Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Let me just put on a movie instead." Nami finally decided to change it.

As Nami pulled out her phone to change the TV screen, they didn't speak up again to ask her to continue.

---

For the rest of the afternoon, everyone and Lily, whom Nami called back out, sat on the sofa and watched movies from her computer.

Just as the third movie was about to finish, Xiaoyun's phone suddenly rang.

Xiaoyun got up and walked to the backyard to pick up the phone.

"Hey Renqin, what's wrong?"

"Boss, I need to report to you about something. It's urgent. I'm at the command center waiting for you."

As Renqin demanded, he could hear many background noises in the back.

"Okay, I'm getting up right now." Xiaoyun hung up the phone and walked back to the living room.

"Who was it? Is there something wrong, honey?" Leyan asked.

"Just something I have to deal with. Don't go out, okay?" Xiaoyun walked over to the coat hanger and put his jacket back on.

As Xiaoyun left the house, Leyan suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Mom, are you okay?" Nami asked as she noticed the frown on Leyan's face.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little worried for Xiaoyun... what could be so important that he has to go to work on the weekend?"

"Maybe it's just Yezi inviting him to drink or something." Yuqi didn't seem too concerned.

A few minutes later...

Wuli's phone suddenly rang, so she walked to the kitchen to pick it up.

"Yes, this is Wuli... Okay, I'm coming right now."

Wuli immediately rushed upstairs, and by the time she came back down, she was in her work clothes.

"Is there something wrong?" Leyan got a little concerned seeing Wuli in her army uniform.

"Yezi just ordered a mobilization order a few minutes ago. Sorry, I got to go now." Wuli left the house after giving a short reply.

"What's happening out there?" Shuli looked over to Yuqi and Yueyue.

"I don't know. I still haven't gotten any information. I'm only the civilian head." Yuqi shrugged.

"Wait, let me call someone." Yueyue walked over to the kitchen to make a phone call.

After a short moment, Yueyue returned to the living room to bring the news.

"All the entrance is closed right now. And everyone had been issued a stay indoor order."

"An indoor order? For what? How come we didn't receive it?" Nami chimed in.

"I'm not sure what it is exactly. But the informant told me something to do with something invisible or sneaking inside."

"Invisible, invisible... I remember Wuli said something that she faced last week while outside that was invisible." Shuli mentioned.

"I remember dissecting a zombie that was like that. They turn invisible when they sense a human nearby." Tianci started having flashbacks as her eyes started to change color.

"Tianci, are you okay?" Leyan noticed the change in Tianci's eye.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine." Tianci's eyes shifted back to normal.

"If there is an invisible zombie, and the town is in shutdown... that can only mean one thing." Yueyue paused for a second.

"There's an invisible zombie in the town."

A heavy silence fell over the group as the atmosphere started getting more and more tense.

Suddenly, someone started knocking on the door.

Just as Leyan was about to get up to check it, Yueyue held her back.

"Wait, let me check it." Yueyue pulled a handgun from her purse and walked toward the door.

The door-knocking sound started to get louder and louder as Yueyue slowly walked over without making any noise.

Yueyue peeked through the peephole, only to see Wuli outside with several soldiers on the porch.

"Is everything okay out there? What exactly is happening out there?" Yueyue asked after opening the door.

"Still a mess right now. I just got assigned to clear this whole block right now. I don't have much time to explain, but a zombie was found in the town. Sorry, I got to go now. Hey Chen Qi, go clear the street over there."

Wuli turned around and left to command the soldiers, commanding them as Yueyue closed the door and returned to the living room.

"So, is there really an invisible zombie out there?" Leyan curiously asked.

"Not invisible, but just someone got infected and got inside the town."

Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief as Yueyue finished speaking.

---

Meanwhile, at the command center...

"What happened?" Xiaoyun asked as he walked inside the command center.

"There's a zombie inside the town. I had asked Mr.Yezi to shut down the town for now." Renqin replied.

