Over the next two hours, Lux looted several more convenience stores, but no new Tactical Dolls came to report to him.
He felt a bit anxious, but the system didn't provide much response either, so he could only wait.
As the sky gradually darkened, Lux decided to find a place to rest. After driving for nearly the entire day, he was starting to feel tired.
If he slept in the car for another night, he'd probably wake up tomorrow sore all over.
He needed to find a building where he could stretch his body and get some proper rest.
Thinking that, Lux gradually slowed down and began scanning the buildings along the street.
Residential areas were a no-go. There were too many zombies there, and one careless move could get them surrounded.
The best option was a single-story house with a courtyard. There usually weren't many residents, the space was open, and the house itself was fairly large.
Whether he could find one, though, depended on luck.
"Lux! I'm hungry!"
MDR said weakly.
"Yeah, we'll find a place to rest and then eat. Hm? Hotpot meatballs?"
Lux felt a surge of delight when he spotted a grocery store with a sign on the door that read "Hotpot Meatballs."
This was a great place. Not only would there be vegetables, but also hotpot meatballs. If they were lucky, there might even be frozen meat.
"Oh ho, looks like our luck isn't bad today. Let's rest here tonight."
"What do you mean, luck isn't bad?"
AA-12 asked with rare interest.
"It means you're getting a big meal tonight. MDR, come down with me in a bit and help clear the area. No gunfire. I'll treat you to hotpot tonight."
Lux stepped on the brakes. He still clearly remembered how, on the first day, MDR had kicked a zombie's head apart with just one kick. Taking her down with him was the best choice.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Leave it to the all-powerful Miss MDR!"
MDR laughed confidently.
"You stay in the car. Only open fire for cover if our lives are in danger."
As Lux spoke, he opened the car door and quickly began clearing zombies together with MDR.
---
On top of a tall building, a black-haired loli lay prone behind a sniper rifle, observing Lux and MDR's fight through the scope.
"As expected of the Commander. He's surprisingly agile. Hm? Did he notice me? There shouldn't be any reflection…"
Through the scope, she saw Lux glance in her direction.
"Ah, whatever~ I'll go report in."
The girl in the red dress carried a sniper rifle completely disproportionate to her size and casually headed toward the stairwell leading down from the rooftop.
She carefully stepped over an anti-personnel mine placed at the doorway, then closed the door behind her.
"Ahh, I should leave a little reminder too."
As she spoke, she pulled out a piece of chalk from a backpack modified from a bunny plush and carefully wrote a line on the door.
Ahead is a minefield. Humans, please be careful. Zombies, GO! GO! GO!
"Perfect. If anyone still steps on it after that, it's not my fault."
Humming to herself, the girl went downstairs. Her red dress was decorated with numerous bunny plushies, and one bunny on her head was even holding a grenade.
---
"Commander, is something wrong?"
After crushing a zombie's head with one kick, MDR asked when she saw Lux suddenly turn around.
"It's nothing. I just felt like someone was watching us earlier… probably my imagination."
Lux shook his head. There was only one high-rise in the distance, nearly a kilometer away. Even if there really were survivors there, at that distance, with normal human eyesight, they'd barely be able to make out a tiny black dot.
Even with his enhanced vision after the gene modification, he hadn't seen anything.
Lux entered the grocery store to check it out. There was only a pool of blood on the floor, no zombies.
It seemed that when the disaster broke out, the shop owner had panicked and fled.
"Alright, everyone get out of the car and come inside. We'll rest here tonight."
Lux parked the seven-seater van in front of the grocery store. Candice, Sten, and the others got out one after another.
With a wave of his hand, Lux positioned two vehicles they had found earlier on the road sideways, completely sealing off the front of the shop into a square.
That way, even if zombies surrounded the store, the cars could buy them some time for HK416 and the others to get back into the van and escape.
With vehicles as cover, and AA-12's 30-round drum magazine, the defense line wouldn't be torn apart so easily.
After all, AA-12's knockback ability was excellent.
Pulling down the horizontal shutter, Lux looked around the grocery store.
It was a large shop of about thirty square meters. The shelves were stocked with various vegetables, and two large refrigerators stood neatly against the wall.
Lux opened one of the refrigerators. Inside were frozen meats covered in white frost crystals, along with all kinds of hotpot meatballs.
Items without much blood scent, stored in refrigerators, had conveniently avoided the zombies' menu.
Unfortunately, the system space didn't provide electricity. He couldn't preserve this meat long-term.
He took out several smokeless stoves and placed them on the ground, added some charcoal used for outdoor grilling, and lit the flames.
"Sten, put these pots on the stoves and add water until they're half full."
Lux took out a pack of bottled water and several pots from the system space and set them down.
Since the smokeless stoves weren't very large, he couldn't cook one big pot of hotpot. He could only split it into several smaller ones.
Still, that worked out well. They could have non-spicy, medium-spicy, and extra-spicy broths, perfectly matching everyone's tastes.
"Got it! Leave it to me! This kind of small task won't be a problem!"
Sten confidently followed Lux's instructions and began preparing the pots.
"What a pity. The lettuce went bad after four days, but radishes and stuff are still fine."
"HK416, you haven't used your Swiss Army knife to kill zombies yet, right? Can you peel the skins off these vegetables?"
Lux asked, holding a potato.
"Leave it to me. I won't disappoint you."
HK416 nodded reliably.
"Alright, I'll cook the rice. AA-12 and MDR, you're on guard duty."
"Understood."
AA-12 walked over to the shutter door and sat down with her back against it.
MDR went to stand by a window.
Everyone clearly divided their tasks and began preparing dinner.