Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

As Xiaoyun returned home from the wedding, it was already eight o'clock at night.

"Honey? Did you drink and drive?"

Leyan questioned, smelling a strong smell coming out of his mouth as he walked out of the garage.

"Just a tiny little bit. I'm not drunk... Can you bring me a cup of water?"

As Xiaoyun sat down on the sofa, she quickly headed over to the water dispenser before coming back with a cup of water.

"Where did you go today? You know how worried we were when you missed dinner?"

"Sorry... I was just at Lingang's wedding earlier."

"What? How come he didn't invite us?"

Leyan questioned again, her voice sounding a little upset as she handed the cup of water over to his hand.

"It's a wedding with only soldiers. It wouldn't fit you guys... Anyway, where is everyone?" XIaoyun asked, sobering up after taking a small sip.

"They are taking a shower right now... You hungry? Need me to heat some food?"

"I'm good. Let me just rest for a bit."

Seeing him leaning down onto the sofa and closing his eyes, Leyan grabbed a nearby pillow before putting it under his head.

"Sleep well..."

----

When Xiaoyun woke up, it was already morning the next day.

"Wake up! It's only Friday! You still have to go to work today."

The moment he tried opening his eyes, the sunlight forced him to keep them shut before a shadow was cast right above him.

"Hello? Get up. Don't just lie down again."

Kate was right above him, her hair hanging down as she shook his arms, forcing him to open his eyes once again.

"How long have I been sleeping for?"

"The entire night. Go take a shower and come back to eat breakfast."

"Okay..."

A few minutes later...

As Xiaoyun walked into the kitchen with his wet hair, he was a little surprise to see Tianci sitting at the table.

There was a dark circle around her eyes, her face looked extremely tired. It was almost as if she haven't slept for days.

"You okay? You finished with the Shenzhen research?"

Tianci nodded, taking a bit of toast before her head started leaning towards the table, almost dozing off into sleep.

"I just came back an hour ago... Sorry, I need to go get some sleep."

With her heading upstairs alone, Xiaoyun didn't question it any further as he turned his attention over to the food.

A small piece of toast with a bowl of noodles, a weirdly satisfying combo as one tasted sweet while the other tasted salty.

"What's on the news today?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as Yuqi held up the newspaper before her.

"A lot of records are being broken. Here, have a read yourself."

As she handed the newspaper over, he was instantly intrigued by the headline.

Yesterday's investment account opening had reached over 1 million, with an exit survey estimating each person put in at least one hundred dollars.

Every single stock was trending up, with the most dominant rise being a stock that he didn't expect at all.

It wasn't Anna's or the Three Russians' Military Industrial complex. Rather, it was the construction company that chose to have 90% of its company public.

The number of stocks it had publicly issued had raised enough money to pay off all of its bank debt that it had accumulated during the hiring spree.

"That's a crazy amount of money... There's no way their revenue can meet that high of an expectation."

Xiaoyun murmured as it clearly looked more like a bubble than anything. Even as the trading was halted for a few hours yesterday, people were still buying in.

"That's not our issue. Investment has risk, and they blindly bought into the idea that's being sold."

As Yuqi answered, he finally reached the reasoning the newspaper had provided on how the construction company had created such confidence for its stockholders.

It was listing the number of projects it had lined up, with its monopoly-like status over the entire construction capability within the settlements.

"Do they really think the government is just going to give them an unlimited amount of money for their project?"

"Who else are we going to hire?"

Xiaoyun fell into silence. She was completely right. There was no alternative option that allowed for the long-stretch operation within construction.

They had artificially created a strong market demand, one that is winner-takes-all, leaving no room for a small construction company dealing with big government contracts.

"Whatever..."

As he turned to the next page, he was instantly surprised by the topic coverage. It was talking about a topic that he had tried to keep secret.

Death zone.

The newspaper writer had interviewed multiple people from the north, who had witnessed firsthand what it was like.

All of them had described how overwhelming it was. Something that was undefeatable and to be avoided at all costs.

"Oh boy... What is the timing? Do they have an insider?"

"What timing? What insider?" Yueyue curiously asked.

"Nothing."

---

When Xiaoyun left the house and headed straight to the logistics office, Houqin was already working in her office.

"Sorry about the missed call yesterday. I had something important going on when you called me." Xiaoyun apologized as he entered the office.

"No problem, sir... I just got a report from General Yiming you might want to read about."

As she handed a paper over to his hand, he was a little shocked by the first sentence he saw.

It spoke about a rear admiral from across the strait, with the whole zombie ship theory that floated in the sea.

"Do we need to take any pre-emptive measures against it?" Houqin curiously asked as he put the paper back down.

"No need. Just tell him to stay put... Are there any other reports? Anything I need to know about the death zone?"

"Commander, you read the newspaper this morning?"

"I did... Are you the one who asked them to make a news topic on this?" Xiaoyun asked.

Houqin shook her head, only confusing him even further. It just felt suspiciously lined up with what's happening in Shenzhen.

"I think it's just a coincidence. There are a few people who escaped from the North who know about it."

"I guess..."

Not digging any further, Houqin brought the conversation back on topic.

"Commander, I had asked Shen Wen to give a deeper report from all of the people in the interview this morning.

This is what they had sent me. All of this information I had asked them to keep classified. You should have a look at it yourself."

As she handed a pile of documents over to his side of the desk, he was a little intrigued by the new information.

---

The first piece of info was a man by the name of Zhang Manfei, a former soldier who had fled from the capital all the way to Guangzhou.

Although in the original newspaper report, he played a very minor part, he was the key interviewee of this document.

He was a part of a military operation, codenamed Flying Phoenix. They were being airdropped from transport planes to infiltrate the city center.

This was all during the first year of the outbreak, with the term death zone hadn't even been properly labeled yet.

The trip was initially meant to gather information on the city center, relay the info through radio, and be airlifted out through a helicopter in the end.

In hindsight, it seems perfectly fine.

Just another low-risk scouting operation that didn't require a big confrontation against the zombies... Until they ran into several buildings covered in flesh.

The same one in Shenzhen. But they were expanding bigger and bigger. Almost covering half of the city by the time Manfei tried to leave.

More and more buildings were being infected, and the radio had all stopped working the moment they got near it.

Manfei himself left on his own accord, refusing the higher-up's decision to stay to gather more information.

It was also the main reason he fled south, going all the way to Guangzhou in the hopes that the building-eating flesh wouldn't expand to here.

The other two interviewees were survivors of the north, who mostly heard stories, like how the death zone came to be a place that has signal interference.

The knowledge of zombies spawning out of thin air in the death zone was also widely known in the north, and how the military had failed to contain them.

Conventional weapons were of no use. The only other weapon that hasn't been tested was the unthinkable option.

---

"Fuck. This is not good news. If the military can't contain it... We're going to be fucked as well."

The more Xiaoyun sat there with the scathing report, the more he began to feel hopeless against the death zone.

He could already imagine the military itself had conducted an endless number of tests, with their own scientist telling them how they had failed to produce a solution.

"What should we do then?" Houqin nervously asked.

"Keep this information classified. And bring this information to Yueyue. I need her to suppress this from the public until we find a solution."

"Yes, sir."