Walking the streets Aadi remained silent watching as Wyatt studied this new world that he had never seen before, not as though Aadi had much of either with his short ten year mostly spent going from school to work and home trying simply to live with his head down.
Looking at the deserted streets that he had seen in videos shown in school were once packed with people and lively now dead truly put into perspective for him on how different the few years between the beginning and the time he lived in was.
Although not everything was stable it wasn't quite this bad, they had made sure after the first outburst of corruption to properly deal with bodies but now bodies laid strewn across streets and buried under rubble with no one bothering to clean them up after all that was a waste of already limited man power in their eyes that hadn't seen the horrors brought by corruption.
We began looking for the others while also trying to find a good spot to build our own base not in a city where corruption was certain to erupt sooner or later so a place towards the suburbs close enough to hunt the monsters before they can form swarms while also far enough to not be to effected by the corruption coming.
Finding the team was shockingly easy thanks to all of us spawning in the same city making it so the others simply found spots up high to make being spotted easier for us easier soon in a week we were all back together.
Soon we found a spot near the top of a hill in what was once a well-off neighborhood giving us a height advantage if anyone attacked and a certain amount of safety due to the old safety features of the community with a gate that surrounds the entire area as well as it having been nearly empty with only a few bodies needing to be cleaned up.
With an elf with us beginning the star of a garden was simple as rummaging through some of the old stores which although many seeds where dead had enough live ones to make a small garden to start with.
Following the basic setup of food, we also specified an outhouse location to prevent risks of disease and thanks to the small river out behind the area we set up we were able to not have to worry on water though we also had someone able to make some which if the water ever became a risk could be used in place of the river.
Soon the camps rough outline was clear and now it was my turn to recruit people and the first place to do so was the small survival base nearby, soon I return there to speak with some of the survivors who would be willing to go to our small camp to help us with growing food in exchange for a safe place to live.
Although their old base offered this only so many people can farm in the limited space safe to do so while the rest can only rely on the kindness of the higher ups to give out food which for some bases will stop soon.
It was a big factor in speeding up the spread of corruption brought by mass deaths due to starvation and desperation of people willing to do anything to survive this living hell of a situation.
Soon nearly 100 people have been transferred from the small base to our little camp, and the base didn't care about losing them as they viewed it as a few less mouths to feed and less bodies taking up rooms.
Wyatt is not happy when he realizes they aren't even trying to find out where nearly 100 people disappeared to, but he can't really fault them on it after all desperate time calls for desperate measures and if no bodies are turning up for the people, then clearly it can't be too bad.
By the end of our first month the people seem much healthier thanks to Kian the plants we had grew rapidly allowing us to grow the garden into a proper small farm, boosting the health of those staying in the camp.
Although no other awakened person has come to the camp only some weak common people it was enough to set up a small community as we didn't really need fighters with our group being more than powerful to deal with the beasts and monsters that came around.
The normal people were even beginning to set up more than just food to be grown as we had managed to find some flax and cotton seeds as well as a few lotuses growing in a person's pond in their backyard.
One of the normal people even managed to catch some small fishes on a run to the river nearby to farm allowing some diversity beyond the food grown and monsters we caught which was one of the harder things as many were hesitant about eating them but once they realized it was safe let their hesitation go after all starvation was a much worse outcome than eating some strange things.
Many of them even joked about it being like eating bugs saying in the past their ancestors did that to not starve this wasn't much different they even hit Wyatt on the back and laughed, an Olderman who was a farmer who was up this way to sell his produce when everything went down.
He often talks about his son who should be with his own wife and his granddaughter at the farm probably much safer than him, I bite my lip as I know no one had survived the arrival of dungeons in the country simply to many monsters and no military to save them.
I can see Wyatt look at me after the old man leaves and can tell he recognizes the look on my face to mean nothing good and the realization that passes his face and simple nod to remain silent on the matter let the man live thinking they were safe for now we would head out that way and try and find something once we are certain we aren't needed to protect this small community every second.
Soon more and more people leave the other base and head our way some who used to make clothes or work machines no one important, but enough to diversify the items of the camp as one of the men manages to make the lights work again and help set up a proper plumbing system for us.
Soon months passed and the small base that used to be nearby simply fully integrated and the community spread to nearly 1000, we had also been cleaning up bodies and putting to rest as much corruption energy as possible preventing too big of an outbreak soon we can leave on small trips towards the country to try and find survivors but the odds where low with how long it has been since all this started.
We manage to find a few scattered ones, but most places are wiped out and all we can do is bury the remains, one day though we come across a small house nearly 2 hours by vehicle from the city the home is collapsed and nothing remains of the fields but we discover in the cellar a man, his wife, and daughter although skinny from lack of food they had managed to escaped and survive.
When we return with them to the base the Oldman sees them and break down sobbing, a reunion I am sure never managed to take place in my own world.
It makes me wonder who these npcs where, were they real once or just things made up by the tower to imitate his old world.
For now, no answers could be determined but watching them they seemed too alive to real to be anything but real people so all I can do it keep an eye out for anyone I may know and continue as we have.