Chapter 40.2: A Temporary Outer City Resident’s Thoughts
Leo had witnessed the deaths of every other member of his family with his own eyes.
Only his father remained an unknown.
He had no idea whether his father was alive or dead… whether he had turned into a zombie the moment the apocalypse began, or been infected by coworkers who had transformed.
But…
Since he had never seen his father’s death, Leo chose to believe he was still alive.
He didn’t dare imagine what would happen if he wasn’t.
So Leo simply sat there in the cafeteria, staring at the half of the boiled egg that remained on his tray, his thoughts drifting farther and farther away.
His father had always hated eating eggs.
But Leo thought that if it were now, his father would surely wolf down a piping-hot boiled egg without a second thought.
The thought filled him with hope.
After breakfast, Leo boarded Bus No. 1121 and headed to work.
He worked at a construction site.
He had no idea why Blue Sea had so many construction projects, but for someone like him—thin, physically weak, and unsuited for combat—it was a blessing. Finding work inside the Safe City was easy.
Lunch was served at the construction site’s cafeteria.
Leo bought a cornbread flatbread. Thick and hearty, it seemed to breathe new life into his body after an entire morning of hard labor.
There were even mixed vegetables inside.
That was no small luxury.
Land within the Safe City was in extremely short supply, making vegetables consistently expensive.
Back in Meow Meow Safe City, Leo had hardly eaten any vegetables at all—the catfolk simply didn’t like them. Whenever he went outside, he had to gather edible grasses and wild greens for himself.
As a result, his lips were always cracked, and the corners of his mouth constantly stung.
The foreman in charge of Leo’s work crew was also chewing on a cornbread flatbread.
Between bites, he said, “I heard the Inner City built a vegetable tower—a building where they stack one growing floor on top of another just for cultivating vegetables.”
“You came here later, so you probably don’t know this, but our Safe City also has two agricultural bases back in Ming. They’re used to grow grain and vegetables.”
Leo blinked in surprise.
“In Ming? That’s so far away. Aren’t they worried that if something goes wrong there, help won’t arrive in time?”
“The military’s stationed there,” the foreman replied dismissively. “What’s there to worry about? You got here too late to see Blue Sea’s army in action. The residents are already pretty impressive, right? Well, the military’s even stronger. Before Blue Sea relocated to Yunbula, plenty of places were cleared out by the army the hard way.”
The foreman didn’t even realize it himself.
Although he was only an Outer City resident, when he spoke about Blue Sea, his voice was filled with unmistakable pride.
“Besides, even if the troops stationed over there can’t handle the situation, we can always just relocate the city,” the foreman said. “Just like how we suddenly moved from Ming to Yunbula this time.”
Leo thought about it and nodded.
It made sense.
Even though he had grown accustomed to life inside the Safe City, he still found it almost unbelievable that an entire city could suddenly move from one country to another.
Even if the Safe Cities were built by aliens.
To be honest, before arriving at Blue Sea, Leo had assumed that the treatment of outsiders like himself would be the same everywhere—just like in Meow Meow Safe City.
No legal identity.
No home of your own.
No path for advancement.
For alien residents like them, there had been only one purpose:
Go out and kill zombies.
Every day, they had to hand over at least one crystal.
Otherwise, they risked being expelled from the city.
“Meow Meow Safe City was actually one of the better ones.”
That was what another alien resident—someone who belonged neither to the catfolk civilization nor to the Velvet Star civilization—had once told Leo.
“At least Meow Meow Safe City only requires one crystal a day. You get to keep whatever’s left, they acknowledge the contributions made by alien residents, and you’re allowed to buy things.”
He paused before continuing.
“Some Safe Cities treat you like nothing but sl*ves. You’re not allowed to own any property. Every single crystal has to be handed over, and they’ll beat you whenever they feel like it.”
As he spoke, the man lifted his shirt, revealing a back covered in dense, crisscrossing scars.
“Lots of Safe Cities don’t have enough resources, but they still need labor. So they ensl*ve people from other civilizations. It’s common among Safe Cities. There are even sl*ve traders who specialize in buying and selling them.”
“They don’t care whether the sl*ves live or die. If one dies, they’ll just get more people in the next world.”
“I escaped from the Safe City I was trapped in during the previous world. Things were relatively safe there for a while, so I managed to flee to Meow Meow Safe City.”
“Otherwise…”
He gave a bitter smile.
“I definitely wouldn’t have survived until today.”
Leo had been surprised at the time and asked,
“If the Safe City treated you like a sl*ve, and the previous world was relatively safe, why didn’t you just settle down there instead?”
The resident looked at him as if he’d said something unbelievable.
“Are you kidding?”
“Safe Cities only descend upon worlds that are on the verge of destruction. Every one of those worlds is doomed. I don’t want to die along with one.”
That was when Leo learned the truth.
Velvet Star was going to be destroyed as well.
As long as he stayed inside a Safe City, he could leave Velvet Star together with the city when it departed.
But…
What about his father?
Leo didn’t know whether his father was still alive.
But if he was…
Wouldn’t he be doomed to perish together with Velvet Star?
So Leo painstakingly drew a map to the national grain reserve in Yunbula, along with detailed sketches of its internal layout.
He took the drawings to Meow Meow Safe City.
He told them there was a massive national grain depot in Yunbula, stocked with enough food to feed hundreds of millions of people. The facility had its own independent power supply, so the grain inside absolutely hadn’t been contaminated.
His reason for doing so was simple.
His father worked at that grain reserve.
Before resigning, Leo had worked there as well.
