Chapter 105 Shen Qingqing's Plan (Part 2)
Shen Qingqing was actually negotiating with him.
She had just witnessed such a shocking scene, one that even the village chief found terrifying and dared not look at the scene inside the van, yet Shen Qingqing acted as if nothing had happened, turning around to discuss the consequences of murder with him.
The village chief looked at her with an expression as if she'd seen a ghost.
The apocalypse has only been going on for a few hours, and changing one's mindset is not an easy thing for ordinary people.
To them, even if those people have become zombies whose sole purpose in life is to attack humans, they are still human.
To them, killing zombies is no different from killing people.
Shen Qingqing was fully aware of this, but she didn't have time to wait for them to prepare themselves mentally.
“There’s not much time to think about it.” Shen Qingqing looked at the hesitant village chief. “You must have heard, right? Once infected, there is only one outcome: death. Every second they live poses a danger.”
Upon hearing this, the village chief's expression stiffened even more. He swallowed hard: "...How did you know?"
While news reports aimed at the public mentioned the virus's high lethality, they did not equate it with "100% certainty of causing death." The purpose was to raise awareness of the virus's dangers without causing people to lose hope.
But the message conveyed to grassroots managers is even more meaningful.
In remote villages like the one where the Shen family lives, it is almost impossible to receive rescue in a short period of time, and it is also difficult to have the conditions to isolate infected people for a long time. Once an infected person appears and is not properly controlled, the entire village may fall into the epidemic.
Therefore, the instructions the village chief received were extremely simple and straightforward—
Once an infected person is discovered to have developed symptoms, they must be isolated immediately at all costs, and no one should be allowed to visit or care for them afterward.
For wounded individuals who have been attacked by infected individuals but whose symptoms have not yet appeared, a separate room can be prepared for them, with food and water provided. Afterward, no one should be allowed to enter this room again.
As for the bodies of infected individuals, they should be immediately incinerated or buried if available, with gloves worn throughout the process to avoid contact with their saliva.
For remote mountain villages far from towns, without hospitals or police stations, and with virtually no capacity to bear risks, even the slightest mishap could lead to a devastating outcome.
The superior who was responsible for relaying the message to the village chief paused at the end, lowered his voice and emphasized: "There are some things I'm only telling you here—you absolutely cannot take any chances. If it really comes to a critical moment... then you must not hesitate to take action."
After saying that, he sighed and hung up the phone.
Recalling the other party's last words, the village chief felt a jolt and his mind cleared somewhat.
The subtext of those three measures to deal with the infected is obvious—those who have been infected and turned into "zombies" are beyond saving, and even those who are infected but have not yet developed symptoms are strictly prohibited from contact by normal people, and are instead isolated and left to fend for themselves.
No living person needs to eat; forbidding anyone from visiting them is practically cutting off their path to survival.
This also means that in the eyes of those above, these "zombies" are no longer considered living people.
A chill ran down his spine: Just how toxic is this virus? Just a little bit was enough to make his superiors think that he was completely beyond saving.
Looking at the van full of infected people, the village chief's heart skipped a beat.
Once his fear was dispelled and he was finally able to calm down and think things through, he immediately realized that Shen Qingqing was right.
We can't wait any longer.
Their village only has so many people, and four zombies have suddenly appeared. If they don't deal with it in time, the consequences could be unimaginable if the virus spreads.
Shen Qingqing had not yet responded to his previous question, but the village chief had no intention of investigating further.
He looked around, his face grim, and asked in a low voice, "What are you planning to do?"
“I just checked, the van’s front is dented, but it should still be drivable. I can drive it away, stop it some distance from the village, kill the people in it, burn the whole van to the ground, and then come back.”
This is equivalent to dealing with both the infected person and the corpse.
Moreover, by not taking action directly in front of relatives, it would be less likely to provoke them.
Shen Qingqing spoke quickly, clearly confident.
The village chief, however, remained skeptical: "But then you'd have to take a whole truckload of living zombies with you. Are you sure you can do that? Don't forget, that's how Old Zhao died."
The body wasn't completely cold yet.
Shen Qingqing simply said, "Whether it's okay or not, you'll know when you see."
The village chief observed her expression; this girl really seemed different.
"So what are your conditions?"
Shen Qingqing said, "Please promise me first, I'll set off now so I can be back before dark. As for specific requirements, we can discuss them when I get back."
The village chief almost blurted out, "If I don't know the specific conditions, who would dare to agree?"
