23 The Mysterious Monster
The recent explosion had attracted all the nearby zombies away.
Thus, Howard and Miranda quickly arrived at the hotel entrance. Along the way, other than encountering some crawling zombies that had lost their legs, and zombies stuck in cars constantly banging on the windows, they encountered no resistance.
"Dofu Hotel, I've always hoped that I could earn enough money to feast here with friends one day."
"Never imagined that entering the hotel would be under such circumstances!" Howard remarked, looking at the dried bloody handprints on the hotel doors.
"I hope this place will let the master find his favorite female zombie!" Miranda prayed softly with her hands together.
"You, praying that I find my favorite female zombie—are you not afraid that I'll like her and not you anymore? Aren't you jealous?" Howard asked with a laugh.
"Although I wish the master would only dote on me, I also know that's impossible!" Miranda replied.
"The master's strength is so formidable; it's only natural for him to have numerous companions of the opposite sex, I shouldn't be so selfish."
"And as long as the master is happy, I'm happy too!" Miranda's radiant smile made Howard feel as if the sunlight around them was even brighter.
"Don't worry, no matter how many women or subhumans there are, you are still my number one!" Howard said, wrapping his arms around Miranda's slim waist and gently kissing her lips.
"Mmm, hee hee, thank you, master!" Miranda blushed deeply, hugging Howard tightly.
They pushed the door and entered the hotel lobby, which was a complete mess, as if the floor had been mopped with a blood-soaked mop.
The telephone and other items were scattered all over the front desk, where two female corpses in uniforms lay face down, each with a ghastly large gash on the back of their heads.
Miranda walked up to one of the female corpses and stretched out her claws to measure something.
It was indeed a claw mark, but the claws that made this wound were much larger than Miranda's.
"It seems there are some terrifying creatures here as well," Howard said, rubbing his hands together eagerly.
He had now advanced to the first stage of a junior transcender.
It had only been one day since the apocalypse began, and he was surely ahead in leveling up among the ordinary survivors.
He wanted to clash head-on with some powerful monsters to test his strength.
"I will always be by the master's side! I will share life and death with the master!" Miranda said earnestly, her pretty face serious.
"Don't worry, I won't overdo it. After all, you only live once, and I won't engage in battles that are uncertain! Even if you are willing to die with me, I want to live a bit longer," Howard replied, mussing Miranda's hair to ease her concerns.
She then smiled in relief.
Howard stood in front of the distribution map in the lobby and pointed in a direction, "Let's go this way, towards the kitchen and storage area. There should be plenty of supplies there!"
The two followed the blood stains on the floor towards the kitchen.
The flickering lights along the way added an extra layer of eeriness to the atmosphere.
Squeak!
They gently pushed open the metal door of the kitchen.
Silence!
There were no zombies, and no living people!
The air was filled with the smell of charred food and blood.
"Master, look over here!" Miranda said, standing in front of a large metal refrigerator, her expression slightly surprised.
"Hmm?" Howard quickly came over.
There was also a huge scratch on the refrigerator door; the metal door was even torn apart.
Due to severe deformation, the door could not be opened, and the supplies inside remained rotting.
Turning around, at the front of the kitchen's freezer, the ground was piled with seven or eight bodies.
From the purple, tree-like veins on the necks of the corpses and their gray-white pupils, it was clear that these were zombies.
This monster wiped out all the zombies in the kitchen, which is why it's so quiet here.
The glass sliding doors of the freezer were all shattered, and the frozen meats and quick-frozen foods were gone, leaving only a few blood-stained packaging bags behind.
"This monster eats meat!" Miranda analyzed.
The meat in the freezer was gone, and the zombies' heads were all torn open, completely empty inside.
This indicates it also likes to eat zombie brains!
"There are so many strange creatures in the apocalypse, and there's even one that hunts zombies for food!"
"However, since it also eats meat, we are also on its menu!" Howard gently stroked the huge claw marks left by the monster on the metal cabinet door.
Generally speaking, the larger the claws, the larger the size of the animal.
By that logic, this creature's size should be about that of a brown bear, or possibly even larger.
Howard lightly touched it, and the metal cabinet door fell off.
Inside were piles of food materials.
Gather!
Soon, these supplies were turned into stored food points.
"Activate skill, Elite Female Zombie Detection Technique!" Howard thought, and the map of the entire Jiangcheng city reappeared before his eyes.
The positions of several A-level female zombies on the map had hardly changed, except for an S-level female zombie in the southern part of the city who had moved from a safe area to within the city limits and was still moving.
The S-level female zombie was too far from Howard, so he continued to focus on the A-level female zombie at the Dofu Hotel.
Her position had not moved at all since last night.
This suggests she might be trapped somewhere.
At least it means she wasn't eaten by that monster, so let's start searching floor by floor!
Howard and Miranda emerged from the kitchen and headed straight for the buffet area of the restaurant.
Here too, the ground was littered with zombie corpses, all with their heads hollowed out.
"Her position, according to the map, is right here, but she's not in the lobby, which means she's not on the first floor. Let's go up to the second floor!" Miranda nodded and followed Howard into the safety passage to the second floor.
This floor was also full of bodies, but unlike the others, these zombies, though they bore terrifying claw marks, had their heads intact.
It seemed as if the monster intentionally left these zombie corpses behind, perhaps to come back and eat them when it was hungry again.
Also, this suggests that the monster might very well be on this floor!
"Stay alert!" Howard slowly readied 'Cold Moon' in his hand.
"Okay, master!" Swish!
Miranda also immediately extended her nails, and the two cautiously navigated among the bodies.
The sunlight, filtering through the bloodstains on the glass, cast the hall in a terrifying blood-red hue.
The normally clear second-floor restaurant was divided into two areas by a huge movable screen.
If this floor really was the lair of that huge monster, the most likely hiding spot would be behind the screen.
Given its enormous size, it wouldn't be able to squeeze through the doors of regular rooms.
Clang!
Just as Howard and Miranda approached the screen, suddenly, there was the sound of dishes and cutlery hitting the floor from the other side!
