Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World

Gideon shot every figure that resembled a human without hesitation. He didn’t even wait to determine whether they were real. The moment one appeared in the flashlight’s beam, he pulled the trigger.

Jasper immediately tried to stop him.

His hand caught the muzzle and forced the rifle upward, making the next shot slam into the ceiling instead.

"Are you fucking insane?!" Jasper shouted. "Don’t you see that they’re civilians?!"

Gideon clicked his tongue, reclaimed control of his weapon, and drove the edge of the rifle into Jasper’s stomach hard enough to force him several steps backward.

Before Jasper could lunge at him again, Nick grabbed both of his arms and pulled him back.

"Jasper! They aren’t real! Look at them! They’re not even human!" Nick shouted, struggling to keep his grip. "They’re coming out of that white grass shit! You need to wake the fuck up!"

But Jasper continued fighting him, his eyes fixed on the figures ahead.

"They’re my family! I’m not leaving them again! I won’t fucking leave them to die!"

Gideon stared at him for a moment. He understood the emotion. He simply had no patience for it right now.

Jasper was becoming a liability, and the deeper they went, the more dangerous that could become.

His gaze shifted toward the white growth covering the walls and ground. The longer they remained here, the stronger his urge to burn the entire thing became. Pyro could probably destroy it.

But he couldn’t be careless.

If the parasite released some kind of gas, spores, or another parasitic organism when exposed to extreme heat, burning everything could turn the entire mine into a death trap.

The figures ahead suddenly began disappearing.

One by one, their bodies dissolved back into the pale growth until nothing remained.

Gideon narrowed his eyes.

Interesting.

It seemed the thing controlling them had realized that some of its imitations were no longer useful.

"Nick, can you get him back to reality?" Gideon finally asked, his patience wearing thin. "I thought he was supposed to be the emotionally detached one, judging by all that arrogance."

Nick tightened his grip around Jasper.

"Calm down, Jasper. Look! They’re gone. For God’s sake, they’re fucking gone!"

Jasper’s breathing remained heavy as he stared at Gideon. His eyes stayed locked on him for several seconds, as if deciding whether to challenge him again or finally accept what had happened.

Eventually, Jasper tore himself free from Nick and moved toward the front with a muttered curse.

"What a cunt."

Gideon heard him. He simply didn’t care.

Jasper’s feelings were the least important thing on his list right now. If the man continued acting like this, he might turn the entire operation into a nightmare for him.

’The possibilities are endless.’

They continued deeper into the mine, but Gideon deliberately stayed near the middle of the group, keeping both Jasper and Addam within his line of sight.

Nick moved beside him and lowered his voice.

"Sorry, Chief. His family is a sensitive subject for him."

"Yeah, I imagine it’s a sensitive subject for more than half the human population," Gideon replied casually, his eyes never leaving Jasper. "Childhood trauma, loss, abandonment, failure. Everyone carries something."

He paused before adding, "Though some people manage to carry it with dignity."

Addam snorted. Petter, walking behind them, immediately covered his mouth to suppress a laugh.

Jasper heard it. He turned his head and glared at them.

"I don’t expect some man who came out of nowhere to understand what family means or how important it is."

His voice remained bitter, but there was enough control in it now to show that he had regained himself.

"I’m not a fool, Chief."

Gideon shrugged. He had a response ready, but the atmosphere in the group was already bad enough.

The last thing he needed was to turn Jasper’s personal problem into another burden he had to manage while walking through a parasite-infested mine.

So he kept his mouth shut and continued forward. For once, silence was probably the smarter choice.

Then they arrived at a wider chamber that ended in a dead end.

Gideon immediately noticed an old mining lift built into the far wall. The platform was heavily rusted, its cables hanging loosely into the darkness below, but an old generator still sat near the edge of the chamber.

Somehow, it looked like someone had maintained it at some point.

An abandoned mining cart sat near one wall, still carrying chunks of minerals that had probably been left there decades ago.

Along the opposite wall were several strange machines that looked almost like robots. They were small and bald, with black metal bodies and oversized arms designed to carry heavy loads.

One of them even had an arm raised toward the ceiling, a small mechanism at its palm that reminded Gideon of a weapon.

Probably Old World technology.

"Let’s rest here," Gideon said. "I need to contact Jade and Kilian before we go any deeper."

He moved toward the side of the chamber and activated his walkie-talkie.

He only heard static. He tried again.

"Jade? Kilian? Can you hear me?"

Nothing. Only more static answered him.

Gideon clicked his tongue in annoyance and tried another channel, but the result was the same. The mine had probably blocked the signal entirely.

"Well, I hope Aaron is smarter than me."

He rubbed his jaw and looked back toward the tunnel they had come from. If the radio wasn’t working, he could always hire someone through the system and send them back as a messenger.

Something about this place was bothering him. The hive mind might not be anything as simple as a blob of nerves like the ones he had seen in movies or other media. Whatever was controlling this white growth was clearly capable of observing them, understanding their reactions, and drawing conclusions from their behavior.

That alone made it far more dangerous than he had initially expected.

And Gideon’s instincts were rarely wrong.

This operation was going to turn into a disaster.

He glanced once more toward the tunnel before opening his system and selecting what he needed.

Whatever happened next, he would rather prepare for it now than regret waiting until everything went wrong.

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