(Congratulations to "Entwined" on becoming this book's Alliance Leader!)
Mumei had no idea just how easily her words could be misunderstood by those who did not know the truth.
No, even those who did know that Mumei needed to survive by drinking blood would probably find it impossible to understand. They would realize that humans and Kabaneri truly were not the same kind of existence.
Under such circumstances, people would instinctively fear Mumei and Ikoma.
Therefore, it would be an extremely difficult thing for Mumei and Ikoma to earn others' trust.
By the same token, Ikoma, who had yet to fully accept the fact that his way of existence had changed, could not understand Mumei's blood-drinking behavior either.
Thus, Ikoma's expression as he looked at Mumei was extremely grim.
Mumei, on the other hand, seemed completely unable to understand what Ikoma was thinking. She continued matter-of-factly, "You should drink a little too. Otherwise, you won't be able to hold on much longer, you know?"
Hearing that, Ikoma answered without even thinking, "I will never drink blood!"
"Is that so?" Mumei glanced at Ikoma and said somewhat absentmindedly, "But if a Kabaneri doesn't drink blood within a certain amount of time, they won't just lose their strength. They'll gradually turn into a Kabane too, you know?"
"W-What?!" Ikoma was instantly struck by a tremendous shock.
Seeing Ikoma's stunned expression, Fang Li sighed and said, "Ikoma, you'd better give up some of those naive ideas and face reality."
As he spoke, Fang Li stared intently at Ikoma and said word by word, "After all, you're no longer human."
Ikoma's expression shifted rapidly.
In the end, Ikoma lowered his head dejectedly and could no longer say a word.
A heavy atmosphere spread through the surroundings.
Yet Mumei seemed to feel nothing at all. She continued licking the fingers stained with Fang Li's blood, looking like a cute girl savoring sweet honey.
Unfortunately, what Mumei was licking was not honey, but blood, adding an inexplicable hint of wickedness and gore to the girl's cuteness.
Fang Li likewise allowed the heavy atmosphere to linger in the air. Looking at the silent Ikoma, he said nothing more and merely took a potion bottle, a Water Bottle, and a pack of biscuits from his leg pouch.
Then, Fang Li poured some of the liquid from the potion bottle, which was already only half full, onto the wound on his arm.
"Sizzle..."
A sound like burning-hot iron being pressed against flesh rang out.
It was the sound of the wound on Fang Li's arm smoking.
After pouring out half of the remaining Wound Recovery Potion, the wound on Fang Li's arm directly absorbed the liquid. Steam-like smoke rose from it as it rapidly healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Before long, the wound on Fang Li's arm had completely vanished.
Mumei froze when she saw that.
Ikoma was equally dumbfounded.
Ignoring his two thoroughly stunned companions, Fang Li put the Wound Recovery Potion, now with only a quarter remaining, back into his leg pouch. He then unscrewed the Water Bottle, opened the Energy Compression Biscuit, and began gnawing on it while drinking water.
Like Mumei, Fang Li had not eaten anything since last night.
After such intense fighting and slaughter, Fang Li had rested enough, but he was also starving.
Now that Aragane Station had fallen, the food and water loaded aboard the Iron Fortress were surely limited. Feeding such a large number of civilians would not be easy.
It was easy to imagine that with food and water so scarce, they would hardly be willing to provide any for Fang Li and his group.
Fortunately, Fang Li had exchanged for food and water beforehand, just in case, before entering this Instance World.
The Water Bottle could hold ten liters of water, enough to last Fang Li for some time.
There were ten Energy Compression Biscuits in total. Each one could provide a user with a day's worth of nutrition, meaning Fang Li would not need to worry about food for ten days.
Moreover, Mumei and Ikoma were not human and did not need human food, so Fang Li naturally did not need to humble himself and beg others to give his group food and water.
After finishing a biscuit and taking a few drinks of water, warmth finally returned to his stomach and strength gradually began to return to his body. Only then did Fang Li put the biscuit and Water Bottle back into his leg pouch and look at Mumei and Ikoma again.
The moment he did, he saw two Kabaneri with utterly blank expressions.
"Uh..." Fang Li said somewhat speechlessly, "What kind of expressions are those?"
Mumei and Ikoma exchanged looks. Then, one looked at Fang Li with eyes full of curiosity, while the other looked at him as though he were some monster even more unbelievable than himself.
"...You scared me." Mumei said bluntly. "It's my first time seeing a human with recovery abilities even stronger than a Kabaneri's."
Aside from possessing physical abilities comparable to those of Kabane, Kabaneri were almost no different from Kabane in every other respect.
For example, they needed blood to survive.
For example, their hearts glowed and became a weakness, though they were protected by steel-like membranes.
And, for another example, they possessed powerful regenerative abilities.
An injury like Fang Li's would take a human at least several days to fully recover from, while a Kabaneri would recover completely in just a few minutes.
Yet Fang Li had healed that kind of wound instantly.
"Was it because of that potion just now?" Ikoma muttered in stunned disbelief. "What was that? I've never even heard of it before."
"Hey." Mumei spoke directly to Fang Li. "Let me see..."
Before she could finish, Mumei's expression suddenly changed.
Seeing this, Ikoma frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"
Mumei ignored Ikoma. As if she had confirmed something, her expression became serious.
"Hey! What's gotten into you?" Ikoma raised his voice. "Don't tell me you want to drink blood again—"
"Kabane!" Mumei directly interrupted him, muttering to herself, "There's a Kabane scent ahead!"
The instant she spoke, Mumei rushed to the door leading to the carriage ahead and reached out to open it.
However, at that moment, a hand suddenly pressed down on Mumei's shoulder.
Mumei paused slightly, then turned to look beside her.
There, Fang Li firmly held Mumei's shoulder. Looking into her pretty face, he said one thing.
"You can't go out."
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