In the security room.
"Yezi, anything new today?" Xiaoyun asked as he took a seat next to him.
"Well, Lingang got the list ready. Here it is." Yezi replied as he handed a piece of paper over.
After reading halfway through the paper, Xiaoyun was stunned by the sheer number included in the list.
Most of the items were pretty reasonable, ranging from shampoo to bigger things like microwaves.
But some of them were the definition of luxury, from makeup to lipsticks to even condoms and phones.
"Anything else? Is that all?" Xiaoyun asked, skimmed through most of the items before flipping to the back.
"No, that's it... But I have been thinking about something that we need to do right now."
"What is it?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"I am thinking of forming a militia or at least giving people some basic firearm training and melee combat to fight off zombies.
We need to be prepared when the zombies arrive at our doorstep sooner or later, or else it might be too late." Yezi explained.
"Do you have anyone in mind to be the instructor?"
"Well, we got three former soldiers at the town already... As much as I despise them, I think it will be better for them to teach rather than me."
Seeing Yezi willing to put aside the grudges towards the soldier, Xiaoyun was a little surprised.
"Let me call them right now."
After taking out his phone, Xiaoyun dialed Gantian's number several times before it finally went through.
"Gantian, can you come over? Bring Jixi and Yiming with you."
"Okay."
The two waited for a few minutes before someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
With the door pushed open, the three were finally inside the security room, standing before Xiaoyun in their soldier uniform.
"Major Yiming, is your leg feeling better?"
Xiaoyun signals him to take a seat, but Yiming doesn't take it. Instead, he chooses to stand still next to Gantian and Jixi.
"It's much better now. Thank you for asking... Can I ask what brought us here today?" Yiming asked directly.
"I want to hire you guys to train people to be militias to defend the town. Can you guys do that?"
"Of course, but the equipment needed——"
"Just make a list, and I'll fulfill it. Here's a pen and paper."
After Yiming accepted the paper and pen, Xiaoyun gave them time to write on the other table.
But just as Yiming finished writing the paper, the door to the security room was busted open.
"Yezi and Xiaoyun, this massive food stamp inflation is way out of control. Do you know how many food stamps I got today?
Over two hundred less than a day when only twenty people are working. I need you to lower it!"
Yuqi pointed out as she angrily slammed a box full of food stamps onto the table.
"Woah, calm down. There's no need to be mad. Yezi and I had been working on it." Xiaoyun replied, signaling the three soldiers to stay outside for now.
"Yeah? Let me see the solution then. I'm not leaving today if I don't see one."
As the three soldiers headed outside with their pen and paper, Yezi handed her a detailed plan that he and Xiaoyun had been writing for the past few days.
After reading it for a bit, Yuqi's anger slowly subdued. But her face was still nowhere near happy.
"This luxury thing isn't going to work long term. You're going to have way too much headache from this.
And the whole rent idea is practically useless since there are not even any houses built yet." Yuqi pointed out.
"Don't worry about the headache. It has been getting better the more I use it... And for the houses, we're going to build it right after the wall is finished."
Despite Xiaoyun's reassurance, Yuqi's face still looked a little doubtful.
"But we're going to run out of inventory within a mouth at this pace... Even with the whole luxury idea, it's nowhere near meeting the demand even in the short term."
After a short consideration, both of them knew Yuqi was right.
"I don't know what to do then." Yezi shrugged, pushing all the responsibility over to Xiaoyun.
"Give me a second to think."
After waiting for almost five minutes straight, Xiaoyun finally came up with an idea.
"How about we lower the food price?" Xiaoyun suggested.
"What?"
Both Yezi and Yuqi looked bamboozled by Xiaoyun's suggestion. Lowering prices made no sense to them when they didn't have enough food to match the food stamps.
"Let me explain. If you have four food stamps, then you can buy two beef cans, right?"
The two nodded in agreement.
"Now, if we made it so that if you have food stamps, you can buy four beef cans. Do you think the beef cans and food stamps are worth the same amount?"
Yezi looked completely confused, but Yuqi immediately realized what Xiaoyun was trying to imply.
"Oh... That's so smart! How did you come up with that?" Yuqi curiously asked.
"Just taught in my business class. Weren't you an economic major——"
"Oh snap, I got to go! I'll change the price right now. See you tonight!"
