After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 1783

Chapter 1783: Something is Coming!

She nodded, and they headed to the meeting, which was started by the Intelligence Department.

One, there were only a few dozen people in this team now. If they didn’t pass through an affiliated village, then they wouldn’t be detected. It was either that they had complete supplies or they knew the breadth of Alterra’s information network.

Either case meant that their enemy had a strategy, at least, and wasn’t underestimating them like most, which was a bit of a pity (they could save so many steps whenever someone underestimated them).

According to their intel, Valov was making moves, and they were the only Tier 2 that had a problem with them for now.

At the same time, there didn’t seem to be a big movement that indicated they were attacking right now.

"What if it’s not Valov?"

"Twinwave is the closest Level 2 Town here."

"I doubt it’s them, Bart and the others would’ve noticed," one said. Besides, the deals with Twinwave were very win-win. They wouldn’t cut that bridge when it was unnecessary.

At this, Garan spoke up.

"Does it matter who will be attacking?"

This made everyone pause, as if enlightened.

Indeed. Regardless of whether it was Valov or someone else, the fact was that someone was preparing for war.

So, they would just prepare themselves as they did, as if the enemy were someone super strong. They would overprepare, as usual, just to make sure the casualties were kept at a minimum—if not completely zero—each time.

Whatever their rank was, this was always their goal. It never changed, so there was no need to overthink the details since they didn’t know who it was anyway.

They were discussing a few more contingency plans and the like when the meteorology department returned word. Althea and Garan, before they even got back to Alterra after they trained, had already sent an aether letter to get the meteorology department to double-check the monitors.

The team—led by Melinda Bouer, the head scientist—went to make their reports personally. They all looked pale and frazzled and very much in a hurry, going straight to the point the moment they entered the meeting room’s threshold.

"An Extreme Cold is coming!"

Althea and Garan weren’t too surprised, but the rest of them flinched.

Granted, everyone was expecting the next extreme weather to happen within the next few months (they had been watching for months since the 1-year gap had already passed), but seeing it was actually happening was indeed a bit unnerving.

Problems felt like they were stacking up.

"Darn. Would Alterra really have to go to a war next?" Ansel asked. Their people would be weakened, regardless of the sequence.

"How soon will the cold be?"

By this time, the meteorology department had created devices that could more accurately predict the weather with a day or two, and about 5 degrees Celsius tolerance.

"It should be within the week, Lady Althea," they said. "The changes this time are a little different than what happened during the Extreme Heat."

They always had their eyes on the monitors and had indeed been recording a gradual change in temperature. To be honest, their monitors hadn’t really detected anything amiss, even until now, and it was only because the elders specifically mentioned something that they started looking at other things.

In terms of their equipment, the ambient temperature was relatively constant. If the temperature really dropped to the point people felt it, then they would’ve noticed the changes several degrees before this happened. But they had not.

This was because the chilly feeling came from the breezes—possibly elsewhere—that went through them.

They studied where the upwind was, and they sent post or messenger birds to ask for their situation, and they confirmed that the East side (through Basset Town, Belluga, Mason, etc) was getting colder, while those farther West, like Twinwave, did not report any anomalies yet, while Voumi was more or less in the same situation as Alterra.

Through all this information, they made the conclusion that Winter is, indeed, coming.

Silence

"However, in theory, if we can choose... which one do you think should go first? In a way that would be most advantageous to us?"

They paused, but thought about the question seriously.

"Going to war and then facing the cold would be extremely dangerous for the injured," Volohov said. "Their bodies would be particularly vulnerable to freezing."

Ansel looked at him. "Many people would be injured, but at least they can just stay indoors and recover, right?"

"Our resources might also be depleted after a town-level war, making it dangerous to face an extreme cold."

"Going through the cold and then to war would not be too different," Gru retorted. "By the end of it, our plants would be sleeping, and we’d have consumed most of our resources."

"But the enemies would’ve also been weakened. Perhaps they would cancel the attack altogether."

"I’d say it is more dangerous to go through the cold first, simply because of its blanket effects. At least we have more control over wars."

Althea sighed. "If only there was a way we could face them at the same time..." she mumbled, and it tickled other people’s brains. It was just that it was too risky, especially since they did not know the exact time and date of the cold. A day off in the timing could get people killed.

In the end, she sighed. "Should we just announce the news?"

If whoever was fighting was still attacking after finding out what was coming, then that would be their arrogance and stupidity.

But this enemy obviously had some strategy. Would they really ignore this news? They might even take advantage of it.

Regardless, They had to make it in a way that no matter which one went first—it would be the enemy that would be at the greatest disadvantage.