Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 803: Rolling Blackouts

"Perhaps."

Xiaoyun didn’t elaborate any further as he calmly picked up a piece of vegetable off one of the plates.

"A shame Bingbing isn’t going to see her mother."

As Shuli spoke up from her silence, Xiaoyun could immediately feel the glaring stare from his wives.

"What? She’s a soldier at heart. Nobody is going to stop her from doing the things she wants to do."

"Mhm, how convenient of an excuse."

Leyan’s offhand comment rubbed him the wrong way, but he couldn’t really argue back at what appeared to be a snap-second decision in their eyes.

Wuli had just left with less than a day’s notice. She didn’t even get to say goodbye to Bingbing, let alone letting them know about it.

Despite all of this, the choice Xiaoyun made was deliberate. One that had been in the making months ago when he promoted her to General.

"There was no one else who had been to Luoping long enough and had the trust of the Commander to lead a whole Army Corps."

"Thank you, Houqin. Finally, someone in the house who appreciates me more than others."

"Hmph! I used to sit where you are. It feels nice at the beginning... Enjoy it while it lasts."

As Yuqi throws her own offhand comment, the dining table began to feel increasingly more and more awkward.

"Less talking and more eating. The food is going to get cold." Kate chimed in as she tried to tone down the conversation.

---

After dinner, Xiaoyun quickly drove Houqin back to her apartment.

When he came back home, he could feel the overwhelming stare from his wives, most of them still holding the same grudges from earlier.

"Hey..."

As he took a seat on the sofa, both Leyan and Yuqi moved away from him, leaving an open gap right in the middle.

"Oh, come on, are you guys still mad I sent Wuli out on a mission? Look how rude you guys are to Houqin."

Not a single one of them spoke up, only staring at him in silence as the TV played in the background.

"Leyan, you too. How could you be so rude when you should be the mature one? Being so petty for what?"

"You tell me. A father didn’t even let his wife say goodbye to her kid. Now he’s wondering why we’re mad at him."

"Okay, maybe I had fucked up a little... But Wuli did get to hug Bingbing in the morning, isn’t that enough?"

"Hmph!"

All of them rolled their eyes as soon as Leyan raised her point, turning over to the TV as the news anchor finally appeared for tonight.

"Good evening, it is currently October 12th, 8 PM. My name is Lin Fangwen, your news anchor for tonight.

Today’s first story is the new government plan to pause the Taishan nuclear facility. It comes long after the rolling blackout across multiple weeks in a row."

"Nami, you don’t have class today?" Yueyue suddenly asked.

"Not today. Don’t have classes on Wednesday. Only Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday." Nami answered.

"It is estimated that the nuclear power plant will be fully operational in 2024. As of today, there are zero nuclear facilities in Guangdong."

"How many nuclear facilities are there?" Anna curiously asked.

"Four, if I remember correctly. Seven, if we count three of them that had an ’abstract’ plan of being built," Yuqi instantly answered.

"In today’s news conference, the Department of Energy stated that Daya Bay and Ling Ao nuclear power plants will be reopened."

As the screen cuts to a man in his forties speaking to a bunch of journalists, he begins explaining the reasoning for it.

"From analysis done by the expert, the Taishan nuclear facility had been determined to be impossible to reopen within a reasonable time frame.

Meanwhile, Daya and Ling Ao’s power plants both use a mature, standardized PWR design that is much easier to reopen with the material we currently possess.

Rest assured, we are following the same standard as before the outbreak, making sure everything is done properly to have it reopened."

"Any questions? Yes, you, you may ask first... The one with the blue shirt in the front."

As a nearby guard handed the journalist the mic, his voice finally came out of the TV’s speaker.

"How long will it take for the two power plants to be reopened?" The journalist curiously asked.

"About a year from now. It could take a little longer, but we’re having the best experts restart from the shutdown... Next."

"Is there something else that’s going to resolve the rolling blackout for the past few weeks?" The second journalist asked.

