After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 868

Chapter 868: Heat Waves in the Satellite Villages
Rowan at this time was uncomfortable with the heat, but he was definitely not suffering.

The associate villages were doing relatively well, thanks to the knowledge and resources Alterra gave them. This was especially true for the extensions: Iron Mountains and Limestone Valley.

Both these territories also had the advantage of having their warehouse directly controlled by Althea. That was to say: They had a lot of resources.

In both territories, they had set up the Alterra Shop, official shops which sold various products from the Alterra Warehouse. Of course, because Althea had to carry these items herself from warehouse to the outside shed, there was a very huge markup put on each item.

((These items were blessed by getting carried directly by the Lord herself, even if it was just in her large space, so naturally there was a premium.))

Of course, because of the usefulness of the items, people still rushed to buy them all anyway.

These materials included things like Insulation materials and saltpeter. She also moved some umbrellas and caps and the like.

However, unlike in Alterra where people could take out loans in the Bank in case they didn’t have enough money, the satellites didn’t have this right just yet, so only the better off could actually afford these things for now.

However, the leadership in both territories did the best they could for the citizens, mostly by providing relatively comfortable underground bunkers for the masses.

Iron Valley with its hundreds of goblins created a great network of tunnels underneath it.

Although it was a little stuffy, they had all been through much worse, and being there spiked up their rates of survival so no one complained.

These tunnels were placed in some parks, and thanks to the goblins they could dig deep enough so they didn’t have to uproot to many precious trees within the territory.

There were also some built by the mountains, but they weren’t too deep as it could risk soil erosion because of the ongoing mining on the other side.

The houses here weren’t built like in Alterra—that was, designed to handle the climate—so it was torture to stay in them, at least in the standards of Alterrans. The dormitories were full as well, and the custom house communities were also full.

The dormitories were lined with insulation by the territory, but not every private house managed to secure insulating materials.

This was why most of the thousands of people stayed in the tunnels, regardless of whether they owned a house or not.

Because Alterra planned well, there were also some minor facilities there like makeshift bathroom areas, community areas, and the like.

There were also small rooms created. Syncing it with the system, the people here could rent these rooms for a few copper a day.

There were also mushroom and other plant life that thrived in such environment, so they made sure to create ample farm for these crops. Since the planting had started days before the heat wave, the farms could be harvested shortly after it started.

The network of tunnels was amazingly done and now that it was the direct reason so many lives were saved, the aborigines couldn’t help but admire the goblins a bit more.

The Terrans were not shy in expressing this admiration, of course. “Good job,” Reno said and Silvia smiled, making the little things blush in shyness.

The goblins had never been appreciated before and it was a new feeling. It made them want to cry.

With the Terrans’ leads, more and more aborigines had shown some appreciation to the goblins, though most still looked down on them. Some even had the attitude of ‘it was only right for them to serve’, but fortunately they didn’t speak so out loud.

Understandably, some directly still hated the goblins as well, primarily due to the war with goblins not long ago. After all: that war killed many citizens and destroyed so much property, some of which was everything people owned.

However, it was a good start, and Silvia and the others were satisfied with the progress.

…

As part of the daily routine, Silvia walked across the tunnels, examining the places of stay. The hallways were relatively crowded but they were wide and there the walls were not too jagged as to cause injuries.

Her brother was right beside her, though he was set to make rounds around the tunnel as one of the guards. He was also there to see early if there was someone who passed, so they could take him out so they didn’t rot in their rooms for too long. Fortunately, there was no such case yet.

It was in these cases that they appreciated the improved physiques they received. If they had their Terran bodies in this type of weather, it was estimated a good quarter of the Terrans—at least those outside of Alterra’s circle—would’ve died by now.

While her thoughts flew, Silvia ended up in the small community space. It was basically just a large cavern leading to smaller rooms. This was also nearest to the surface and was naturally much hotter.

Of course, the tunnels was still relatively hot due to the number of people inside—there were thousands—but it was infinitely better than the heat above ground.

They chose this time to make rounds because the people would be holed in their rooms rather than in the hallways, which would’ve made it hard to move around.

When dusk came, then people would also come out one by one, going out for fresh air when night arrived. Anyway, since becoming a satellite, Gill had also made it a project to light up the place at night. Alterra got their Lighthouse from Fargo, after all, and Guia had no such thing.

Although there were torches before, they weren’t a lot. Even the mines, which operated the entire 28 hours back then, had minimal lighting because the goblins could see well at night.

At the same time, the lighting meant it was a bit hot in the hallways. But Silvia wanted to do her job well and endure so she continued with her rounds.

At some point though, she found a ceramic bottle near her face and she blinked, startled.

She turned her head to see who it was, and a smile crept up her face as she took it. “Thank you,” she said, eyes looking softly at the redhead. “Aren’t you hot?”

“I’m a fire element. My tolerance to this is a bit higher than most people.” Rowan said, his eyes following her movements as she lifted the bottle to drink.

If other people were there, they would give Rowan the side-eye.

How many words did he just say in a single sentence?

But the two of them were in their own world and Rowan watched as she sipped on his bottle. However, frowned a bit when he realized she only took a sip. “You should drink more,” he said and she shook her head.

“We need to conserve, remember?” she said, and Rowan had to accept it.

They went on rounds together after that, checking the status of the tunnels as well as the farms.

“Will it be really so hot for weeks?” she asked, wiping her sweat. “It’s not going to get worse, is it?

“Well, it’s difficult to say for certain,” he said. “Regardless, you guys really prepared well.”

In the end, Silvia just sighed and looked at a distance, towards the tunnel that was still long and a little dark. “Let’s just hope everyone survives this ordeal.”