After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World-Chapter 1838: Alterra’s Fire

Zenno’s City was Holt City, so it was understandable that they had the most progress.

Holt City was one of the strongest and longest-lasting territories in the human territory, after all, and they were also one of the more open-minded ones.

They were the first to create an organized team of healers, plant experts, and alchemists to figure out more about the disease. It would take them years to get any real progress, but they could be said to be the forerunners of this one.

Zenno was not yet a top Alchemist at the time, but he was part of the team. It was just that he was obviously under oath to protect the city’s interest. However, his oath was naturally flexible due to his occupation and his level.

After an agreement through posts with the other side, Zenno was allowed to share the things he learned during that time with Alterra.

However, in exchange, whatever they could derive about the disease from the knowledge would also be shared without a filter with Holt City. They’d just pass it over to Holt when they finished the experiments. Of course, there would still be payments, proportional to how much of the result was completely their own.

It was a win-win situation, and they were lucky they were talking with Holt City. Other places wouldn’t have been so amicable. For example, if it were Hassen, they’d definitely have asked for an inordinate amount of money, if not something else like elementalists or even a satellite.

The other two also had some findings and their own formulas, so they already had a starting point, and there was no need to start from scratch.

While other pharmacists handled, recreated, and improved on the existing formulas they already received, Althea and the other three main alchemists were focused on finding an actual cure.

With the years of research of all three, they at least had a place to start. Not to mention, they all operated in different territories and had parallel research directions.

They had zoned in on several types of herbs used by the alchemists. Zenno then taught the pharmacists the formula for Holt City’s stunters, which was the potion to stop the development of the disease. He also told them how the formula came to be, including the various logic behind it.

The disease had three stages. One was the incubation stage, which lasted about 2 weeks (or sometimes more, if the person’s immune system was strong). One could also be a carrier while being asymptomatic.

The next stage was for those whose bodies could not overcome the disease, and this was called the intense fever stage, which lasted about a week to a month. Again, this would depend on the person’s level and immunity.

The stunter could stop the development until this stage, and the people had the chance of recovering from any serious ailment that came after.

Those who recovered from this stage could, sadly, still get affected by the disease again, and the repeated contraction could have more severe effects.

The final stage was the boiling stage, where the body would feel like burning from within, and it would feel like their insides were turning to magma.

Once someone entered this stage, this was where the high mortality rates came in. Even if they survived, they would be disabled in some way or form.

So it was of utmost importance to determine the ill very quickly, and then give them the medicine before it could get any worse.

Luckily, most of the raw materials were available in Alterra, some of which were traded by various mercenary teams and caravans in exchange for contribution points before! Most had already been planted, though some were still limited in quantity because they were still experimental.

This was extremely fortunate because with the imminent lockdowns that’d happen soon, it’d be difficult to find new materials.

They remembered how—even before the disasters—Alterrans collected all these things, and some people really felt puzzled by them spending so many ’contribution points’ on rocks and dead seeds.

Many just summed it up as Alterran oddness, and some jealous people even mocked them for it.

Look who’s laughing now!?

Other than these, they confirmed that the ’demon smoke’ behaved like normal heavy smoke, so they could use wind to control it like how they’d control normal smoke.

Fortunately, people’s houses had been airtight due to the previous cold, so as long as they cleaned up well when leaving or entering the house, they directly reduced the chances of getting the disease.

They just needed to use the indoor plants they used during the Great Cold (which mostly remained in the house anyway) to ensure fresh air was circulating. There were also plenty of houses that hadn’t removed their gap blockers, so they literally just had to leave them be.

That said, for people above level 20, covering their mouths and noses should be enough, while the rest would need to wear full body suits when going out, which was such a hassle. Most simply didn’t go out at all.

Still, if it were in other places, not everyone could get passable masks and suits. However, Alterra could mass-produce these things.

They also set a portion of the outer city to become the quarantine zone. They were using part of the mid-rise buildings, inns, motels, and other facilities that hadn’t been moved into for the most part. There were naturally quite a few grumblings of regrets—especially among the unit owners—but what could they do?

Speaking of this, although owners did grumble, they willingly cooperated. Very, very few residents dared to make trouble, too. It showed the spirit of solidarity in Alterra, especially in these dangerous times.

Whether they noticed it or not, or whether or not they were willing, people who had lived in Alterra for long enough simply fell in love and got integrated with it.

Profit aside, people had to survive, too. Even if for selfish reasons, it was because they wanted to preserve the home they had found.

A little Fire Plague would not change that.