Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

"Woohoo, finally we're done. Free lunch time."

As the People's Assessor next to Xiaoyun celebrated in excitement, the judge was less amused by his attitude as the three of them exited the courthouse.

"We're going to the cafeteria, you want to come with us?" The judge asked as the three of them walked down the hall.

"I'm good. I have a special arrangement later."

"Very well."

The two of them quickly headed out of the building as Xiaoyun remained in the lobby, heading towards the other hallway direction.

"Now for the prison visit... What am I going to do there?"

Xiaoyun thought about it for a second, then took out the paper that Yuqi had made for him earlier.

"To be the People's Assessor for 4 hours and allowed access to the direct dialogue with the prisoner... How vague."

As he walked towards the sign with the word prison on it, he soon arrived at a long hallway with cameras at every corner.

"Stop right here. Please show your ID and authorization."

"Here's my paper and ID."

After handing his Songming ID and the authorization paper, the guard raised several eyebrows before letting him go.

"You may go... Just as a warning, some of the prisoners might have some mental problems."

Xiaoyun nodded as he finally entered past the front entrance, only to be met with a long hallway.

The prison was practically a separate building. A building behind the courthouse, away from public view.

"Stop. What are you here for?"

A guard in a full black uniform stopped Xiaoyun from walking any further. His tag on his clothes indicated that he was a prisoner's police.

"I'm here to... interview the prisoners. I have my journal badge if you want to——"

"No need to show me. You can go in now."

Xiaoyun was a little surprised as the guard didn't bother checking him at all, opening the jail lock for him to enter.

"You don't need to check me?"

"The alarm would have triggered the moment you stepped into that hallway... Besides, I don't have the right to check someone who's not a prisoner."

"I see..."

Walking past the front entrance, Xiaoyun was a little shocked as the layout of the prison was much more complex than he had imagined.

It was a lot bigger than he had imagined, with entire outdoor courtyards the size of a football field and various kinds of facilities surrounding the courtyard itself.

"Hey, who's this person?"

A woman wearing the same dark-blue police uniform questioned as she walked over to the two of them standing at the locked courtyard entrance.

"A government journalist. Can you guide him around? I still have door duty today."

"Sure."

As she opened the courtyard door, Xiaoyun was officially inside the prison as he stepped foot inside.

"This place is a lot different than the last time I had visited..." Xiaoyun murmured as he thought back to the time he visited Tianci here.

"It had expanded a few times in the past... Where do you want to begin? I can bring you to whatever." The woman asked.

"How about if you just give me a tour of what a usual prisoner would go through when they are in prison?"

"Sure... Follow me."

As the two of them walked down the courtyard, Xiaoyun could notice a person inside a watchtower looking at them from above.

The entire courtyard itself was surrounded by metal fences and barbed wire, with a whole metal detector that he just walked past.

After walking just for a bit, they turned to the right before going into a small concrete building. Inside, he was instantly met with two guards sitting on a bench.

"He's a prisoner?" One of them asked, getting ready to put on gloves as they stood up from their bench.

"No, he's a journalist. He's here today to visit... Can you give him a visitor tag?"

"Of course."

The other guard quickly headed to the other side of a door nearby before going to a counter with a small window.

"Your visitor tag for the day. Just hang it around your neck so the guards don't mix you up by accident."

Xiaoyun nodded, putting the visitor tag over his neck before taking out a small notebook and a pen from his jacket.

"Sorry, I just need a little time to write this down."

"No problem."

As the woman waited for him to write down what he had witnessed in the prison, the two guards on the side suddenly got a little curious.

"Hey, Mr.Journalist, which newspaper do you work for?" The first guard curiously asked.

"I'm a freelancer who's working for the Governor... He asked me to give some feedback on whether the prison system needs any improvement."

The moment Xiaoyun said the last part out loud, all three of their eyes immediately began to widen as if they had just heard something unbelievable.

"Wait, any feedback?" The woman guard asked.

"Yeah, anything... You guys can tell me, and I'll note it down." Xiaoyun answered, turning over to the three of them with his pen and paper in hand.

"I have a request... Please tell the governor to separate the prison into different genders. I don't want to work in a mixed prison."

"I'll note that down... Can you give me the reasoning for it?"

The woman paused for a second as she looked over to her two coworkers before turning back to Xiaoyun to answer.

"If the two wardens we had didn't happen to be one man and one woman, I could already imagine the abuses my coworkers would do to the female prisoners."

"Hey! That's uncalled for. I wouldn't put a finger on those female prisoners." The second guard immediately yelled out loud.

"Yeah, that's just straight-up slander for no reason."

"Mhm, then why would they hire female guards like me to do the woman's body search? Make me really curious."

As soon as she pointed it out, both of the guards fell into silence.

"I'll raise that concern to the governor... Actually, do you guys know why the prisons are mixed?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"Nope. It's been like this since we got here."

Seeing the two giving the same answer as her, Xiaoyun didn't question it any further.

"Any other complaints or feedback you guys want to add?"

"Raise wages!" The first guard immediately answered.

"Air conditioner!" The second guard answered next.

"I'll note that down as well... Anything else?"

Seeing both of the men shaking their heads, the female guard shook her head as well.

"Thanks for your feedback... I have one last question for you guys... What is this place for exactly?"

As soon as Xiaoyun asked his question, all three of them froze for a second before the second guard took out a striped blue-grey jumpsuit.

"This is the registration and search area... Do you want to experience it yourself?" The first guard jokingly asked as he put on the plastic glove.

"I-I'm good... Let's go to the next part of the prison."

The female guard quickly guided Xiaoyun out of the small building, going back into the courtyard before heading to the building next door.

"This is the medical area... Usually, the prisoner needs to report all of their medical history before being put into a cell."

"I see..."

As the two of them walked further into the building, they soon encountered several doctors and nurses chattering.

"Hey Jianyu, what brought you here?" One of the nurses curiously asked.

"Showing a journalist around... If you guys have any complaints or requests for improvement, tell him now, and he'll report it straight to the governor."

All five of their eyes widened just like the two guards from earlier, before Xiaoyun took out his notebook and pen again.

"Wait, you actually can report to the governor?" One of the doctors asked.

"Yep. I'm directly responsible to him... Just give me some feedback and I'll put them down."

"We need more nurses... There are way too many injuries when an occasional riot breaks out."

"Riots?"

Xiaoyun's mind immediately got concerned, while the nurses and doctor didn't seem to see it as that big of a deal.

Even the guard right next to Xiaoyun didn't seem to care that much about it, as if it were just a normal occurrence.

"Yeah, like just small fights... It's not like an actual riot in those movies. Just some people who are not the most mentally stable."

Despite Jianyu clarifying the confusion, Xiaoyun was still concerned. It just didn't sound normal to him.

"How often does this happen? Why are the people in prison less stable?"

The nurses and the doctor all looked to each other for a second before the most senior-looking doctor spoke up.

"It happens like one every two days... People tend to be less happy when they are locked up in a prison, especially the newcomers."

"I see... I'll write that down... Any other concerns I should be aware of that need to be addressed?"

"Could you ask the governor if he could lift the restriction on prisoners being allowed to be transferred to the hospital?

It can sometimes be very hard to treat some of the prisoners who have pre-existing conditions that need more intensive care." One of the older nurses asked.

"Huh? Was that restricted? Since when?"

Xiaoyun was a little puzzled as he never enacted any orders that prevented the prisoner from transferring to a more professional medical center.