But then he thought about it again, and realized that, apart from Shen Qingqing, he really couldn't think of anyone else in the whole village who had the guts and the ability to deal with this truckload of zombies.
Shen Qingqing had at least lured wild boars away before. Besides, she seemed so confident, so she must have some skills.
After much hesitation, he gritted his teeth and nodded: "I promise you, take them with you now."
After saying that, she glanced inside the car, then quickly turned her head away, hiding her reluctance.
Having received the village chief's assurance, Shen Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief: "Then I'll trouble you to help appease everyone."
Then he jumped off the podium and walked towards the van.
The relatives of the person inside the car were still wailing, but they didn't dare get too close. They just kept calling out their loved one's name from a distance of a few meters, trying to bring the other person back to their senses.
But this only made the zombies more excited, and they became more violent, tearing off pieces of flesh from the other zombies around them.
The exposed skin was completely devoid of healthy flesh.
Even Shen Qingqing felt heavy-hearted upon seeing this scene. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, then walked around to the other side of the van with its doors tightly closed and gave the village chief on the platform a wink.
The village chief understood.
After watching Shen Qingqing's next move, everyone probably understood that she was going to clear out these zombies. They couldn't let their relatives ruin things.
The most dangerous part has already been taken care of by Shen Qingqing. As the village chief, he can still help with simple tasks like keeping the situation under control.
The village chief then selected several men to help the emotionally distraught relatives.
While it's called "helping," it's actually just a way to restrict movement.
He then took the opportunity to emphasize the harmfulness of the virus.
Facing the villagers below who could barely read, he didn't use any fancy jargon. He went straight to the point and said, "You know rabies, right? This virus is even more virulent than rabies. If you get infected, you'll die. Before you die, it will bite people. Whoever gets bitten will die too. So everyone, get away from the car right away!"
Upon hearing this, the villagers hurriedly retreated, creating a safe, open space between themselves and the van.
Even that wasn't enough; many people were looking around to see if they could find a suitable weapon.
Having already witnessed the horrific scene inside the vehicle, they almost immediately believed the village chief's words.
The relatives cried even more bitterly, but their movements were firmly restrained by the burly men surrounding them, and they could only stand there wailing.
The men who had been called to help by the village chief were also afraid, lest their relatives rush out in a fit of rage, get infected, and come back to bite them. With their personal safety at stake, they disregarded any sense of kinship and held them down with extra force.
Seeing this, Shen Qingqing opened the car door.
The sound of the car door being pulled open caused many people to gasp in surprise, and many did not even notice that Shen Qingqing had somehow moved to the other side.
What is she trying to do?
"Qingqing!" Zang Lijun and Shen Mingjiang were both anxious.
This truckload of infected people is more dangerous than wild boars.
Shen Qingqing took off her jacket, wrapped it around one arm, glanced at the scene inside the car, then, holding onto the car door with one hand, quickly reached inside with the other.
The zombies were watching her intently. As soon as they saw her get close enough to attack, they pounced fiercely. Just before their gaping maws were about to touch Shen Qingqing's nose, the seatbelt yanked her back into her seat.
The chair creaked loudly as it rocked, and the onlookers who witnessed the whole thing fell silent in fright, their hearts skipping a beat.
Shen Qingqing didn't blink, as if she had already calculated the distance the zombie could go. She didn't even try to dodge. She focused on a point inside the car and, with her outstretched hand, took advantage of the zombie's movement as it crashed into the seat back to twist it.
With a click, the seat beneath the zombie fell straight backward, landing directly on the zombie's thigh, which was trapped in the back seat.
The zombie in front struggled on its back, while the zombie in the back was also immobilized by its weight. In the blink of an eye, two zombies lost their ability to move.
The village chief's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
He was wondering how Shen Qingqing would manage to bring four zombies along, but seeing her smooth and effortless movements, he suddenly thought that adding two more zombies might be an option.
Did this girl go out and become a mercenary?!
Shen Qingqing repeated the operation she had just performed, and the remaining two zombies were easily subdued.
The low-level zombies trapped by the seatbelt posed no threat to Shen Qingqing at the moment; at most, they served as a dramatic, attention-grabbing element.
She quickly closed both car doors, put her coat back on, jumped into the driver's seat, and poked her head out of the window: "Don't forget what you promised me."
"I understand, I understand..." The village chief had mixed feelings.
He watched as Shen Qingqing's seat bounced, probably kicked by the zombie behind her, but she simply moved her seat forward without changing her expression and ignored the commotion behind her.
