On the second Wednesday of the zombie virus outbreak, the weather wasn’t great—it was overcast, carrying a somber, mournful atmosphere.
Jiang Cheng came downstairs very early. She had always been an early riser, and since the zombie crisis began, her routine had become even stricter and more regular than before.
Song Jingshuo was the same.
They were the first and second to appear in the garden square.
Jiang Cheng patted the head of the black civet in her crossbody bag, walked over, and extended her fist to Song Jingshuo.
This was something Li Jiangbing liked to do—Jiang Cheng and Song Jingshuo rarely did it. But this time, Song Jingshuo didn’t hesitate. He reached out and bumped fists with her.
Jiang Cheng asked: “How many people do you expect to show up?”
Song Jingshuo said: “I can’t predict.”
Jiang Cheng smiled.
People began coming downstairs.
Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan weren’t from the same building, but they appeared one after the other. They had called each other before heading out.
Peng Ze came with a look of determination.
Li Jiangbing came down fairly early too.
Several building leaders arrived early—only Nie Kuizhang was missing.
Many familiar faces appeared.
Everyone greeted each other, asking what each had brought for lunch. Rice balls were the most frequently mentioned food.
Master Luo and his wife arrived and greeted Jiang Cheng: “We’re coming too.”
More and more people gathered in the square.
Su Yu came down, pulling a handcart loaded with a big pile of magazines: “Anyone who hasn’t made protective gear yet—I’ve got magazines here.”
Those fashion magazines and entertainment magazines were her beloved collection. But now, beyond their aesthetic value, they had gained a more practical use—wrapped around arms with tape, they had proven to be highly effective protection against zombie bites.
So far, no one in Youth Apartments had had their arm protection bitten through. Paper was truly something incredible.
When the Duoduo Supermarket employees had defected to Youth Apartments yesterday, Li Jiangbing and his team, following the principle of taking anything they could carry, had hauled over more supplies from Duoduo—including tape.
Those without protective gear crowded around Su Yu to get magazines and tape, and everyone helped each other wrap the magazines around their arms and legs.
There was no need for Jiang Cheng to give any further motivational speech. Everyone who had come downstairs had already made up their minds.
Song Jingshuo looked around and finally spotted Nie Kuizhang, the building leader of Building 3. He had come too. With that, all six building leaders were present.
He checked his watch: 8:51.
Jiang Cheng’s phone rang at that moment. She glanced at the caller ID and answered: “Brother Zhou?”
It was Zhou Wang from Jixiang Jiayuan.
Zhou Wang asked: “I see your community is gathering. We’re gathering on our side too. Where are you starting? We want to follow your lead.”
Jiang Cheng: “We’re planning to start from outside the west gate. Clear the ring road around the community first.”
Youth Apartments’ east gate faced Jixiang Jiayuan; its west gate opened onto a street-side park.
There were zombies in the park too. Last time they drove private cars to the 535 bus stop, they had run over quite a few along the way, but since they hadn’t done a thorough sweep, there were bound to be more.
Jiang Cheng: “First clear the ring road around the community, then the commercial-residential building to the south.”
Zhou Wang said: “Let’s do it together.”
Jiang Cheng agreed: “Alright.”
Because the roads were all connected anyway. The communities were laid out in neat squares, and the roads formed a grid pattern—all connected. There was no such thing as “your road” or “our road.”
Upon receiving the instruction, the security guard at the east gate opened it to let the people from Jixiang Jiayuan in.
They had significantly fewer people than Youth Apartments. But that was understandable—Jixiang Jiayuan was a standard residential community with people of all ages. Most of those who came were able-bodied young men.
Even skinny middle schoolers like Xiao Huang were there.
Suddenly, applause broke out from Youth Apartments, warmly welcoming Jixiang Jiayuan’s join.
At that moment, all the friction and estrangement seemed to vanish. Everyone merged into one—not residents of this or that community, but simply living humans.
Jiang Cheng watched the scene with narrowed eyes.
The core members from both sides also converged. Jiang Cheng noticed that these big brothers and uncles had all changed somewhat compared to a week ago. But so many people had been transformed over these days—it was nothing unusual.
Song Jingshuo checked his watch: “It’s time.”
Everyone looked at Jiang Cheng.
Even now, the people from Jixiang Jiayuan were still amazed at this young girl’s power to rally people. How could the core decision-maker of a community of over a thousand people be a young woman?
Jiang Cheng pulled the fire axe from her waist holster and raised it.
Everyone held their breath.
The fire axe chopped through the air. Jiang Cheng declared: “Move out!”
A roar erupted from the crowd: “Let’s go!”
“Move out!”
“This can’t go on any longer!”
“Yeah!”
Humanity was going to reclaim its living space.
Su Yu gripped her steel pipe tightly. He Tian held her kitchen knife, and several other girls naturally drew closer to one another.
Li Jiangbing instructed them: “Stay behind me. Don’t get too far forward.”
The girls whispered among themselves: “He’s pretty reliable.”
Su Yu had been looked after by Li Jiangbing more than once. She nodded: “He’s a good person.”
He Tian said: “Yeah. Unlike some people.”
In fact, most people stuck together with others from their own building. They knew each other better that way.
He Tian had deliberately come over to stick with Su Yu because she didn’t want to be near Nie Kuizhang.
They opened the west gate, and the main force set out.
At the east gate, a few stragglers from Jixiang Jiayuan were still trickling in.
The security guard was speechless: “Can’t you guys get your act together?”
