Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"I can't think of anything else sir." The soldier responded after a short silence for him to think.

"That's fine... Just call me if your peers asked for something that the hospital can't provide."

As Xiaoyun handed him a note card with his phone number on it, the soldier was a little shocked.

"Thank you, sir!"

"I should be the one saying that. Thank you for your service."

The two saluted each other before walking out of the room, only to almost bump into a doctor who just happened to stand outside the door.

"What the hell? Watch where you're going. Wait a moment, why are you two in this room?"

"We——"

"I borrowed it for a little talk with him. Do you have any problem with it?"

Seeing Xiaoyun's confident tone, the doctor didn't get angry. Instead, his mind remained calm as he began to dig into his memory.

"No problem, Mr.Governor. I have to head back to work now."

The doctor quickly walked off, disappearing up the stairs as the soldier suddenly spoke up again.

"I almost forgot, Commander. A lot of the soldiers actually have a little wish that you can easily fulfill."

"What is it?"

"They want to meet you in person... They are very big fans of yours, and they heard all kinds of wild—— Ahem, I mean heroic stories of yours."

"Lead the way."

Xiaoyun didn't mind the soldier's poor word choice as he followed him back into the hallway with sick soldiers.

---

By the time Xiaoyun exited the hospital, the sun was already set on the horizon. Taking his phone out, he saw one missed call from Anna and Leyan.

"It's already seven? What a busy past two days."

After putting his phone back into his pocket, he began walking down towards his car, which was located back at the administrative building.

The roads were dark as the street lamps barely had any power to illuminate the road. No one was walking in the streets at all.

All of the bus stops had already posted signs of early closure for the day, with the viral warning posted right below it.

"Geez, so empty."

Walking for a bit, Xiaoyun soon encountered the first person he ran into. A police officer in protective gear holding a megaphone.

"Stay indoors and stay cool! Mosquitoes are most active at dusk! Get rid of any stagnant water puddles you see! Report your symptoms to the hotline!"

The loud voice made him quickly enter his car before hitting the road, driving all the way back to Guangzhou.

As he got closer and closer to the city entrance, posters were once again being posted at every lamp post.

The same ones that were posted in Foshan, with the warning of an outbreak.

Although the roads weren't empty, there were many fewer people in the buses—only a few people inside, appearing to be coming back from work.

"Be alert! Report all sightings of stagnant water and remove them! Report your symptoms if you feel ill!"

The same loud noise was being blasted out by a police officer in protective gear as he drove into the 'busy' city center.

"Busy' as in only seeing three people walking in the streets, and not a single store had its door open.

Some of them have already closed down early. But the majority of them had plenty of customers inside, especially the restaurants.

Business and Nightlife were still going on as usual, just without outdoor sections.

---

"Welcome back!"

As Leyan closed the garage door behind her, she quickly noticed the tired look on Xiaoyun's face.

"Is everything okay out there?"

"Yeah... At least for now. Where is everybody?" Xiaoyun curiously asked, noticing the empty living room.

"They are in the backyard looking around for water puddles... Is the Chikungunya virus that serious?" Leyan worryingly asked.

"A soldier was knocked down sick for a week after a single bite. Try to stay home for the next few days."

Leyan nodded before Xiaoyun's phone suddenly started ringing.

"Hello... Yes. Okay, I'll come right now... Leyan, Yuqi, and I probably won't come back tonight."

"Stay safe!"

---

As Xiaoyun headed back to the administrative building in Guangzhou, he could see hundreds of workers still in their offices working overtime.

Everyone seemed to be extremely busy, carrying different papers or making phone calls nonstop as if he had entered inside a call center.

"Yuqi, what's wrong? Why's everyone going all over the place?"

Entering her office, he could immediately see her standing before a tablet map with a little red circle right near the western rural countryside of Foshan.

"I turned the entire office into an emergency database right now. Everyone is working as an accountant and taking phone calls from citizens."

