Today’s news bulletin was, as usual, half an hour late, but this time the central leaders did not appear. On the local stations, it was still the local first secretaries or acting first secretaries who showed their faces.
In S City, of course, that was Mayor Zheng.
This elder, who started out as a rural teacher, had spent most of his life in education. He never expected that at this age, he would be entrusted with a critical mission, taking charge of a region’s supply lines and the brutal fight for survival.
Mayor Zheng’s emotions were especially difficult to control today. He choked up before he even spoke.
Even though he hadn’t said anything yet, everyone watching in front of their televisions couldn’t help but cry.
In that moment, everyone shared the same feeling.
No words were needed.
At such an important moment, Mayor Zheng couldn’t bring himself to use flowery, stirring rhetoric. He reined in his turbulent emotions, his voice steady and sincere. He delivered a brief summary of the day’s general situation with genuine simplicity.
[This will surely be the turning point of this great disaster.]
He looked into the camera, as if looking at every single person watching on the other side.
The map was updated.
The scattered dots of green had almost all expanded, turning into small patches of green. Some of these small patches had even connected with adjacent ones, forming larger expanses of green.
Even more inspiring than this was the plan for supply routes and supply points that Mayor Zheng announced.
He declared that the first batch of zones or communities to receive in-depth supplies would be tomorrow, the 27th.
The very first on the list was the New Tech District.
Most of the areas in the first batch to receive supplies were in the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads, with only one located inside the Third Ring. From the map, it could be seen that the areas about to receive supplies were all relatively larger patches of green.
This green ignited hope in people’s hearts.
All the various chat groups in the Youth Apartments were buzzing about this.
[This is exactly what Jiang Cheng was talking about.]
The prerequisite for opening a supply route was clearing the roads first.
The country could no longer afford troop attrition. Soldiers were just too precious.
Each region had to rely on its own strength to clear a path that at least wouldn’t bog down military vehicles.
[Everyone, which crew are you joining tomorrow?]
[I signed up for road clearing.]
[I’m going to Lecheng Garden. Two of my colleagues live there. Sigh…]
[I’m going to clean up around the Buy Duo Duo supermarket. Once the supply point is set up, our area shouldn’t be short of things anymore, right. I wonder if they can supply fresh vegetables and meat. I really, really want to eat some greens!!]
[Me too!]
[Who doesn’t!]
Group admins in every chat reminded everyone: [Get to bed early. Rest up.]
Many people went to bed early, also because they had expended a lot of physical and mental energy today. After showering and lying down, they fell asleep quickly.
However, including Su Yu and He Tian, a few girls particularly close to Peng Ze didn’t sleep so early.
They made an appointment to go down to the small square to pay respects to Peng Ze.
With no white candles, they used scented tealights instead. The flowers were clipped from the community’s green belt.
After wiping away their tears, they each returned to their respective buildings.
Only Su Yu and He Tian lingered downstairs to talk.
“Be careful with your protection tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“The news didn’t mention any of these people.”
“These people” referred to those like Peng Ze, who had survived nearly two weeks of the zombie disaster but were infected or lost their lives today because they bravely answered the call to step outside.
“There must have been quite a few.”
“Mentioning that now would dampen morale. They still have to go out again tomorrow.”
“True.”
“Anyway, we have to make sure we’re well protected. I heard Peng Ze was bitten on the ear.”
“There’s no helping it; it’s too hot. You can’t even keep a helmet on.”
Some people today had worn motorcycle helmets when they first went out but took them off later because of the heat. With this season and this temperature, it was unavoidable.
But if Peng Ze had just had a helmet, he might have escaped this fate.
The two girls’ soft sighs drifted across the square.
After her shower, Jiang Cheng sat at home, stroking Mo Li’s fur.
Mo Li had fully recovered now, but he still ate very little, and only at night. On days with particularly good sunlight, he wouldn’t eat at night either.
These past few days, Jiang Cheng had run her hands over Mo Li’s body more than once, deeply suspecting he was some kind of advanced transforming robot. But Mo Li’s body was very soft and warm; he was indeed a living carbon-based creature.
He could open the window himself to get in and out, and during the day he’d hide somewhere in the neighborhood to sunbathe, so Jiang Cheng often didn’t see him.
But last night, when Jiang Cheng used their psychic connection to make him understand that she was going out to face the zombies today, he hooked her pant leg with his claws first thing in the morning and conveyed through their mental link: [I’m coming too] .
Jiang Cheng had actually always been very curious about whether Mo Li could transform again. She knew that once Mo Li’s transformation was revealed to everyone, it would certainly cause an uproar.
But if Mo Li could still transform, that day would come sooner or later.
Yet throughout the entire day of facing zombies, Mo Li just stayed in Jiang Cheng’s shoulder bag.
