Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World-Chapter 415: The Alliance and the Roads

To be precise, most had "died" in the proposal stage.

Calling it a "safe zone alliance" was misleading.

In reality, forming such an alliance was akin to creating a larger safe zone.

The leader of the central safe zone would not only retain their position but even increase their authority, while the leaders of the other zones would essentially be placing themselves under a superior.

Anyone with a bit of self-interest wouldn't be so willing to give up their own power.

Unless the central safe zone was so overwhelmingly superior that no one else even considered opposing it.

And Pyeongseong Safe Zone was exactly that.

The proposal to form an alliance didn't come from Pyeongseong Safe Zone but was instead suggested by the surrounding safe zones.

Rumor had it that they had privately considered it after the Spring Trade Fair, and the Haneulsae Safe Zone incident had solidified their decision.

Even though the Pyeongseong Safe Zone hadn't initiated the proposal, once the opportunity landed in their hands, they weren't about to reject it.

After confirming that the other safe zones were sincere, they agreed.

Of course, Moon Baein knew that this wasn't because of his own efforts as the Safe Zone Commander—everyone was doing this for Kim Haru.

Naturally, Moon Baein consulted Kim Haru for his opinion.

Kim Haru had been troubled by his development plan, worried about a lack of manpower.

Upon hearing this news, he was more than happy to accept.

Follow current novℯls on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.

"If we're going to build roads anyway, we might as well do it all at once," Kim Haru said, expanding his planning range as he held the simplified maps of each safe zone that he had requested from Jang Dojang.

No one had any objections to Mr. Kim's proposal.

Thus, the first task of this newly formed, yet-to-be-named alliance was road construction.

In reality, "road construction" didn't mean starting from scratch.

Before the apocalypse, the regions occupied by these safe zones had been heavily populated areas, meaning roads already existed.

However, without maintenance and with extreme seasonal weather—freezing cold in winter and scorching heat in summer—the roads had deteriorated beyond recognition.

If a vehicle could pass through without issue, it was already considered a good road.

But despite the damage, the foundations were still intact.

Restoring and maintaining them would be far more efficient than paving new roads from the ground up.

Besides this, the issue of road obstacles also needed to be addressed.

Most of these obstacles were abandoned vehicles left behind when the apocalypse first began.

By now, they had long since turned into piles of scrap metal.

The better-preserved ones still retained a recognizable frame despite being exposed to the elements, while most had deteriorated into rusted, moldy heaps of unidentifiable junk.

Clearing these vehicle obstacles was relatively manageable.

Since most of them were made of metal, they could be salvaged and repurposed by ability users who were already accustomed to scavenging for materials.

However, aside from abandoned vehicles, there were other, more troublesome obstacles on the road—mutated plants and zombies.

The mutated plants that grew along the roadsides were mostly grasses, shrubs, and vines, with relatively low levels of danger.

But that "relatively low" was only in comparison to what ability users could handle.

For ordinary people, or even weaker ability users, anything mutated posed a certain level of threat.

If ordinary people were to use these roads safely, these hazards had to be dealt with.

And then, there were the zombies that constantly roamed about.

These mobile dangers needed to be thoroughly cleared.

If zombies had any awareness, they would probably be complaining as a collective this summer—what on earth had gotten into these humans?

Why were they suddenly going on a massive extermination campaign?

With a stable food supply ensuring strong logistics, the zombie-clearing process was proceeding smoothly.

Starting from the various safe zones under the Alliance's control, the zombies were gradually being driven out along the planned routes, steadily expanding the secure areas.

The fact that they only needed to drive the zombies away rather than completely wipe them out made the task significantly easier.

In the past, even after driving zombies away, there was always the concern that they would simply return.

However, Kim Haru had now provided a solution to this problem.

Kim Haru sought help from the mutated plants near the small farm.

Even the leader of the mutated plant, Dreamweaver's Osmanthus, had explicitly expressed through action that "this human is under my protection."

The other mutated plants, who already liked Kim Haru, were even more eager to assist him.

As a result, a Neurovine Labyrinth Grass was presented to Kim Haru.

The Neurovine Labyrinth Grass had the abilities that could cause humans to lose their sense of direction and unknowingly walk into traps.

Typically, it grew in large patches.

While a single stalk wasn't particularly dangerous and barely ranked in the top 100 on the mutated plant ranking list, it was still an ability user's nightmare and one of the most troublesome mutated plants to encounter.

However, this particular Neurovine Labyrinth Grass had always been an outcast among its kind.

Unlike its peers, which could confuse and lure humans, this Neurovine Labyrinth Grass emitted a scent that repelled zombies.

Zombies and mutated plants generally had little interaction, as they didn't consider each other part of their respective food chains.

Whether they were near or far from each other typically didn't matter.

But now, this Neurovine Labyrinth Grass had become a treasure.

Originally just a single plant, it was nurtured by Kim Haru with various energy crystals, nutrient-rich water, and fertile soil.

With the experience shared by other plants, it quickly evolved at an astonishing rate.

Now, whenever it wished, this Neurovine Labyrinth Grass could rapidly grow and propagate, producing countless offspring with the same zombie-repelling ability.

It had evolved precisely in line with Kim Haru's expectations.

Kim Haru was immensely grateful.

Before long, this Neurovine Labyrinth Grass was deployed and became a common sight along the roads.