Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 775: Back to School

As the car came to a stop, they arrived at a scene that looked drastically different from what Xiaoyun had witnessed in Dongguan.

They were brought to a wide building that looked extremely basic. Inside, there were a bunch of tables and people sitting at an extremely long table.

On their table were papers. Not just any paper, but an endless amount of application papers with names and all kinds of basic information.

There was no job fair. There weren’t any ’people’ either—only a bunch of government workers with their badges.

"What are all these?" Lingang curiously asked, his mind not really understanding how they’re working.

"They’re sorting the applications, and then we send them to the companies that match their experiences."

Mayor Lu answered, guiding the two of them down the rows upon rows of workers who sat in front of the tables.

"Why not just... have the company interview them directly?" Xiaoyun raises the question that has been on his mind.

"Too many people had moved to Shenzhen at once... We have 4 times as many people as Dongguan."

Mayor Lu paused for a second, then continued as she brought the two of them into a private room.

"I had gotten a lot of complaints from local Shenzhen residents on how the newer people were taking all of the existing workers’ jobs within days.

They were willing to take as low a wage as possible. The deputy governor had told me to remedy it with a compromise."

"So you came up with this system?"

"Yes... It sets a layer and a job quota. Although it doesn’t give everyone a job right away, it can slow down the worker’s wage from going to zero."

"To zero? Why would anyone work for free?" Lingang questioned, his mind a little dumbfounded by that idea.

"They aren’t literally doing it for free. But the salary they get is gone towards workers’ food and their rent."

Xiaoyun didn’t say anything as they stepped back out into the wide room. In his mind, there really wasn’t much he could do.

It was a supply and demand problem. One that could only be solved with time, unless the government was willing to make up for it.

However, the idea of government loans or subsidies making up for a private business’s salary to employees sounded like a massive potential for fraud in his head.

Not to mention, Yuqi had been trying to suppress inflation with lower government spending, hence the subsidy cuts recently.

"What’s the rate of unemployment currently?" Xiaoyun questioned as they stepped out of the building.

"As of today, one in four... The goal we have currently is to lower it to one in ten by the end of the month."

"I see. Thank you for your hard work, Mayor Lu. When I get back, I’ll tell Yuqi to allocate more resources to Shenzhen."

"Thank you, sir."

---

When Xiaoyun arrived back home, it was already six o’clock, as almost everyone was already back home for dinner.

"Where’s Tianci?"

"She’s busy working on some experiment, probably... Honey, how was your trip to Dongguan today?"

As Leyan handed him a bowl of rice, she quickly sat down next to him as everyone finally started eating the food on the table.

"It was nice. A lot better than what I had imagined. Ahem, Lily, you okay? You look a little down today."

Xiaoyun quickly shifted the conversation away from himself as he didn’t really want to talk about work.

"I can’t believe school is starting next week. Ugh, how could summer break already be ending so fast?"

Lily’s complaint drew amused looks—they’d come home from work day after day to find her sitting in the same spot.

"Maybe you should have done something more productive over the summer. Then it will feel like it lasted longer." Wuli commented.

"Yeah, right."

As Lily ignored her comment, everyone chuckled a little again before Nami suddenly had her rice bowl slip out of her hand.

"What’s wrong, sweetie? You okay?" Leyan asked, her hand catching the bowl within milliseconds as she put the bowl back onto the table.

"I-I just remember I had signed up for a few of the college classes. Sorry."

Nami apologizes as she firmly holds onto the rice bowl this time, her eyes still looking a little zoned out. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Isn’t that going to conflict with your work in the morning?" Xiaoyun questioned as he used his chopstick to pick up a veggie.

"It should be fine... My boss was the one who told me to take the classes. He wanted me to learn more stuff first."

"That’s nice of him," Anna commented.

"Yeah. He’s been really nice... He even promoted me to be the project lead a few days ago." Nami answered as a smile appeared on her face.

"I wonder why."

Kate sarcastically commented as she looked over to Xiaoyun, clearly trying to imply that he was behind it.

"Hey, what are you looking at me for? I didn’t even do anything. Nami earned it with her own skills and hard work."

"Yeah, right, a high school graduate getting into... what job role do you have again?"

"Shut up."

Nami fired right back at Kate’s snarky comment before resuming eating by picking a piece of fish with her chopstick.

"Hey, Yueyue, weren’t you signing up for classes as well?" Leyan suddenly questioned, dragging everyone’s attention away from the two.

"Me? When did I ever say that? Actually speaking of school, Shuli actually invited me to be a professor for a class."

"Professor?"

Within seconds, everyone turned their attention towards Shuli. None of them could ever imagine seeing her as a professor.

"Stop exaggerating it. I only invited you as a one-time speaker for the national intelligence class that you specifically requested."

"National intelligence class? What kind of class is that?" Xiaoyun questioned, his head unable to wrap around the idea of it.

"She’s going to send one of her agents every week to speak in a classroom. I don’t know what they are planning to teach either."

Shuli’s answer surprised everyone at the table, as they couldn’t imagine a college class where the professor changes without a class plan sent to the school.

"Yueyue, is that really true?" Wuli curiously asked, realizing how sketchy it sounded as a concept.

"My agents know what they need to teach. Besides, the students should know what they’re signing up for when they see national intelligence as a major."

The counter-argument finally settled the dust, but none of them held any favorable view towards it.

"Shuli, there are people who actually sign up for this major?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. A lot of people signed up for it... After they saw the salary that Yueyue specifically posted on the school boards."

"Recruiting people straight out of high school right into missions that could lead them to their death, huh?"

Yuqi questioned, reigniting the debate once again, as she didn’t want even to imagine the human resources wasted on something so risky.

"Stop making it sound like it’s a death sentence. Two-thirds of the intelligence agents are office workers or investigators.

Only a fraction of officers ever go out into the apocalypse. Those who do need to go outside require more training than just a college student.

And to your point, ever since I had taken office, there had been a total of zero foreign intelligence agents casualties."

As Yueyue started to get more and more heated, Leyan quickly gave a look to Yuqi and everyone else to keep their mouth shut.

"Okay, okay. All of those college students are adults. They can make their own decisions. No more talking about work-related stuff."

Everyone at the table returned their attention to the food, eating it in silence as no one wanted to speak up again... Until dinner was finished.

---

"Mom, let me help you carry the dishes."

"Thanks, Nami... Hey, honey, can you call Tianci? It’s starting to get a little late."

"Okay."

Xiaoyun quickly took out his phone, heading over to the backyard as he dialed Tianci’s number.

After a few seconds, the other side picked up.

"Hello?"

"What’s taking you so long today? It’s almost seven o’clock already. Do you need me to come over and pick you up?"

"I’m going to stay in the lab for today... You don’t have to worry about me."

The sudden tone shift made Xiaoyun a little confused before his brain realized the alternative Tianci had taken over.

"What’s going on in the lab? If you don’t tell me, I’m going to go there personally myself."

"Don’t. Come. To. The. Lab."

As Tianci’s voice breaks over and over again, a bunch of red flag immediately raises inside his head.

"I’m coming over to the lab right now. Wait there—"

Before Xiaoyun could finish talking, the phone call was hung up on the other side.

"Babe, where are you going?" Yuqi asked, grabbing onto his arm and stopping him right at the garage door.

"Tianci is in trouble."