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It was late at night.
Julian was just about to begin his nightly feeding routine.
Suddenly, his phone rang.
Not bad. The mobile network stations were still holding up; the signal was surprisingly strong.
"Hello? Who's this?"
"Don't people sleep in the middle of the night?"
Julian answered the call.
"Ah, you're the delivery guy from this afternoon, right?"
"I'm the woman from Villa No. 18."
"I wanted to ask you…"
"Can you bring me some raw meat? Right now!"
"I… I'll pay ten times the price!"
"Please!"
The middle-aged woman begged desperately over the phone.
Besides her voice, Julian's sharp ears picked up something else.
Growling.
No doubt about it. Zombies.
"Sorry. I don't do business with zombies."
Julian refused without hesitation.
Selling food just so someone could feed zombies with it gave him the uncomfortable feeling of being a traitor selling supplies to the enemy during wartime.
"I'm begging you!"
"If they don't get food soon, they won't make it!"
"Ah! No!"
"Don't bite me!"
"Ah—!"
The woman suddenly let out a piercing scream.
It sounded like she'd let her guard down for a second and gotten bitten.
"Damn…"
"If zombies start appearing inside the compound, that's going to be dangerous as hell at night!"
"I still need to trade supplies in that neighborhood!"
"If they all get wiped out, who am I supposed to trade with?"
"Am I supposed to go door-to-door cracking safes? That'd be ridiculously inefficient!"
Julian cursed as he hung up.
"Master, what happened?"
"Hana and Mafuyu asked in unison, their twin gazes fixed on Julian's darkened expression."
"I need to go out for a bit."
"You two…"
"Drink some of the red stuff first."
Julian sliced a small cut into his arm.
Seeing how serious he looked, the two girls knew this was important and obediently drank a little of his blood.
After a quick feeding, Julian grabbed his knife and headed out.
He couldn't even be bothered to kill the zombies outside the door. Any that came too close were simply knocked aside with the flat of his blade.
Julian jumped into the Porsche he'd driven back earlier and headed toward the Donghu Villa district.
Driving through the city at night was a bit tricky, but once he reached the coastal highway, he was able to pick up speed.
A little over twenty minutes later, Julian arrived at the entrance to the villa complex.
A faint light glowed from the security booth, which meant someone was still on duty.
As soon as Julian's car pulled up, two security guards quickly ran out together.
Julian recognized them immediately. They were the same two guards who had taken his cucumbers and bananas earlier that day.
"Hey! It's you!"
"What are you doing here again in the middle of the night?"
"Someone order a late-night snack?"
The younger guard joked.
"I'm not kidding."
"There are zombies in Villa No. 18. Someone's already been bitten."
"Come with me and check it out."
Julian said seriously.
"Zombies?"
"No way!"
"We actually just sent two guards over to check on Villa 18!"
"Hey, how long have they been gone?"
The older guard asked.
"Almost half an hour."
The younger guard glanced at his watch.
The older guard's expression immediately changed. He grabbed his walkie-talkie and started calling for responses.
Everyone replied.
Except the team that had gone to Villa 18.
"That's bad… this might actually be real."
The older guard realized how serious this was.
Zombies inside the compound was a huge problem.
"How about this. I'll go check Villa 18 first."
"You guys organize some people and start searching the area."
"We don't know how many zombies there are yet. They could be wandering anywhere."
Julian said.
"I'll go with you!"
"It's dark, and I know the roads inside the villa area."
The younger guard opened the passenger door and got in.
"I'll gather people to start the search!"
The older guard ran back to the booth to begin making arrangements.
Julian stepped on the gas and drove deeper into the villa district.
"Brother, my name's Shirogane. Just call me Shiro."
"Turn left up here. It's a shortcut…"
"Hey, bro, you rushed over here this late at night. Does the owner of Villa 18 owe you a lot of money or something?"
The young guard Shiro asked.
"It's not about money."
"If a place this nice gets ruined by zombies, that would be a damn shame."
What Julian was really thinking about were the several thousand pounds of supplies he still hadn't traded away.
Sure, once everyone in the compound died, he could go house to house searching.
But who knew whether they even had gold at home? And even if they did, who knew where they hid it?
That would be far too inefficient.
Better to come over now, deal with the zombies, and earn a favor while he was at it.
Besides, on his way back earlier, Julian had already come up with a plan.
"....."