Fortunately, the villa complex had intact solar panels, just as expected.
Well, in K-Survival, there was no better place for looting than a villa complex.
With the leader gone and the place on the brink of a power struggle, we grabbed as many usable solar panels as we could and returned to our base—the motel.
***
“Now that we’ve secured the solar panels, does that mean we can contact R.P.M. as soon as the sun rises tomorrow?”
“Hmm… Even so, it’ll be tough to manage by tomorrow, Levi. R.P.M. is basically a massive fortress floating in space. To generate enough electricity to reach it, we’d need at least a month’s worth of stockpiling.”
“Is that so? But it’s fine! After all, even being able to generate electricity in the first place is all thanks to you, Chanwoo. Until then, I’ll keep protecting you like I have been.”
‘The whole reason for generating electricity was for me in the first place.’
Whether she hadn’t considered that or not, Levi placed her hands on her hips, cleared her throat (“Ehem!”), and spoke as if urging me to trust her.
“Yeah. I’ll be counting on you, Levi.”
“Yes! I’ll do my best to stay by your side until you die of natural causes!”
“Ah, yeah. Sure, let’s go with that…”
‘A woman who stays by my side until I die of natural causes is basically a girlfriend.’
‘Levi, do you even realize what you just said sounded like a marriage proposal?’
‘Truly, a natural airhead.’
Unconsciously, she’s a genius at pissing off my lower half—just like her figure.
“Umm… Chanwoo.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s almost evening, isn’t it?”
“Ah, right.”
With the day’s work done, it was time to rest.
Since going out at night was forbidden, I was about to slump onto the couch and catch my breath when—
Normally, Levi would silently walk over to the entrance to stand guard during breaks, but today, she was acting even stranger than usual.
(Though, to be fair, her default modeling was ridiculously alluring.)
She plopped down right beside me, pressing her ample chest against me—whether intentionally or not—before speaking.
“Umm… I really want to do it.”
“Do what? Don’t tell me you mean that?”
“Yes! I’ve been so worked up about it since earlier—my whole body’s burning!”
[Grrk!]
‘This damn Levi!’
‘No way she’s as desperate as I am.’
Her golden eyes, pleading and eager, locked onto mine, and I couldn’t help but think—”Ugh, I wanna pound her too!”
‘More than any battle, I wanted to awaken the true femininity of that body—so perfectly designed for utility.’
But Levi’s “I want to do it” probably wasn’t about sticking a dick into a pussy.
“Levi…”
“Yes!”
“You’re talking about the tuna cans we grabbed earlier, right?”
“Y-Yes! We got at least ten of them, didn’t we?!”
“……”
“And since we were busy with the solar panels today, we couldn’t get more, but if we go back tomorrow, we could bring back fifty or more!”
“…Sigh. Fine. Let’s eat.”
“Woo-hoo!”
Melting like butter at my permission, Levi bounced around the room before retrieving two tuna cans from her “inventory”—the valley between her breasts.
One for her, one for me.
“Hehe. Since you’re human, Chanwoo, I’ll give you the bigger one.”
“Ah… Thanks.”
‘Was there even a size difference in tuna cans?’
Either way, Levi handed me the one she deemed “bigger,” her expression brighter than ever—probably the happiest she’d been since meeting me.
***
“Hehehe… This’ll be delicious.”
“Huh? This one’s kinda low on oil, though.”
“Doesn’t matter. As long as I can eat it, it’s fine.”
“Ah, right…”
Munch, munch, munch.
Before, we’d shared a single can between the two of us.
Now, she could eat one all by herself.
Even if it was slightly defective, Levi didn’t care—she savored the tuna with drool practically dripping down her chin.
Meanwhile, as I opened my own can, my thoughts wandered.
‘The reason?’
‘This tuna can.’
‘In the heart of a ruined city, centuries (maybe even millennia) after humanity’s extinction, how were there still perfectly preserved food items like this?’
‘It made no sense.’
‘Even in Children of the Stars, intact canned food wasn’t an obtainable item.’
Meaning, as hard as it was to believe, opening this can only confirmed one thing:
‘This Jungwon Tuna was a recently produced product.’
‘The kind you’d bring as a holiday gift to your parents—safe, high-quality stuff.’
‘Well, excluding Levi’s slightly defective one.’
‘Is someone out there mass-producing tuna cans by reactivating the Jungwon Tuna factory? Otherwise, the amount we saw back then makes no sense…’
‘Whoever was behind it was clearly highly skilled. Restarting a factory that should’ve been completely ruined after the apocalypse?’
‘That wasn’t something you could pull off without serious expertise.’
