"You lost, brave one." At Natalie's words, the fierce-looking dog instantly turned back into her harmless, adorable self. She wobbled around, tongue lolling out. Natalie, have we practiced enough? I don't want to play your silly games anymore! Bored, she yawned, wiggled her little butt, and trotted off to her bed. A moment later, she came back carrying her food bowl. With a loud "clunk," she dropped it at Natalie's feet. Feed me! Natalie chuckled and picked up the bowl, which was about the size of a washbasin. That's right—about as big as a washbasin. For some reason, Lucky kept getting bigger, and her appetite was getting crazier, too.Bulldogs usually don't grow longer than two feet once they're fully grown. But Lucky was only nine months old and already over two and a half feet long, with no sign of stopping. The wildest part was her appetite. Even though she was technically a small breed, she could eat as much in one meal as Natalie did in two. At first, Natalie tried to control her portions, worried she'd get too fat and have health problems. But every day she'd look at her with those sad, hungry eyes, lying in her bed like she didn't have the strength to move—like she was being neglected. Natalie finally gave in and let her eat as much as she wanted. Instead of getting any health problems, she just got stronger and more muscular. So the food bowl kept getting bigger and bigger.Natalie filled it with kibble, freeze-dried veggies, salmon jerky bites, vitamins, and topped it off with a bowl of pet goat milk. Lucky dug in happily, munching away. Watching her made Natalie hungry, so she decided to treat herself to something nice too. She had just stepped into the kitchen when she heard someone knocking at the door. ... How annoying! Why do people always show up right at mealtime? Natalie dragged her feet out of the kitchen. Olivia had already beaten her to the hallway and was peeking out the peephole. "Is anyone home? Natalie lives here, right?" When Natalie came out, Olivia quietly moved aside so she could look out, whispering, "I think it's the police." The police? Natalie raised an eyebrow and leaned up to the peephole. Outside was a young, unfamiliar face in a blue police uniform, knocking confidently on the door. "Is Ms. Ashford home? I'm the police officer for this block. Please open the door and cooperate with our investigation!" Natalie didn't open the door. She spoke through the closed door. "What's this about?" The officer heard her and responded right away. "You must be Natalie! Someone has accused you of murder. Please come with me and cooperate with our investigation." Natalie still didn't open the door, watching him closely through the peephole. Some neighbors, drawn by the commotion, started gathering on the landing between the 13th and 14th floors, craning their necks to see. "Hey! Someone finally called the cops. They're here to deal with that psycho!""Great! Once the police take her away, we can check her apartment and see how much stuff she's been hoarding." "Thank goodness! Someone's finally putting that arrogant woman in her place! She killed my neighbor—I'll testify in court!" "Hmph! Let's see what she does now. She can't just keep defying the law forever, right?" "I've never liked her. She's so young—why does she have so much stuff?" That's just how people are: jealous of those who have, and mocking those who don't. Since the apocalypse began, everyone looked pale and sickly—except Natalie. She always looked healthy and well-fed, clearly doing just fine. Not only that, she'd driven off anyone who tried to steal her supplies. Whenever she went to the market, she always came back loaded down, which made everyone secretly furious.Now that she was finally in trouble, people were getting excited. More and more neighbors gathered to watch the drama. Plenty of them stood by, egging things on. "Officer, you're finally here! That psycho's been causing trouble in our building for ages!" "Yeah, Officer, we can all testify. She's killed plenty of people!" "I heard she's a wanted criminal, a psycho killer even before the apocalypse. You've got to arrest her!" With the police there, all of Natalie's jealous neighbors stopped being afraid and started piling on accusations, eager to see her go down. The young officer turned around, raising his hand to quiet the crowd. "Everyone, please calm down. Don't interfere with my investigation." Then he spoke to the door again. "Ms. Ashford, please open up and come to the station to cooperate with our investigation."Inside, Olivia was nervous, glancing at Natalie with worry. "The apocalypse just ended—how could someone already call the cops?" She tried to reassure her. "Don't be scared. I'll testify for you. Those people attacked you first—it was all self-defense." Natalie gave a soft laugh. "Why would I be scared?"