"Michael, can you be quiet for a moment? If you mess with those zombies one more time, I swear I'll break your damn paws!"

  The young man stood in front of the car, a few tools in hand, gring at the red dog that was finding new ways to torment the undead. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he lowered the hood of the car. The blue Mercedes-Benz B200 in front of him was in good condition—no bloodstains, no corpses in the driver’s seat, and even the keys were still in the ignition. The previous owner had likely abandoned it in a panic, fleeing before they could even grab the emergency supplies stashed in the trunk. The only issue was that the car’s battery was dead, so he needed to take one from the Cherokee to jump-start it. The tires also needed some air.

  "Hell yeah! We're riding in a Benz now!" The red dog whooped, spitting out a severed zombie limb. It eagerly leaped into the now-started Mercedes, pressing every button on the dashboard like a child pying with new toys. The next second, the car’s air conditioning kicked in, blowing a gust of refreshingly cool air—albeit with a bit of dust. The big dog squinted its eyes in satisfaction, its pointed ears twitching with pleasure.

  Outside, the young man took a long swig from a half-empty water bottle, gncing helplessly at the dog basking in luxury. He had raised Michael since it was a pup, but he still couldn't understand how a hellhound could be so materialistic. Even in the apocalypse, it refused to give up a single second of comfort—more than he could say for himself.

  He climbed into the car, stepped on the gas, and the B200 rolled forward. The desote town behind them slowly faded into the distance as man and dog once again set off into the unknown.

  "Whose heart is left behind, so lonely and yearning... Oh, how I love him..."

  A soft, melodic voice sang happily, carrying through the air. The song came from a beautiful woman with a graceful figure, standing in a pool of water. She hummed while meticulously scrubbing every inch of her body. Clean water had become a luxury, and she hadn’t bathed in over six months. But a few days ago, the heavens had shown mercy, bringing an unexpected downpour to this godforsaken region. The rain had sted an entire half-day—strangely long—but it had gifted her this rare, half-filled pool of water.

  This pce was on the outskirts of the city, once known as the urban-rural fringe, though city folks had always considered it nothing more than the countryside. Vast, open fields made up nearly forty percent of the ndscape, and even on normal weekends, it was rare to see more than a few cars pass by in an hour. Fewer cars meant fewer people. Fewer people meant fewer zombies. The bathing girl was well aware of this.

  "Ah Xue, quit singing already! You wanna attract those things? Hurry up, it's my turn next!"

  "Alright, alright, I’m almost done!" The girl in the pool turned to her impatient companion with a gentle smile. She squeezed the water from her long hair before hopping out of the half-meter-high pool. Her delicate, porcein-like chest bounced slightly from the motion, twin peaks glistening with droplets of water, their tips a proud shade of soft pink. With a pyful grin, she smacked her friend's rear, urging her to get in.

  "How do you even have the mood to sing? That old bastard Ma only gave us fifteen minutes. If we take too long, who knows what else he’ll try to take from us?" The second girl, who appeared to be in her early twenties, grumbled as she climbed into the small pool. She hurriedly stripped off her already sparse clothing, not even flinching at the murky water. Squatting down, she began washing her hair first. Thick, sticky yellowish-white gunk clung to her scalp, and a foul stench wafted up, making for a stark contrast against her otherwise fair and delicate skin.

  "Linling, wouldn’t it be amazing if we could take a bath like this every week?" Ah Xue sighed, wringing the water from her hair. She picked up her dirty underwear and leaned against the pool’s edge, scrubbing it as best she could.

  "Ugh, at least let me finish washing my hair first! You're getting that nasty water in my eyes!" Linling scooted to the side but didn’t protest too much. Instead, she muttered, "Dream on. If we hadn’t 'pleased' that old bastard together, he would’ve hoarded all this water for himself. Do you think he’d let us touch it otherwise?"

  "I know… I was just saying." Ah Xue let out a helpless sigh, rubbing the now yellowed fabric between her fingers. A year ago, she had been a clean-freak, showering at least twice a day. Now, she could swallow any man's 'essence' without blinking.

  Water was life itself now, and their rations were dwindling. Even Boss Hu’s women were only given damp cloths to wipe themselves down. That vixen, Cao Mei, was once even more of a neat freak than Ah Xue. But just this morning, Ah Xue had seen her with st week’s dried-up stains still clinging to her hair.

  "If things keep getting worse, we won’t even have water to drink. And here we are, wasting it on a bath," Linling muttered, sighing as she looked at Ah Xue’s numb expression.

  "Forget it, Linling. Let’s not talk about this. Didn’t we promise? No matter what, we’ll survive—even if it means living like animals."

  Ah Xue forced a smile as she gazed at her childhood friend. They had once been the kind of girls everyone admired, pursued by boys in school. Now, every moment was spent thinking about survival—about the filth that entered their mouths and bodies day after day. Even though she despised men from the depths of her soul, she knew they were the only reason she was still alive.

  She couldn’t even remember when it started, but somewhere along the way, she had learned to take those old men into her mouth with practiced ease, even swallowing down what used to make her gag. Ah Xue shook her damp hair, forcing the thoughts away.

  Then she looked up—only to find a young man sitting leisurely on a mound of earth, smiling at her.

  "Ah—Linling, there's someone there!" Ah Xue let out a sharp scream, instinctively stepping back. Her hands shot up to shield her most vulnerable areas.

  "Where? Where?"

  Linling straightened up in the pool, following Ah Xue’s gaze. Sure enough, a man sat nearby, his white baseball cap shading his face. He wore a bck polo shirt and khaki pants, his posture rexed. His tea-colored sungsses made it impossible to see his eyes, but something about him was unsettling. The red dog beside him, however, was the real oddity. Its gaze was practically lecherous.

  "Ugh, Ah Xue, don’t be so jumpy. It’s just a man, not a monster." Linling smirked, standing confidently in the water. She twisted her slender waist pyfully, then deliberately squeezed her ample chest together, licking her lips in a shameless dispy of flirtation.

  "I-I just got startled..." Ah Xue stammered, uneasy at Linling’s provocative behavior.

  After all, at this point, every surviving man in their camp had already seen or touched their bodies. Wearing clothes was more of a habit than a necessity. So why was she still instinctively covering herself?

  Still, she could never bring herself to act like Linling. Even in the apocalypse, she couldn't quite let go.