After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

Days passed and the team from Limestone Valley was finally set to return, along with the first batch of migrants from the place.

This was a group of a few hundreds, mostly professionals and their families. In fact, half of them were unsure of moving to Alterra. After all, although they suffered a bit in Fargo, life there was getting better.

Like many others, there was doubt about whether it was a wise decision to move to Alterra—which could’ve been after Limestone Valley’s resources and not a very good place itself.

This was especially true for the non-medical professionals who didn’t participate closely in the war and had an idea of what Alterra was capable of.

For example, there was a young couple Marco and his wife Renya. Marco was an industrial engineer while his wife was a linguist.

”Are we sure about this?” the woman whispered, gently pulling her husband’s sleeves. She had reddish brown hair and a large scar on the side of her face.

The man looked reluctant but nodded in the end. ”It can’t be that bad, right?” he asked, rubbing his blonde hair.

At the very least, they knew Alterran’s moralities were miles ahead of Fargo’s. At the minimum, in Fargo, he was afraid someone would pull his wife into an alley every single day.

Now there wasn’t such worry. Even if there were bad apples that remained lurking around—not everyone was openly bad—they were quickly handled by the automatic rules and sent to the manual prison.

Such rules were promising and he heard it was just copied from Alterra, and that said a lot about that place. Even if they would be a little poorer in Alterra, then it would be worth it.

Probably.

However, the couple—and most of the others—still felt reluctant to leave.

They had survived the zombie apocalypse together because they were celebrating their anniversary in a high-end restaurant. The number of people there was very few, and there were also plenty of supplies.

Somehow some other people also caught the attention of the zombies—he distinctly remembered a man with red hair—so they were safe as long as they were still.

However, there were still plenty of battles afterwards, especially towards the end of the 24 hours timeline and some survivors had found the restaurant.

Rather than help each other, these people ended up only leading more zombies—upgraded ones—near them.

Renya had unfortunately gotten burned in the fights. They almost died trying to get to the first aid kit in the administration office, but they pushed through. They ultimately kept the upgraded zombies away by hiding in the freezer.

Those were a horrendous couple of hours wherein they just hugged each other and shivered, fearing for their lives. They almost got hypothermia then and maybe they could’ve also lost a few fingers.

Maybe they would’ve, but their physiques were improved by their upgrades, and that was at least one good thing that came out of all these.

When they got transferred to Xeno, they had each other’s backs and attached themselves to the soldiers who would later join the current leading party—Victor’s—team.

Their first territory held strong for a while until the protection period ended, and it was back to fighting for their lives every minute again.

Then they found Fargo Village, which had much more resources and better infrastructure than their previous one, and they felt so relieved.

Sadly, Fargo and his men were extremely violent and horrible. It had become a lawless place where violence ruled. Renya had never felt so lucky that she had such a large burn scar on her body.

The period after Fargo’s fall was the most peaceful time they had after the disaster, so it was not surprising that both of them were reluctant to leave that behind.

It was like they suffered so much to finally find that home, how could they risk going to an unknown territory? However, they were specifically recruited for their specialties. Even if there were doubts, who didn’t want to make use of the education they worked so hard for?

As for the perks, Alterra promised them and their families free dormitories and a temporary residency for 1 month. After all, their skills still needed to be checked.

Not to mention, Sir Henry and the others also brought in Newspapers! There, they saw sneak peeks of Alterra which was ultimately the tilting scale of their decisions.

”What if the contents weren’t true?” Renya couldn’t help but wonder. After all, the contents can easily be manipulated. Marco patted her arm comfortingly.

”The fact that their territory had paper and printing press is enough to convince me they’re much better than others.

”I think… it’s okay to take this leap,” he said. Although he also had doubts, as the backbone of their family, he could not show it.

Renya looked at her husband with glassy eyes. She didn’t speak for a while before nodding. She gripped his hand tighter, finding comfort in his warmth. ”Well, whatever happens, at least we’ll be together.”

…

On the other side, Victor received some details from the Alterran representatives this time. ”Limestone Valleys will primarily focus on mining,” Victor repeated, reading the letter with long bullet points of instructions. He took note of them, thinking of the best steps for efficiency.

”They said to give you freedom in most cases, including how to execute the basic orders,” Luis said with a shrug. ”We’re counting on you.”

Victor felt a bit pressured, but nodded in the end.

Alterra’s side was led by Luis and Sammy, and they were assigned to fetch the large group of immigrants filled with professionals.

They also discussed how to protect the miners—who were rightful employees—and how they could maximize the output considering they weren’t going full force with the mining just yet.

Luckily, they had Bazco, a retired miner who did have some knowledge in mining several materials. He would be staying in Limestone Valley semi-permanently.

This, combined with some handwritten notes from sister-in-law (researched from her tablet and based on their observations when they visited), they compiled and finalized some plans.

”Contact only when important. We hope that you handle this place well.”

”We will do what we can,” Victor said and he said his goodbyes as the two headed back to the immigrants.

While the two talked with the leading party, the other guards prepared the civilians and oriented them on what to do, especially during emergencies like mob attacks.

Vanessa watched as the part got ready with a bit of bitterness. ”Can’t I come with them?”

Victor looked at her with a complex expression. He wanted his sister to have a good life—of course he did—but he saw how unhealthy her affections were.

Having her so close to that couple wouldn’t do her any good at all.

”Not yet, sis. Maybe after a few cycles,” he said, baritone voice filled with finality. He then turned to focus on the other team members to discuss their plans further, effectively ignoring her.

Vanessa bit her lips. No fair!

…

The team left and traversed through the forests and hills, placing civilians between the guards.

Of course, everyone had their weapons out. While a lot of them preferred to be protected, none of them would’ve survived this long without fighting at least a few times.

It was a lot smoother than they anticipated though. Before going out, they were asked to spray bug repellants and monster repellants, though to be honest they were a little dubious at its effectivity.

They weren’t expecting it to work so well! They hadn’t felt any bites at all! More importantly, they hadn’t encountered many mobs after a few hours of travel!

The guards cleared the path as they traveled, placing the signs in strategic distances from each other.

While it had some risk of attracting strong enemies, helping out brethren and refugees remained their priority.

Their vision was that Alterra would always be much stronger than territories that could attack it, so it didn’t matter if they found the signages.

”I wish more of my family would find these…” a guard said as he attached a sign to a tree. His friend agreed with him.

”Same…”

This went on for another half an hour and it was quite peaceful. Even the immigrants felt like smiling as they watched the interactions. It also reassured them a lot.

A territory that could think about ’miscellaneous’ things like this must be powerful, right?

It was peaceful like this for a bit longer until Luis—who was placing a sign against one of the trees—abruptly let go and jumped back.

Clack!

The sound of metal against metal as a flash sparked and Luis was pushed back by a force.

”Enemies!” He yelled. Strong ones!