Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"That doesn't sound really safe," Xiaoyun murmured, his mind feeling like there was an alternative solution other than this.

"Yeah, but we've got no other options... I can cut back the budget right now and let people starve out there." Yuqi answered.

"Not like that."

"Then we just have to keep inflating this deficit bubble and hope we have enough productivity to make it into a solid base."

As Yuqi turned back around to face her monitor again, she suddenly took out a different file from her desk drawer.

"I'm not stupid, okay? I know what you're thinking... This is the backup solution in case things go wrong."

Looking at the file she just handed in his hand, Xiaoyun was a little intrigued as everything seemed to be handwritten.

Even the word 'classified' and 'top secret' on the front cover was written in Yuqi's handwriting rather than stamped.

Inside, the file itself contained only his name and nothing else—just his name as the first page and the last page.

"What kind of plan is this?" Xiaoyun asked in complete confusion.

"You're the backup plan. If people start withdrawing food and try to do a bank run, you're going to step in."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Xiaoyun, you're going to declare martial law, freeze bank withdrawals, and sit in a storage unit for the entire year, making food."

"That... That doesn't really sound like a real plan."

"Well, it's the worst-case scenario. Unless you want us to go back to the Stone Age and send everyone back to the farms."

"I guess."

As she yoinked the file back into her desk drawer, Xiaoyun couldn't help but feel a little deja vu when comparing her to Leyan's plan.

"What if I'm not here? Like what if I was gone somewhere else?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"Then we're going to find you and bring you back... You're trying to ask what I am going to do if you died, right?"

Xiaoyun fell into silence once again, as it was exactly what he was exactly what he had been trying to ask without saying it directly.

"This is what's going to happen..."

Yuqi suddenly rolled her office chair to the left, taking a gun from her other desk drawer before pointing it right at her temple.

"This is the answer. I don't want to live if you are dead... I hope you understand that risk every time you go out there."

"Okay, okay. Let's put that away. I'll remember that every time I go out from now on."

"Hmph, you better."

As Yuqi put the pistol back in her drawer, Xiaoyun turned his attention back to the reports on the desk.

Taking out the fifth and final file, a smile finally appeared on his face as the report inside was some positive news.

The unemployment rate overall had finally dropped to 1 in 10, going all the way down from 16.6% to 10.2% unemployment average.

Manufacturing jobs had spiked massively, filling up the missing gap in the hard labor market that construction couldn't reach.

"You're on the unemployment report part?" Yuqi suddenly asked.

"Yeah... Is there something wrong with the report?" Xiaoyun asked, noticing the worried look on her face.

"There's nothing wrong with it. But——"

"Deputy Governor, your report."

As an office worker came into the room with a file in hand, Yuqi signalled her to put it on her desk.

"Thank you."

With the office worker gone, Yuqi pointed to the file with her finger.

"Have a little read of it yourself. You'll understand why I was so tired when you came back home in the morning."

Opening the file, he was a little stunned as inside was a list of labor violations in just the past three weeks.

It was a number so big that it made his eyes widen. There were over one hundred thousand cases of labor violations found through labor investigations.

Yet only around a thousand complaints had been directly filed by workers working in the newly founded factories.

They seemed to be willing to work from 9 AM to 9 PM for a total of 12 hours with no weekend break.

This was despite the labor law stating that employers cannot allow for more than 9 hours of work and a mandatory break day per week.

"God damn, do they not have any morals?" Xiaoyun murmured, his mind already imagining the grilling work in the hot day.

"That's what I thought, too... But the biggest issue now is that the workers themselves are more than happy to work these hours."

"What? Why are they happy??"

Xiaoyun looked a little dumbfounded as his mind couldn't wrap around why workers would be willing to go through such awful conditions just to work.

"Because having a job is better than being unemployed. A shit working condition is better than sleeping hungry every night." Yuqi explained.

"But this can't be sustainable... They are going to overproduce more than we can ever consume."

"That's exactly what I am worried about."

As Yuqi stopped typing on the keyboard once again, she looked back at Xiaoyun, whose hand was still holding the file.

"I have already limited some of them from getting the raw material to stop their overproduction and asked the labor department to begin press charges."

"That's good... But why do you still look so worried?" Xiaoyun curiously asked, noticing the tense look on her face.

"Because teacher Liuqian told me just to leave it be... He told me these violation is just the cost of running a business."

Xiaoyun fell into silence as he immediately understood what Liuqian meant by it. A flashback popped up in his head, one that went far, far back.

"Yuqi... You want to hear a story?"

"What is it?"

"A story from a long time ago. All the way back when you weren't even born yet," Xiaoyun murmured as a sense of nostalgia popped up.

---

There was once an old man who ran a very big company. It was so big that it was considered listed as Guangdong's key growth factor.

When the old man passed away, his young, adopted grandson named Songming was chosen to lead it.

At first, everything seemed to be sailing smoothly... until an economic recession hit him right in the middle of a big corporate transition.

Everything was in freefall, including this big company Songming ran. All of its rivals in key markets were going bankrupt left and right.

Fortunately, since Songming's company was so big, he was able to secure a loan big enough from the banks to get through the tough time.

The company immediately experienced a massive resurgence as the economy began to recover.

With no rivals to compete against them, they were able to regain all the market shares they had lost in various industries.

At the same time, the company was going through a lot of changes, with the biggest change being how it became a publicly traded company.

Songming himself was no longer solely in charge. He was starting to hand the company off to his workers so he could enjoy his own life.

Unforunately for him, the company's investors were starting to demand higher profits. One that started to pressure him to return.

Many of his office workers suggested various kinds of ideas, but the one he chose was the simplest, yet the most effective.

It was to lower wages for everyone. Cutting back all workers' pay while increasing the workload slightly for everyone.

Soon, the conditions in the company's factory were rapidly deteriorating to the point that workers were starting to complain.

For those who complained, the managers were taught by the headquarters to fire them under any 'pretenses' they could come up with.

It soon led to a whole group of workers who got fed up with it. They began striking, only to be fired for 'breaking products' while working.

Did it violate labor law? Yes. Did the company pay any fines? Barely any—a minuscule amount of money in comparison to the company's net worth.

Nothing in the company changed. Songming passed off the work back to the workers below him as profit rose with the cuts.

Everyone just kept chugging along as growth continued... until a news journalist exposed the labor violations in the public spotlight.

The public's eyes were all looking towards them. Changes were desperately needed as the government was starting to reinforce antitrust laws.

Songming instantly caught the heat. He questioned the workers below him if the condition described in the news was really that bad.

He was met with a show, a blame game back and forth, with no solution in sight other than restoring the budget cuts as a band-aid fix.

There was something wrong, something terribly wrong that rooted deep inside the company, even further back when the old man owned the company.

With no other choice, he decided to go out of his way, leaving his comfortable office to have a look for himself in the factories.

Songming was off to work there for a week. Just one week for him to come up with some small improvement that would satisfy the workers and the stockholders.

However, what he experienced next changed him forever. It scarred him for life, fundamentally changed how he conducted business.