’s not like we’re short on people! So why should a woman like Jiang Cheng be the one leading all of us?!”
Those words hit Cao Jiacai right in the heart.
Back when the interim committee was first formed, he had already complained: “These people, letting a woman run things.”
Back then, he’d thought that Song guy seemed a bit competitive, but somehow he’d ended up as Jiang Cheng’s lackey.
A woman—ordering a bunch of grown men around.
Jiang Cheng had sent out that mass text warning, and over four hundred people had returned to Youth Apartments—most of them surviving.
This could be seen as a kind of filter.
The ones who came back and lived were basically the ones who trusted Jiang Cheng.
But nothing is absolute.
Among those four hundred-plus were Wang Haotian and this other man. They hadn’t returned because they believed in Jiang Cheng.
First, they were afraid of dying—afraid of “what if.” Second, they followed the crowd—several group chats had many people saying they were going back, and the sheer numbers scared them into following suit.
And lastly, they had come back at the cost of their jobs, which gave them the moral high ground to blame Jiang Cheng if it all turned out to be a false alarm.
Who knew it would turn out to be real?
Zombies were back.
Wang Haotian finally found someone who shared his views!
“You can only say this kind of stuff among us,” Wang Haotian said. “Can’t say it to those other people!”
Wang Haotian had been snapped at by Peng Ze and mocked by Song Jingshuo. He wouldn’t even dare open his mouth in front of Jiang Cheng’s core loyalists like Li Jiangbing.
He’d searched for so long and only found three like-minded people—two of whom had since died. Now it was just the two of them left.
Now, hearing someone curse Jiang Cheng with vile, filthy language—it felt so satisfying to Wang Haotian.
He echoed along, even throwing in a few curses about others having no backbone.
After Cao Jiacai finished venting, he looked the two of them up and down. “You two have a grudge against Jiang Cheng?”
Wang Haotian said, “Grudge or not, we can’t let a woman shit on our heads!”
That hit Cao Jiacai right where it felt good: “Damn right!”
Some crime thriller novels describe a criminal’s motives with all kinds of twisted, elaborate backstories.
But in reality, one person’s grievance against another can be incredibly simple: She’s a woman.
The underlying logic of some men is just that straightforward. Not a single extra twist.
Novelists lavish pages on them—family background, childhood trauma, adult hardships, how it all supposedly triggered a psychopathic mentality and gave rise to motive—basically glamorizing them.
Reality is often very simple: She’s a woman.
Wang Haotian said, “If it were a man, I wouldn’t say a thing. But a woman—why?”
Cao Jiacai slapped his thigh. “Exactly.”
Wang Haotian fixed his eyes on Cao Jiacai. “Brother Cao, those people are all cowards.”
Before, there’d been Nie Kuizhang. Wang Haotian had tried to stir him up too, using the He Tian incident.
But Nie Kuizhang wasn’t stupid—he knew which way the wind blew. Of course, back then the cost of overthrowing and replacing Jiang Cheng was too high, and the rewards weren’t tempting enough.
Plus, the state had set up a temporary government. People had hope—they believed they’d return to a lawful society.
Nie Kuizhang had ignored him.
But now things were different.
Wang Haotian pulled out his phone and showed it to Cao Jiacai. “Look—it’s already this late, and the government hasn’t made a single move.”
“I heard from them that Jiang Cheng herself analyzed this—this time, the government might be completely finished.”
“Since that’s the case, we can’t let a woman keep shitting on our heads. And she’s not even the strongest one.”
“Li Jiangbing used to be tough, but now? What’s he worth?”
“To be honest, the strongest one right now is you, Brother Cao.”
“We two have discussed it—we can’t take it anymore.”
“A man like you, why should you play second fiddle to anyone?”
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