On the 37th Day of the Apocalypse, I Picked Up a Monster That Bowed Only to Me - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When Qin Jichuan entered the house, he almost completely blocked my narrow entryway.

He was nearly a head taller than he had been in human form. Bone Armor encased his arms and back, and a length of black bone tail trailed behind his coccyx, lightly brushing against the wall as he walked with a scraping sound that made my skin crawl.

But he was very obedient.

When I told him to stand, he stood.

When I told him not to touch the sofa, he huddled against the wall, even curling up his tail as if afraid of breaking what little furniture I had left.

I dug out my last two cans of luncheon meat, opened one, and pushed it toward him.

He didn’t move.

He only looked up at me.

[Prompt: High-level Infected has identified you as a nest member by default.]

[You have one “Feeding Command” authorization.]

I froze for a moment, then tentatively spoke: “Eat.”

Only then did he lower his head.

In the next second, I witnessed what it truly meant to be “starving.”

He chewed through that can of luncheon meat, tin and all.

*Crunch, crunch.*

My scalp tingled at the sound.

When he finished, he looked up, bits of meat and iron shavings still clinging to the corners of his mouth. His eyes watched me, wet and glistening, as if asking if there was more.

I almost laughed, yet I also felt like crying.

Before the apocalypse, I was just a regular clerk at the South Bank Biological Laboratory-the most useless kind.

While others awakened fire, lightning, or space abilities, I had nothing.

It wasn’t until my third day trapped at home that this damn *Monster Rearing Manual* suddenly appeared in my head.

It didn’t give me weapons, it didn’t give me powers, and it didn’t teach me how to kill monsters.

It only told me how to judge if a monster was hungry, if it was in pain, or if it was about to go feral.

It was as if fate had played a cruel joke on me.

In a city full of monsters, I happened to pull the role of a “Rearing Specialist.”

I originally thought this cheat was as useless as it could get.

Until Qin Jichuan showed up at my door.

I opened the second can and handed it to him.

This time, he ate a bit slower.

With every bite, he would look up at me.

As if confirming whether I would change my mind.

I couldn’t help but ask, “How did you find your way here?”

He couldn’t speak.

Instead, he slowly raised a sharp claw and, on the dust-covered floor, traced a crooked “7” stroke by stroke.

Then he drew a horizontal line, like a house number.

No. 7 Changqing Lane.

Where I lived.

My breath hitched.

I had only mentioned it once in passing back at the gymnasium. I said that if the city completely fell into chaos, I would probably hide back at No. 7 Changqing Lane because it was old, remote, and no one would want to go there, making it safer.

I hadn’t even taken my own words to heart.

Yet he had remembered them for thirty-seven days.

He remembered even as his body rotted and his sanity dropped to a mere 23%, all while searching for me.

Looking at the characters on the floor, I felt as if someone was squeezing my throat.

“Qin Jichuan.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

He looked up at me.

My eyes were stinging red, but I kept my voice as soft as possible.

“I only gave you half a piece of bread.”

“Was it really worth crossing half the city and crawling to my door for that?”

He watched me quietly, then suddenly lowered his head and gently tapped my knee with a bone horn.

As if to say, *Yes, it was.*