Grunt have left to contact their informer, Bridgette. They were left alone on their base and have been chilling out and chatting together.
Of course they are not so lax as to become so complacent. They make sure to be very aware of their surroundings while they are chatting about unnecessary things.
There are some beast repellent on the surroundings so most monsters don't come to them. Undeads weren't really included to the ones being repelled by it so they are still standing guard here.
They are glad that the flock of Savage Birds are gone. They can become a bit bolder on their moves starting from now on.
"Still, that place is a surprise. I didn't thought someone will build a settlement there." Rook said.
"When did they get there I wonder?" Nikka asks in wonder.
"Based on my calculations, those structures seems to be highly advance, which means they might have been there for years."
"Eric. That doesn't make sense!" Nikka retorted with a deadpan. "We have been coming to that place sometimes and we know it's a favorite spot of those birds."
"That's the curious part. Those structures were supposed to be hard to build. I'm not aware of any technical engineer in this region who can build something that advance. Only engineers from the large cities can do something like that, and I heard they will take a few years or so to do it."
"But Eric, there is that advance settlement there."
Eric goes deep into his thought. Then he made some theories from it.
"I think they used transportation technology, or maybe someone with some transportation powers helps them to put it there?"
Jasmine snorted. "Why would they even do that? It'll be a waste of money and manpower!" She said in a matter of fact tone.
They got deep into thought again, thinking about it carefully.
They are not aware of anything special on that region. There is the suspected mad rodent nests, and it is also the favorite spot of the Savage Birds, but that's all there is to it.
"So... you think there is a hidden treasure there? They won't just build something in there just because of nothing." Rook interjected.
"That is possible." Jasmine said with a nod.
As they are idly talking to each other, they suddenly tensed up when they heard the rustle of the grasses. Quickly standing up, they turned to the direction of the noise with their expression rigid.
Beyond the dark of the night, on the shade of the trees, there is a humanoid figure slowly approaching them. It's glowing eyes shines at the cloak of the darkness, making it look so sinister.
"Tch! Jasmine...." The serious blonde woman turned to Rook. "In case something happens, prepare to run." He whispered.
Jasmine nodded before glaring at the one getting near at them.
Rook takes a step forward before calling out.
"Hey! Who are you?"
The figure stops before they can see it's hands raised in the air.
["Whoops... sorry. I don't mean to scare you."]
As he person hidden on the shade said that, he shows his form on them. All of them widened their eyes at his appearance.
"The fuck's with the getup, man!?" Rook is the first to shout his confusion.
It was a Sentai ripoff. It have the stylish mask with the long spike on the forehead, the head that seems to be a minimized version of a mecha from a certain popular anime, a body that seems to look like a futuristic suit of a ninja, a cool red scarf that seems to billow freely on the air, and some weapon accessories like a pair of katana strapped behind it's body in an X and a lot of ninja stars clasped on it's stylish belt.
"Oh sorry. This is not me. This is one of my special mechs that I deployed in advance to look for people."
All of them felt alarmed at those words. They are getting an inkling just where did this robot came from.
Rook gulps as he responds. "Look, we were sorry if we offended you. We're not going to do it again." He said with his hand raised.
Even if they are unsure, Rook take the risk and said an apology anyway.
"Huh? No... why would I be offended?" The person behind the call seems to be so confused, which only makes them feel like something is missing. "Anyway, I am very curious why you ran away. I am looking for some people to talk to, you know?"
The four blinked their eyes in shocked. They didn't expect that person to say it like that. It also confirms their suspicion where this robot originated.
"So... why did you ran away?"
Hearing the honest confusion on the tone, Rook swallowed his saliva and decided to take the jump for it.
"Okay. We're scared. We didn't know that it was occupied so we just came there."
The three widened their eyes at the casual admittance of their friend. They look at him as if he was crazy.
He is essentially admitting that they walk on the unknown person's territory. It's usually a major offense to the pride of those people and they will make sure to make them pay for it.
"Oh. Why are you scared?" The person behind said before they heard something like a face palm. "Okay, damn... I think I get it."
"Did my security scare you? Don't worry about it, I made sure that it won't indiscriminately kill anyone that get closer to it!"
"I really just wanted to talk. That's why I am trying to look for any person."
All of them look at the robot. His tone of voice seems sincere enough, but they still decided to be cautious and prepare to flee if something happens.
"Okay." Jasmine takes a step forward. "What do you want?"
"Huh?" The male on the other side seems to be confused at her question.
"You came here to talk. That means your looking for something right?" She said, trying to probe the mysterious person.
"Yeah... I admit I am looking for something." He took a deep breathe. "But first, why don't we introduce ourselves to each other?"
"I am Neil Howard. I'm someone who owns the wasteland that you ran away from yesterday. Nice to meet you all!"
They look at each other in confusion. This is the first time they heard someone talking normally like this on the apocalypse. Normally, it's all about trying to look strong to the other party and not showing any weakness.
"Uh... I'm Nikka Bower." Her group glances at her. "What? He is polite enough to introduce himself, so I think we should respond in kind!"
They felt a bit ashamed, being lectured by the one who are the most immature amongst them. They took the time to cough before introducing themselves.
"I'm Jasmine."
"Rook Griffins."
"You can call me Eric."
They heard the sound of a clap on the voice module.
"Great! Then as for what I wanted to talk about, I want to ask if you know anything about the.... uh... right, the Central Human Society."
"Huh? What the hell is that?" Rook said, his eyebrows raised.
