First Employees

Atlanta, Quarry Camp.

Leon stood beside the camouflage truck as more than a dozen survivors gathered around him. Each held a recruitment pamphlet, listening to his speech with somewhat strange expressions.

"Our Umbrella Corporation was founded by top talents who survived the disaster. It is an organization created to eliminate the virus, protect humanity, and rebuild civilization."

"We have the most professional virus experts, the safest shelters, and living conditions best suited for ordinary people to survive."

"We have doctors, food, equipment, and complete water and power systems for daily life."

"But we are not a charity organization. We will not help survivors for free. Everyone must create enough value."

"We can only accept warriors who are valuable, capable, and willing to dedicate themselves to all of humanity."

"Once you join Umbrella Corporation and become one of us, not only you, but your family as well, will receive the company's protection and be able to live in our shelter. From then on, you can lead a safe and stable life."

"In this apocalyptic world, this is the best choice."

Listening to Leon's speech, most of the watching survivors felt confused, dispirited, and lost.

After the news about the army and the government that Leon had brought spread, everyone's thoughts had been shaken to varying degrees, whether they believed it or not.

If even the most powerful official organization had been defeated by Zombies, what could powerless survivors like them possibly do to survive in this terrifying apocalyptic world?

Leon cleared his throat, pulled a recruitment pamphlet he had written from his pocket, glanced at its contents, and began speaking:

"Take a look at the recruitment pamphlets in your hands."

"It's just as stated on the pamphlet."

"All employees who join Umbrella Corporation will be assigned to one of three different departments."

"The Security Department, the Engineering Department, and the Logistics Department."

"The Security Department is responsible for all of the company's combat missions. It offers the best treatment, has a low entry barrier, and an extremely high ceiling. It only recruits combat personnel who dare to risk their lives and are unafraid of sacrifice."

"The Engineering Department is our company's core department. It is responsible for all technical work. The entry barrier is relatively high, and it only recruits genuinely practical technical talents."

"The Logistics Department is responsible for the normal operation of Umbrella Corporation. It has the lowest entry barrier and the highest ceiling. Anyone who is hardworking, loyal, and willing to contribute to humanity's future can join."

"Employees in every department are divided into five levels: A, B, C, D, and E. Different employee levels determine your salary and your status within Umbrella Corporation."

"Everyone's employee level is not fixed. It will rise according to the contributions you make to the organization."

"The higher your employee level, the better the treatment you will enjoy."

"As long as you make sufficient contributions to the organization, you can even live a better life than you did before the disaster."

"It is now the apocalyptic era. We are all survivors beneath the apocalypse. We can no longer cling to the lofty ideals of equality, freedom, and peace for everyone."

"In this apocalyptic world, and within our Umbrella Corporation, there is no racial discrimination and no distinction between noble and lowly bloodlines. No matter who you are, as long as you have the ability and dare to fight and strive, you can be given important responsibilities."

"Of course, as a positive organization that takes protecting all humanity as its spiritual standard, we will severely punish any behavior that violates humanity's basic moral principles. We will firmly uphold the bottom line of human decency and protect everyone's basic rights as human beings."

This long speech left Leon parched. Fortunately, as a senior executive in his previous life, what he was best at was painting grand visions.

What the survivors lacked most right now was confidence in the future.

The apocalypse had destroyed their faith.

As long as he described a bright future for them, they would be willing to strive toward it.

"I know this is a difficult choice."

"You don't completely trust me."

"But think about it carefully. Even if you risk your lives to leave this place and search for another shelter, even if you overcome every obstacle and are rescued by the army..."

"Can you really live a better life than you would by joining Umbrella Corporation?"

Leon looked at the survivors before him who had been shaken by his speech. He reined in his somewhat heightened emotions, folded the recruitment pamphlet in his hand, and tucked it into his pocket.

Having finished painting his grand vision, Leon decided not to fan the flames any further. He needed to give these people some room to think. Only after their thoughts collided properly could he achieve a better result.

"I'll stay until tomorrow morning before leaving."

"Think it over carefully."

"Do you want to take a gamble with me?"

"Anyone who's interested, contact me before I leave."

With that, he left them a carefree smile and climbed neatly into his camouflage truck.

Under the complicated gazes of the survivors, he left Quarry Camp.

Leon did not go far. He drove to a flat woodland about seven or eight hundred meters from Quarry Camp and stopped there.

Then he took a set of tables and chairs and a large insulated container from the back of the truck, placed them where both sides could vaguely see one another, and brought out various foods one plate at a time.

Canned food, cold dishes, roasted meat, and chilled drinks filled the table. There were more than a dozen plates in all.

This was food he had prepared in advance the previous night. Ever since he had become a big eater, his demand for food had increased several times over.

As a transmigrator, even in a Zombie apocalypse, he would not give up enjoying life as long as the circumstances allowed it.

Summer had just begun, and the weather was growing hot. Eating high-energy food and drinking ice-cold beverages, Leon felt both body and mind grow pleasant.

He had already formed an estimate of the outcome of this recruitment drive, so he was not worried.

The survivors at Quarry Camp were, in the end, merely a group of strangers who had only just met. They were not yet as united as they would be when the protagonist, Rick, arrived a month later.

Some of them were independent families, some were siblings who depended on one another, and some were isolated individuals who had merely banded together for warmth.

They were not a single entity. Everyone had their own interests, and as long as what they gained exceeded their psychological bottom line, they would seek change.

Leon could not be certain about the others, but at the very least, Glenn, T-Dog, Jim, and the other loners without family ties would definitely be more eager to join a group that did not reject outsiders and shared their interests.

Only then would others value them, and only then would they not be casually abandoned.

However, what surprised Leon was that the first to make a decision were not the people he had expected.

He had only eaten until he was thirty percent full when a pair of young blonde sisters came over.

They were Andrea and Amy.