Chapter 16

Yes, this world, like Chen Nan's previous world, is divided into first and second rings. In this city, the first, second, and third rings are considered the main urban area and affluent areas. Beyond that, the fourth, fifth, and even the suburbs and sixth rings are all slums. The place Chen Nan originally lived in was actually the fifth ring of this city.

Moreover, this city doesn't have anything like the Forbidden City or traditional courtyard houses.

In this world, all buildings are modern skyscrapers. Of course, these skyscrapers are also workplaces for ordinary workers. Here, everyone generally prefers to live on the lower floors, as the houses on the lower floors are more expensive. Many government offices are at most five stories high, police stations are generally three stories, and some government offices in the city center are even two stories.

Of course, in some places, the higher floors are sold or rented to those with less money, while many wealthy people live on the lower floors of high-rise buildings. These higher floors provide a form of protection, allowing them to still enjoy sunlight and greenery—a win-win situation. Of course, the very wealthiest prefer to live in villa areas, investing in their own underground safe havens and above-ground recreational areas. Whether they prefer the security of the underground or the sunshine and vitality of the upper floors is entirely up to their own preference.

"Captain Tang, welcome, welcome! We're very happy to have you transferred here. Our area is near the Fourth Ring Road, where there are many residents and the environment is quite diverse. So, the two superpowered police officers who were initially assigned here finally couldn't hold on for a year and requested transfers. After they left, we haven't had any superpowered police officers for a long time. Most of the time, regular officers wearing helmets and protective suits go out on field duty. Not long ago, we lost a young civilian police officer. We recruited them to do civilian work and only go out occasionally, but we never expected—"

The head of Ping'an Police Station clearly did not know Tang Ke's identity, which could be seen from the tone and attitude with which he spoke to Tang Ke.

Glancing at Chen Nan beside him, Tang Ke, who had used his connections to transfer her here without alerting his family, quickly adopted a polite demeanor and said, "Captain Chen, please accept my condolences. Don't worry, now that we're here, the team can arrange for us to take on any dangerous missions. Before coming here, I spent several years at the headquarters of the Institute of Supernatural Abilities. I came here this time also to train and hone the new recruits. So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we won't be leaving for at least a year. If Chen Nan gets used to working here, we'll consider officially staying on as well."

"Really? That's good, that's good. Chen Nan, right? Welcome to our Fourth Brigade's Peace Squad."

Spending a lot of time at the headquarters of the Superpower Institute means having a lot of contact with superpowered individuals. They are mainly responsible for picking up and even capturing infected people to quarantine directly, as well as dealing with and killing mutants.

This kind of person, who kills every day, is clearly far more capable than a newcomer who has just converted to superpowers, and their psychological resilience is definitely much better. Of course, their psychological problems are probably the most severe. This might be the key reason why they brought their cubs here for training. Here, they will definitely see fewer infected people than at the superpower institute headquarters. Newcomers can also slowly train and accumulate work experience, making it a very good workplace.

Knowing all the procedures at the Special Abilities Institute, the tall, strong, and amiable Director Chen happily welcomed Chen Nan and her group. He then quickly led them inside to introduce them and complete their onboarding process.

This police station, which looks exactly like the one Chen Nan had in her previous life, contains a household registration office, a command center, a security brigade, an internal affairs office, an information processing room, and so on.

This is considered the lowest level of the entire national government agency. In addition to handling the most serious incidents related to infection and cockroach monsters, it also deals with all sorts of things that are exactly the same as in the previous society.

In addition to the duties performed before the emergence of the cockroach monsters in the apocalypse, local police stations now have an extra responsibility: handling incidents involving cockroach monsters or receiving calls from concerned citizens. Since the infection and cockroach monsters are very special cases, police with superpowers are needed, hence the establishment of a special abilities department within the police station.

This is the place where, upon receiving a call mentioning words like "infection" or "cockroaches," the police with superpowers are dispatched. Other officers and auxiliary police handle the same routine cases as before the apocalypse. Of course, times have changed. Now, many larger police stations or public security bureaus, even for routine calls, try to assign a normal officer and then pair the opposing team with a superpowered officer; that's considered foolproof.