"Beep! The fourth case had been detected at Heshui Town."

As the speaker on the side suddenly spoke up, Xiaoyun flinched a little before Yuqi started drawing a red circle on the tablet.

"This is a map of the infected zones?"

"Yep... These mosquitoes have gotten to Foshan. It's only a matter of time before they get here."

"Crap."

Looking down at the map, Xiaoyun could see an entire red line from Jiangmen to the very, very tip of Southern Foshan.

The virus was going through town by town before reaching the town that was just mentioned on the speaker.

"What are we going to do?" Xiaoyun asked.

"I don't know... That's why I called you here. I thought you would have an idea to combat this."

"I'm not a pandemic expert... What did the health department say?"

"They're the ones who made the posters. I already spent all the resources to take every preventative measure."

Yuqi paused for a second, then continued.

"The only last option I haven't taken is declaring this a time of emergency... I thought that would be a little overkill."

"You made the right call... This definitely was not severe enough for an emergency." Xiaoyun murmured as he patted her on the shoulder.

"Thanks."

"Beep! Thirty cases confirmed at Yanghe Town. Gaoming District is an infected zone."

As the speaker interrupted Yuqi, both of their faces darkened as the situation was only getting worse every minute.

"You set up disinfect teams, right?" Xiaoyun asked.

"Yeah. I already set up a few centers around Foshan and Guangzhou. They should already be heading out."

Despite Yuqi's reassurance, the two of them couldn't sit down at all. They just felt too bothered by the idea of sitting it out.

But at the same time, the reality told them there wasn't much they could do.

They couldn't possibly just go outside and join the disinfection team. Their job was to remain calm and maintain stability.

"This is going to be a long night, isn't it?"

"Yeah..."

---

As time continued to pass, it soon reached midnight as Yuqi sat in the office all alone. Her eyes looked out the window as the moon rose high in the sky.

Over to the table, almost all of Foshan was circled with red dots. Even scattering dots all over Luoping before Guangzhou had a town circled.

"When is he going to come back..."

"You missed me?"

The voice instantly made Yuqi turn around, only to see Xiaoyun standing right by the door in full protective gear.

"You okay? How's the situation outside?" Yuqi asked, her face looking extremely worried as she ran out of her seat.

"I'm fine. The situation isn't all that bad... Most people are just having mild cases. A lot of the disinfection centers ran out of chemicals."

Xiaoyun paused for a second, then continued.

"But I already sent a few people to send a few more trucks to resupply them... You know you can go home now, right?"

"I'm too worried to sleep right now——"

"This is going to be a long fight. The virus isn't going to disappear tomorrow morning. Let me drive you home."

"I-I can drive myself back home. You stay here and watch."

"That's fine... Be careful driving at night."

Yuqi nodded as she left the office, leaving Xiaoyun all alone as he checked the real-time map on the tablet.

"God damn, there are this many cases already?"

Xiaoyun was a little shocked as the numbers already mounted to a thousand. But as he stared at the map, he suddenly realized something.

"Wait a moment... Shit! Zhaoqing!"

With zero hesitation, he took out his phone before dialing Yezi's number. Unforunately, there were no answers.

"Come on, no signals? Really?'

After failing to call Yezi for the third time, Xiaoyun called Houqin instead.

"Hello?"

"Houqin, have Yezi reported anything about their side having a Chikungunya outbreak?"

Xiaoyun's question was met with a long silence as if Houqin didn't know how to respond to it.

"No. But Han Bang had already told Yezi about his situation... I think he should be prepared for it."

"How has he prepared for it? Did he tell you how he had prepared for it?"

"I already granted his request for bed nests and a pause his operations for now."

The answer finally gave Xiaoyun a little relief. Still, his mind was extremely cautious as he thought back to the various sick patients he had witnessed today.

"Make sure you send a letter to Yiming about this. Better safe than sorry."

"Yes, sir."