Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

After Leyan left the room, the room was back to dead silent, with the occasional sound of leaves rustling and the patient talking aloud on the other side of the wall.

With nothing better to do, Xiaoyun closed his eyes and rested back on the pillow, imagining himself returning to normal.

It was already three in the afternoon when he opened his eyes again.

”Time flew by so fast...” Xiaoyun mumbled as he tried to move his body again.

Unfortunately, he still couldn’t get out of bed.

But he could now feel his left hand touching the bed and the smooth button in his right hand. As well as the weight of the bedsheet over him.

”Who would have thought a bedsheet would be so heavy...” Xiaoyun thought to himself as he closed his eyes again.

The peace would not last long, as he was rudely interrupted by a pair of unannounced guests.

”Commander, are you okay?” A voice asked as they both asked at the same time.

Xiaoyun opened his eyes only to see Lingang and Han Bang sitting beside the bed.

”Yeah, I’m doing pretty fine. The doctor said I only need a week, and I’ll be good to go... You two didn’t come here just to visit me, right?” Xiaoyun asked as he noticed the two seemed to have something to say.

”Um, yes. We came here to ask a question... sorry to bother your resting time.” Lingang spoke up.

”It’s fine. What questions do you have? I’ll try my best to answer it.”

Xiaoyun tried his best to hide his inability to move by slowly moving up the bed with his head.

”We just wanted to ask if we should continue with the plan. Yezi told us it’s paused for now, but we wanted to hear from you.” Lingang asked.

”It’s on pause for now. You two have heard about the military withdrawing, right?” Xiaoyun asked.

”Yes, I did. But just because the military gave up reclaiming the city doesn’t mean we can’t do it. Unlike the military’s limited supply, we got an entire assembly line to replenish our ammo.”

Lingang’s voice became increasingly louder as Xiaoyun noticed the anger in his voice over the pause decision.

”If we stop now, what’s the point in clearing all the other factions? We cleared them to ensure they don’t interrupt our plan to fight the zombies, right?”

As Lingang finished asking his question, Xiaoyun thought for a second and then responded.

”Do all the soldiers think the same like this? They all dislike the decision to pause it?” Xiaoyun calmly asked, unfazed by Lingang’s irritated attitude.

Before Lingang could speak up, Han Bang stepped in and pushed Lingang back down to his seat.

”Sorry, commander. Lingang didn’t mean to be rude like that. Only some of the soldiers think like this. Most of the soldiers are fine with the pause command.”

”It’s okay. I understand his frustration... You know, I want to continue too. But you have to think about the bigger picture.

If all the zombies stand in a single file line, do you think we have the bullet to deal with all of them?” Xiaoyun asked.

”No, but we can fight in small bits against the zombies. If I recall correctly, our plan was never to fight all of them at once anyway.” Lingang argued.

”That’s true, but have you thought about what happens if you accidentally trigger another mass zombie migration to the town?”

Seeing Lingang sit in silence, Xiaoyun threw in another reason.

”Without the military to distract the zombies, it’s too risky for us to go on phase two of our plan. We have to bid our time for now.”

Before Lingang could speak up, Han Bang stepped in again.

”Commander, you are right... Thank you for the answer. We’ll go back to train the soldiers now... We hope you have a speedy recovery.”

After Han Bang finished speaking, he dragged Lingang out of the room.

”Why did you stop me from talking? I just came up with a perfect reason.” Lingang asked in anger.

”Lingang, are you out of your mind? Do you hear what you are speaking?” Han Bang stared back at Lingang’s eyes, unintimidated by Lingang’s anger.

As Lingang calmed down and recalled what he had said in the room earlier, he realized how much he messed up.

”Shit. You’re right. I’ve lost my cool... I should never talk to Boss like that. Thank you, Han Bang.” Lingang bowed down in apology.

”Don’t apologize to me, go apologize to Boss.” Han Bang pointed back in the room.