Is this just a carefree attitude, or an absolute confidence?
The village chief no longer dared to underestimate this girl.
After watching Shen Qingqing drive away in her dented van, he turned around, his expression serious, and directed the men to restrain the struggling family members. He spoke in a loud voice, "As you can see, Qingqing is risking her life to help us deal with those infected people. She stepped forward to protect the safety of our entire village."
"If I find out later that anyone harbors resentment towards Qingqing and the Shen family and secretly seeks revenge, then that person is heartless and cruel, and is going against the entire village and their own life."
After saying that, he lowered his voice again: "Those people are already infected, they're no different from the dead. Infected people can't be kept. You need to think about it. Even if not for yourselves, you have to think about the children and elderly at home. If I really agree to let you take these living dead back to take care of them, and something goes wrong one day, the first to die will be the elderly and children who have no ability to resist."
A middle-aged woman whose husband was also in the car said with red eyes, "I can watch him! I promise I won't let him go out."
"Nonsense! Can you guarantee you won't sleep for 24 hours and will keep watch over him with your eyes open? Or will you have your seven-year-old son take over for you?" The village chief glared and shouted.
The woman fell silent, holding her son, who was still confused and at a loss, in her arms, and continued to sob.
“The whole country is under a state of emergency now. This is a special time. If we have internal conflicts, that would be suicide.” The village chief turned around and looked around. “Take today for example. If Qingqing hadn’t been brave enough and hadn’t stayed in the village, who among you could have handled that truckload of infected people?”
His gaze swept across the faces of the people in the audience, and those he saw all lowered their heads.
Everyone could see that the car was covered in a thick layer of blood; just looking at it was enough to make anyone shudder, let alone getting close.
Shen Qingqing was even able to consider the feelings of her relatives, driving the car further away before dealing with the zombies inside.
After looking around, the village chief had a good idea of what was going on. He sighed and thought to himself that agreeing to Shen Qingqing's condition of letting her step forward was definitely the right decision.
At this critical moment, only one young girl from their village, who hadn't even turned nineteen yet, dared to step forward and support the entire situation.
The village chief shook his head. Seeing that no one was making a fuss anymore, he finally brought up the topic he had prepared at the earliest gathering and began to arrange the village's future protection plan.
...
Shen Qingqing drove the van for a distance until she found a barren land with little vegetation on all sides. She then stopped the van, went around to the back, pulled out her machete, and killed four zombies.
He then used the manual fuel pump that came with the car to extract gasoline, spread it evenly inside the car, took the lighter that one of the zombies used for smoking from one of them, lit it, and threw it directly into the car.
A huge fire suddenly erupted. Shen Qingqing took a few steps back, hugged her arms, and squatted down, watching the flames burn fiercely.
Gasoline burns faster than diesel, and she patiently added fuel several more times to ensure the body burned completely.
Only after everything inside the van had burned out did Shen Qingqing get up again, stretch her stiff legs, pick a few leaves from the roadside and approach the van, pick up some bone fragments from each of the four corpses, mark them, carefully wrap them up, and put them into different pockets.
She took one last look at the charred van and the four charred figures inside, then turned away and headed back to the village into the twilight.
*
It took more than an hour just to burn the body to ashes. By the time Shen Qingqing returned to the village, it was already completely dark.
To her surprise, the villagers were still gathered in the square and had not left.
Zang Lijun was the first to see her. She had never run so fast before, rushing to Shen Qingqing like a gust of wind and looking her daughter up and down. After confirming that her daughter was not injured, she hugged her tightly, her whole body trembling.
She knew her daughter had changed. She was doing things that Zang Lijun had never imagined in her life, and each time she was more unrestrained and daring than the last. If the Shen Qingqing of the past still had some reservations, now she seemed to be actively testing the limits and crossing the line.
Before leaving this time, Shen Qingqing didn't even try to comfort Zang Lijun, nor did she look back at her once.
So Zang Lijun could only stand in the crowd, helplessly watching her daughter skillfully deal with the zombies, jump into the car, trembling with fear, yet unable to speak for some reason.
She suddenly remembered the last time the mother and daughter had a close conversation. It was during that conversation that Shen Qingqing invited her to come to school with her.
Zang Lijun then realized that the tentative meeting when they returned to school together was like a metaphor, a hint.
She couldn't choose to keep her daughter or stop her.
But she could choose to let her go, or... follow her.
