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The moment Julian stepped into the tent, a corpse-pale face lunged at him with jaws wide open.
It was Uzaki Hana.
She'd turned into a zombie after all.
Julian didn't dodge. He stepped forward and wrapped her in his arms, letting her teeth sink straight into his shoulder.
Half a minute later, she went still.
The gray-white haze in her eyes slowly faded back to black.
Looks like it worked. She'd regained her mind.
"Ah! Your shoulder!"
"Does it hurt…?"
The second Hana saw the bite wound, her face crumpled with guilt. Her memories from when she'd turned were still fuzzy, but she knew enough. She'd done this.
"It's nothing," Julian said with a shrug. "I got bitten so many times today, what's one more?"
That careless shrug made the wound spurt fresh blood.
"Hey! Don't waste it!"
Hana immediately leaned in and licked the blood clean from his shoulder, looking completely satisfied afterward.
Julian blinked.
Yeah. She was exactly like Mafuyu Kirisu.
All she could think about was eating.
So it wasn't just Mafuyu being weird. Any zombie who got cured was like this.
He sighed. Life was going to be… complicated.
Good thing his body had evolved too. Otherwise, dealing with two female zombies? He'd be sucked dry in three days flat.
"Master, is it done?"
Mafuyu poked her head into the tent.
One glance at Hana and she instantly knew—she had a new kindred spirit.
"Hana, don't be scared. Being a zombie's actually pretty great. You'll get used to it."
She took Hana's hand warmly.
"I'm not scared," Hana said, tilting her head. "As long as I'm with Master, I feel safe."
"Hana, let me teach you a few things," Mafuyu said mysteriously. Then she turned and started shoving Julian out of the tent. "Master, step outside for a bit!"
"What secrets are you two sharing that I'm not allowed to hear?" Julian muttered with a helpless smile.
The second he stepped out, he spotted three figures approaching with weapons in hand.
Sugawara. Takeshi in his wheelchair. And that middle-aged woman.
They had looked aggressive from a distance. But when they saw Julian walk out perfectly fine, their momentum faltered.
"Y-you… weren't you bitten?" Sugawara stammered, aiming a nail gun at him with trembling hands. "How are you completely fine?"
The nail gun was the only ranged weapon they had scavenged from the supermarket.
Even so, Sugawara didn't feel confident.
After all, Julian had taken on more than a dozen zombies alone.
And that long-legged, violent beauty by his side…
Originally, Sugawara had planned to finish Julian off while he was weakened from the bite.
Who knew the guy would walk out like nothing happened?
"Manager Sugawara, what're you afraid of? We've got guns!" Takeshi said through gritted teeth, ignoring the agony in his broken leg as he raised his own nail gun.
"R-right… we've got guns."
Sugawara wiped the sweat off his forehead, forcing some courage back into himself.
Three of them. Three nail guns.
Short range, sure—but deadly enough up close.
"Master, what's going on?"
Hearing the commotion, Mafuyu and Hana stepped out of the tent.
The moment Sugawara saw Mafuyu, greed flashed across his face.
He knew how strong she was. A woman like that? He could never control her.
Better to kill them. Kill them all.
With this place as a resource depot, women wouldn't be a problem later.
Still… before killing them, if he could at least feast his eyes a little…
"You!" Sugawara pointed at Mafuyu, a nasty grin spreading across his face. "If you don't want your master dying under our guns… then…"
"Then strip and dance for us!"
"Yeah! Hurry up and take it off!" Takeshi licked his lips.
Mafuyu had kicked his leg into uselessness. He hadn't forgotten. He needed to vent.
Mafuyu frowned and glanced at Julian.
Master… was being threatened?
What should she do?
"Mafuyu, don't worry," Julian said calmly. "A nail gun can't kill me."
"Just kill them. Leave the baldy half-alive—I've got questions."
"You—!"
Takeshi panicked at those words.
He'd seen Mafuyu fight. One kick had shattered his leg.
If she went all out—
They'd die.
His trembling finger squeezed the trigger.
Several long nails shot straight at Julian.
Thud.
His aim was off; the nails buried themselves in Julian's arm.
"You dare hurt Master!"
Mafuyu's pupils instantly shifted from black to gray-white. Her nails lengthened visibly.
"ROAR!"
In a blink, she was no longer a girl. She was a beast.
She lunged at Takeshi.
Slash.
Her claw punched straight through his chest, ripping out a blood-drenched heart.
Crunch.
She squeezed. The heart exploded in her grip.
Takeshi looked down at the gaping hole in his chest. Before shock could even register, his head lolled to the side. Dead.
"Ahhh!"
"He killed someone!"
Shizuka Hiratsuka shrieked, dropping her nail gun and bolting.
She didn't make it far.
You don't outrun a berserk mutated zombie.
Mafuyu leapt, landing on her shoulders. Her claws stabbed down, then pulled—
A head flew upward, smacking against the ceiling.
Blood sprayed like a fountain.
After finishing Shizuka Hiratsuka, Mafuyu slowly turned her gaze to Sugawara.
"Help! Someone help me!"
His legs gave out beneath him. He collapsed to the floor, warmth spreading through his pants.
Mafuyu's claws thrust toward his forehead.
"Mafuyu, leave him alive!"
Julian called out sharply.
Her nails stopped just a few centimeters from Sugawarai's eyeballs.
Slowly, her pupils darkened back to black.
"Master… I lost control for a second," she said, sticking her tongue out, looking once again like a sweet, obedient girl.
But in Sugawara's eyes, she was a demon.
What he'd just seen was worse than any zombie.
Zombies only bit people.
She shredded them.
"You," Julian said, yanking the nails out of his arm and looking down at Sugawara from above. "Where's the key to the freezer?"
"I-if I tell you…" Sugawara's voice trembled. "Will you let me live?"
"No," Julian replied flatly. "You'll die whether you talk or not."
"But if you talk, it'll hurt a lot less."
He smiled at him, almost kindly.
"....."