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

”What’s wrong?” Sheila asked, looking at her husband in a daze. She felt like pouting a bit. Obviously, it wasn’t oftentimes she initiated! That took a lot of courage on her part.

However, for whatever reason, his eyes brightened as he turned to look at her. ”You know how we have a group of people monitoring all the entries in the territory, right?”

Sheila nodded. Althea granted a department access to the real-time population list. There were people watching the list for 28 hours of the day.

”You know how we got the staff to ping us whenever certain names enter the territory, right?”

Sheila blinked and sat up, a possibility dawning on her. Her heart beat faster as her soft palms grabbed his shirt. ”Just get to the point, please.”

Eagle broke into a smile, leaning down to kiss her cheek. ”Your father and brother’s names appeared and their ages matched. Do you want to take a look?”

…

The Shrao caravan arrived at night time.

Earlier in the afternoon, they were unlucky and were attacked by a relatively big monster mob. Some of their strongmen got injured so it took them a while to get there.

By the time they arrived in Alterra’s area, most people had been wounded somehow. The aborigines were dead tired, let alone the civilians—some of whom were Terran.

But who were they to complain? They were just tagging along and they were warned they wouldn’t be protected nor provided resources for. Even if they paid quite a bit for each person, it was made clear that they would not be protected.

Fortunately, they stayed long enough in this place to know a few edible plants and fruits to sate their hunger and thirst. They had also bought a few of those coarse bread from the Restaurant back in Shrao Village.

The aborigines all had some coarse bread as well, though it was notable how some of them also openly showed dislike for it. They even mentioned Alterra’s food with bits of longing, surprising the Terrans.

At the time, Den and Albert looked at each other with curiosity and puzzlement in their eyes.

The Caravan was supposed to buy a lot of things from Alterra. They wondered what a Terran village built 3 months ago could have that aborigines didn’t?

Did a group of Terrans somehow manage to recreate some recipes or something? Then again, this place was very backward in some things, so perhaps a group was powerful enough to bring in some innovations.

At the time, they just thought it’d be something a bit creative like jams or some simple sauces made from local plants. Of course, those were already very impressive.

After all, in the past few months, most people were preoccupied with just surviving. Not many people would have the time to really experiment on something unavailable to the locals.

But when they saw the walls and sentries, they couldn’t speak anymore. And then they entered and they were speechless.

It was like they were suddenly thrown into a barrage of activity and brightness and they could only gape.

”This…” Albert gasped, looking at the people going about the streets and the shops as if nothing was wrong with the world. Sheldon’s eyes widened, filled with admiration, while the rest immediately went to approach the nearest stalls.

”Food!”

”Drinks!”

”Ohmygoodness!”

Suffice to say, they ’lost’ a lot of people a few meters past the threshold.

There were also people from the aborigine team who had seen Alterra for the first time. They gaped and gasped, their expression full of disbelief, unsure if this was really a village.

They couldn’t believe their eyes, and even the Terrans were also shocked.

Fellow Terrans did this?

How?!

It was around this time that a few people arrived and greeted them with smiles. ”Welcome to nighttime in Alterra~! Would you like a guide?”

”A… guide?”

What in the world…

”Yes! For a fee, we can guide you across the territory~ Only the public-accessible areas, of course.”

The Terrans looked at each other, minds going a little blank, but they nodded in the end.

Encountering a tour guide in this place was so ’out there’ for them, but here they were. Anyway, they ought to take advantage.

Fortunately, the fee was in groups. Some people still had excess money to hire a guide, and they allowed Albert and his son to tag along.

The group immediately went to explore the village. Before going, everyone decided to buy a few things in the stalls!

They weren’t rich but they magically could afford to treat themselves like this! The few coppers that could get them nothing outside, could actually buy a few things in Alterra! How happy!

They were just simple snacks like a stick of barbeque or french fries—but it was easily the best meal they had in months!

Of course, as they walked along the wide streets—running parallel to an avenue with bikes—they naturally thought to look for their loved ones first.

As fascinated as they were, they naturally couldn’t forget looking for them.

At this, the poor guide—Louie— was barraged with some names and descriptions. He was guiding a group of a dozen, so he couldn’t absorb them at all. He might have heard of some familiar names, but got distracted fairly quickly when the list went on and on…

”Ah, you can send announcements in the Village Center—for a fee, of course,” Louie just said with a smile, holding up his hand to stop them. ”A lot of relatives have found each other that way. Don’t worry, it’s part of the tour. We should get there soon.”

Hearing this, the newcomers forced themselves to calm down—to be patient for a bit longer. Louie could also sense that they were eager to the Village Center so he didn’t make any stopovers in the meantime, and they just went straight to the Center.

Den and the others were already budgeting for the announcement, to be able to include as many names as allowable. Albert was thinking of how to borrow money.

After buying his son and paying the caravan, he really didn’t have much left except for a couple of coppers.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to spend anything at all, because a familiar voice sounded at the side.

”Dad! Sheldon!”

At first, they thought they were hearing things. When things were too good to be true—they usually were, after all.

However, when they turned to see her smiling—safe and sound—Albert and his son couldn’t help but burst into tears.

”Sheila!!”