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

Althea was already working in the Research Center even before dawn, while her husband still hadn’t gone home at all.

She missed her children already, and she hoped this war didn’t get dangerous, especially for them.

Later, the twins would be heading to the bunker with guards, but they were waiting for her husband’s signal as they were trying to find the suspicious individuals first and make sure the coast was clear.

They couldn’t underestimate the enemies at all. They could be waiting to entrap them. Just the thought of her children being touched by those bastards made her insides boil in anger.

Plus, because Alterra’s roads were clear and straightforward (which was usually a good thing), this meant that the enemies also had a clear vision of the people passing through. It was also relatively easier to predict a group’s path as long as one knew the end and starting points.

Of course, if the vagabonds still hadn’t found an hour or so before the war was set to start, then they’d have to send the children there anyway, though definitely well-guarded.

As of now, there were still a few high-level fire users around unaccounted for (and also those that could be pretending and had found loopholes in oaths), and that meant there were still many people who could trigger the bombs, should there still be some.

Even if there weren’t and this was a psychological fight, they ought to play it safe when it came to the children.

She stopped in front of the table where the shrapnels and the shells of the bombs were placed.

Last night, she had been stuck here, not knowing what to do with it. Now that she had done a few necessary potions for her husband and her men, she decided to focus on this.

Hopefully, they figured it out before it was too late. But...how?

Other people had been studying this even before her, from different fields and different perspectives. This included Lin and Oslo, who specialized in metals, as well as the goblins who specialized in rocks.

Together, they found traces of various components like pyrite crystals, stones with touches of cobalt-like substance, and black iron, which were somewhat related to bombs they knew.

Black iron was a given; pyrite crystals were used as reactors in Terran dynamites, while cobalt was used in fuses or detonators, as energy conductors.

They also found traces of Blu, which meant it was also a material.

However, regardless of the traces of whatever they found inside the leftover shells, there was nothing they could use to help detect the potential bombs in their territory, all just waiting to be activated.

She stared at the shell, a solemn expression on her face. The others saw her too and sighed. They wanted to help her out, perhaps brainstorm, but they felt like this thing was out of their league.

Their energy and talents were better off making things they could do. For example, all the toolmakers were busy making as many of their respective tools as possible.

Even Melissa was making stuff. Her item was for heating, but heating could have many uses, too.

For example, they found out that Melissa’s tool could be used to maintain ongoing fires. For example, their own bombs, when added with Melissa’s tools, had far longer effectiveness. The other side likely had fire users as well, and this could keep them from killing their side’s fires.

Anyway, none of them could really help Althea figure out this puzzle, so she was in this on her own.

Althea looked again, this time with her magnifying glass. They tried this before but found nothing, but she was stuck, so she decided to try it again because she had been stuck, and she was stuck here until her head hurt and she needed a few hours shut eye and energy smooch from her babies.

At first glance, the patterns were smooth, even with the magnifying glass.

According to the others, they also used the microscope, but only observed the typical surface of worn metallic rock, with traces of the aforementioned particles.

When one touched the surface, it was also relatively smooth, as far as rocks could go.

However, when she used her element and heightened her senses, feeling every vein and nerve on her finger...she noticed that there were some anomalies.

However, if there were such things, they would’ve been visible in the microscope and had long been noticed, but they were not.

Althea bit her lips and took one of the shells. She pulled out water from the space, and some appeared in her hands, and she started washing it thoroughly.

Maybe...?

Using her water ability, Althea then started studying the shrapnel’s surface more deeply. She slowly increased the roughness and abrasion of the water against the shrapnel’s surface, hoping to uncover more.

She did this for a couple of minutes until the portion of the shell was roughly swirling in a waterball she made, like a floating invisible washing machine.

There didn’t seem to be changes, though, at least not visually, but she put a bit of the ’washing’ water under the microscope again, seeing some tiny pieces of the metals and stones. This could mean that there was base material taken off.

After a thought, she took a few drops of the special transforming acid she and her master had made before, applying it to the existing water ball. She removed the shrapnels first, just in case.

She watched as the same waterball slowly changed its pH, hopefully able to uncover more clues.

She placed the smallest shrapnel into this acidic water ball. She could feel a thin layer of the shrapnel soften up under her acidic water, but only to a degree. This meant that she could use this method because it wouldn’t just outright destroy their clue.

She did what she had done before, and then some, and with increasing intensity, for the next couple of minutes. Soon, more and more engravings from the shell appeared.

Sadly, they were not clear. If she were to describe it, the patterns were more like impressions than actual imagery.

Althea’s eyes sparkled. Finally a clue!