No Time - Chapter 40

“Didn’t you want to join a secret organization?”

From a long time ago, starting from when I just began to earn money, I had gathered information on people.

The scientists who tested me, the people who would be responsible and not freak out if something bad occurred.

I had stored the information on people who I deemed useful and gathered it up until I had enough money to buy land.

Land was expensive, and I could only buy little by little, and soon grabbing ahold of a whole place surrounded by forestry that was still not cut down and mountains. I even bought a lake.

That was going on as I recruited people. Most didn’t believe me. Some said they did, but they were only trying to calm down a kid. All I could do was bribe them with money and excellent living spaces, providing free living expenses and daily needs. The cafeteria was full of professional chefs. The only thing was, I would provide them with whatever things they wanted to research, but they would not leave the organization without my permission and they wouldn’t tell anyone else about it unless I had given them permission to.

There were plenty of amazing hackers. Xiao Lai wasn’t the world’s best, he ranked in the lower middle. So I hired all the greatest hackers I could find and provided them whatever they wanted to keep the base safe. And they were all people who didn’t want to miss out on this type of deal, so they agreed instantly. Neets.

As the hackers worked under my orders and brought light to the research on zombies going on in Greenland, the scientists and people I hired began to see the truth and understood the terrible future.

This way, I brought in more scientists by inviting some from America, Germany, and some other places by showing the evidence.

After the zombies I found last year were sent to the base, the people started experimenting with any theory they had made. And they are currently making the zombie trial process safer, less painful and with a higher percentage of success by testing on mice and other animals.

I even hired the future “Merchant” group that would make the language converter in the future with their psychic abilities. They are currently working with the people who make translator devices and chips so that the future language converter will be upgraded.

With everyone and their family, the base can hold more than 20,000 people. But currently, there are only 900 people in the base.

I plan to bring my family, friends, and friends’ families into the base. And the old man from the GEM company, whose name is Tse Bao, will be invited too. I know he said he didn’t have any family members left, but that could have happened because his family members died under the zombies’ hands, so I’ll have to ask him about that.

The stocks for GEM, at least 26% is mine. I didn’t buy anymore since I didn’t want to alert the company too much. If I wanted, I could buy up to 43%. The rest is owned by the CEO and his family, so no can do.

Next week, there is a meeting at GEM, so I need to go there. And this way, I can get closer to Old Bao and earn his trust.

Ah, but Old Bao mentioned how my hair made me look like a sissy. Maybe I should cut it? There are some aunties who worked as hair stylists before at the base I think. I’ll ask them.

We got into a yellow taxi that I had called up from the base. It was just a disguise for people who wanted to go outside the base.

The base was mostly made of bulletproof glass that was layered many times over, and concrete. It still had some aesthetic though. Inside the base were many apartment complexes that stood tall. The offices and research base was placed west and the recreation center and swimming pool were placed in the middle. There was actually no roof. It was currently being researched by the “Merchant” group and other scientists and engineers on making a barrier machine.

The base actually earned a lot of money. We made solar panels that were better than the recent ones and sold them worldwide. And smog-eating machines, as well as allergy reducing medicine, were also created. These made our profits worth billions with the other medicine and products we made. We were very careful and had the hackers monitor at all times just in case anyone would try to infiltrate the base for information either online or physically.

Andrei and Shane looked around. They didn’t look as surprised as when I had told them about the secret base. I hadn’t even told my siblings about this. But for these two, I needed to tell them because they would not be safe in America with no information or skills.

I had also debated putting them in my space. Currently, I could at least stuff 700 people in there max. The researchers on the base were almost finished with the zombie trial serum. It was 87% safe and inflicted less pain than before, so they would soon try it on their selves after improving it to 100%. I wouldn’t allow any mistakes to occur and I wanted everyone on base kept alive.

Thankfully, the children and other family members on base were understanding. Some of the people were unruly, but after I took them to the research center after capturing a few more lively zombies, they were terrified and knew the consequences of how it would be if they weren’t at the base. A school was being constructed by myself slowly but steadily. It was half built and I would need to work on it soon. The base would also be bigger as I would permanently hire a construction crew. My house would also be moved here after I train Ge to strengthen his Earth ability. At that time, I would have to tell my siblings I guess.

It really wasn’t fair for them. I had thought for a long time while I was over in America and decided, it was wrong for me to think that they couldn’t keep any secrets from me while I could. But I just wished they could think about the consequences more.

But so far, everyone was agreeable on the base and they were more relaxed since they could go on with daily lives without worrying. Some of them had friends and distant family members that were outside of the base, and they asked me if they could bring them in. I asked them if they were totally reliable last time and if they wouldn’t mind being stuck in this place last time I visited. They would probably give their answers today. They were allowed to contact other people but only when they were outside. I had buses prepared for those who wanted to go visit others.

