My Perfect Apocalyptic Life

“Those kinds of people have appeared again. Where do these self-proclaimed ‘Chosen Ones’ come from, and what exactly is this ‘Master’ they keep talking about?!”

In the safe zone of Taoxian, heqing City, General Commissioner Liu Song sat before his desk, feeling inexplicably agitated.

He had just received another report stating that the soldiers and the bus sent to the School of Architecture had been completely wiped out.

Among them, Zhao Tingyu, the architect and dean of the School of Architecture and a key target for rescue, was confirmed dead. Vice Dean Wen Yuan was missing, while only a few other teachers were successfully escorted into the safe zone.

This wasn’t the first major attack.

Such incidents have been happening frequently within the safe zone lately.

Suddenly, patrolling soldiers would go missing, or newly established secure perimeter lines would inexplicably break, allowing countless zombies to flood in.

Even within the central area of the safe zone, several zombies would mysteriously appear.

Though they hadn’t received any concrete intelligence, according to instructions from the self-rescue committee of Shengfeng City, the provincial capital of Nanjiang Province, they had successfully captured a hostile individual who revealed something about a so-called ‘Master.’

According to him, this zombie crisis was a test brought to humanity by the Master. Only those who pass the test or are chosen by the Master are the new humanity, destined to lead under the Master’s guardianship towards a brighter future.

Those who couldn’t withstand the test were seen as inferior and destined for elimination.

Moreover, these people would regularly perform sacrifices.

The so-called sacrificial ceremony involved killing humans.

They would brutally murder people to feed zombies, making sacrifices to the Master.

This was clearly a cult.

They would sneak zombie blood into the safe zone, infecting people without anyone noticing, or use their exceptional physical abilities to ambush patrolling soldiers or sabotage defenses, allowing zombies to break through the lines.

And these cultists were indistinguishable from ordinary people in appearance and behavior.

They couldn’t refuse to accept ordinary people just because of these cultists, could they?

If that were the only issue, it wouldn’t be too bad.

But the real problem lay with the armed forces.

Originally, heqing City had abundant armed forces, including military and police personnel, with a substantial number.

But for some unknown reason, when the virus outbreak occurred, the proportion of the armed forces that got infected first was far higher than that of civilians. Many active-duty forces were hit.

This inability to mobilize proper rescue efforts during the initial outbreak led to their current predicament.

The armed forces now consist mostly of retired veterans mixed with the few remaining active-duty personnel, and their numbers are extremely limited, making it very difficult to expand the safe zone.

Network systems are down, signals are disrupted, and many weapons and equipment are essentially useless.

Under these internal and external pressures, liu Song is bearing a tremendous burden.

Originally, this would not have fallen to him, but unfortunately… they had lost contact with the official authorities in Heqing City, and he was the only one left in Taoxian’s leadership team.

As the last one standing, he had no choice but to take the helm.

Liu Song sighed deeply and turned to his secretary, “Get in touch with Commander Lou, tell him… to abandon Taoyuan Town and Mingya Town. Evacuate their residents as quickly as possible to Shahe Town, and shrink the safe zone’s perimeter.”

What else could he do at this point? He could only take things one step at a time.

……

【As a Snack Vendor, you are truly amazing! Your approval rating is a staggering 100%! My goodness! I’ve never seen such a high approval rating for a snack vendor. Awesome job~! Keep it up, I look forward to the day you become a max-Level Snack Vendor! (Default rating is positive.)】
【Task completed. Task rating: Perfect!】
【Task Rewards: Career Experience +5, Yuan +80000, Points +3.】

Night had fallen deep, and Meng Xu stared out of the window, sitting on his leather sofa, lost in deep thought.

His task was completed, and quite smoothly at that, with a 100% approval rating. Seeing such a high approval rating, Meng Xu felt a bit conflicted, pondering whether he had been too unfriendly to the zombies in the building.

“They’ve all given me default good reviews. Next time, I should be kinder—kill them if I have to, so they don’t suffer in this world.”

Meng Xu sighed deeply but then remembered the incident with selling fried chicken cutlets. His expression darkened, and a hint of dissatisfaction flashed in his eyes, “I better not find out who didn’t give me a good review last time when I was selling fried chicken cutlets!”

Meng Xu’s voice carried a menacing edge, filled with simmering rage.

It made Shen Zhaozhao, Zhang Lunping, and Zhou Yanni shudder; they kept their heads down, not daring to meet his gaze.

The killing intent around Meng Xu was palpable.

But soon, he reined in that intense aura and started contemplating the other tasks.

Clearly, staying in the building wouldn’t yield much progress.

Firstly, there were no more lawyers nearby, and he still needed two more to fill the quota.

Secondly, the key to utterly destroying Wanxiang International was its Chairman, wang Wuzhang, who lived in the renowned luxury ‘Chunfengli’ villa area in Heqing City and rarely visited the company.

Wanxiang International’s other employees were housed in the company’s dormitories.

So, staying in the Kechuang Building… no, the Peace and Order Group Group Building, offered no profit. The only viable profit point might be the snack vendor tasks.

But those could be completed just as well outside.

So, does that mean I, as the Chairman, still can’t achieve the goal of earning money while lying down?

For a moment, Meng Xu’s eyes lost focus, and he felt a bit disoriented.

It seemed there was still a long way to go to reach the ultimate goal of lying down and earning money.

