Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 797: Blind Justice

The entirety of September flew right by as the next few weeks were mostly uneventful. It was a stable time with things being done.

Every city was growing steadily. The stress from the sudden population increase was mostly resolved with smooth government coordination.

Businesses and manufacturing were booming in real time as demands for good spiked from the population increase as well.

Raw resources were being met as massive investments from the private sector were pouring in nonstop.

Everybody knew it was the next big thing—an underdeveloped sector, as every factory and every other sector needed it to make things.

Even the government was spending a large sum of its tax dollars on resource extraction to meet the increased purchases from factories.

Although there were some environmental concerns, they were put aside for now as some of the raw resources were critical to the army’s equipment.

Speaking of the military, Han Bang was making steady progress in the south. The troops were on the final stretch to clear the entirety of Zhongshan city.

Jiangmen, however, was a totally different story. Although the metropolitan area was cleared, the rural southern part remained uncleared.

There were just endless hills and forests, with road conditions going from smooth concrete to dirt roads filled with potholes.

Some of the roads had become so abandoned that nearby fallen trees and rockslides overtook them.

Every step of the way for logistics had become nearly impossible. It got to the point that the army was moving along with a whole construction team.

Han Bang even requested Xiaoyun, asking for permission to bypass all the villages and go straight to the populated towns instead.

But in the end, the idea was shut down.

The risk involved of even a single zombie migrating into an unprepared civilian was just too great for him to take.

In the east, it was a completely different story.

Rather than being bogged down by bad infrastructure, General Yezi took the deliberate choice to march everything on foot.

Everything was transported by wheelbarrows and a never-ending conga line of goods across the highway that connected each city.

From Zhaoqing to Yanfu to Maoming, he was creating a whole snake tunnel made of soldiers across each of the towns and cities.

Only when he reaches the actual metropolitan area does he stop and start backtracking all the small towns and villages in the rural area.

The risky approach alerted Xiaoyun, especially when Houqin raised the concern of how fast Yezi was burning out the soldiers in rotation.

But after seeing how Yezi had progressed all the way to the doorstep of Maoming city, he chose to put his trust in him in the end.

Outside of the two active military Corp, General Wuli and General Lingang had successfully reshuffled their troops into two different army groups.

By reshuffling, it was more of Wuli absorbing a third of Lingang’s 3rd Army Corps veteran soldiers to high-ranking positions at the 4th Army Corps.

Yiming’s 5th army corps was also blending into the army structure at record speed, as the soldiers already had prior experience.

There was a little controversy as time went on, however. It wasn’t exactly related to the army’s performance or anything like that.

An issue that Xiaoyun never expected to happen. One that started to grow out of hand as the media coverage became extensive.

He was soon forced to address it as protests that began to spark in both Shenzhen’s and Dongguan’s administrative offices.

---

"Justice now!"

"Put criminals into jail!"

"No justice! No peace!"

As Xiaoyun and Yuqi both looked out the windows, there were thousands, no, tens of thousands of protestors right outside the building.

The two of them happened to be right at the epicenter of the protest, in the middle of the administrative office in Shenzhen.

"Xiaoyun, you want to do something about it or not?" Yuqi questioned as she continued to watch the protestors outside.

"I... I don’t know."

The room fell into silence as Yuqi shut the window, closing the blinds as she turned around to look at Xiaoyun in the eyes.

"Come on, it’s not that hard a decision. Put those criminals in jail and all of them will happily disperse on their own."

"Put them into jail with what charges? I can’t send the investigator back over to Hunan to find every single soldier responsible for it.

There’s literally zero evidence. No concrete evidence of any of the crimes described in that newspaper."

"But everyone knows what happened... Xiaoyun, the longer you wait, the more betrayed the people feel."

"I know, I know..."

"Xiaoyun, you tell me. Do you think every soldier you recruited from Hunan was an innocent man who did nothing wrong?"

"Of course not."

"Then there you go. Start by launching an investigation into the matter and holding those who are accused accountable."

After a short moment, Xiaoyun let out a small sigh as he accepted his fate. There was no other way around it at this point.

"Fine. I’ll go talk to the protestor myself."

The moment he stepped out of the room, hundreds of civil servants were standing before him, seemingly waiting for an answer.

"Governor, what are we going to do?" The mayor of Shenzhen asked, her face with a hint of nervousness.

"I’ll deal with it."

All of them watched in silence as he headed over to the elevator, taking it down before he arrived at the main lobby.

"Commander!"

As Lingang saluted Xiaoyun, hundreds of soldiers were standing by. All of their rifles were fully loaded, waiting for an order to shut things down.

In the distance were hundreds of thousands of protesters, all standing there in front of the metal barricade.

It was people from all walks of life, some spoke with a Hunanese accent, while some spoke with a Cantonese accent.

But all hold signs demanding justice. Some even showed pictures of what seemed to be victims cut out from the newspaper.

"Commander Xiaoyun, what do you need us to do?"

"Stand back and tell the soldiers to lower their rifles... I’ll personally speak to the protestors myself."

"Sir... That’s very risky."

"I know what I’m doing."

Lingang didn’t speak up any further, following him out to the front of the building before ordering the soldiers to take a step back.

"Everyone! Please, calm down for a second!"

As soon as Xiaoyun’s firm voice spoke out from the loudspeaker, everyone in the crowd fell into silence.

"I’m not going to bullshit you with any flowery language. Effective immediately, there will be an investigation launched into those affected."

Xiaoyun paused for a bit as the crowds all stared at him in silence, waiting for him to continue.

"There are undoubtedly criminal actions by some of the soldiers in the 5th Army Corps. I didn’t expect this initially.

But every soldier who has committed a crime will not be let go. Rest assured, the maximum penalty will be applied to the soldiers who abuse their power.

There will be no exception. I repeat. There will be no exception. Every case will be prosecuted and thoroughly investigated.

As a part of this investigation, I’ll also set up a special task force to deal with those who have quit being soldiers as well. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Please, put your trust in the government. Give us time, and justice will be carried out for all who are affected."

"Governor, can you swear on it?" One of the female protesters yelled out loud.

"I swear on my life, I will be impartial to all soldiers affected by this. I will not shield anyone who’s caught in such disgraceful acts."

The crowds of protestors stared at Xiaoyun in silence, not moving in the slightest, as if they didn’t buy his argument.

"Look, I’m married and have kids of my own. I’ll be disgusted and want justice as well if someone does this to my family.

I know what I’m doing right now is all just words. But you all can hold me accountable as the public.

Give me a week. No, two days. All of those who are accused will be put on hold, and an investigation will be conducted immediately."

"They already destroyed all of the evidence! How could we get justice for what they had done!" One of the protestors yelled.

"I... Due to such unforeseen circumstances, I’ll tell the judges to include outside evidence and weigh accounts from witnesses.

Rest assured, those who are criminals will face justice. I cannot emphasize this enough: We will not leave a single stone unturned."

This time, the crowds of protesters finally seem to buy Xiaoyun’s promises. But still, they weren’t willing to disperse yet.

"I know this sounds crazy. But my girlfriend, Houqin. She’s currently the head of the logistics department."

Everyone watched Xiaoyun in silence as they couldn’t tell what Xiaoyun was trying to convey with his story.

"Her parent came from Hunan, just like you all. Stuck in Wuhan until the army came to rescue them from the wasteland."