Chapter 179: A Bet
Eugene tilted his head when he noticed one of the military trucks parked nearby shaking so hard that he could hear the creaking even from where he was standing. At the moment, he was busy shoveling snow from one of the nearby roads.
This particular area was close to the field where the children usually played, which was why he needed to clear it at least twice a day.
A slippery road was dangerous for everyone, especially for kids who would run around without paying attention.
"Hm, is that an aberrant attack?"
Even as he said it, Eugene was not entirely convinced. He had never seen an aberrant make it inside the territory before. Still, there was always a first time for everything.
Shaking his head, he rested the shovel against his shoulder and started walking toward the truck. Aaron’s presence somewhere behind him made him feel strangely safe.
The man was ridiculously fast, especially in a fight. Recently, Eugene had even asked him to teach him how to use firearms and handle himself in close combat.
However, before he could get any closer, a hand landed on his shoulder.
"What are you doing? Do your job, dude."
Eugene turned around and found Aaron staring at him.
"Don’t you see that shaking vehicle?" Eugene pointed at the truck. "What if there’s an aberrant inside? We need to get rid of it."
Aaron followed his finger and looked at the truck. Then he looked back at Eugene. His eyebrow slowly rose. The expression alone made Eugene uncomfortable.
"What?"
A second later, Aaron burst out laughing so hard that he had to hold his stomach.
"What? I’m not wrong! Look at that thing. It’s shaking so hard."
"Oh damn, are you a virgin, Eugene?"
The question caught him completely off guard.
At first, he genuinely had no idea what Aaron meant. Then the implication finally reached his brain, and his mouth slowly fell open as a flush crept across his face.
"That’s not it, okay? I mean, what if I’m actually right? What if an aberrant really comes out of that truck and attacks someone?"
Aaron only grinned wider. "Why don’t we make a bet? If Gideon comes out of that truck, you clean my vehicle, not just the snow, inside and outside too."
Eugene immediately pointed a finger back at him. "Fine. But if I’m right, I want you to take over my job and clean all the snow around the territory for a week. The toilets too."
"Deal."
Aaron’s grin looked unbearably arrogant as they shook hands.
After that, they waited for something to come out of the truck. The problem was that the wait turned out to be much longer than Eugene expected.
By the time he finished cleaning the section assigned to him, the truck was still shaking. He moved on to the temporary toilets around the area, cleaned those as well, then returned to check again.
The truck was somehow still shaking.
Eugene stared at it for a moment before turning toward Aaron, who was now sitting comfortably on a nearby bench with a cigarette in hand.
"What the hell is inside that thing?"
Aaron took a drag from his cigarette before letting the smoke escape from his mouth.
"I told you, it’s not an aberrant."
Eugene narrowed his eyes on the truck. Suddenly, the shaking stopped.
About five minutes later, the door finally opened. A man stepped out first, followed by a woman who looked as though she might collapse at any moment.
They parted ways immediately, the woman heading toward another area while the man walked in their direction.
Only then did Eugene realize who it was.
Gideon.
"I win!" Aaron jumped up from the bench and immediately wrapped an arm around Eugene’s shoulder. "Suck it up and clean my vehicle for a whole month, loser."
"Hey! You never specified how long I need to clean it!"
"Nah, beggars can’t be choosers." Aaron waved him off. "Just accept your defeat."
Eugene could only frown as Gideon approached them.
"Sup, what are you guys doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the tower?" Gideon asked.
"Ugh..." Eugene scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Percy said it’s fine to leave for a while. Besides, this road is used by the children whenever they go play over there, so I have to clean it at least twice a day."
He pointed toward the nearby field. Gideon followed his finger and saw a small open area with a large rock standing near the center.
Beneath it was a simple swing, while a crude seesaw had been built nearby, most likely by some of the parents in the territory.
"Right... We still don’t have a proper place for children to play."
He stood there for a moment, thinking. "Maybe I should build a small playground."
It was easy to forget that children needed somewhere to be children too.
Eventually, Gideon turned back toward the two men.
"Well, I’m heading to the agricultural area. Since it’s the closest zone to the Guard Tower, why don’t you two come with me?"
Both men nodded and followed him.
The agricultural area was located some distance away from the residential district, but it was also the largest inside Gideon’s Safe Zone. It was one of the areas that had received the most upgrades from the system.
At the moment, it had already reached Level Four while Gideon himself had reached Level Thirty-Eight.
By the time they arrived, the difference was immediately noticeable. Unlike the rest of the territory, there was no snow covering the ground. The air was warmer as well.
That was thanks to the Temperature Stabilization feature.
The upgrade allowed him to regulate the climate inside this specific area, making it possible to grow crops that normally would not survive during winter.
Since the fifty construction workers he had rented from the system were already busy working on the apartment project, Gideon had assigned fifty workers from that site to begin constructing a barn and preparing the farming facilities.
Throwing more workers at a project did not always cut the construction time in half.
As a result, the barn project had officially started that morning.
Heavy machinery was already leveling the ground while other workers cleared away rocks and debris. Trucks carrying building materials had arrived earlier, and several cement mixers were already operating nearby.
William was busy supervising another construction site, so the one who approached Gideon was Jacob.
"Boss, you’re out later than I expected," Jacob greeted.
Gideon rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah... something came up."
Considering it was already three in the afternoon, that was probably an understatement.
"Anyway, the barn is pretty large, so it’ll take time. You also wanted a granary and warehouse storage, right? William is in the middle of making the blueprints. At this rate, everything should be completed within a couple of weeks."
"Try to finish everything before the second month of winter begins," Gideon replied. "I don’t want any accident to happen because of that eternal snow."
"Understood. We’ll discuss it during the next meeting. We’ll probably need additional manpower."
Gideon nodded.
Every construction site already had heaters with aberrant oil installed, and the Guard Tower continuously monitored the surrounding area. Whenever Eternal Snow appeared, warnings would be broadcast immediately.
According to Percy, the observation system was capable of zooming out nearly twenty kilometers, while several monitoring devices could detect sudden drops in temperature before they became dangerous.
Combined, the system gave them enough time to evacuate workers and secure equipment.
After all, Eternal Snow was not something people could afford to underestimate.
From a distance, it looked almost like a pyroclastic flow, a massive volcanic gas sweeping across the landscape at terrifying speed, consuming everything in its path and leaving destruction behind. But in this case, it was the gas that turned everything frozen.
