Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

After a while, the lunch finally resumed back to normal as Xiaoyun finally started eating the food he had made himself.

"Man, I wish Xiaoyun could cook everything... You wouldn't believe what we were eating when you were gone."

"Hm? What about it?"

Wuli's comment made Xiaoyun a little intrigued, but she quickly shut her mouth after Leyan gave her a look.

"Come on. Leyan, there's no need to pressure her. What did you all eat while I was gone?" Xiaoyun curiously asked again.

"I didn't have any ingredients, okay? The grocery store didn't have any variety other than just staple crops and canned meat." Leyan answered before anyone could.

"Yeah... But you were so bad at cooking it."

Nami's complaint was instantly met with a dead stare from Leyan, making her zip her mouth by stuffing more food.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that... I'll make more ingredients inside the fridge later. You don't have to worry about buying it at the——"

"No, no, no. You're not doing that, Xiaoyun. I have to go to the grocery store every week." Leyan explained.

"Why? What kind of reasoning could it possibly be that needs you to go shopping?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"Yeah, why can't we just let Xiaoyun make the food? Or at least have him make the ingredients? I'm sick of eating canned food."

Yueyue chimed in, her face looking a little disgusted by some sort of memories from the past few days.

"Leyan, you can still go shopping regardless. He's not preventing you from going outside." Shuli added.

"It's not about shopping. It's about sending a message. Think about it: imagine if you found out in the newspaper that your boss is eating lavishly every day.

What would everyone else in the town think? Or how about the refugees in Guangzhou who only get to eat porridge to survive?"

Everyone at the table fell into silence. Their face started to feel a little guilty after hearing Leyan's point.

They understood what she was trying to imply, but going from luxury food straight to almost poverty was just too much of a dealbreaker for them.

"Leyan, I think you're being overly sensitive. It's not that big of a deal." Xiaoyun stated, noticing the grim faces everyone had.

"Not that big of a deal? We are at the top of the ladder. Everyone is watching... We need to be more conscious of every action we take."

Leyan paused for a second, then continued.

"You know what the cashier had told me when I went shopping? They told me that people are starting to feel how we're treated with special treatment."

"Isn't that what we deserve? We worked hard for this." Yuqi argued, breaking her silence as she finally couldn't stand Leyan.

"Tell that to the people that just arrived in our settlements as refugees."

"What about them? Shouldn't they feel grateful that we accepted at all in the first place?" Yuqi argued back.

"Not all of them. Some of them are only getting more and more jealous towards those who came early and made a comfortable living."

"And what does that have to do with us eating better? Why does everyone need to eat the same when we're above them?" Wuli questioned.

"Above them? How out of touch are you, Yuqi? Has power gone over your mind to the point that you can't think properly?"

"I..."

Yuqi fell into silence, unable to argue back. She began to realize Leyan's point was all valid.

"Xiaoyun, you too. I don't want to see you constantly making luxury food for them. Or else they are going to develop a bad habit."

"Okay, okay... It's not like I'm cooking every day." Xiaoyun quietly murmured the last part to himself.

As the table fell into an awkward silence, everyone could feel the heavy atmosphere caused by the conversation.

However, no one could really argue back against Leyan's point... At least not yet.

---

A few minutes later...

As the food began to disappear from the plate one by one, everyone was starting to get a little full.

"Miss Leyan, why did you eat so much more than everyone?"

Lily's sudden question instantly made Leyan's face blush a little, but she quickly recovered from it.

"I have a baby to feed. Not to mention, I'm feeding you guy's baby half of the time as well."

The hope of winning the argument against Leyan faded away as soon as it appeared. But not everyone was willing to back down.

"Mom, can we at least have Xiaoyun cook every weekend from now on?" Nami pleaded with a cute, innocent face.

"Nuh-uh. Nope. Only for special occasions. Xiaoyun, you are going to follow through with that, right?"

Seeing Leyan looking at him with a fully serious face, he had no other choice but to nod in agreement.

