Under the soft moonlight, the girl in his arms looked breathtakingly beautiful. Li Ke took a deep breath while gazing into her eyes, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to leave.
He quietly sat down in the corner of the room. Almost immediately, Erina Nakiri crawled into his embrace, pressing herself against him and burying her face deep into his chest. She had been through far too many terrifying experiences.
Li Ke gently wrapped his arms around the trembling girl, letting her lean fully against his body. He could clearly feel the warmth radiating from her skin and the faint, alluring feminine scent that clung to her. Although the smell of blood partially masked it, her natural fragrance still posed a massive temptation to him in this quiet moment.
More than that, her body was incredibly voluptuous and soft — nothing like what one would expect from a young girl. She felt more like a fully ripened, juicy peach, heavy and overflowing with softness in all the right places.
"Speaking of which… wasn't Food Wars basically a meat-filled series? And she was supposed to be that blonde tsundere, right?"
Li Ke gently stroked Erina's back with slow, soothing motions, comforting her while his mind wandered. If he remembered correctly, she was supposed to be a proud, arrogant tsundere. But from their actual encounters, she was nothing like that. She was simply a fragile, delicate young lady.
She was a chef, yes, but also a genuine ojou-sama who ruled the Japanese food industry. The kind of super heiress who could make the daughter of a major meat conglomerate act as her subordinate.
"If I were in her world, I probably wouldn't have had any chance to interact with her at all… Though honestly, I always preferred that Nikumi girl more…"
The influence of the environment was truly terrifying — turning such a proud girl into this soft, vulnerable creature.
But as Li Ke reminisced about Food Wars, he suddenly remembered why he had always liked Ikumi more. She was the ultimate fanservice character — the bold, blonde meat-loving girl who constantly talked about A5-grade beef and proudly showed off her body.
No particular reason… simply because hers were big, always on display, and made people…
"Mmm…"
Erina let out a soft, surprised whimper. Only then did Li Ke realize that the voluptuous girl currently lying in his arms had a body that easily rivaled Ikumi's. And in her current position — curled up against him — the inner side of her smooth thigh was pressed directly against his growing erection.
He coughed awkwardly a couple of times, feeling slightly embarrassed. Truthfully, with his body burning hot right now, he had little interest in holding back. But what surprised him was that even after clearly noticing his hardening cock, Erina — who was only wearing a thin shirt — made no attempt to pull away.
Like an ostrich hiding from danger, she clung even tighter to his neck, refusing to lift her head and face the cruel world outside.
Li Ke could only sigh softly. He reached over, pulled the blanket down from the bed, and covered both of them with it. In the quiet corner of the room, they held each other closely and fell asleep on the floor.
When morning came, Li Ke was the first to wake up — not by choice, but because his bladder was about to burst.
While Erina was still sound asleep, he carefully lifted her and placed her gently onto the bed. Then he quickly slipped into his own room and used an empty plastic bottle to relieve his urgent physiological need.
But as soon as he pulled his pants back on and stepped out of his room, he was greeted by the sight of Erina Nakiri leaning against her doorframe. She was still wearing nothing but her oversized shirt, her face flushing crimson as she locked eyes with him.
Realizing she had been caught staring, Erina instantly whipped her head away, muttering under her breath, "It's not... it's not like I was worried about you or anything..."
Seeing such a textbook tsundere display in the flesh was an absolute psychological treat, especially when they were about to head out on another dangerous adventure.
Once Erina had finished getting properly dressed, Li Ke walked over with the rest of yesterday's supplies, handing her one of the remaining spam cans.
"Food is running low," he said, getting straight to business. "We have to go out and scavenge today. We also need to either secure a much safer base or figure out a way to find replacement tires for this RV."
He still hadn't fully processed how terrifying the zombies became at night. Their speed, brute strength, and even their detection range were massively buffed under the moonlight.
Furthermore, that wandering wolf pack was a glaring issue. If the sprinting zombies hadn't driven those predators away, the very first thing they would have faced this morning would have been a relentless siege by a pack of wolves.
"Understood."
Erina glanced at their meager pile of rations and nodded quietly. She knew exactly why they were running low on food—it was entirely her fault. Li Ke had clearly been in the middle of a successful looting run yesterday until her screams derailed everything. Now that there were two mouths to feed, their consumption rate had doubled. She had absolutely no right to complain about helping him scavenge.
