Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

The soldiers were leaving the training field after finishing their work for the day inside the city.

As Xiaoyun was about to leave, Yezi stopped him.

"Xiaoyun, wait. You might want to see the data."

The data was from yesterday's, with the important information being twenty thousand zombies had been killed. With only two thousand ammo being used.

"I already know all this. Why are you bringing it up?"

"Are we not going to change anything?" Yezi asked right back Xiaoyun.

"Of course, we're going to change it. I already assigned a few platoons to scout a new nearby area to clear."

Hearing Xiaoyun's answer, Yezi let out a sigh of relief. But another question popped up in his head.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Yezi asked.

"Because I haven't found the exact place yet. But don't worry, it'll be prepared before the weekends...."

Xiaoyun paused for a second before continuing.

"Also, Yezi, are you okay?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked confusedly as he looked up and down at Yezi.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Why are you asking this?"

"You look so much skinnier. I remember seeing your beer belly a few months ago. And you look so much more fit, too."

Yezi froze for a short moment before coming back to his senses.

"Well, I had been exercising more with the soldiers. I don't have much to do anyway, so I might as well keep myself busy with it."

Xiaoyun noticed Yezi's leg shaking a little and sweat dripping down his forehead despite it being a much cooler day than usual.

"Come on, we both know you never exercise at all."

Seeing Xiaoyun see right through his lie, Yezi gave up hiding it.

"Um... You know the age gap between Huayi and me, right?" Yezi asked first.

"Yeah, she's in her early twenties, and you're in the late thirties, right?" Xiaoyun took a second to reply as he called from his old memory.

"Right... And let's just say she's been more demanding. You know it's difficult for an old man like me to keep up. So I have to start exercising to keep up."

Yezi's face suddenly turned a little red as he struggled to decide something, but eventually, he made up his mind.

"Ahem, Xiaoyun, how do you keep up with the demand from your six wives? I never see you exercise a single day, but you look completely fine." Yezi quietly asked.

"Demand? Exercising? What are you talking about?"

Xiaoyun's head couldn't wrap around the word Yezi was saying as he looked utterly oblivious to it.

"You know what I mean... Forget it. I'm asking the wrong person about this."

As Yezi turned around, Xiaoyun finally realized what Yezi was talking about.

"Oh, you're talking about sex——"

Yezi immediately turned around and covered Xiaoyun's mouth.

"Shut up! You don't have to be that loud, okay?" Yezi warned as he let his hand go.

Xiaoyun looked around, and a few soldiers were still walking from the locker to the exit, with Kate and Tianci in the distance getting water at the fountain.

"Okay, okay. My bad."

After apologizing, Xiaoyun tried to devise a solution for Yezi in his head, but he couldn't come up with any solution as Yezi didn't have any of his ability.

"Um, honestly, I don't have anything for you... But if you want, I can ask Leyan to tell Huayi to stop asking you to——"

"Just forget it. I can handle it myself..." Yezi dismissed Xiaoyun's idea before he could finish.

"I'm sure it will get better if you keep exercising." Xiaoyun patted Yezi's shoulder.

"I hope so," Yezi replied with a lack of confidence.

"Well, I'm gonna get going for now. See you next week."

"See you."

Yezi watched Xiaoyun walk into the distance to his two bodyguards.

"Maybe exercising isn't all that bad," Yezi murmured, looking down at his much more fit body.

---

Saturday quickly passed as Xiaoyun stayed home and patiently waited for the report on the new potential area.

But it was only when Sunday arrived that the report was finished and sent to the command center.

"Around a million zombies... That's not bad."

Xiaoyun murmured as he held a piece of paper full of data from the report.

After reading a few more pages of data, he concluded that the scouted area could be used as an operation ground to fight the zombies.

Especially with the lack of mutants, which was the most important thing Xiaoyun was looking for in a potential operation ground.

Xiaoyun got up and walked over to the other table containing a detailed city map down to the street's names.

"A supply depot here, here, and here... Splitting the zone into twenty platoons and rest as squads...

