Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

Chapter 435: Army Readiness and Lingang's Division

After reading to the bottom, the newspaper shifted to more opinionated suggestions away from the merchants.

Instead, it began inputting the editor's opinion, attempting to ask Xiaoyun to speed up capturing the cities indirectly.

The second-to-last message even criticized Yiming and Yezi by name for their lack of action in Dongguan's and Zhaoqing's direction.

The section's last message hinted that he should initiate full-out drafts with a 9-9-7 work shift and reinstall state ownership of all business.

Fortunately, it wasn't all one-sided opinion, as the newspaper opinion section on the second page immediately bombarded the last message.

It pointed out that the newspaper's plan ignored all logistic issues and outright called the editor names for trying to increase work hours.

"You okay?" Yueyue asked after noticing the frown on Xiaoyun's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine... I'll be right back."

As Xiaoyun headed over to the backyard, he took out his phone to dial Renqin's phone number.

"Good morning, commander."

"Renqin, have you read the special edition of Luoping Weekly yet?"

After a short silence, Renqin finally spoke up again on the other side of the phone.

"Yes, I have. I'm still gathering reports from the agents to confirm all the validity of the newspaper information."

"Just tell me, how much of the newspaper content is true right now? Just give me an estimate."

"Around seventy percent of it."

"Call me back when the report is done."

As Xiaoyun hung up the phone, his mind was full of worries after a core memory in his head suddenly popped up in his head.

He could still remember the book in the basement's time machine, in which the alternative Xiaoyun stated that most settlements fail.

The prophecy was coming sooner than he expected.

This is in addition to all the reports stating the need for higher calibers for rapid zombie mutation, even against normal zombies.

"Xiaoyun, you okay?"

Yueyue asked, noticing his worried face as Xiaoyun sat back down in his seat.

"I'm fine."

Thirty minutes later...

After the short breakfast in the morning, Xiaoyun left for the logistics office rather than going to Yuqi's office with her.

When he arrived at the front entrance, he went straight to the radio operator's room and asked him to send a message.

"I want you to ask how long they need to finish their comprehension training."

As the radio operator nodded and went to work, Xiaoyun waited for a few minutes outside until they came out.

"What did they say?"

"Commander Yiming said at least one more week, and Commander Yezi said three more days."

"Okay, thank you... Tell them that they can have as much time as possible. There is no need to rush things.

After seeing the radio operator heading back inside, Xiaoyun's mind was thinking of the opposite.

He wanted them to speed up, even though he knew the newspaper was negatively influencing him.

But his rational mind rejected the idea, as he knew the harm of higher-ups forcing their general to do something was extremely taboo.

History has especially shown that a leader's intervention can lead to their general losing a battle or a war that should have been won.

"Commander, you okay?'

A staffer curiously asked as they walked past, noticing Xiaoyun standing next to the operator's room.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

As Xiaoyun turned around and left the room, his mind was still thinking of what the newspaper had said.

"Stop being so paranoid. They know better what's happening on the field than I do."

With the thoughts getting out of his mind, Xiaoyun headed towards the administrative office to help Yuqi.

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of the province...

"Commander Lingang, are we really going to give up Qingyuan and go towards Hunan?"

A senior officer with the rank of Major asked as they began marching past the mostly empty city.

He was a little annoyed as they spent almost half the day clearing the remnant zombies in Qingyuan City.

"I'm sure the commander in chief has his reasons... We are to follow orders and not ask questions."

Lingang's answer made the senior office into silence as he went back to be with his army unit.

Still, Lingang himself was a little annoyed as well, as the credit to clear an entire city was enough for him to be promoted.

"How far are we before we are out of the city?" Lingang asked as he went back inside the car.

"About five more minutes, and we'll be back on the highway... Then driving to Hunan would be an hour or so."

After the driver answered the question, Lingang pulled out his walkie-talkie.

"Has the scouts come back yet?"

"Not yet——Wait, they are back now."

"C-Commander Lingang! There are a ton of people ahead of us! Just a few miles ahead in Shaoguan!"

As the scout's voice panted for breath, Lingang immediately knew it was urgent.

"Calm down. Take a deep breath... How many people was it?"

"Around a thousand or so."

"Okay, it's not that much. You can take a rest now. I'll handle this."

As Lingang hung up the phone, he changed his walkie-talkie channel to open channel.

"Everyone stop. Get into formation. There may be zombies ahead."

The entire army's lines immediately stopped, and they began to change from a long snake into a more rectangular formation.

More importantly, all of the tanks were spearheaded to the front, with half of the soldiers getting down from their cars.

Slowly, they began to move forward again, approaching closer and closer to Qingyuan's exit.

During the march forward, Lingang met up with the scout in person this time, chatting with him for a bit before letting him go.

"Refugees huh..."

Lingang murmured as the scouts described the group of people as mostly armed with only melee weapons with women in the middle.

There was simply not enough time to stop and send a radio message back to Luoping, so the decision had to be made on the spot.

"1st Regiment, I want you to approach the groups ahead... Try to talk to them and disarm them. Over."

"Affirmative."

As the army continued forward, it finally came to a stop after moving at a snail's pace on the highway.

Nobody was surprised, as the news of the people ahead had already spread to everyone through the walkie-talkie.

"Commander Lingang, they ask us if we're from Luoping."

"Tell them we are... And ask them what business they have coming towards Qingyuan."

After waiting for a bit, the Major finally responded.

"They are refugees from Hunan... Apparently, their vehicles ran out of gas, so they had been walking on foot.

Commander, should we detain them? I had already disarmed their weapons."

"No need... Actually, can you bring them to Qingyuan and set up a temporary base?"

"Yes, sir!"

Lingang didn't say anything to the Major's excited voice, as he knew it was a big opportunity for them to lead their splinter army.

"Everyone. Continue ahead. We need to reach at least the entrance of Hunan before the day ends."

---

As the moon began to rise on the horizon, Lingang's army reached the city of Shaoguan.

It was the same city where Yiming and his southern theater army once operated before they were forced to evacuate.

"So many damn roadblocks..."

Lingang complained, as without the highway being blocked by abandoned cars, his army would have been at Hunan already.

Not to mention, if it had been before the outbreak, he would have already arrived in Changsha.

"Commander, should we rest here for the night."

"What do you think? Everyone, clear the parameter and secure the high ground."

All the soldiers immediately got out of their tanks and cars, breaking into squads to clear the buildings.

Meanwhile, Lingang, along with several Majors and a Lieutenant colonel, entered a tent that had just finished setting up.

"Has anyone here gone to Hunan before?"

Lingang asked right away, as he had only been in Guangzhou for his entire life.

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"I had been to Hunan for school before." One of the commanders raised their hands.

"Perfect. Can you plan the route to Hunan? I'll report the credit to you after we get back."

"Of course, commander... Can I have a few people assist me?"

"Go for it, Ye Lin."

As several majors left with the Ye Lin, Lingang's attention was back to the map the diplomat handed.

It wasn't a map of Hunan, as he already handed that over to Ye Lin to plan out the route.

Instead, it was a map of Jiangxi showing a rough estimate of the location of the Ming empire's troops.

Even though Xiaoyun ordered him to serve as a mercenary force to help fight zombies, there was obviously one unavoidable factor.

A single division was nowhere near enough to take Changsha, a city that had half of the population of Guangzhou before the outbreak.

It was clear the real intention behind Xiaoyun's order wasn't just to help Zhongxiong's forces in Hunan.

The real goal was to attempt to exert influence similar to the one in Qingyuan before it collapsed.