On the first night of our marriage, Xander proposed to spend a quality time with her. He felt guilty that he couldn't take her to a beautiful place on their honeymoon.
Artemis just laughed at the pouting General with stoic face and said it doesn't matter, as long as their together.
She's passed the stage of her youth where she yearns for these impractical things. She had long since forgotten a lot of these after spending 10 years in Apocalypse.
Actually, Xander knows that, but he still wants to make things special for her. Thinking of this, he proposed to take her to space for a day. He couldn't extend it longer since it's already January 27. Three days before the Apocalypse.
Artemis agreed. She first checked the kids, then requested Zion to take care of Zia and Zoe in space while she's gone. The always responsible and clever boy immediately agreed after she promised to give him access to the advance research samples in space warehouse (the one left by Timothy Smith)
She then informed the 'Deck' that the whole family has to go out and they will come back after a day. With the assurance of her subordinates, she and the kids followed Zion at the peak of the mountain.
The mountain top was actually flat and wide, this was expected since the mountain is very huge, and it is the tallest mountain in the continent.
She decided to put the twins in space, in case some accidents will happen.
As we walk, a look of doubt crossed her face, but still followed Xander at the edge of the cliff. Just as they're at the edge, a low humming sounded, then the ground slowly materialized a stairs going down.
After walking for ten minutes, she found herself infront of a narrow cave. As they go further, the pathway widens little by little, and at the edge of the cave stands a tall and majestic iron gate.
It's a 8 meter tall, 6 meter wide, two door automatic gate. After Xander flicked some button on his watch-like machine on his wrist, the heavy double door opened.
Zion couldn't take his eyes off the wrist watch, and Xander as a Dad, took it off and threw it to him to play. Zion was so excited that he decided to ignore us completely.
By this time, my heart wouldn't calm down. The fact that Xander created an underground base at the peak of the Mt. Fu was something she did not expect. In her last life, Mt. Fu was the biggest base in the country, but the base was built on the mountain and surrounding land. Seeing the sturdy and high tech infrastructure, she became excited.
"This will be our place in the future, as well as the place for the 800 subordinates. (Orphans raised and trained by Calum family)
There are (30) floors in total ;
01-20 - Warehouses (300 in total)
21-22 - Production lines
23 - Smithy
24 - Scientific Research Laboratory
25 - Calum Residence
26-29 - Subordinates Residence
30 - Head Quarters Office
Conference Rooms
Mission Hall & Canteen
(300) Warehouses allocation ;
001-020 - Vehicles & Large Machinery
021-050 - Building Materials
051-060 - Energy Sources like Gasoline
061-079 - Armory
071-100 - Daily Necessities & Clothes
101-300 - Food
"The warehouses are already fully packed so we don't have to worry for awhile. The rest will be collected after the country's order collapsed" he presented one by one.
"Don't worry, 90% of the materials was placed inside the space, and I bet your's has many time more" he whispered so that only the two of them could hear.
Artemis nodded in satisfaction, while Zion just glanced at them, rolled his eyes and continue playing the watch.
Xander pulled her hand infront of the elevator and taught Zion what to click to access the elevator. In few seconds, the elevator opened.
"This will be our exclusive elevator. It has access to all the floors. We'll have your identities registered later, to get your own access watch"
(16) Elevators in total ;
1 Elevator for Xander
10 Elevators for Subordinates
5 Elevators for Vehicles & Machines
(6) Different Access Watches ;
Black - Owners
Grey - Subordinates
Red - Officials
Blue - Hired Workers
Gold - With Abilities (later)
White - Survivors
"Are your subordinates trustworthy?" she whispered lowly.
"Yes. They were the same people as previous life. The flies sent by other families were already delt with" he reported honestly.
In his previous life, almost 30 people betrayed him one after another, and in this life, he uprooted them the first year after his rebirth. He can't let messy people lurk around that could endanger his little wife and kids.
" How about the people from Production Line, Smithy and Laboratory?" she asked again. This time, he smiled proudly.
"I scouted them all" he winked at her. He did not mention any names but seeing his proud face, he must have scouted the future legends from past life.
"Major General Alexander Liam Calum is really meticulous" she phrases generously.
"Well. I know if you have power and connection as my family, you'll surely do better than me" he seriously stated.
"Not really. I'm more selfish than you. I do not trust anyone other than our family. I won't spend money to feed survivors that might stab my back when I'm not looking anymore. As long as my family is safe, that's enough for me" she bluntly said without sugarcoating.
"That's why I'm here. I built a strong base to keep you safe. Gathered skilled subordinates to guard you. Everything here is for you, so you don't have to do anything and just stay safe and the children" he kissed her temple lovingly.
Artemis suffered a lot in her previous life, and although she doesn't show it, all the betrayals hurt her deeply to the point where she couldn't give her trust to anyone anymore.
Although he feels distressed, her hardened heart and suspicious tendencies are for the better, to avoid her getting hurt in the cruel Apocalypse.
Artemis smiled at him tenderly. This guy learned to talk sweet nothings with poker face. Deep in her heart, she feels warm.
"Also, we won't feed survivors for free. They need to work hard for the base to get food"
"Did I mention that the underground base will be kept as secret? It would be suspicious if someone found out that I built a base before the End of the World, so I built it underground.
After the first natural disaster, we will surround the whole mountain and start building a Base on the ground.
All materials collected after that will be placed in the new Warehouses near the Villa Community. Then we'll start implementing a Point System"
(contribution = points = supplies)
Artemis nodded in approval. This is a mature system developed from their previous life. It's very efficient and fair. Only with your own contributions, can you ear points that you can exchange for materials and supplies.
Naturally when you're hardworking, you can survive, but when you're lazy, you'll get hungry. This is the rule of all the Bases in the later part of the Apocalypse, and it's the most effective one.
After Xander showed her the whole base, her legs are about to collapse. Zion urged them to register their identities and get their own access watch.
Xander pulled them to the Head Quarters office. All buildings are square type. The rooms are divided with solid walls as partition, while at the center is a hallway. All doors requires access watch, but it also provides key Incase of power outage or emergency.
Nothing fancy. Everything is designed minimally, but it gives a sense of security.
After getting his own black access card, Zion immediately left them and entered her space to study his new toy. Seeing Artemis' helpless reaction, he immediately pulled her to floor 25.
"I want to show you my space..."
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Author's note: I was actually planning to write about the honeymoon in space, but as I write, it turned to base tour (helpless) 🫠
Anyway. Thank you for your support ♥️
I hope 1 Chapter is enough for today 🤭💋