CHAPTER 18: 18: MALE LEAD’S THOUGHTS

"Nothing." — Nothing he says.

Caelan stared in silence, never giving her a definite answer.

Aria didn’t believe for a second that it was really nothing.

Why notice her outfit if there was nothing wrong with it?

To her, that was already suspicious.

Aria sat quietly in the passenger seat, brooding in silence. Her eyes kept glancing back and forth at the driver beside her.

By the time she realized she was doing it all over again, the vehicle had already driven out of the high-end apartments.

The man beside her could clearly feel her accusing gaze, but he didn’t bother with it and merely kept driving.

The summer morning sun rose higher in the sky, and the stench of the whole city grew stronger, spreading everywhere.

Nasty, and foul.

"It smells so bad. What is that smell? Why is the whole place like this?" Aria couldn’t stand the scent anymore.

She had to pinch her nose, looking ahead at the road before glancing to her right, trying to find where it was coming from.

"Close the window." Caelan said flatly, eyeing her with a cold glance before explaining.

"City D used to be one of the most populated places. Many died here, and many turned into the infected. Over the years, they evolved into upgraded zombies, mutant monsters, even worse things."

"But hasn’t it already been fifteen years? Why are there still mutant monsters showing up? Doesn’t the world... ah never mind."

Aria cut herself off, realizing she was about to say something that would lay her identity bare to the other party.

She leaned back on the seat as the car’s side window rolled up, and the smell became much better.

They had been on the road for several minutes, and up until now, no mutant monsters, zombies, or other infected creatures had crossed their path.

Looking out the window again, Aria saw only proof that the world was no longer the same.

No people walking the streets.

No one hurrying to work or enjoying a leisure day.

It was so sad to imagine that a world like this could exist somewhere in the universe.

Suddenly, as if struck with a pin on her seat, Aria sat up straight and pressed her body closer to the car’s window.

She had caught sight of a small child sitting on the side of the road.

Its small body looked so fragile to her eyes, and she was about to call for Caelan to stop the car at once.

They had to pick the child up.

But when the child slowly turned, Aria’s breath caught. Its face was half-rotted, one eye missing, skin a pale gray like the dead.

In its hand, it clutched a filthy piece of metal, chewing on it mindlessly.

The metal was stained with dried blood.

Possibly dried human blood.

Aria’s mind went instantly blank.

Her gaze stayed fixed on the zombie child’s face, who couldn’t have been more than two years old.

It’s real. That’s real.

This world she had imagined, written with mere words... was suddenly real.

The sick feeling rising inside her wasn’t from disgust, but from seeing a child reduced to this.

Guilt and shame began to take root in her chest.

Aria went silent after, saying nothing, not even asking the Fluff Ball system on her shoulder.

She just stared at the road ahead.

In the driver’s seat, Caelan also noticed the baby zombie through the rearview mirror. He cast it a single cold glance and continued driving. He ignored the strange reaction of the woman beside him.

In this apocalypse, the sight of children turning into zombies had long become normal. Survivors nowadays had grown numb to it over the years.

No one felt sadness anymore at such a sight. As humans, the only thing that kept everyone going was their survival instinct, fighting to stay alive.

But this person... seemed to have no survival instincts.

That was what Caelan had thought of Aria ever since meeting her, based on all his observations.

He couldn’t understand how someone could act so casually.

As if they were just taking a walk in the park in such a dangerous city, filled with mutant monsters and unknown lurking in the shadows.

The person didn’t even pay attention to anything around them.

It was too suspicious, too uncommon.

After all these years of living, fighting over food and shelter, no one could easily trust a stranger.

Not even friends were so trusting, let alone a man to a woman.

Did she even know that females in this world were so scarce now?

Men in the bases elsewhere were filled with lust and ill intentions. It was well known that once men got their hands on a woman, the ending would be a terrible nightmare for them.

That’s why no woman proactively stay with a man she didn’t know anymore.

But this one... who had actually fallen asleep, had come to him without any kind of protection against him.

What a foolish girl.

Furthermore, Caelan found something strange about this woman. Aside from those unheard-of golden eyes, it was how she completely lacked the look of despair that everyone else carried.

Even children these days always had a certain grey look and air about them.

Aria had none of it—no hostility, no fear, no suspicion toward anyone she met.

It was something no one possessed anymore.

Catching sight of the yellow sundress from the corner of his eye, he became even more certain of one thing.

This person had either been sheltered all these years, protected by a person powerful enough to keep her this way, or was hiding something he could not figure out.

When Aria woke up again, her stomach grumbled for food.

Since it was already afternoon and she hadn’t eaten a single bite since leaving the Wishing Stop Station, it was only natural for her body to react this way.

"I’m hungry... and your seat is so hard." Aria stretched out her whole body with small movements, while Caelan parked somewhere between a neighborhood and an abandoned convenience store.

"We can’t continue on the road, the sky will soon be dark. It’s dangerous for us to keep going, so we must find a place to stay for the night."

Not understanding, Aria only nodded and murmured to herself. "I slept that long? What time is it even?"

"It’s 3:00 PM now."

"That’s probably why I’m hungry... oh, by the way, Caelan, do you have any food I can eat?" Aria’s voice was a little hesitant, but her face was bold, a smile playing on her lips.