Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

Without any hesitation, Xiaoyun kicked the air purifier over and quickly created a plastic bag to contain both the purple dust and the flower.

But after he zipped up the bag, the weird smell in the air persisted.

"Why the hell is there not a single window on this floor," Xiaoyun complained as he looked around the hallway.

With just a light kick, the door to the hotel room swings wide open, revealing a window inside.

Xiaoyun quickly ran over to the window and slid it wide open, then went back into the hallway, kicked another room open, and did the same thing on repeat.

Only after the smell in the air dissipated did he stop kicking down the hotel room's door and check on everyone's pulse again.

With none of the soldiers showing any sign of waking up, Xiaoyun carried Kate in his arms as he headed back downstairs.

---

In a brightly lit white room.

A scientist stood in the middle of the room, clipboard in hand. In front of him was a bunch of screens displaying a recording.

The lab suit covered their entire body, and a mask and dark-shaded lab glasses covered their faces and eyes.

No one could tell who was underneath, but the oddly wide shoulder and muscular arms outline indicated it was clearly a man.

On the left was a table full of lab equipment, with several vials of some unknown liquid next to each other.

"Huh... He really is immune to that," the scientist murmured as they watched Xiaoyun effortlessly carry Kate downstairs.

As they turned around, the other screens were street recordings showing soldiers entering and clearing buildings one by one.

But unlike the one that Xiaoyun faced, it had no traps other than barebone zombies trapped inside their own homes.

"Professor Pan, what should we do? They're going to find our place sooner or later."

A man in the lab suit asked as he walked into the lab, carrying a clipboard as well. But his young face indicated that he was clearly just a new student.

"They won't find us here. Go back to your study, and don't worry about it... Anything else you want to say?"

The student hesitated for a second, wanting to argue back as he could hear gunshots coming from the screens.

But in the end, he left the room without making any noise, leaving the professor alone once again.

"If I can get some blood samples off of him... No, I need to get it now."

The professor began to look more and more desperate as he rolled up his sleeves and looked down.

The veins on his arm were purple, the same color as the flower that Xiaoyun had just destroyed on the 2nd floor, with only a taint bit of red remaining below his skin.

As they pulled down their mask and pulled out a mirror, the reflection showed a face that was severely disfigured beyond relief, enough to give anyone a nightmare.

"I don't have much time left, do I?"

The professor murmured to himself as he pulled back up the mask and sleeve, then put his mirror back into his pocket and shifted his attention back to the screen.

---

"Commander! Y-You okay?" The major asked nervously as Xiaoyun carried Kate into one of the chairs in the main lobby.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's wrong?"

"Y-You face..." The major pointed directly at Xiaoyun's face, looking even more nervous as all the soldiers were alerted by the sudden outburst.

"My face?"

Xiaoyun touched his face with his hand, but nothing was different about it. So he pulled out his phone to check.

"What the..."

XIaoyun's face was fully covered in some sort of purple dust, but as he tried to rub it off with his hand, the purple dust remained in place.

Seeing Xiaoyun struggle to get it off, the major took out his canteen and handed it over to Xiaoyun.

But as Xiaoyun poured the water all over his face, the purple dust remained, showing no sign of disappearing at all.

"Don't worry about me. Go upstairs and bring our comrades back down. They're all unconscious upstairs right now."

The soldiers immediately headed upstairs as Xiaoyun shifted his attention back to Kate.

"Why does none of their face have this?" Xiaoyun wondered as he observed Kate's unconscious body.

An hour later...

As more soldiers started returning to the hotel after clearing all the nearby buildings, Xiaoyun finally received messages from the other Lieutenant Colonels.

However, it wasn't what he wanted to hear, as all they found were a bunch of zombies and no trace of the whereabouts of the scientist hiding.

What's worse was that none of the soldiers that went upstairs woke up at all, all still lying on the lobby floor, unconsciously.

"Commander Xiaoyun, it's almost four now... Should we retreat and call it a day?" One of the majors asked as the sun was beginning to set.

"Not yet... It's only a matter of time before they make a move first."

Several of the majors couldn't understand what Xiaoyun was saying, but none of them questioned his authority.

"Why are they waiting for?" Xiaoyun murmured as he looked down at the chair next to him, which had Kate unconsciously lying on it.

"Waiting for what, sir?" A major curiously asked.

"To make a move on us. There's no way they are just going to sit here all day and wait for us to leave...

They know that we had set up explosives all over the bridges to trap them on the island, but why are they still so adamant in hiding?"

The majors turned to look at each other, but none of them knew how to reply to Xiaoyun's question.

"Maybe they have other ways to contact the outside world?" One of the majors suggested.

"Other way... You god damn right! Why didn't I think of that."

Xiaoyun immediately took out his map from Kate's backpack and located the harbor instantly.

"Plan number 3 is the one assigned to the harbor... Major Chen, call Lieutenant Colonel Ming for me."

"Yes, sir."

As a major went through with the phone call, Xiaoyun began to examine the map much more carefully.

"No wonder why they don't care about the blockade. Now, this should at least go to the negotiating table..."

Xiaoyun thought to himself as his face grew increasingly worried, especially after looking over at the combat medics, who couldn't find any solutions to wake those soldiers up.

"Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Ming." A major said as he handed the phone over.

"Lieutenant Colonel Ming, do you see any boats at the harbor?"

"Yes, but all of them are off the shore... Like almost half a mile away in the ocean... "

Hearing the Lieutenant Colonel Ming's answer, Xiaoyun froze for a second. But he quickly came up with an idea.

"Go get the artillery over from the bridge. I want you to position them at the harbor and aim them at those boats off the shore."

"Yes, sir."

As Xiaoyun hung up the phone call, he turned his attention over to two majors who had already finished their assigned area.

"Is the entire island cleared yet?" Xiaoyun asked as he looked down at the map.

"Um... Everything is cleared except the cargo containers stationed at the ports... There are just so many of them to go through one by one." One of the major replied.

"All good... Major Qian, go tell the other Lieutenant Colonel to meet up at the hotel... Actually, tell them that we're meeting up at the harbor."

"Yes, sir."

As one of the major left with his soldiers to announce the news to the other armies, Xiaoyun ordered the other major to bus all the unconscious comrades back to the other side of the bridge.

With everything now set in motion, Xiaoyun carried Kate in his arms as he headed upstairs first rather than leaving for the harbor right away.

---

"I can't negotiate with terrorists. But the soldier's life... Their families are still waiting for me to bring them back home alive. I can't just abandon them like this."

Pressure began to build in Xiaoyun's head as he carried Kate into one of the hotel rooms.

"But they still have the upper advantage in negotiation if my only chip is a blockade on the island.

They probably just got fresh supplies that could last them for months... I can't just wait here for months."

After Xiaoyun put Kate down on the bed, he sat down next to her, shaking his leg a little as he felt another surge of pressure.

"Come on, Xiaoyun, think of an idea. There must be something I can do to get more chips on the table."

As Xiaoyun looked around the room aimlessly, his attention was suddenly caught when he saw Kate's face.

"Wait... What if I just use my ability on her?"

Xiaoyun sat in silence for a second as he considered the risk in his head, but he couldn't force himself to do it.

"If anything goes wrong... All of the girls will kill me over this... But what if there is no cure to this?"