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

While Faye and the others had found the river, there was also another batch of people from the Rows village who went the other way upstream.

The village was not small and things happened quickly that people just went in different directions. However, since they had access to streams, they’d go just one way or another.

Another few hundred people went in this direction. They left the moment they saw the buildings disintegrating.

While most had the instinct to wait for the leading party to start moving—particularly because they had been dependable so far—some had rushed out earlier when they saw the reaction was delayed.

Some had chosen the direction by random, while others did have reason for going upstream. For instance, at the very least, they knew there was really a mountain in this direction. It was more difficult to traverse because there was a slight incline, but at least it was better than hoping to find a river before dusk.

One of these people was Perrot. He was just the type not to wait around. So now he, along with hundreds of others who went in this direction, were half-dead from the heat, and a lot of people had already fallen.

There were people who tried to take the lead, and they built their own smaller groups with their own strategies.

They covered their bodies with thick mud, protecting their eyes with an overhang. They wouldn’t be able to move well, so there was a risk when there were monsters awake, not to mention they’d move slower and remain outside for longer.

However, it was better than direct contact with the sun—provided they didn’t let the dry mud stick for too long, which meant they’d expend energy in restructuring their wet mud shield every so often.

They had to do this manually. Their side was not that strong and there were only a few earth elementalists, including Perrot himself, so they had limited options.

Perrot was actually an engineer and he had also thought about creating a portable roof.

However, the trees they encountered just didn’t work as well, breaking down easily after getting cut. He reckoned it was because they were heading on an incline—towards the mountains. The winds were stronger here, and it put a lot more stress on the trees that couldn’t adapt fast enough.

It was torture walking in the open air during this weather. It was like being ovened alive, but you had no choice but to keep moving. They had been doing this for hours now, until they felt the incline increasing even more.

After a long time of looking down to protect their eyes, they finally looked up to see they were in the middle of the mountains already. He looked at the mud that had slowly gained more water and he smiled, his dry lips cracking at the movement. It bled a bit, though he didn’t mind it.

”I think we’re close,” Perrot said, though his voice was so raspy few people actually heard him. Fortunately, the incline wasn’t too harsh, otherwise they’d have long rolled back.

They continued to traverse the place, increasing their pace because the mountain springs were their target and might even be nearby.

More importantly: the sky had changed—it would be dusk soon.

”Hurry…” he said, increasing his steps but having no energy to check how many people were still following him.

Eventually, the eerie sound of the arid wind and the rustles of dried wood changed, soon combining with some other sounds, like murmurs… and screams.

”Do you hear something?” he asked, looking at his companion who didn’t hear much at first.

For the most part, all their brain energies were focused on keeping themselves moving. If they fell, it was unlikely someone would pull them to shade and safety—primarily because they weren’t certain they’d encounter it!

They just continued their paths and soon the voices became clearer. Even, they realized it was the Terran language that was being used, so they knew these were brethren!

”Other people!” they exclaimed and immediately headed to the sound. So many people could mean a territory was nearby!

They immediately shed their mud shields and not caring much about the hot sun, which had slightly cooled at this time already.

However, they saw large pieces of wood in front of them. At first, they thought some trees just fell until Perrot recognized the crude handiwork of humans.

It was not just wood carelessly stocked up, it had an actual pile foundation made of wood, and all parts were tied together by vines and pasted by heated clay. It was highly intentional and done expertly, considering their current limitations and resources.

He walked around to study it closer and saw it had a u-structure, making sure… that no water would get past this area.

Perrot didn’t say anything but his feet—and heart—felt heavy.

He just watched as many of the Row Village folks walked past his frozen self, running forward to see their ’brethren’. They were too focused to notice what he was looking at, so their eyes were still full of hope and potential camaraderie.

Anyway, there were indeed hundreds of people running in their direction, and they all had faces of despair and panic.

Most of them didn’t even get far though and they just fell down, obviously unused to the raw heat—which was already saying something.

These people just laid weakly on the ground, hoping to get some shade from the leafless trees, though the heat of the atmosphere was too intense to feel any comfort.

”Help… help…” they asked, but who had the energy to provide it at this time?

Those with some strength headed straight to the stream—which was the highest the Row Village citizens had ever seen after the Heat Waves.

The Row Villagers also wanted to go there, but those people pushed them aside and they, who had been traveling for hours, were helpless. They just watched as scores and scores of screaming people hopped on the deep stream, intending to swim for their lives.

However, the people let out screeching screams as soon as they jumped—if they were even in more pain than before. ”AHHH!”

”HURTS!”

”BURNING! BURNING!! GAHHH!”

The people yelled, some fainting directly in the water, while some hurriedly swam to the edge as if their lives depended on it.

It confused the Row Villagers too much; it didn’t make any sense!

”What’s… going on?” One asked, looking at Perrot who just arrived to watch. Unlike the rest of them, Perrot was without much expression.

Perrot looked cold-heartedly at these people.

The thing was, because of their own creation, the blocked water became stagnant. With little ’new’ water coming in due to the droughts, the water that had been stored became extremely hot.

With the right conditions… it could even rise to boiling temperatures, which was what was happening now.

They watched as the people tried to get to dry land, bodies filled with blisters and the low-level ones even looked like part of their skins were melting off.

Some didn’t make it and lost consciousness in the water, while those who got out looked horrendous, as if they were deep fried.

It was a horrible sight.

But Perrot, at least, felt no pity.