That's the first time they heard about it. Though they heard something about the strongest communities outside this continent, they don't know if what is saying is somewhere outside this continent.
The guy on the other side muttered something under his breathe, in a tone that seems a bit disappointed before getting back to them.
"Then. Do you know of any person with Howard as their surname?"
All of them feels a bit confused at the question, but they decided to respond by shaking their head.
"I see." The man hummed in defeat.
An awkward silence spreads on the surroundings. Only the sound of the night and the small breeze can be heard, the leaves crinkling at each other as they swayed in harmony.
"Okay."
"Can you tell me about this world. Just the general info is fine for me."
All of them looks at him in curiosity before they shrug and decided to answer him.
He sounds sincere and is not engaging on a conflict with them, so they think it is fine to make some small talk to the person.
~~o~~
Neil learned some useful things on his talk to them.
So he finally learned what's the deal of this world. It rattled him a lot after learning this fact.
He didn't slept for some years. The whole world have fallen asleep for approximately a thousand of years ago. This has been proven and the article can be found from any libraries from the city.
The people suspects that along with the world sleeping, the whole planet expands in size and the landmass becoming more larger and seems to have been swapped by other places.
Along with the world sleeping, the world seems to have changed into something else. Monsters are now a part of the people's daily lives, and superpowers seems to have become the norm.
Now, as for the places, he finally learned that this forest is called as the Deep Green Forest. On the shallow parts of this forest, somewhere on the southwest, there is a human outpost being ran by some sort of tyrant named Brigg Vyers.
It seems like many people were being exploited due to his strength and being the only viable one to get protection from the. hostile environment.
Then, there is a city beyond this forest to the west. They call it the Golden Wall City, which seems to be advertised as one of the richest cities on this region.
As for this region, it seems like this is called as the Dou Yi Region. The one who rules this area seems to be a large community known as the Dou Yi City. It is a city composed of many Chinese, with some foreigners in-between.
The normal meal a person can eat is just berries, though there is a chance of poisoning if they are not knowledge by plants. There is also a loaf of bread, though that one seems to be a little bit expensive.
Cooked food is a luxury that is only limited to the ruling class of this current world. So go around cities and pay for the bread that a person managed to bake.
The flour and egg needed for it seems to have been abundant for awhile now. They can buy it from the merchant that comes here occasionally to sell his wares to them.
It seems like there is a surplus of these products, which causes the wandering merchant to sell it on retail prices.
It seems like they are using a form of currency here. It's a currency that is very old fashioned but is strangely fitting for a webnovel.
These are about coins. Bronze coins, silver coins, gold coins, it doesn't matter. That's the only way to trade for items in this region.
There is another way which is exchanging items of equal value to each party. This one happens frequently because most groups aren't a part of a community, which means they don't have any money.
After all of that, he finally felt satisfied.
"Thank you for answering my questions." He said.
He didn't know if these people are trustworthy, but he can only believe in them for now. They are the first group of people he met since waking up on this world.
"No problem... Neil right?" He hummed in agreement. "Cool. So, that's all you wanted from us?" Rook asked in trepidation.
"Yeah. I'll contact you again through this unit, so I'll see you next time!"
With that, he told the Starnova to leave the area. The four just staring at it's back in incomprehension.
He wanted to invite them, but he decided to wait for now. He didn't know whether they are trustworthy or not.
The apocalypse is real, and he is not just stuck on some freak nature full of horrible creatures. The whole world has been truly affected.
'This meant that I have to be more careful!' He thought in a grimace.
He thought that there are still some civilization there. Maybe a government body or something.
Though it seems like every people here aren't living good lives. They are just barely surviving, scavenging everywhere it seems. Just learning about that fact makes him worry about himself.
They don't know anything about Central Human Society, though that is the only connection he can have from all over this planet. He recall what the lady he called on that Tower said to him, and he can get a guess.
'Maybe they are at the other side of the world?'
The people here makes an impression that they can't be bothered to even make vehicles to fare the seas or fly to the skies. They seem content on just staying where they are.
"Wait... I forgot to ask where is they're other member!" He said before shaking his head. "Right, it didn't concern me..."
He thinks about this more carefully.
'I have read a lot of post apocalyptic genre from the internet. I know how most humans behave. There is also some internet articles talking about that.'
People are more desperate when it comes to crisis. They will take any chances to have an advantage to others, becoming the greatest survivor than them.
When it comes to times of crisis, human nature is a lot more raw.
He can see it by those four people. They always seem to be looking for any avenues of escape while they are talking to him. They are whispering at each other, which he can perfectly hear thanks to the high quality sound capture that the robot have.
The four seems to trust each other. He don't know how the four meet. He can see how different the four people are, but he thinks there is a story behind it.
He really wanted to help them. They look a bit healthy for people who lives on a resource scarce environment, though they are also not looking that healthy or clean, so they are not lying when they said they live in that ruins.
Other than that, they don't believe on strangers.
He have to practice that right now. If he said he have unlimited food and water, he knows what will happen next.
"I have to investigate them." He said.
He still want human companions. It's neat that there are Odette, Dinah, the homunculi, and the robot army that he have, but he still wanted a human companion.
This also makes him more determined to find his family. He thought they are somewhere safe in this world. Hearing that the world is in utter ruins with nothing but the bare remains of the civilization, he felt extremely worried about them.
He knows they don't have any experience of fighting. Surviving on apocalypse and fighting with fist on the streets are two different matters.
'I hope my family are safe....' He hopes for that for the bottom of his heart.