When the military truck arrived at dusk, who knows how many people cheered.
Even though everyone knew that the supplies on this truck were designated specifically for Lecheng Garden and not for them, it didn’t dampen their stirring emotions one bit.
Lecheng Garden had indeed suffered terribly.
The rescue workers had seen some bodies—bodies that hadn’t mutated, which meant they had been killed by other humans rather than by zombies.
What had happened there? No one wanted to ask too many questions.
Many people came downstairs with dazed, vacant looks in their eyes.
Some were so thin it was frightening—they said they’d eaten everything edible in their homes, even cutting up real leather belts and boiling them down.
They grabbed people’s arms and asked urgently: “Do you have food? Do you have food?”
Zhou Wang had once said that the Youth Apartments’ residents were living an absurdly comfortable life, holed up behind locked doors. It was only now, seeing this, that the young people from the Youth Apartments truly understood what he meant.
The other two neighborhoods weren’t as well-off as the Youth Apartments, but neither had they suffered to the devastating extent of Lecheng Garden.
After seeing the situation at Lecheng Garden, no one objected to the entire truckload of supplies going exclusively to them.
But more importantly, two weeks into the zombie crisis, the government’s supply line had finally broken through the ring roads and penetrated directly into residential areas!
What did this mean? It was a lifeline!
For the New Tech District, it meant they were no longer stranded outside the Fifth Ring Road. The main artery had been opened, and blood was beginning to flow in steadily.
It was a giant step toward returning to normal life.
Many people cheered, and then, as if contagious, one by one, they started crying.
It spread like an infection—one person passed it to the next.
Song Jingshuo’s stylish off-road vehicle led the way, guiding the military truck into the Lecheng Garden complex.
There, people from all three neighborhoods—but mainly from the Youth Apartments and Jixiang Jiayuan—were maintaining order. The residents of Lecheng Garden had hungry, desperate looks in their eyes.
They had originally formed five lines, and under the management of these people, they were actually maintaining decent formation.
But the moment the supply truck drove into the complex, the five lines instantly fell into chaos.
“Stay in line! No pushing!” Li Jiangbing had been living well lately and hadn’t yelled like this in days. “Anyone who cuts in line gets sent to the back! You’ll be the last to get your share!”
They had plenty of experience by now. The ones keeping order were all tall, burly men—otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to hold the line. No way.
Song Jingshuo parked the car, and Jiang Cheng got out of the passenger seat.
The military truck also stopped. The doors opened, and several soldiers jumped out. They wore training uniforms, and the skin on their arms and necks was tanned dark from the sun.
The specifics had already been communicated by phone with the people here on the way, so there was no need for further talk now. The soldiers immediately began unloading. Volunteers distributed the goods along the five lines—it was more efficient that way.
The escort commander, watching everything run smoothly, stepped back and looked around, surveying the environment.
Some clearly starving residents stood in line.
Some clearly well-fed, healthy-looking people maintained order.
In the distance, piles of zombie corpses were stacked up like small mountains—several of them. Forklifts were hauling them away.
The stench was overwhelming. People over there were all wearing masks or wrapping cloth around their mouths and noses.
Though, they actually still had forklifts.
“Company Commander Li.”
Someone called out from behind him.
This commander was named Li Feng, a deputy company commander.
Hearing the female voice, Li Feng turned: “Jiang Cheng?”
Ever since he’d taken on this mission, he’d been in contact with this voice. He already knew she was Jiang Cheng, the head of the Youth Apartments’ interim committee.
Jiang Cheng had noticed this man step back and survey the area, and she knew he was the Company Commander Li she’d spoken to on the phone.
But when Li Feng turned around, both were surprised by how young the other was.
“It’s me.” Jiang Cheng extended her hand to Li Feng.
Li Feng shook her hand: “I’m Li Feng.”
Jiang Cheng asked: “Will you be staying here from now on?”
Li Feng said: “I won’t be staying—I have to run back and forth between locations. But you can contact me anytime. I’ll also be coming by frequently.”
Zhou Wang also came over to shake Li Feng’s hand: “I’m Zhou Wang, the head of Jixiang Jiayuan.”
A few people from Yujing Xiangyuan also crowded forward.
Who wouldn’t want to get a word in with the supply line commander sent by the government? Everyone did.
But Li Feng only nodded briefly.
The command center had already established contact with the heads of many neighborhoods. The contacts they’d provided were the actual leaders, not clerks.
So although he was surprised that Jiang Cheng was such a young, pretty girl, he could clearly feel during their phone conversations on the way that she was indeed the one in charge.
Jiang Cheng didn’t waste a single word: “Company Commander Li, let me take you to see the supply point. We’ve already cleared it out.”
Li Feng nodded: “Let’s go.”
There were plenty of volunteers here maintaining order, and they seemed to be doing a good job. Li Feng called two more soldiers over to come with them—these two were the ones who would be stationed here.
They got into Song Jingshuo’s car.
Zhou Wang and the others each drove their own vehicles—one from each of the three neighborhoods—and they all headed toward Buy Duo Duo together.
“Buy Duo Duo is basically empty now.” Jiang Cheng sat in the passenger seat, briefing the three soldiers in the back. “Today we cleared out all the zombies in the building.”
“I chose this location because it’s big enough—plenty of space for storing supplies.”
