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Left with no other choice, Julian bit down and sliced his fingertip, then held it out in front of Mafuyu Kirisu.
"Easy on it, okay?" he warned."Don't suck me dry."
Mafuyu Kirisu nodded obediently. She cupped his hand and gently drew his finger into her mouth.
Her face instantly lit up with satisfaction.
Julian counted silently. When he figured she'd taken about twenty CCs, he pulled his hand back.
"I wonder how often she'll need this in this state," he muttered. "If she needs a few hundred CCs a day, I really am going to end up drained to death…"
Sighing, he went back to his instant noodles.
After dinner, Julian sat down on the couch and started thinking through the next step of his plan. In a few days, they'd need to relocate to the supermarket warehouse. That meant preparation.
Mafuyu Kirisu, however, had other priorities.
She scooted right up next to him, practically glued to his side, her body leaning closer and closer as if she couldn't help herself.
"Hey… were you always this… forward?" Julian asked awkwardly. He'd been single for years. This level of enthusiasm was a bit much.
"I don't know…" she said, blinking her big, innocent eyes. "I just… really want to be close to you."
Was it because she drank his blood? Some kind of dependency?Or… was she staying close to wait for a chance to eat him?
He decided not to think too hard about that.
Right now, the supermarket plan mattered more.
"Mafuyu, do you have anything at home that could work as a weapon?"
His hammer was decent, but the handle was too short. Same with the frying pan. In a real fight against zombies, short reach meant getting surrounded.
Sure, he knew now that zombie bites wouldn't infect him.But enough bites would still kill him.
And between here and the supermarket were two intersections. There was no way they'd avoid a brutal fight. On top of that, he had to protect a seemingly fragile girl like Mafuyu Kirisu.
Without a solid weapon, they'd be dead halfway there.
"A weapon…" She frowned in thought. "I don't think we have anything…"
Suddenly she slapped her forehead. "Oh! The Grandpa across the hall—he's a collector! I think he has swords and stuff at home."
"Across the hall?"
Julian glanced at the sky outside. It was starting to darken. Night operations were too dangerous. If he was going to do this, it had to be now.
"Fine. You stay here. I'll go check."
"No."
Before he could move, Mafuyu Kirisu wrapped both arms around his arm and clung to him. "I'm coming with you."
He sighed.
Was he seriously being stuck to by a zombie girl?
Well… at least she was a long-legged, well-endowed zombie girl. Otherwise the mental image would be unbearable.
"Fine. But stay right behind me," he instructed. "If there's danger, you run back home immediately. Got it?"
"Yes, Master!" she said sweetly.
The word made Julian shiver.
For a guy who'd been single since birth, that title hit dangerously hard.
They'd known each other less than a day and she was already calling him that. Was it really his blood?
Forget it. No time to overthink.
He geared up again, took a steady breath, and quietly opened the door with Mafuyu Kirisu behind him.
The corpse of the middle-aged woman still lay slumped outside.
"That's the neighbor auntie," Mafuyu Kirisu whispered. "She might have the keys."
Julian nodded and searched the body. Sure enough, he found a keyring.
Good. No need to break in. Less noise, less risk.
He carefully unlocked the opposite door.
Silence.
No movement.
But if the auntie had turned into a zombie, something must have happened inside.
Julian grabbed an apple from the sideboard and tossed it onto the floor.
If there was a zombie inside, the noise would draw it out.One year surviving the apocalypse had taught him that much.
Ten seconds passed.
Nothing.
The tension in his chest eased slightly.
"Quiet. Stay sharp," he murmured to Mafuyu Kirisu, then stepped slowly into the living room.
The layout mirrored Mafuyu's apartment—two bedrooms and a living room. Both the bedroom and study doors were closed.
Mafuyu Kirisu reached for one of the doors, but Julian immediately stopped her.
Closed doors were the most dangerous.
Holding his breath, he pressed the handle down as slowly as possible.
Creak—
The aging hinge let out a shrill protest.
"ROAR!"
A zombie's howl exploded from inside.
"Called it."
Julian raised his frying pan defensively and pushed the door open.
Inside, a white-haired male zombie was tied tightly to a recliner with thick rope.
The moment it saw Julian, it struggled violently, blood smeared across its snapping jaws.
"Guess the auntie tied him up," Julian muttered. "She was probably the one he bit."
He felt no particular sadness. After a year in the apocalypse, he'd seen every kind of tragedy imaginable.
"Let's find Grandpa's collection."
Mission first.
The study across the bedroom had to be it.
He opened the door cautiously—and his eyes lit up.
Swords everywhere.
"This bronze sword…" he murmured, picking one up. "If it's real, it'd be worth a fortune. But useless in a fight."
"This one's not even sharpened. Pass."
"This one… wow. Ugly."
After scanning the room, his gaze settled on a Tang saber.
Its shape resembled a sword, but it looked modern—probably a replica, not an antique.
He picked it up.
"Sharpened edge. A bit heavy. Perfect."
He tested the balance, and a satisfied smile crept onto his face.
With proper care, this blade could probably cut down hundreds of zombies.
Before transmigrating, he once picked up a sword from a zombie cosplaying Kenshin. The thing chipped after just a few swings.
In terms of durability, nothing beat a Tang saber.
Suddenly—
A loud crash echoed from the bedroom.
"Damn it. The zombie broke free!"
Julian reacted instantly.
"Mafuyu! Behind me!"
She was still standing near the study door.
Two more steps and the zombie could grab her.
But then—
Something shocking happened.
When the white-haired zombie rushed up to Mafuyu Kirisu, it didn't attack her at all.
Instead, it shoved past her, desperately trying to squeeze into the study.
"....."