Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Xiaoyun, you’re twenty minutes late."

As Yiming pointed it out loudly through the speaker, a young man in a military uniform was running up to the stage as fast as he could.

"Not my fault... Yiming, what the hell are those cameras doing here?" Xiaoyun quietly whispered as he pulled him aside.

"You’re being recorded live."

Within seconds, Xiaoyun’s face immediately changed. He calmly walked back over to the podium, taking over Yiming’s spot earlier.

"Ahem, good morning, everyone. I hope you all have spent the weekend with your loved ones and friends."

Down below were rows upon rows of soldiers looking up to him. All of them had sweat falling from their faces underneath the hot sun.

Not a single one of them moved an inch as some of the cameras panned over to them, with their hands tightly holding onto their service rifle AKMs.

"Sorry about being late. My wives made me stay up way too late last night... Ahem, back to main business."

As Xiaoyun cleared his throat, several of the high-ranking officers were strongly resisting the urge to giggle out loud.

"I’m sure all of you had already watched the news yesterday and had gotten the official memo passed out on Friday.

There’s no point in me holding it up any longer, and I’m sure you’re all more than willing to go on the air-conditioned bus."

The casualness didn’t rub anyone the wrong way, as if they had expected Xiaoyun to be this basic from the beginning.

"I just want to ask one question: Are you all with me?"

"We are!"

Several of the high-ranking officers raised their hands first, which was immediately followed by the soldiers behind them.

"We are!"

"Good. Let’s get our glory! Everyone is dismissed!"

As Xiaoyun saluted the soldiers, they quickly saluted back before they began marching off towards the parked buses off in the distance.

"You know, I was kind of expecting you to give a speech," Yiming quietly murmured as the two of them walked off the stage.

"Do I look like a person who had time for that last night?"

Seeing the hint of makeup on Xiaoyun’s face and the weird posture, Yiming quickly connected all the dots in his head.

"Don’t overextend your body so much..."

"Not really a choice when you have nine women waiting for you at home... Where are Yezi and everyone?"

Xiaoyun asked as he looked around, only to find almost all of the Colonels and his trusted Generals missing.

"They already went back to their army," Yiming answered.

"That fast?"

"You forgot? You were the one who specifically arranged their break to be two days over the weekend."

"Oh, right... Well, take care of the settlement for me, Yiming. My only weak point in life is in your hands."

"Don’t make it sound like this is the last time we’re seeing each other. Aren’t you still coming back first before your trip?"

"I guess you aren’t wrong. But who knows if something happens out there... You better make sure my wives aren’t put in harm’s way."

"Over my dead body."

With a warm hug, the two separated one last time before Xiaoyun walked off into the distance alongside the soldiers.

"Good luck!"

---

"Um... Commander, can I ask something?"

"What is it?"

"Why is General Houqin coming with us to Zhuhai?"

As the driver asked the question, Xiaoyun thought for a second before coming up with an excuse of his own.

"She’s going to accompany me on the trip up north later... Stop being so noisy and focus on the road, would you?"

"Y-Yes, sir."

Seeing the casualness disappear from Xiaoyun’s face, the driver quickly zipped his mouth shut as he put the key into the slot.

"Houqin, you aren’t car sick, right?"

"I’m fine..."

Slowly, the car started moving, following behind lines upon lines of buses that took the entire road ahead of them.

There was not a single civilian vehicle, with the road and the street separated by fences while armed police stood among the hundreds upon thousands of people.

Everyone was seemingly out on the street, even as they drove further and further away from the city.

"So many people earlier..." Houqin quietly murmured as the car finally drove out of the city and onto the highway.

"They want to see their friends and family one last time."

As the caravan of buses and the armored car started to speed up on the highway, the scenery outside started to change rapidly.

From skyscrapers to small apartments, all the way to the endless sight of farmland, it changed within just three minutes.

"Houqin, I’m just going to warn you again. There’s no running water or cell service or anything like that out there."

"I know."

The car soon fell into silence as boredom started to set in. There was nothing much to do other than wait.

It was going to be an hour and a half drive, if everything went smoothly... Which unfortunately did not come to fruition.

