[BL] NEET life in the Apocalypse

Chapter 9—Finding the workforce

by Bocchan13

Song Yu sneezed as he got off the plane. He didn’t know that in a certain city, a man was on a wild goose chase looking for him. A country in the summer was supposed to be slightly colder than B city, but the overwhelming heat made him sweat instantly. He immediately got in a taxi and went to the dealership. Song Yu was wearing a graphic tee with ripped jeans and white sneakers, so although he was in casual wear, he stood out amongst the sellers in their stiff suits. The sellers were sweating in the shop, even though the AC was on. The intense heat was remarkable this year.

Song Yu looked around the store; ignoring the fancy Lamborghini’s and looked at the jeeps. The jeeps weren’t up to par as well. He wanted something with endurance.

“May I help you customer?”

“Yes, if you can I would like to know if your distributor has anything…military grade.”

“M-military grade?”

“Yes.”

“Um, sir. Military grade is only under the jurisdiction of the government.” Song Yu sighed.

“Take me to your department manager.”

Song Yu spoke with the manager and made an appointment with the head honcho of the military base the next day. As long as you threw money, you didn’t need to go through proper channels. After that discussion, Song Yu had to stay in the city for a bit before heading to the villa.

He inspected the internet for the best company to build the wall. He chose a fairly good reviewed manufacturing company that also did installation. Perfect. Getting the materials would be fairly easy since Song Yu knew which materials worked best against the zombies. The zombies were extremely strong, and when they also started to evolve, it got harder to kill them. But one thing that zombies couldn’t plough through was rubber.

Rubber was soft and pliable, bendable but also thick and hard to go through. He remembered the rubber shortage, and how in one year there was a zombie siege, the zombies were like ants trying to bite humans. It was hard to chew through. Using rubber ingrained with the steelwork inside the cement was something one of the people in Paradise base made up. And after building that wall, it withstood over 15 years of zombie sieges.

The only thing he had to make sure of was the rubber not expanding in the walls. So he talked with the developers and they came up with a crafty solution. He talked with the developers for the entire day and didn’t even have time to sleep before heading to the military base.

The military in A country was known for its weaponry and not its vehicles. But staring at the monstrous sized jeep with steel bars and anti-wear wheels made Song Yu happy he decided on this place. He did not have a good memory, so he jotted down how to maintain the vehicle, what to look out for and how much mileage it could go for.

All in all, all aspects were up to his standards. He purchased the car on the spot and bought another roadside vehicle. After only three days in A country, Song Yu used almost half of his money.

But with the vehicle out of the way, and the fence being talked about, the heavier things were out of the way. Before leaving the city, he talked with the developers once again and gave them the acreage of the land he wanted closed off. The rush order as well as the workforce spanning 100 people took a sizeable amount of money.

He also (under the table) bought several guns and weapons ranging in rifles and handguns, to a few smoke bombs and hundreds of thousands of ammo. Although he was closing himself off from the world, that didn’t mean he shouldn’t have the means to defend yourself. He was tempted to buy a machine gun, but thought against it, since the noise was too loud.

He also bought a steel and carbon bow and arrow with extra arrow tips and a sharpening rock. By the end of his trip with the military advisor, he looked as if he himself was going to war.

“Why do you need all of this anyways? Are you forting down for a zombie apocalypse?” The head honcho guffawed when he saw Song Yu’s scrawny arms holding the large bow. Song Yu smiled cheekily and responded with fanfare.

“Of course! You can never be too careful!”

Song Yu did not have much room in his space, so he had people transfer the goods to his villa. The people looking at his address could only cry. It was hours away from civilization. A few hundred bucks shut them up. Song Yu travelled from city to city, buying various things. He went to buy extremely large solar panels that he would use on his roof and on the prairie and decided to buy refrigerators and freezers, asking the seller how to maintain them.

Once understanding, Song Yu bought a PC and downloaded many tutorials, maps, and maintenance manuals. Even though he could just pop the broken tool in his space, he had to really understand the mechanics that went into making, using and producing the product. Call it curiosity.

One week after coming to A country, was when Song Yu decided to visit the villa. He took the off-road vehicle and drove the 8 hours into the deep mountains and forests. It was a straightforward ride for 3 hours, but when you got into the forests, the road was not properly maintained. It took a long time for even Song Yu to get to the villa.

