[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-zombie-apocalypse-creation":3,"chapter-zombie-apocalypse-creation-zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-650":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Zombie Apocalypse: Creation",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1887490,2510,"Chapter 650 650: Lessons from the Past","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-650",650,"\u003Cp>\"That doesn't sound really safe,\" Xiaoyun murmured, his mind feeling like there was an alternative solution other than this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yeah, but we've got no other options... I can cut back the budget right now and let people starve out there.\" Yuqi answered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not like that.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then we just have to keep inflating this deficit bubble and hope we have enough productivity to make it into a solid base.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Yuqi turned back around to face her monitor again, she suddenly took out a different file from her desk drawer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I'm not stupid, okay? I know what you're thinking... This is the backup solution in case things go wrong.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the file she just handed in his hand, Xiaoyun was a little intrigued as everything seemed to be handwritten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the word 'classified' and 'top secret' on the front cover was written in Yuqi's handwriting rather than stamped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside, the file itself contained only his name and nothing else—just his name as the first page and the last page.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What kind of plan is this?\" Xiaoyun asked in complete confusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You're the backup plan. If people start withdrawing food and try to do a bank run, you're going to step in.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Me?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes, you. Xiaoyun, you're going to declare martial law, freeze bank withdrawals, and sit in a storage unit for the entire year, making food.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That... That doesn't really sound like a real plan.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Well, it's the worst-case scenario. Unless you want us to go back to the Stone Age and send everyone back to the farms.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I guess.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she yoinked the file back into her desk drawer, Xiaoyun couldn't help but feel a little deja vu when comparing her to Leyan's plan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What if I'm not here? Like what if I was gone somewhere else?\" Xiaoyun questioned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then we're going to find you and bring you back... You're trying to ask what I am going to do if you died, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiaoyun fell into silence once again, as it was exactly what he was exactly what he had been trying to ask without saying it directly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is what's going to happen...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuqi suddenly rolled her office chair to the left, taking a gun from her other desk drawer before pointing it right at her temple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is the answer. I don't want to live if you are dead... I hope you understand that risk every time you go out there.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Okay, okay. Let's put that away. I'll remember that every time I go out from now on.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hmph, you better.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Yuqi put the pistol back in her drawer, Xiaoyun turned his attention back to the reports on the desk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking out the fifth and final file, a smile finally appeared on his face as the report inside was some positive news.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The unemployment rate overall had finally dropped to 1 in 10, going all the way down from 16.6% to 10.2% unemployment average.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Manufacturing jobs had spiked massively, filling up the missing gap in the hard labor market that construction couldn't reach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You're on the unemployment report part?\" Yuqi suddenly asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yeah... Is there something wrong with the report?\" Xiaoyun asked, noticing the worried look on her face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There's nothing wrong with it. But——\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Deputy Governor, your report.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As an office worker came into the room with a file in hand, Yuqi signalled her to put it on her desk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the office worker gone, Yuqi pointed to the file with her finger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Have a little read of it yourself. You'll understand why I was so tired when you came back home in the morning.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Opening the file, he was a little stunned as inside was a list of labor violations in just the past three weeks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a number so big that it made his eyes widen. There were over one hundred thousand cases of labor violations found through labor investigations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet only around a thousand complaints had been directly filed by workers working in the newly founded factories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They seemed to be willing to work from 9 AM to 9 PM for a total of 12 hours with no weekend break.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was despite the labor law stating that employers cannot allow for more than 9 hours of work and a mandatory break day per week.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"God damn, do they not have any morals?\" Xiaoyun murmured, his mind already imagining the grilling work in the hot day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's what I thought, too... But the biggest issue now is that the workers themselves are more than happy to work these hours.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What? Why are they happy??\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiaoyun looked a little dumbfounded as his mind couldn't wrap around why workers would be willing to go through such awful conditions just to work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because having a job is better than being unemployed. A shit working condition is better than sleeping hungry every night.\" Yuqi explained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But this can't be sustainable... They are going to overproduce more than we can ever consume.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's exactly what I am worried about.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Yuqi stopped typing on the keyboard once again, she looked back at Xiaoyun, whose hand was still holding the file.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I have already limited some of them from getting the raw material to stop their overproduction and asked the labor department to begin press charges.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's good... But why do you still look so worried?\" Xiaoyun curiously asked, noticing the tense look on her face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because teacher Liuqian told me just to leave it be... He told me these violation is just the cost of running a business.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiaoyun fell into silence as he immediately understood what Liuqian meant by it. A flashback popped up in his head, one that went far, far back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yuqi... You want to hear a story?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What is it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A story from a long time ago. All the way back when you weren't even born yet,\" Xiaoyun murmured as a sense of nostalgia popped up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was once an old man who ran a very big company. It was so big that it was considered listed as Guangdong's key growth factor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the old man passed away, his young, adopted grandson named Songming was chosen to lead it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, everything seemed to be sailing smoothly... until an economic recession hit him right in the middle of a big corporate transition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything was in freefall, including this big company Songming ran. All of its rivals in key markets were going bankrupt left and right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, since Songming's company was so big, he was able to secure a loan big enough from the banks to get through the tough time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The company immediately experienced a massive resurgence as the economy began to recover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With no rivals to compete against them, they were able to regain all the market shares they had lost in various industries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, the company was going through a lot of changes, with the biggest change being how it became a publicly traded company.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Songming himself was no longer solely in charge. He was starting to hand the company off to his workers so he could enjoy his own life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unforunately for him, the company's investors were starting to demand higher profits. One that started to pressure him to return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many of his office workers suggested various kinds of ideas, but the one he chose was the simplest, yet the most effective.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was to lower wages for everyone. Cutting back all workers' pay while increasing the workload slightly for everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, the conditions in the company's factory were rapidly deteriorating to the point that workers were starting to complain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For those who complained, the managers were taught by the headquarters to fire them under any 'pretenses' they could come up with.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It soon led to a whole group of workers who got fed up with it. They began striking, only to be fired for 'breaking products' while working.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Did it violate labor law? Yes. Did the company pay any fines? Barely any—a minuscule amount of money in comparison to the company's net worth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing in the company changed. Songming passed off the work back to the workers below him as profit rose with the cuts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone just kept chugging along as growth continued... until a news journalist exposed the labor violations in the public spotlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The public's eyes were all looking towards them. Changes were desperately needed as the government was starting to reinforce antitrust laws.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Songming instantly caught the heat. He questioned the workers below him if the condition described in the news was really that bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was met with a show, a blame game back and forth, with no solution in sight other than restoring the budget cuts as a band-aid fix.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was something wrong, something terribly wrong that rooted deep inside the company, even further back when the old man owned the company.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With no other choice, he decided to go out of his way, leaving his comfortable office to have a look for himself in the factories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Songming was off to work there for a week. Just one week for him to come up with some small improvement that would satisfy the workers and the stockholders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, what he experienced next changed him forever. It scarred him for life, fundamentally changed how he conducted business.\u003C\u002Fp>",1549,"2026-06-10T06:59:53.365Z",1,"novelbin.me","48b6d76141202b9f0fd46b020da9cf47a5b1650e56ff6f4012bfbbd773a12e1b","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-685","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-649",829,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fzombie-apocalypse-creation-cover.jpg"]