Zang Lijun had a vague idea in her mind, but she still didn't know what to do. She wasn't good with words. After holding Shen Qingqing for a while and feeling that her emotions had calmed down, she let go of her daughter, but her eyes were still glued to her daughter, and she couldn't bear to leave her.
Shen Qingqing smiled at Zang Lijun, then looked into the crowd.
She precisely caught several pairs of eyes in the crowd, belonging to the relatives of the four infected individuals.
Grief-stricken, fearful, and sorrowful.
And the hatred that, despite his best efforts to restrain himself, could not be avoided.
Even though they rationally knew the village chief was right, they couldn't help but feel resentment when the people in front of them killed their relatives.
Just then, Shen Qingqing walked up to the group, took out the small package made of folded leaves from her pocket, and handed it out to them one by one: "This is for Uncle Zhang."
"This is Uncle Qian's."
"This belongs to Uncle Wang."
"This belongs to Brother Dafei."
She remembered clearly who each one belonged to.
After handing the leaves to their respective relatives, Shen Qingqing turned and left.
The remaining relatives opened the small leaf package in a daze. After seeing the gray ashes and some hard bone fragments that had not been completely burned, they finally realized what was happening and burst into tears.
Everyone was moved by the grief in the cries and couldn't help but be touched.
As the heart-wrenching cries that had been echoing through the square gradually subsided, people stepped forward one by one to help their relatives, who had collapsed from grief, to their feet, shaking their heads or silently patting their shoulders.
After such a good cry, the relatives' eyes went unfocused, and they swayed as if about to collapse, but the resentment on their faces disappeared.
The village chief watched from the side, clicking his tongue in amazement.
Shen Qingqing had walked up to him at some point and asked softly, "Have you told them everything about the virus?"
"Okay, that's all. The village will be temporarily locked down from now on, and no one is allowed to go out to prevent the virus from being brought in again."
Without thinking, the village chief confessed honestly, but then realized what he had said and blushed.
Even though he was the village chief and an elder, he was affected by Shen Qingqing's aura and actually felt like he was reporting something to a superior.
Of course, he gave a very general overview. In fact, the entire meeting lasted for almost an hour. The village chief repeatedly emphasized how terrible the virus was and urged everyone to abide by the national arrangements. He only adjourned the meeting after confirming that everyone had kept these in mind.
Unexpectedly, everyone stayed and chatted about the virus for a while longer before the topic turned to Shen Qingqing.
In the remaining time, they went through almost everything Shen Qingqing could remember from childhood to adulthood.
The village chief would never say such things.
He patiently waited for Shen Qingqing to state her conditions.
Unexpectedly, Shen Qingqing wasn't in a hurry at all, and instead continued to ask, "Since the village is under lockdown, have you discussed the issue of supplies?"
The village chief was taken aback: "Everyone has food at home, so it shouldn't be a problem."
The village has poor transportation, so many things have to be bought from outside, and everyone has a habit of stockpiling. "Stockpiling" really just means bringing extra of things that can be stored, such as seasonings and grains, each time you buy them.
The village chief recalled the news reports that the army had been deployed to clear out the zombies, so he figured the chaos should subside quickly. He estimated it would take at most ten days to two weeks for the fighting to end in the major cities, followed by a gradual clearing of the remaining infected in the surrounding districts and counties. Therefore, he wasn't initially worried.
But when Shen Qingqing asked him that question, the village chief suddenly felt a little flustered.
"Really?" Shen Qingqing frowned noticeably. "But I don't think this chaos will end anytime soon. Do you think everyone has enough food left at home to last for several months?"
Several months?!
The village chief's face changed: "No, no way... How could a virus take so long?"
Shen Qingqing shook her head: "You don't know, I've been chatting with my classmates, they're all in S City now, so their information is quite accurate. Apparently, infected people were already appearing on the streets at 2:30 pm. And it wasn't until several hours later that the national emergency response was launched and personnel were dispatched to clear out the infected people."
"Think about how fast the virus is spreading. In just a few hours, there have probably been millions of infected people across the country, and that's a conservative estimate. If the number is that high, then not only small cities, but even the infrastructure of big cities will probably be paralyzed."
"There are only so many soldiers. They have to clear out zombies, build shelters, maintain water and electricity supplies, and protect hospitals... Even if the big cities really hold up, will we, the remote small towns and mountain villages, be able to get any manpower? And when will they arrive?"
"Therefore, we cannot wait for others to come to our rescue; we must prepare ourselves for self-sufficiency and a protracted struggle."
The village chief's face grew paler and paler as he listened.
