Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"How long have you all known each other?"

As Xiaoyun asked the question out loud in the HQ tent, there were only two familiar faces in front of him inside.

One was a face that Xiaoyun didn’t expect to see, while the other was Jixi, whom he had already met earlier.

Pinli, out of all people, with a Colonel badge on his shoulder. What had been less than a month as a Major was now a Colonel.

"We have known Colonel Kaipe since I was in the army, sir... I had only known Mr.Pinli for a few months."

The young colonel on the left spoke up first, with both 2nd Colonel and Pinli next to him nodding his head in agreement.

"I had only met comrades today, sir," Jixi answered next.

With all four colonels speaking up, Xiaoyun turned his attention over to the Colonel across from the table.

A middle-aged man with greyish hair stood there the whole time, with no words other than saluting him when he first entered the tent.

"You’re Colonel Wei Tian, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"How long have you been working alongside the other Colonels?"

"Three days, sir."

"Only three days? So the troops below you don’t even know you that much? Wait, when did you get your position?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"General Yiming had selected me to replace Lieutenant Colonel Zhang after he fell from a staircase at home."

"Oh... That makes a lot of sense. Ahem, you’ll be assigned to hold the rear and ensure the supply line is uninterrupted."

"Yes, sir."

With one task out of the way, Xiaoyun turned his attention back to the four Colonels who were still waiting for him.

"Now, the four of you, I need you to divide among yourselves on this map... I want Zhongshan cleared by tomorrow.

The day after that, air support will arrive to start the advancement towards Zhuhai city... You all had already read the operation plan, right?"

After seeing all five of them nodding their head, Xiaoyun let out a small sigh of relief inside his head.

"Good. I’ll stay in my tent if you guys have any questions... Jixi, I’ll let you take the lead since you know Zhongshan the best."

All of the Colonels saluted as they watched Xiaoyun step out of the tent. As the flaps closed, Houqin quickly emerged from nearby.

"You done meeting with the logistics workers here?"

"Yeah. The condition here is a lot harsher than I had imagined... All the roads are broken, and barely anybody wants to work here."

"When did a military job become easy?" Xiaoyun jokingly questioned back.

"I’m not saying it’s easy. Just noticing the frustration from some of the workers here... Xiaoyun, how long are we going to be here?"

"I told you, a week and we’ll be back in Luoping to catch our flight."

As Houqin looked a little relieved, Xiaoyun quickly added a reminder that made the smile disappear from her face.

"Don’t forget, the condition up north might be even worse than here. I wouldn’t put your hopes up."

"Whatever..."

---

The night quickly flew by as Xiaoyun’s troops settled into the camp for the night. Although the base was overcrowded, it was not too big a problem.

Four-fifths of the troops had marched out of the camp the next morning. When it was noon, only one thousand soldiers remained in the camp.

The majority of the soldiers were out on the road, entering Tanzhou town and Sanxiang town at the same time.

These two towns were the remaining population centers that hadn’t been cleared as part of Zhongshan’s administrative district.

Only a small fraction of the soldiers went into the woods and hills, scouring for any zombies left in the countryside and the wilderness.

"Are we just going to sit here all day?"

As Houqin asked impatiently, she was wearing a whole coat over herself as the cold wind traveled past the tent flap.

"Do you think being a head commander requires me to go hunting or something?" Xiaoyun questioned back.

"No..."

The tent fell back into silence as Xiaoyun idly sat in the tent, with a sandbox in front of him that displayed the whole area around him.

More specifically, a map that included Zhuhai, Macao, and Hong Kong. All in a whole set that would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make.

"Commander! Colonel Kaipe had reported that Sanxiang Town was thoroughly cleared."

A soldier yelled out loud as he ran into the tent, his head still wearing a headphone connected to some sort of wire.

"Good. Tell him to keep going up north... He’ll be double-checking and securing the other two towns nearby."

"Yes, sir."

As the soldier walked out of the tent, Houqin suddenly noticed a heavy frown on Xiaoyun’s face.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Something feels a little weird," Xiaoyun answered as he gently tapped his pen against the table beneath his hand.

"Like what?" Houqin asked curiously.

"Everything. It feels too smooth... It’s like the zombies aren’t even fighting back. Look at how fast the soldiers are advancing."

Xiaoyun quickly pointed his finger towards the middle of the sandbox, where the very center of Zhongshan’s central metropolitan area was located.

"With only two divisions, they managed to clear this whole area. And Han Bang managed to clear all of Jiangmen, an area 10 times Zhongshan’s."

"Han Bang is leading a very experienced Army Corps under him... They had been fighting the zombies since the very beginning."

Houqin’s argument made Xiaoyun fall silent for a second, but his mind quickly came up with a reason for his discomfort.

"Experience can’t explain where the 4 million population went. The number of zombies that had been killed in records doesn’t match up."

"Are you suggesting... Some of the officers are making up their progress?" Houqin murmured as fear appeared on her face.

"No, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that. I’m more worried that the zombies are just hiding somewhere."

"Hiding?"

Houqin looked a little surprised by Xiaoyun’s suggestion, as she couldn’t imagine why zombies would rather hide than fight them.

"Yes, hiding... It’s like they’re brewing something big. Something that could turn the tide of the war against them."

As Xiaoyun laid out his suspicions, Houqin immediately connected all the dots as she thought back to the night before.

The words that came out of Leyan’s mouth.

"Xiaoyun... Are you scared of your own warning?"

"Of course I am. You try to stay calm when your future self tells you there’s no hope for human settlement."

A notebook suddenly appeared in Xiaoyun’s hand—the same replica with a leather cover that was resting on the basement lab table.

"If that stupid asshole told me why, everything would be so much easier... Stupid alternate Xiaoyun."

"Not all timelines are the same. Maybe we’re in the one where humanity wins... Maybe we’re the exception that breaks the expectation."

"Maybe."

Seeing Xiaoyun’s face still looking a little concerned, Houqin tried to cheer him up even more with praise of her own.

"I have actually read that letter myself while I was stuck in your basement, Xiaoyun."

His face didn’t look surprised at all, as he had completely forgotten to put both the letter and the book away in the locked cabinet in the first place.

"In the other timeline, you failed. Leyan and everyone around you are all dead. But you. You are different."

Houqin paused for a second, then continued.

"Because of you, everyone is alive. You changed everyone’s fate. You changed my fate when the outbreak first started.

Without you creating the rescue team, I would have long starved in some old apartment no one had ever heard of.

I wouldn’t be talking to you right now... So please, stay resolute. Everyone is depending on you to lead the charge."

"Okay, okay. Don’t make it sound like I have given up already... I’m going to fight till the end no matter what."

As the cheerful look re-emerged on Xiaoyun’s face, Houqin let out a small sigh of relief inside her head.

"You dummy..."

"Mhm."

"Commander! Colonel Wei Tian has cleared Shenwan town! He’s now setting up checkpoints across each of the bridges to Zhuhai."

"Good. Tell him to continue with the plan."

With the soldier running back out of the tent once again, Xiaoyun opened the notebook in hand as he started reading it.

"Why are you reading this again? Don’t you have everything memorized in your head?"

Houqin questioned as she started walking closer, standing near just enough to see his book from behind.

"I never actually read the book. I only read the letter... Nami was the one who told me this notebook had nothing of value."

Xiaoyun froze for a second before looking up to Houqin.

"Actually, Houqin, did you read this book while you were down there? Is there anything of value in it?"

"It’s just a bunch of stuff about physics and how the time machine works... I couldn’t understand any of it."

The answer disappointed Xiaoyun a little. Still, he looked down at the notebook as he began reading it word for word, picture by picture.

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