Of course, they were going for the 535 buses again.
To be honest, everyone had grown quite attached to those four 535s and two forklifts from last time.
The 535s were so big that four of them parked in the neighborhood plaza practically filled the entire space. When the bus depot staff came to drive them back later, the plaza suddenly felt empty—and everyone felt a little disappointed.
When the two little forklifts were taken back by Duoduo, people even gathered to see them off.
Because the 535s were too big to drive around casually, but no one could resist the forklifts—almost everyone had tried them out. Now they were all forklift pros.
But now, they’d already driven two forklifts back from Duoduo.
Once the 535s returned, it felt just like it had two months ago.
Except many of the neighbors from back then never came back.
This time, Cui Haiyang led the team.
Li Jiangbing felt a little deflated.
Jiang Cheng reassured him, “You’ve led before, and so have I. It’s their turn to do some work.”
Li Jiangbing crouched there, watching the convoy leave—all the metal-type users gone, along with Gao Yuxuan, Guo Jun, Sister Pan, and even Zhou Wang.
In short, all the strong superpower users had deployed. Without him.
There was still work to do in the neighborhood too.
With Sister Pan gone, no one was cooking at the property management office. The uncles, aunties, and sisters went straight to work on their trial shifts.
But Jiang Cheng hadn’t hired them just to cook for the property office—that little kitchen wouldn’t be enough. They’d need a proper big kitchen.
There was one already available.
Inside the clubhouse, there used to be a café. But before that, the owner had actually run a small restaurant.
The portions were big on the plate but tiny on food—all flashy plating at high prices, treating residents like fat sheep to be fleeced. Everyone hated it, and it flopped quickly.
So he’d converted it into a café.
But he’d spent a lot on the kitchen renovation and couldn’t bear to tear it out, always hoping to find some sucker to rent it as a restaurant and collect rent.
No one ever rented it, so it stayed a café.
But the kitchen was still there.
Jiang Cheng and the others broke open the clubhouse owner’s lock again and tore down the rental ad.
Inside, the kitchen equipment was all there—just covered in dust.
They checked: it ran on natural gas, not oil. Good—oil would’ve been a hassle, since there was nowhere to get it now.
They turned on the taps. After sitting unused so long, the water came out a bit discolored at first, but soon ran clear.
Li Jiangbing accepted his fate. Several large water balls floated in front of him as he moved around, spinning and scrubbing the kitchen clean.
By the end, the water balls had turned murky—but the kitchen was spotless.
Jiang Cheng praised him, “So convenient.”
She said, “You know, every girl wishes she had this power.”
That was true—the women had said exactly that.
Especially the long-haired ones: “This would be so great for washing hair!”
Li Jiangbing’s future career options +1.
Cui Haiyang’s team was highly efficient—they were back in an hour.
The 535 depot was only three stops away from Youth Apartments. The roads were empty—no cars, no people, no zombies.
There weren’t as many buses parked at the depot as last time. Because suburban BRT operated on a tidal flow schedule.
In the mornings, buses flooded out of the tech district toward the city center to take people to work.
In the afternoons, empty buses were repositioned downtown, then in the evening, a huge wave departed from the city center to haul the exhausted workers back.
But this time, on August 29th, no buses came back.
Each bus could cram in 150–200 people if fully loaded. To be safe, they drove four back.
The depot had its own repair shop and warehouse.
Inside were piles of materials—mostly metal.
The metal-type users were like mice in a granary—they wanted to take everything.
Unlike earth-types, who had limitless material under their feet, or fire-types, who used superpower as fuel—
Water-types needed water. Metal-types needed metal.
Every superpower had its conveniences and its limitations.
This time, since the external environment was relatively calm and there were few zombies on the streets, Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan hadn’t blocked off Jixiang West Street like last time.
The four buses pulled up directly on West Street outside the east gate. Someone called Jiang Cheng: “We’re here.”
Zhou Wang, Sister Pan, Guo Jun, Gao Yuxuan, Cui Haiyang, and several metal-type users sat in the vehicles, waiting for everyone to come out through the east gate and board.
They chatted about how many survivors might be at the school, occasionally glancing out the window.
Outside the window was the neighborhood’s east gate. Through the gate, a wide walkway stretched inward—you’d have to walk a bit before reaching the courtyard garden and plaza inside.
“Here they come,” someone said.
Everyone looked—sure enough, the main group was approaching from deep inside the neighborhood.
But Sister Pan let out a puzzled “Huh?” “What’s Cao Jiacai doing over there?”
