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

Just the thought made his heart heavy, his body trembling in unimaginable pain.

The contrast of the happy times and his current horrible state made the pain even more pronounced and unbearable.

I want to die... I want to die...

When the disaster happened, he was on a long-awaited vacation with his wife and young son—they conceived very late in life—in another country.

They had been looking forward to it and he had always wanted to make it up to them due to his frequent absences back when he was a soldier.

His wife had always been patient with him, and frankly other than providing her basic needs, he felt like he failed as a husband for neglecting her so much.

He was always on missions and that was one of the reasons why they had a child so late, already in her 40s.

His beautiful Amelia wanted to have children long ago. In the few times he was with her, he saw how her sights would always follow children with warm, doting eyes.

One day, in their 40s, they finally bore fruit. His name was Aldrich. The child was a carbon copy of him, though he inherited his mother’s beautiful blue eyes.

However, giving birth at that age had its risks, and his son didn’t turn out like his peers.

He had a disability that affected his mind, and this meant he’d be forever in their care.

Neither of them minded of course, they loved him with their whole hearts, anyway.

He retired relatively young and as soon as he was allowed to do so, with the goal of spending the rest of his days with family. It was a long process. He was a general, after all, and there were a great amount of things he had to stabilize before the country let him go.

Within a year of his retirement, they finally went on a vacation he had delayed for a long time.

When the Change swept the globe, he and his family—he, his wife, their son, and their dog—were in a foreign resort. When most people fainted out of nowhere, he knew something was odd and, instead of helping the fainted, he secured his family instead.

When he saw them twitching oddly, he quickly grabbed his wife and son, pushing them to the bar counter and he jumped over it. He got knives and whatever weapon they could use, equipping his family, too.

Things happened swiftly after that. Suddenly, the people who fainted transformed to flesh-eating beasts, lunging at whoever was nearest to them.

ROAAAARRR!

”AHHHH!”

”HELPPP!”

One of the beasts nearby lunged at them as well, but Gideon’s body moved on its own.

His instincts immediately worked, and he used his training to hack the head off the monster in a single swipe.

[Congratulations, Terran Survivor #001, for activating the Universe Assistance System]

[As the first Terran to activate the system, you have been granted 500 Gold and a skill inheritance.]

[Skill inheritance Level will vary upon innate talents and specialization.]

[Combat Specialization Identified: Close quarters combat]

[Class B Skill Acquired: Phantom Step]

[Phantom Step (A): Enables instantaneous displacement within a 3-meter radius. Solid barriers can be ignored. 1 use every 10 seconds for 3 minutes Cool down: 10 Minutes. Mana Usage: 25 Mana]

[Your planet XZ8912, locally known as Terran, is the only planet in the G239 and U834 galaxies to have intelligent civilizations. It was therefore judged to be an important endangered planet by the Universe System.]

[Galaxies G239 and U834 will be deemed uninhabitable in less than 24 hours due to the current condition of one of its central stars.]

[In less than 24 hours, to preserve remaining life, all surviving indigenous creatures will be migrated to the Great Continent of Xeno.]

[Please note that items in the system-provided backpack can be taken with you.]

While he was reading this, Galleon was actually killing the zombies approaching them.

Using his battle-hardened instincts, he made use of the so-called inherited skill. He had no time to question everything, after all, and seeing zombies in front of him made him more accepting of the weird voice in his mind telling him he received a magical skill.

It didn’t mean his control was impeccable from the get-go, however. A moment later, he disappeared smack in the middle of the zombies by accident.

He heard his wife scream his name, no doubt shocked at his disappearance, as well as his son’s awed squeak and the dog’s soft bark.

Fortunately, he was trained very well in close combat, and he managed to defend himself against the zombies that surrounded him before he blinked to behind the counter again.

Just in time too because he saw his son was about to jump, and his wife not knowing what to do. He arrived at the back of the counter again waving at the zombies going after them.

They both hugged him and Galleon embraced them in turn.

”Husband!!”

”Daddy!!”

”Woof!”

Amelia looked at him, utterly confused, still reeling from everything that happened in the past couple of seconds. ”What is going on?”

He could not answer because several zombies focused in their direction due to the noise they made, though some others had found easier targets.

There were also other survivors running around, doing their best to defend themselves.

Behind the safety of the counter, he hacked whatever monster that came his way. Understandably, although he gave his family some defensive items like the lid of a caulderon, they couldn’t quite react proactively like he could.

Galleon closely observed what was happening elsewhere in the room too, hoping to save his family and perhaps others as well.

He saw several people had noticed his area and wanted to approach when they saw him level-headed. However, because he was surrounded by the monsters, these people were quickly mobbed before they could even reach him.

By this time, most of the people in the restaurant had been bitten. He noticed that they... turned to monsters too, much like in the movie.

He looked at his family, who were shivering on the ground. While he swiped, parried, and hacked, he remembered the voice in his head and the content of its announcement.

The more minutes passed and the fact that he could really use the skill made him believe this was really happening. And it was hell.

”It’s an apocalyptic event. Kill one and you’ll know,” he said, holding her hand and made her clench on the weapon (a kitchen knife) tightly.

Amelia paled. ”What?”

”Do it!”

At the time, he desperately thought: He’d survive this hell with his family, no matter what!