"Besides the long-term nuclear power plant, we had also begun mass installation of both solar panels and wind turbines in our stockpile.

Currently, the rolling blackout should end by the end of the year. We’re using everything we can to produce more power... Next."

"Are coal power and natural gas considered? Why don’t we use those rather than using renewable energy?" The third journalist asked.

"All options are on the table. But I don’t need to be the person to tell you that most coal is imported here from Shannxi before the outbreak.

With regard to natural gas, we’re already tapping into pre-existing LNG terminals’ reserves, but once again, we do not produce a significant amount."

The man in his forties paused for a second, then continued.

"Just as a reminder, please conserve as much energy as possible. Turn off the lights and turn off electronics when not in use.

And please, use an electric or an induction stove. Every energy you save is energy going to the war effort..."

"Should we still be using a gas stove?" Anna asked as the news anchor reappeared on the TV screen.

"Not in a million years am I going to an electric or an induction stove." Leyan immediately answered, showing zero remorse.

"The next story of today, the stock market’s top five hundred indexes have recovered most of their losses in the past weeks.

Experts had stated the market correction was due. But it also comes as the first-ever licenses have been given to a private mutual fund."

"Yuqi, you did this?" Xiaoyun asked, looking a little surprised as he didn’t get any warnings from her.

"Of course not. Liuqian and Muxie were the ones who came up with it, and the treasury department is the one that approves it."

"Isn’t this just inflating a bubble?" Lily chimed in.

"It’s not a bubble. It’s called providing liquidity to growth assets that have a long-term demand regardless of the market conditions."

"You sound like a salesman right now." Yueyue jokingly pointed out, causing her face to blush redder and redder.

"S-Shut up."

"Nami, what classes are you taking at college right now?"

Yuqi suddenly asked as she looked over to Nami, who was now hiding her face behind a pillow from nearby.

"Discrete and Continuous Optimization, Principles of Database Systems, and Introduction to Parallel Computing."

"I got no clue what any of those means..." Kate murmured as she scratched her ear after hearing Nami’s answer.

"The police have put out a red notice for these ten fugitives. Please call the police if you see them."

As the TV screen appeared with photos, names, birthdates, and every possible information attached, Yuqi couldn’t help but notice something.

"Of course, it’s always men. Never once do I see the most wanted fugitive be a woman on the screen."

"You want me to call them and put you on there?" Xiaoyun answered sarcastically, feeling offended by her comment.

"Hmph!"

"Hey, let’s not fight over this like children. No one in this family is ever going to be on that list."

"Hmph!"

"Shouldn’t have started it..." Shuli chuckled as she watched Leyan’s struggle to de-escalate the tension in the living room.

It had only enboldened the two against each other. One side felt betrayed by a united front, while the other still felt offended.

"Just you wait, a week from now, and you’ll be regretting saying that out loud," Xiaoyun murmured.

"Yeah, right."

Despite Yuqi’s tough stance, Yueyue kept poke her on the elbow as if she was trying to convey a hidden message.

"Yueyue, what are you poking me?"

A single stare from Xiaoyun instantly made Yueyue keep her mouth shut, ending the possibility of leaking it early.

"Nothing! Ahem, Mom’s right. Let’s not be childish here—"

"Xiaoyun... I’m hungry."

As Tianci suddenly crawled onto his lap with two red pupils in her eyes, everyone in the living room immediately knew what was happening.

"I’m sleeping early today—"

"Come on, Yuqi, are you really going to sleep early in your room alone?" Leyan questioned as she forcefully dragged her back.

Seeing Tianci already pull Xiaoyun’s pants down to the floor with a massive bulge, she hesitated for a second before sitting down.

"Tianci, can you wait a second? I haven’t even taken a shower today—Mhm..."

A quiet groan leaked out of Xiaoyun’s mouth as a warm, fleshy feeling surrounded his crotch.