Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 760: Show-off in Shaoguan
"Crap, I forgot to tell them..."
As Xiaoyun muttered in the back seat of an SUV next to Houqin, with the road ahead filled with ten white minivans driving down the highway.
"Forgot what, Commander?"
"Nothing."
Looking out the window, the scenery had changed from a hilly, uphill road filled with trees on the side to a city in the far distance.
"How close are we to Shaoguan?"
"About an hour left, sir." The driver answered as the car slowed down to switch lanes to the right.
"Commander, we’re not going to Hunan province, right?"
"How many times do I have to say this? We’re only going to Shaoguan and staying there for a few days until they’re back from Hunan."
The uneasiness remained on Houqin’s face, but there wasn’t much Xiaoyun could do other than let the fact speak for itself.
---
An hour later...
As the SUV came to a stop near a school building, the white minivans continued driving down the highway before disappearing into the distance.
Xiaoyun and Houqin both quickly exited their car before the driver parked the car right next to the gated entrance.
"Xiaoyun!"
"Yiming, long time no see."
After a warm hug, the first thing Xiaoyun noticed was the half-removed school tag in front of the ’military’ base that Yiming had selected.
"You picked this as the 4th Army Corps’ training field?"
"It got everything an army base needed, and it’s close to the city... Ahem, Xiaoyun, why did you suddenly come to Shaoguan?"
"Can I not come to chat with an old friend?"
As Yiming stared back at him in the eyes, Xiaoyun chuckled a little as the two of them walked past the school entrance.
"Okay, I didn’t come here just to chat with you. I actually fucked up something and came here to fix it."
"Fix what?"
"You remember the promise I made? Getting the soldiers from Hunan’s family back to Luoping?"
"Oh, right, you did say that. How are you going to fix it?" Yiming asked, his face looking a little intrigued.
"You saw those white minivans earlier, right?"
"Yeah. What about them?"
"I’ll tell you how it works if it was successful... If it doesn’t, I need you to prepare to take the soldiers to enter Hunan."
As Xiaoyun gave Yiming an ambiguous answer, he surprisingly didn’t get mad as he moved on to the latter part of the conversation.
"Do you want me to get the soldiers ready right now?" Yiming questioned.
"Not right now. But just in case something goes wrong, I need them to be ready at a moment’s notice." Xiaoyun answered.
"Okay..."
"Commander Xiaoyun, General Yiming, where are we going?" Houqin asks, following the two of them into the main school building.
"I don’t know, actually. This is my first time coming to this military base... Yiming, where are we going?"
"You two want to see the soldiers? They’re working hard right now in the training field."
"Sure."
After walking through the main building, the three of them soon arrive at a massive open field within the campus.
They could see hundreds of thousands of soldiers running at the same time around what seemed to be a former school-ground track.
The other half of the soldiers were going through tire hoops and up into the monkey bar challenges, tirelessly rotating the work in a loop.
As they watched from the side for a whole minute, Xiaoyun soon noticed several senior officers who stood on the side of the track with a clipboard in hand. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
"What do you think?" Yiming curiously asked, coming to a stop right next to where the senior officer stood.
"Seems a little too easy compared to the one in Luoping."
Yiming didn’t say anything back, but one of the senior officers next to him was immediately a little taken aback by Xiaoyun’s comment.
"What do you mean, too easy? Half of the unit took the option to retire early because of this gruesome training."
"I’m just stating my opinion," Xiaoyun answered.
"If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you try it out yourself... C-Commander Chen?"
As the senior officer finally decided to turn around to look at the person making the ignorant comment, he froze in place.
"I don’t mind it. Houqin, hold this for me."
Xiaoyun quickly handed his holster over before walking up to the track. Within seconds, all of the soldiers immediately reconganized him.
"Good evening, Commander!" The soldiers yelled as they stopped their exercises to salute him.
"Evening. Do you guys mind if I try this out myself?"