As Yuqi ran out of the security room, Yezi still couldn't understand the logic behind lowering the price of food.
"Xiaoyun, can you explain it to me?" Yezi curiously asked.
"Um, think about it this way. Why would I spend my food stamp today if I can save up for the beef can to get cheaper in the future?
It's like manipulating the consumer to hold on to the money and just eat the beef cans they have for now." Xiaoyun explained.
"Oh! I get it. It's like me waiting for a sale to buy beer from the story." Yezi gave out his understanding.
"Exactly. Since they don't know how low it can go, some of them are going to hold on until it gets cheaper.
And all we have to do is drive the car back and forth even more to pretend we have even more food." Xiaoyun explained his plan in detail.
"You sound like an evil capitalist, you know that? Are you really just a university student?" Yezi asked, chills traveling down his spine after hearing Xiaoyun's plan.
"Of course I am. I even got my student ID." Xiaoyun smirked as he thought back to his time as Songming.
"Ahem, Mayor Xiaoyun?"
Yiming knocked on the door as the three soldiers finally came back after seeing Yuqi headed out.
"Oh hey, Yiming, you guys finished the list?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Yes, but we feel like it might be better to communicate directly what we need for this," Yiming replied as he handed the paper back.
"Sure, go for it."
After taking a seat, Yiming took a deep breath before started speaking.
"Everyone in the population should be able to shoot a gun when needed, and at least half of them should be full-time.
We need at least ten hours of training every day for them to be an effective soldier in combat.
And we also need all the ammo and guns listed on the paper, as well as enough protein and carbs to maintain our exercise routine," Yiming said out loud all at once.
The two sat in silence for a bit, reading the paper and processing what Yiming had just said.
"All of them are possible, except the ten-hour training and the half full-time. That is way too long and too many people.
I'm looking mostly towards a defensive militia if you understand what I mean." Xiaoyun explained.
"That's fine. We can adjust as well go." Yiming backed down, not making any demands.
"Yezi, you have any issue with it?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Nope. As long as you're providing all these. I have no issue."
"Great... Um, Yezi, do you have a record——"
"It's over here. You're looking for the record of everyone's past occupation, their current health, and their age, right?"
Yezi already had the stack of documents out of the drawer before Xiaoyun even finished talking.
"Perfect! Here, you can select as many people as you want for your militia, assuming they want to join it.
And for everyone in the town, I will make it mandatory training for them in the afternoon to go to 310 to train for at least one hour." Xiaoyun stated, signaling Yezi to hand the document over.
The two waited until the three finally finished reading the documents.
"So what do you think?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Well, we only have 26 people here. Seven of them are children or elderly. Eight of them are women.
Only 11 of them are men, and only six people are fit for service... Assuming we are drafting women as well," Yiming replied.
"Can I ask what the drafting standard is?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Between 18 to 35, doesn't have any disability or eyesight issue, and that's it."
"How about if we raise the age to 16 to 40?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Well, it will be 10 people instead, then," Yiming replied.
"Great. You can tell them 3 food stamps will be given for those full-time," Xiaoyun added.
"Okay, where can I find them?" Yiming curiously asked.
"Lingang!" Yezi yelled out loud.
"Yes, boss?" Lingang asked as he walked into the room.
"Go help Mr.Yiming find those people on the paper." Yezi directed.
"Yes, boss."
---
A week has passed since the militia setup.
The people were certainly happy with the drop in food prices, at least for the people who held onto the food stamps.
But for the people who already stocked up on the food, all they could do was suck it up and start saving up to wait for the next price drop before needing to buy any.
Meanwhile, Jingming and the construction crew were able to build the training field within two days.
The training field was split into two, with one set up near the front entrance and one at the back entrance, rather than the initial idea of having one at 310.
With everyone enrolled in the mandatory training, Yezi double-checked to make sure everyone showed up, including Xiaoyun and his family.
At first, everyone in the town complained about the mandatory training for the first five days, which consisted of running and swinging a blunt weapon on repeat.
But nobody was brave enough to stand up as the three soldiers kept reminding them of the zombies outside.
Or it could just be that Jixi and Gantian were holding the two M16s that Xiaoyun replicated specifically for them.
Everyone only stopped complaining when it finally got to gun training. But there were five pistols for people to take turns training how to shoot.
Yuqi and Leyan both jumped when they fired the gun, just like everyone else. But after a while, they got used to it.
