Lux realized that as a father, Darren had already considered his limited time and prepared resources for his daughter. No wonder he couldn't find food.
"Wait, let me wrap your father in a sleeping bag first." Lux said.
After all, he had just impaled Darren's head—his body must look horrific.
"No, I want to see him one last time." Candice said, biting her lip as she bravely opened the door.
Lux pulled out a sleeping bag, preparing to wrap Darren's body.
Candice stared at her father with red eyes.
"Dad, I'll survive. You're in heaven—be happy with Mom."
Lux and Bob slid Darren into the sleeping bag.
Meanwhile, Candice opened the wardrobe drawer with effort and took out a large travel bag.
Lux unzipped it—inside were eight Swiss Army knives, a compound bow, and a quiver of arrows.
"Good luck… a bow and arrows too."
Bob happily grabbed the bow and tried to draw it, his face turning pale before he reluctantly put it down.
"This bow is heavy. Only you, sir, could probably use it effectively," Bob said.
"No problem drawing it, but I've never used a bow. Accuracy will be poor. At least arrows can be retrieved." Lux picked up the compound bow and easily drew it.
He slung the bow on his back, grabbed the quiver, and revealed a black hand axe to the group.
"Old Bob, you take the hand axe. With adult strength, just chop with full force—similar to using a baton."
"Got it!"
Bob didn't hesitate and picked up the hand axe, weighing it in his hand.
This was a weapon that could increase his chances of survival, so naturally, he wouldn't be polite about it.
"HK, MDR, both of you take two knives each and keep them on you. Candice, take one for self-defense. I'm not asking you to face zombies with it, but learn the attack patterns of these two older sisters. If something unexpected happens, you can protect yourself."
"I'll try my best to survive. I won't let Dad down!"
Candice nodded firmly.
"The water's boiling, Lux." MDR reminded him.
"Old Bob, go cook the noodles. Let's check the food supplies."
Lux handed Bob several packs of instant noodles from the backpack.
"All right, leave it to me. I'm an expert at cooking instant noodles!" Bob strapped the hand axe to his waist and carried the noodles outside.
"Compressed rations and self-heating rice are under the bed. You go get them; I'm not strong enough."
Candice pointed to the single bed stained with Darren's blood. Lux bent down and pulled out five square, dark-green metal containers from beneath.
Inside were neatly stacked compressed rations, each weighing about twenty kilograms.
"Candice, I'll show you a magic trick next. You can't tell anyone."
Lux gave a mysterious smile. Since he planned to take Candice with him, she would eventually learn his secret. For now, there was no worry about her betraying him; staying with him was the best way for her to survive.
"Okay, I won't tell." Candice nodded.
With a wave of his hand, Lux stored four of the compressed rations into his storage space.
"Wow? H-how did you do that??"
Candice was bewildered. She thought Lux was performing a simple trick, but she witnessed something completely impossible.
"Hehe, I'll tell you later."
Lux then pulled out three cardboard boxes, which contained various flavors of self-heating rice. He repeated the process, storing the three boxes away, and winked at Candice.
Even without the system, he couldn't carry all this at once, and making a second trip would be troublesome. Since he planned to send Bob to the military shelter, it was better that he didn't know about Lux's system. Hence, the pretext to send Bob away early.
"Although I don't know what you did, I won't tell anyone."
Candice, smart and aware of the importance of food in the apocalypse, quickly understood Lux's intentions.
Lux patted her head, handed her a chocolate bar, and stepped out of the room.
The aroma of instant noodles filled the air. Bob grabbed several stainless-steel bowls from the side.
"Ha, sir, perfect timing. The noodles are done, I'll serve them."
"Thanks, appreciate it." Lux nodded.
While Bob served the noodles, Lux donned a camouflage suit with many pockets and swapped his worn sneakers for a pair of durable military boots.
"Sir, come eat." Bob called.
"You guys go ahead. I'll pick some things I'm interested in."
Lux picked up a large hiking backpack and wandered through the store.
He would inevitably interact with other survivors. He couldn't just pull items out of his system in front of them, and the backpack needed a plausible capacity—he couldn't produce several boxes of instant noodles from a tiny bag.
He also had interest in small gadgets like high-lumen flashlights or mosquito repellent.
After filling the backpack, Lux returned to the pot, and Bob handed him a bowl of noodles.
"After eating, you all pick useful things. Half an hour later, we'll rest. Night watch schedule: MDR two hours, me two hours, HK two hours."