"No problem, sir!"
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers all left the obstacle at once, leaving the entire track empty for Xiaoyun.
"Let me just do a little warmup for a second... I haven’t really done much exercise for the past few days."
As Xiaoyun stretched out his arms and legs, the senior officer who spoke up earlier was starting to regret it.
"General Yiming, I-I don’t think this is a good idea. W-What if Commander gets hurt?" One of the senior officers nervously asked.
Before Yiming could answer back, Xiaoyun had already taken off. His burst of speed instantly shocked everyone.
"What the..."
All of the senior officers were rubbing their eyes in disbelief as they could see a faint after-image every step of the way.
What felt like seconds going by, Xiaoyun was already done. As the senior officers all took out their timers to check, they were shocked once again.
It was only two minutes. A full kilometer track in exactly two minutes. All of the soldiers’ jaws dropped as they couldn’t believe it.
"How fast was that..." The senior officer who argued earlier murmured in shock as Xiaoyun stretched his leg at the finish line.
"There’s a reason why he’s the leader," Yiming answered, barely able to keep his calm look together.
"Whew, that was a pretty nice warmup... Hey, time this lap for me!"
Before one of the senior officers could answer back, Xiaoyun had already started running once again.
A whole dust storm suddenly appeared on the track, causing him to vanish for a few seconds as no one could see where he was.
Only when he reaches the halfway point do they manage to see him again. Even Yiming looked a little shocked as Xiaoyun soon reached the finish line.
"Hey, what was the time?"
Seeing the senior officers all standing there in silence, Xiaoyun waved his hand before raising his voice again.
"Hello? What was my score?"
"O-One minute thirty second." One of the officers finally spoke up as everyone recovered from the shock.
"Damn, that sounded a lot slower than what I had expected... Ahem, everyone, you can go back to your training now."
Xiaoyun quickly left the track, barely breaking a sweat as he looked perfectly fine walking back to Yiming.
"Commander! I-I’m sorry for d-doubting you. I—"
"No need to apologize. Your obstacles are fine... But you guys probably should incorporate shooting practice into this."
As Xiaoyun interrupted the senior officer’s apology, Yiming himself couldn’t resist the urge to speak up.
"We already have that. It’s just over at the back of the building... Xiaoyun, when were you able to run that fast?"
"Top secret. Ahem, well, Yiming, it was nice seeing the troops today... Houqin, don’t you have to meet with the logistics staff in Shaoguan? Let me go with you."
None of the senior officers dared to stop him, watching the two walk back into the building as their eyes were filled with respect.
"General Yiming, how strong is Commander Chen?"
"A lot stronger than an average person... Everyone, get back on track! No more break for the rest of the day!"
As Yiming’s steady voice traveled through the open field, all of the soldiers and officers quickly went back to their original tasks.
---
"Commander, are you... human?"
Houqin nervously asked as the two of them exited the high school entrance, her face still a little shocked from his performance earlier.
"What do you think?"
"Um... N-Not human?"
"Oh, please, if I’m not human, what else can I be? A zombie? Don’t overthink it, okay? That’s not your job."
As Xiaoyun tried to dismiss her concern, his heart was already regretting showing off in front of all the soldiers.
He was just too intrigued to test his limit. He just couldn’t resist testing it out at that exact moment.
"Why did I do that? I already fucking did it once before... Why didn’t I learn my lesson? Why show off, you idiot?"
After insulting himself for a bit, the two of them finally arrived back at the SUV, where the driver had been waiting the whole time.
"Where are we going next, Commander?" The driver asked as the two of them entered the car.
"To the logistic hub... That exists here, right Houqin?" Xiaoyun asked as he didn’t really know much about Shaoguan.
"Yeah. Just keep driving straight... If I remember correctly, it should be the fifth building near Shaoguan’s metropolitan entrance."
The driver quickly inserted the car key, starting up the engine before driving closer and closer to the city proper.
