Ivy sighed softly. "I still have instant noodles."
"We can eat twenty more," they replied without hesitation.
Ivy fell silent for a mont before waving her hand again. Hot water appeared, steam rising into the air.
After twenty more bowls of instant noodles, Moona and Maxi finally leaned back slightly.
"We won’t feel hungry for the next two hours," they said together.
Ivy did not respond imdiately. They ate as if tomorrow did not exist.
At first, she thought it was simply hunger. Now, she suspected sothing else.
Since they had beco half-zombies, their appetite had likely increased far beyond that of normal humans.
Perhaps it was connected to the endless hunger of zombies themselves, creatures that continued to devour even after consuming an entire human.
Lost in thought, Ivy suddenly heard them speak again.
"So," Maxi asked, "what about the contract?"
By now, Moona and Maxi felt far more relaxed around Ivy.
"We’re ready to sign." Ivy nodded. "I brought it with ."
She placed the contract in front of them.
"Since you don’t have a lawyer," she added calmly, "I can arrange one for you if you want."
Both sisters waved their hands dismissively.
"We’ll read it ourselves."
After carefully going through the terms, their eyes widened slightly.
The conditions were generous. Almost unbelievable.
They would be given an entire tower. Whether they chose to live there or rent it out, they would be financially independent. Even if the apocalypse never ended, they could simply rent the building.
They had heard of the base’s rental system. One apartnt cost ten thousand zombie crystals.
The tower had five floors.
Two apartnts per floor.
That ant they could easily earn over a hundred thousand zombie crystals.
For the first ti since the apocalypse began, Moona and Maxi felt sothing close to security settle in their hearts.
With that thought settling in their hearts, a quiet wave of gratitude washed over both sisters.
Not only would their als be adjusted according to their needs, but even if they demanded fifty bento packs and another fifty bowls of instant noodles, no one would deny them.
More importantly, nothing would ever be done without their consent.
That alone felt unreal.
They carefully read through the entire docunt, line by line. The paper slled faintly of fresh ink, and the room was so silent that they could hear their own breathing.
The more they read, the more their shoulders relaxed. There were almost no loopholes. No hidden traps. No ambiguous wording ant to corner them later.
After exchanging a final glance, they signed.
The mont the pen left the paper, an invisible weight lifted from their chests.
This base... clean, orderly, civilized... felt nothing like the nightmare labs and cages they had always feared. Here, the chances of exploitation felt close to zero.
Ivy signed as well. She then looked up at Moona and Maxi, her expression calm but serious.
"There’s one more thing I haven’t ntioned yet."
Both sisters straightened instinctively.
"Your residence will be far away from normal citizens," Ivy continued evenly. "I hope you can understand."
Instead of discomfort, a sense of reassurance filled Moona and Maxi’s hearts.
They hadn’t been chased away. They hadn’t been treated like monsters. Ivy had spoken to them properly, listened to them, and even sympathized with them. Yet at the sa ti, she was protecting the other citizens of the base.
’She’s responsible,’ Moona thought quietly. ’Not just kind.’
Without hesitation, both sisters nodded.
"We understand."
Ivy let out a small breath of relief.
She led them out while calmly adding,
"You must not go out to et other citizens on your own. If soone accidentally enters your area, you have the right to escort them out. But you must make sure not to touch them."
Moona and Maxi nodded again, understanding the gravity of those words.
Along the way, Ivy briefed them on a few more rules. The further they walked, the quieter the surroundings beca. Eventually, they reached a distant, isolated corner of the base.
This place had once been Ivy’s personal spot, a secluded area she used when she needed absolute isolation to retrieve supplies.
Over ti, as her control improved, she could now decide exactly where her supplies appeared and disappeared. With her temporal storage fully under control, this place was no longer necessary.
And so, she had repurposed it.
When they arrived, a massive building stood before them.
Moona and Maxi froze.
The structure lood tall and sturdy, its surface clean and untouched. A strange sense of peace settled over them the mont they stepped closer.
"This..." Maxi murmured, her voice catching slightly.
"This is yours," Ivy said calmly.
She added casually, "I’ll also have the base leader build a small personal shop nearby. Just in case you ever need sothing specific."
At those words, sothing warm blood in their chests. They nodded silently, emotions clogging their throats.
Once they entered their rooms, the tension they had been carrying for so long finally shattered.
Both of them nearly burst into tears.
The emotional toll was too much. From fleeing their original base, surviving hunger and fear, to finally reaching this place... it truly felt like they had walked through hell.
Now, they were sowhere safe. Sowhere warm. Sowhere with enough food and no imdiate danger looming over their heads.
They collapsed onto the sofa, let out a long breath, and fell asleep almost instantly.
Watching them, Ivy was left speechless.
’They don’t even have an ounce of caution,’ she thought, exhaling slowly. ’What if I had been a villain waiting to harvest them? They would’ve sold themselves without realizing it.’
Shaking her head, she gently carried Moona and Maxi to their respective rooms and tucked them in before leaving the tower.
Once outside, Ivy sighed softly.
’Maybe this ti... the antidote can be made sooner.’
In her past life, the cure for half-zombies had only been possible because a half-zombie willingly offered her blood for experintation.
That single act had allowed multiple research groups to develop the antidote.
In this life, perhaps everything would move faster.
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