Barely a few minutes after they finished muttering about it, another text message came in, still from the telecom service provider. But this time it wasn’t from the city-level telecom—it was from the national headquarters.
The new message was similar in content to the one sent by S City’s Telecom Emergency Command Center, but its coverage was nationwide.
It was clear that S City had taken the lead, then reported it to the central government, which then rolled it out nationwide.
But last night, it had indeed been the community’s temporary committee that had started the registration first.
As they were still speculating, everyone saw the seven members of the temporary committee emerge from the entrance of Building 4. Everyone knew that the committee now held their meetings at Song Jingshuo’s place in Building 4.
As the core members of the temporary committee approached, someone couldn’t help but step forward out of curiosity and ask: “Does this have anything to do with us?”
He held up his phone to show the committee members the message.
The committee members didn’t even need to look—they had received it too.
Wu Jiancheng, the building leader for Building 1, said with a smile: “Of course it does. Jiang Cheng called the city’s emergency command center. And just now, she spoke directly with Mayor Zheng—he called her personally to tell us that the matter we raised had been handled.”
Although it was really just Jiang Cheng who had done it all, since it had been accomplished and she had even spoken with the mayor, all the committee members felt a shared sense of pride.
Someone else noticed that the seven of them were heading toward the east gate without any sign of dispersing, and couldn’t help asking: “What are you all off to do?”
Normally in this kind of situation, Jiang Cheng would pick up the conversation, but today she seemed to be deep in thought. Li Jiangbing replied from beside her: “Visiting neighbors.”
He added: “The one next door.”
“Next door” specifically referred to Jixiang Jiayuan.
Zhou Wang had received Jiang Cheng’s call and was already waiting for them at Jixiang Jiayuan’s west gate. The two communities were basically facing each other—you could see it as soon as you stepped out.
“Brother Zhou,” Jiang Cheng greeted him.
When Zhou Wang saw her, his heart tightened slightly: “Did something happen?”
If Youth Apartments was planning some kind of operation, Jiang Cheng would speak with a slight smile. Her smile might seem gentle, but it often carried an air of confidence and determination.
But now Jiang Cheng’s expression was far more grim than usual, and Zhou Wang grew nervous.
They found a spot in Jixiang Jiayuan’s garden to sit and talk.
Zhou Wang was surprised: “Our community?”
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng nodded. “We just wanted to get a sense of things. After all, we’re neighbors right next to each other—too close for comfort.”
Jiang Cheng wanted to understand the current state of Jixiang Jiayuan.
“Rest assured about our community,” Zhou Wang said with a nod. “I’m here. I won’t claim absolute guarantees, but I’ll do my best.”
“Your concerns are valid—order is far too important.”
Zhou Wang opened up: “As for the supplies we brought back, the team members who went out took a share first, and the rest went to the public pool. It was distributed to those in the community who were truly struggling. We kept a little in reserve for now, to see how things go.”
“Can’t compare to you guys—you really scored big this time,” he said. “People from the surrounding communities grit their teeth in resentment whenever they mention you.”
The committee members exchanged glances, their expressions growing serious.
But Zhou Wang quickly added: “But no one dares to mess with you either. Everyone knows you’re not to be trifled with.”
He didn’t say that no one dared to mess with Jixiang Jiayuan either.
Jixiang Jiayuan was a one-way trip.
The families of those who had run away, and of those who never returned, had already spread the word far and wide.
Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan—two places not to be provoked.
Like Mayor Zheng, Zhou Wang had aged considerably in just one week.
But that slick, worldly-wise air about him had faded. Now he looked like a steady, respected elder.
He asked: “Did something happen in your community?”
Something must have happened in Youth Apartments—otherwise Jiang Cheng and her people wouldn’t have come out of the blue wanting to check on Jixiang Jiayuan.
“Our community is fine,” Jiang Cheng said.
She told Zhou Wang about calling the command center that day and receiving Mayor Zheng’s call back.
Zhou Wang said: “So it was you guys.”
Everyone had been happy when they received the communications support notice just now—they never expected it was Jiang Cheng and her group who had brought it to the command center’s attention.
“The situation might be very bad.” Jiang Cheng shared their speculation as well.
Far from being flustered, anxious, or surprised, Zhou Wang even looked a bit speechless: “You guys…”
“You really…” Zhou Wang felt almost too weary to even address them, “really have been living in your own little bubble, shutting the door on the world.”
“Ah—”
He let out a deep sigh.
The seven of them looked at each other in bewilderment.
Jiang Cheng: “Tell us…”
Zhou Wang said: “People from Deqingli broke into Shanshui Yayuan to grab supplies—quite a few people died. You really had no idea at all?”
Even Jiang Cheng was stunned.
All seven of them were collectively dumbfounded.
Zhou Wang was even more speechless and just shook his head.
Shanshui Yayuan was a low-density villa district, with owners who were mostly bosses or executives of companies of various sizes.
Deqingli was a public rental housing community, whose residents were on the lower end of the income scale even among working-class families.
Every household in Shanshui Yayuan had at least two cars. Deqingli relied mainly on the 535, 578, and 611 express bus lines for commuting—only a few owned cars.
To get the supplies the government had distributed, the residents of Shanshui Yayuan brought out almost every car they had—people with driver’s licenses and even those without got on the road.
After all, the things walking around on the streets weren’t living people, so there was no fear of running anyone over, and in such extraordinary times, no one cared about a few scratches on their cars.
