Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

Meanwhile, over in the logistics office...

"Come in."

"Morning, Houqin. How's the past few days at work?" Xiaoyun curiously asked, taking a seat before the desk.

"How do you know I was at work on the weekend?"

"Because I remember you were working on the weekend last time you called me here... Anyway, anything important or new I needed to know?"

"Yes, Commander. There is something that I just need to make sure of... This gas supply is made by you, right?"

Seeing Houqin staring at him right in the eyes, Xiaoyun felt a little pressured to turn his head over to the side.

"Yeah, I made it. What about it?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to make sure... Your power really is just unbelievable, no matter how I look at it."

"Thanks for the compliment."

As Xiaoyun casually crossed his legs, Houqin rolled her eyes before taking out a small document from her cabinet.

"You deserve the compliment... But it sure is a headache for me to deal with," Houqin murmured as she handed the document.

"Why would it be a headache?"

Houqin didn't say anything back, but she handed the document over to Xiaoyun. Opening the file, his attention was instantly caught by the numbers.

"Did I really make this many gas cans?" Xiaoyun murmured in disbelief as the number of gas cans was well over a thousand.

"Yeah... Commander, I really don't know how I can explain this to the other staff that this is normal."

"Just tell them it was from some hidden storage unit." Xiaoyun quickly made up an excuse, not really caring about the problem Houqin had brought up.

"With the same tags and manufacturing date? Looking the same size and hidden dent as every other can?"

"I mean... Who actually looks at that kind of stuff? Who's going to look at the can and think someone created it out of thin air?"

Xiaoyun's answer seems to have finally defeated Houqin's point. But she soon let out a sigh when she accepted the document back from him.

"Why are you sighing? Is there something else on your mind?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"No. There's nothing in my mind..."

Seeing Houqin unwilling to answer, Xiaoyun didn't pressure her to say it. He waited for her to bring up the next thing.

"Commander, here's this week's resource allocation. If you're fine with it, then I'm going to put it into effect."

"Mhm... I trust your skill. Anything else?"

"Last thing... The cost sheet for your trip in Changsha."

As soon as Xiaoyun accepted the paper she had handed over, Xiaoyun's jaw dropped in disbelief once again.

The total cost number was higher than he had ever imagined—over one hundred billion in a single operation.

"How the hell is this cost so high? You sure you didn't misinput a few extra zeros at the end or something?"

Seeing Houqin shaking her head, Xiaoyun had no other choice but to begin reading the fine print of each category.

At the very top was the soldier's salary, which was a part of the operation, taking only a small share of the budget of 20 million NRC.

The price was reasonable for Xiaoyun as it had a one-time bonus for an emergency call-up on top of the base salary for the month.

More importantly, it also included the missing pay for Lingang's troops, who had technically never received any wages the day they had left for Hunan.

Reading to the next category was the weapons order, only taking an estimated 1 million to replace all the weapons lost and the ammo used.

The third category was the most eye-opening, as it alone had 979 million worth of damages in the summary section.

Vehicles.

Pick-up Trucks, sedans, armored cars, tanks, buses, semi-trucks, and all sorts of transport tools that cost a fortune to repair, let alone replace.

A third of all the vehicles under his control are now gone, stranded on the road or trashed up in Changsha with no way of recovery.

The only relief out of this category was the fact that all of the vehicle costs didn't need actual payment.

If he really wanted to, he could simply call it a loss in the inventory. A heavy loss, but at least not a debt he needed to pay back.

"Next time you make a cost sheet, please don't add losses as things we need to pay." Xiaoyun pointed out as he handed the paper back to Houqin.

"But we do need to pay it back."

"What?"

Xiaoyun froze for a second as his brain couldn't process her answer. Or rather, his brain was avoiding the reality behind her answer.

"Commander... Civilian groups owned some of these vehicles. Not all of them are owned by us." Houqin murmured.

"How many of them are not owned by us?"

A sweat was falling from his forehead as he felt scared for the first time, sitting in the logistics office in front of Houqin.

"Around 20 million worth of vehicles are not ours. Salvage groups own half of them, and the construction companies own the other half."

"20 million... That's fine. When do we have to pay it back?"

"I don't know, Commander. We never really called up civilian cars for use until now. But they had been asking me for an estimated date."

"So you're telling me we have some wiggle room... Tell them I'll release the report on their vehicles and the payment for it by the end of the month."

Houqin quickly noted it in a small notebook, waiting for Xiaoyun to continue as he fell into silence for a few seconds.

"Actually, tell them that I want to arrange a meeting with their representative to discuss the damage payment at the start of next month."

As Houqin crossed out and wrote down several more words, Xiaoyun's mind already had several ideas for paying it back.

"Anything else I need to tell them, Commander?"

"That's all I can think of for now... You can separate this civilian payment from the military budget."

Houqin nodded, her hands already starting to type on the computer as Xiaoyun moved on to the next objective.

"And one last thing, no need to report this to Yuqi. I'll deal with this myself."

"Commander. I don't think I can do that."

"Why not?"

"Some of the vehicles belong to the Department of Transportation... And some of them belong to Agriculture as well."

"Never mind. I'll explain it to her later... She hasn't gotten this report yet, right?"

Seeing Houqin nodding, Xiaoyun let out a small sigh of relief. He at least has some time to prepare for the upcoming battle.

"Okay, then, with this cost sheet out of the way. Is there anything else you want to report to me?"

"No, sir... Wait, I almost forgot. Are we planning to order those tanks from Miss Anna's factory?" Houqin asked just as Xiaoyun got up from his seat.

"It's called off for now. I'll place an order maybe later in the future when the budget is less tight... Anything else?"

Seeing Houqin giving a final shake, Xiaoyun finally left her office as he closed the door behind him.

---

"Boy oh boy, how am I going to come up with this much money?"

For a second, a simple solution popped up in his head. A powerful tool he had at his disposal.

"No, no, no, that would instantly crash the economy. I can't just print more money."

With the simple solution out of the equation, Xiaoyun's mind started digging deeper and deeper for a solution.

After walking down the streets for several minutes, he finally came up with another simple solution.

"Am I really going just to cancel the payment? That would make people lose faith in the government."

With another solution off the table, his mind immediately came up with another one. An idea that was slightly morally questionable.

"If I just make a law nationalizing it, or just put military combat with no payment, then there wouldn't be a problem.

I mean... What are they going to do? It's just salvage groups and... Yuqi is going to be so mad over this."

The thought of seeing her angry sent a chill down his spine. But it quickly vanished as an idea popped up in his mind.

One that would fulfill the payment to the salvage group, or even get a nice bonus out of them.

A thing that all salvage group wants, and in an abundant quantity that he had no particular use for other than selling it to them.

All he had to do was propose it to Yuqi, get paperwork for it, and sell it off at an over-evaluated price to match the high vehicle prices.

"Oh my god, I'm a genius. Why didn't I think of this sooner?"

As Xiaoyun entered his car, he quickly started up the engine before noticing the gas tank was almost empty.

"Crap. I need gas... Time to check out the gas station again."