Chapter 50: The Manor Reclamation Plan

At this thought, Gavin quickly shook his head to banish those ominous thoughts from his mind.

Then, he waved his hand at the woman who was still shivering and babbling about calling the police.

"Hey."

"We need to call the police, call them quickly, we... Ah? Gavin, are you calling me?" The woman looked up, dazed.

"Yeah, I have to tell you, you can forget about calling the police, because everyone in the entire world has turned into zombies."

Gavin shrugged at the woman, and she instantly fell silent.

After a long pause in silence, the woman finally spoke to Gavin.

"If anyone else told me this, I’d think I was being scammed, and that it was all some kind of conspiracy... yada yada yada... by some corporation that makes zombies just to keep me quiet!"

"But since Gavin King is the one saying it... God, I always thought the only disaster movie from Hollywood that would ever come true was 2012, but you’re telling me it's actually World War Z..."

At this, the woman lifted her head in a daze, clutched her coat, took a deep breath, and muttered under her breath.

"Who even wants a future like this... yada yada yada..."

Accompanied by the woman's sigh, the small boat slowly approached the dock.

Seeing Eugene leap onto the dock, the woman stood up tremblingly, using her left hand to clutch the front of her clothes while instinctively extending her right hand toward Gavin.

Gavin glanced at her, stepped up onto the dock, and said, "Keep up. Let's go rest at the villa."

With that, Gavin walked further and further away. The woman opened her mouth slightly for a moment before hurriedly bracing her chilled, purplish thighs, making a difficult leap onto the dock, and jogging after him.

When Gavin returned to the villa, he saw Old Robert already sitting on the sofa, holding a warm cup of hot water and covered with a blanket.

Catching sight of the woman holding the denim jacket from afar, Old Robert instinctively gave a whistle and laughed.

"Woah, looks like there really is a woman without clothes. So whose damn denim jacket is that? Redhead, were you meddling again?"

"Hey!"

Hearing Old Robert's words, before Eugene could reply, the woman who had hurriedly entered the house stood behind Gavin and scolded Old Robert.

"You piece-of-shit old white man, is that the same look you give your mother?!"

"Haha, spare me the attitude, kid. Your figure isn't even as good as the third girlfriend I had after my divorce. Otherwise, what did you think—that I'm too old to get it up? There's simply nothing here worth my respect～"

Old Robert retorted unceremoniously, leaving the woman standing there in stunned bewilderment.

Beside them, watching the woman's dazed expression, Eugene reminded her with a hint of annoyance, "Is 'the look you give your mother' the only line you know? Sweetheart, if I were you, I’d hurry to the bathroom and take a nice, hot shower while the electricity and water are still running to warm yourself up!"

With that, Eugene turned to Gavin and asked, "So, Boss, can we rest up here for a bit? It's not far from the farm anyway."

With that said, Eugene and Madison immediately looked over at Gavin, who, after a brief moment of thought, nodded gently.

"Alright. As it happens, there's still a bit of trouble over at the farm. Madison, Eugene, go bring the car inside, and by the way, have Doris get a set of women's clothes ready for the kid."

"Got it, got it. I suppose I was just born to do the heavy lifting～"

Eugene replied with a disgruntled tone, then left the villa along with Old Mac.

As for the naked woman wearing nothing but a coat...

Come on, give it a rest. They were just joking around and having a laugh; nobody was going to act like a little kid and stare endlessly.

In America, unless you're autistic, you always have countless opportunities to see strangers naked.

Ever since 2003, during the summers in major American cities like Houston and Dallas, there had never failed to be multiple large-scale nude parades initiated and participated in by women.

This was precisely why American feminism could actually be welcomed by some men—after all, there were genuine perks.

While American feminism certainly had its extreme factions, setting those aside, they placed greater emphasis on the idea that women should have the same rights as men, rather than demanding that men be stripped of certain rights.

For instance, regarding the fact that men frequently went shirtless in the summer, American feminism heavily emphasized that since men could go shirtless, women should be able to go shirtless too!

Therefore, rather than imposing a blanket rule forcing all men to wear upper garments in the summer, they preferred to actually march shirtless themselves.

One can only imagine just how open-minded America had become under the influence of feminist ideology.

