Chapter 41 Cultivated Habits

Autumn had arrived. Xiao Guang stood gazing for a moment at the leaves inside the estate wall, then crouched down and picked one up.

The leaf had not turned entirely yellow; at least half of it was still green. Yet its delicate stem was bone-dry, unable to support the heavy, moisture-laden blade, and so it had simply fallen.

Such pointless analysis had become a habit for Xiao Guang lately. He would see something, think about it, rather than turning a blind eye as he used to.

Perhaps it was related to his farming experience. From summer to autumn, a batch of vegetables had matured in his plot. Though the harvest was hard to judge by normal standards, what grew had grown, and this morning's meal had been vegetable leaf porridge.

The tap water had been cut off, but the estate's swimming pool could still be refilled. The wealthy were always ruthless and miserly; the original owner had actually installed an unauthorized underground well pump.

For Xiao Guang, this was a stroke of luck, yet it immediately caused him to worry about the lifespan of the concealed underground motor.

Xiao Guang had already prepared himself for long-term survival here. The rice and flour he had scavenged were enough to last him for years, and now the vegetables were taken care of as well. He did not have all that much left to worry about.

He took a stroll around the energy shed, climbed up, and carefully cleaned the dust off the solar panels—something Xiao Guang made sure to do every day. He stepped inside the shed as usual to check the small indicator lights on the machinery: perfect, three green ones, just like before.

Xiao Guang remembered the radio broadcast stating that rescue forces would arrive by the end of next month. Which "next month" this was, Xiao Guang could no longer be bothered to keep track of. Stepping out of the energy shed, he pondered whether he should haul some soil into the villa to grow vegetables, or gather some plastic sheeting and glass. Autumn had arrived; could winter be far behind?

"Food~"

Minju's voice was lovely, soft and tender, a rather pleasant surprise. Yet whenever he thought about how Bae Joo-hyun and Kang Hye-won were already capable of bickering in short sentences, Xiao Guang couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Minju.

Just like now, whenever there was an errand to run, it was always Minju who got sent.

"What kind of food at this hour? You just want your milk powder, don't you?"

An entire warehouse of milk powder had been hauled back to the villa by Xiao Guang, but seeing a tin disappear every single day, he was forced to ration their intake.

"Food~"

Minju stopped in front of Xiao Guang and repeated herself. Three months had passed, and aside from those deep blue eyes, Minju had recovered her former television-star prettiness. Watching her stand there so delicately, Xiao Guang looked her over and decided he had better put her in a pair of panties tonight—her camel toe was pressing right through. What a sin.

"Didn't we agree you only get milk powder in the afternoon? Why did they send you out again?"

Xiao Guang locked the little door of the energy center and reached out a hand toward Minju. She immediately threw her arms around his sleeve.

"Touch."

Hearing Minju say that, Xiao Guang felt a flush rise to his weather-beaten face. Over the past three months, the zombie girls had been slowly growing. By growing, he meant their minds.

From their initial numbness and incomprehension to their current attempts at communication, Xiao Guang felt he had been far too casual in the past, letting them remember many things they shouldn't have.

Take "touch," for instance. Xiao Guang had loved watching the three zombie girls drink their milk quietly. Sometimes, carried away by affection, he would lean over and give their mounds a little fondle, always offering a muttered self-justification out of his habit of talking to himself:

"Just a touch, checking to see if they're recovering."

Well, now look at them. The three zombie girls had memorized the word, and to them, "touch" meant milk time. Xiao Guang figured that if any normal human being ever showed up, he would have to dig a trench and bury himself on the spot, so rescue teams or no rescue teams, he might as well stay put.

Upon seeing Xiao Guang appear in the living room, Kang Hye-won nonchalantly yanked open her doll-costume top, bouncing her twin mounds out into the open air. Anyone lacking context might have mistaken her for an exhibitionist, but Xiao Guang knew she was simply desperate for her milk powder.

Kang Hye-won's breasts were larger than Bae Joo-hyun's and Minju's, a direct result of her ravenous eating habits. By Xiao Guang's estimation, her appetite was equal to 1.5 Minjus or 1.2 Bae Joo-hyuns.

"Clang~"

Bae Joo-hyun was always so bold; her cup hit the dining table with an almighty crash. Seeing Minju scurry off to the kitchen to fetch her own cup as well, Xiao Guang had no choice but to head upstairs for the milk powder.