In this world, traffic police and similar officers are now mostly superhuman. After all, the chances of ordinary people being infected or attacked while outdoors for extended periods are far too high. Superhuman police, on the other hand, have a much lower risk of reinfection. They also mostly possess superpowers and combat abilities, so deploying them outdoors is, in fact, the most reluctant but correct choice. Of course, superhuman police generally receive slightly better pay than regular police, so placing them in more dangerous locations is a tradition in all societies.

Chen Nan followed Tang Ke and Director Chen to meet with all the staff members on duty. This time, Chen Nan truly saw relief and happiness on everyone's faces.

Because of everyone's reaction, Chen Nan unconsciously became happy again. The inexplicable frustration and anger that had been in her heart also disappeared a lot at once.

After they completed all the onboarding procedures, they went with Tang Ke to the one-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor arranged by the local police station. Looking at the scenery and leaves outside, Chen Nan's mood improved considerably.

"Originally, we arranged for you to be on the first floor, but since you preferred a higher location, I told them we could arrange for you to be on a higher floor. However, we didn't expect them to still arrange for you to be on the fourth floor."

Superpowered police officers are quite unique in this country. On one hand, the country needs them to be present in the most dangerous situations, but on the other hand, the country is also afraid that they might have an accident or be killed unexpectedly. Therefore, when arranging their accommodations, weapons, uniforms, and other equipment, they are given the best and safest options.

Anyway, at this moment, sitting on the fourth floor of this six-story building, Tang Ke felt somewhat helpless.

"It's alright, this place is great, not too high or too low, it's one of the best locations on the floor."

Chen Nan has only been a superhuman for half a month now, so when she says this, she is still speaking from the perspective of a normal person in a normal world. Anyway, in her previous life, when she rented an apartment in an old five- or six-story building, she usually chose the third or fourth floor.

Seeing that she seemed to really like living here, Tang Ke didn't dwell on it any further, and just told her to hurry up and pack up.

"Okay!"

There are no support staff from the headquarters of the Superpower Institute here to thoroughly clean and tidy up the place for you.

So after saying goodbye to Tang Ke, who lived across the hall, Chen Nan slowly started cleaning and tidying up on her own.

Sweeping, wiping cabinets, cleaning the refrigerator, and tidying up every nook and cranny of the kitchen, Chen Nan finally managed to clean up the one-bedroom, one-living room, one-bathroom apartment after about an hour and a half of work.

After cleaning the room, Chen Nanban began to organize the original owner's and her belongings.

The body she is currently occupying belongs to the original owner, so Chen Nan has not discarded any of the things that have some sentimental value to the original owner, nor does she dare to discard them.

The original owner's old household registration booklet and her noticeably yellowed birth certificate. All her graduation certificates and photos from elementary to high school in the Xiling Safe Zone. Various photos of the original owner with her former friends and boyfriend. A family photo of the original owner with her biological parents, and a solo photo of her father. There were also photos of the original owner with her mother and stepfather, and even a large group photo of the four of them in their blended family. Finally, Chen Nan also found a final photo she took of herself at the airport when she left Xiling.

Many people in this world now enjoy taking photos and recording various videos.

Because of social instability, accidents can happen to ordinary people without warning. Even so-called important figures can be alive today and suddenly die unexpectedly tomorrow.

Therefore, in this world, people are keen to use photos and videos to record their lives.

As Chen Nan slowly looked at those things, she felt a surge of emotion in her heart.

When she flipped to the original owner's birth certificate again and saw the name in the father's column, Chen Nan suddenly understood what her place was in this world.

When Chen Nan tried to recall her identity from the novel, she couldn't figure it out. She even had a feeling that she might be just an ordinary passerby. She even thought it was good that way, as it saved her from trouble.

But now, looking at her father's surname Jiang, she thought of the cannon fodder female supporting character named Jiang Nan in the original novel, who could be considered a kind of control group for the female lead Guo Ying.

Thinking of that vicious cannon fodder female supporting character who initially schemed against the female lead for the sake of a man, only to be pushed into a horde of zombie rats by the female lead and the alien male lead in the end, and turned into a pile of bones in the blink of an eye, Chen Nan's face instantly turned as pale as a dead person.