Every summer, when walking down the streets of a middle-class residential area, you could see girls partying in bikinis in various front yards everywhere you looked.

When the drinking got lively, those girls would genuinely take off their bikini tops on occasion, not to mention on the more popular trendy beaches.

Conversely, impoverished neighborhoods were not nearly as open as middle-class ones because being too open in the slums genuinely ran the risk of getting you burglarized and raped.

After all, the police force in slum communities was more than ten tiers worse than that in middle-class communities.

So, if you had lived in America for three years and had yet to see more than three hundred pairs of breasts, you had to consider whether you had been living exclusively in the slums or if you were simply too shy to fit into American society.

To get back to the point, taking advantage of the time Madison and the other guy went to fetch the car, Old Robert pointed out the location of the bathroom to the woman from the lake.

So once the woman headed to the bathroom, only Old Robert and Gavin were left in the hall.

At this point, Old Robert finally let out a long breath and sighed as he asked Gavin, "Now that it's just the two of us, little Gavin, I have to ask... what you said on the phone earlier... that really wasn't some kind of prank, was it?"

With that, Old Robert raised his clouded, aged eyes and looked expectantly at Gavin.

On large southern farms like this, cowboys across villages didn't have many activities; aside from drinking, chasing women, and shooting the breeze, they mostly pulled all sorts of exaggerated pranks.

At that moment, Old Robert desperately hoped it was all just a prank.

Phone lines could be blocked, everyone ignoring him could be part of a coordinated scheme, and even the two kids and the woman accompanying Gavin could simply be hired actors.

And that was Old Robert's greatest hope at that moment.

Looking into Old Robert's hopeful eyes, Gavin wished more than anything to say it was just a prank.

Yet, in the end, he sat down beside Old Robert, took off his mask, and looked at him with a solemn expression.

Before Gavin could even speak, Old Robert hurriedly turned his head away and said to Gavin in a rapid tone, "Fine, you don't have to say it. Your expression looks just as stupid as those military officers in the movies who deliver death notices to people's doorsteps!"

"Ever since the North dissolved, I thought I'd never have to worry about seeing this damn expression in real life again. Fuck it."

"Today really is a fine day. Today I lost two children, but fortunately, I still have one child I watched grow up alive and well, who found his way back."

Saying this, Old Robert leaned his head against the sofa and offered Gavin a deeply strained smile.

Gavin sighed, placed a hand on Old Robert's shoulder, and remained silent for a long time.

Amidst this silence, Madison pushed open the front door carrying a bowl of vegetable salad and shouted cheerfully to Gavin, "Boss, Doris made this meal way faster than breakfast! She made scrambled eggs with tomatoes, tomato pasta, and threw together a huge bowl of salad by the way. It's fucking awesome!"

With that, Madison eagerly placed the salad in front of Gavin, pointing to the thick salad dressing on top and saying, "Look at this! During our training, we wouldn't get this much salad dressing in half a year!"

"Is that so? Looks like the apocalypse has at least a few things worth looking forward to～"

Gavin smiled in response, then patted Old Robert's shoulder reassuringly, stood up, and took the salad into the kitchen.

Eugene and the others also carried various dishes into the room. Gavin pointed toward the kitchen, and the small kitchen table was instantly laden with plates.

However, dinner couldn't start just yet because there were two new arrivals to the team—one was still in the bathroom, and Doris had gone to deliver clothes to her.

While waiting for the two women to leave the bathroom, William sat in the dining room, Eugene and Old Mac stood before Gavin, and Winnie sat on a single-seat sofa off to the side.

Eugene looked as though he had something to say, prompting Gavin to ask, "What? Are you rushing me to say grace before the meal?"

"Nah, just waiting for those chicks to come eat, and by the way... I wanted to talk about the plans for the afternoon."

Eugene replied with a sheepish grin.

Hearing this, Gavin rubbed his forehead and responded in a low voice, "Originally, I planned for us to rest at my own lakeside villa three kilometers away."

"Still, resting here at Old Robert's place works just as well, plus there's an extra blacksmith shop here."

"As for after a brief rest, Eugene, Madison, I'm afraid we're going to face a real challenge."

"We need to scout my farm estate and then try to retake it. I'm guessing the number of zombies there is at least upwards of seventy!"