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"A vault?"
"Now that's interesting."
"How about this—if there really is gold inside, it all goes to me."
"I'll convert it straight into food for you guys. How much food depends on how much gold there is."
"But don't worry. I won't let you get the short end of the stick. Deal?"
Julian made his proposal.
As someone who'd already lived through the apocalypse once, he knew exactly how valuable gold would become.
After the world collapsed and things slowly stabilized, ordinary currencies became worthless. In the end, only gold—this ancient metal—regained its importance.
Nanami glanced at his men, then nodded.
"Alright. We'll do it your way."
"When do we move?"
"I just need to let my woman know, then we can head out," Julian replied with a smile.
"You're leaving your woman here alone?"
"Aren't you worried someone might set their sights on this place?" Nanami asked.
"See the two hundred zombie corpses at the entrance?"
"My girl got bored this morning and killed them all by herself."
"I'd say unless someone shows up with heavy weapons, nobody's taking this warehouse."
With that, Julian turned and headed back into the warehouse.
"Holy crap…"
"One person killed two hundred zombies?"
"Boss, do you believe that?"
"He's joking, right?"
The men all sucked in sharp breaths.
"I don't think he's lying," Nanami said thoughtfully.
"I noticed it that day. Those two girls could casually hold twenty-something pounds in one hand."
"And look at these zombies. All two hundred died the same way—headshots."
"Clearly the work of one person."
"So what he said is pretty believable."
"Though I have no idea how she managed it…"
The men swallowed nervously.
Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
No wonder they could occupy such a resource-rich warehouse.
Without serious strength, there was no way.
Not long after, Julian came back out—apparently finished giving instructions.
"Let's go," he said.
"Let's try to finish this within an hour."
"I still have food deliveries to make later."
He grabbed a whole pack of ice-cold beer and handed them out.
"Thanks!"
Nanami and the others lit up with excitement.
In a world like this, being able to drink a cold beer felt incredible.
"Brother Julian, we'll swing by our camp first," Nanami said while cracking open a beer and starting the car.
"We'll drop off the food and grab the vault key."
"It's on the way. Not far."
These days, no one was checking for drunk driving anymore.
One bottle of beer wouldn't affect his driving anyway.
Before long, Julian followed them to a school.
A few scattered zombies wandered around the campus, probably having drifted in recently.
The gymnasium, which served as the survivor base, was actually fortified pretty well.
Around it, they'd piled up barricades made of boards, desks, and chairs, leaving only a narrow passage.
Four burly men stood guard at the entrance.
"I'm a retired soldier," Nanami said with a grin.
"So I've got some experience with defense."
"I just used whatever materials I could find. Hope you don't laugh."
"With this level of defense, you should be fine for about half a month," Julian muttered.
"Half a month?"
"Why exactly half a month?" Nanami asked, puzzled.
"You'll see when the time comes."
"But you'd better keep strengthening the defenses."
Julian didn't explain much.
In half a month, mutated zombies would start appearing.
The early ones weren't overwhelmingly strong yet, but even so, they could hold their own against a dozen people attacking together.
If survivors got careless, the losses would be devastating.
Nanami and his men carried the food into the gym.
Julian waited outside, idly looking around the place.
To be honest, this camp wasn't in a great location.
Sure, the gymnasium provided shelter and protection for now.
But the school sat right in the middle of the city.
There were residential areas everywhere nearby.
More residential areas meant more people.
And more people meant more zombies.
Once mutated zombies started appearing, this place would become pretty dangerous.
Still, everyone had their own way of surviving in the apocalypse.
Julian wasn't about to interfere.
There were billions of people in the world. He couldn't possibly worry about everyone.
At that moment, a small figure darted briefly behind the outer wall of the gym, catching his attention.
Julian walked over cautiously.
Curled up in the corner was a skinny little golden retriever, trembling.
Judging from its size, it was barely over a month old.
Its eyes looked dull.
It had probably been hungry for a day or two.
There was rotten zombie flesh scattered nearby, but the pup seemed smart enough not to touch it.
Julian pulled a sausage from his pocket—the kind he carried around as a snack—peeled it open, and set it in front of the puppy.
The little guy was clearly starving.
After realizing Julian meant no harm, it devoured the sausage in just a few bites.
"Whimper… whimper…"
The puppy let out a few soft cries, sounding like it was asking for more.
"I only brought one."
"How about this… want to come with me?"
"My base has plenty of meat."
Julian smiled as he spoke.
The puppy seemed to understand.
It walked over and rubbed against Julian's shoe.
"Alright then. You're with me from now on."
Julian picked up the little golden retriever and tucked it into the front pocket of his pajama top, holding it against his chest.
Having a dog in the apocalypse actually had plenty of benefits.
Night watch.
Tracking supplies.
Things like that.
Of course, that only applied to smart breeds.
If it were some husky…
Its owner probably wouldn't survive long.
Not long after, Nanami came back out.
This time he'd brought a few extra people—seven in total.
Each one carried weapons like hammers, spiked clubs, or steel pipes.
Clearly they were taking the vault mission seriously.
"Let's go, Brother Julian!"
Nanami and the others climbed into the vehicle.
"Hey, Brother Julian—where'd you pick up that dog?" he asked with a grin.
"In times like this, we can't afford to raise a dog."
"Once it grows up, it'll eat quite a lot."
"Just liked the look of it, so I brought it along."
"As for food… I'm not short on that."
Julian smiled.
"That's true…"
"You know, there are plenty of big supermarkets across N City."
"But yours is the safest one."
"I've been to some others. In some places, people even knocked down entire warehouse walls."
Nanami sighed.
Julian just smiled without saying anything.
His warehouse had thousands of zombies wandering around the surrounding area.
Normally, Mafuyu only cleared the ones closest to the entrance. Plenty of zombies still roamed the outer perimeter.
Most people wouldn't dare target a warehouse surrounded by that many zombies.
Of course, as time passed and supplies became scarcer, plenty of people would eventually take the risk for food.
Which was why, once the short-shelf-life food was dealt with, Julian planned to start preparing for a move to Donghu Island.
"....."