Forty-two

The Apocalypse—Bureaucratic Obsession

When it comes to leadership, it's not that there have never been good leaders; it's just that as times have changed, those who truly get things done have become ever rarer. If you don't take bribes or seize opportunities, you can't get promoted. The reason is simple: if you don't take bribes, you have no money for gifts; if you don't seize opportunities for personal gain, your superiors won't see you as one of their own and will fear that if you rise, you might turn on them. Nowadays, leaders only care about achieving results that can earn them promotions. Who cares if the police arrest the wrong people, if prosecutors and judges make mistakes, if construction quality meets standards, or if the projects brought in are problematic?

Back in the day, Yuchi Ankang's father was ruined because he insisted on being an honest official and blocked someone's path. The result was the destruction of his family. For a time, Yuchi Ankang wanted nothing more than to bring down those who had stepped on his family to climb higher. But... suing officials has never been easy, no matter when.

With the experience of building the first three mechas, the process became much smoother. What used to take two months per unit was now compressed to two and a half units per month. During this time, the phone in the living quarters rang constantly. No one answered when they saw who was calling; they simply turned back to their tasks, tending carefully to the vegetables sprouting from the underground soil.

When it comes to playing at strategy, ordinary people are no match for the leaders. In the Aerospace City Base, only high-ranking officials remained. They did not go themselves but sent people to incite the surviving civilians to head for the factory in the mountain caves, promising safety and food inside. At the end of the world, these are the only two things people care about for survival—truth or lie, they had to try. The journey from the Aerospace City Base to the factory was fraught with not only zombies but also mutated animals. Worse yet, these animals sometimes joined forces with the zombies. Few reached the factory gates, and even then, entry was nearly impossible.

It was said that the factory gate could not be blasted open even with five tons of explosives. With nothing but human strength, how could anyone hope to force it? Innocent lives were used as cannon fodder by the leaders. The people inside the factory remained silent; no one pleaded to let others in. They knew that the environment inside was almost entirely sealed off. If even one infiltrator got in, the entire factory would be doomed. They could not risk everyone’s lives for a moment’s compassion. Every heart was heavy, and they worked desperately, seething with hatred, wishing they could cut the “leaders” into a thousand pieces.

Zhou Zhi, hardened by witnessing life and death, clenched his fists in fury. He saw the henchmen among the crowd of civilians, constantly stirring up the desperate who could not see the truth of the situation. Zhou Zhi could not bring himself to open the door, but seeing innocents thrown into danger for those corrupt officials only stoked his anger further.

Seeing Zhou Zhi's expression, Zhu Anfu shook his head. In truth, he was a selfish man, but not cold-blooded. Otherwise, he could have simply expelled everyone from the factory. The reason they did not open the gate was simple: besides the officials’ lackeys, there were also those who had failed the previous interviews and had been abandoned, now mixing among the crowd to incite unrest. As for the ignorant, Zhu Anfu had even less desire to help them. Even for survival, one must not lose all reason. Shaking his head, Zhu Anfu knew that no matter how furious Zhou Zhi became, he would never let them in.

Indeed, Zhou Zhi did not allow anyone in. He turned away to rest, indifferent to the outsiders' fate. The leaders above cared nothing; those below, even if moved by pity, dared not act. They had a vague sense that Zhou Zhi and his group were not ordinary people. The earlier interview process itself had felt strange, and afterward, the food they ate and the sudden improvement in their health hinted at something unusual. They could not tell if these changes were good or bad, but for now, they were clearly beneficial. Ever since learning about the zombies, they felt no fear; instead, they had an unshakable conviction that as long as they stuck with Zhou Zhi and the others, nothing would go wrong. As for pity, it had to be reserved for the right people. Since neither Zhou Tou nor Zhu Shuju, who had previously interviewed them, opened the gate, they understood that the people outside could not be accepted. In a world overrun by zombies, those who cannot be accepted are simply too dangerous.

Outside, the people lingered at the cave entrance for a long time. Some eventually mutated into zombies, scattering the rest in panic. Those inside breathed a sigh of relief, grateful they hadn’t let anyone in. After nearly half a month, the people outside couldn’t endure any longer and began to run back. There was no food there, but at least they had a place to sleep. The sun was merciless by day, and the nights were bone-chillingly cold—no normal person could endure it. As they left, some were incited to sabotage the military equipment outside. Watching their actions, the people inside the factory could only sneer—what fools! Who would leave crucial equipment out in the open?