"Before we head out, dress in heavy layers. Pick thick clothes that you can shed quickly if needed, but make sure they don't restrict your movement. I'm worried those wolves might still be stalking the perimeter. Once we're ready, you stay inside until I give the all-clear."
Li Ke continued giving instructions while chewing on his spam, finally witnessing exactly how the "God's Tongue" managed to consume processed food.
"Okay," Erina whispered.
Taking a sharp breath, she sliced the spam into tiny, precise cubes right under Li Ke's watchful gaze. Then, she aggressively poured a massive amount of honey over the meat. Tilting the can back, she practically swallowed the mixture whole like bitter medicine—refusing to chew, desperate to minimize the time the food actually spent contacting the inside of her mouth.
Compared to Li Ke, who was meticulously chewing every bite to maximize satiety, her method was incredibly wasteful. Feeling his curious gaze on her bizarre eating habits, Erina lowered her head in deep shame.
"I... this is the only way I can keep it down," she mumbled.
Li Ke didn't mind at all. He could clearly see the sheer physical revulsion the girl experienced with every swallow; her involuntary gag reflex was impossible to fake.
"Don't worry about it," he said with a reassuring smile. "Everyone needs time to adapt to a new environment."
He tossed the last few bites of spam into his mouth, pulled out their final two bottles of water, and handed one to her. He then poured his own fresh water directly into his half-empty honey jar to mix a sweet drink.
Erina clutched her water bottle, her lips trembling. She lacked the courage to even crack the cap open. Looking thoroughly defeated, she whispered, "Someone burdened with a curse like mine... I must seem completely useless to you, don't I?"
For the first time in her life, she felt a profound, burning hatred for her own tongue.
If it hadn't been for this useless tongue, the zombies never would have detected her so easily. Her first meeting with Mr. Li Ke could have been dignified, rather than the pathetic display it was—turning her into a complete liability, and a notoriously picky one at that.
"Maybe," Li Ke replied neutrally. "I don't have your tongue, so I can't feel what you feel. I don't really have a right to judge. But what I do know is that our only real job right now is to stay alive."
He wasn't going to overthink it; after all, neither of them was even guaranteed to see tomorrow.
Erina still couldn't wrap her head around where Li Ke drew his casual, unbothered attitude toward despair, but she gave him a firm, serious nod anyway.
"Right."
Once Erina had forced down the last of her food, they allowed themselves a brief two-minute rest. Throwing on a pair of heavy winter coats they had unearthed from the RV's cabinets, the duo braced themselves to hunt for today's rations.
"If we run into any wolves out there, you focus on protecting yourself first. Don't worry about me," Li Ke instructed, inhaling a sharp breath before touching the door handle. He had no way of knowing if any straggler zombies or lingering wolves were waiting in ambush. He had to assume the absolute worst.
Holding an axe in one hand and a sharp kitchen knife in the other, Erina nodded, a look of fierce determination hardening her beautiful features.
"Understood. I'll do my best."
"Alright. Let's move!"
Li Ke's heart hammered against his ribs. He threw the door open and leaped out of the RV. He landed with a soft, muffled thud on the dirt—quiet, but still loud enough to trigger any nearby undead.
Fortunately, his worst-case scenario didn't play out. The immediate area was dead silent. There wasn't a zombie or wolf in sight, as if the entire local ecosystem had been completely wiped clean the night before.
They carefully cleared the immediate perimeter around the RV. Finding no threats, they both breathed a collective sigh of relief, and Li Ke immediately locked his eyes onto the cluster of houses bordering the vehicle.
He hadn't dared to scavenge this close before for one simple reason: the sheer density of the undead.
Yesterday, multiple zombies had been loitering right at the town's entrance, and every single dilapidated building showed signs of heavy infestation. Picking a fight here meant drawing the wrath of half the town, which would have been a fast track to a horrific death.
But today was different. The massive midnight brawl had successfully lured the majority of the local population away. More importantly, Li Ke needed to test a theory about how these game mechanics worked.
To make things better, there was a small supermarket sitting just a short distance from their RV. Yesterday's passing wolf pack had essentially acted as a massive piece of bait, pulling every single zombie out of that building.
If fortune favored them, that supermarket would still be loaded with a goldmine of supplies.
Keeping their footsteps light, Li Ke and Erina crept through the overgrown grass toward the nearest house. Li Ke peered through a shattered windowpane, checking the integrity of the rotting floorboards and the structural safety of the interior. Satisfied, he signaled Erina, and they slipped through the broken front door to begin their search.