Life is tough. He sighed.

Seeing Meng Xu staring intently at her, Shen Zhaozhao blushed, feeling a warm tingle in her heart.

Does Chairman Meng like me? Will I become the Chairman’s wife tomorrow?

Meng Xu snapped back to reality and looked at Shen Zhaozhao, unaware of her daydreaming. He casually said, “Prepare the meeting minutes. I’ll be heading out tomorrow, so we need to have a brief meeting.”

Hearing this, everyone was surprised but quickly took their seats.

Zhang Lunping, however, was a bit puzzled. He didn’t understand what Meng Xu meant by going out on fieldwork.

They had resources now and weren’t lacking anything.

Why does Chairman Meng still need to go out?

But soon, Zhang Lunping had a sudden realization.

“How could Chairman Meng’s actions be measured by common sense? What Chairman Meng says, goes!”

Zhang Lunping thought as he adjusted his mindset to align with Chairman Meng’s unique perspective.

Meng Xu cleared his throat and said, “To make our company more international, I plan to implement a fusion of Eastern and Western work schedules. From now on, our employees will start work at 8 AM Eastern Time and finish at 5 PM New York Time (which is 6 AM Eastern Time). The rest of the time will be for rest. What do you all think?”

Shen Zhaozhao: ?

Are you still a human being?

This is too capitalist!

Shen Zhaozhao was filled with confusion and incredulity.

“Our company has always advocated for democracy and freedom. Now, let’s have a formal vote among the full-time employees. Interns don’t have voting rights. Anyone who disagrees with this proposal, please raise your hand.”

Before Meng Xu’s words had even finished, Shen Zhaozhao immediately raised her hand. She glanced around and found that none of the other employees raised their hands…

What’s there to vote on? Among the full-time employees, besides me, Shen Zhaozhao, everyone else is a zombie! They can’t raise their hands!

Seeing her lone, pale hand, Meng Xu shook his head, “Xiao Shen, you’ve strayed too far.”

Zhang Lunping and Zhou Yanni also looked at Shen Zhaozhao, not understanding why she had raised her hand.

Meng Xu continued, “After deliberation, the company has decided to downgrade your rank to K2. Your position will be changed from Team Leader to Acting Team Leader. Your salary… oh, there’s no room for it to decrease. How unfortunate.”

“Why are you demoting me, Chairman Meng?”

Shen Zhaozhao looked pitifully at Meng Xu.

Meng Xu spoke earnestly, “The company maintains uniform standards internally. You are the exception here, it seems you still lack a broader perspective. Therefore, the higher-ups have decided to transfer you to K2 for further training. Work hard, and strive to return to K3 as soon as possible.”

Money is getting harder to earn.

And with Shen Zhaozhao not following my lead, it’s quite disappointing. If she can’t even master flattery, she has no place in the corporate world!

“I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning. Chi Wei, the security department’s dog, and Attorney Zhang Wei will handle all security. As for the rest of you… keep an eye on things. The rooftop and the areas around could be used to collect water resources or dry perishable fruits. I’ll be back in a few days.”

Meng Xu spoke calmly, giving detailed instructions to everyone present.

To Meng Xu, the company was essentially just a means to gain experience points and complete tasks.

It might be useful in the future, but definitely not now.

But if something were to happen, Meng Xu would feel a bit guilty.

So, he gave his instructions seriously.

After a formal meeting and discussion, everyone expressed strong agreement with Chairman Meng’s decisions and committed to thoroughly implementing his directives, completing tasks for Meng Xu every day.

Shen Zhaozhao seemed to want to voice her opinion, but Zhou Yanni pulled her back.

‘Just let Chairman Meng say what he wants. Chairman Meng is such a kind person, he wouldn’t really exploit us, and we don’t have too many tasks anyway. These are things we need to do regardless.’

Hearing Zhou Yanni’s words, Shen Zhaozhao suddenly understood and felt ashamed of her foolish behavior.

After the meeting ended, the employees dispersed to sort the supplies, while Meng Xu sat on the leather sofa, silently thinking.

“Allocate the 14 available experience points to the ‘Snack Vendor’ occupation.”

【Allocation successful. Your occupation ‘Snack Vendor’ can now be upgraded!】

Meng Xu chose to upgrade.

【Upgrade successful. Your occupation ‘Snack Vendor’ has been upgraded from Level 1 to Level 2.】

【As a Snack Vendor with a consistent 95% approval rating, your achievements are impressive and something to be proud of! Keep up the good work, continue to grow, and strive to become the best snack vendor in the world!】
【You have received 0.5 Agility, 0.5 Constitution, and 1 Spirit.】
【Current Attributes: Spirit · 12, Constitution · 14, Strength · 20, Agility · 18.5.】

Looking at the upgraded attributes, Meng Xu deeply felt that attribute boosts were becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.

From Level 0 to Level 1, Meng Xu remembered that the boosts were quite substantial.

Now, from Level 1 to Level 2, the attribute boosts were less significant compared to the previous upgrade.

But in any case, all he could do was keep pushing forward.

Meng Xu clenched his fists, emulating a protagonist from a certain TV show called ‘Deer X Kwai,’ cheering himself on, “Meng Xiaoxu, you can do it, keep it up!”

“Time to sleep. Heading out tomorrow morning!”