"I can't. I'd rather go out and eat dinner every day from now on." Kate complained.

"Okay, go for it. Just don't come crawling back for food." Leyan responded, showing no signs of compromising.

"Psk-psk. Kate. I-I'm short on cash. I can't pay you for food." Anna quietly whispered on the side.

"What? What do you mean you're short on cash? Where did all our money go?" Kate questioned.

"I um... I used them all to build more factories in Guangzhou."

"Not even a dollar spare?"

Seeing Anna nodding, Kate immediately began backing down from her statements just a few seconds ago.

"Nevermind. Leyan, your cooking isn't even that bad. I'm sure it's the canned food being too salty, not your fault."

"Mhm... Anyone else want to have some suggestions?"

Seeing Leyan looking down at everyone with a happy smile, Xiaoyun's brain immediately kicked into overdrive as everything suddenly started to slow down.

"What can I say against it? I can't eat canned food every day," Xiaoyun thought to himself as he tried to formulate an argument.

After only three seconds had passed, Xiaoyun finally came up with an idea.

"Leyannn. Come on, are we really going to starve our kids intentionally? You know how little nutrition those canned foods are."

"Yeah, Mom. There are barely any vitamins inside those foods." Nami immediately backed up Xiaoyun.

"She isn't wrong. A few of my students had to take supplements after only eating canned food after a few weeks." Shuli added.

"I'm not letting my Lianrong be lacking nutrition because of me eating bad food," Yuqi argued as Lianrong rested on her lap.

Seeing more and more people siding with Xiaoyun, Leyan had no other choice but to back down.

"Fine... But I'm still going to go grocery shopping."

"That's no problem. I'll just mix those ingredients alongside the one I could make to put into the fridge."

With a compromise reached, all of the girls finally let out a sigh of relief. Their eyes all looked over to Xiaoyun with gratitude.

However, Leyan's look was the complete opposite. His back suddenly had a shiver, as if someone was wishing bad things on him.

"Ahem, you all can go sit in the kitchen. I'll clean this up." Leyan coldly murmured, grabbing the empty plates before heading into the kitchen.

"Let me help you——"

"No need," Leyan answered, rejecting Xiaoyun's offer.

"Xiaoyun, can you help me with something? I need your help." Anna suddenly requested as she got up from her seat.

"Sure..."

---

As everyone sat in the living room, Anna quickly went over to her laptop before taking it out to show something to Xiaoyun.

"What's this?"

"Army officer's dress uniform. It's not meant for combat duty. Just purely for ceremonial purposes like parades."

Looking down at the clothes on the laptop, Xiaoyun's mind had a mixed feeling.

On one hand, he could feel the dedication put into designing it. From the dark coloring to the clean-cut, everything was designed to look 'cool.'

However, he couldn't help but feel the uniform looked a little familiar. Almost dangerously familiar with an infamous uniform from the textbook.

"You didn't copy it from somewhere, right?" Xiaoyun asked.

"Nope. I got a lot of feedback from several of your officers after the initial design I had... With Wuli's help, of course."

The longer Xiaoyun stared at the uniform, the more he felt the uniform gave off the feeling of being a villain when it should be the opposite.

"All of those officers you surveyed said this is the one they wanted?"

"Mhm. They all told me this design looked the coolest. They really like the darker color with a simple design in the front."

"Hm... Anna, maybe I'm tripping. But don't you think this uniform... Looks a little familiar?"

"Familiar?"

As Anna turned her attention back to the 3D clothes she had made, her face looked a little puzzled by her creation.

"Huh... Why does it feel familiar?"

"Oh hey, isn't that the German uniform from World War 2? Or is it from World War 1?" Nami suddenly chimed in from the side.

"Scheiße! How could I fucked this up? Oh my god. Fuck. Sorry! I didn't mean to make it so similar."

"It's fine... Wuli, who's officier did you interview for feedback?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"Um, the one from Yezi's army. I forgot their name, but they were all on a two-day break to see their wives."

"I see. Thank you."