The house didn't yield much in the way of food. After turning the place upside down, all they managed to recover were a few bottles of multivitamin pills and a handful of hard candies.
However, as Li Ke brushed some dust off a warped wooden table in the corner, his eyes widened. Sitting right there in plain sight was a small, heavy box filled with solid gold bars.
Under normal circumstances, discovering gold would have left Li Ke ecstatic. But in a world gone to hell, a gold bar was nothing more than dead weight. Still, adhering to the classic thief's code—never leave a room empty-handed—he slipped a single bar into his pocket as a souvenir. Signaling Erina, they left the room behind and moved to the next building.
The second house went just as smoothly. They encountered zero undead and walked away with a massive haul: three cans of chicken and several well-preserved hams.
However...
"This makes no sense," Li Ke muttered, staring at the completely empty nightstands and storage cabinets.
"What's wrong?" Erina asked. She was busy carefully inspecting the shelves for any edible condiments that might help mask the taste of future meals.
"Isn't this supposed to be America? Where are all the guns?" Li Ke sighed, thoroughly perplexed. It wasn't like they were being careless; they had torn every single drawer open. Yet, after clearing two entire houses, they hadn't found so much as a single stray bullet, let alone a pistol. It defied all logic.
"Maybe... well, maybe the original owners took them when they fled?" Erina offered weakly, giving him a sheepish smile as she tried to rationalize the lack of firearms.
"I guess so." Li Ke shook his head. He desperately wanted a firearm—ideally an submachine gun. Having a automatic weapon meant that even if they were cornered by a massive running horde at night, they would at least have the firepower for a final stand. It would allow him to die with a shred of dignity. Unfortunately, his empty-handed streak was doing nothing for his peace of mind.
Even if he didn't know how to shoot, just having a gun gave a survivor a psychological safety net. And if there were other survivors out there...
Taking a sharp breath, Li Ke pushed the intrusive thoughts aside. When he had held Erina the night before, he realized she was burning up with a fever just like him. They were both running out of time; worrying about hostile survivors was a luxury they couldn't afford.
"Alright, let's hit the next house. We'll check the supermarket last..." He packed the food she had organized into his backpack and turned to leave.
Suddenly, a loud, crackling PA broadcast echoed from somewhere behind the building.
"Trader's open for business!"
The announcement was instantly followed by the heavy, mechanical sound of an electronic deadbolt sliding open. Li Ke and Erina froze, staring in utter bewilderment toward the source of the noise. Peeking past the edge of the house, they spotted a heavily fortified compound flying a bizarre, makeshift flag.
The voice had come from right inside that compound.
The two exchanged a long look and nodded. If there were actual living survivors running a functional shop, it meant a shred of human civilization still existed in this wasteland.
As for why they were so certain it was a living human and not a pre-recorded trap? The logic was simple: the entire town's power grid had been dead for ages. A automated daily broadcast required a fully functioning generator setup—something a mindless zombie could never maintain.
"Approach with caution," Li Ke whispered, gesturing for her to stay low. "If it's just a timed recording and the area is crawling with infected, we run immediately."
They crept toward the compound, coming face-to-face with a formidable post-apocalyptic fortress. The perimeter was entirely enclosed by thick walls topped with razor-sharp barbed wire. The main gate itself had been heavily reinforced with thick layers of scrap metal.
Peering through the gated entrance of a reinforced metal trailer inside, Li Ke's eyes widened. Standing calmly behind a sturdy wooden counter was a woman with a stethoscope draped around her neck. Her skin showed no signs of rot, and she was clearly breathing.
If Li Ke needed any proof that she was a living, breathing human, it was her remarkably voluptuous figure. With every breath she took, her heavy chest noticeably shifted.
More importantly, there wasn't a single zombie inside the perimeter.
"A real person!"
A wave of pure joy washed over both Li Ke and Erina. Without hesitation, they hurried toward the fortified safe zone. As they crossed the threshold into the courtyard, Li Ke instinctively scanned the blind spots behind the doors for any hidden infected. The place was entirely clear; in fact, there wasn't a single soul around besides the woman behind the counter.
However, as Li Ke drew closer to the trader, a strange feeling of unease settled over him.
The woman behind the desk...
Acted as if she hadn't even noticed they were standing there.