"Y-You... I got the money from a patient who was thankful for curing them. This usation is fabricated, and I don''t know anything about a factory reopening.


    Miss Yueyue, is this how you use the innocent? Over a personal grudge after someone just pointed out the truth?"


    Zhangmei replied and quickly shifted from being nervous to confident in an instant.


    "You——"


    "Enough, I''ll investigate thister. Now we have a more urgent matter." Xiaoyun forced the two to be quiet again.


    "Everyone has now learned the town''s situation and what the surrounding is like. Does anyone have any suggestion on what we should do next?" Xiaoyun looked around the table for someone to raise their hand.


    The first one to raise their hand was a Major.


    "Introduce yourself to everyone and tell me your idea."


    "My name is Han Bang. I''m the 8th Regiment Major. I had been only in construction my whole life, but I did graduate from college."


    In the short pause, Yezi felt Han Bang looked familiar. Then he finally realized Han Bang was the same person who went on the trip with him to the building with the boss.


    "Boss, I think the best course of action for us to expand is to steamroll every faction underneath us. The——"


    "That''s enough." Xiaoyun paused it here as he felt the n was ridiculous just hearing the start.


    The other nine Majors felt ashamed of Han Bang''s idea as they reacted simrly to Xiaoyun.


    However, Yezi decided to step in.


    "Xiaoyun, let''s hear his idea before making any conclusion." Yezi signaled Han Bang to continue, but Han Bang looked back at Xiaoyun.


    With a nod from Xiaoyun, Han Bang continued.


    "The longer we wait, the more likely the other faction from the neighboring province will start consolidating. Since some provinces don''t have a military base in the first ce, they will have a considerable advantage in having no one to check their power.


    Of course, this also means they don''t have anyone to deal with the zombie hordes, but they are most likely in a small town in the first ce. So it wouldn''t affect their expansion much.


    If webined the mass exodus of people from the city to smaller towns, they would have the number ready. It would only be a matter of time before a sizeable civilian faction emerges independently, not from the military."


    Everyone in the room started to realize Han Bang''s words had some truth and was slowly starting to get convinced.


    "Although the army has a much stronger military than us, would they actually be unhappy to see us consolidate? If I were theirmander, I would love a strong neighbor to share the burden of dealing with the zombies."


    With that ending, everyone in the room shifted from disappointment to extremely impressed by Han Bang''s suggestions as they started pping.


    "Good job Han Bang. This is the most convincing point I have heard." Xiaoyun patted him on the shoulder.


    "Thank you, sir. This is all thanks to Mr.Yiming''s teaching."


    "Yiming... I wonder where is he..." Xiaoyun''s mind drifted slightly before quickly snapping back to reality.


    "Okay, anyone else has any idea?" Xiaoyun looked around the table again.


    Lingang raised his hand next, and after introducing himself, he jumped right into his idea.


    "I believe we should focus on the zombies first. We don''t gain anything from conquering other factions, considering their equipment will probably be worse than what we already have, and the people will take a long time to integrate fully into our society.


    Besides, why are we infighting? Why are we fighting our fellow countrymen when we should focus on our true enemy? The zombies are the real threat, not each other.


    Why are we repeating history? Are we really going to focus on each other rather than forming a united front?"


    The entire room fell into dead silence until Xiaoyun started pping, and everyone soon followed suit.


    "Good idea, although the view you mention is a bit too forced. But you aren''t wrong on the point." Xiaoyun pointed out the rushed urgency he could hear in Lingang''s voice.


    "Sorry, I didn''t have enough time to think it through more."


    "It''s fine... Anyone else?" Xiaoyun looked around the table again.


    This time, Yuqi was the one who raised her hand.


    "I disagree with Lingang''s idea. None of you had thought about what would happen next if the zombies were no longer here."


    "Isn''t zombies no longer near us a good thing?" Xiaoyun curiously asked the question in everyone''s mind.


    "Yes, but it also means the military ispletely free and unleashed. Who will stop the army from steamrolling every faction and rule over all of us?"


    When Yuqi finished speaking, Xiaoyun could feel the atmosphere suddenly colder.