The more cars, the more they could carry.
But most of Deqingli’s residents, lacking private cars, had become trapped beasts.
When people are truly desperate, their eyes turn bloodshot. At that point, all it takes is someone raising their arm and shouting—and sure enough, someone did: “Let’s go—make Shanshui Yayuan share their supplies with us!”
The surrounding communities were all decent commercial housing developments. Even Youth Apartments—where the residents were so young that few owned private cars—had managed to get vehicles through sheer unity and, reportedly, a fair amount of supplies.
But why choose Shanshui Yayuan?
Because villa districts are low-density.
They had fewer people.
Deqingli had the highest population density among the nearby communities—they had numbers.
In ancient times, the strength of a tribe was directly correlated with its population.
Who would dare to attack a tribe full of able-bodied young people that was united and organized, or a tribe that sent people in and none ever came back?
Of course, they would choose to attack and plunder a smaller tribe with fewer people.
Deqingli had a large population, and therefore many zombies too. Over the past few days, people had been forced downstairs to find food, and they had killed quite a few.
But unlike Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan, they hadn’t done a thorough, floor-by-floor search to clear the entire community and turn it into a completely green zone.
Now, with so many people pouring out, they took the opportunity to clear the zombies in the compound once more, finally managing to get it mostly done.
Deqingli and Shanshui Yayuan were adjacent, like Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan, separated by a small lane.
But they weren’t facing each other—they were side by side. Both communities’ main gates opened onto the same main road, which still had quite a few zombies on it.
However, because Deqingli had a high population density, the community had four gates—one on each side, east, south, west, and north.
The lane between the two communities was relatively clean—only a few stray zombies had wandered over from the main road, and the large group simply trampled over them and killed them all.
Shanshui Yayuan didn’t have a gate on the side facing Deqingli.
But Deqingli’s residents were numerous and came from all walks of life. Someone brought hydraulic shears and cut through the critical load-bearing points of the iron railings on the concrete posts. Then, with everyone working together, they pushed over a section of the railing.
At first, they hadn’t actually intended to plunder—they still wanted to negotiate, or even beg tearfully.
But the bosses simply refused to share their supplies.
Things escalated into conflict, and blood was shed.
The bosses regretted it too late—in several households, fathers and sons were killed together, leaving only the women alive.
The supplies needed for survival were redistributed from rich to poor through violent bloodshed.
Ironically, Shanshui Yayuan had never organized themselves to clear out zombies.
Because every household had its own yard, and as long as they kept their own yard secure, the zombies couldn’t get in. So a small number of zombies had been wandering between the yards all along. In the end, it was the Deqingli people who cleared them out.
The seven of them looked at each other.
Jiang Cheng looked at Song Jingshuo, and Song Jingshuo looked back at Jiang Cheng.
Song Jingshuo asked: “Why didn’t anyone mention any of this on the forums?”
Zhou Wang found it even more ridiculous.
He looked at these young people—whom he had previously considered very smart and sharp—as if they were idiots.
“They were starving to death…” He was utterly speechless. “Who the hell has the mood to go online every day and file a report for you?”
Besides, Shanshui Yayuan and Deqingli—one full of wealthy bosses, the other full of low-income public housing residents—were both groups that were neither familiar with nor enthusiastic about the internet.
It was only the young people of Youth Apartments—with decent incomes and decent educations—who were the main internet users.
These young people, mostly from out of town, had locked their community gates and relied solely on the internet for information.
It was only now that Jiang Cheng and Song Jingshuo realized: those who had remained active online over the past few days were actually the ones still in relatively good shape.
And besides—killing people and looting supplies wasn’t exactly something to broadcast far and wide, was it?
When the Deqingli people set out, they came empty-handed but with weapons, noisy and chaotic.
When they came back, carrying, hauling, hugging, and dragging supplies, they were as silent as ghosts—not a single person spoke on the return journey.
A few of them even left bloody footprints with every step.
Zhou Wang lit a cigarette, exhaled a puff of white smoke, and looked at these dazed young people who had been eating their fill every day without worrying about hunger.
He shook his head again.
Jiang Cheng pressed her palms together over her mouth and nose, digested the information, steadied herself, and lowered her hands: “We actually came here to give you a heads-up—turns out we’re just offering hindsight.”
“Brother Zhou, our two communities are the closest to each other. Your community absolutely must hold steady.” She said, “If you can’t hold steady anymore… take the east gate.”
Zhou Wang was once again taken aback by Jiang Cheng.
He had expected her to say that if they couldn’t hold steady, they could turn to them for help. Instead, she told them to take the east gate.
Jixiang Jiayuan was to the east, Youth Apartments to the west, with Jixiang West Street running between them. Jixiang Jiayuan’s west gate and Youth Apartments’ east gate both faced Jixiang West Street, diagonally across from each other.
If they took the west gate, they would be facing Youth Apartments.
Taking the east gate meant facing other communities.
The young woman’s voice was calm and gentle, but her stance was anything but—
If chaos broke out, don’t come and plague Youth Apartments.
Youth Apartments was not Shanshui Yayuan.
It was at this moment that Zhou Wang realized: their charging over to join the fight and help clear zombies last Monday might not have been out of kindness.
Maybe they just couldn’t afford to let a zombie nest fester right next door.
Zhou Wang took a couple of puffs on his cigarette in silence, then agreed: “Alright.”
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