Just in the first thirty minutes, they encountered an abandoned semi-truck in the middle of the highway.

They were forced to wait in the car as the engineering team dropped off a bulldozer to push it off before they could resume on the road again.

By the time they arrived at their destination near the outskirts of Zhuhai, the sun had already set on the horizon.

"Commander Chen, we’re just a few miles away from meeting up with the troops stationed in Zhongshan."

"Good."

As Xiaoyun stretched out his arms, he was getting really tired of sitting inside the car for the past few hours nonstop.

"It’s so hot outside."

Houqin murmured as she lowered the window for a second, only to be hit by a bunch of hot air right in the face.

"Hot in November. Crazy to think that, huh."

"It’s typical weather in Zhuhai, sir... One day is hot, and the next few months are freezing cold."

"Really?"

"Mhm. I lived here back when I was a child... My hometown is back over in Shangjie village."

"I see..."

As the car caravans soon came to a stop, there were already tents outside along a small village full of all kinds of equipment.

From satellite dishes to a temporary water tower to makeshift dirt walls, the whole place was armed to the teeth.

"Let’s go."

Xiaoyun quickly stepped out of the car, followed by Houqin, who kept looking everywhere with curiosity in her eyes.

Soon, the two of them were greeted by a familiar face.

"Commander Xiaoyun!"

"Long time no see, Jixi!"

All the soldiers nearby looked a little shocked as they shared a warm hug before they resumed their way towards the designated area.

"How’s progress on Zhongshan ?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"We already cleared the city and have already started preparations towards Zhuhai... Did the report not go through?"

"It did. Yiming already told me... I just want to hear it with my own ears. You don’t have to prepare anymore, though."

"Command! Y-You serious?"

"Mhm. Don’t get your hopes up. The reason I came here is to take over your spot... You’re actually going to Jiangmen."

"What?"

Jixi scratches his head in confusion, unable to understand the sudden rearrangement for him and his troops.

"Relax, I’m just kidding. Your troop is going to stay here in Zhongshan... But did you not get the memo about unit rearrangement"

As Jixi looked over to the side, he saw an endless number of soldiers kept coming out of different buses.

"I did not, sir."

"Huh. Must have been delayed... Well, you’re no longer in the 4th Army Group. It had been rearranged into the new 5th Army Corps."

Xiaoyun paused for a second, then continued.

"I only have a week here. If I can’t finish Zhuhai in time, then someone within this army group with the most experience will most likely be promoted."

With zero hesitation, Jixi immediately saluted. He already understood what Xiaoyun was trying to imply.

"I’ll do my best, sir!"

"I don’t want to hear the best. I want to see results... This will only be temporary if Yiming sees you doing a bad job."

"I won’t make you regret it, sir."

"I hope so.... Go meet your fellow co-worker. You are going to spend a lot of time with them for the next few months."

After a quick salute from Jixi, he walked away to the back, leaving Xiaoyun alone on the side as he looked towards the buses.

The soldiers that came out of the buses looked wildly different from each other, each with a different blend of accents from who knows which part of the country.

It was a melting pot of a unit that came straight out of training. A brand-new unit that had combat experience mostly from being survivors in the wasteland.

No real combat as a sole fighting division, at least not at a level he could trust in other army corps that had gone through a whole year of training.

"Oh boy, this is going to be one hell of a work..."

"You need me to help with anything?" Houqin asked as she appeared from a portable bathroom nearby.

"You’re going to be my assistant from now on... You go call the Colonels to the HQ tent. I’ll be there in a minute."

"Yes, sir!"

Just as Houqin was about to walk off to fulfill his order, Xiaoyun suddenly pulled her by the hand at the last second.

"Hm?"

"Take this. Just in case."

Looking down, she saw a gun being placed in her hand. Houqin hesitated, but she eventually accepted the gift.

"Thank you."

With Houqin off into the distance, Xiaoyun looked around one last time before taking out a mini-map from his pocket.

They were at the very edge of Zhongshan, right on the border of Zhuhai’s northern entrance, surrounded by hills and mountains on both sides.

In front of them was a relatively big village, with one last hurdle before they could call Zhongshan liberated.

"Xinxu village..."