Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 802: A Separate Army Corp

The next day...

As Xiaoyun arrived at the training field with Houqin, there were well over 40,000 soldiers in front of him.

It wasn’t exactly a full Army Corps, as the other 60,000 soldiers were still over in Zhongshan finishing up the last few bits of zombies. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Before him were female soldiers. Every female soldier in the army who was in active combat was consolidated into the 4th Army Corps.

Ningjing and Li Qinge were both standing right behind Wuli, whose shoulder pad showed a new General badge.

"Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Commander Chen."

Wuli quickly saluted Xiaoyun, followed by the three other high-ranking officers standing by in silence.

"There will be three more Colonels added to this army in the future... All three colonels currently in Zhongshan will be assigned to the new 5th Army Corps."

"Will the new Colonels come out of our current officers?" Wuli questioned, realizing Xiaoyun was replacing her units.

"There are no other female officers in the other Army Corps... None of your current officers has enough combat missions to be promoted to Colonel."

The excitement in Wuli’s face quickly died down, but what Xiaoyun said next reignited the hope.

"But if your officers do a good job of maintaining the safety in Shaoguan and make sure everything goes smoothly, I’ll consider it."

"We’ll defend the city till the last soldier!"

"That’s the spirit.. Ahem, Good afternoon, everyone."

"Good afternoon, Commander!"

As the female soldiers yelled back at Xiaoyun, he could feel the voices ringing in his head as they oddly vibrated in unison.

"You all will be on mostly defensive duty over in Shaoguan and Qingyuan. But please do let the defensive part lower your guard.

The zombie hordes still have a very high chance of migrating south, and the potential risk of direct conflict with men from Jiangxi remains high."

None of them showed any fear in their eyes, their hand tightly holding their rifles as the sun brightly shone onto them.

"Looks like everyone is ready to go... But I just want to remind you all of a few things before I send you all farewell."

For a second, Xiaoyun could see a few of them flinching a little, especially the one in the front whose uniform was slightly different from the back.

"When you sign up for the military, you volunteer to be treated as an equal soldier, regardless of your gender, being female or male."

The short pause didn’t make the soldiers show any emotions, as they all waited for him to continue in silence.

"Originally, I had been discussing with General Yiming and General Yezi on ending female enrollment into the military."

This time, Xiaoyun could see the soldier looking a little shocked. From the front all the way to the very back of the fresh recruits.

"This isn’t me saying female soldiers can’t fight. Quite the opposite, I had seen many of you fight even harder than men who only talk.

I just want to say, I’m proud of you all. I don’t regret a single bit of allowing women to serve in the military alongside men."

Proud looks were all over the soldier’s face, their chin angled higher as they looked happy with the praises from Xiaoyun.

"But, there is an issue. It’s really hard for humans to come together, even in the hardest times when there are differences that separate them.

Or in this case, being a woman. I don’t really need to be the one to say it when you all experienced it firsthand.

You all went from living in a mixed environment to separate camps. Then working to separate units working independently as a unit."

The soldiers’ faces began to change in different ways, no longer sharing the same proud look as before.

Some of them looked a little sad, while some looked a little upset in an angry way, as if it had triggered some bad memories.

"You all can notice, this entire Army Corps is composed of only female soldiers. This is intentional and not an accident."

None of them looked shocked this time, as they could clearly tell what direction Xiaoyun was trying to take with the 4th Army Corps.

"I hate to be putting pressure on you all, but I want to see you all flourish. I would hate it if this Army Corps were cancelled."

"Who and why would it be cancelled?" One of the soldiers asked out loud, getting tired of the constant bickering.

"Because you all cost more than the male soldier. I had received multiple reports complaining about unfair spending."

For the first time, Xiaoyun could see a hint of fear in the soldier’s face, almost as if they were scared that their job was going to be gone.

"Not to mention, the amount of opinion pieces in the newspaper talking about how all of you should be sitting at home and be housewives instead.

They want you to be a baby-making machine for society, putting you away from fighting zombies to fighting to repopulate the country.

It’s always sacrificing yourself for the greater good. That’s one phrase I had always heard... But I asked myself this."

"Is it fair to you all?"

Xiaoyun could feel the intense stare from every soldier. Not a single one of them spoke up, but they all wrote the response on their faces.

"I say, it’s not fair. You all signed up to fight. That’s braver than most men sitting in their comfy writing nonsense.

Unfortunately, that’s just my opinion. The societal expectation is still there. I want to ask you all right now, can you prove them wrong?"

"We can!" The soldiers yelled.

"I want to hear it one more time. Can you prove them wrong?"

"WE CAN!"

"Good! Wuli, this is probably the last time I’ll see you until next year. Please prove those haters wrong."

"I’ll do whatever it takes."

As Xiaoyun saluted the soldiers, they all saluted back in unison. After ending the speech, Xiaoyun gave one last hug to Wuli before they left.

Cars and trucks drove off into the distance as the full training field became empty, leaving only him and Houqin on the stage.

"Commander, are you really leaving for the capital?" Houqin questioned.

"I got no other choice... Houqin, I’m going to need you to put on your A games while I’m gone."

"Yes, sir."

Houqin responded with a fully serious face, despite Xiaoyun trying to lighten up the mood with his half-joking answer.

"One more month..."

---

At the dinner table...

As Xiaoyun brought Houqin to his house today, there was one noticeable person missing from the dining table.

"Where’s Wuli?" Shuli curiously asked.

"She’s going to Shaoguan for the next two to three months. Occasionally, she might come back for a day or two during her break."

"Shaoguan? Why there?" Nami curiously asked.

"Because she’s in the army and I don’t have anyone else. You all have to get used to having her missing for a while."

Xiaoyun could see Shuli’s face looking a little stressed as everyone else shifted their attention over to the food on the table.

"Houqin, when are you going on your next date with Xiaoyun?" Yuqi suddenly asked as she sat down with a bowl of rice.

"Ahem ahem, I-I haven’t finished planning it yet."

Houqin quickly patted herself on the chest, almost choking on the rice, as she didn’t expect being asked that kind of question.

"You’d better hurry or else it’s going to be until next year you’re having that date... Xiaoyun, you aren’t going to miss Tianci’s labor, right?"

"Of course not. The trip starts at the end of November, and Tianci’s labor is near the end of October."

As Xiaoyun gave a precise answer for once, Yuqi was a little surprised. Still, none of them commented on it.

"Tianci, you okay? You haven’t even touched the chopstick yet." Leyan asked, noticing her just sitting there the whole time.

"I-I’m fine."

Tianci quickly grabbed her chopstick, picking up a small piece of pork as she adjusted her seat away from the table.

"You aren’t hiding your belly anymore?" Yueyue asked, noticing the massive pregnant belly that forced Tianci to move back in the first place.

"I can’t... At least not when the baby is kicking me."

A hint of irritation could be seen as a vein popped on her forehead before it vanished as fast as it appeared.

"You don’t always have to hide the belly."

Xiaoyun murmured as he helped her pick up another piece of pork belly after she dropped one onto the table.

"It’s too immobile..."

"Kate, Anna, you two aren’t regretting it yet?"

Yuqi jokingly asked as she looked over to the two of them, who had been staring at Tianci’s belly.

"Of course not." Anna instantly responded, not scared in the slightest, as she continued eating as usual.

"Maybe..."

Fear could be seen on Kate’s face as she watched Tianci struggling to do anything with the massive belly in front of her.

"Hey, Honey, was Wuli leaving the reason why you kicked us out of the bedroom last night?"