Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Commander Han Bang, I don't really think zombies can swim." An officer with the rank of Major pointed out.

"Can't risk it."

As Han Bang looked out the window, he could see soldiers cleaning up piles upon piles of trash all over the streets.

Puddles of water were everywhere on the streets, with potholes that blocked any kind of car from getting past.

Looking down, a basic city map was in front of him. Outlining the various streets and metro entrances of Jiangmen city.

"This is the worst environment I've fought in." A much older officer with the rank of Major commented as he looked over to the window on the left.

"The worst so far." A younger officer with a major rank pointed out.

As Han Bang looked over the weather report from a few years ago, he could see the peak month of rain hadn't even come yet.

The humidity chart shows an even higher spike in July. The only saving grace he had was that the water itself in the street wasn't freezing cold.

"It will be so much better if we come here in October or November. I remember coming here for winter break." The third Major in the room commented.

"Too bad we're here now."

As Han Bang ended the conversation, all of the officers looked towards him in unison, waiting for him to give an order.

But much to their disappointment, he looked over to the window again as the distant sky looked a little cloudy.

"Everyone is dismissed. Keep up with your post until further notice."

Some of the majors wanted to speak up, but their peers pulled them back as they all left the room.

Han Bang remained in the room. His eyes looked towards a group of soldiers gathered around a storm drain, trying to remove all of the debris.

"When is this shit weather going away?" Han Bang wondered as he took out his binoculars, trying to look into the distance.

In his vision, only more and more cloudy days were ahead. He hasn't experienced any resemblance to sunlight for the past few weeks since he got here.

"Commander! The head of the Logistics office had sent you a letter." A soldier yelled out as he barged into the room.

"A letter? From Houqin?" Han Bang's face looked a little surprised as he walked over to the soldier.

After accepting the letter and dismissing the soldier, Han Bang quickly opened it and began reading it.

"Congratulations, you have been... promoted?"

---

Meanwhile, over in Dongguan...

"God damn it, why is it raining today out of all the day?"

As Yiming stood still in anger, all four of the Colonels remained silent, waiting for him to get past it on his own.

"It's only going to rain even harder, sir." One of the Colonels finally spoke up.

"Even harder? How come I never experience this kind of rain over in Luoping?" Yiming questioned.

"Sir, it's just about to be rainy season. And last year just happened to have extremely low rainfall."

"Whatever. Everyone, you're all dismissed. Make sure you all watch out for high winds and flash floods."

As the officer began leaving the room one by one, Yiming's mood was only getting worse and worse, staring at the rainy sky.

"General, you okay?" An officer asked, his badge indicating him as only a Major, yet he was still allowed inside the meeting.

"I'm fine Gantian——Shit."

Yiming's hand quickly held onto his legs as he sat back down in his chair. The frown on his face showed him to be in a lot of pain.

"This dogshit, unbearable rainy weather... I'm going to send in my retirement letter after this." Yiming grumpily murmured as he tried to massage his knee joint.

"General... Commander Chen still needs your help. I don't think he'll let you retire." Gantian commented as he knelt to help massage his knee.

"He wouldn't dare... I'm already two-thirds of the way to my grave. If he doesn't let me retire, I'm just going to leave."

Gantian didn't say anything back, but his face clearly showed disapproval of his decision.

"Man, I miss Sichuan..." Yiming suddenly murmured, his mind zoning out a little as if he were having a nostalgia trip.

"General, you're from Sichuan?"

"Of course I am. Why do you think I'm still not used to this weather? That's good enough. You can stop now."

As Gantian moved back to the side, his mind was a little intrigued. Despite working all these years with Yiming, he doesn't even know his hometown.

"You can leave the room now. I want to spend some time alone." Yiming ordered, realizing he had leaked some info that he didn't want to share.

"Yes, sir."

---

Somewhere in Luoping...

"Woohoo, you finally have a break!" A middle-aged woman celebrated as a middle-aged man sat next to her with his legs crossed.

"Yeah, yeah. But I'm going to need to return to the battlefield in a week or so." The man responded.

"A week is still better than nothing, Lingang." The woman whispered as she leaned over to the man's shoulder.

"You aren't wrong."

As the two of them sat together on the sofa, the atmosphere soon got a little awkward as there wasn't anything much they could do at home.

"Hey Lele, what do you do at home when I'm gone?" Lingang suddenly asked as he wrapped his arm around the middle-aged woman.

"Just crocheting... Wait, let me show you what I've made for you."

Lele quickly ran over to a nearby drawer before taking out several shirts and several unfinished fabrics connected to a stick.

"Look, these two are what I have made so far. Do you think it looks good?"

Examining the shirt, Lingang couldn't really tell what was so unique about it, other than the fact that it was made out of wool.

"It looks pretty good. You self-taught this yourself?" Lingang curiously asked.

"Yeah. I bought a book a few weeks ago that taught me how to do it... Here, try it on. I made sure it matches your other shirt's size."

As Lingang took off his shirt, Lele's face blushed a little as his six-pack abs and chisled chest were on full display.

"Fits perfectly. Thanks, Lele."

"Mhm..."

After taking the wool shirt off and handing it back, the living room soon fell into another awkward silence as neither side had anything to say.

"Sorry, Lele." Lingang suddenly apologized.

"What are you sorry for?" Lele questioned in confusion.

"I'm not that romantic. And I barely come back home to be with you. I'm a shit husband that——"

"Don't insult yourself like this. You're the love of my life. I would rather be with you than anyone else in this world."

As the two looked each other in the eyes, Lingang soon turned to the side as if he couldn't endure her affection.

"What's wrong, Lingang?"

"Nothing. Sorry. I'm just off today. I didn't mean to make you——"

Lele suddenly leaned up for a kiss, preventing him from finishing as his eyes widened in shock.

"I don't want to hear you say sorry. You're my big hero and always will be. You can always rely on me to share your burden, okay?"

"Okay..."

Seeing him shyly looking down at his knee like a little girl, Lele couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Lingang curiously asked.

"Nothing... It's just funny to see a big grown man who's on the battlefield be all shy in front of his wife."

Lingang froze for a second before realizing who she was describing. His face turned red for a second before he returned to normal.

"Hey. That was uncalled for. How dare you call your husband like that?"

"What are you going to do? Punish me?"

As Lele looked back at him with an cocky atitude, Lingang quickly pinned her down onto the sofa, staring at her right in the eyes.

"How do you want to be punished?"

She didn't answer right away. Her head leaned up a little before whispering it into his left ear.

"However you want, darling."

Just as Lingang was about to make his first move, he suddenly stopped and moved back over to the side.

His face looked depressed, seemingly to have aged several years within seconds as he stared down at the floor.

"What's wrong?" Lele worryingly asked, getting back up before sitting down next to him.

"I... I just can't. Sorry." Lingang apologized, remaining silent for a whole minute until Lele spoke up again.

"Is it because of me?"

"No, it's not you. It's me. I have a problem... I just can't get over it. It's not your fault."

Seeing Lingang keep blaming himself, guilt began to build up inside Lele's heart as she knew exactly what the problem was.

A problem that she had brought upon him. A problem that he would have never needed to faced if he just didn't marry her.