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

The masked man did not care whether or not he was being cursed. He was running quickly and jumping from roof to roof, wall to wall, until he found himself a nice empty alley to change clothes in.

It was dark there and a bit filthy, but he only needed to change his top so it wasn’t too hard.

When he emerged outside the alley, he had no mask and his top was different.

It was none other than Gian.

His eyes were dark but emotionless. He used his mind’s eye to look at his space, which was now filled with that horrible thing.

To think he’d be collecting this thing—something he had sworn from a very young age not to deal with.

With an unchanging expression on his face, he added marks from natural dyes on his face, adding freckles and realistic-looking birthmarks. In a few minutes, he was basically unrecognizable.

Then he separated the powder into different bags, roughly about a kilo in weight each. He wasn’t planning on selling everything at one time, especially since the security for the next batches would definitely be more stringent.

What he collected should be enough for a couple more weeks. As he walked, his back hunched, and he headed to one of the dingier pubs.

The bartender’s eyebrows rose when he saw him, recognizing him immediately. The man smirked and knocked on the door behind him three times. Gian— still hunched— proceeded over the counter, slowly entering the door.

There was a group of rough men there.

”Ah, here’s our favorite man!” they said, showing off their blackening teeth. ”Just in time!”

They guided him to a seat, and Gian looked around, memorizing where the others positioned themselves.

They surrounded him but, for now, it didn’t seem like they were going to betray their partnership.

”How much did you get?”

”Did you hear what happened a few minutes ago? There was apparently a toppled carriage?”

”It’s rare for them to have few guards.”

”Well, having a lot makes it obvious something important is inside.”

”Ah, that’s true.”

”I heard it’s chaos over there. It’s settled now, though,” one said, before turning to Gian. ”Have you heard of it?”

”Maybe,” Gian said. ”While I was trudging in this direction, I may have listened some people around me mention it.”

The incident had literally just happened and they hadn’t really put two-and-two together yet. This was another reason why Gian wouldn’t sell everything he stole today right at this moment.

Anyway, his appearance was very good news to these men.

”How many you got?”

Gian modulated his voice a bit, making it sound hoarse and lower. ”A few kilograms,” he said, taking out the smaller bags from his space.

”What?”

”Nice!”

They looked greedily at the bags, looking at them as if they were more valuable than gold.

”Niceee!” another said, taking a small wallet from his space. ”As promised.”

They then handed him the gold, which was around a hundred gold or so. With a blank face, Gian blankly took the money. He didn’t want to stay another minute there, however, and he stood up.

He shouldn’t have been surprised to see two level 25s blocking his path outside.

The boss amicably wrapped his arm around Gian’s shoulder, his tone light, but also guarded. ”You know..., if you tell us your source we can help you a lot more.”

”No, I made an oath,” he said. ”My sources inside cannot be revealed. I am sure you understand.

”I can, however, mention some news from my source. They are not only increasing supplies, they are also releasing a new product.”

This made all of them freeze and flinch, looking at him in anticipation as if they weren’t borderline threatening him a moment prior.

”It’s called Pink Dream. It is liquid now,” he told them. ”And it is even more potent than the powder.”

”What?” the men exclaimed, while some were outright drooling, excited for the new product as if it were a delicacy.

”I can perhaps get us a batch in advance, depending on the advantages offered to us.”

Gian threw a few hooks to discourage these people from doing anything stupid like keeping him there and forcefully prying information from him.

It was a tense couple of moments of silence, and Gian was ready to throw some oil that he made himself, ready to burn them the moment they threatened his safety. They were strong, and he wouldn’t be able to get out uninjured, but he’d definitely cause as much damage as possible as a price for their betrayal.

Fortunately, after looking at each other for several moments, the ones blocking his way gave way in the end. And that was that.

He left the bar intact, leaving the threshold without damage. However, a few meters out the door, his steps paused a bit, and his head turned slightly sideways when he heard the creak of the door open behind him.

His eyes darkened, and he continued walking. When he joined the crowd, he increased his pace bit by bit, his robe covering his deceptively quick movements.

He entered another alley. He looked and jumped up as high as he could, and—

Whoosh!

Flames exploded at the soles of his feet, and his body was propelled upwards to the roof, leaving dust behind.

Without looking back, he jumped to another roof, and another, skipping over a few houses in the process.

By the time a few men arrived at the spot where he had been, he was already several blocks away.

They hurried around but saw no hunched man. ”I lost him!”

”Darn, where did he go?” another asked, heading to another alley.

”We should’ve just tortured him!” another cursed, punching a random wall. It was a system building, of course, so it was undamaged.

His companion sneered at him. ”Fool! We made an oath not to hurt him, remember?” he said. In retrospect, they should’ve made him make an oath back, but the man refused, so they had no idea what his name was.

At the time, they were blinded by the offers, so they didn’t push the man. Now, they could only regret it.

It wasn’t that the deals weren’t lucrative anymore. In contrast, they were really profitable! But what kind of men were they to be satisfied with what they had?

What they wanted was a direct connection to the inside—and more money!

They gritted their teeth. That lumbering cripple is so annoying!