Kairos put the red prism away into his pocket, then looked at the state of the food on the shelves. It wasn’t the most clear-cut since everything was packaged, but he decided to first check their outer containers.
After a quick inspection of everything on the outside, Kairos was able to determine that there was almost no difference compared to the last time. Except, when he looked at some of the things at the very bottom, there were definitely some that almost seemed rusted, just instead of actual rust, it was some strange glowing red stuff.
Kairos frowned.
After a moment of hesitation, he quickly broke open one of the cans to peer at what was inside, but only in his future vision. In the brief moment he got to look in the can, he saw that it was ham with a strange red color. It seemed that despite him casting the frost spell and the red prism absorbing the red energy, it still wasn’t enough to protect all of the food.
He clicked his tongue before checking on the things that were stacked a little higher.
Using the same tactic with his future vision, he opened up the can without actually doing so to check what was inside. This time, he saw corn that looked normal. As for whether or not it was affected, Kairos was not sure. However, it was still a good sign.
Only the ones at the bottom were definitely affected by the red light. Though, Kairos couldn’t help but wonder if there was a chance the food was still edible. In the best-case scenario, the food would forcefully give some evolution energy, meaning that he and other higher rank people could eat it without too many problems.
Kairos cursed under his breath before clambering back up the ladder.
At the very least, it seemed they had salvaged most of it, meaning that the city still had a chance. However, all of the potatoes that had been farmed were a complete other story. Not only were they buried in the ground, but there were no measures done to preserve them. Not that there really was much they could do with so little time anyway.
Kairos made sure to securely close all the doors he came from before exiting Tiana’s room and reaching the farms.
The first thing that he noticed was that the one person that transformed into a monster was now resting atop a tall but thin metal spike, almost like it was a statue. Kairos gave it a glance but ignored it soon after.
He saw that Tiana was frowning deeply as she was inspecting one of the nearby farms.
Kairos called out to her.
“How does it look?”
Tiana sighed.
“…No idea.”
She slowly lifted up one of the potatoes that she had taken from the farm. It looked even larger than the traditional potato and had a strange red hue.
Tiana furrowed her brow.
“The potatoes weren’t supposed to be finished yet. There should’ve been at least one or two more weeks for them to grow, but right now it looks just as large, or even larger than a fully grown potato.”
Kairos let out a dry chuckle.
“At least it seems that the red energy helped grow the potatoes then…”
Tiana took a deep breath.
“…They don’t look the most edible though. They also seem to be radiating a constant stream of heat, which doesn’t feel like a good sign.”
Kairos slowly nodded.
“Perhaps they are still salvageable.”
Tiana grabbed onto the side of her head with frustration.
“…Maybe.”
She bit the bottom of her lip.
“How were things inside that place?”
Kairos took a deep breath.
“The stuff at the bottom definitely changed to become something weird.”
Tiana’s expression twitched.
Kairos spoke calmly.
“But at the very least, it seems the rest wasn’t affected. At least, it looks normal.”
Tiana’s breathing got a little heavy as one of her hands clenched into a fist.
“…This situation isn’t good, but it could’ve been so much worse.”
She let out a long sigh.
“Thanks for saving the city.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I live here now too. If it was lost, then I wouldn’t have much to come back to.”
Tiana smiled.
“Haha, guess so…”
She stared at the potato she was holding onto intently, almost like she would be able to find out some sort of secret if she continued to stare.
“It seems that these strange red light natural disasters are going to continue. That probably means normal food, in general, will soon be so scarce that it will be impossible to find.”
Kairos slowly nodded.
“…That’s right.”
Tiana blinked a few times.
“I guess that means we’re going to have to find a way to eat things like these at one point or another.”
Kairos walked up to take a closer look.
“However, we don’t have to take that risk right now. We can take out time in learning how.”
Tiana narrowed her eyes.
“But I have no plans of using the backup food supply to support the farmers, so what are they supposed to eat?”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“I suppose we should start experimenting now. If we can capture people that survived, then we can start using them. If we need more then… I guess we’ll just have to use the farmers.”
Tiana let out a soft sigh.
“I guess that makes sense.”
Kairos cracked his neck.
“…I think it will be better if I just take Chase with me.”
Tiana raised an eyebrow.
“Well, you don’t have to tell the others that you plan on kidnapping them for testing.”
Kairos shook his head.
“It’s not like I plan on dragging them here with my hands. I need someone that knows what they’re supposed to say and when they should stay silent. The only one with the proper requirements is him right now.”
Tiana pressed her lips together.
“I guess you can get started as soon as he gets down here then. I’ll handle the aftermath that I can on this side.”
She raised her hands up to the sky, intending to lower the metal wall so that everyone could come back down. Kairos noticed this and called out to her.
