Chapter 31

Chapter 31

After so long in the apocalypse, everyone had become numb to death. Even within rescue stations, people died every other day. Only those close to the deceased would grieve; others mostly looked on indifferently.

After all, no one knew how long they themselves might live—who had the time or energy to worry about others?

However, those who died in the settlement area were usually ordinary people:

Due to their constitution, some carried preexisting conditions that, under prolonged extreme cold, led to complications resulting in sudden death.

Or they had mental breakdowns under pressure and walked out to their deaths. These were all normal occurrences.

In contrast, Superpowered individuals, having undergone physical and mental transformation and enhancement upon awakening their abilities, didn’t just die for no reason.

Thus, when an entire night patrol team of Superpowered individuals stationed in the settlement vanished without a trace overnight, it instantly caused panic throughout the western district.

The incident occurred in the neighborhood next to Cheng Jing’s, called Harmony Court.

The night patrol team consisted of 14 people—7 official Superpowered rescue team members and 7 contract Superpowered operatives—working in pairs.

Around 2 a.m., after all patrol members checked in as all-clear, the team was nowhere to be found come the 8 a.m. shift change the next morning.

According to satellite GPS data, all of them had gone to the basement after sending their check-in reports.

It was important to note that all basement access points within the settlement had been welded shut and sealed off. The only way in was from outside the neighborhood.

After district control measures were implemented, all designated settlement areas were encircled with additional iron fencing, and the zombies in the basements had been cleared out by Superpowered individuals. Any remaining ones had retreated deep into the darkness due to the weather, lying low.

The night patrol team included official members—they wouldn’t have entered the basement without authorization.

Yet, the satellite phones carried by all 14 team members had their last signals traced to the basement.

The situation was deadly serious. Cheng Jing and his team were summoned by Zhou Li to investigate the scene, with Jiang Nian accompanying them.

Soon after, near a load-bearing pillar not far from the basement entrance, they found 14 completely destroyed satellite phones.

Large bloodstains and drag trails covered the ground, disappearing into the darkness of the basement.

For safety, Zhou Li didn’t allow anyone to recklessly venture deeper.

With the circumstances unclear, a place that could make 14 Superpowered individuals vanish warranted extreme caution. At this point, the chances of any survivors in the patrol team were zero.

After surveying the basement’s perimeter, Zhou Li personally collected the broken satellite phones in a box and called it in.

Emerging from the basement, no one could make sense of why the 14-member team had gone down there.

But what was even more terrifying was that not a single one of the 14 Superpowered individuals had managed to escape or send a distress signal!

Everyone returned to the command center with grim expressions. Zhou Li asked Cheng Jing to stay behind while the others dispersed.

Having been involved in many decisions, Zhou Li held an unspoken trust and reliance on Cheng Jing.

Those who left, like Huang Qian and others, threw around theories—only Jiang Nian remained silent.

No one besides Cheng Jing knew he possessed a Superpower, and a rather unique one at that. So even if he noticed something, he didn’t show it.

Though the basement stank of rotting death, he had detected an unusual supernatural energy signature.

Every Superpowered individual’s energy fluctuations were distinct, even among those with the same attributes. This subtle difference was hard for ordinary people to discern—it required a special ability like the one he had.

After parting ways with Huang Qian and the others and returning to their respective safe houses, Jiang Nian took out his phone and sent a message to Cheng Jing:

"Brother Jing, I know what happened."

Rather than discussing baseless theories with Zhou Li, it was better to let Brother Jing come back early and ask him directly.

After sending the message, he turned on the heater and dug into some snacks.

About half an hour later, Cheng Jing returned and plopped down beside him.

Jiang Nian tossed him a bite before asking:

"What do Zhou Li and the command center plan to do?"

"Strengthen the security of Jiaheyuan, gather more Supers to investigate, and start slowly checking the residential area and its surroundings. Then, they’ll vet all residents."

Cheng Jing’s voice was muffled around a mouthful. After swallowing, he asked:

"What did you find?"

Jiang Nian’s Superpower was special, making him hyper-sensitive to power fluctuations—something Cheng Jing already knew.

For example, while he and other Supers could sense when someone used abilities, Jiang Nian could pinpoint how many people had used theirs. Through lingering traces, he could even identify the number of users.

Even when the energy faded over time to the point where others couldn’t detect it anymore, Jiang Nian still could.

Dabbing his mouth, Jiang Nian spoke slowly:

"Although the dead patrol team had 14 members, there was only one Superpower trace in the basement. Chances are, it was left by the killer of the night patrol."

"There are only two possibilities: either all 14 were killed instantly without any chance to react, or they were already dead before reaching the basement. Either way, the killer is no amateur."

"Killing 14 people without giving them any chance to call for help—even I couldn’t drop that many at once."

Cheng Jing’s face grew grimmer. As one of the first to awaken his powers, possessing a rare dual-attribute offensive ability with solid combat training and fast progression, he thought he was pretty strong.

But even he couldn’t take out 14 trained Supers in one move without resistance.

Jiang Nian wagged a finger:

"Maybe they were picked off one by one. The night patrol worked in twos, right? Take out two first, then use their phones to draw the next duo in, eliminate them, and destroy the phones. With current tech, there's no way to recover data from those devices."

He’d heard of such tactics in his past life—in the bases, underhanded but ruthlessly effective methods used in conflicts between Super factions.

As for phone passcodes, if this pans out, they can just ask the killer later.

"True..."

Cheng Jing grunted in agreement before asking:

"Can you tell from the residual energy whether the killer was human or a zombie?"

Jiang Nian shook his head:

"No. Superpowers hold their form—they don't warp when the user turns. So it's impossible to tell. At least in my last life, I never heard of a power mutating after someone became a zombie."

He added:

"But this was definitely human work. Zombies at this stage haven’t developed higher reasoning skills for complex killings. Even in the late apocalypse, zombies retaining human consciousness were rare—those that did were Alpha-level. Given our current situation, if an Alpha showed up, we’d be toast."

"What do you think we should do?"

Cheng Jing asked, letting out a relieved breath. Earlier, he and Zhou Li had suspected a powered zombie was behind it, which would’ve been terrifying. Now that Jiang Nian shot that down, he breathed a little easier. Otherwise, he would’ve gotten Jiang Nian out of the Western District overnight.