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With the Porsche's speed and Julian's driving skills, it didn't take long before he made it back to the warehouse.
"Master, you're back!"
Mafuyu and Hana immediately shut off the screen they were watching and ran over.
Little Goldie trotted after them, tail wagging.
"Master, you're hurt?"
Mafuyu noticed the tears in Julian's clothes and the small scrapes scattered across his body.
Her eyes immediately reddened, like she was about to cry.
"I crashed into someone. It's nothing serious," Julian explained.
"Hmph! Who dared crash into Master's car?"
"Did he die?"
Mafuyu muttered.
"Uh… yeah. He died. And… not in a very pleasant way."
Just thinking about the state of the man's lower body made Julian shiver.
Thankfully, Mafuyu had regained her senses when she'd been "eating" him earlier. Otherwise, he might've ended up just like that guy.
"Master, dinner's ready!"
"You can start eating now!"
Hana tugged Julian over to the table.
Tonight, she had specially prepared hot pot.
Just an induction cooker and two pots did the trick.
One pot was spicy mala broth, the other clear soup.
All the ingredients were neatly sliced and arranged.
"Nice work, Hana."
"Very worthy of praise."
Julian gave her an approving look.
Hana shyly returned the look.
Then Julian suddenly realized he might be digging a hole for himself, so he quickly switched to a more serious expression.
Soon after, he discovered he had lost the greatest joy of eating hot pot.
Mafuyu and Hana sat on either side of him, constantly dropping ingredients into the pot, cooking them, and feeding them straight to his mouth.
He didn't even get the chance to pick up his chopsticks.
Little Goldie stayed planted beside the pot, head tilted upward the whole time, hoping a slice of fatty beef might occasionally fall down.
"Huh?"
"Don't you think Little Goldie looks a bit bigger?"
Julian picked the dog up and examined it carefully.
"Huh? Really?"
"I don't think so."
"It's only been here half a day."
"Yeah, I don't see any change."
"Master, maybe you're imagining things?"
Mafuyu and Hana had been with Little Goldie all afternoon, so they didn't notice any difference.
"I get it!"
"It must be… because it ate too much!"
Julian suddenly realized.
"Did you two feed it a lot?"
"I only gave it a little bit of snacks…"
"But it kept chasing me and begging for food! It looked so hungry, so I fed it!"
Hana said with her head lowered.
"I gave it some cheese sticks and chicken sausage too," Mafuyu added.
"Sigh… I guess a dog takes after its owners."
"It's only been half a day, and it's already learned your two gluttonous habits."
Julian shook his head helplessly.
The two girls stuck out their tongues, looking innocent.
How is that our fault?
If we don't eat, our bodies won't function properly!
"Woof… whine…"
Little Goldie slumped down with all four legs drooping.
Hey, I'm hungry too! What else am I supposed to do?
After finishing the hot pot, the sky outside had already turned dark.
On the surveillance screen, the zombie corpses piled outside the warehouse gate had formed several small hills.
Yet zombies were still wandering over from time to time.
For the warehouse, having zombies gathered outside at night actually worked as a kind of security measure.
After cleaning up the bowls and utensils, Hana carried the pots away to wash them.
Mafuyu, meanwhile, stuck close to Julian.
"Mafuyu, how strong are you now?" Julian asked.
For the next phase of their plans, they'd need to organize their manpower carefully.
If Mafuyu and Hana could each guard an area on their own, relocating would be much easier.
"Master, look!"
Mafuyu walked over to a refrigerator that already had a punch mark in it and stretched out her hands.
Her fingernails visibly lengthened by one or two centimeters.
Slash!
With a single swipe, one side of the refrigerator door was ripped straight off and fell to the ground.
Deep claw marks carved across the metal.
Then Mafuyu struck again.
Her claws pierced straight through the other door.
"See? I'm awesome, right?"
She posed like a little cat, holding her claws beside her cheeks.
"You've definitely gotten a lot stronger…"
Julian nodded.
In both speed and strength, Mafuyu now surpassed the female zombie they had encountered beneath the vault.
With this level of power, as long as she didn't run into firearms, she probably wouldn't have many opponents.
"Mafuyu, come a little closer."
Julian suddenly noticed something unusual.
"Hm?"
"You want it now?"
Mafuyu's cheeks turned red.
"Don't get the wrong idea!"
"I want to check your eyes."
Julian stepped closer and examined them carefully.
Originally, Mafuyu's pupils had a ring of grayish white.
Now, that ring had turned silver.
The color had deepened.
Could that be connected to her increase in strength?
Before being reborn, Julian had been far too weak. He'd never even come into contact with mutant zombies or awakened humans.
So when it came to strength rankings and classifications, he knew absolutely nothing.
All he knew was that they were stronger than him.
Looks like this time around, he'd have to carefully study and record things himself.
"Master… are you two kissing?"
Hana came running over after finishing the dishes and squeezed herself between them.
She was over ten centimeters shorter than Mafuyu. Standing together, the three of them looked almost like a family, with her as the kid.
Though… from certain angles, she looked more like the mom.
"Hold still. Let me check."
Julian cupped Hana's face.
Her cheeks flushed red, and she obediently closed her eyes.
She thought Julian was about to kiss her.
"What are you thinking!"
"Open your eyes."
Julian spoke helplessly.
Beside them, Mafuyu covered her mouth, laughing nonstop.
Hana had completely misunderstood, and now that she was being laughed at, her face turned even redder.
Julian held Hana's face and examined it closely.
Sure enough, the faint grayish-white ring in her pupils now looked a lot like the one Mafuyu had yesterday.
In other words, Hana's strength right now was probably about the same as Mafuyu's had been yesterday.
So it really did work that way. One more day of eating meant getting a little stronger...
"Mafuyu, come out with me tomorrow."
"Hana, you stay here and watch the house."
Julian gave his instructions.
"Master, I want to go out too!"
Hana puffed out her cheeks, clearly unhappy.
"If I take you too, who's going to stay here with Goldie?"
"There's so much stuff here. Someone has to keep an eye on it."
"Next time. I'll take you next time."
"Don't worry. It'll take several days to move everything anyway. Your turn will come."
Julian tried to comfort her.
"Okay..."
Hana nodded.
Hearing it that way made it feel a little less disappointing.
"Woof woof woof…"
Goldie chimed in from the side with its own opinion.
"Oh, cut it out. You're just a little golden Puppy. Isn't staying home, eating and sleeping all day good enough for you?"
Julian firmly rejected Goldie's request.
Even though he had no idea what the dog was actually saying.
"....."