Only thirty boxes remained, with six tins per box. At a rate of one tin a day, that meant six months. Xiao Guang did the math and resolved to keep an eye out for any baby supply stores the next time he ventured outside.

The shelf life for canned milk powder was twenty-four months, but that hardly mattered—he would feed it to them even if it expired.

Bringing a tin down, he found all three zombie girls gathered around the dining table. Each had her fixed spot; going clockwise, it was Hye-won, Minju, and Bae Joo-hyun.

Xiao Guang used to sit right between Bae Joo-hyun and Minju. Later, when Hye-won joined them, he moved to the other side of Bae Joo-hyun. As for now, he preferred sitting opposite the three girls; after all, they were growing prettier by the day, and watching them eat put him in a fine mood.

He boiled water, mixed the milk powder in a small iron basin, and waited for it to cool slightly. Suddenly, he felt a tug at his trouser leg. Looking down, he saw Hye-won's small hand, those violet eyes staring fixedly at him. No words were necessary; Xiao Guang knew what she wanted. But rules were rules.

"You give it to me first, right."

Xiao Guang couldn't help a chuckle. Still tugging at me, are you? Bae Joo-hyun had spoken. Let's see you try pulling that stunt with her.

Hye-won suddenly puffed out her chest and took a step closer to Xiao Guang. He had no choice but to accept her offering, reaching out to give a gentle fondle. Not bad at all—it felt better and better each time. I'll pour you a little extra in a minute.

Must admit, when it came to food, Hye-won was a remarkably fast learner. She didn't even need Xiao Guang to speak; she could sense his intentions immediately.

"We eat our fill first, right."

Bae Joo-hyun liked to append the word "right" to the end of a sentence as a confirmation that her directives must be carried out. Xiao Guang rather fond of this conversational tic; at least the current domestic harmony owed a great deal to her commanding presence.

He poured Bae Joo-hyun's portion first, then Kim Min-ju's, and finally Hye-won's.

"Thud~~"

Xiao Guang knew he had a lot of quirky fetishes, and watching the girls kneel neatly on the floor to drink their milk was definitely one of them. Their crisp, disciplined posture while drinking made them look remarkably well-behaved. Another gentle tug at his trouser leg—Xiao Guang pretended not to notice, though he filled Hye-won's cup to the absolute brim. Even if it wasn't much more than usual, those violet eyes noticeably brightened.

Xiao Guang figured they were remarkably clever. Take this milk powder routine, for instance: they had settled into a fixed schedule of demanding an extra feeding every other day, shifting from two meals a day down to one, and now alternating between one and two. This could be considered the first tacit understanding reached between Xiao Guang and the three zombie girls.

Occasionally, if Xiao Guang forgot and brought down an extra tin, the three zombie girls would not rest until their bellies were sloshing like water balloons. According to their unspoken rule, the stash upstairs was strictly off-limits; whatever was brought down was fair game for the day.

The supply issues that plagued the apocalypse were hardly troublesome for Xiao Guang at all; indeed, he sometimes felt a quiet, tiny trace of happiness.

Kang Hye-won, despite being the last one to start drinking milk, was invariably the first to stand up, slamming her cup down onto the dining table with the triumphant air of someone who had just won a drinking contest.

Hye-won setting down her cup served as a signal; Bae Joo-hyun quickly mirrored the action. Minju was frantic, but she drank the slowest. Watching her choke slightly, with a splash of milk landing on her delicate cheek, Xiao Guang couldn't help offering some words of comfort:

"With a throat as slender as yours, don't try to keep pace with those two."

Such advice was entirely useless, because Xiao Guang was already pouring second helpings for Bae Joo-hyun and Hye-won. Their appetites had grown far beyond what they used to be, and a single cup no longer satisfied them. For Xiao Guang, using a little less powder and a little more water was no great burden.

He refilled the small iron basin for Bae Joo-hyun and Hye-won, but when it came to Minju's portion, he deliberately poured just a fraction less. Everyone knew it, and Xiao Guang had no intention of changing it—he felt Minju needed to try a little harder. Such a delicate little thing, and she had arrived before Hye-won, too.

"Less~!"

Minju clutched her cup in discontent, making a soft noise of protest toward Xiao Guang. Xiao Guang merely pointed at Bae Joo-hyun and Hye-won, who were already well into their second rounds. Who told you to drink so slowly? It's no use complaining to me; you'd better watch out or Hye-won will finish hers and steal yours.