    "We need the zombies to tie up the military, or else they will force us to do every single thing they ask us for like ves. Also, if we spent all our effort fighting the zombies, someone coulde in and snatch the fruit of our hard work when we are exhausted.


    Especially if the army wanted to im credit for it... Besides, if the military can''t clear the city, I sincerely doubt we can remove all the zombies ourselves. So, we are better off going with Han Bang''s n...


    Even if it takes a longer time to integrate those people, there is still more manpower that can join the fight or produce useful output. We shouldn''t care about what other factions think. They are too small to be relevantpared to our size.


    It''ll just be a drop of the bucket that I''m confident won''t cause any troublepared to attack zombies."


    With Yuqi ending her speech there, Xiaoyun started pping, and everyone followed suit again.


    "If no one has objection to this, I''ll go with this n?"


    Xiaoyun asked for a final verdict as he looked around the table onest time.


    With no objection, Xiaoyun went with Yuqi''s suggestion of using Han Bang''s n.


    ---


    As everyone left themand center after ironing out the n in detail, Xiaoyun stepped outside to the field, only to see all the soldiers standing in the field, patiently waiting formand.


    Xiaoyun quickly ran up to the stage as they looked relieved to see him.


    "Everyone, I have a new that some of you might like and some of you might dislike," Xiaoyun announced as he stood at the podium.


    "Sir, we''ll always follow you no matter what!" One of the devoted soldiers yelled out.


    "I''m happy to hear that... Well, everyone, I''m happy to announce that we are expanding to another ten regiments.


    And by the end of next month, we will begin unifying everyone under our banner! We''ll end the zombie apocalypse!


    Is everyone with me?" Xiaoyun yelled at the top of his lungs as he raised his fist.


    "Yes, sir!" All of them raised their fist in unison.


    "Everyone is dismissed. Come back next week to meet your new peers and prepare for more rigorous training.


    We''ll go by the end of the month." Xiaoyun lowered his hand to salute the soldiers.


    "Yes, sir!" The soldiers saluted back, then started leaving in an orderly fashion.


    "We''re finally doing it... I knew this was going toe one day." Wuli mumbled as she walked up from behind.


    "Doing what? Like attacking other settlements?" Xiaoyun turned around to look at Wuli.


    "Don''t call it that." Wuli disliked Xiaoyun''s term.


    "You know, I wanted to go with Lingang''s idea... I really wanted to avoid infight. He right that history always repeats itself..." Xiaoyun sighed as he looked up to the blue sky.


    "But reality just doesn''t let us avoid it... and I hate how that''s how it has to pan out," Xiaoyunmented as he looked back down at the n in his hand.


    "You have to think more about the positive side. We''ll be able to liberate those living in awful conditions and lift them out of poverty. And bring justice to the unfairly treated." Wuli gently pats Xiaoyun on the shoulder.


    "Not to mention, it might not even be a bloodshed. They might surrender after seeing us be determined to have them join."


    "I doubt it. Those medium size factions in those towns are all stubborn. That''s why our attempt to have them join failed in the first ce."


    "Actually, to be honest with you, Xiaoyun... I don''t even know where we are going to conquer. All the small factions have either joined us or left... No big faction is near us unless you go to different cities or towns."


    "Those are the exact ces we are going. We are going to go through every base in Guangzhou one by one until we need to resupply.


    Then, we will expand the entire operation into the Guangdong province until we are strong enough to fight the military and zombies." Xiaoyun exined the ironed-out n.


    "That''s going to take a long time..." Wuli raised her worries as she looked up in the sky.


    "I know, but time doesn''t wait," Xiaoyun thought back to hearing the news of the Northeast beingpletely reunified.


    A sense of urgency started to rise inside his mind and heart.


    "I can''t stop now. Everything is set in motion." Xiaoyun sighed.


    "I guess..." Wuli mumbled.


    As the cloud slowly blocked the sunlight, the two shifted their attention from the sky to the ground.


    "Let''s get ready." Xiaoyun looked towards Wuli.


    "Yeah," Wuli answered back.