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

While Alterra was having a peaceful rest, almost everyone else was still restless, and it would not get easier for the next couple of days.

In most territories, this period was characterized by nothing but suffering.

The Heat Wave season was particularly harsh not only because of the weather, but because of the utter restlessness that came after. There was very little adjustment through this time; it was just pure torture for most.

The morning could literally kill people, while the night—the supposed time to fix everything destroyed during the day—was just as restless.

Whether it was to bury their dead, to do their jobs, or to hunt for food, this was the most active time for all territories.

The atmosphere was still hot, but at least it was a bit tolerable and their skin wouldn’t burn when they went outside.

But there were constant monster mobs during the night, killing more people, especially those who couldn’t gather enough energy.

However, such weather was not the first in Xeno. It had been happening every few years or so, and had been happening since the beginning of time.

For aborigines, deaths in the morning were nothing new. Their bodies had evolved and physiques had been improved so the deaths weren’t as bad as they could be—provided that they remained in some sort of shade—but it still went up to several hundred casualties every season or so. If the village was ill-prepared, it could go up to thousands, especially among slaves.

In any case, the aborigines knew to stay awake at night to deal with the mobs, so they did try to catch up on rest in the mornings, but it wasn’t easy due to the extreme discomfort.

They could even die of dehydration or suffocation while asleep. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, particularly to the lower-leveled individuals.

One of the few things that made this survivable was the refresh rates. The drought-resistant plants of the forests regenerated some food every day or so, so if one went out early, one could still find food and not starve to death.

However, after a few days of the Heat Wave, people became more and more aware… that the refresh rate had been slowing down.

This was especially obvious to the older aborigines who had been through dozens of Heat Waves in their lifetimes. Before, even if they couldn’t move in the mornings, they could at least forage within the walls at night. The produce wasn’t much—not a lot of plants survive the weather—but it kept them alive as long as they ate

something

every few days or so.

Now… there were fewer plants to take, the leaves were smaller, and they bloomed a little slower. It was not obvious at first, but as time went on their harvest was diminishing at a palpable rate.

Of course, most people didn’t actually come to this conclusion immediately. Rather, most would think other people foraged before they could, which caused a lot of desperate fights and unnecessary deaths.

Ironically, in some territories, there were more deaths caused by the injuries from infighting, rather than deaths from starvation or parchedness. .

After days of unnecessary bloodshed, others would just decide to go out earlier than others. People had to go out while the sun was out to forage, just so they didn’t run out.

It was death either by starvation or by heatstroke, and even the aborigines had a hard time coping.

They came to realize this was not the usual heat wave they had experienced before.

As if the usual heat wave didn’t kill enough people, it decided to get even worse!

Sure, they could hunt monsters, eat their meat and drink their blood, but they had to have the energy to fight against them first!

Without the plants, without ready food sources, how would they be able to do so?!

Going against the mobs without any health was suicide!

Then people risked going out when the sky was out, no longer caring if they burned their skins. They could barely feel it with their hunger anyway.

However, while many managed to keep what they worked for, in most cases they would be mobbed by fellowmen as soon as they got back into shades. Because they were weakened by the heat, they could no longer fight, and many died like this.

They were gathering whatever live resources they could. It wasn’t easy as almost everything was dead, but they saw that the plants that were thriving obviously had some drought-resistance and focused on that.

Hence, most people just went out earlier and earlier in the afternoon to get food before others could do so—assuming the plant had already regenerated, in which case the timing itself also presented a challenge.

They had no choice but to do so, even by burning their skins, and they also ate whatever they could find on the spot so they wouldn’t be stolen.

No one wanted to have to go out at night, only to be eaten by monsters while gathering food! It was still safer this way!

Further, they also realized that there were far lesser resources outside the walls. That was to say, there were more risks in getting burned because it was a distance away from shades, but also receive a lot less loot.

This went on for days more but, unfortunately, when tragedy struck, it always struck in waves.

Not everyone could go out midday, and there were still people who had to go out at night in hopes that some plants only ’matured’ during that time.

They carried torches to light their way. However, a single flicker of ember could emblazed an entire shrub, and soon a side of the forest was covered with fire.

”WHAT!?” They yelled, immediately making moves to contain it. However, it was too fast and they were too slow and weak and it quickly spread across the inner forest—which was not that large to begin with.

The fiery light of destruction reflected on their faces filled with despair. They could only cry, kneeling down on the ground, with hope utterly lost.