Though the security guard didn’t participate in the collective actions, he was used to Youth Apartments’ organized, disciplined operations. Looking at Jixiang Jiayuan’s loose, scattered crowd, he felt the contrast was stark.
But there was nothing to be done. Many people simply hesitated and wavered. It wasn’t until they saw so many others going, felt the tide of public sentiment, and were swept up by the atmosphere that they could finally grit their teeth and follow along.
As long as they came, that was what mattered.
The street-side park wasn’t large. Since it had only been built a few years earlier, the trees weren’t very big, and visibility wasn’t obstructed.
Zombies, drawn by the noise, lunged forward. The vanguard from Youth Apartments coordinated with practiced precision—the U-shaped forks went without saying, and there were also cabinet doors modified by Cui Haiyang and the other engineering guys, fitted with handles for easier gripping, essentially functioning as rectangular shields. They were highly effective.
The shield bearers had the best protective gear.
With nothing else to do while cooped up in the community, the engineering guys had spent their days tinkering—using the property management’s limited equipment to develop all kinds of protective gear, all of which had now been issued to the vanguard.
Everyone now understood that the best way to fight zombies was sheer numerical superiority.
Fully equipped, even if one person messed up, the weapons of those beside them would reach out, and the zombie would basically be killed in one strike.
There were too many people. Before those at the back had even exited the west gate, those at the front had already cleared the street-side park.
The residents of Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan had merged, forming a formidable fighting force.
Starting from Youth Apartments’ west gate, after clearing the street-side park outside it, they turned southward, first advancing along the small road encircling the community.
With Jixiang Jiayuan joining in, and since the two communities had already connected their safe zones by sealing off Jixiang West Street, the route they took also encompassed Jixiang Jiayuan.
But with that, there were still too many people.
When it came time to turn onto South Street, they split into two groups. Half continued around the two communities, clearing the streets surrounding them.
The other half headed toward the commercial-residential building south of the community.
Jiang Cheng, Song Jingshuo, Li Jiangbing, and Wu Jiancheng were in the group circling the communities. Nie Kuizhang, Peng Ze, and Zhang Tao split off from them and headed to the commercial-residential building.
People gripped their weapons tightly, their gazes firm, following their leaders forward.
Even Jiang Cheng and the others had been reduced to dark, dense clusters of heads on the surveillance monitors.
Mayor Zheng watched these screens, seeing more and more people gather and organize. Finally, under the call to action, they had overcome fear, selfishness, and wishful thinking, and begun to save themselves.
The monitoring operators continuously fed in new information: “XX Community, XX Jiayuan… people in the area from XX Street to XX Street have come out!”
“People from XX Dongli and XX Xili have come out too!”
“People are visible on XX Street!”
Voices rose one after another.
Ordinary citizens picked up their weapons and walked out of their homes.
Even those who had once been timid, cowardly, or selfish—once they joined the collective under the nation’s call—were imbued with strength and courage.
This wasn’t just happening in S City. At this very moment, it was happening all across the country.
Cities, towns, villages! This was like a scene that only appeared in history books—never did they expect to witness it with their own eyes in their lifetimes.
Mayor Zheng’s eyes grew moist.
On the morning of June 27th, the group led by Jiang Cheng cleared the streets surrounding the two communities.
When they reached the southeast corner of Jixiang Jiayuan, they encountered residents from Yujing Xiangyuan as well.
Before this, they had all been strangers passing each other on the streets.
Over these past days, Youth Apartments had looked down on Yujing Xiangyuan’s disorganized capabilities, and Yujing Xiangyuan had cursed Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan for clearing out Duoduo Supermarket.
But when the people from the three communities met unexpectedly at this street corner, they actually burst into cheers.
“It’s Yujing Xiangyuan!”
“Jixiang Jiayuan!”
“And Youth Apartments!”
They had cleared less than a kilometer of street, yet it felt like a major victory rally.
Jiang Cheng, Zhou Wang, and the leader from Yujing Xiangyuan quickly huddled for a brief exchange, clarifying the directions and areas each team would clear. Then they parted ways again, each heading in their own direction.
With the people from Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan handling it, the residents of Yujing Xiangyuan didn’t need to worry about Jixiang East Street—shared by Yujing Xiangyuan and Jixiang Jiayuan. Jiang Cheng and Zhou Wang’s group headed in that direction, while Yujing Xiangyuan’s group went the other way.
If viewed from above, one would see the dense clusters of heads splitting at the intersections.
Out on the open streets, with clear visibility, people could gather to form effective defensive formations. Relatively speaking, the risk of injury was low.
But inside the commercial-residential building south of Youth Apartments, someone did get hurt.
As the name suggests, the commercial-residential building could be used for both business and living. But residents made up only a small portion—most of it housed small companies. There were also various establishments like beauty salons, gyms, and dental clinics.
The interior spaces weren’t uniformly partitioned—it all depended on how each tenant had renovated.
In such a space, it was impossible for many people to cluster together and form an effective, nearly impregnable defense.
Eventually, injury was unavoidable.
The first person injured was someone Jiang Cheng also knew—Peng Ze from Building 3.
Nie Kuizhang, the building leader of Building 3, shouted: “Peng Ze—”
The few zombies lay with their skulls shattered, thoroughly dead.
Peng Ze covered his injured ear, then removed his hand. His palm was covered in blood.
Peng Ze felt as if he could hear his own heartbeat—thump, thump, thump, thump.
Each beat was clear and enormous.
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