When a faint aroma of meat began to waft from the hotpots, MDR's attention was immediately drawn over.
Fortunately, most of the nearby zombies had already been cleared out, so there was no need to stay overly alert. Lux didn't say anything about it.
"Hey hey, Lux, can we eat yet? Can we eat yet??? Miss MDR's stomach is already growling like crazy!"
"I just put the stuff in a moment ago! The meat isn't even cooked yet! And the rice isn't done either. Wait a bit!"
"Then at least give me a bottle of cola! Give me a bottle of cola!"
"Well, let's treat today as a welcome party for Sten and AA-12."
Lux took out a pack of cola, a pack of Sprite, and several bottles of milk tea and juice, placing them on the ground.
After looting several convenience stores in a row, Lux's food reserves had become quite abundant. The frozen goods in this grocery store wouldn't last long anyway. Even if he stored the refrigerator itself in the system space, the residual cold would only preserve the food for a few days.
He couldn't finish all of it in that time. He might as well enjoy it freely.
"Commander, it seems we have a guest."
AA-12, who had been leaning against the shutter, stood up and raised her shotgun.
"Alert. How many enemies?"
As soon as Lux spoke, MDR and HK416 immediately grabbed their rifles from nearby. Sten also professionally picked up her submachine gun and stood ready behind the door.
"It's a bit strange. It's a little girl, carrying… a sniper rifle. She doesn't seem hostile."
AA-12 replied.
"What did you say? A sniper rifle?!"
Lux was instantly overjoyed. He could practically see mutated zombies falling before his eyes, turning into resource points.
"Lower your weapons. It's a new companion. No threat."
Lux pulled up the shutter in one motion.
A girl in a cute red dress, decorated with numerous bunny plushies, stood before him. It was M99.
"Commander! Reporting in! M99 has arrived! You've worked hard. From now on, I'll provide perfect long-range support!"
"I got it! I got a sniper!"
Overexcited, Lux picked M99 up in his arms.
He hadn't expected that in four pulls, he'd not only gotten AA-12, but also the bunny sniper.
"Eeeek! What are you doing all of a sudden?!"
M99 pulled out a phone with her left hand, quickly pressed 911, and hit dial.
"Hello, police station? The Commander is harassing me!"
M99 shouted into the phone.
"Ahem, wait, this is a misunderstanding. I didn't mean to do anything weird to you. It was really a misunderstanding. I was just too happy to see you and picked you up."
Lux carefully put M99 back on the ground, then stepped back a few meters and raised his hands to show he meant no harm.
"Commander, why are you so nervous? There's been no signal on phones for a long time now. Emergency numbers don't work at all."
MDR reminded him.
"H-how can that be?!"
M99 was utterly shocked.
"Ahem. That's basically the situation right now. This world seems to have suffered a biohazard outbreak… or rather, the apocalypse. There's no point expecting outside help. On my first day, when I saw people eating other people outside, I tried calling the police too. It was completely useless."
Lux explained.
"D-don't you dare do anything weird! If I pull this off, you won't come out of it unscathed either!"
M99 put her small hand on the grenade held by the bunny plush on her hat, staring at Lux with vigilance.
"Hah, who are you trying to scare? The safety pin isn't even removed. With just one hand, you can't disable the safety and pull the fuse at the same time!"
Sten, hiding behind the door, tightly grabbed M99's other hand. At the same time, AA-12 stepped in and pried the grenade out of M99's grip.
"Sorry about this, but he's my Commander. I can't let him die."
AA-12 said calmly.
"Should we dispose of her, Lux? She's very dangerous."
HK416 pulled out her Swiss Army knife and asked.
"Wait, wait, wait! It really was just a misunderstanding earlier. Let her go."
After standing frozen for a full ten seconds in shock at what had just happened in three seconds, Lux finally reacted and hurriedly spoke up.
"Hm? You weren't planning to force yourself on her?"
AA-12 asked lazily.
"Of course not! I'm not a pervert!"
"Then why did you say you were happy to see her… Wasn't it because she satisfied some kind of fetish of yours? I remember MDR saying you once tasted 416's—"
AA-12 still looked confused.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Lux exploded in powerless rage to drown out AA-12's words.
"Don't bring that up ever again! That was something I said after my sanity dropped to zero when I saw an enormous syringe! I've already repented, stop persecuting me! That's an order!"
Lux pleaded helplessly.
"Since it's an order, I'll obey and keep silent. But then why did you hug her earlier?"
"So I'm telling you, you all misunderstood!!! I was happy because I urgently need a unit with extremely strong long-range single-target kill capability, and the bunny sniper just happens to perfectly fit that role. That's why I was happy!"
Lux explained, completely exhausted. He suddenly wondered just how much of a pervert AA-12 thought he was.
"Let her go."
Lux repeated himself.
Sten and AA-12 shrugged and released M99.
"Ahem. Commander, while I can understand your joy at seeing me, suddenly hugging me really scared me. I apologize for misunderstanding you earlier."
After hearing Lux's explanation, M99 more or less understood that she had indeed misjudged him.
Judging from how those tactical dolls had reacted earlier, if Lux truly wanted to do something indecent, she would've already had her clothes torn off.
But not only had Lux not given such an order, he had even told them to release her. That alone proved he wasn't a bad person.
"Oh? Looks like it's pretty lively in here. Did I miss something?"
A gentle voice came from outside the door. A golden-eyed girl with ash-gray side ponytail walked in naturally.
"You are—!"
HK416 instantly tightened her grip on her rifle.
"UMP45, reporting in~ Commander, you want to get along well with me, right~?"
"Of course. I'm very fond of you."
Lux nodded happily. This four-pull was an absolute jackpot.
Not only had he filled the gap in long-range heavy firepower, with AA-12 covering close range, but he also got UMP45, whose combat experience was exceptional. He truly had no regrets now.