~
The next day was the same...
Ashira went to expand new territory. Today, she drove out in her armored vehicle.
She left Storm and Summer, seven dogs in total, to guard the Base and patrol the mountains, killing any Zombies that appeared. She took the remaining eight dogs to conquer the next hill.
Her target today was the villa area. The mountain villas were once a very famous real estate project, intended for the wealthy. The entire project had only 10 villas, but it was said that less than half were sold, and almost none were ever occupied!
When Ashira drove her large armored vehicle to the mountain villa area, she saw layers of small villas built on the mountainside, scattered and orderly.
These villas were far apart, ensuring excellent privacy, and built on the mountainside, overlooking the entire City A, with an unobstructed view.
The people who could live there were the top, non-poor or noble group in City A. She first sent out her dogs to detect if there were any living people nearby.
"Uno, Tres, you search the left."
"Dos, Quattro, you search the right."
"Loki, Sage, you search upwards."
"Snow, Frost, you stay put. If someone appears, call me!"
"Woof woof woof!"
The eight dogs immediately scattered, executing Ash's orders. Ashira, unhurriedly, took out a sign, smashed it in, and wrote on it—Private Territory, Trespassers Will Be Killed!
She didn't write 'vicious dogs' anymore. As this was her radiation territory, she wouldn't come here often. Mainly because she didn't have enough dogs to assign.
Set up a sign as a boundary marker, and if she felt someone coming later, she would kill them. After she hammered the sign in, the dogs returned, but the prompt sound in her mind was delayed.
Ashira scanned the 10 villas, knowing she definitely had to sweep through all of them. She left four dogs outside and took Uno, Dos, Tres, and Quattro to sweep the villas.
The first villa clearly hadn't been sold; the main door still had its original lock. Ashira found a wire from her space, fiddled with the lock for a bit, and opened the door.
Having been in the apocalypse for so long, Ash had learned a few skills. She went in and saw it was still in a rough state.
She inspected it from top to bottom and left the character 'Ash' on the mailbox by the entrance. Immediately after, a map appeared in her mind.
[Ding—Territory expanded by five hundred square meters! Reward: one hundred points!]
Ashira smiled slightly. That's more like it.
She continued to sweep the other villas. She swept through nine villas in a row. Of the previous ones, only two were decorated; the rest were all in a rough state. And Ashira didn't see a single person.
She successfully expanded her territory by 8 villas. When Ashira arrived at the 9th villa, she noticed a car parked in the small garden in front of the door.
She touched the dust on the car window; it wasn't very thick, suggesting the people inside hadn't stopped for long. She observed the windows of the villa in front of her and found all the curtains were tightly closed.
She knocked on the door and pressed the doorbell. But the sound echoed in the empty villa area, and there was no sound from inside.
Ashira raised her eyebrows slightly. As usual, she took out a wire and carefully fiddled with the door lock. This time, she felt it; the door was locked from the inside. There was definitely someone inside, Either alive, or already turned into a Zombie.
And at that moment, she felt her wire vibrate; someone inside was twisting the door lock. A living person.
Ashira hesitated for a moment. For places that were ownerless or even had owners who weren't present, she could occupy them without any psychological burden. But there was someone inside, and a living person at that. Her hand, which was resting on the door panel, dropped.
In the apocalypse, all laws had collapsed, and all the evil of human nature could be released wantonly. As long as one was strong enough, bullying the weak and plundering by force was not a problem.
However, Ashira couldn't do it. She prided herself on being the floor of humanity's moral bottom line; she felt no guilt when killing people, but she wasn't a tyrannical or cruel person. Her evil and ruthlessness were only directed at those who infringed upon her interests.
For example, at this moment, if someone dared to occupy the territory she had already claimed, she would definitely kill them. But now she was actively invading someone else's territory, driving out or killing the people inside, and then forcibly occupying their house.
She couldn't do it. Ash temporarily let the survivor inside off the hook.
Just then, the door behind her opened a small crack.