Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Liu Wei walked down the single flight of stars between their penthouse and the apartment of the Naval Specialist Team thinking about what Li Dai Lu had said. He agreed with her. People were not willing to see what was in front of their faces, preferring the feelings of safety and security of the known.

And if that was the case, then why should he bother being the harbinger for people with their heads stuck in the sand? It was much better for them to use this time to get what they needed than worry about hundreds or even thousands of unrelated people.

The biggest question was, what was Wang Chao thinking? Could it be that he was so wrapped up in the idea of duty and honor now that he was among other military personnel again that he couldn't see what he was doing? He was willing to break off ties with his grandfather for Li Dai Lu only months ago, so what had changed?

Liu Wei shook those thoughts out of his head as he approached the door being guarded by two of the Navy's finest. Nodding his head to each of them, he turned the handle and walked into the same space Li Dai Lu stormed out of an hour ago.

It was mind-blowing how much things could change in just a short hour. Li Yi Ming stood up and saluted him, but Liu Wei only nodded in acknowledgment. Going to stand just behind the chair that Wang Chao was sitting in, he forced his mind to go blank. He didn't want Wang Chao to be able to read anything from him, especially in this room, so he forced himself to only think of a black wall.

"Is the princess settled?" asked Li Yi Ming with a small smirk on his face.  The man standing behind him did not look impressed by his statement. In fact, if Liu Wei had to wager a guess, he would go as far as to assume that Li Yi Ming's teammate was pissed.

How interesting.

Liu Wei refused to answer his question until Wang Chao tilted his head to look at him. Raising his brow, Liu Wei gritted his teeth beneath his smile and looked at the offending man. "Princess is fine," he said, his words and face giving nothing away to even Wang Chao. Startled over this turn of events, Wang Chao swung around in his chair to stare at Liu Wei.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, his eyes widening a fraction as he tried to get a read on Liu Wei. Still thinking about the black wall, Liu Wei could feel Wang Chao just on the other side, trying to get in, but not wanting to be rude about it.

"Considering that things went FUBAR, yes, there have been a few wrinkles to iron out," he said, not really caring if his oldest friend was upset with him or not. What could he do? Fire him? He hadn't seen a paycheck in almost two months, let alone be able to go online to check his balance. Money didn't mean much right now.

"And have they been ironed?" Wang Chao asked, looking at him more intently. Liu Wei looked up to see Li Yi Ming sitting there in a relaxed position with a slight smirk on his face. "For me? Yes," he said looking down on his boss. The rest of the sentence, the part left unspoken, said that Wang Chao still had his own wrinkles to deal with.

"Anyways, getting away from the spoiled princess, let's go back to talking about the next step," said Li Yi Ming as he sat back and stared down at Wang Chao. "You are going to need me and my men in the near future."

"Oh yeah? And why is that?" asked Wang Chao, also sitting back in his chair and looking at the man in front of him.

"Because we are one of the most valued teams in the Navy," came the reply. "No matter what you are going to face, you would need people with our expertise on your side."

Wang Chao nodded his head. "Your expertise," he repeated as he drummed his fingers gently on the armrest. "And what would that be, exactly?"

"We faced the freaks out there and survived," came the smug reply.

"You mean the zombies," Liu Wei pointed out. He had no idea what type of game Wang Chao was playing, but he hoped that it would be worth it to the other man. After all, he screwed the pooch when it came to Li Dai Lu.

Li Yi Ming scoffed at Liu Wei's statement. "They were not zombies," he said with complete certainty.

"Round head? Big mouth? Lots of teeth?" asked Wang Chao looking at the man just over Li Yi Ming's shoulder. When the other man nodded his head silently, they all waited for Li Yi Ming's answer.

"Yeah, those things. They were definitely not zombies."

"Oh? You have seen zombies before?" asked Liu Wei a look of shock and awe on his face. Li Yi Ming couldn't help but squirm in his chair.

"Well, no," he started as he looked at Liu Wei as if he was stupid. "But they looked nothing like the zombies in movies and video games. I figured if so many sources had the same type of zombies, then that was what the zombies looked like."

Wang Chao and Liu Wei couldn't help but look at each other. Was this man seriously the leader of one of the best Naval Specialist Teams that Country K had? Just because they didn't look like the ones in the movies then the zombies couldn't be zombies? Was that really what he had said?

Neither Wang Chao nor Liu Wei was willing to touch that statement with a 10-foot pole. "So you survived a group of the 'freaks'," started Wang Chao rubbing the spot between his eyebrows. "How many?"

"We only lost two of our men," came back the proud answer, like losing only two men was something to congratulate him on. When they were with Li Dai Lu, they never lost a single man and they were a lot more than a team of only 16 people.

"How many 'freaks' did you fight?" clarified Wang Chao, this time turning his direct attention to the Vice-Captain behind Li Yi Ming.

"It was a group of five," came the answer. "And we managed to hold them off until we could get to safety."

"Oh," said Liu Wei nodding his head in understanding. "So how many did you manage to kill?"

The Captain and the Vice-Captain exchanged looks. "None," admitted the second man as Li Yi Ming pressed his lips into a tight line. This was not the way he expected this conversation to go. The General hadn't seen combat in years, so he thought that it would be easy to exchange his stills for the General's protection.

"I stopped counting my kills after 68," admitted Liu Wei, shrugging his shoulders like that number wasn't overly impressive.

"I reached 73 before I stopped," said Wang Chao staring down Li Yi Ming. "They are somewhat easy to kill once you get the hang of it."

"And have a 'princess' telling you exactly how to go about doing it," added Liu Wei, pissed that Li Yi Ming had simply dismissed Li Dai Lu as nothing more than a useless princess.

Li Yi Ming snorted at that idea. As far as he was concerned, there was no way that someone that fainted on his couch could be of any use.  Unless of course, it was for other activities…. He stared at the two men in front of him and wondered which one was screwing the chick.

Wang Chao's smile tightened as the thoughts in Li Yi Ming's mind flooded into his. "So, technically, you are more useless than the princess. What else can you do for us?" He asked the men.

He could feel the slight shifting from the men around them as they began to understand exactly where they stood in the hierarchy of it all. They might have been the best of the best before, but clearly, that was not how General Wang Chao saw them right now. And that idea stung.

"What do you want?" asked Li Yi Ming through gritted teeth. No longer looking so cocky and relaxed.

"I want you to follow orders. You should be good at that, right?" asked Wang Chao as he stood up. Coming to his full and impressive height, he looked down at the man still sitting in front of him.  "When we say kill them all, that is what we mean. When we give the option of leaving or death, there is no third option. And if you really think that some Captain of some Naval Speciality Team has enough power to dictate what me or mine do, then you have something else coming."

Li Yi Ming could only stare at the General he thought he understood so well.

"So, what is your choice?" the man demanded, looking down on Li Yi Ming as if he was looking at gum stuck to his shoe.

"Sir?" he asked, not understanding what was going on.

"Do you leave with your lives or do you stay here and die?" came the ice-cold voice of the God-like man in front of him.