Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"They are not going to get away from this," Xiaoyun murmured as he firmly crumbled the magazine in his hand.

"Good luck with that... Anyway, you should probably read what's inside the magazine. It isn't all that bad."

"Can't be good with that stupid cover."

Xiaoyun still unfolded the magazine as he began reading the first page. He was a little surprised as the insides were all praises.

It was a list of achievements. Only praises were used. Not a single negative thing was listed against him.

All of the battles he had participated in were listed, from the first battle against the gang members in the mansion all the way to the present day in Shenzhen.

The next page was even more praises, with praises towards how he managed to build Luoping from the ground up, to navigating various crises against all odds.

It even started to make him feel a little embarrassed by the sheer amount of praise. Still, the front cover was just too unacceptable for him.

"Someone really had done their research on this..." Xiaoyun murmured.

"That's what I thought too when I read it... Anyway, you should probably just ignore it. We need to focus our attention on work."

"What's there to work on? I thought I already filled up with shortages."

"Like helping me set the fines for these companies. Come over here. Don't just sit there and do nothing."

---

When Xiaoyun left the administrative building in the afternoon, he got a little phone call from Yueyue.

She had found one of the accomplices. To be exact, the soldier who took the picture and shared it with an unknown journalist.

Entering Yueyue's office, the soldier was standing right by the door. Her eyes glanced at Xiaoyun for a second before looking back down to the floor.

"She's the soldier who took the picture and shared it?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"Based on Houqin's shift schedule on that day in the military base and the image on her phone, it's pretty much confirmed."

As Yueyue opened the phone and opened up one of the chats, he could see the image right there, the same image on the magazine cover.

"Why? Why do you think this was a good idea to take a picture of me and share it with your friends?"

The soldier remained silent as Xiaoyun looked her dead in the eyes. He just couldn't understand what the soldier was thinking.

"Have you found who the friend is on the other side of this message?"

"I can't really find it. The person on the other side is using a burner phone with a stolen SIM card." Yueyue answered.

"What's your name, soldier?" Xiaoyun asked.

"M-My name is Chen Ling."

"Chen Ling, whose your superior, which unit do you belong to, and what rank are you?"

"My superior is... W-Will she get in trouble if I say her name?" The soldier questioned back.

"Xiaoyun, I can give you her basic information——"

"I want to hear it from her. Who's your superior, which unit do you belong to, and what rank are you? Answer my question."

After a few seconds of silence, Chen Ling finally spoke up again.

"My superior is Liu Ming, and I-I'm in the 2nd Army Corp, 32nd Infantry squad."

"How long have you been in the army?" Xiaoyun questioned again.

"F-Five months."

"So, since March... Do you know what the consequences of your action will be?"

"I... I'm sorry, Commander. I didn't know he was going to put it into a magazine like this. I-I only shared it as a-a joke."

"A joke. Do you know how my reputation was ruined because of this? Half of the town saw me naked, and you think it's a joke."

As Xiaoyun's tone got louder and louder, the soldier moved back more and more until her back was against the wall.

"I'm sorry, Commander. Please don't fire me."

"Yueyue, what's the punishment for violating someone's privacy and leaking classified information while on duty?" Xiaoyun asked out loud.

"Dishonorably discharged with ten to twenty years in prison. Her kids and grandkids, if she had any, would be forbidden from working as a government employee."

"C-Commander I-I..."

"I give you one chance. Tell me who's the person on the other side of the phone, and I will lighten the punishment."

After a whole minute of silence, Chen Ling finally cracked under pressure.

"I-I don't know who's the person on the other side. A-All I know is they called my number a few months back."

"And you just started falling in love with him?" Yueyue asked this time as she scrolled over the messages on the phone.

The soldier's face flushed, making Xiaoyun quickly take a look at the phone again in Yueyue's hand before connecting the dots in his head.

"You really fell in love with a person over the phone and sent this picture to show off? Was that all you intended to do?"

Chen Ling slowly nodded her head, making Xiaoyun facepalm as he couldn't believe the truth behind the image leak.

"You never saw this person in real life? Only through text messages and nothing else?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"Yes..."

"You can go back to your post. But your phone will be seized... Don't repeat the same mistake, do you understand me?"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

The soldier finally looked up for once, the depressing mood vanishing away as Xiaoyun let out a small sigh.

"You can go now."

As Chen Ling left the room, Xiaoyun turned around, taking a seat right across from Yueyue's desk.

"Why did you just let her go like that?" Yueyue curiously asked.

"What else am I going to do? Put her in jail and waste tax money for someone who can be a productive soldier out in the field?"

"But not even any punishment of any sort?"

"Do you think I want the entire military to know about it, too? Having half of the town know about it is embarrassing enough."

"I guess... Do you want me to keep trying to find the person behind this?" Yueyue asked.

"Just try your best," Xiaoyun answered.

"Okay."

"Anyway, anything you need to report to me since I was gone? Nothing important that I should know about?"

"Nope, nothing. Unless you want to read as few criminal cases that we busted open... Actually, wait, there is something you might want to read about."

Yueyue quickly moved her monitor, letting it face Xiaoyun directly as it shows an entire list of salvage groups in their settlements.

"I had been having my agents keep tabs on all the registered and unregistered salvage groups in the various cities.

And there is something that I found that might raise some eyebrows. But just as a caution, I'm not certain if this information is fully confirmed."

As she clicked on her mouse several times, the page switched from an unarmed salvage group to an armed salvage group.

"Armed salvage group? What?"

"Yeah, that's exactly how I reacted when one of my agents reported the information... Some of these salvage groups had been handcrafting guns."

Xiaoyun fell into silence. His mind didn't even need to think for a second about why these salvage groups were trying to get their hands on some firearms.

The inherent design of the salvage group was a cut-throat business, one that had much competition and rivalry that could end up very bloody.

It was a temporary solution that had turned into a thorn in his side. A problem that might have become too difficult to tackle.

"Have they brought these weapons into Luoping or Guangzhou?" Xiaoyun cautiously asked.

"As of now, none. They had purposely left it out at their salvage bases outside of our zone of control to avoid detection."

Staring at the names listed on the suspected list, Xiaoyun could see that even the smaller salvage groups had the possibility of being armed.

"Just continue keeping a monitor on them... Try to gather a list of the violations and some hard evidence."

"Okay."

"Anything else you need to show me before I go?" Xiaoyun asked.

"That's it. I got nothing else." Yueyue murmured as she turned her computer back towards herself.

"Okay then. See you later tonight."

---

As Xiaoyun exited Yueyue's office, he immediately noticed the workers outside all turning their attention towards him.

"What are you looking at? Go back to work."

All of the workers immediately looked away, but the smile on their faces told everything he needed to know.

"For fuck sake."

Not wanting to stay in the building any longer, he immediately left the intelligence building before heading back into his car.

Once inside, he started the engine, driving straight towards the logistics office as he floored the gas pedal.

"I need something to make everyone forget about this... But what can I do to distract everyone?"

Xiaoyun wondered as he turned his steering wheel to the right, taking a little loop before arriving at the logistics building.

"Good afternoon, sir." The guard saluted.

"Good afternoon."

As he parked his car in the park lot and exited the car, he could feel the atmosphere feeling a little more tense than usual.