Zombie Apocalypse: Creation-Chapter 533: Gas Shortage

"A month! You can't be serious. There's no way I'm staying here for a month. There has to be a way for me to get back to Guangzhou."

"You could take the bus that comes here every day..." The employee answered calmly, ignoring the veterinarian's angry tone.

"All my equipment is in the van. There's no way for me to carry all of these into a bus."

As Xiaoyun looked at the back of the minivan, he saw various tools and boxes taking up half of the space.

"I'm afraid I can't help you. Rules are the rules."

Accepting the cash being handed back from the employee, the veterinarian couldn't help but hit the steering wheel out of pure anger.

"Beep!——Fuck! Sorry!"

The veterinarian apologized, but it was far too late. The gas station employee walked off with his face filled with irritation.

"Hmph! Sucks to suck."

As Xiaoyun watched the veterinarian sit in despair, he felt bad for him. Watching him in silence was just something he couldn't do.

"Let me try to get some gas instead. Maybe I can convince them."

After hopping out of the car, Xiaoyun headed straight inside the convenience store before encountering the gas station employee sitting on a chair.

His face was filled with boredom, and his eyes were laser-focused on his phone, seemingly reading some sort of novel.

"Welcome. If you're here to ask about fueling up that van, I'm afraid I can't give you any, even if you're a soldier, "

The gas station employee stated as he looked over to Xiaoyun with a glimpse, not letting him get a chance to talk at all.

"I'm not here to ask about the fuel... I'm here just to buy a few things." Xiaoyun replied.

"Okay. Enjoy yourself."

As the employee went back to his phone, Xiaoyun started walking down the different aisles to examine the store itself.

Every shelf was empty, with only a few snacks covered in dust at the back, seemingly unchanged in its position since the outbreak.

The only thing that wasn't covered in dust was the canned goods section right behind the gas station employee, with an actual price tag next to it.

"10 NRC... Can I get one canned Fried dace with salted black beans?"

"That price is wrong. It's actually 15 NRC. I forgot to update it this morning, " The employee said as he finally put his phone down.

"That's fine... Here."

After the short transaction, the employee returned to his phone as Xiaoyun walked out of the store with the canned dace.

The moment he stepped foot outside, the cold breeze hit him right in the face as the sun began to set on the horizon.

"No gas?" The veterinarian asked out loud.

Seeing Xiaoyun nodding his head slightly as he began to walk back, the veterinarian couldn't help but hit the horn again, causing a loud beep.

"Fuck! Of course, it has to be today that I can't head back home. It's always at the worst time possible."

"What's special about today?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as he hopped back into the minivan.

"It's May 20th. It's my anniversary with my wife today. I promised them that I was going to return home today."

As the veterinarian's face darkens, a surge of responsibility suddenly pops up in Xiaoyun's mind.

He couldn't just sit there and watch a man miss out like this. There has to be something that he could do to help.

"I'll be right back."

Exiting the car, Xiaoyun walked straight across the street before turning to a dark alleyway.

After making sure that no one was around, he quickly created a half-full jerry can out of thin air.

"Should be enough... Now, time to wait."

Just as he took out his phone to check the time, it suddenly started ringing. To his surprise, the phone somehow had a bar of reception.

"There's service in Qingyuan? Really?"

Xiaoyun didn't think too much about it as he turned the volume down before accepting the call.

"Hello——"

"Xiaoyun! Where the hell are you? Why did Lingang say you jumped out of your car!"

Wuli's voice instantly made his ear go deaf a little as he moved the phone further away, turning the volume even lower.

"I'm just testing something. Don't worry about it. I'll get back home before nighttime——"

"You know what time it is already? Where are you at? Why are you hiding it?"

The interruption made Xiaoyun check his phone again, only to see the time was already seven o'clock at night.

"I'm somewhere safe. I got service to receive your call for a reason. I'll get back before nine."

Before Wuli could say anything else, Xiaoyun quietly whispered his last message over on the phone.

