Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 750: Steady as she goes

As Xiaoyun walked into Houqin’s office, she was already talking to five workers, three women and two men, all wearing a white uniform.

"Good evening, sir!" One of the workers said out loud, noticing him silently opening the door.

"Evening. You guys busy right now? I can wait outside."

"No need. I’m almost done... Remember, you two need to get a confirmation number before handing the supplies over on the other side.

And you three need to make sure the supplies are actually received on the other side. Don’t just expect the soldiers themselves to unpack it."

"Yes, sir."

With a wave, all five of them immediately left the room, closing the door and leaving the two of them inside.

"What did these five people do wrong?" Xiaoyun curiously asked, taking a chair from the side to sit right across from Houqin’s desk.

"They are forgetting basic procedure at the last mile stretch. They were supposed to get the Colonel or their assistant to sign it."

"Damn, sounds pretty serious. How big was it?"

"Undercounting two hundred rifles missing in the inventory. Almost caused a whole fraud investigation because of it."

"I see... Seems like you got it all sorted out though, right?"

"Yeah."

As Houqin closed her file cabinet and sat back down, she looked right into Xiaoyun’s face before looking away.

"Ahem, is there anything that needs to be reported?" Xiaoyun asked as he could feel a slight awkwardness between them.

"Han Bang had mostly finished recapturing all of the lost territory in the two cities during the mosquito and storm outbreak."

Houqin instantly answered, her face returning to normal as she looked towards her computer that had a note sheet open.

"Did he give an estimated timeframe of when things will be finished?"

"Not yet. Do you want me to ask?"

"It’s fine. He’ll give a date when he’s confident with his progress. What else is there to report?" Xiaoyun asked.

"Han Bang also requested the reinforcement of additional divisions from Lingang’s army over to Zhongshan’s direction."

"Lingang? Why does he need more troops from him?"

"Zhongshan is short on men right now since it is only operating at half of its intended army corps."

"Oh, right, almost forgot about that."

Xiaoyun didn’t ask any further, as he knew the other half of the army was composed of fresh recruits from the population.

They haven’t even gone through two months of training yet, which is why he had them stationed in the base under Wuli.

"I approved it and let Lingang decide... Was that a good decision?"

"I don’t see anything wrong with it as long as they know what the limit is. But make sure they ask you every time they make a troop transfer."

Houqin noted it on her computer before turning her attention back over to Xiaoyun.

"The next thing I want to report on is this month’s budget... Commander, I don’t know how to put this, but it’s starting to get a little too high."

Just as she was about to hand Xiaoyun a report, he shoved it aside before taking out a piece of paper from his own bag.

"I know. I already talked to Yuqi about it. She’s willing to pay off the deficit as long as we decrease the rate of the army budget increase by 10%."

The answer surprised Houqin a little, but she didn’t question it as she began reading the paper that Xiaoyun had handed over.

"Houqin, how has the army trimming going so far? Has Yiming over in Shaoguan said anything back so far?"

"He managed to retire 30% of the soldiers who didn’t fit the physical or the age requirements."

Xiaoyun let out a small sigh of relief inside his head, as that decrease alone was enough for Yuqi’s demand.

"Commander... I don’t think this is enough to pay off the deficit we’re facing soon." Houqin suddenly pointed out as she put the paper down.

"What?"

Taking back the previous paper on the table, Xiaoyun soon realized why Houqin had stated the one-time increase wouldn’t be enough.

"What the hell? What’s all this 300 million pension expenditure coming from?" Xiaoyun questioned in confusion.

"You said we were retiring those soldiers with the same benefits as regular soldiers... Should I scale it back down?"

"I really said that? Nevermind then."

As the room fell into silence, Xiaoyun soon put the paper down as a frown appeared on his face.

"Yuqi is not going to be happy if she sees this massive spike. She’s going to think I spend it on some fancy new toy..."

"Um, commander... Actually, nevermind. I’ll just tell her to cancel it."