“Isn’t food what you’re lacking? Then come here!” he pleaded. “There really is an enormous amount of grain inside. It’s a country’s strategic reserve!”
Filled with hope, Leo tried his best to persuade Meow Meow Safe City’s City Lord.
The information was shocking enough that he was actually granted an audience.
But the only response he received was:
“Have you lost your mind, meow? Crossing an ocean to another country? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is, meow?!”
Only then did Leo realize…
Even aliens were afraid of dying.
Still unwilling to give up, he tried every possible way to convince them. He even guaranteed that he would volunteer to go first and scout the route himself.
It was useless.
Meow Meow Safe City wasn’t willing to risk everything for an unverified grain reserve.
Then, one day, Leo was informed that both he and his maps would be sent to Blue Sea Safe City.
At the time, Leo had become numb.
He could tell that the Lord of Meow Meow Safe City had grown thoroughly annoyed with him. Every time he tried to make his case, he felt as though he might be thrown out of the Safe City—or simply dragged away and executed—the very next moment.
Even so, he kept trying.
Looking back now, Leo realized that he had probably developed self-destructive tendencies back then.
So when the catfolk guards came to escort him to another Safe City, he knew full well that many Safe Cities treated outsiders as sl*ves.
Yet he didn’t resist.
At worst, I’ll just die, he had thought.
The alien who had warned him about those sl*ve-holding Safe Cities had probably reached the same conclusion. Before Leo was taken away, the man had looked at him with nothing but pity, his eyes saying:
“You’ve been sold as a sl*ve.”
But Leo had never imagined…
Life in Blue Sea Safe City would be so much better than life in Meow Meow Safe City.
There was a place to sleep.
There was work to do.
There were wages.
Bonuses.
Even an abundant supply of clean water.
Life here was…
It was almost exactly like life before the apocalypse.
And the reason he had been sent to Blue Sea was because of the grain reserve.
Meow Meow Safe City hadn’t dared to go to Yunbula.
Blue Sea did.
After sending people to question him in detail about the grain depot, Blue Sea had gone quiet for several days. Leo had assumed they were just like Meow Meow Safe City—that they had only asked out of curiosity before deciding to give up.
Then…
Their entire Safe City appeared within the borders of Yunbula.
Leo slowly chewed his cornbread, carefully savoring the vegetables inside.
He knew the layout of the grain reserve better than anyone.
Which also meant he knew that, if his father was still alive, his living conditions were almost certainly not very good.
The grain reserve was divided into strictly isolated sections.
Even if his father had survived, he was probably confined to a single storage sector, forced to live off whatever food was stored there.
There were undoubtedly zombies inside the grain reserve as well.
Just…
Far fewer than outside.
I have to work even harder.
The sooner I earn enough contribution points… the sooner I can help bring my father home.
Leo silently calculated in his head.
I need to save up more contribution points. Dad’s getting old. He can’t work as hard as I can anymore. He’ll need me to take care of him.
Then another thought occurred to him, and he hesitated.
Blue Sea had a complete, functioning society.
It didn’t need every resident to be young or capable of fighting. The city valued people with abilities in all kinds of fields.
His father knew far more than he did.
And in Blue Sea, whether you were an alien or not, anyone with valuable skills could earn a good job.
For all he knew, his father’s salary might even end up being higher than his own.
The thought filled him with excitement.
Ever since learning that Blue Sea Safe City had relocated to Yunbula, he had hardly been able to contain himself.
Leo took out the piece of pickled vegetable he had carefully wrapped and tucked into his pocket.
After looking at it for a moment, he thought,
I’d better not eat this after all.
If Blue Sea really manages to rescue my father, I’ll give this pickle to him.
After checking on the pickle, he pulled out his phone.
Seeing that there were no new messages from the central AI, he put it away again.
Ever since arriving in Yunbula, Leo had developed the habit of checking his phone every so often.
Under normal circumstances, the massive grain reserve could be opened from either the inside or the outside.
But once the apocalypse began, if there were still survivors inside, they would certainly have switched the facility into wartime lockdown mode.
If the power failed, the locks would automatically engage.
From that point on, the doors could only be opened from inside the facility.
If Blue Sea wanted to enter the grain reserve without wasting enormous effort, it would need someone inside to unlock the doors.
Leo had once worked there.
Of course, he didn’t know every employee—the grain reserve had a large workforce.
But his father…
His father was the chief administrator of the entire grain reserve.
If Leo’s original wish had simply been to rescue his father…
Now his wish had become something more.
He wanted to rescue his father…
And then live together with him in Blue Sea.
No one was more eager than Leo to see the grain reserve opened.
He glanced at his phone once again.
That afternoon, Leo stole a moment to check his phone.
At dinner, he checked his phone again, then put it away.
That night before going to bed, he checked his phone once more, then put it away.
Early the next morning, Leo looked at his phone again, ready to put it down—
…Wait.
There was a message.
It had been sent by the central AI just one minute earlier.
Resident Leo, please report to Area F23. You have been assigned a new mission.
Mission Level: Level 1
It’s happening!
Leo gripped his phone tightly, tears of joy streaming down his face.
He was hopeless in combat.
He couldn’t even move bricks as efficiently as the others.
What Level 1 mission could possibly involve someone like him if it wasn’t related to the grain reserve?
There was only one possibility.
Blue Sea…
Blue Sea was finally going to open the grain depot.
At that very moment, a deafening roar echoed through the air.
It was the sound of fighter jets taking off.
The next instant, Leo hurried outside and looked into the distance.
His eyes lit up as the scenery beyond the city began to shift and transform.
Blue Sea Safe City…
…had relocated once again.