"Love you."

With the phone back into his pocket, Xiaoyun picked up the half-full jerry can and walked out of the alleyway.

As he walked over toward the minivan, he could see the veterinarian's pale face staring at the steering wheel with no hope in his eyes.

"Hey, come out. I got gas."

"Gas? Gas!"

The veterinarian's face was instantly replaced with joy as he rushed out of the driver's seat before running over to Xiaoyun.

"Where did you get gas from!" The veterinarian excitedly asked.

"I just head over to the police station over that side of the street. I told them I needed to get back to Luoping, and they just gave me one."

"No shot. Just like that? Telling them you needed to get back?" The veterinarian questioned, his tone filled with doubt.

"Yep. Just like that... Oh, and I showed them my commander's badge."

"Now that makes more sense."

As the two of them walked over to the fuel door, Xiaoyun handed the Jerry can over to the veterinarian.

"Geez, this is a lot of gas." The veterinarian murmured, feeling the weight as he opened the gas cap.

"It's enough to get back to Luoping, right?" Xiaoyun asked.

"Definitely enough."

Popping the jerry can open, the veterinarian began pouring the gas straight into the minivan's fuel tank.

After two minutes, the jerry cans finally emptied out as the veterinarian closed up the minivan gas cap.

"Okay, we're definitely good. You are such a lifesaver, man," the veterinarian said with gratitude as he checked the gas gauge.

"Just doing my part to get back home."

---

Thirty minutes later...

"Just ten more minutes, and we're back to Guangzhou." The veterinarian murmured, flooring the gas as the road looked to be completely emptied.

"Finally."

As the car continued to travel forward, Xiaoyun suddenly noticed the veterinarian's face changing a little.

"What's wrong?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"How could I put this... Ahem, I don't even know your name even though we've met each other for half a day now."

"You're right. We probably should introduce ourselves."

As the two fell into an awkward silence, they waited for each other to introduce themselves first.

In the end, the veterinarian broke the silence.

"My name is Long Jianguo. I'm from Huizhou City, and my hometown is Shuikou Village. How about you?"

"My name is..."

Noticing Xiaoyun's hesitation, Jianguo quickly realized why Xiaoyun had not brought up this topic earlier.

"It's fine if you don't want to say it."

"No, it's fine. My name is Chen Songming. I'm from Guangzhou." Xiaoyun answered.

"Chen Songming? Why does it sound like I heard that name before?" Jianguo murmured as the car began to slow down.

"I mean, my name is pretty common."

"Yeah... Wait, isn't that the same name as Songjia's company owner two decades ago, right?" Jianguo questioned.

"Oh yeah. A few of my soldier's peers pointed that out to me a few weeks ago. That sure is some pure coincidence."

Xiaoyun calmly answered, his face barely flinching as he realized Jianguo's age perfectly matched the period Songming was in.

"You aren't wrong... Wait, wait, wait. Now I think about it, isn't our leader's wife the widow of Songming?"

"Our leader's wife? Which one?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"You know, the governor's main wife, Mrs.Leyan... I remember seeing her face on TV for a charity drive a few years back." Jianguo answered.

"That's nice of her to do..."

"Yeah. Good deeds for good karma. No wonder why she's rewarded with marrying the governor."

"You think it's a reward?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.

"Of course. Who doesn't want to be married to someone who's the most powerful in the world right now?"

As Xiaoyun nodded his head slightly in agreement, he started to regret giving Jianguo his backup name.

It was clear he had seemed to have opened a Parador's box, the endless gossip of a middle-aged man past his prime.

"Think about it. She's probably around my age, almost in their forties, and she gets to marry a man who's probably young enough to be her son."

"Mhm."

"And more importantly, she doesn't have to worry about competition at all since both of her daughters are also married to the governor."

"Mhm."

"Like, that's the perfect scenario. Even as she gets older, her daughters won't threaten her position at all just."

"Mhm."

"It's almost a perfect match, too. You know what I am talking about, right?"