“Thank you, thank you! Thank the state—I will definitely follow orders!” The man thanked them profusely as he took the water and food Su Jin handed him.
While the man wasn't looking, Zhang Wan placed the small mouse hidden in her sleeve into a corner of the bathroom.
Taking the key to 201, the group left the apartment and locked the outer door.
Su Jin handed the key to Zhang Wan and smiled. “Not that hard, right? That’s how we’ll handle the rest. Just make sure the keys don’t get mixed up.”
“Let Cheng Du and Fu Hu accompany you to finish the rest. I’m heading out to hunt zombies and try to find flesh bulbs to boost your abilities. Confident, Sister-in-law?”
Zhang Wan looked down with a smile. “Don’t worry, Director. We won’t mess it up.”
As dusk fell, Zhang Wan and the others walked out of the building, exhausted.
Hauling supplies back and forth took too much time; they still had two buildings left to finish. But after going back to rest a bit, putting in some overtime tonight would just about wrap it up.
Just as they were walking home, Su Jin appeared carrying an enormous backpack.
He looked just as exhausted, his white clothes already stained with patches of blood, filthy all over.
Bumping into them unexpectedly, Su Jin took off his jacket along with the plastic gloves on his hands, tossing them aside into the distance.
“Perfect timing. I found some good stuff while out today!”
With that, Su Jin unzipped the briefcase slung across his chest, pulled out several handguns, and handed one to each of them.
Holding the handgun, Cheng Du asked blankly, “Director, where did you get these guns?”
Su Jin gave a wicked grin and pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “Hit up a police station for a haul. One gun each for self-defense. I’ve got plenty of gear in the pack behind me, so we won't be short on firepower anytime soon. Let’s head upstairs before talking about the rest.”
Reconvening on the sixth floor, Su Jin changed into fresh clothes and sat down at the dining table.
Zhang Wan reported their progress one building at a time, with Auntie Liu occasionally chiming in.
Fu Hu and Cheng Du were absentminded, constantly trying to circulate the power within their bodies.
The two had basically resigned themselves to being muscle, bowing out of any intellectual heavy lifting.
Fu Qingdai was the only one in the room looking listless and in low spirits.
“At today’s pace, speed-wise, we’ll have all the residents settled by tomorrow morning. However, considering the limited number of mice, we need to retrieve the ones that are fine and reassign them to the remaining residents for testing.”
Once Zhang Wan finished, Sun Ya picked up the thread. “The bathrooms are enclosed, cramped spaces where a mouse can hardly hide. According to our earlier deduction, covert mutants have an intense craving for blood. In such a private, confined space, one wouldn’t be able to resist making a move for a whole night. That means tomorrow we can filter out a portion of the people.”
“The total number of people being tested is two hundred and thirty-eight. Everyone who passes the screening will be housed in the community activity center—it’s spacious enough. We’ll coordinate resources centrally, arrange everything collectively, and eat and sleep together. After some basic reassurance and orientation, we’ll send a group out onto the streets to look for vehicles. We need to secure enough vehicles and fuel as quickly as possible.”
Su Jin clapped his hands. “Thank you for the trouble, Elder Sun. In that case, I’ll join you all for the screening and inspections tomorrow. Once that’s done, I’ll raid a few more police stations to get another batch of firearms. We’ll issue guns only to those proven reliable. That’s all for now. If no one has anything to add, let’s all get some rest.”
With no further comments, everyone dispersed to rest.
Only Fu Qingdai hesitated, remaining in her seat with her head down, saying nothing.
Su Jin asked, “What is it, Qingdai?”
“Bro... what about me? Am I just going to sit here watching, and then tag along wherever you go?” At this, Fu Qingdai looked up pleadingly. “Bro, find me something to do.”
Su Jin sighed softly, stood up, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, comforting her gently. “Qingdai, it’s just that you don’t have a special ability—don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Having a sense of responsibility and a good head on your shoulders beats anything else. I have something extremely important to entrust to you later, and you’re the only one who can do it.”
“What is it?” A spark ignited in Fu Qingdai’s eyes.
Su Jin said seriously, “You prophesied the future, and since the residential complex is full of familiar faces, a lot of people surely know about it. Once the team is formed, take a bath and put on fresh clothes. From then on, you will be our Holy Maiden of Salvation—everyone’s beacon of hope to keep going.”
“Isn't that just a puppet? Doing zero real work!” Fu Qingdai complained aggrievedly.
“Wrong! Anything you do requires faith. A country needs a national flag, and starting a company requires a trademark. You are people’s faith—how can you call that a puppet?” Su Jin continued to comfort her. “Without you, it would be like going to war without an objective, or living life without anything to look forward to. Nothing could be more important than that.”
“Still, I feel like I'm just a decorative vase...” Fu Qingdai mumbled sullenly.
Right after she spoke, Fu Qingdai suddenly whipped her head around, her gaze shooting toward the corner!
From the corner, half a head quickly darted back.
“Isn't that Cheng Du?” Su Jin glanced over in puzzlement, then turned back and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Fu Qingdai knitted her slender brows, thoroughly perplexed.
“Bro... I have this strange feeling. Do you think I might have a superpower, just different from everyone else’s?”
“A feeling? What superpower?!” Su Jin grew tense in an instant.
“Whenever Brother Cheng looks at me, I always get this chilling sensation, like something isn’t right... but I can’t put my finger on what’s wrong.”
“Ah...” Su Jin sighed in disappointment, then leaned into Fu Qingdai’s ear and whispered, “To be honest, Bro gets chills from him looking at me sometimes too. That kid definitely has a screw loose somewhere. I’ve felt for a while that there’s something off about him—it didn’t just start today or yesterday.”
“First thing this morning, he threw a pair of socks at the head of my bed like a total lunatic. Even your dad thinks he’s off his rocker. But he definitely doesn’t have any other issues; otherwise, I would’ve been dead long ago.”
“Oh...” Fu Qingdai pouted, twiddling her fingers.
And here she thought she had a superpower—turned out Cheng Du was just abnormal, and everyone could see it.
The next day, everyone headed out together again.
They began their inspections with Room 201 of Building 1.
Entering 201, the paper seal on the bathroom door was intact.
When the door opened, the man was sitting obediently in the corner.
Seeing people arrive, he jumped up immediately and cried out in excitement, “You’re finally here! There’s a rat in here, right in that corner! I didn’t sleep a wink all night, terrified it might touch me. There won’t be any issues, will there?”
“We won’t know if there are issues until we inspect you. Hold out your hands.” Su Jin took the portable UV light and checked the man’s hands, feet, mouth, and other areas.
There was no glow whatsoever. Su Jin waved a hand and said, “Alright, you passed. Take your bedding and head to the community activity center to await further instructions. Here’s your number tag.”
With that, Su Jin handed over a number tag marked No. 001.
Overjoyed, the man picked up his personal belongings and stepped out of the apartment, looking back three times with every step.
After checking the first household and retrieving the mouse, they proceeded in the same manner.
The second household, the third, the fourth... Everything went smoothly and without issue, right up until the twenty-fifth.
“Thank you, thank you! You’ve finally come to save me!” Yet another man with an excited face thanked Su Jin and the others profusely.
Su Jin raised the UV light to inspect him. When the beam hit the man’s mouth, he froze.
The glow around the man’s mouth was smeared into a solid patch—he had clearly eaten the rat.
The corners of Su Jin’s mouth turned downward, his gaze beginning to size the man up from head to toe.
Chapter 59