[Worst-case scenario: They rebuilt everything from scratch using nothing but the factory’s skeleton.]
‘A person capable of making such a “miracle” possible would undoubtedly be a top-tier—no, almost an “OP champ”-level engineer in an apocalyptic world.’
‘Whatever they are, I want to meet them.’
‘I thought it’d be great if we could become allies and work together as a team.’
Seeing the stockpile of canned tuna, there’s a 99.99% chance they’re an android like Levi.
“Hey, Levi.”
“Nom nom nom… Oh, yes, Chanwoo-nim.”
If she wanted to, she could finish it in one bite.
Yet, Levi was nibbling at the canned tuna as if savoring it.
Watching her, who now resembled a cat more than a dog, I asked out of curiosity:
“What if… I end up meeting another android besides you, Levi? Do you think our relationship could develop as favorably as ours did?”
“Favorably… you say?”
Levi was, in a good way, a combat expert.
In a bad way, she was a simple-minded member of the 4th Unit.
Under the pretext of her android duties, she stuck by my side without complaint, and we quickly grew close.
But unlike Levi, the androids of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Units were anything but simple.
‘If they encountered me—a human they thought was extinct—how would they react?’
‘Honestly, I couldn’t help but worry.’
First meetings are always nerve-wracking, after all.
Especially since the ruined factory was repaired, meaning the android who made this canned tuna must be either a highly skilled 1st Unit member or an elite from the 5th Unit.
Even if the Zeroth Law of Robotics prevents them from outright opposing me, “rules” and “closeness” are two different things.
I just hope they don’t end up hating me as we try to survive together on this ruined Earth.
“By the way, Chanwoo-nim, why are you suddenly asking this?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that this canned tuna we’re eating… I have a feeling an android made it.”
“……”
“I just thought… it’d be nice to team up with such a ‘talented one.'”
That’s when it happened.
Levi, who had been listening, suddenly stopped eating the canned tuna she’d been savoring.
She had been carefully tearing off small pieces to make it last, but now she halted mid-bite.
Then, after glancing between me and the half-eaten can, she put it down with a sullen expression.
“…Now that I think about it, this canned tuna tastes terrible.”
“What?! Since when—?”
“Yes. The ‘android who made it’ must have cut corners. Every can tastes completely different.”
“Really?”
Munch munch.
I nervously picked up the can Levi had abandoned and took a bite.
The taste was… ‘exactly the same?’
“Seems fine to me. Why do you say it’s bad?”
“It is bad! The ‘android who made it’ failed at flavor control, so this batch is completely tasteless! I bet all the next cans will be just as bad!”
‘Had Levi suddenly become a connoisseur of canned tuna in just a few hours?’
To my palate, it was the same old mid-tier tuna flavor.
But like a disappointed judge, she puffed up her cheeks and let out a “Hmph!” before standing up and walking to the door as if nothing had happened.
“…It really tastes the same, though?”
Anyone watching would think she was acting like a jealous girlfriend.
Levi, now fully sulking, silently stood guard without another word.
Then, by bedtime, she finally returned.
***
“…Chanwoo-nim.”
“Yeah, Levi.”
She crept back to my side, her earlier anger gone, now fidgeting awkwardly.
Clearly, she’d come back to finish the remaining canned tuna.
“I have a question. Can you answer it?”
“A question?”
Not what I expected.
“You remember the canned tuna we ate today, right?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Between that and my ‘breast milk,’ which tastes better?”
“Wha—?!”
A completely unexpected question.
‘Wait, so was this why she’d been sulking all day?’
Just this morning, she’d proudly declared her milk was the best, only for me to praise the canned tuna that evening.
No wonder she’d been acting like a jilted lover, hesitating in front of me.
“Ah, just this morning… you said my milk was the best… But I guess even milk can’t compete with tuna, huh?”
“L-Levi…!”
“Sniff… I feel strange right now. We didn’t even have a fierce battle today, but my chest feels tight, my eyes are weirdly moist, and my head feels foggy.”
That’s just called sadness.
Levi looked like she was on the verge of tears.
I never knew our knight had such a girly side.
‘What should I do?’
“Of course your milk is the best!”
“Ch-Chanwoo-nim…!”
Without hesitation, I buried my face in Levi’s ample cleavage, nuzzling deeply.
Then, while stroking her head, her soft breasts, and her perked-up nipples, I declared boldly:
“As if some dead fish could ever compare to you!”
“Chanwoo-nim, you’re too rough— Oh?!”
“No matter what anyone says, you’ll always be my number one. Got it?”
“N-Number one…! Eek! U-understood! I, Levi, am Chanwoo-nim’s number one…!”
…Sniffle