During a break, Jiang Cheng pressed her hand on his furry little head and communicated with him, roughly understanding what was going on—Mo Li had come with her because he was afraid she’d run into danger and get hurt during the “hunt.”
But with so many people united in the effort to eliminate the zombies, Mo Li judged the current situation as “not dangerous.”
The little cat had his own criteria for what qualified as dangerous.
So while everyone else was fighting and slashing, getting splattered with disgusting gunk, Mo Li was sound asleep in her bag.
There was really no helping it.
Jiang Cheng stroked Mo Li’s fur, and found herself vaguely hoping that Mo Li would transform again.
But that would mean that real “danger” had occurred.
The people preparing for the next day’s battle all went to bed early that night. But Mayor Zheng couldn’t sleep early—he had too much on his plate.
Thursday, June 27th. Just as dawn broke, Mayor Zheng, who had slept less than four hours, was woken up.
Secretary Sun hurried in: “The helicopters have been approved! We’re getting two!”
Mayor Zheng’s eyes were bloodshot. They didn’t sparkle with any hopeful light—in fact, they looked quite dim: “But today is already Thursday…”
On Monday, the supply troops had broken through to the Fourth Ring Road, but they encountered a massive horde of second-generation zombies at Rainbow Stadium, suffering heavy casualties. The area within a three-kilometer radius of Rainbow Stadium had been designated a red high-risk zone.
Mayor Zheng had immediately requested military support at the time.
But everywhere was requesting military support, not just S City. In fact, because S City was a prosperous economic metropolis, it had already received far more military forces, manpower, and supplies than surrounding cities.
A shipment of supplies bound for S City had even been intercepted by a neighboring city while passing through.
This was a very dangerous sign—it meant the central government’s control was weakening and the government as a whole was fragmenting.
This was also one of the reasons the central leaders had finally decided to mobilize the masses.
When Mayor Zheng had requested military support on Monday, the massive horde of second-generation zombies at Rainbow Stadium had been slowly spreading to the surrounding areas, but overall they were still highly concentrated.
Ground combat was too dangerous, and soldiers were more precious than gold right now.
Aerial combat was the best option—using bombs or artillery-type weapons for large-scale destruction.
But the problem now wasn’t just a shortage of helicopters—there was also a severe shortage of pilots!
Just as Secretary Sun had told Jiang Cheng: they were short on people! Desperately short!
The military’s losses when the zombie virus first broke out were far more devastating than the public could imagine.
Why were there tens of thousands of second-generation zombies at Rainbow Stadium? Because in such an open and densely packed space, ordinary people simply couldn’t resist or escape.
Not a single one got away.
As for the military, it was only because the soldiers were so formidable—able to fight back and even turn the tables in crisis—that the surviving personnel they had now remained.
Otherwise, every military barracks would have been another stadium.
The pilots who had survived the initial zombie virus outbreak had been working non-stop for the past week and a half. Even bodies of iron couldn’t hold up—pilots were human too.
At the same time, just as dawn was breaking, Zhou Wang at Jixiang Jiayuan hadn’t planned to get up this early. He’d been too exhausted yesterday and wanted to sleep in a bit to recover his energy—after all, he was middle-aged.
But the polyphonic ringtone of his phone suddenly blared, jolting him awake.
Zhou Wang’s heart pounded wildly. He had a bad feeling. After catching his breath for a few seconds, he finally dared to pick up.
As he listened to the report, sure enough, it was goddamn bad news!
When Jiang Cheng met up with Zhou Wang, she saw that his face looked terrible—that unhealthy, sallow-yellow tinged with sickly green.
Jiang Cheng asked: “Didn’t sleep well?”
Zhou Wang squeezed out a voice through clenched teeth: “Goddammit…”
This middle-aged man was usually quite well-mannered and didn’t curse in front of girls. Hearing that, Jiang Cheng immediately asked: “What happened?”
Zhou Wang gritted his teeth in anger and said: “From now on, checks when returning to the neighborhood have to be stricter—multiple people need to check each other, not just two! Your neighborhood needs to watch out too!”
“Oh, your neighborhood doesn’t need that—you’re all single…”
Neither Jiang Cheng nor the others could have imagined that, nearly two weeks into the zombie apocalypse, there would still be people covering for the injured. Even the injured from the Youth Apartments had been conscientious enough not to return—they’d all left on their own.
But thinking about it, it was also in line with human nature—family members checking each other, and then discovering that one of them was injured.
In that moment, could you really shout it out? Could you really expose them?
Knowing full well that an injured person would become infected and mutate, they still gritted their teeth and lied to the people at the gate, entering the compound together.
The mutation happened in the early hours of the morning, and they didn’t handle it properly. In the end, the whole family was wiped out, neat and tidy. The screams startled the neighbors, which was how it was discovered.
