Chapter 16: Gradually Improving

Driven by fear, Xiao Guang moved quickly. He loaded as many usable supplies as he could find near his apartment into his truck and drove straight back to the villa he had claimed.

Once he reached the villa, he let out a sigh of relief and told Bae Joo-hyun to go play. Xiao Guang left the truck parked at the entrance, too lazy to unload it just yet. After resting for a while, he pulled a handcart out of the storage room behind the villa, then, after a moment's thought, drove a small Mercedes sports car out of the garage.

He tied the handcart to the back of the sports car and tossed the zombies he had taken down yesterday into it. It took four or five trips, but he finally cleared all the corpses from around the villa. Looking at the bloodstains on his clothes, he decided to just take them off and throw them in the trash. He wasn't short on protective suits; he had brought back several more today.

It was so good to have a swimming pool. Xiao Guang soaked in it. According to the calendar, the weather would remain hot for at least another two months. He had already examined the pool; it had a sliding cover, and once it became too cold to swim, he could use it as a reservoir for fresh water.

"Ah~"

Xiao Guang turned his head. Bae Joo-hyun was standing by the pool. Judging by her expression, he couldn't tell what she meant. Xiao Guang pointed to his own nose.

"I’m resting now. Resting. I'm hot and exhausted."

Bae Joo-hyun seemed to understand. She took a step forward, tentatively dipped one foot into the water, and immediately pulled it back.

"What's wrong? You want to soak for a bit? I thought you didn't like water. You always struggle whenever I try to wash your face."

Xiao Guang watched her movements and looked into her eyes, feeling as though he could sense her fear. But she had jumped in just yesterday. He looked at her, then climbed up onto the edge of the pool.

"Your body temperature is so low, you definitely wouldn't feel the heat, but I bet you used to be very clean. Are you afraid of the water because you've forgotten how to swim? Don't be afraid. As long as I'm here, I won't let you sink."

He didn't know when it had started, but Xiao Guang no longer felt any sense of shame when undressing Bae Joo-hyun. After peeling the little creature down to her bare skin, he jumped into the pool first, then held her by the waist and slowly lowered her into the water.

Seeming to worry that she might be scared, Xiao Guang pulled her into his arms, reaching his hands from under her armpits to the front, crossing them to keep her steady against him. This also allowed him to massage her chest.

"That big guy today was clearly different. In a way, the viral infection is a form of evolution. I know you look as docile as a kitten, but you're actually incredibly strong. I don't mean to distrust you, but it was you who flipped the sofa in my apartment, wasn't it?"

Xiao Guang tilted his head to look at Bae Joo-hyun. She was holding her little ball in her cheek, perfectly still, seemingly tense from being surrounded by water.

"If I’m not mistaken, the ball must have rolled under the sofa, and that’s why you flipped it over."

"Ah~"

That served as a response. Thinking of the solid wood and leather sofa back at the apartment, Xiao Guang couldn't help but look at his own arm. Reasonably speaking, when he flexed, he could see a decent bicep, but even with all his strength, he could barely lift one side of that sofa—it was made of solid wood and was incredibly heavy.

"Just how strong are you?"

There was no response. Xiao Guang was very curious to know the answer. Recalling the zombie dog Bae Joo-hyun had killed with a chain, he tried to gauge it himself.

The chain was soft, much like a whip; swinging it might not have the same destructive power as his baseball bat. Yet, if he used his baseball bat, he would, at most, leave a large bruise on a dog's skull. He wasn't being modest—he had spent three months learning just how hard a skull could be.

He would have to strike the same spot at least two or three times just to leave a dent, but Bae Joo-hyun had swung that chain once, and the dog's head had caved in. What if she hit him?

After touching the soft mounds on her chest enough, he took her small hand and looked at it. It was white and soft. How could it possess such power? Internal energy?

The absurd thought made Xiao Guang laugh. Some kind of martial arts energy? He couldn't help but pat her small hand, then his smile faded. Her originally pale, delicate hand now had a hint of color.

He held it up to his eyes for a closer look. It was real. Where he had patted her, her hand was slightly red. He gripped her wrist and saw the blue veins beneath her skin. If he wasn't mistaken, her blood seemed to be flowing.

It wasn't that he lacked knowledge of physiology; in his experience, a zombie's veins were almost always collapsed, and their blood essentially didn't circulate. Even if he smashed a zombie's head open, there wouldn't be a situation where blood flowed uncontrollably.

At first, he thought it was the zombies healing themselves, but he later discovered that once the blood near a wound drained away, it wasn't replenished. Therefore, he could conclude that a zombie's blood didn't circulate. But the blue veins bulging before his eyes were a huge surprise.

He held her up to his ear to listen, but heard nothing. It seemed he hadn't evolved super hearing. Xiao Guang couldn't help but turn her around to face him, staring at her face, her neck, and her chest, wondering if her lips looked a bit redder.

"Do you know that your body is changing?"

"Ah~"

"Do you know why? Is it because I brought you home? Because you can feel that I like you?"

No response. Bae Joo-hyun even reached out and slapped the water, as if his words were boring.

Xiao Guang pinched her chin to make her look at him, stared into her eyes, and said again,

"It must be because I've been feeding you, right? That’s it. Your body was in a state of extreme standby, and I activated your bodily functions."

"Ah~"

~~~~

Bae Joo-hyun didn't like to eat, so Xiao Guang had to hold her down on the floor, pinning her with his legs while pinching her cheeks with one hand and using the other to feed her with a spoon.

Tonight’s meal was spicy chicken nuggets and rice—the kind of pre-packaged food that just needed a quick blast in the microwave. Xiao Guang enjoyed it, but every few bites he shoved into Bae Joo-hyun's mouth, she would spit them back out.

"You can't be a picky eater. It might be a little spicy, but there's a benefit to spice. Maybe it’ll stimulate your stomach. Be a good girl, open up."

Bae Joo-hyun tilted her head back, biting the spoon and refusing to let go, her eyes fixed on Xiao Guang as if she would resist to the end. Xiao Guang stopped, afraid of breaking her teeth, and tried to talk her into surrendering.

"How about this? I'll make you some instant noodles. Is this too dry? You like noodles, don't you?"

"Ah~~ cough, cough, cough~~"

"Ah" what? He didn't have the energy to make her instant noodles. Taking advantage of her opening her mouth, Xiao Guang quickly pressed the rice