The factory generated electricity from water, wind, and solar power. While everywhere else fell into darkness at night, the factory was fully powered around the clock. The visible equipment outside was just for show; the real energy-collecting devices were hidden in inconspicuous places, known only to a select few inside. Even Sun Suo only knew a handful of locations. At the time, Zhou Zhi had personally led the installation to keep a backup plan. Looking at it now, Zhou Zhi had indeed been farsighted.

“What do you want for dinner?” Yuchi Ankang ruffled Zhu Anfu’s hair. The mechas were now complete, and he guessed the two from Aerospace City were likely damaged to the same extent as V5 had been upon return. “How did today’s tests go?”

“The combat abilities of the two are on par with V5. Though both pilots are newbies and not fully proficient yet, the enhanced firepower of the mechas makes up for it. Zhou Zhi wants V5 to be upgraded,” Zhu Anfu said, showing the test data to Yuchi Ankang. “Kang, can we have fried chicken wings tonight? I haven’t had them in ages and I’m craving them.”

“All right, fried chicken wings it is.” Yuchi Ankang never refused Zhu Anfu’s requests. As for Zhou Zhi’s... “What does he take us for? Car modders? These are mechas, not cars! He thinks we can just upgrade them on a whim? If he wants it done, let him do it himself.” Yuchi Ankang rolled his eyes. It wasn’t that upgrades were impossible, but with the current level of technology and weapons, even if it was modified, it would be of little use—and might end up worse than before.

“That’s a bit of a double standard, isn’t it?” Zhou Zhi leaned against the wall. Jin She held a data chart, handing it to Yuchi Ankang before going off to inspect the three mechas.

“Get someone to repaint V5, and call it an upgrade,” Yuchi Ankang said after signing the chart and handing it back to Jin She. “What color do you want? I remember we have a can left of that paint that enhances solar absorption—want to try it?”

“That sounds great,” Zhou Zhi replied, immediately interested.

“Ever since the mutated animals appeared, the weather’s been odd. Snow in summer seems to be the new normal,” Jin She remarked out of nowhere. “Will we see less and less of the sun in the future?”

“As long as Earth’s orbit remains stable, the sun won’t just disappear. The real worry is if the planet’s orbit shifts.” If Earth no longer revolved around the sun, then... what would the future hold? Zhou Zhi felt lost when he thought of it.

“That’s a question Xiao Fu can answer,” Yuchi Ankang said calmly, glancing at the other two. Zhu Anfu nodded from the side. “According to historical records, during part of the apocalypse, Earth’s orbit did shift slightly, but not enough to be catastrophic—just a bit closer to the sun. That’s why future development focused so much on solar energy and its use.” In the lab, Zhu Anfu lectured on these facts, while at the Aerospace City Base, the leaders were holding a private meeting.

~~~

“How much food could such a large group have stockpiled? Could it be they haven’t come out because they’re already dead of starvation?” Official A began.

“I’ve always found their behavior bizarre. Think about it—the people who returned from the future with them were nowhere near as capable!” Official B put on an air of authority, his face wreathed in a kindly smile. He seemed the picture of benevolence, but to reach his current position, who knows how many families he’d ruined—Yuchi Ankang’s among them. Official B had probably forgotten all about that honest minor official.

“Those people, they’re all idiots. And those so-called experts—a bunch of fools! They went to the future and learned nothing? Pathetic! At the very least, they should’ve come back with advanced technology. If not for those idiots, would we now be relying on those stubborn weirdos?” Official C spoke with deep dissatisfaction toward the experts. His own son had gone to the future, but, disappointingly, had learned nothing and now lived off relief payments at home. Official C harbored a deep grudge against Wang Fei and Zhao Long. If it weren’t for higher-ups protecting them, he’d have gotten rid of both long ago. They didn’t even look after his son, but instead cozied up to two nobodies—how could they call themselves soldiers? His son nearly starved to death in the future. (Oh, Official, have you forgotten what it means to be a true soldier?)

No one responded to Official C’s tirade; instead, they changed the subject, discussing whether to go to the factory cave and, once there, who would take charge and how to deal with the troublemakers.

“How do we get in?” one of the leaders finally asked, and the room fell silent for a few moments.

“On our country’s own soil, they refuse to let us in—are they planning a rebellion?” Such a grave accusation would be no joke in peacetime, but now? Ordinary folks didn’t care about such things—only these bureaucratic obsessives still played at posturing, though some people, long oppressed, dared not resist and could only endure in silence.

“That’s right. If we decide to go, we’ll start by demanding entry. If they refuse, we’ll force our way in. The factory must be taken.” The group of civil officials discussed their battle plans as if they were nothing more than lines on paper.