After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 80

Chapter 80: New Neighbor
A few minutes passed by and Baron and the others could only study the surroundings while they waited.

“Those are… vines, right?” Angelo said, pointing at the stone fence. They turned to look at the two-meter high stone fence and the little sprouts that were already crawling up. It had already reached about half a meter up the fence.

“They definitely got here a lot longer than we did, at least a full day.” Jesse analyzed, “We could get information from them.”

Baron scoffed, puffing his chest. “Of course we can! But, as goodwill, we must also give gifts!”

Their chatter was cut when the man from before got out of the house and opened the gate. “Come in.” He said, “But we won’t charge so much, don’t worry.

“My name is Harold, by the way.” He said, chatting as they walked along the paved road to the main door.

“Nice to meet you, Harold.” Baron said a bit absent-mindedly. He looked at the paved road and the obvious provision for a future garden.

He could confirm this team was here more than a bit earlier than they were. The fact that they could also prepare for designing the house also said a lot about their personalities and abilities.

After all, it showed an amazing mental fortitude to already be thinking about lifestyle after everything that had happened. “Did you also arrive yesterday?”

“Yes. We were attracted by the fireworks.” Harold told him without any flaws. “But we were fortunate that we were very near the source. It took less than an hour to find the wall.”

“So lucky!” Baron said, “Did you encounter many people?”

“Well.” Harold nodded. Although they moved primarilt along the East gate, he knew there were a lot more people on the Southwestern side, so he could still say this with confidence.

“There are denser housing arrangements from the other gate we went into.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Dormitories, I believe.”

Baron looked at his companions with raised eyebrows. “Interesting,” He said, no doubt planning to visit these aforementioned dormitories very soon.

It was at this time they reached the door and they entered the house.

They saw a group of good-looking people surrounding an electric pot, which was currently exuding the most wonderful smell.

The boys’ eyes stayed on the pot, while Baron’s gravitated immediately to the lovely Sheila, who was feeding an adorable little boy with mocha skin.

Then he zoned in on another child—a little girl—and there also seemed to be a pregnant woman, too. He wasn’t able to see immediately as she was facing away from the door.

This composition… surprised him so much.

This team was really something else to be able to protect such people conventionally believed to be ‘dead weight’. More than anything, this required heavy skill and resources.

No wonder they had the energy to rescue them.

“Hello, Miss Sheila!” He exclaimed sitting next to the woman, who was taken aback by his booming voice.

He cleared his throat and tried to be gentle, making his two companions choke on their own saliva.

He sent them a glare before his annoyed face morphed to gentleness, facing the woman of his dreams.

“I would like to give my rescuers a little gift.” He said, manifesting another 50 gold.

The girl stared at him but didn’t take it.

“Please. This is what my whole team pooled together. We had to express our gratitude in some way. You saved our lives.”

He looked very sincere (he was!) and Sheila had no choice but to take his gratitude. “Well, okay, I’ll use this for the team.” She said and Harold nodded.

“Same with me.”

Having the tact not to discuss last night again in a short while, they sat down to the free space given to them around the pot.

They gaped as Harold took out a few more packs of noodles from his space.

“It’s amazing! You still have so much?” Jesse exclaimed, eyes sparkling with hunger. Harold instinctively leaned back to maintain his personal space.

“It’s all right. When we got here we mostly ate local materials.”

Baron, despite the constant enamoured looks he sent to Sheila, was still sharp enough to hear important information. “Local materials? Like ,onster meat and plants?”

“Yes.”

Jesse made a face, seeming to remember something in the recent past, “Monster meats are so hard and tangy!”

“I have a pressure cooker.” Harold said with a shrug, and couldn’t help adding: “It’s solar powered.”

“Fuuudge– what? Why?” Who would bring a pressure cooker during the apocalypse?!

“I’m fond of cooking.” Harold said, as a matter of factly.

The group looked at him strangely. Was this the legendary hardcore cooks are hardcore? And more importantly—

“And how’d you know which plant is poisonous?” Baron asked. How many of their initial companions fell because of eating something questionable, he couldn’t count.

Harold smiled proudly and turned his head in a direction. “Boss here specializes in plants.”

The men followed his sights and froze, gaping at the beauty. Althea had been facing away from them so they couldn’t see her clearly.

Looking at them staring stupidly, Harold frowned. “How rude.”

The men were pulled out of their trance and stared at both Harold and Althea with eager stares.

“Can… you teach us?” Baron paused. “To determine which plants could be eaten, that is.”

How many people they saw died of eating the wrong thing, and how they starved because they didn’t dare eat randomly…

Althea looked at them in interest. In fact, within the territory, no intrinsically poisonous item remained.

Magically, when the territory was built all these plants were moved outside the territory (which also meant there would be more poisonous plant per square meter right outside the territory than it was before).

Althea smiled, patting her stomach, she nodded in agreement. “Well, within the territory I can show you which ones are edible. I will show you when I have the time.”

Anyway, the residents would be allowed to take a set amount of resources per person, enough for them to survive.

This made their eyes brighten and they looked at her like a goddess. They didn’t take away their sight until the irresistible sight and aroma of the food went directly under their noses.

Harold didn’t want Boss Althea to feel uncomfortable with the stares of strangers, so he hurriedly handed the bowls of instant noodles to the three newcomers.

Looking at the delicacy, their stomachs churned in greed.

“AHHHH! FINALLY!”

No one spoke again after this, and they all ate to their heart’s content.

She earned a full 30 gold coins from this meal alone.

Althea chuckled. Golden goose, indeed.