“Wait. Don’t let the farmers down right now.”
Tiana turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
“What’s the problem?”
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“They are probably going to mess things up. There are simply far too many of them.”
Tiana smirked.
“After we’ve saved their lives like this, then they’ll surely obey us like drones.”
Kairos shook his head.
“You don’t understand. People influenced by emotions are stupider than animals. They won’t want to disobey, but at the very least half of them are going to do something stupid. Keep all the farmers up there.”
Tiana blinked a few times.
“Then what about the rest of your group?”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“If you can get only them down, then sure. But do it after I’m out of the city. If the farmers get distressed about being unable to come back down, just tell them we were testing to see if it was safe to be back on the ground.”
Tiana nodded.
“Sure.”
Kairos turned around and went back into the building, intending to walk up the stairs to explain to Chase, but he was right there.
He seemed a little winded but had traversed down all the stairs.
“Why did the two of you jump off like that? Is there some sort of emergency?”
Kairos waved his hand dismissively.
“Not an emergency, but there isn’t time to waste. Come with me.”
Chase nodded without much concern.
“Alright then.”
Kairos took the lead and the two of them walked to the entrance of the city.
Chase blinked a few times.
“How’s the situation?”
Kairos furrowed his brow.
“Not all was lost, but all the food that was growing has mutated in a strange way, becoming red and larger. We are trying to figure out whether or not they are edible.”
Chase’s face twitched.
“But…”
He cut himself off as his eyes widened ever so slightly.
“Ah, I see. So that’s why we are getting out of the city.”
Kairos smirked.
“You already know?”
Chase narrowed his eyes.
“We are going to capture people to test the food on them.”
Kairos nodded.
“Yes. I plan to keep them for at least a few days to see if the effects are not immediate too.”
Chase gave him a glance.
“The others aren’t coming?”
Kairos shook his head.
“They will be staying here for now.”
Chase clicked his tongue.
“So you’re bringing me along for the dirty work.”
Kairos nodded.
“That’s the plan, yeah.”
Chase rubbed his chin as a small smile formed on his face.
“Then what’s my pay looking like?”
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“How about not dying?”
Chase paused for a moment before slowly nodding.
“…That is an offer that is definitely hard to deny.”
Kairos sighed.
“Then I assume you’ve taken it. Welcome, new employee.”
Chase sucked in a cold breath.
“Even minimum wage workers don’t get this kind of treatment.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“Considering that they are just barely getting by, I’ve more or less given you the same offer. Given it’s the apocalypse, it’s an even better one than normal.”
Chase laughed.
“Guess I can’t complain, huh?”
Kairos scoffed.
“You can, but it’s not going to change anything.”
Chase took a deep breath.
“…Well, that’s great.”
Once they made it to the wall, the metal began rising to let them through. As they walked through the newly formed entrance, Kairos couldn’t help but wonder if Tiana actually had to manually open the doors every time.
That would probably be annoying.
He shook his head after making it to the other side and focused on the site in front of him.
“Alright… seems like this is going to be a little more difficult than usual.”
The streets were filled with monsters. Many of them appeared to be attempting to get into the building, or at least getting under the shade.
Chase smiled bitterly.
“These things are going to be a pain. Why did we come out so early?”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, since it just ended, we know that the survivors are going to be above ground. It’s not like we’re going to have to fight them.”
As he said that, several monsters rushed toward him. With a sweep of his spear, he ripped apart several of them. Though, after doing that, he narrowed his eyes.
“They are far stronger compared to before.”
He also took note of the lack of system notifications.
“And they’re also still at the E rank.”
Chase raised an eyebrow.
“Still doesn’t look like a problem for you.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“I had to put in almost my full strength for that. They seem to have similar strength to the peak of E rank.”
Chase clicked his tongue.
“Then that’s probably not good for me. We also probably have to cancel our future plans of gathering points for now.”
Kairos sighed.
“Yeah, I’ll just clear a path. Keep up with me.”
Chase nodded.
“Alright.”
Kairos led the way, slamming his spear at the nearby monsters that charged toward the two of them. The two of them made their way through the streets.
Chase had his bow at the ready.
“Where exactly are we going?”
Kairos sighed.
“Up the top floor of one of the higher buildings. So we’re going to the highest one, which is just a couple blocks away.”
Chase sighed.
“Got it.”
Soon, the two of them got to the building he was mentioning, but the entrance was swarmed with monsters trying to get inside. Kairos called out to Chase.
“Climb up the side of the building.”
Without waiting for a response, Kairos clambered up, and Chase followed suit without much complaint.
As they got close to the roof, they could hear someone speaking.
“No… I’m not a monster! I’m not!”