“It has dedicated loading and unloading channels and warehouses.”
“Its geographic location covers most of the surrounding neighborhoods.”
“There are also employee dormitories. Their people aren’t living there anymore, so you can requisition them.”
They arrived as she spoke.
They went inside for a tour. Quite a few people were still there, tidying up and organizing.
The earlier rush had left the supermarket in complete disarray—many shelves had been knocked over. Some goods had also been traded to the Youth Apartments through Brother Dong.
Jiang Cheng had arranged for people to clear out the supermarket to make room for the supply point.
Li Feng was extremely satisfied with the choice of this supply point.
Especially with the volunteers who were working there. Many of them were young people, and they looked full of energy and spirit.
With so many people working, there was no chaos—someone was directing them.
That someone came running over: “Jiang Cheng!”
It was Zhao Yi. He asked: “Does this look okay?”
Jiang Cheng looked at Li Feng: “What do you think?”
The empty shelves had been pushed together, clearing a very spacious area up front.
Li Feng gave concise praise: “Very good.”
Li Feng had dark skin, but it couldn’t hide his thick eyebrows and bright eyes, his sharp, handsome features, and his exceptionally straight posture—shoulders back, spine tall.
He took a brief turn around the place, got a feel for the environment, left the two other soldiers stationed there, and followed Jiang Cheng and the others back to Lecheng Garden.
With strong people maintaining order, the distribution of supplies went smoothly. By the time they returned, most of Lecheng Garden’s residents had already received their goods.
Many people found a spot in the garden, sat down right there, and started eating—because Jiang Cheng had coordinated and reported the situation in advance, the first truckload of supplies specially allocated to Lecheng Garden wasn’t rice, flour, or cooking oil, but ready-to-eat foods like bread, sausages, pickled vegetables, and salted duck eggs that required no cooking.
The truck was quickly emptied. But at last, the people of Lecheng Garden had a proper, filling meal.
They set up plastic stools in the shade and sat together, discussing the situation in the New Tech District.
Jiang Cheng spread out her map.
As she pulled it out, Li Feng noticed that there was actually a cat in her shoulder bag—a dark, shadowy lump.
Li Feng was taken aback. Ever since their first phone call that afternoon, they’d communicated very smoothly. After meeting her in person, he’d further confirmed that she was clear-headed and efficient.
In these critical times, she was an excellent collaborator.
But then he suddenly discovered she was carrying a cat around with her, and his impression of her immediately took a hit.
“Our target for tomorrow is the restaurant street.” Jiang Cheng had already marked it on the map with a colored pen.
“We’ve already made contact with Deqingli over there today—we’ll move together. But the people at Shanshui Yayuan haven’t responded to us.”
“Deqingli is a high-density community, with more residents than any of our neighborhoods.”
“If the restaurant street gets cleared, then this area, this area, and this area will all be connected. We can basically consider it a safe zone.”
The reason she said “basically” was because the area was so large—too many streets, shops, and nooks and crannies to guarantee 100% clearance in a short time.
But for now, “basically” was good enough.
“The original population should have been around six thousand. No idea how many are left now.” Jiang Cheng had looked up the data online yesterday.
She also told Li Feng the original population numbers for the Youth Apartments, Jixiang Jiayuan, and Yujing Xiangyuan, and asked him: “Will there be new supplies tomorrow?”
Li Feng nodded: “We can ship a batch of rice, flour, oil, salt, and sugar tomorrow.”
The people from the Youth Apartments couldn’t help feeling disappointed. They weren’t short on rice and flour, but they were sick of eating canned food—they were dying for some fresh vegetables and meat.
But the people from Jixiang Jiayuan and Yujing Xiangyuan were thrilled.
The Youth Apartments folks didn’t want to seem out of touch, so they all kept their expressions neutral and calm.
Li Feng found this curious.
The people from the other two neighborhoods were generally older, with middle-aged leaders. But somehow, these young folks from the Youth Apartments came across as even more composed.
What he didn’t know was that this was a perfect example of “a full stomach brings peace of mind.”
Jiang Cheng asked: “Will the supply be sustainable?”
Li Feng puffed out his chest: “The country has enough strategic reserve grain to feed the entire nation for two years. And this past April and May, the southern grain regions had a bumper harvest that’s already been stored. The main wheat-growing areas in the central region completed their summer harvest in the first half of last month. The only affected area is the northwestern wheat region, and they’re already organizing emergency harvesting. These past two weeks, the government has been doing far more than people realize—more than just killing zombies. The nation’s first priority has been ensuring food security.”
This information had first been disseminated within the military to reassure the soldiers. Now, the soldiers were passing it on to the civilians, to reassure the people.
This was exactly the kind of information Jiang Cheng wanted to know—she was very satisfied.
Company Commander Li spoke clearly and acted decisively—she was also very satisfied with him.
Her fingertip traced across the map: “From here to here…”
Everyone was listening to her lay out the plans for the coming days.
Li Feng grew increasingly surprised. The poor impression the cat had left on him quickly faded, and a new impression took its place, standing clear and firm.
This girl… she was planning to use the supply point as a foothold and gradually turn the entire New Tech District from yellow to green.
The entire New Tech District.
No wonder—no wonder these big brothers and uncles were all quietly listening.
No wonder she was the one in charge.
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