After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 232

Chapter 232: Clues (Part 2)
Before leaving, the twins asked their new friends and stall neighbors Sunny and Cassie to watch their stuff for them. After orienting the girls, they headed in the direction the woman ran to.

The twins quickly weaved through the crowd in the direction of the woman. They ran purposely, expressions a mix of determination and urgency.

They passed through crowd after crowd, alley to alley, house after house, trying to catch up to the woman.

Unfortunately even with Luke’s superior eyesight… they still lost her.

“Damn it!” Luke yelled with gritted teeth, while Leo frowned, his fists forming into fists.

“Why did she run?” Luke said, mumbling bitterly, while Leo didn’t speak.

Yes, why would she run? There was no other reason unless…

He shook his head, not wanting to think too much.

“Are you looking for someone, lads?” An old man manning a clothing repair stall asked.

The man looked at their clothes and nodded. “Those must be made here, in this continent, yes?”

“Ah… yes.”

To promote their products, the main parties traveling were encouraged to wear new clothes from the newly produced cotton cloths.

“You could tell?”

“Yes, most clothes from Terran are automated. There are differences in the stitches.”

“I see…” He said and felt very good about this kind-looking old man, temporarily putting aside the issue of the woman. Besides, he could’ve seen something.

“You fix clothes for a living?”

The old man paused and chuckled. “You can say so, yes.

“Since we don’t have access to cloth, the people here could only make do with what they have. I happened to have fixed a lot of clothes in my youth…” He paused, smiling. “This is all thanks to the lord that a useless old man like me could get a job.”

Luke was good friends with Sunny’s group, so he naturally had some more knowledge about the ruling class here. He couldn’t bear to let this kind old man be brainwashed so deeply.

“From what I heard, the lord here is a bit.. shady? A politician who could get so much hard money, and all…”

The man paused, only staring at them for a moment, and Luke felt a little guilty for trying to break other people’s worldviews.

“Perhaps.” The old man said after a moment, face adorned with a wise smile. “But we don’t deny that much of the reason we could live peacefully is because of him.”

Luke shrugged and just thought he was a lost cause. Leo on the other hand just paused with his words and didn’t say anything else.

“Have you seen the woman we were chasing? She had a braided bun on her head.” Leo asked, “She’s our mum’s friend. She was with her when the disaster happened.”

The old man looked at them with wise eyes, as if determining if they were telling the truth. He closed his eyes and finally spoke. “She lives with others a block from here.” He said, pointing in a direction.

The twins thanked the old man before heading their way.

But as they walked away, they heard the old man say behind them:

“A reminder: Things may not be as they seem.”

Leo’s steps paused for a moment but he shook his head. He had much more urgent matters to deal with.

…

They sprinted with all their strength and reached a relatively sparse neighborhood outside the center.

They were looking around and saw the woman about to reach a door. Lucky for them, the woman tried to mislead them by going in a different direction before heading home, saving them a lot of trouble instead.

Luke used much of his strength to dart after the woman and finally caught up. He grabbed her arms, pulling her to an alley.

“KYA!” She yelled, but her mouth was quickly covered by Luke’s large hand. They pulled her to a quiet location, and Leo stared at the woman with narrowed eyes.

“Promise you won’t scream or run and we will not bind you.”

The woman was breathing heavily, wide eyes looking at them in fear.

Leo’s jaws clenched, while Luke was just annoyed. “Are you going to help us or not?

The shivering woman was silent, as if considering, and it took a while for her to nod. This hesitation alone made Leo’s frown deepen.

Luke, as promised, let her go.

The woman gasped as she lost the feeling in her leg and almost dropped, only to be supported on each hand with separate arms.

Luke immediately began his interrogation. “Auntie! Why did you run? Where’s mum?”

“I—”

Leo tried to be as gentle as he could, in contrast to Luke. “Auntie, we just want to ask where mum is.”

Leo watched the middle-aged woman pale even more at the question, shaking in fear. The more she didn’t speak, the more their hearts dropped.

Luke’s eyes were turning red in impatience and annoyance, while Leo tried his best to stay collected.

He stopped himself from panicking, big brain thinking of the many possible explanations.

Maybe… maybe they parted early on. Maybe… they canceled their plans at the last minute. Maybe… they didn’t go to the supermarket in the first place…

“Where’s mom?”

“I—” she uttered but shut her mouth, looking at anywhere else but the two of them.

Seeing her like this, their hearts stopped.

“Where is she?!” Luke couldn’t help but shake her, already a tiny bit of patience wearing thin. She shook her head crazily, and Luke’s vision started going red.

“WHERE IS MY MOTHER?!!”

His bellow seemed to have made the woman snap. “I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it!!” She yelled, completely losing her footing, covering her own ears as if she wasn’t the one currently yelling. “She tried pushing me first!”

This made them freeze like they were thrown into iced water.

“LIAR!!!!” Luke roared.

“I’m not, I swear.” She sobbed, her arms covering her whole body as if she was in pain.

Leo looked at the ground with a dark face, his hands freezing to fists then loosened then gripped again, awkward, not knowing what to think.

Things are not what it seems, the old man had said. Perhaps it was implying that this woman was also a victim. But…

He just didn’t want to believe it.