Zhou Wang hadn’t even gotten out of bed at dawn when he had to deal with this.
And in the process of handling it, one of their core members got injured.
After hearing the story, everyone felt a stifled frustration—they wanted to curse but couldn’t quite bring themselves to.
In the end, only Nie Kuizhang managed to spit out a single: “Fuck!”
Jiang Cheng said to the group: “We need multiple-person checks too. Just in case.”
The Youth Apartments didn’t have whole families living together. But over these days, many strong bonds had formed.
For example: Jiang Cheng and Li Jiangbing, Jiang Cheng and Song Jingshuo, Su Yu and He Tian, Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan, Cui Haiyang and Master Luo.
When two or more people are constantly together, even fighting back-to-back against zombies, it’s hard not to develop feelings for one another.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Taking advantage of the fact that they were still not far from the neighborhood and still within signal range, Li Jiangbing immediately used the walkie-talkie to communicate with the property management staff staying behind, passing along the instruction.
They held a brief meeting, then split into three groups. Not a single group was composed solely of people from one neighborhood—each group had members from all three communities.
One group headed toward the Fifth Ring Road, one toward Lecheng Garden, and one toward Buy Duo Duo.
Guo Jun and his colleagues all went to Buy Duo Duo. They were originally employees there, so they knew the building’s layout better than anyone else. Ordinary customers only ever went to the supermarket and the shops—only the Buy Duo Duo staff knew about the employee passages, storage rooms, loading entrances, and so on.
Jiang Cheng, Li Jiangbing, and Song Jingshuo all headed toward the Fifth Ring Road.
The Youth Apartments had brought out all four of their 535 buses. The few off-road vehicles they had were also brought out. As for the compact cars and two-box hatchbacks—forget it, they couldn’t withstand second-generation zombies and would be too prone to accidents.
Jiang Cheng and Li Jiangbing were both on one of the buses. Everyone had taped their windows in a crisscross “X” pattern with tape, to prevent the zombies from shattering the glass.
Su Yu and a few other girls were there too.
Someone said: “Song Jingshuo’s car is really nice.”
Jiang Cheng turned her head at the sound.
Sure enough, outside the window was Song Jingshuo’s off-road vehicle with its exceptionally high chassis—rugged and eye-catching.
He was already handsome, and with a great car to match, he looked even cooler.
Another girl said: “I heard he bought a 180-square-meter apartment in West Fourth Ring—a view property overlooking a wetland park.”
“Really? He’s pretty impressive then.”
“He’s in finance—money comes fast.”
Song Jingshuo was what society generally considered a successful young man, a young elite. Good build, great looks, and he’d also shown a sense of responsibility, composure, and financial capability—he definitely attracted a lot of attention from the opposite sex.
Li Jiangbing: “Tsk tsk tsk tsk~”
Jiang Cheng smiled and turned her gaze forward.
The vehicle left the roads around the neighborhood and turned onto the main road.
Zombies began to appear on and along the road.
This was the same route they’d taken on Sunday to scavenge supplies from the Fifth Ring Road. They’d gone once and come back once on Sunday, already making two passes—running over and crushing quite a few zombies in the process.
Now, with a thorough cleanup today, the New Tech District could be connected to the Fifth Ring—which meant connecting to the organization, connecting to the nation.
On the roads, big trucks and small cars alike roared forward with their accelerators pressed down.
In the neighborhoods, people formed formations to fight and kill zombies.
Inside the Buy Duo Duo building, they searched and cleared shop by shop, corridor by corridor.
Accompanied by the deafening thump-thump-thump-thump of helicopter blades slicing through the air, two helicopters flew directly from the south of the city to Rainbow Stadium on the Fourth Ring Road.
The combatants looked down from above and shouted to the pilot: “They’re too spread out! This won’t work! Circle around a couple of times—get them concentrated!”
The military helicopters began to circle. Countless second-generation zombies, drawn by the tremendous noise, looked up and ran, chasing the giant birds in the sky.
The giant birds circled round after round, until the ground below was packed with a dense, overwhelming mass of zombies that made one’s scalp tingle.
Small aerial bombs were launched, screaming toward the ground.
They couldn’t use weapons with too much destructive power in the city. What higher command had approved were small aerial bombs—each of the two military helicopters carried six.
But even these “small” ones were terrifying to urban residents.
From the high-rises, the massive explosions hit the eyes first, then the ears.
At this very moment, this same scene was playing out in every city across the country.
Blanket coverage.
In the afternoon, Secretary Sun received a call from Jiang Cheng: “The route has been cleared, the supply point is ready. Please open the supply channel for the New Tech District.”
Secretary Sun drew a breath and answered with conviction: “Alright.”
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