Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 772: Bullet Trains and Resettlement
"I don’t want to stand in front of a camera for that long... Anyway, why did you come back to the office again?"
"I got nothing to do."
As the two of them stared at each other in silence, Yuqi was the first to crack as she slowly leaned back to her office chair.
"You got nothing to do? Do you want to go help monitor that crazy number of Hunanese people you brought back to our settlements?"
"Sure, where do I need to go?"
The straightforward answer was not what she expected, but her mind quickly recovered as she took out a piece of paper.
"Take this and show it to the mayor of Shenzhen and the mayor of Dongguan. Or not. It’s up to you how you want to evaluate their work."
With the paper in hand, Xiaoyun quickly noticed the written role and the name of the authorization paper meant for Yuqi’s assistant, Jianlin.
"Isn’t this meant for Jianlin?" Xiaoyun raised his concern, not wanting to take someone else’s job.
"She has better things to do. You’re the one who said you have nothing else better to do. Just change the name and put yours on it."
Yuqi quickly grabbed a pen from her desk before crossing out Jianlin’s name, replacing it with his full name instead.
"Here, now you can go... Wait, don’t forget to come back home tonight. Mom and Tianci are going to kill me if they know I sent you out of Guangzhou."
"That’s telling me to drive there and back for two hours every day for what could be a month-long task."
As Xiaoyun protested the ridiculous commuting time, Yuqi gave an answer that instantly shut it down.
"Who told you to drive a car to Shenzhen and Dongguan? You could just take the high-speed rail there, or even the metro if you wanted."
"Oops, I completely forgot about that... Ahem, I’ll see you later tonight, then?"
"It’s already almost three o’clock in the afternoon. Do you really not want to stay at home that badly?"
"What? No. I’d love to stay home every day if that’s possible. But it just feels weird to have nothing else to do."
"Too bad. You can start going there tomorrow, not today..."
With the final verdict delivered, Xiaoyun had no choice but to sit in the office with her until the workday was over.
---
The next day.
When Yuqi dropped Xiaoyun off at the train station, he was joined by no other than Kate and Anna.
"You two going to Dongguan?"
Xiaoyun questioned as they paid their fare with their ID. Waiting for the high-speed train to arrive in ten minutes.
"It’s the best place to recruit people. Wuli told me last night that there were a lot of engineers there." Anna answered.
"I see..."
"How about you? Why are you going to Dongguan? Is it really just to check how the new people are living there?" Kate questioned.
"What else could I possibly be doing then?"
Both Kate and Anna looked to each other for a second before both moved a little closer towards their sides.
"Is there going to be a new operation in the east? You don’t have to hide it from us. We’ll keep our mouths shut." Kate stated.
"We’ll be fully supportive of you. Say a word, and we’ll put the factories at max capability to fill in the new demand—Oww!"
"You two. Stop overthinking it. I’m actually just going there to check how the resettlement is going."
"Okay, okay."
As the two of them both scattered away from his knuckles, Xiaoyun shook his head as the bullet train finally arrived.
"Everyone, please step behind the line. Do not enter until the barrier door is opened." The security guard warned.
All of the people lining up moved a few steps back, waiting for the bullet train to come to a halt.
"This is the first time taking a bullet train for the two of you, isn’t it?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked.
"We have a bullet train back home. I took it every week when I was in school," Anna answered first.
"I never rode one of these things... The only train-related thing I tried was the New York City subway." Kate answered next.
As the bullet train came to a stop, the barrier finally opened before the bullet train’s door itself opened.
"Please get your ID ready. We need to scan it again to verify your seats!"
A nearby worker inside yelled as she went down the seating aisles with a scanning machine in hand.
The three of them found their spot in the corner as they all sat down together, waiting for the train worker to get to them.
"There are a lot more people than I had imagined," Kate commented as almost all of the seats were being filled.
"A lot more than what the report I had read from..."
Xiaoyun murmured as he could still vividly remember how the transportation report stated how the high-speed trains were facing a lack of passengers.
"ID please."
Both Kate and Anna had their ID scanned easily. However, when Xiaoyun handed his ID over, the worker froze in place.
"Ahem, please keep it a secret." Xiaoyun quietly whispered as he could already tell the worker had recognized him.
"W-Will do, sir."
After taking the ID back, the worker finally walked off as she continued scanning more and more passengers down the train.
"You almost scared her with your ID." Anna jokingly pointed out.
"I just handed her my ID, and that’s it. I didn’t even do anything to scare her... I really need to ask Yueyue to give me a fake ID again."
"Wait, Yueyue can give people fake ID?"
As Anna looked shocked by Xiaoyun’s casual revelation, he quickly realized she might have misunderstood some part of it.
"It’s not a fake id per se. It’s as real as every other person’s ID. Just imagine it as if a real person appeared out of thin air."
"I need to get one of those for myself then..."
"Why would you need that?" Xiaoyun questioned, looking just as surprised by her weird request.
"It’s a secret."
With Anna refusing to elaborate on her answer, Xiaoyun turned over to Kate, whose mind seemed to have shifted away into outer space.
"Hey Kate, why does Anna need a fake ID?"
"Anna, don’t tell him that."
"Hm? What fake ID? Why does Anna need a fake ID?"
Seeing Kate looking just as confused as Xiaoyun, Anna let out a small sigh of relief. Still, Xiaoyun wasn’t about to back down.
"Come on, just tell me. Why do you have to keep it a secret? I swear I won’t tell it to anyone else, not even Leyan."
After a short silence, Anna stood up and slowly leaned over to his ear, whispering an answer that made his ear flush red.
"I just want to have one if you get one as well... Then I have you all to myself."
"Not funny... Hey Kate, what are you thinking about?"
Xiaoyun quickly changed the topic as he noticed Kate seemingly zoned out from their conversation completely.
"Nothing."
The answer instantly made both of them curious. They both could tell something was clearly bothering Kate.
"Kate, what is it? You can tell me if you don’t want to tell this stinky man."
"It’s really nothing... I was just thinking about how this bullet train is going to reach the speed of a bullet."
"Kate, you can’t be serious. A bullet train doesn’t actually go at the speed of a bullet. The fastest it can go is like 300 kilometers per hour—"
"Dear passenger, the train will be starting in five minutes. Please make sure your belongings are with you at all times."
As a robotic voice interrupted Anna’s answer, the three of them soon fell into silence as they waited for the train to start.
After five minutes, the bullet train finally began moving.
It started slowly, but it rapidly began to speed up as the train station disappeared into the distance, leaving only a black dot on the horizon.
The scenery soon began to change, going from the city to a more forested area alongside a river on the right side of the window.
"Dongguan West in 20 minutes." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
The robotic voice appeared once again as the scenery went from somewhat rural back to the concrete cities.
"Xiaoyun, where are you going exactly after getting off the train station?" Anna suddenly asked.
"Go to meet the Dongguan mayor, then check out the resettlement program afterward.
If I have time left, I’ll go check with the Shenzhen mayor and check how their resettlement program is going." Xiaoyun answered.
"Looks like you’re going to have a busy day. Ashame we’re going to be separate after this ride." Anna murmured.
"Obviously... Actually, how are you guys going to plan to find the people you need?"
Xiaoyun questioned, remembering the number Yuqi gave was in the hundreds of thousands of refugees sent straight to the two eastern cities.
"We already sent people to set up a hiring center there. We’re just going there to check up on it." Kate answered this time.
"I see..."