And as I expected, as soon as I landed, a swarm came upon me. Most were aunties and children. The male and female researchers knew that the thing they were working on was the top priority and that they could only try to save themselves. Besides they also thought to worry about the supplies and food in the future. Like toilet paper, toothbrushes, these small objects were not much but important to simple daily life.

Currently, we were in the Asian district and there were different dialects and languages being spoken rapidly.

“Shui Yu, my friend is old but living alone with her son, they’re completely fine!”

“Shui Yu, my friend is completely trustworthy! He’s in university and has pretty good grades in environmental sciences! Isn’t that useful for the base?”

“Shui Ge, my friend’s in elementary school! She’s surely fine!”

…and such were their calls to me as “Shui Yu” blatantly.

A person who had been informed of my two American friends coming along had prepared translator devices and was standing next to the crowd.

I handed one of the translating earbuds to Shane but I had overheard the conversation of Andrei being able to understand Chinese, but not all languages, so I handed him one.

“Wow! I can understand them! Can I speak it too?” Shane exclaimed.

“No, that’ll be in the future. Everyone here has a prototype language translator, so it’s fine even if you speak in English,” I explained.

I calmed the aunties, other adults, teenagers, and kids down.

“Everyone, I’ll be here for a week, so slow down. If you are completely sure that they are trustworthy, say your reasons when I’m at my office. And if you aren’t completely sure, have some of the spare hackers look at them, And tell the hackers I’ll give them a bonus and trip to Korea’s virtual gaming international competition. And if they work hard, the top 5 can even get spots to participate in it.”

Aren’t I being too generous?

“Oh, and which one of you worked as a professional hair stylist?” I asked the crowd.

“Oh, that would be me,” answered a calm and soothing voice. Oh, I knew this person, it was one of the younger hacker member’s mother.

“Aunty, I’ll trouble you to cut my hair.”

“But why? It’s so pretty!” she complained.

“I have a friend who said it made me look to sissy-like,” I explained.

“No, it’s such a pity. I have some ready-made wigs, I’ll give you one later.”

“Then, thank you. I brought some fruits, please take them.”

I handed her some apples and pears and she happily accepted them.

I motioned to the person who had been carrying the language translator devices and he nodded and led us away to the research center.

“Here, we’re currently working on perfecting the zombie trial serum. The “Merchant” group are going to test it first and tell us the results. The live zombies that Chief has captured are in the testing room contained by Metallic Glass that was tested to be stronger than the newly revised version. The researchers have their lunch breaks in the cafeteria at 12 to 1. They work from 8 AM to 6 PM and have free weekends unless they want to continue further research,” the guide explained.

See, everyone should call me “Chief”, I am 45 years old after all. I don’t want to be called “Shui Yu” by people younger than me or even older. Even the kids tried to call me by my name until their mothers corrected them.

“As per your future plans, we have already recruited a permanent construction crew and are currently building the rest of the school. Chief, the University and college students have complained about the school before, but have calmed down after they got online education courses that set them up in their previous classrooms. They can just use a screen robot to travel through classes now, so they find it convenient. There is also a list of people who want to go out next week to visit some of their friends and distant family members, here it is.”

The guide prepared a tablet with a checklist and I quickly read through the reasons and checked the ones that seemed reasonable. For the others that didn’t seem reasonable, I marked them for the person to come to my office.

“Hey, you’re very work-efficient. Why not come be my secretary?” I asked the guide.

The guide was surprised and stuttered, “C-chief, are you sure?”

“Why not?”

“Thank you, I’ll meet your expectations!”

“So, what’s your name? Basic information?”

“My name is Jing Song. I have two family members, my wife Yun Sha, and son, Jing Shao. I am 36 years old, my wife, 34, and my son, 11. I worked as an assistant and came along with my wife who is one of the researchers here.”

“Oh, good, so you don’t have an occupation here yet. You can be my secretary. I’ll give you the office next to mine. For now, arrange all the meetings and my schedule. Let’s have dinner sometime, having a good relationship with the subordinate is a thing, right?”

“Ah, yes! Then I will prepare your schedule!” And thus, I had a person established in my Secretary position.

Andrei and Shane came back from a tour around the base and seemed pretty excited.

“Rain, you should build an amusement park or something! A zoo or aquarium would also be so cool! How big are you going to make this place?”

Actually, the construction was still going on, and I was planning to make some more buildings. I needed to make a safe base with being able to fit in at least a million people. The population would increase, so it’ll go higher than that in the future. I also had the idea of the base being somewhat like a city. But it would only be exclusive for the people here right now, not for outsiders. No matter what sob story they had, unless I allowed them, there would be no chance of entering unless they were useful.

I sent my two friends away to Building #1 where they would stay at the top Suite. Shane was so excited that he dragged away the heavy Andrei easily.

Oh, another crowd was coming towards me. This time, it was a group full of European and foreign women and their children.

“Shui Yu, we’ll pay for the plane tickets, our friends are completely trustworthy, can you please bring them here?

“Shui Yu, my friends are good and were in the same soccer team as me! It’s so boring without them! They should be fine, so can you bring them here?”