At the east gate, several security guards stood with their backs to the outside.
They were all wearing security uniforms.
A gate with security guards was standard—no one would think twice about seeing guards at the entrance, so no one had paid attention earlier.
It was Sister Pan who recognized her familiar colleagues by their silhouettes.
Once she pointed it out, everyone looked closely—and sure enough, the one standing in the middle of the security guards was Cao Jiacai.
Were they standing there waiting to board the bus with Jiang Cheng and the others?
And why were two residents standing with them?
Of course not. They were there to act as roadblocks.
Cao Jiacai wanted to seize power—and do it with fanfare. Wang Haotian had advised him to make his move in a grand public setting, so his authority would seem more commanding and intimidating.
Cao Jiacai found that very convincing.
He had to ascend to the throne in a blaze of glory, with all eyes on him.
As Jiang Cheng led her group forward, Cao Jiacai took a deep breath, ready to face the most important moment of his life.
He and his people stepped forward and bellowed, “Halt!”
Everyone stopped as ordered.
The little black cat jumped down from a nearby tree and landed on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. She patted his head reassuringly.
Li Jiangbing stepped forward. “What are you doing?”
Cao Jiacai: “What are you doing?”
This kind of pointless back-and-forth was beyond eye-rolling.
Jiang Cheng stepped forward and said clearly, “Master Cao, there are survivors at Gaoxin Middle School. We’re going to rescue them. Are you coming?”
Oh—calling him “Master Cao” now.
When had Jiang Cheng ever looked at him with respect before? Now she was speaking all gentle and polite.
Cao Jiacai knew he was no longer the invisible, washed-up middle-aged security guard he used to be.
The deference from the other side made him even more swollen with pride.
“I’m not going!” he barked. “And none of you are going either!”
Everyone stared in shock.
Li Jiangbing raised his voice. “What are you talking about?! We’re in a hurry to save people!”
“Save what? A bunch of idiots, following some little girl’s orders!” Cao Jiacai started playing the father figure, jabbing his finger at them. “Those people out there—what do they have to do with us?!”
“We’ve got food, we’ve got drink. We’ve got a giant supermarket like Duoduo right here. We can just haul everything back, kick back, and live the easy life—nice and safe!”
“It’s this Jiang Cheng who’s bamboozled you all into running around saving this person and that person.”
Cao Jiacai puffed out his chest. “Jiang Cheng, let me tell you—from today on, what you say doesn’t count!”
“Starting now, everyone listens to me!”
“From now on, I’m the boss of this neighborhood!”
“Xiao Zhao, Xiao Song, Xiao Wu, Xiao Zhang, Xiao Su.” Cao Jiacai pointed at each of the superpower users by name. “And you few—come over here. From now on, listen to me. Stop following that Jiang Cheng around. What does a woman know?”
Cao Jiacai fully expected that with his power, one raise of his arm would have everyone flocking to him.
In some rural villages, the local bully’s word was law—no one dared disobey.
But he forgot this was a city. Not just any small city—this was S City, a metropolis with over twenty million people.
People here had completely different values and worldviews.
He thought, “Why save those unrelated people?” He assumed everyone would be happy to just stay in the neighborhood, eat and laze around, without having to fight or sacrifice for others.
But not a single resident voluntarily crossed over to his side.
They all looked at him strangely—some surprised, some baffled, some speechless, some contemptuous, and a few even pitying.
That last one was the hardest to take.
Why wasn’t it going the way he’d imagined?
“Are you all deaf?!” Cao Jiacai’s temper flared with embarrassment.
Wang Haotian whispered beside him, “Fire.”
Cao Jiacai suddenly understood—right, he needed to show off his strength.
Wu Jiancheng had been trying to keep a flame alive on his body at all times, but Cao Jiacai had naturally achieved it yesterday.
He didn’t even need to carry multiple lighters in his pocket like Wu Jiancheng. A small flame constantly danced around his fingertips.
Cao Jiacai raised his hand—whoosh—a massive fireball materialized in front of him.
Fire-type users had been physically altered by their powers and no longer felt heat or burning.
But others did. The moment the huge fireball appeared, before it even intimidated the people across from him, it scalded his own side first.
Xiao Zhao and Xiao Wang, the two superpowered security guards, had been flanking Cao Jiacai like bodyguards. Wang Haotian, the dog-headed strategist, had also leaned in close to talk.
The rolling wave of heat made them yelp and jump backward.
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