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Out of energy? Then obviously you need to refill it.
And the method for refilling energy was pretty simple...
Julian drove the truck across the bridge and headed back to the villa with the nice view they'd visited yesterday.
After "recharging" for half an hour, Julian walked out of the villa with Hana.
He had to admit—what Hana had shown at the bridge earlier had genuinely impressed him.
Still, at the moment, it wasn't all that practical.
If it had been Mafuyu dealing with a few dozen zombies like that, she wouldn't even break a sweat.
But after controlling them for just a short while, Hana had been completely drained.
So yeah… Hana definitely needed to get stronger.
Maybe he should give her some extra "special training" in the future?
Yeah. That could work.
Hana had no idea that the ability she'd casually revealed had just earned her the privilege of extra "meals."
After that, Julian drove the truck to the hotel warehouse.
Hana handled unloading the supplies.
Meanwhile, Julian started installing the solar panels.
The panels themselves weren't hard to set up. As long as you had some basic tools, you could just follow the manual.
The tricky part was connecting the panels to the hotel's electrical system.
Julian knew how to mess around with electronics, but he wasn't exactly an electrician.
Looks like he'd need to find someone to help…
Right—the security guards and property staff from the Donghu villa district across the water.
Basic electrical work should be part of property maintenance, right?
He could probably lure a few reliable guys over with some beer and cucumbers and have them handle it.
After working for several hours, most of the panels were finally installed.
Once the wiring was connected, the island's facilities could start running normally.
Hana trotted over to Julian and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Master! I already sorted all the equipment we brought over by category!"
"Once the power's on, we'll be able to use everything right away!"
"Oh—and I cleaned up a bit too. There was a lot of dust."
Hana rubbed her little head against his chest.
She was obviously fishing for praise.
"Nice."
"I was wondering why unloading took you so long. Turns out you were doing extra work."
"Very good. That deserves a reward."
Julian patted her head.
Good performance deserved a reward—that was only fair.
"Master… there's an infinity pool on the roof of the main building."
"I already filled it with water…"
Hana lowered her head shyly.
"Let's go."
Julian hoisted her onto his shoulder and headed upstairs.
Honestly, carrying Hana felt completely different from carrying Asuka.
Since the elevator didn't have power yet, Julian took the stairs all the way to the top floor.
The view was incredible.
The entire island stretched out below them, and beyond it the vast sea shimmered in the distance.
Hana couldn't wait. She instantly stripped down and jumped straight into the pool.
And then…
She sank.
Immediately.
Julian had no choice but to jump in and fish her back out.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Hana spat out several mouthfuls of water.
"What the heck just happened…?"
"I used to know how to swim…"
She looked utterly depressed.
Back then, she could float effortlessly just lying in the water. Two "airbags" alone were enough to keep her afloat.
So why was she sinking the moment she touched water now…?
"I'll have Mafuyu try later."
"I'm guessing it has something to do with you becoming zombies."
Julian felt like he'd just discovered another zombie trait.
If even a mutated zombie as strong as Hana couldn't swim, then ordinary zombies definitely couldn't.
"How did it feel while you were in the water?" he asked.
"I'm not afraid of water, but I just sink."
"If I hold my breath, I can stay underwater for a really long time. My body doesn't need much oxygen now anyway."
"I only choked on water just now because I wasn't prepared. My mistake."
Hana explained.
Julian nodded.
Zombies still needed to breathe—but their oxygen requirements were far lower than humans.
Which meant if you threw a zombie into the water, it would eventually die after enough time.
"Alright, come here. This time I'll hold you."
Julian jumped back into the pool and waved at Hana.
She instantly understood.
The surface of the water soon stopped being calm.
…
Computer City
This was a small four-story shopping mall.
Its main business was selling custom desktop PCs, phones, game consoles, and a small selection of home appliances.
Under normal circumstances it was fairly busy, which meant there were plenty of zombies here now.
Especially the shady computer dealers.
Now they were literally eating people.
Nanami Kento led a squad through the mall, searching carefully.
The camp had plenty of manpower these days, so he'd brought fifteen people with him this time—an almost luxurious lineup.
With a team like that, even if they got surrounded by zombies, they could still break out.
"That kid Julian said we needed… Pee-pee… PS4s? And… what else again?"
Kento didn't really understand games.
"And Switches! Plus their game cartridges and discs!"
The burly Ryuji added from the side.
Kento was a solid guy—strong and dependable—but he just wasn't a nerd.
He had no clue about young people's stuff.
If not for Ryuji and the other younger guys in the group, they might spend half the day just figuring out what they were looking for.
The first floor mainly sold phones—not what they came for.
Working together, the group fought their way up to the second floor.
"Let's split into two teams and search separately. It'll be faster," Kento said quietly.
They divided into two groups. Kento, being the strongest, took five people with him while the rest formed the other team.
Since they couldn't find the mall's light switch, Kento had to move forward with a flashlight.
There were far fewer zombies on the second floor than on the first.
Most of them were computer shop owners still stuck behind their counters.
Kento held a fire axe in one hand and a flashlight in the other, killing zombies one by one as he advanced with ruthless efficiency.
"Boss… it feels like your strength has jumped a lot these past few days," Ryuji said, looking envious.
Before, he and Kento weren't that far apart.
But after seeing him in action today, Kento was clearly on another level.
"I'm not sure either."
"Maybe I've just killed so many that I've gotten used to it."
Kento chuckled.
He could feel it himself—he'd gotten much stronger.
If he ran into that crazy woman from the bank vault again, he might actually have a chance to fight her now.
"Boss! That shop over there mainly sells graphics cards!"
One of the men pointed his flashlight in a direction.
Kento and the others looked over.
A zombie was standing there… holding a graphics card and licking it.
"…What the hell kind of fetish is that?"
"Someone licking a graphics card…?"
Kento blinked.
Wouldn't that cut your tongue?
"Boss, you're out of date."
"Licking a graphics card is nothing. Some people lick Switch game cartridges."
"You wouldn't understand gaming culture."
Ryuji laughed.
The zombie licking the graphics card spotted them. It hesitated for a moment, then immediately dropped the card and lunged at them.
But the counter was a little too high.
The jump sent it tumbling straight to the floor.
Kento didn't hesitate—his axe came down on the back of its head.
Problem solved.
"....."