Before long, Lianne deftly changed into the camouflage uniform, giving off a sharp, heroic air.
She no longer tried to awkwardly imitate seductive behavior she wasn't familiar with, because she understood that Lux valued her worth, not her body.
"What should I call you?"
"My name is Lux. Call me whatever you like."
"Alright, Brother Lux, is that okay?"
"That's fine. I have only two rules. First, don't ask too many questions. Second, never betray your own people. If you do, I'll kill you with my own hands."
"Understood."
Lianne nodded seriously.
Lux returned to HK416's side.
Lianne followed closely behind him.
Seeing that Lux hadn't gone somewhere secluded with Lianne and had only talked at a distance, HK416 finally relaxed.
"Alright, it's time for you to make your choice. I've already said everything. If you're not afraid of being fed to zombies or sold as commodities, come out."
Lux said calmly.
"We… we want to stay here."
After discussing among themselves, the women all shook their heads. They didn't want to go outside and die.
"Who knows where the wine cellar is?"
"Me, me, me!"
A girl with heavy smoky makeup immediately raised her hand and said ingratiatingly.
"Take me there. The people outside deserved to die, so I killed them all. I won't take the food here. You can wait for rescue, but I can't guarantee anyone will come."
"The zombies around here have been cleared for now. Trying to go outside and adapt to this world can also be a way to survive."
Leaving those words behind, Lux led HK416, UMP45, and Lianne toward another corner of the bar, following the smoky-eyed girl.
When the cellar door was opened, large quantities of alcohol were neatly arranged on wooden racks. Lux made a rough estimate—there were at least tens of thousands of bottles.
"45, take her back to that room and tell them we'll leave in one hour. After that, they can move freely. But under no circumstances are they allowed to enter this cellar. Even if they leave the bar, they must not come here. Anyone who enters will die."
"Understood."
UMP45 gestured with her gun. Seeing the weapon in her hands, the smoky-eyed girl obediently left the cellar.
Once the girl was gone, Lux quickly moved between the racks, storing them into the system space one after another.
"HK, go get M99. I remember she said last night that she can set trip mines."
"Yes."
HK416 asked no questions and turned to leave.
Watching the racks vanish with a single gesture, Lianne rubbed her eyes, thinking she was seeing things. When she looked again, most of the cellar racks were already gone.
She didn't ask anything, firmly remembering Lux's rules.
"This is my spatial ability. I can store supplies inside it. Next, we're heading to the granary."
Lux explained calmly.
"Oh… okay."
Lianne nodded. Although it was hard to accept, she forced herself to accept the fact that Lux was a spatial ability user. After all, seeing was believing.
"Eat these crackers and sausages. We won't have a proper meal until tonight."
A packet of crackers and sausages flew toward Lianne. Her eyes lit up as she quickly hugged the food to her chest.
The previous survivors had tried to starve her to force her to be proactive, so she was already extremely hungry.
She carefully chewed the crackers. Junk food from the old world now felt no different from a gourmet feast.
Chewing slowly also maximized the feeling of fullness—one of the small survival tricks people naturally discovered after the apocalypse.
Lux planned to have M99 set a trip mine at the entrance before leaving, once all the alcohol was collected.
Those women knew how long he had stayed there. Moving tens of thousands of bottles in just one hour was impossible under normal circumstances.
If they noticed something abnormal, he intended to silence them.
But if they obeyed his warning and stayed away from the cellar, they wouldn't be killed.
At the very least, anyone who discovered the anomaly had to die.
The night before, during dinner, he had also discussed M99's skills.
From his memory of the game, M99's steady aim was a charging skill that increased damage, which clearly couldn't exist in reality, so he had asked her out of curiosity.
The answer surprised him.
M99's skills had been transformed into abilities that supported sniper missions.
Every day, the system refreshed twenty rounds of 12.7mm ammunition suitable for M99 in his storage space: armor-piercing, incendiary, explosive, and precision rounds, two of each.
In addition, it refreshed one anti-personnel trip mine, one claymore mine, and a grappling hook with a forty-meter descent rope for evacuation.
Each special round cost ten resource points, which made Lux determined to minimize how often M99 fired.
After all, a magazine of HK416's ammunition only cost fifty resource points.
Buying boxed ammunition directly without magazines cost only two hundred resource points for two hundred and ten rounds.
Fortunately, the daily refreshed ammunition didn't cost anything, so stockpiling it over time was still viable.
"Commander? Do you have any orders? Ah—waah! Your face—are you alright?"
M99 asked in confusion upon entering the cellar, then worriedly noticed the faint blood-colored wound on Lux's cheek.
"It's fine. HK handled it perfectly. Once I finish cleaning this place out, set an anti-personnel trip mine inside the doorway. The kind that guarantees the next person who opens it will die."
"Okay, I understand."
M99 nodded repeatedly and pulled a trip mine from her backpack.
In less than ten minutes, Lux finished storing all the alcohol in the cellar. He then left with HK416 and Lainne, while M99 began setting up the trip mine.
After setting up the trip mines, M99 withdrew from the cellar entrance, and Lux closed the cellar door.
"45, job's done. Let's move."
Lux said into the tactical earpiece.
"Roger."
UMP45 silently slipped away from the private room entrance.
The four of them walked out of the bar.
UMP45 got into the driver's seat, while Lux sat in the seat UMP45 had been in earlier. With Lianne added to the group, Candice moved to the front passenger seat to sit with HK416.
Fortunately, both Candice and M99 had petite, loli-like builds. Otherwise, this business van really wouldn't have been able to fit everyone. Lux had already decided to try to find another vehicle as soon as possible.