Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Commander Chen?"

As Xiaoyun rolled down the windows, the security guards at the gated entrance were staring at his face in complete silence.

"Good afternoon. Did Fei Tian come to his office today?"

"Y-Yes."

"Great... Would you mind opening the door?"

"Yes, sir!"

Closing the windows, Xiaoyun quickly drove past the gate, parking his car at the lot before walking towards the command center building.

Every step of the way, there were constantly people looking at him. From soldiers walking by in the hallway to logistics officers looking out their windows.

They all looked just as stunned as the security guards. Some even took out their phone to take a picture.

Fortunately, none of them were daring enough to approach him.

"Is Fei Tian inside?"

Xiaoyun curiously asked the soldier, who immediately saluted him as he stood in front of a room that had the label 'General Airforce Office.'

"General Fei Tian is currently talking to Defense Secretary Yiming and General Yezi." The soldier answered as he saluted Xiaoyun.

Before asking again, Xiaoyun saluted the soldier. In his mind, the answer intrigued him as he didn't expect Yezi to be in Luoping.

"What are they meeting Fei Tian for?"

"I do not know, sir."

"How long have they been talking in there?"

"Five minutes ago, I believe."

"Thank you for your work."

The soldier saluted one more time as Xiaoyun finally opened the door himself, entering the room unannounced.

---

"Yiming, there is no way I'm approving this usage. There are way too many risks in using a helicopter like this."

As a middle-aged man rejected two much senior-looking officers, one of them who already had white hair, started to look a little annoyed.

"I'm not asking you to approve it. I'm asking you to do it. This plan specifically requires your pilots to execute it."

"Do you have Commander Chen's signature?"

I'm the head of the Department of Defense. I can dictate how military operations are conducted with or without approval."

"Do you have Miss Li's signature, Defense Secretary?"

"She's not at work today. But I already have a signature from her deputy, Fei Tian... Here, you can read it yourself and tell me if anything is wrong with it."

After Yiming handed the document over, the middle-aged man scanned it before putting it down onto the desk.

"Have you at least told Commander about the changes?" Fei Tian questioned one last time as his face remained extremely doubtful.

"Xiaoyun had already approved of this original plan a long time ago. He doesn't need to micromanage and approve every minor tweak."

"You know, the new addition to the plan is pretty good. I was going to try it myself if I had any helicopter at my disposal."

The other senior officer murmured, his eyes filled with a hint of jealousy for a second before it vanished.

"I guess..."

Just as Fei Tian reached inside his drawer for the stamp, the door suddenly opened. He immediately got up from his seat and saluted.

"Good afternoon, Commander!"

"Afternoon."

The voice caused both senior officers to turn around, only to see Xiaoyun standing there in a dress suit.

"Xiaoyun?"

Both of them said out loud at the same time. Their faces looked a little surprised to see him show up.

"So what are the three of you talking about? You guys don't mind me chiming in, right?"

Xiaoyun asked as he walked over to the side, grabbing a chair for himself before sitting on the side.

"Of course not. We're just talking about adding an additional layer to the plan." Yiming answered.

"What kind of plan requires the two of you to talk with Fei Tian? And Yezi, when did you get back to Luoping?"

"Got back yesterday. The 'Defense Secretary' wanted me to come help convince Fei Tian to approve the use of the new helicopters in combat."

As Yezi emphasized the new role Yiming had gotten, Xiaoyun could clearly tell his frustration and jealousy.

"New Helicopters? You mean the shakeshift helicopters that the three Russians had made in their backyard?"

Seeing Yiming nod his head, Xiaoyun looked over to Fei Tian, whose face was still full of disapproval of the idea.

"Why use the new helicopter? Are the ones we're currently using not working?" Xiaoyun questioned back.

"The old ones are starting to run out of spare parts, and the specific type of jet gas it uses is too hard to come by compared to the new helicopter."

"What's the tradeoff?" Xiaoyun questioned as he looked over to Fei Tian for an answer this time.

"Sir, those helicopters have much fewer hours flown, and there have been several cases of malfunctioning."

As the thought of a helicopter crashing flashed in Xiaoyun's memory, he looked back to Yiming with a face full of doubt.

"I think Fei Tian is right. Those helicopters need further testing before they can be used in combat."

"But then the plan—"

"The plan can be adjusted. We can't risk soldiers' lives with a prototype. When did you become so rash like Yezi?"

"Hey, I'm still here." Yezi grumpily murmured.

"Ahem, how about this. I'll make the decision tomorrow morning. If it doesn't work out, we'll readjust the plan together."

The compromise made Yiming a little annoyed, but he had no choice but to accept it as Xiaoyun was clearly giving him a way out.

"Fine."

"Great. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about what I had missed while I was gone."

---

After an hour of talking, Xiaoyun was all caught up with the 'new' adjusted plan that Yiming had developed for next week's offensive.

A bold idea, one that required a massive amount of artillery strikes, all of the tanks in Lingang's old division, and a crap ton of leaflets.

Some may even say the plan was too simple. Still, it was a work of genius when Xiaoyun first read it in the command center.

Troops were going to surround the three cities of Zhuhai, Hong Kong, and Macao as originally intended.

But rather than direct confrontation, the new adjustment added that helicopters would fly across Zhuhai and Macao initially.

They were going to drop leaflets on any of the remaining survivors to leave certain areas, to allow for artillery strikes in the designated area.

At the same time, the helicopter served as a tool to lure the zombies away from the front line, pulling them back to create a small beachhead for troops.

The plan even required airdropping troops to check individual buildings for survivors before dropping an artillery shell on it.

Everything looked perfect.

However, all these plans put heavy pressure on one particular vehicle that made the two of them show up at Fei Tian's door in the first place.

"Commander Xiaoyun, are we really going to use these new helicopters?"

Fei Tian questioned as the two of them stood in front of a helipad, whose rotor blade had already started spinning with a pilot inside.

"The best kind of tests are the ones that I can experience myself. Stop pestering me and let go in already."

As Xiaoyun hopped into the new helicopter, he was still wearing his dress suit meant for business and official meetings.

"This is such a bad idea..." Fei Tian quietly murmured to himself as his voice was overshadowed by the helicopter's engine.

Once the two of them were inside, the ground started to become further and further away as the helicopter rapidly climbed up

"Hey, Commander! Are you sure you can skydive?" Fei Tian asked out loud as he started helping him put on the parachute.

"Of course I am. What makes you think I can't?"

"It's just that you were gone for a few days. Everyone said that you had gotten sick and stuff."

"Sick? That's just fake news... I was just too busy taking care of my newborn daughter, Ziling."

Xiaoyun could see the surprised look on Fei Tian's face. Fortunately for Xiaoyun, he didn't question the excuse.

"Everything is ready... You might need to be more careful, Commander. This suit isn't really appropriate for—"

"I know what I'm doing."

Fei Tian didn't speak up again, jumping out of the helicopter first himself as Xiaoyun watched from the edge of the helicopter.

Jump.

A strong gust of wind immediately hit Xiaoyun in the face as he started moving his arms and legs, readjusting his positioning mid-air.

He could feel the drag on his body. A much lighter feeling than when someone rested behind him.

This was his third solo attempt. No guidance other than his naked eyes and Fei Tian, who was several yards away from him.

"You ready?"

Despite being unable to hear the other person's voice, Xiaoyun could read the lips as he gave Fei Tian a thumbs up.

With the ground approaching fast, he quickly pulled the string. A strong force immediately yanked his back upward as the parachute flew out.

The wind became much more gentle as the descent rapidly slowed. It was a cold afternoon as the warm sun set on the horizon.