Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Houqin, what's wrong? Why is everyone in the office so tense?" Xiaoyun asked as soon as he walked into her office.

"Commander, I was just waiting for you... You might want to read this morning's report from Zhen Ren."

As Houqin handed the document over, Xiaoyun was immediately a little shocked by the information inside.

50%, or twenty of the newly made T-24 had been stranded, stuck on the outskirts of Dongguan.

"How the hell did he lose all these tanks!"

"There were a lot of explosive mutants that ran straight into the tanks and blew themsleve up."

"Where did the infantry go? Did he just send in the tank themsleve? This has to be madness and stupidity."

"No, sir. Some of the troops were trapped near the outskirts, so he sent in the tanks to rescue them.

But he didn't expect the zombie horde to be so big. It seems that the zombies in Huizhou had headed towards Dongguan."

"Didn't he already know about it in advance? How could he not realize the number is much greater than he had imagined?"

"I don't know, sir."

Xiaoyun held down his anger as it was pointless to yell at Houqin, who didn't do anything wrong.

"The soldiers are fine though, right? Just the tanks were trapped there?"

"Yeah. And General Yiming had already shifted most of the troops back to Dongguan to attempt to retrieve all the lost tanks."

"Good... Is that the only thing that's making everyone in the office so tense?" Xiaoyun asked.

Houqin nodded, her face looking a little nervous for some weird, unknown reason.

"You okay? Why are you staring at the desk?"

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking, Commander... I'm just a little worried that the retrieved tank might cost a lot to repair."

"Ain't nobody paying for repair. The last time I remember facing those explosive mutants, it almost blew up a reinforced concrete wall.

Those tanks are not going to survive... The point of Yiming retrieving those tanks is probably due to their request."

"Their?"

"The three Russians' company. They are probably dying to know why their light tank was so easily blown up and incapacitated."

Houqin immediately understood what Xiaoyun was implying as she slowly nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"Anyway, is there anything big that has happened since yesterday? Or is everything going fine now?"

"It's going fine, Commander... Thank you for making up for the supplies shortfall." Houqin quietly murmured the last part.

"It's my duty... If there's nothing else that needs to be reported, then I'm going to head back home early today."

"There's nothing, sir."

"Then see you tomorrow around the same time... Or maybe a bit earlier."

As Houqin watched Xiaoyun get up from his seat, her face suddenly flushed as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

"The magazine pictures really are true..." Houqin murmured to herself as she thought back to the bulge before her eyes earlier.

---

As Xiaoyun arrived back home, Leyan and Lily were both putting the babies to sleep together in the living room cribs.

"Honey, close the door quietly," Leyan whispered.

"Okay... Are the babies asleep?" Xiaoyun asked back.

Seeing the two of them nodding, he gently closed the door before following them all the way to the kitchen.

"Why are you home so early today? It's only four o'clock." Leyan curiously asked as she finally spoke up a little louder.

"Just finished everything at work... Lily, have you been at home all day with Leyan?"

"Obvious. Where else can she go? She's done with school already. It's her summer break right now."

Leyan answered, not giving Lily the chance to answer as she slowly nodded her head in agreement.

"She probably shouldn't stay at home all day. She should go out there and do something over the summer." Xiaoyun quietly murmured.

"Like what?"

"I don't know... Just something that catches her attention. Maybe go around and learn how people work."

"Not a bad idea..."

As Leyan and Xiaoyun seemingly started to reach the same conclusion, Lily's emotions were rapidly changing.

"I don't want to go to work yet. I want to be at home and spend time with the babies." Lily replied as her voice got louder and louder.

"Spending time with the babies? You mean you just wanted to watch TV at home, don't you?"

Lily shyly looked down at the ground as Leyan exposed her lies, making Xiaoyun chuckle a little.

"If she doesn't want to work yet, she can enjoy her summer break for a bit... It's no rush anyway."

