The human heart can be compassionate, but it can also be ruthless. Human nature is even harder to fathom. Luffy didn’t want to lose his life just because he was lonely. He had to be careful in everything.
After reading Luffy’s message, Lin Qiaoni asked, "How should I train?"
Luffy silently pulled a few more canned goods from his backpack and placed them on the table. This action immediately brought the light back to Lin Qiaoni’s eyes. Before she could even stand up, she scrambled toward the food.
She was truly terrified of starving; nothing was more important than having a full stomach.
SMACK!
Just as she reached out to grab a can, a sharp sound startled her. She looked up to see one of Luffy’s hands pressing firmly on the meat can. No matter how hard she pulled, she couldn’t move it an inch.
"You...!" she cried.
At that moment, Luffy typed another message on his phone and held it up for Lin Qiaoni to see.
"Training is very simple. We’ll start with endurance! The canned beef on the table is indeed delicious, but I can guarantee that if you eat a whole can right now, your stomach will burst. If you don’t want to die, you’ll endure this for four hours!"
Once Lin Qiaoni finished reading, Luffy even popped open the can’s metal lid. A rich aroma wafted through the air. Lin Qiaoni stared blankly at the can on the table, drooling from the corner of her mouth.
Luffy ignored her. Instead, he gathered some of Lin Qiaoni’s clothes and hats from around the room before stepping out.
Since he had saved her, Luffy wondered if he could take her back to his villa. This place had absolutely nothing and was a terrible hideout. Plus, being stuck in a high-rise building made going up and down too much of a hassle for any task.
As for what would happen if Lin Qiaoni ate herself to death before he returned?
Luffy would just consider it setting her free. If she had zero self-control and didn’t take his warnings seriously, then so be it!
Outside the door, Luffy’s zombie guard was still roaming around. He glanced at the evolved zombie, raised his hand, and jammed his screwdriver straight into its brain.
The evolved zombie slowly collapsed to the ground. Even if it still possessed any cognitive thought, it would never understand why the zombie in front of it knew how to use a weapon—let alone why it was killing its own kind.
With practiced ease, Luffy pried open the fallen zombie’s skull and extracted the most valuable item inside: the Energy Crystal.
After wiping it clean, Luffy inspected it. Perhaps this zombie hadn’t evolved enough yet; the Energy Crystal was still a bit soft, feeling much like QQ candy. He guessed that if he had let it evolve for a while longer, the Energy Crystal would have fully materialized into a hard, solid state.
Ripping open the zombie’s chest and abdominal cavity, he shoved the clothes, pants, and hats he was holding right inside. He stirred them vigorously until the garments were thoroughly soaked and mixed with the foul blood and gore, only stopping when he was satisfied.
A zombie’s sense of smell could only detect the flesh and blood of the living; they were completely oblivious to other scents. Therefore, he couldn’t smell the stench on the clothes himself. Even though the visual impact was absolutely repulsive, Luffy didn’t care anymore.
He grabbed the gore-soaked clothes, returned to the room, and tossed them right in front of the still-struggling Lin Qiaoni.
Luffy nodded. "Not bad!" he thought. Even though he hadn’t been gone for long, Lin Qiaoni had merely stared at the food and drooled without taking a single bite.
It seemed she had actually listened to his warning.
"What is this?"
"HURK!"
The next moment, Lin Qiaoni vomited.
She didn’t even want to analyze what the pile of mess in front of her was. The zombie blood alone gave off an unbearable stench, not to mention the partially digested remnants spilling from the corpse’s stomach.
Zombies could fully absorb the flesh and blood of the living, but whatever was inside their stomachs before they mutated couldn’t be digested at all.
Luffy wondered if he was being a bit too cruel. After all, Lin Qiaoni was just a young girl. In the past, she would have been someone to hold in his arms and cherish, not subject to this.
In truth, just coating the clothes in zombie blood would have been enough; there was no need to make it this disgusting. Compared to zombie blood, feces that had been fermenting inside a stomach for ages were far more revolting.
The putrid stench of gore mixed with excrement made Lin Qiaoni puke her guts out. Everything she had just eaten and drank was completely emptied onto the floor.
Only when she couldn’t throw up anything else did Luffy push the open can of meat back in front of her.
"Since you’ve thrown everything up, you can eat a little now!"
"HURK!"
Seeing what Luffy had written, Lin Qiaoni almost vomited her stomach out.
Although he felt a twinge of pity, Luffy had to do this. He was looking for a companion. A companion meant someone who could fight alongside him, not a useless dead weight whose first thought was to jump off a building the moment food ran out.
The most crucial factor in a companion was mutual loyalty—being able to confidently entrust one’s back to the other in times of crisis.
However, human relationships had to be cultivated, which required time and effort. Both time and effort were costs.
If his companion died shortly after, he would have to find a new one, spending even more time and effort, undoubtedly increasing the cost.
Having been instilled with business strategies by Lu Dali since childhood, Luffy understood the concept of cost all too well. A successful businessman had to exchange the minimum cost for the maximum profit.
Therefore, what Luffy needed to do right now was make Lin Qiaoni adapt to the apocalypse as quickly as possible so she could survive independently. Through this process, they would slowly build a bond, ultimately achieving his goal.
"If you don’t eat within one minute, I will..."
"Please stop typing. I understand. I know you’re doing this for my own good. I’ll eat!" Lin Qiaoni gritted her teeth after reading Luffy’s text message.
With that, she picked up the can on the table and devoured it ravenously. She refused to look at the filth-covered clothes in front of her, held her breath, and forced her mind blank. After finishing a little more than half, she stopped.
She remembered Luffy’s warning: she couldn’t eat until she was full.
Luffy handed her a bottle of water. The outside of the bottle was smeared with grime from his gloves.
Lin Qiaoni looked up and offered a bitter smile. "Thank you!" She took the bottle and began to drink.
"Don’t thank me yet. We’re not done!"
By now, Lin Qiaoni was accustomed to leaning in whenever Luffy picked up his phone to type a message.
"In a moment, put on a few extra layers of clean clothes, then put these on top. We are leaving this place!"
The color instantly drained from Lin Qiaoni’s face again. On one hand, she had to endure close contact with those disgusting clothes. On the other hand, her father was still here, locked inside that bedroom.
Deep down, she didn’t want to leave her father behind. But if she stayed, it was a dead end.
After some thought, she came up with a compromise. She looked up and pointed at the tightly shut bedroom door. "My dad is in there. Could you please help me see him one last time?"
Luffy shook his head, already knowing that there were no zombies inside the bedroom at all. He walked over to the door and violently kicked it open.
Lin Qiaoni followed closely behind.
The bedroom was completely empty. Where was the zombie?
The bedroom window was wide open...
Lin Qiaoni’s eyes widened in sheer shock before she collapsed onto the floor once more.
A memory from five days ago surfaced in her mind. Her father had held her hand, speaking with profound doting and peace: "Don’t be afraid, Qiaoni. Dad will be right next door with you!"
Over the past few days and nights, whenever she felt terrified, the thought of her father staying in the next room was the only thing that calmed her down. Otherwise, she would have suffered a mental breakdown long ago.
She never imagined that her father had jumped out the window before he could mutate, just to ensure he wouldn’t harm her.
Perhaps she had been in such a state of extreme grief and terror at the time that she simply hadn’t noticed.
Realizing the truth now, tears streamed relentlessly down her face.