Lingang goes here to deal with the most challenging building... Han Bang should be in the center as a defensive force... Wuli should take the corner on over here."

Xiaoyun grabbed a large piece of paper and began writing the name of the location he wanted and a rough map with all the different zones assigned.

Six hours later...

"Okay, this should be good... Now, we just need to put the supply into the supply depots."

Xiaoyun took out his phone and was about to call Lingang, but remembering he had done it last time, he changed the number to Han Bang.

"Han Bang, I need you to come to the command center. And call your regiment to duty today."

"Yes, sir."

---

When Monday arrived, all the soldiers were ready to go as they stood in the training field and waited for Xiaoyun's new announcement.

"I hope everyone is rested from the two-day break and was able to enjoy time with family..."

After a short casual talk, Xiaoyun's tone shifted back to serious.

"Many of you might have noticed it has been increasingly becoming more challenging to kill zombies when they are all grouped up, which is why I'm happy to announce that we'll be going to a new area.

The supply depot location and your designated area for the platoon should be in your Major's locker, and for the squad, it would be in the squad leader's locker..."

Ten minutes of explaining the new area later...

"Everyone, good luck!" Xiaoyun saluted as the soldiers saluted.

The soldiers walked towards their assigned vehicle as Xiaoyun stood at the podium and watched.

"We're not going this time?" Tianci asked curiously as she noticed Xiaoyun wasn't moving to the car like last time.

"Yuqi told me I must go to the office today to discuss something... I already called Yezi earlier to take over my spot for today." Xiaoyun explained.

"How about the town's defense?" Kate asked this time.

"We'll go do that later... Anyway, let's go to the office now."

After a short walk, the three arrived at Yuqi's office.

"What's wrong?" Xiaoyun asked curiously as he noticed Yuqi's frustrated face staring at a piece of paper.

"Oh, you are finally here... Can you take a look at this?" Yuqi handed the paper over to Xiaoyun.

The paper was a simple list of the town's different revenue and operating costs.

Everything was down in the red, especially the amount of food stamps in the treasury, as it only had enough to continue for a month.

"What happened? How did everything go to the negative?" Xiaoyun asked curiously.

"What do you think? Expanding the military, increasing factory production, and throwing massive raw resources and manpower into an endless zombie fight with no return." Yuqi rolled her eyes as she replied.

"My bad... I just didn't expect it to be this bad. Is there something I can do?" Xiaoyun asked.

"I don't know at this point. If we print more food stamps, it will worsen the inflation. And it's already increasing in almost every goods being sold.

The only solution I see is ending the war for a while, but I already know you'll say no."

The room fell into silence as Xiaoyun didn't know what to say.

"Why don't we go into debt?" Xiaoyun suddenly suggested.

"Debt requires someone to lend us money. Which person can lend that much money to us?" Yuqi quickly dismissed Xiaoyuns' idea.

"Why don't we just create a bank and pool everyone's money? We can attract them by a small interest return." Xiaoyun suggested another solution.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea... I did hear several people complaining about needing to carry so many food stamps to buy stuff and the lack of bank..."

"Exactly. Not to mention, if they hold onto the money, inflation will just make it lose value. A small return at a set time is better than nothing." Xiaoyun added another reason.

"Okay, I'll try to implement a bank then... Should we allow the private sector to set up banks as well?" Yuqi suddenly asked another question.

"I... don't know, to be honest. I'm not majoring in economics. You probably should find an expert on this and ask them about it." Xiaoyun suggested.

"Okay. I'll do that later... Thank you so much, babe. You're such a lifesaver."

"I should be the one saying thank you for dealing with the problem I created... I can't live without you, my darling."

As Xiaoyun moved closer to Yuqi, she pushed Xiaoyun back.

"We're still in the office, okay? I still have a reputation to uphold." Yuqi whispered.

"I just wanted a hug. Is that too much to ask for?" Xiaoyun looked down, defeated, toward the table, just like Yuqi's look earlier.

Yuqi started to feel a little bad, so she reluctantly got up from her chair.

"Fine, just a hug, okay?" Yuqi warned.