"A zombie? How the hell did it get in the town?" Xiaoyun looked a little shocked upon hearing the news.

"Someone at the door duty was bribed and let a zombie inside the——"

"Wait, what do you mean they just let a zombie inside? Didn't a single person notice it getting inside? Like you telling me a zombie just walked straight into the town?" Xiaoyun interrupted Renqin before he could finish.

"No boss, some outsiders disguised themselves as traders and hid a zombie inside a bag... Normally, the door guards are supposed to check every item, but they were bribed into letting it go." Renqin explained patiently.

"Then, after they got to the trading area, the zombie woke up and broke open the bag, and it started causing chaos until a police officer was able to shoot it dead," Renqin explained.

"Okay, if the zombie is dead, why is there a shutdown order? Isn't the threat over?" Xiaoyun asked.

"That's what we thought as well at first until some of the victims that were bitten during the chaos hid their bite marks. So they turned into zombies when they returned home.

This is why I had asked Mr.Yezi to check through houses individually and make everyone stay inside their house to reduce the chance of mass spreading."

"I see... do you know who's behind this?" Xiaoyun's voice suddenly deepened.

"We had gotten three possible suspects." Renqin took out a piece of paper and laid it on the table.

"The first one is a White Lotus from the north of our base. We don't have any information on them, but from the traders that had traded with us, they had mentioned this cult has been spreading rapidly." Renqin explained.

"White Lotus? Isn't that dead a long time ago?" Xiaoyun remembers from the textbook of White Lotus being popular during the Yuan dynasty.

"Yes, but I don't believe it has any connection to the one in the past. They are most likely just using the name." Renqin explained.

"I see... but why would they attack us?"

"Many traders that moved south towards us had said the White Lotus has faced a lot of trouble up north, so they had been trying to expand south towards us instead.

Also, the White Lotus themselves had been described as a theocratic government with a hierarchical structure.

Many of the traders left there because the White Lotus are extremely misogynistic towards women, to the point that they imprison and burn every woman they find." Renqin explained.

"What? That's the most ridiculous thing I have heard. What kind of nutjob maniac cult is this? Why would anyone support that?" Xiaoyun couldn't understand their logic.

"I don't know... they are a very tight-knit circle, so our agent hasn't been able to infiltrate it."

"How about the second one?" Xiaoyun looked over the second piece of paper only to see a star.

"The second one is from the west of our base. It's called Liangshan base."

"Liangshan? Isn't that from Water Margin?" Xiaoyun immediately noticed the name.

"Yes, they are, as the name describes, a gang organization... Although they are supposed to be good in the Water Margin, in their case, they are the opposite.

Many of the traders had been robbed by them when traveling there. And some even had their family taken away by them," Renqin explained.

"So a bandit base. Why would they even attack us?" Xiaoyun asked the same question again.

"My agent was able to infiltrate them and found a documented plan that included us as a target for expansion... Although they are far away, they shouldn't be left out." Renqin explained.

"I see... How about the last one?" Xiaoyun noticed the third piece of paper was just blank.

"The third suspect..." Renqin suddenly turned silent as if he wasn't sure how to answer Xiaoyun.

"Come on, just tell me. Who did it?" Xiaoyun felt Renqin knew something behind the attack, and the key evidence was the third suspect.

"Actually, we have four suspects." Renqin pulled out another piece of paper and laid it on the table.

"The military? This can't be right. Why would they attack with a zombie? They wouldn't gain anything from this if they wanted more resources from us.

I get the other two bases trying to expand toward us and might view us as enemies, but this one makes no sense.

The military doesn't have any grudges against us, considering we're the ones that helped their soldier return from the water plant to their base." Xiaoyun dismissed Renqin's suggestion.

"That's true, boss. But just two days ago, the military units started returning to their outpost again... and we found this badge at one of the perpetrator's bodies that brought the zombie."