diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index b737661..93ea036 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run tests
         run: go test ./... -coverprofile=coverage.out -covermode=atomic
 
+      - name: Upload coverage to Codecov
+        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v5
+        with:
+          files: coverage.out
+          fail_ci_if_error: false
+
       - name: Validate coverage threshold
         shell: bash
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38a086f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+name: Release
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags:
+      - 'v*'
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+
+jobs:
+  release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version-file: go.mod
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: go test ./... -covermode=atomic
+
+      - name: Create GitHub Release
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        with:
+          generate_release_notes: true
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 935abe2..c951a90 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 [![Go Reference](https://pkg.go.dev/badge/github.com/gocanto/collection.svg)](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/gocanto/collection)
 [![Go Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/go-1.25-blue.svg)](https://golang.org/doc/devel/release.html#go1.25)
+[![CI](https://github.com/gocanto/collection/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/gocanto/collection/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
+[![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/gocanto/collection/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/gocanto/collection)
+[![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/gocanto/collection)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/gocanto/collection)
 [![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
 
 A powerful Go port of [Laravel Collections](https://laravel.com/docs/collections) — fluent, type-safe, and powered by Go generics and `iter.Seq` lazy evaluation.
diff --git a/arr/sorting.go b/arr/sorting.go
index 778044f..0532dd6 100644
--- a/arr/sorting.go
+++ b/arr/sorting.go
@@ -63,5 +63,8 @@ func Random[T any](items []T, counts ...int) []T {
 		return shuffled
 	}
 
-	return shuffled[:count]
+	result := make([]T, count)
+	copy(result, shuffled[:count])
+
+	return result
 }
diff --git a/collection/mutation.go b/collection/mutation.go
index 5c742a4..4672141 100644
--- a/collection/mutation.go
+++ b/collection/mutation.go
@@ -67,6 +67,13 @@ func (c *Collection[T]) Pop(counts ...int) (T, bool) {
 
 	_ = count // For single pop
 	item := c.items[len(c.items)-1]
+
+	// Zero the removed element so the GC can reclaim it — without this,
+	// the backing array keeps a stale reference and the value is never collected.
+	// Reslicing in-place avoids the O(N) alloc+copy that a new slice would require.
+	var zero T
+
+	c.items[len(c.items)-1] = zero
 	c.items = c.items[:len(c.items)-1]
 
 	return item, true
@@ -82,7 +89,20 @@ func (c *Collection[T]) PopMany(count int) *Collection[T] {
 	}
 
 	idx := len(c.items) - count
-	popped := Collect(c.items[idx:])
+
+	items := make([]T, count)
+	copy(items, c.items[idx:])
+	popped := Collect(items)
+
+	// Zero the removed tail so the GC can reclaim those elements — without this,
+	// the backing array keeps stale references that are never collected.
+	// Reslicing in-place avoids the O(N) alloc+copy that a new slice would require.
+	var zero T
+
+	for i := idx; i < len(c.items); i++ {
+		c.items[i] = zero
+	}
+
 	c.items = c.items[:idx]
 
 	return popped
@@ -98,6 +118,13 @@ func (c *Collection[T]) Shift() (T, bool) {
 	}
 
 	item := c.items[0]
+
+	// Zero the removed element so the GC can reclaim it — without this,
+	// the backing array keeps a stale reference and the value is never collected.
+	// Reslicing in-place avoids the O(N) alloc+copy that a new slice would require.
+	var zero T
+
+	c.items[0] = zero
 	c.items = c.items[1:]
 
 	return item, true
@@ -112,7 +139,19 @@ func (c *Collection[T]) ShiftMany(count int) *Collection[T] {
 		return shifted
 	}
 
-	shifted := Collect(c.items[:count])
+	items := make([]T, count)
+	copy(items, c.items[:count])
+	shifted := Collect(items)
+
+	// Zero the removed head so the GC can reclaim those elements — without this,
+	// the backing array keeps stale references that are never collected.
+	// Reslicing in-place avoids the O(N) alloc+copy that a new slice would require.
+	var zero T
+
+	for i := 0; i < count; i++ {
+		c.items[i] = zero
+	}
+
 	c.items = c.items[count:]
 
 	return shifted
diff --git a/collection/sorting.go b/collection/sorting.go
index 54c0a6d..44486e6 100644
--- a/collection/sorting.go
+++ b/collection/sorting.go
@@ -75,5 +75,8 @@ func (c *Collection[T]) Random(counts ...int) *Collection[T] {
 		return shuffled
 	}
 
-	return Collect(shuffled.items[:count])
+	result := make([]T, count)
+	copy(result, shuffled.items[:count])
+
+	return Collect(result)
 }