The European people had not fully mingled with the Chinese or other Asian country people. Indians, Chinese, Americans, Europeans, Australians, and more. The Americans were a part of every group, the Australians were a friendly bunch too. The language translating devices helped them out a lot. And I was hoping there would be no discrimination. There is still a little discomfort with how they all have different cultures and styles, but hopefully, they would all become a close community. The Europeans had been chatting and I had overheard how blunt the Chinese were. But in my opinion, the European people were sometimes too polite.

“Everyone, I’ve gotten a new secretary, his office is right next to mine. Now, I’m sure he’d be able to set you up with a meeting with me later on. And as I told the other group before, if you are completely sure, then set up a meeting please, and if you aren’t, have some spare hackers look into them. Thank you.”

The crowd seemed satisfied and went away. Some kids still looked at me.

I sighed, “Call the other kids here, I brought presents.”

They cheered and went running to gather the other kids.

From my space, I brought out snacks, junk food, dessert, chocolate milk, orange juice, and ice cream.

“Now, why don’t you ask your parents if you can order some? The delivery men I hired would be perfectly fine doing their job with the high amount I pay them.”

“Mommy said that we shouldn’t be so wasteful.”

“My dad said that he didn’t want me to get cavities.”

“The delivery men don’t know how to buy good snacks! They only buy those sweet potato chips and healthy stuff! Yuck!”

After eating a snack, I led the children to the playground.

“Shui Yu! Toys! Toys!” Even the Chinese kids called me like this. They only called me Shui Ge when they were in front of their parents. How rude. I’m 45 you know?

“Here you go.”

An assortment of toys came out and tumbled to the ground.

Mini-robots, sketch pads, watercolor paint, phones, tablets, even laptops. I had bought what they had wanted.

Actually, everyone on base has my phone number. I only told them to call or text me whenever there was something very important or there was an emergency. But the kids always used it to text me what they wanted. And every month, there would be an organized wishlist gathered from everyone in the community. The kids could have written it down there, but always texted me for some reason. That reason being: We don’t want our parents to find out.

They all screamed in joy and began rustling through the pile.

“What do you say?” I asked.

“Thank you!” all of them chorused.

Satisfied, I sent them on their way, reminding them not to fall while running.

“Yu Hyung! Did you bring what we asked for?” A group of Korean high schoolers came my way. And no, I didn’t buy cigarettes, I don’t want you guys getting black lungs from smoking.

“Oppa, I wanted a new phone!” Here you go, the pink rose gold phone you wanted.

“What about the snacks?” a boy asked. Here you go, this Melona ice cream is good, you have great taste.

“Textbooks?” Nobody really wanted them, but their parents had it on their wishlist.

“Thanks!” And with that, another group went away.

This time it was the university students coming my way.

“Shui Yu! I heard that you were staying for a week, why don’t you come play basketball with us when you’re free?” You’re clearly indicating your want for the basketball you wanted. Here you go.

“Shui Yu, you should make a football field, I was a great player in my sophomore years you know!” Yea yea, I’ll make a field sometime later.

“Shui Yu, can you tell the hackers to let us use some of their computers? I left my virtual reality gaming seat at home…” I know, you complained about it last time too, I bought one, it’s packaged, here you go.

“Ack! I can’t hold this on my own!” The gaming seat dude almost broke his arms trying to hold his requested item. I gave a sneer and they all went away carrying the seat.

Another group! I know I rarely visit, but really? What’s with the crowd this time!

This time, it was a horde of girls, teenagers, adults, and aunties all together.

“Shui Yu! Did you get the new shade of mermaid eyeliner?”

“What about the new dark raspberry blush by Timeless?”

“Oh, I wanted that new designer dress from Tiffon’s!”

I gave them out and they all fought each other. Ugh, this group was always the worst and spent most of my money.

American teenagers this time, with some Indian, Australian, and European kids too.

“Shui Yu, did you get the gaming console I wanted?”

“Hey, come play with us! You aren’t too busy, right?”

“Can you set up a movie theatre for us? It’s really boring without being able to watch the newest movies.”

“Shui Yu, please tell the chefs to start making some junk food for us! I don’t like eating all those healthy stuff!”

“My mom ordered me to get the workbooks from you, but can I hope that maybe you didn’t buy them?”

“Shui Yu, can you bring us some pets? My mom and dad said I could get a cat or something since this place allowed animals! It’s great that the researchers made the allergy reducing medicine!”

“Slow down, these are what I have left. And for the textbooks… Let’s say I forgot to buy the Indian version, but I brought the Korean version. But the translating device can’t really help with written words, so say that it was my mistake.”

Finally, it was dinner time. The cafeteria was 1 floor and could hold up to 20,000 people. It was somewhat like a food court except healthier.

After dinner, I went to my office and slept on the couch there. Hopefully, the rest of the week until the GEM meeting wouldn’t be as busy…