Even teenagers like Lily participated in the training, with the only exceptions being the elderly over sixty and children under twelve years old.
Meanwhile, recruiting full-time militias was much easier than Xiaoyun expected. Eight people accepted Yiming's invitation when he only expected five.
More surprisingly for Xiaoyun was the fact that one of the people who accepted was Yueyue.
Despite Leyan's protest for Yueyue to quit, Xiaoyun was pressured by Yueyue to let her after she kept following him around for the entire day nonstop.
But just before the week ended, one interesting thing that someone asked Xiaoyun was from Yiming.
It was about the origin of guns and ammo.
Xiaoyun instantly kicked the can over to Yezi, who kicked the can back to Xiaoyun.
It went back and forth until the three soldiers gave up and realized the two were never going to give them the answer they wanted.
---
It has been another week since the training.
"Yezi, any news?" Xiaoyun asked as he walked inside the security room.
"Bad news, a horde might be coming toward our direction. It looks like at least around several hundred at the city outskirt." Yezi stated.
"W-wait, you serious?"
Xiaoyun was completely caught off guard. He had been going to the security room to escape from dealing with the girls and not to face new problems.
"Qingtian was checking last night and immediately turned around when he saw it on his binoculars," Yezi replied with a serious face.
"How much time do we have left?" Xiaoyun asked.
"He estimated around within two days or shorter."
Xiaoyun immediately took out his phone and dialed Yiming's number, which went through the first try.
"Hello mayor Xiaoyun."
"Yiming, can you come to the security room? It's an emergency."
After waiting for a few minutes, Yiming was here with his two assistants.
"Is a zombie attack coming?" Yiming asked first.
"How do you know that?" Yezi asked, looking a little surprised by Yiming's question.
"How much time do we have left?" Yiming ignored Yezi's question and asked again.
"We got two days or less, and it's about several hundred zombies," Yezi replied.
"How much is several hundred?" Yiming asked again, wanting an exact number.
"Qingtian couldn't count it either. But he knows it's less than five hundred. But more than one hundred.
They all are walking toward our main entrance. That's all he said." Yezi explained.
"That's enough time to prepare. I believe we can hold them off. I think I have a plan to deal with them," Yiming said confidently.
"Yiming, can I trust you?" Xiaoyun suddenly asks.
"I have nowhere to go, mayor Xiaoyun. I'm part of this town." Yiming replied as he saluted Xiaoyun.
"You don't need to call me Mayor Xiaoyun. Just call me Xiaoyun... You have my full support. Just tell us whatever you need."
Xiaoyun patted Yiming on the shoulder, giving him full permission to execute his plan without even asking what he had stored.
"Thank you, sir. We will go prepare right now."
With all three of them gone, Xiaoyun and Yezi were now alone in the room.
"This going to be a rough one..." Yezi murmured.
"Yeah... The first test for us. Let's hope Jingming's wall works." Xiaoyun sighed as he looked out the window.
---
Within thirty minutes, everyone was on the training field.
"You guys might be wondering why I call you guys to be here a few hours before the normal mandatory meeting.
Well, your training is about to be tested." Yiming stood at the front as everyone started chatting.
"Silence! This test is not just any test. You will be grouped based on your test score. Anyone causing disruption will face the consequences."
As Gantian and Jixi turned off the safety of their rifle, the entire crowd turned dead silent before turning.
"People with bonus training, please move up."
The eight militia moved up, standing before everyone.
"The four of you are in one group, and the other four are in one group. You two groups will be getting in two cars and delaying zombies before they get to the wall," Yiming directed.
"Yes, sir!" The militia yelled back.
"Everyone else will be defending on the wall. Speaking of the wall, Jingming walks forward. Is the wall finished?" Yiming asked.
"No, sir. It is almost finished. It still needs one more week." Jingming walked forward and responded.
The crowd started to chatter, their faces full of worries, as the rumor of zombies arriving had already spread like wildfire.
Yiming pulled out his gun and shot a blank in the air.
The sudden bang made the entire crowd fall quiet rather than panic as they were already used to it during training.
"Final warning. Anyone who talks one more time without permission will face the consequences," Gantian yelled.
"Are the two entrances completely covered?" Yiming asked Jingming again.
"The two entrances are completely covered. It's only the center that still has a little gap. But I think the zombies won't run into that...
