Teammates' Abilities

The new rules issued by the command center were indeed effective, but they also greatly increased the rescue teams' workload and the time their work took, sending the risks soaring.

Finally, on October 3, the central authorities used satellite broadcasts to issue a call for a rescue plan based on dividing cities into controlled zones.

A day later, the Qingyun City authorities announced that they would implement zoned control, dividing the entire city into five parts:

Four controlled zones to the east, west, south, and north, and a rescue command center that also served as a supply station between them.

The area where Jiang Nian and the others lived was assigned to the western zone. Their residential complex and nearly ten surrounding complexes of varying sizes were designated as the western zone's survivor settlement.

The western zone settlement's headquarters was in the property management office on the first floor of Building 1 in their complex. The second and third floors were used to store the settlement's supplies.

As soon as the zoned control plan was announced, all of Qingyun City's rescue teams sprang into action. Residential complexes designated as settlements were enclosed with wire fencing to mark their boundaries and serve as temporary walls.

After receiving the notice, Cheng Jing and the others went out and did not return home for many days.

During that time, the well-trained team members awakened abilities one after another under intense physical and mental strain:

Huang Qian was the first to awaken. Her ability let her manipulate plants for both offense and defense.

Next was the deputy captain, Zhao Lei, who awakened a metal-control ability. It was also suited to both offense and defense, but its attacks were stronger and more violent.

Then Jian Cheng's eyesight was enhanced, giving him what people commonly called the sniper's gift of Clairvoyance.

Tang Yi gained enhanced physical abilities.

Liao Yu awakened an elemental ice ability with excellent control effects.

Lu Ningzhou also awakened an elemental ability. His earth ability was primarily defensive.

Zhou Rongbin, meanwhile, gained a rare and mysterious mental ability. Under the authorities' current naming and classification system, mental ability users were collectively known as dreamweavers.

But dreamweavers had different abilities. Some attacked minds directly, while others controlled them indirectly. Zhou Rongbin's particular ability was Mirage, a form of illusion creation.

With every member of the team having awakened an ability, Jiang Nian was so happy that his face nearly bloomed with smiles. He was sure of it: this was Heaven's compensation for his previous life!

With that, the whole team's combat power had undergone a qualitative improvement, and it was well balanced too.

Of course, Cheng Jing told them not to use their abilities in front of others for the time being unless necessary.

Tang Yi had enhanced physical abilities, which ordinary people could not discern now that he was only at the beginner stage. Jian Cheng's Clairvoyance and Zhou Rongbin's mental ability were easy to hide.

As far as outsiders knew, the team had only four ability users: Cheng Jing, Huang Qian, Liao Yu, and Zhao Lei. There were too many unknowns, so it was always good to keep a low profile and hide some of their strength.

Even so, four offensive ability users in an eight-person team were enough to intimidate those around them. Even the authorities envied and admired them.

Someone suggested splitting them up among other teams, but Cheng Jing refused. Teaming up with strangers was sometimes scarier than facing zombies.

The person in charge of the western zone was a former soldier named Zhou Li. He was forty-five and an ordinary person, tall and burly, with an air of righteousness. He was also decisive and resolute, handling matters without hesitation.

Perhaps because he had worried too much since the apocalypse, he looked much more weathered than his actual age.

Zhou Li treated Cheng Jing as a respected partner and even relied on him somewhat. After all, Cheng Jing had proposed sealing doors to screen survivors and implementing zoned control, and in Zhou Li's view, both had worked very well.

So even when others wanted to split Cheng Jing's team members among teams without ability users, Zhou Li merely asked for Cheng Jing's opinion and did not press him.

Survivors were being relocated into the complex constantly. More people meant more zombies would follow, and the rescue procedures and requirements were not yet fully developed. Some people concealed their infections, and all of this posed enormous risks.

Therefore, even when he did not come home, Cheng Jing repeatedly reminded Jiang Nian every day not to go out, not to be curious, and not to let his compassion run wild.

In any case, the people relocated there would not come up to the tenth floor and disturb them.

Jiang Nian was not the sort to court trouble. He had died once already, so he understood that much. Whatever else might be said, he definitely would not let a saintly urge to help everyone run wild!

On October 12, after nearly ten days of hard work, zoned control entered a stable phase, and the relocation of survivors proceeded in an orderly manner.

But according to the statistics, only a little over half of the survivors in each zone were willing to actively cooperate with relocation.

Just as Jiang Nian and the others had previously guessed, those who accepted relocation to the settlements were all short on supplies. Those who refused had all sorts of reasons:

Some had plenty of supplies and did not want to expose them, yet demanded that the authorities continue rescuing and protecting them.

Some had supplies and an awakened ability user in their household, so they believed they could protect themselves and wanted to stay where they were until a rescue base was built and they could go there.

Some made demands of the authorities, and when those demands were not met, they refused to relocate and tried to guilt-trip the rescue teams.

Others could not bear to leave home and demanded that the place where they lived be designated a settlement, or that the authorities send ability users to protect them personally.

The disparity in human nature and people's boundless greed were laid bare in the present circumstances.

"What the hell is wrong with them? Can't they see what's going on right now..."

"Stay alive before you start making a fuss, you idiots..."

Reading the messages Cheng Jing had sent, Jiang Nian could not help complaining. He did not understand why, even now, there were still so many people making trouble!

They were lucky just to be alive in the apocalypse, yet they were still being picky. What, did they think the rescue teams were Taobao customer service?

You really couldn't talk sense into people determined to get themselves killed. Let them meet their own fates!

That said, besides geographical location and zombie density, the designation of settlements in each zone also depended on how much weight the rescue team members' proposals carried.

Although it was reasonable for their complex to be designated a settlement, it was not the best choice. It had succeeded largely because of the team led by Cheng Jing, a rare dual-attribute ability user.

In particular, outsiders now saw their team as having gained three more powerful attackers, and Cheng Jing's influence as captain had risen sharply:

There were faint signs that he was becoming part of Qingyun City's rescue team leadership, taking part in a series of deployment plans.

And because he had so many opportunities for actual combat, Cheng Jing's ability had already broken through to the intermediate stage, and he had begun to condense an ability crystal core. The range and intensity of his attacks had reached a terrifying level; wherever his lightning and fire swept, zombies were reduced to ashes.

In his previous life, even with the aid of drugs, Jiang Nian had needed more than a year to condense an ability crystal core.

On October 12, Jiang Nian sent Cheng Jing a message reminding him that hail would fall on the fifteenth, followed by snow and then extreme cold. He told them to prepare accordingly and come home early.

For the past few days, the weather had been erratic, with an eerily large difference between morning and evening temperatures: midday felt like the hottest days of summer, while mornings and evenings felt like winter.

So when Cheng Jing told Zhou Li that the weather was abnormal and they needed to prepare for extreme cold, the authorities immediately began preparing the relevant plans.

After experiencing the poisonous rain, everyone was especially sensitive to weather abnormalities and quick to respond.

On October 14, the people who had been out on missions for more than ten days finally came home. They were all stubbly, exhausted, and visibly thinner. The handsome men and pretty women had all become slobs, and they smelled strange, too.

After a thorough wash, a good meal, and some sleep, they finally felt alive again.