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nWhen David came back, Cola, who was sleeping on the couch, ran over to greet him. Cola vigorously rubbed against David’s leg and they seemed very close. Ever since David gave Cola several crystal treats, it has become extremely affectionate towards him. David picked Cola up from the floor and examined it, growing more satisfied the longer he looked. Cola had a robust physique and sharp claws, clearly a skilled hunter for catching mice.

nDavid said to Sally, “I’ll borrow Cola for a bit and take it out for a walk.”

nSally hesitated for a moment. Although she didn’t know what David was planning to do with Cola, she replied, “You don’t even need to ask me; it seems like Cola is more attached to you than to me. It feels like you’re its owner.” There was a tinge of jealousy in Sally’s tone.

nDavid chuckled and said, “No worries. I’ll let you feed it some mutant crystals next time, then it will be close to you.”

nSaying that, David took out another mutant crystal and handed it to Sally. “You stay at home today and continue absorbing the crystals, aiming to break through to Level 2 as soon as possible.”

nSally took the crystal and nodded obediently. “I got it.”

nDavid walked over to the corner of the room where Little Black was curled up, sound asleep. Its body had grown even larger, and its bones were thicker and stronger. It looked like it had reached the size of a medium-sized dog. It seemed that the mutant crystals it absorbed yesterday had produced excellent results.

nThe dog cage was no longer able to accommodate Little Black, so it had developed a habit of sleeping in the corner of the room. David lightly kicked Little Black’s sleeping hindquarters. Little Black opened its groggy eyes and looked at David. When it saw David holding Cola in his arms, it immediately let out several jealous barks, sounding quite anxious.

nDavid said, “Little Black, come with me. I’ll take you out for a walk.”

nLittle Black instantly perked up upon hearing that. It had been nearly suffocating staying at home these past few days. Typically, dogs need to be walked every day, especially energetic ones like Little Black. But it had been cooped up at home these past few days, without a chance to go out, and it was feeling extremely restless. Moreover, there was a cat in the house constantly eyeing it, making it difficult for it to move around freely. Little Black immediately started bounding around, spinning in circles around David, looking extremely excited.

nSally said, “Are you going out again? I was just about to make lunch.”

nDavid shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. I have things to take care of. I’ll come back to eat tonight.” With that, David prepared to leave with the cat in his arms. Just as he opened the door, the door across from him opened as well.

nArnold, who was behind the door, saw David holding a cat in his arms with a dog by his side and was momentarily stunned. He smiled and nodded at David as a greeting. Then, with a solemn expression, Arnold said, “David, let me confess something to you.”

nSeeing Arnold’s serious expression, David thought something bad had happened. “What’s the matter?”

nArnold told David about giving food to the man earlier. After a moment of contemplation, David said, “I didn’t think it was such a big deal. The food’s on me. You two don’t have to go hungry.”

nHowever, David continued seriously, “But I have to mention something to you. Today is only the second day of the zombie outbreak. Think about it, even if they are starving, Father and son won’t starve to death? Their house can’t be completely devoid of food, right?”

nArnold suddenly wore a look of realization. “Now that you mention it, something seems off.”

nDavid shook his head. When people don’t have food, as long as there is water, they can survive without any issues for at least ten to twenty days. If their physical condition is better and they have more body fat, it’s even possible to survive for over a month.

nArnold was just too kind-hearted, and seeing the other party using the child as a shield softened him. If any other teammate did the same, David would have kicked them out a long time ago. But there was nothing he could do; after all, Arnold had saved David’s life in a previous life.

nIn this apocalypse, David only had this one truly loyal brother. And he understood that the end of the world had just begun, so it would take Arnold some time to adjust his thinking.

nAlthough David wasn’t sure about the true intentions of this father and son, in the apocalypse, he always speculated about strangers with the worst possible intentions. “Be careful around this guy. If he comes again, don’t open the door.”

nDavid’s intuition told him that something was off about this man. But he wasn’t particularly worried because they had Sally, the esper. No matter how many ordinary people came, Sally could handle them.

n“Yeah, we understand,” Arnold felt somewhat guilty in his heart. He knew that he had done a good deed with unintended consequences this time. And the fact that David showed no resentment only increased his guilt.

n“Alright, enough talking. I’m going out,” David hurriedly walked downstairs with the cat in his arms, and Little Black followed behind wagging its tail. Watching David’s departing figure, both Arnold and Sophie were stunned. “Is David taking the dog for a walk?”…

nInside the room, a man in formal attire handed a packet of biscuits to the little boy beside him. “Clare, go ahead and eat.” This man was Clark, the person who had just asked Arnold for food.

nClark took two biscuits out of the box and put them in his mouth, then handed the remaining biscuits to the little boy beside him. “Dad, I’m not hungry.”

nClark nodded at the little boy and patted his head. “Go play.” 𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t

nThe little boy hesitated, as if he had something to say to Clark. Clark asked with concern, “What’s wrong, Clare? Do you want to tell Dad something?”

nAfter a moment of hesitation, the little boy finally spoke up, “Dad, you told me lying is wrong, but we still have so much food at home.”

nClark smiled and patted his head. “Good boy, lying is wrong, but now we’re trying to survive. When your goal is to survive, whatever you do is right.” The little boy nodded, seemingly understanding.

n“Go play,” Clark affectionately patted his head. Clark went to the bathroom and neatly groomed his hair in front of the mirror.

n” It seems the information I heard yesterday was correct. This family indeed hoarded a lot of supplies.” Yesterday, Angus and that Brother Knife were shouting loudly at Clark’s door, and Clark even heard a woman crying.

nClark was curious at that time and pressed his ear against the door to eavesdrop on the commotion from the other side. In reality, it couldn’t be considered eavesdropping because the voices from the other side were loud, and Clark easily heard their conversation. He also learned about David hoarding a lot of supplies in his house.

n“That guy named David must be incredibly powerful. More than twenty people couldn’t even defeat him.” Clark had also learned about espers from the internet in the past few days, and he speculated that David might be one of those legendary espers.

n“The food in the house won’t last long. I need to think of a solution. What should I do?” Clark fell into deep thought.

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