Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's how it happened." Xiaoyun shrugged.

"No wonder why all the material from the warehouse always looks the same."

Hearing a voice coming from behind, Xiaoyun turned around and finally noticed Anna.

"Oh hey, Anna. When did you get here?" Xiaoyun asked in surprise.

"When you got to the part about your little sister finding out about your necklace..." Anna replied.

"Xiaoyun, you are technically in your thirty if we count all the times you are awake, right?" Kate asked curiously.

"Um, yes... but my main memory is still Xiaoyun, not Songming... I don't know how to describe it... It's like if someone gets trapped in a virtual world for ten years, but the outside only passes a single year.

Then, when you come out of it, everything becomes foggy as the brain can't process all of it... It is just like a book that you can't read, but you can only read what's inside when someone else flips it for you." Xiaoyun explained.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that... I would hate if my memory get sealed away like that, especially with someone I love."

"No, it's fine... Leyan and I got used to it."

As the conversation fell back to silence, Xiaoyun decided to ask something.

"Hey Kate... Since I spoke so much about myself, how about your story?"

"Um, my story is not interesting at all... Hey Anna, you should tell your story."

Kate quickly shifted the attention right to Anna.

"Me? I was born in Germany, got an engineering degree, then worked at Heckler and Koch as an intern for a year before leaving."

Anna replied with a proud look on her face.

"What is Heckler and Koch?" Tianci curiously asked as Anna spoke the word in German.

"It's my uncle's company. They produce firearms there." Anna explained.

"Anna, why did you pick gunsmithing out of all things?" Xiaoyun asked his question.

"Because my dad and uncles always go out hunting, and the gun they used was completely different every time...

Then, one time, I got a little curious and asked my uncle about how the guns are made, and he showed me a tour of an entire factory...

That was when I knew I fell in love with gunsmithing."

Anna replied with a long pause in between as she needed some time to translate German to Chinese in her head.

"How did you two know each other?" Xiaoyun asked another question.

"She invited me with a promise that I could have my own arm's factory and be able to design with whatever I wanted. So I instantly accepted it... Now I think about it, I should have never accepted it."

"I don't know what you are talking about. I fulfilled my promise, didn't I? You still got the factory you can tinker with." Kate swirled her hair with her finger as she defended herself.

"Yeah, but you promised me that I could fly home every year."

With an angry Anna in front of her, Kate could only shrug.

"Well, it's not my fault that a zombie outbreak would happen."

"Ahem, we probably should go to sleep now," Tianci said as she noticed it was almost twelve.

"Oh snap. Goodnight, everyone."

Anna got up and left the kitchen, and so did everyone else as they left the kitchen one by one.

--

The next day, at the command center.

"Good morning, everyone. I know you might be surprised by the sudden phone call in the morning. But I have an important announcement."

Right after Xiaoyun finished talking, he handed the printed copy to the two to pass it out.

"This new plan is a combination of the strength we had and from the experiences of rescuing people from the city... Please criticize any error you find. I only wrote this for a day."

Xiaoyun sat down in his seat as he watched everyone at the table start reading the plans.

Twenty minutes later...

"So, what do you all think?"

"This plan seems a little risky," Yezi commented.

"How so?" Xiaoyun asked curiously.

"So I understand you're using smaller units to fight zombies with multiples in smaller-scale combat throughout the city rather than having one big one at once. But I don't get why this supply depot throughout the city is needed." Yezi asked.

"It's to let soldiers have a more flexible choice on where to restock instead of having them all go to a central HQ. It also avoids risking having zombies group up together in a single place like the old plan." Xiaoyun explained his thoughts.

"But putting so many supply depots around the city is a big risk in itself," Yezi argued.

"How so? Zombies can't use them. And to put them into place, we can just have a supply truck drive around the city to drop them off. And we can even use the 1st regiment to drop the supplies off."

"How about the secret society? They could intercept the supply you set up and even use it against us." Yezi pointed out.

"I didn't think of that... You're right."

Just as Xiaoyun was about to scrap the plan, Han Bang spoke up.

"I think this plan is fine... They wouldn't dare to step out of their base."

"How do you know that?" Yezi looked over to Han Bang.

"Because they resorted to assassination rather than fighting us face-on. That means they aren't military strong enough to intervene in our operation. Besides, if we are always scared of them, then we might as well not fight the zombies at all...

And on top of that, they would also need to know where all the supply depots are. Even if they find one, it wouldn't be that big of a problem since it's scattered throughout the city."

"Hm...You're right." Yezi agreed with Han Bang's point.

"How about we do an anonymous vote on this?" Lingang suddenly suggested.

Everyone turned their attention to Xiaoyun, and with a nod from him, Yezi proceeded with the vote.

"I'll give everyone a small piece of paper and just draw a triangle if you think this plan should be implemented and square if it should be rejected."

After gathering all the votes, it was revealed that nine were in favor and one was against, with the rest abstaining.

"Well then. This plan will be implemented... Xiaoyun, when are you planning to start this?" Yezi asked curiously.

"By next week. I want to host a funeral for the soldiers that had fallen this week." Xiaoyun replied.

As the room fell into silence, Xiaoyun decided to end the meeting.

With all the Majors leaving the room, only Yezi and Xiaoyun remained.

"Yezi, was any of the soldier's body recovered?" Xiaoyun asked.

"No, Li Miao told me that all of their body were crushed..."

Yezi paused for a second before continuing.

"How do you want to arrange the funeral?"

"We'll erect a cenotaph in their names... Nobody should ever forget their sacrifice."

Xiaoyun's face suddenly looked a little depressed as the mere fact that the bodies couldn't even be recovered infuriated his mind. But there was nothing he could do at this point.

"Okay, I'll go arrange that... Don't be so harsh on yourself, okay?" Yezi patted Xiaoyun on the shoulder.

"I know..."

Xiaoyun's face still looked the same, but his eyes weren't as depressed as earlier as he looked back at Yezi.

---

When Xiaoyun got back from work, it was six o'clock.

"Hey, honey! How's work today?" Leyan opened the door with an energetic look.

"It went okay. Why are you so energetic today?" Xiaoyun asked curiously, as the depressed face he had earlier had completely disappeared as soon as he saw Leyan's face.

"Because I'm preparing your——dinner."

Leyan quickly walked inside as Kate closed the door behind them.

"Really? Why so energetic over a dinner?" Xiaoyun asked curiously.

"Because the food was extra good today," Leyan explained as the four sat down in the empty seat.

"Where's everyone else?" Xiaoyun asked curiously.

"They already ate and went outside to buy something. Don't worry about them."

Xiaoyun could tell Leyan was hiding something, but he didn't want to force her to say it.

"Okay then... Let's see if the dinner is really that good today."

One hour later...

"We're back!" Nami announced as they stepped inside the house.

"Where did you guys go?" Xiaoyun asked curiously as the five of them walked into the house.

"Just went shopping for some clothes," Yuqi replied as Yueyue carried a bag into the kitchen.

"Uh-huh, clothes to the kitchen?" Xiaoyun pointed out.

"We also brought some vegetables and meat. Yueyue is just carrying it to the fridge."

Seeing Yuqi's calm reaction, Xiaoyun didn't buy it at all, as he knew that's how Yuqi always reacted when she wanted to hide something.

"What are you guys hiding? Just tell me already." Xiaoyun finally decided to ask as the curiosity got a better hold of him.

"It's a secret, okay? You'll see it next week." Nami interrupted Yuqi before she could say anything.

"Fine... Whatever, let's just watch some TV show today before I go to sleep."