Seeing the hesitation on her face, he was instantly intrigued by what cancellation she was referring to.

"What’s wrong? Just tell me. The budget can go to hell if it means the army can fight better in the long term."

After a short silence, Houqin finally spoke up again.

"Miss Anna wanted to renegotiate the military contract we had placed with them since April."

"She didn’t even tell me that when I was at home... Did she state what kind of change she wanted to make in the military contract?"

"Something to do with the special forces rifles... I think she wanted to raise the prices on them."

"Raise prices? Not in a million years. A signed contract is a signed contract. If she can’t make it, then she should be paying for the cancellation fee."

As Xiaoyun shamelessly switched sides, Houqin didn’t react to it as she dropped the next part of the story to him.

"She already delivered the rifle that had been promised in the contract. It’s the ammo for the gun that hasn’t been negotiated yet."

"I’ll negotiate with her myself. She’s not getting a single dime outside of the labor price when we’re the ones providing the material."

"Okay then... The meeting is at six o’clock tomorrow morning."

"Perfect, won’t interrupt with my regular schedule. Is there anything else you wanted to report to me?"

"Um... Two more things. General Yezi had resumed operation towards Yanfu city, and Lingang had requested to switch position about an hour ago."

The first news didn’t really surprise Xiaoyun, but the second one confused him. Being stationed in a recently cleared city was a job that only some can dream of.

Especially when Lingang had already reached the ceiling in terms of ranks, the only higher rank would be the Commander-in-Chief.

"Switch position? Where does he want to swap for? Didn’t he just move to Shenzhen a week or two ago?"

"I don’t know. Maybe he just doesn’t like to stay on the defense... Should I ask him to provide a reason?"

"Just Deny it. There’s no available job position right now that he can swap to... Houqin, I almost forgot to ask you something."

"What is it, commander?"

"When do you want to come over to my home? Ahem, I mean just to have dinner. Nothing else."

Despite Xiaoyun adding the last part to clarify the confusion, Houqin’s face still flushed a little.

"I don’t think I’m ready yet..."

"That’s fine. Just give me a date so I can ask Leyan to prepare for it... Don’t worry, they’re more than happy to see your face there."

"Really?"

"100% They had all been wondering when you’re moving——Ahem ahem, I mean coming over to have dinner."

The mistake was far too late as Houqins’ face turned ripe as an apple, shyly looking over to the side again.

"Look, Houqin. Do you really want to live with your parents for your whole life? You’ve got to move out at some point, right?"

"My parents already moved out..."

As she quietly responded to his point, Xiaoyun quickly hid his embarrassment by getting up from his office chair.

"Actually, I think today is the perfect day. After you get off from work, you’re getting in the car with me."

"W-What? Y-You can’t d-do that." Houqin instantly argued, her face looking more nervous than ever.

"Why not? Are you not my girlfriend? Come on, they aren’t monsters or anything. There’s nothing to be scared of."

Seeing Houqin still refusing to agree to his idea, he stood there in silence before an idea suddenly popped into his head.

"How about this? I bring them to visit your home. They just want to know you better. You can’t be scared of your own home, right?"

The offer made her freeze for a second. But in the end, she slowly nodded her head, agreeing to Xiaoyun’s compromise.

It was the best possible outcome she could ask for that didn’t require her to go to Xiaoyun’s home.

"Great. I’ll go call Leyan right now and see if they’re free..."

Just as Houqin realized the trap Xiaoyun had set up, Xiaoyun had already left the room, giving her zero chance to speak up.

----

"Leyan, Houqin didn’t want to come visit." Xiaoyun quietly whispered over the phone as he stepped into the hallway.

"You had one job! And you’re telling me you failed?"

"Hey! I can’t force her to go. That would be kidnapping... But I did manage to convince her to let us visit her apartment."

After a few seconds of silence, Leyan finally spoke up again.

"Come back home first. I don’t have a car."