Zayn's main priority at that time was to find food and drink supplies to survive. He took Angie to avoid encounters with zombies to conserve energy. They checked into some houses that supposedly had at least some food.
"We only found canned food. Would you like some?" Zayn decided to take a break and opened a can. It contains ready-to-eat cooked fish.
"!!!" Angie shook her head profusely. The canned food was bad and tasted like chemicals. She had already vomited up her food and didn't want to try another one.
"We've run out of dry bread. You'll starve if you're picky." Zayn ate his fish to replenish his strength. He couldn't be picky when he was hungry.
They had arrived at the next town across the river, but the situation here wasn't much different from the previous one. There were even much more zombies here.
"..." Angie stared at Zayn in silence while rubbing her tummy. She was hungry, but she still couldn't locate any proper target. They also hadn't found any good food.
"Don't worry, we'll search again. We also need drinking water. Hmm, we don't seem to have explored the area yet. We're going there now." Zayn threw the can away the other way.
*Clang*
The can hit the asphalt and made a resonant sound. The attention of the surrounding low-rank zombies was drawn towards it, opening the opportunity for Zayn to go to the unexplored area.
Zayn and Angie went into several houses to check the food availability, but most of the food was already rotten.
*Sniff* *Sniff*
Angie sniffed right and left. She seemed to smell a quite delicious aroma in the workshop warehouse. The scent was so faint and subtle, but she was sure it was coming from there. Therefore, she tugged at the hem of Zayn's sleeve and pointed towards the closed workshop warehouse.
"You found something? In there? All right, we'll find out more. Stay alert." Zayn tried to sniff the smell, but he couldn't smell anything. Yet, he believed in Angie and unsheathed his knife.
*Clack*
The gate was unlocked with a little trick, and Zayn peeked inside. He did not find any living creatures inside. Therefore, he immediately entered there, followed by Angie right behind.
The two of them explored the place and found that it was a place where something metal was made. There were many kinds of metal and forgings.
Surprisingly, the place was too tidy. No one occupied the site, but also, no one had been there in recent times.
*Sniff* *Sniff*
Angie sniffed around and pointed towards the source of the smell. It was a hidden passage in the warehouse corner leading to the underground.
"A dungeon? Hopefully, it's not a monster lair like that dungeon." Zayn had a bad experience with dungeons, but he checked the place out for Angie anyway.
"Locked?" Zayn tried to open the wooden door, but it didn't move. He tried to find the keyhole but couldn't find it anywhere. "How do I open this door then?"
"???" Angie pointed to a spot that looked odd. It was like the keyhole Zayn used to find to open every door, though the shape was very different for this one.
"Good job finding him, Angie." Zayn rubbed Angie's head and checked that keyhole. The shape was unusual from what he had seen, but he still tried to open this door with his unlocking technique.
Although a bit complicated, he managed to open the lock after trying more than twenty times.
*Clack*
Zayn opened the door and found the wooden door was just a disguise because a thick layer of steel was behind it.
"..." Zayn took a deep breath. He could smell the scent, but the place reminded him of the situation in the monster's lair dungeon.
"!~" Angie went straight inside to chase the source of the delicious scent.
"Hey..." Zayn rubbed his head and immediately chased Angie into the dark passage.
*Pat* *Pat*
Angie patted a wooden barrel and smiled broadly at Zayn. She found something good here.
"So, this is the source of the scent. The wooden barrel might hold food, but we must check this place first. It would be scary if the danger lurked around a corner, ready to attack us." Zayn nodded in satisfaction when he saw so many deliciously scented wooden barrels.
Angie nodded in agreement. They then checked out the entire underground room with Zayn.
It had only four main rooms and one bathroom. Two of the rooms were storage areas for many distinctively delicious-smelling wooden barrels.
"The smell of the wooden barrel in this storage room is different from the previous one. Alright, let's try opening one to find out what kind of food is stored there." Zayn took a crowbar from his backpack and used it to open one of the wooden barrels.
*Bang*
The barrel opened. A yellowish-white dough could be seen filling the wooden barrel full.
"What kind of food is this? It's a bit mushy in texture, but it smells good. What do you think?" Zayn took a closer look at the dough and inhaled the aroma up close.
"!~" Angie nodded with satisfaction. She was about to dip her hand to pick up the dough, but Zayn told her to wash her hands first.
"We need to wash our hands if we want to use our hands to eat. We got a bit dirty from our exploration, remember?" Zayn dragged Angie to the bathroom to wash her hands.
"..." Angie complied and returned as soon as her hands were clean.
"This is delicious!" Zayn widened his eyes after tasting the dough. Yet, a word came out of his mouth spontaneously. "Cheese?"
"!!!" Angie also found it delicious. She even licked her hands and fingers covered in cheese clean. It was her precious food.
"Wait, what is cheese? This food name? Is it possible that I've known this food before losing my memory?" Zayn tried to remember the fleeting memory, but he couldn't find the answer even though he was thinking hard.
"???" Angie tilted her head when she saw Zayn's troubled expression. She then devoured the cheese in Zayn's hand because she thought he didn't like it.
"Hmm?" Zayn came out of his train of thought when he felt something soft, moist, and slippery tickle his hand. He gasped when he found Angie licking his fingers off the cheese clean.
"You like it so much? We still have plenty, but please don't eat too much until you're too full. Anything in excess is not good." Zayn was amused and let Angie eat the cheese to her heart's content.
He then went to the next room because it was a sharp weapons exhibition room. He wants to have some more powerful self-defense weapons to exterminate the zombies.
After selecting a few, Zayn went to another storage room to find out what food was stored there. He opened a barrel and found it filled with a purplish-red liquid.
"Blood? No, it smells like fruit...However, why does this fruit juice hand an intoxicating smell? I can also smell a light alcohol-like scent from here." Zayn finds a drink, but it's not a good choice because of the intoxicating effect. He immediately sealed the barrel lid and locked the storage room.
Before returning to the cheese storage room, Zayn re-locked the entrance.
"Angie, we need to find a clean water supply. The water in the bathroom is clean, but it's not drinkable. Don't eat too much or you'll feel thirsty." Zayn gave a piece of advice to the girl covered in cheese.
"???" Angie looked back with puffed-out checks. She put a lot of cheese in her mouth.
"Okay, that's enough for now. Are you feeling full enough?" Zayn put his hand on Angie's head.
"..." Angie swallowed the cheese in her mouth and glanced at the barrel full of cheese. She wasn't satisfied yet, but she was already thirsty.
"Good. We'll save this for later. We'll make this our temporary hideout. If we manage to save our drinking water supply, we might be able to survive here for a few months or even more than a year." Zayn closed the barrel again and wiped Angie's cheese-covered face with a cloth.
Afterwards, he took her to the sharp weapons exhibition room next door. He picked out a pair of black and white daggers for Angie, and she liked them.
"I'll go with this. Will it suit me?" Zayn raised a greatsword. It was a bit heavy, but he knew it would be useful.
"..." Angie put her hand to her chin and gave Zayn a longsword.
"You want me to use this long knife? But this great knife is very cool. All right, I'll use this as my main weapon, and this long knife as my secondary weapon. Let's go out to find a supply of clean drinking water." Zayn decided to bring the two weapons. He then put out the contents of his backpack before leaving their hideout with Angie.