Because he discovered... that what Shen Qingqing said actually made a lot of sense.
He didn't have Shen Qingqing's connections, and most of the information he heard about the virus came from the news and direct instructions from above. He had indeed underestimated the situation before.
The village chief kept reflecting on himself, unaware that what Shen Qingqing said might have been unexpected even by the superiors who relayed the message to him.
It is difficult for anyone other than those who have directly communicated with Fu Qing and Fang Zhou's students to accurately determine just how ferocious the virus is.
The village chief's mind was already racing.
The terrain around their village is not suitable for farming, so the villagers mainly raise chickens and ducks and each family cultivates a few vegetable plots. Earning money mainly depends on the men going out to work and the women doing handicrafts at home. In some families, both husband and wife go out to work, leaving only the elderly and children at home; otherwise, they wouldn't be so poor.
Their daily food reserves also heavily rely on purchasing from outside. Although people will stock up on goods, they will not stock up too much at once. Firstly, they are easy to spoil if not stored properly, and secondly, since they can go to the city to buy more at any time, they tend to spend less money at once and keep some money on hand for emergencies.
According to his understanding, the villagers' remaining food supplies, including rice, flour, potatoes, and other miscellaneous items, would probably only last for one or two months at most.
Not to mention fresh vegetables and meat.
In addition...
The village chief seemed to realize something, his body trembled, and he suddenly turned in a certain direction, locking onto Zhao Hailin who was standing in the corner, and glaring at him fiercely.
Zhao Hailin was still in a daze from his father's sudden death, and it took him a beat to realize that the village chief was looking at him. He was a little confused.
Little did they know that the village chief was about to jump up and start cursing.
—In addition, this Zhao Hailin, for some unknown reason, suddenly ran back to the village a while ago and said that the resettlement housing would include food and accommodation, which stirred up panic in the village. Many people stopped growing vegetables, and the vegetable fields were left barren. Doesn't that mean there's even less to eat?!
As the village chief, he couldn't possibly be unaware of the rumors circulating in the village.
In fact, although he was skeptical of Zhao Hailin's words at first, he did not stop him from spreading these rumors in the village.
Because encouraging villagers to move to the resettlement housing was one of the tasks assigned to him by his superiors, and if he succeeded, he would also receive a lot of benefits.
The village chief was very happy to see Zhao Hailin help him with this task.
But now the situation is different—who could have imagined that the virus would suddenly break out and trap the entire village?
He completely forgot how he had let the rumors run rampant in the first place, and was only filled with anger: This Zhao Hailin was going to kill their entire village.
But then he suddenly remembered another wave of rumors that Shen Qingqing had stirred up some time ago, so he looked up at her and a few suspicions arose in his heart.
Could it be that she encouraged Aunt Li and the others to start farming again back then because she foresaw this day would come...?
This speculation made the village chief's hair stand on end, and he hurriedly dismissed it.
How could that be? If that were true, wouldn't Shen Qingqing have known about it even before the government did?
Shen Qingqing observed the village chief and noticed that his expression changed several times in just a minute or two. She suppressed the urge to smile and said in a serious tone, "Grandpa Village Chief, everyone in the village is in a similar situation regarding food storage, but those with vegetable gardens and those without are divided into two groups."
“People who have vegetable gardens go to the fields every day, even in the sweltering summer. They put in so much effort and energy. If we ask them to share these vegetables with those who have been resting all summer, they would probably feel resentful. Besides, it is indeed unfair.”
The village chief listened and nodded, unaware that he had been drawn into Shen Qingqing's rhythm once again.
He felt that what she said made sense, but it was indeed unfair.
Why should those people who work under the scorching sun have to share their produce with those who stay at home when it's time to reap the rewards of their labor?
But these are extraordinary times, and he just said that the whole village must work together to overcome this difficulty...
Shen Qingqing seemed to see his distress and continued, "So I suggested that those who didn't grow vegetables before should step forward and form a labor collective to clear the remaining abandoned vegetable plots in the village and replant vegetables. As for seeds, Aunt Li and I had stockpiled some before, and I think they would be willing to share some with everyone."
The village chief was surprised that she was willing to share for free, and was about to say something in gratitude: "You..."
Shen Qingqing changed the subject and smiled, "Of course, the seeds are not provided for free. They will be responsible for managing these vegetable plots afterwards, but 30% of the produce must be given to the other people who provided the seeds."
"—This is the condition I mentioned before, the one I wanted you to agree to."
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