---

Within two minutes of leaving the room, Lingang walked back into the room by himself.

”Sorry, commander. I didn’t mean to be rude like that. I let my emotions take over and didn’t think rationally.” Lingang bowed down in apology.

”I told you it’s okay. I would also be mad if I heard that all the work I had put in was on pause... But I hope you understand what I had said earlier.”

”Yes, I understand now. Mr.Yezi was right. We shouldn’t risk the town’s safety for a small reward that might backfire.”

”I’m glad you understand now, Lingang.” Xiaoyun looked back with a smile.

After a short silence, Lingang spoke up again.

”But I still have a question... When will we resume with the plan then? It’s not permanently on pause, right?”

Xiaoyun thought briefly but couldn’t come up with an answer.

”Guangzhou is just too big... I’ll give you an answer when I’m fully recovered,” Xiaoyun replied.

”I understand... I’ll go now. I wish you a speedy recovery commander.”

The room returned to silence as Lingang left.

”Whew... that was tiring.” Xiaoyun moved back down to the bed as he couldn’t hold it up with the back of his head.

”Maybe I should ask Yezi to survey how the soldier feels about the pause...”

After thinking for a while on pause, Xiaoyun closed his eyes again and went back to imaging his body before the assassination attempt.

When he opened his eyes again, it was five in the afternoon.

Once again, he could feel more of his body, especially the upper body around his shoulder and chest.

But he still had a long way to go as his finger and leg could only move barely an inch.

”I’m so bored...” Xiaoyun mumbled as he stared towards the window.

After staring briefly at the window, Xiaoyun closed his eyes again and returned to imaging his normal body to speed up the recovery.

Suddenly, the door opened again.

As Xiaoyun opened his eyes, he saw Yuqi standing before the doorway.

”Oh hey, darling,” Xiaoyun greeted.

Yuqi immediately ran toward the bed and hugged Xiaoyun out of excitement.

”You’re finally up! You know how worried we were when we saw you in a coma?”

”Yeah, I know. Leyan came here earlier and said the same thing,” Xiaoyun brought it up.

”Oh, right. Mom come here during lunch time... How do you feel right now?” Yuqi curiously asked.

”Feeling better than when I first woke up in the morning... Unfortunately, I still can’t move my body.”

As the two sat in silence, Xiaoyun decided to speak up.

”Darling, I’m so sorry for putting all the workload on you... It must be very tiring to deal with me being in a coma.”

”Don’t worry about it. You should only care about your body healing back up, okay?” Yuqi replied as she gently patted Xiaoyun’s head.

After being at the bedside with Xiaoyun for a while, Yuqi got up from her seat.

”You going home?” Xiaoyun asked.

”Yeah, I still have to go feed Lianrong... You know your daughters miss you a lot,” Yuqi replied.

”Really?”

”Yes, really. They even refused to suckle on our milk because they haven’t seen you for so long... We eventually had to make Yueyue look like you to convince them to start drinking our milk again.”

”Huh, I never expected them to miss me that much... wait, when did this happen?” Xiaoyun curiously asked.

”The day you left... Only Lianrong and Qiaolan are affected, though. Yongyi doesn’t seem to miss you that much at all.” Yuqi replied.

”Leyan didn’t tell me that at all. She only told me that you two made Yueyue dress up to convince the general population that I’m still fine.”

”She probably didn’t think it was that important... Anyway, do you need anything before I go?” Yuqi asked before leaving.

”Actually, I do have a request...” Xiaoyun hesitated as he felt a little ashamed to say it out loud.

”What is it? Just say it, babe. I’ll do anything for you... As long as you promise me you injured yourself like this, okay?”

”Of course, it’s not like I’m actively trying to hurt myself... this was out of my control.”

”You know what I mean... Anyway, what’s your request?” Yuqi impatiently asked.

”Um, I’m kind of hungry... I haven’t eaten since lunch.” Xiaoyun nervously mentioned.