Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Well, Mister Xiaoyun. Looks like we don't have a deal?" Wu Min asked, his face looking at ease.

"Is there really no room for negotiation? I can bring my transportation for those people who want to move to my settlement."

"That could work. But you'll be responsible for the food cost when they are waiting for your transportation."

Xiaoyun once again fell into silence. Accepting the deal here looks good in theory, but it was a lose-lose situation for him.

They were getting all the benefit of lightening the population burden while he was stuck with transporting the refugees, resettling them, and on top of the food.

"Mister Wu Min, don't you think you are a little too greedy with your counteroffer?"

"I'm only dealing with what I'm given... Xiaoyun, I'm going to be real with you. I think you're overestimating our capability with this issue."

"How so?"

"You heard of what happened in the north? The one in the capital?"

"You mean the failed assault on Beijing almost half a year ago? Or the military that had established itself as the legitimate government in the Northeast?"

Wu Min shook his head before dropping a bombshell on Xiaoyun. One that soon shocked him to the core.

"Have you ever heard of a thing called Death Zone?"

"Never heard of it... What does it do?" Xiaoyun curiously asked after his memories came up blank.

"It's a small area that is so infected that an endless number of zombies come out of it. Straight out of thin air like a zombie nest."

"You serious?"

"Yeah... That's how the military still hasn't captured Beijing at all. There have been more and more zombies to the point that it's impossible to live up north."

As Xiaoyun tried to process the information, Pinli suddenly chimed in with his comment.

"It's not that dangerous. A small bit of snow is enough to prevent them from traveling——"

"Pinli!"

Wu Min's voice and Chengyi's elbow instantly made him shut up, but Xiaoyun quickly used it as his opportunity.

"Mister Wu Min, please let your son finish talking. There's no need to keep him shut... Pinli, can you continue?"

After seeing Wu Min reluctantly giving a nod, Pinli finally spoke up again.

"The zombie that comes out of the zombie nest is slightly different from regular zombies. They can't deal with the humid heat down south here."

"Thank you for adding to the conversation. Now, Mister Xiaoyun, let's get back on business."

As the conversation shifted back to the negotiation at hand, Xiaoyun realized there was no way for him to make a treaty agreement with Wu Min today.

"Do you want to make a deal now or?"

"I'll come back tomorrow morning. Thank you for the information about the death zone. I really appreciate it."

"No problem. We humans have to help each other out... Chengyi, Pinli, can you two guide these two gentlemen out?"

---

With the door closing, the four of them walked in silence for a bit before Chengyi broke the silence.

"Xiaoyun, how do you feel about the negotiation today?"

"So so... Pinli, your dad sure likes to drive a hard bargain, doesn't he?"

"Yeah... Mom had always said I need to be less gullible. She always says I'm nothing like Dad."

"I can see that——Ouch."

"I didn't ask for your opinion." Pinli gently punched Xiaoyun in the shoulder.

"My bad."

As the four of them reached the end of the staircase and arrived downstairs, Pinli spoke up again.

"Xiaoyun, I know my dad's negotiation seems a little aggressive. But he really is restricted by the resources in Changsha."

"I understand... I would do the same if I were in his position. Anyway, see you two tomorrow."

"See you."

Exiting the building, the sun was still barely on the horizon as the phone showed the time to be near seven o'clock.

"Commander, are we heading back or are we staying here?" Lingang curiously asked.

"Let's just stay near Changsha... I'm not trying to drive half a day to get here again."

As the two of them reached their car, the two guards who had led them to the building earlier were still there.

They quickly handed them back the pistol before letting him drive down the road to meet back up with his armored car units.

After driving for thirty minutes, Xiaoyun finally found a good spot to stay—a small hotel south of Changsha and near the outskirts of Xiangtan.

Inside, there were only a few strangler zombies, which the soldiers easily took care of with their melee shovels.

---

The next day.

As the soldiers ate their dried crackers for breakfast, Xiaoyun and Lingang both ate the same thing as them.

After the short breakfast, they hit the road again as they drive straight towards Changsha.

With the same step-by-step, Lingang and Xiaoyun soon arrive back in Changsha's administrative building.

"Morning, Mister Chen."

"Morning, Wu Min... You don't have to call me Mister Chen, I already said you can call me Xiaoyun."

"Oh my, I must have forgotten about it... Sorry about that. Ahem, let's get back on the deal, Mister Xiaoyun."

"Yes, the deal... I have written a detailed plan after talking with my government officials, maybe you can agree with this?"

As Xiaoyun took out a small folder from his backpack, Wu Min was a little surprised as he accepted the folder.

"Seems like Mister Xiaoyun came in prepared today."

Xiaoyun didn't say anything back, but his mind was a little annoyed by his tone.

The only reason he came in yesterday with no actual paper in the first place was that he was expecting to talk with Zhongxiong, or someone from the military.

Not to some businessman who looks to be even more ruthless than the military.

"Mhm... It seems like Mister Xiaoyun chose to stick with the transportation method?"

Wu Min asked as he put the folder back down, his shrewd face staring right back at Xiaoyun as if he was trying to intimidate him.

"Yes. After further thought, we realized that the food cost is negligible in comparison to the lives that can be saved with this agreement."

"Very well then... Please let me finish this before I sign the document."

"Go ahead."

As Wu Min read further and further down the document, his face suddenly began to change as if the details were much different than what he had expected.

"Mister Xiaoyun, I'm not sure if there's a need to have your military over to help with policing the refugees."

"I think it's necessary. You said your resources are spread thin, right? This should help you alleviate the need to have people watch over them."

Wu Min hesitated for a second before putting the folder back down again as he finished reading the whole thing.

"Mister Xiaoyun, I'm afraid I can't decide on this."

"Why not?"

"I'm not a part of the military. I have no right to say if you guys are allowed to act as guards within Changsha and the rest of Hunan."

"Then, who can I talk to that can approve this?" Xiaoyun questioned, his voice starting to sound a little irritated.

As Wu Min looked over to Chengyi, he looked a little puzzled until he realized what Wu Min was trying to imply.

"I, um... I need to ask my superior first before I can agree to that."

"Really? Can you really not approve this as the Major?" Xiaoyun questioned again.

"I can. But this decision is too big for me to make. I need affirmation from the central command before I can do anything."

"Fine. How long would that take?"

"About a day or two."

"A day or two? You serious?"

Seeing Chengyi nodding, Xiaoyun started to feel like he was being played around like a fiddle.

It was almost as if Zhongxiong wanted to keep the status quo. It's clear why they sent Pinli and Chengyi, just to buy time.

"Can I just talk to Zhongxiong? It seems like this will go much faster if I just get to talk with him."

Both Chengyi and Pinli looked towards Wu Min, who in turn looked back at Xiaoyun with a shrug.

"I guess you can try to find him at the military base. But I'm not certain if Zhongxiong is in the base at all."

"Where else would he be?"

"I don't know. The last time I heard from him was a week ago. He was saying something like he's going to the countryside to deal with some problems."

"Problems, you say... This is how you all treat your allies? I came all the way here and I can't even get to see your all leaders?"

Seeing Xiaoyun's anger starting to boil over, Wu Min quickly tried to de-escalate the situation with a compromise.

"Please, Xiaoyun. There's no point in lashing out at us. We're here to do our job... I can sign the part that lets your transport into Changsha."

"But how about the rest of Hunan? Changsha is only one of the roads. There are so many split roads that people can take that put them at risk.

Hell, the trip that I came from Shaoguan to Hengyang, I already ran into two different zombie hordes that were just a few blocks away from Changsha."

Wu Min fell into silence, unable to speak up at all as if he had no answer to it.