"Wow... Does your family run a supermarket?"
When the man opened the trunk of his blue Mercedes, the two girls were immediately dazzled by the array of snacks inside, their faces filled with surprise as they didn't know which one to choose.
"Ha~ There's no helping it; my dog's biggest flaw is that it loves to eat, and snacks are its favorite!" The man said with a smile to the two girls. In fact, there was an even bigger flaw with his dog that he didn't mention: not only did it love food, but it was also extremely lecherous, and not just towards female animals; it wouldn't spare beautiful human women either. Didn't they see the big red dog at his feet drooling all the way, always leering at the two girls?
"Big brother, what's your surname? Can I ask you for a favor?" Lingling reluctantly put down the snacks in her hands, looking hopefully at the man who was leisurely smoking nearby.
"My surname is Lin, just call me Jack!" Jack smiled lightly, very generously saying, "If you want to take more, that's fine, just leave a little for my dead dog!"
"We don't want to take more, it's just..." Lingling, who had been indifferent, suddenly blushed slightly, crossing her arms to cover her impressive bosom, her hands also shielding the dense black bush below, and shyly said, "Um... Could you... could you take us in? Even if it's just to keep us as pets!"
After mentioning Lingling, her pretty face turned almost as red as blood. Although Axue was also quite embarrassed, there was a similar glimmer of hope in her beautiful big eyes as she looked at Jack with a pitiful expression.
"This... " Jack was not surprised at all. During his journey back from abroad, countless women had actively approached him, wanting him to take them in, including some stunning beauties. However, if he were to take them all in, he would probably need a whole battalion to accommodate them. He had no choice but to say apologetically, "It's too dangerous to follow me. You never know when you might end up dead in the wilderness. Although the living conditions here are a bit poor, at least you can keep your lives. My side is definitely not a paradise!"
What Jack said was indeed one aspect, but not the main reason. Although it was now an apocalypse, he was still quite confident in surviving in the wilderness with two women. The real reason for his refusal was that he simply wasn't used to traveling with two strangers, even if they were women!
"It's okay, we're not afraid. Rather than struggling aimlessly every day, we'd rather follow you and fight for a chance. Even if we die tomorrow, it's just a few days earlier!"
Surprisingly, it was Ash who spoke up, a girl who usually didn't say much. It seemed she had grasped the last straw of hope and said to Jack with determination, "There will be many benefits to having us with you. We can do laundry and cook. I can give massages and sing, and Lingling can dance for you, do pole dancing, and exotic dancing. Plus, we don't eat much, definitely not more than your dog. As long as you take us with you, you can do whatever you want with us, even... even if it's a certain degree of roughness, we can accept it!"
Jack stared in disbelief at the girl who had been somewhat shy just moments ago. He didn't expect her to explode with more intensity than the seemingly wild Lingling. Sigh~ He really didn't understand what the hell this apocalypse had turned humanity into!
However, Jack still shook his head and said helplessly, "You don't understand what you'll encounter by following me. Some things are beyond your comprehension right now. Alright, I haven't seen any living people for a while, so I've decided to rest at your camp for one night. Later, you should try to gather more supplies, consider it my accommodation fee!"
Having reached this point, Jack still disagreed, and the two girls lowered their heads in disappointment, silently gathering food from the vehicle. Despairing tears welled up in their eyes, as it seemed that the flicker of hope they had just felt was extinguished once again!
The girls gathered their things, and Jack carried a bag, slowly following them back. The girls held a pile of assorted food, and each of them wore a clean, oversized shirt. They had discarded their clothes, which had become so dirty that their colors were unrecognizable, at Jack's suggestion.
"Girl, who is this person?" In front of a large black iron gate, an old man with one eye held a shiny iron spear, warily watching the man behind the two girls, his remaining eye revealing a hint of hostility.
"Uncle Ma, this is Brother Lin, whom we met outside. He wants to rest with us for a night!" Lingling said with a smile, holding the food as she spoke to the one-eyed old man.
"A night's rest?" Old Ma's vigilance did not lessen. Upon seeing the food in the hands of the two girls, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes. However, when he noticed the black handgun tucked into the man's waistband, that glimmer turned into a hint of fear. He hesitated slightly and said to Jack, "This man, it's not that I, Old Ma, am being unreasonable, but the world outside is so chaotic right now, we have to be a bit cautious. What do you think, should we find another place?"
"Hehe, it's just one night. I'm not staying for free; I'm just asking my brother for a little help!" Jack chuckled as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed it to Old Ma. When Old Ma saw it, he realized it was a pack of the expensive 95 Supreme brand that he could never afford before. His dark, wrinkled face immediately changed to a flattering smile as he said, "You can tell this man is capable; this cigarette is a good thing now, one pack less means one pack less!"
"Uncle Ma, please let us in quickly; our arms are sore from carrying all this stuff!" Lingling urged from the side.
"Little girl, what's the rush?" Old Ma leered as he gave a heavy slap on Lingling's bare, perky bottom. Lingling merely rolled her eyes at him in annoyance but didn't dare to say anything. Only then did Old Ma turn to Jack with a smile and say, "Lin man, just wait a moment; I'll disinfect this area, and then you can come in with me!"
"Disinfect?" Jack looked at Old Ma in confusion as he skillfully grabbed a bucket of milky liquid from beside the gate and poured a large puddle in the spot where the three had just walked. After pouring it out, he casually locked the gate and explained to Jack, "It's lime water. Those monsters outside have a keen sense of smell. If we don't pour some to mask the scent, they can track us down by the smell!"
Jack nodded noncommittally. The living corpses scattered everywhere indeed rely on their noses to find prey. They generally have poor eyesight and can hardly see anything beyond ten meters, but their sense of smell is surprisingly sharp, likely surpassing that of ordinary hunting dogs, especially their sensitivity to the fresh, thick, dark red blood.
Jack had once tried it; a hundred milliliters of thick, dark red blood exposed to the air could attract living corpses from as far as ten kilometers away by scent. However, whether Old Ma's method of using lime water was effective, Jack could not say. Perhaps it was more about self-comforting psychology!