Leyan didn't argue back, agreeing with Xiaoyun's statement as the two of them both turned towards Lily.

"Oh, I almost forgot, Lily, what major did you get into?" Leyan curiously asked, feeling a little bored as there wasn't much to do in the kitchen.

"I picked physics."

"Physics? I thought you wanted mechanical engineering. Did you not get into the major you wanted?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"The professor said his class was full... So I only got my second choice." Lily explained as her face looked a little down.

"Oh. I mean, physics isn't all that bad. It's the foundation of most STEM majors. You can always switch if you don't like it."

"I was once planning to go into physics too if it wasn't for my parent telling me to go into nursing."

"Really? I didn't even know that." Xiaoyun questioned, looking a little shocked by Leyan's sudden revelation.

"Of course you don't. I got one of the highest math scores in my school... How else do you think I managed to get into the same school as you?"

"I guess..."

As Xiaoyun awkwardly scratches his head, Lily's face seemed much more cheered up by Leyan's positive attitude.

"A-Auntie Leyan——I-I mean M-Mom, I-I don't think physics is really useful though. It feels like one of those majors that wouldn't serve much purpose."

"Who told you that?" Leyan questioned?

"I... I just thought about it myself."

Seeing Lily's mood about to turn back to the depressing-looking face from earlier, Leyan slowly squatted down to hug her.

"There is no major that's purposeless. There's a reason why Shuli decided to accept physics as a possible major."

"Yeah, Leyan is right. Don't get too caught up in the whole major thing. A degree doesn't really determine what you do in the future.

I mean, look at me. I only got a business degree, but I'm leading troops and being the governor across various cities.

If we were to look at it purely on applicable degree, I'm probably the least qualified for the kinds of jobs I'm doing right now."

With Lily's face looking much more cheerful again, both Leyan and Xiaoyun let out a small sigh of relief in their head as they gave each other a wink.

"Ahem, let me go cook dinner before they come back home. You two can talk outside or something."

---

"Hey Lily... how old are you?"

Xiaoyun suddenly asked as the two of them walked down the paved stone road, heading towards the pavilion in the backyard.

"Why are you suddenly asking that?" Lily asked, her voice sounding a little tense than before.

"So that I can buy the birthday candle for your cake... Your birthday is on Saturday the 23rd, right?"

"Yeah... It's going to be m-my..."

As words failed to come out of Lily's mouth, Xiaoyun's mind quickly realized why she didn't want to answer his question.

"Lily. It's going to be fine. No matter what you're telling me, I'm not going to let you go at this point."

"Really?" Lily asked.

"Yes, really. I don't care what other people think. I'm not going to let your affection towards me go to waste."

The two of them stopped right by the pavilion as they turned towards each other at the same time, looking each other right in the eyes.

"I already made the promise to everyone... Unless you don't want to."

"N-No, I-I want to be with you... You promise you won't tell this to anyone? Not even to Mom or Nami?"

"I promise... Ahem, when did you call Leyan's mom?" Xiaoyun curiously asked, noticing how close the two had gotten.

"That's none of your business... Stick your pinky out. I want you to pinky promise with me."

As Lily stuck out his pinky, Xiaoyun quickly stuck out his pinky as well before they sang a little line together.

"Whoever lies and breaks the promise is a little fat piggy... Now, can you tell me, my princess?"

"Come closer."

Xiaoyun kneeled a little as she whispered something into his ear, which instantly caused his eyes to widen in disbelief.

"W-Wait, you said that correctly? I-I'm not hearing it wrong?" Xiaoyun nervously asked as sweat began falling from his forehead.

Seeing her nodding her head, an immense amount of guilt quickly rushed into his head before being replaced by a weird excitement.

"You're not joking. Like that's your actual age?" Xiaoyun asked again, his voice sounding a little uneasy.

"Mhm... I'm just playing with you, dummy. Do you really think Mom would let me be with you if I'm actually that young?"