Finally, he broke through to a small clearing. The villa was extremely large. It had three stories, built in the previous dynasty, then revamped over time. Some of the existing architecture from decades past still remained. The new additions had more a more western style with a large porch overlooking the lake in the back, and several columns.

Song Yu huffed in sadness. He needed to reinforce the house as well. Going inside, the entire villa was awash with white cloths over the furniture. He nimbly took everything off and walked around, taking inventory. Several rooms could be converted into a small greenhouse for shaded plants like bean sprouts and mushrooms, and the basement would be for the meats and storage. One can be made into his den and other recreational activities.

Song Yu, after a week of running around, slumped on the sofa and took a long nap. The next day, Song Yu set up camera’s all over the forest. In the trees, in the dirt and next to the road. They were cheap but strong, and only needed changing every two years. The feed would go back to his PC which he bought alongside the laptop. The work took all day and by the time night fell, Song Yu was panting, sweaty, and ready to drown himself in the pool.

There was a pool, a hot tub and a large bath in the main bedroom, so the cool down was satisfactory. He dived into the pool with all of his clothes and floated whilst looking at the sun going down. He sighed as the exhaustion overflowed. There was still so much to do with so little time. 3 months had turned into 2, and the list he had had not finished even a quarter. When the sun finally set, he got out and headed to his bedroom.

The bed was extremely large with four posts and white canopies cascading down them. He took off his clothes and threw then in a dirty heap on the floor. This reminded him that he needed to buy either a washing machine or a basin for washing clothes.

He went into a fitful sleep, the dark circles under his eyes dissipating only for a short period. In his dreams he was 34 and working for Paradise Base. It had just reached the 11th year of the apocalypse, and he was watching as the watch tower was being made. He had his chin resting on his hand as he watched how the construction workers were busy. He stared at those bulging muscles and couldn’t help but admire it. He looked at his own physique and couldn’t help but sigh.

“What are you looking at with so much enthusiasm?”

Song Yu turned to see someone with a blurred face, but his smiling mouth was in high definition. He tried to rub his eyes, but he couldn’t and just laughed.

“I’m thinking that when this base is truly finished, I can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.” The man laughed and slapped his back, causing Song Yu to cough.

‘Of course! No one should be getting a rest more than you. I heard that some representatives of C Base want to come and ask you to purify their water source. I heard they’re willing to pay three years’ worth of grains.”

“Yeah, I heard that too. I’m willing to help them out though. They didn’t ask for repayment when the zombie hoard came through our area and we fled to their base. It should be reciprocal.”

“Song Yu, you are just too good. We need that grain, though and they are willing to pay it. It’s a win-win situation.”

“I know, but kindness is something I find is more needed than most now.” Song Yu sounded wistful as he recalled those times of laughter. He looked down at the construction zone once again. The faces of these men and women looked dead. Like robots moving, constantly in a state of nothingness. The only thing was wariness.

Song Yu felt someone push him, he jolted as he tried grasping for leverage, but it was as if he was on a cliff. His eyes widened as he stared into the jaws of the construction workers who turned into zombies. He felt pain as he landed, and vicious hands reached at him, clinging to his skin, their ugly black nails piercing into his flesh. He looked up to see the man with the smiling mouth as the fog disappeared and his face resurfaced.

Ye Zhou.

Song Yu cried out bitterly as he jolted awake. His heart was beating crazily in his body and sweat poured over his eyes, stinging them. He clutched his skin and felt the smoothness of them; he curled up in the fetal position as he tried to control his breathing. Looking up, he saw that in his sleep he had made an aura blade. It had slashed the wall in front of him, gouging it to see the insides.

He wiped the sweat off his brow and turned on the AC. The moon was still high in the sky, but he kept his eyes wide open, waiting for morning to come. He recalled that time so vividly.

After purifying their water source, two years later that C Base would crumble. The survivors scattered and some came to Paradise Base. Song Yu was out of commission for some time, overusing his space ability and getting into coma’s that could last a week. When he woke up, he heard that C Base fell. But he didn’t know that not only did Paradise Base not let the survivors in, they made a sport of them, making them fight to the death. The only survivor was a stocky 30 year old man who was placed in the lower echelons of the patrol/scouting group and died only a few days later.