At least not before we decided to clear the forest in front of the center walls." Jingming replied.
"Good. You can go back now."
As Jingming stepped back, Yiming pointed at seven people, ordering them to step forward.
The seven people stepped forward, their faces a little bit scared, but their bodies stood firm.
"I need you seven to follow Jixi to get the gas canister in the electric room and put it next to the wall."
The seven followed Jixi and left.
"Qijian, how many logs do you have in storage?" Yiming asked.
"We have almost a barn of it, sir," Qijian replied.
"Very well, Qijian, I need you to lead everyone else and bring the logs to the top of the wall. Gantian, you will go help assist him."
"Yes, sir!"
With everyone else leaving with Gantian and Qijian, the training field only had Xiaoyun and Yezi.
"What are you planning with those logs and gasoline? You aren't planning to burn the whole forest, aren't you?" Yezi curiously asked.
"I'm just preparing the worst-case scenario in case everything goes wrong. We have to consider every tool we have." Yiming explained.
"Couldn't the logs help the zombies get up after it rolled down to the moat?" Xiaoyun raises his concern.
"It's going to be only used after the walls are full of zombies... It wouldn't matter by that point.
Oh, and I almost forgot, I'm going to use your two cars to allow the two groups to delay the zombies."
"No problem." Xiaoyun and Yezi replied, handing the key over to Yiming.
"Now, one more thing I need to discuss with you two. There's still a back entrance to the town.
Although I will be using the two cars to drag it toward the main entrance, some might still go toward the back entrance.
I was thinking of positioning most of the troops in the front entrance, but someone still has to direct the back entrance battle——"
"I can do it, Xiaoyun. You stay with Yiming." Yezi replied first.
Xiaoyun nodded in agreement, as he knew the front entrance was the more important battle.
"Very well then. Three people with you should be enough. Call us if there's too much to handle."
"Will do."
---
After everything was in place, it was already almost six o'clock.
Everyone was back in the training field, awaiting Yiming's order as they stood still with their melee weapon in hand.
"Everything is prepared now, sir!" Gantian and Jixi both spoke out.
"Good. Now, everyone can get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day. Please report here tomorrow morning at eight."
As everybody started leaving, Xiaoyun joined the girls to head back home.
"You guys scared?" Xiaoyun asked.
"Not really," Yueyue replied, stretching her arms out with her militia uniform.
"As long as you are here, I'm never scared," Yuqi replied as she grabbed Xiaoyun's arm.
"Hey, you sneaky rat! That's not fair." Yueyue yelled as she grabbed Xiaoyun's other arm.
"Y-you guys aren't scared?" Nami asked, her face showing genuine fear.
"Don't worry, Mimi. Mom is going to protect you. And Lily, you too."
Leyan held onto Nami and Lily's hand firmly, not letting it go until they arrived back home.
---
Late at night, Xiaoyun was sitting in his office alone.
Typically, the three take turns sleeping with Xiaoyun to be fair to each other. But today, he wanted to sleep alone.
Xiaoyun tries to imagine a rifle in his hand as he lies down on the bed but simply gets a severe headache and is unable to continue.
"I have to do this. Come on, Xiaoyun. People's lives depend on this."
Xiaoyun tries again after the headache disappears, but the same thing happens again.
"Maybe I should just do a pistol."
Xiaoyun imagines a pistol, and it instantly appears in his hand. After two more, the headache started to set in again.
By the time the headache was gone, it was already past midnight as the clock pointed at three.
"Now the magazine," Xiaoyun murmured as he started imagining the rifle rounds.
After creating several magazines, Xiaoyun felt he had reached his limit. So he quickly assembled them before going back to the bed to sleep.
When Xiaoyun woke up, Leyan's hand was shaking his arm.
"Hm? What's wrong, Leyan?" Xiaoyun asked as he yawned out loud.
"Get up. It's almost seven thirty now. We need to go soon," Leyan replied.
"Oh snap! Give me three minutes."
Three minutes later...
When Xiaoyun walked downstairs with his backpack carrying several of the weapons, all of them were already sitting in the living room.
"Let go." The four of them got up and opened the door.
"Lily, you are going to stay home, okay? We will be back by tonight." Nami gently patted Lily's head before catching up to the rest of them.
"Okay... be safe!" Lily waved as she watched them disappear into the distance.