Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World-Chapter 109: Overworked Supply Food Staff

The construction work started at 8 a.m. after everyone finished breakfast and ended at 5 p.m., since it became too dark to continue anything safely after that.

Gideon usually began his day at 7 am by checking the system, and the first thing he always looked at was the number of Glowbats killed during the night.

The count continued to increase, and it was becoming increasingly obvious why. The growing population inside the Cinders of Dusk was drawing more attention.

On his first night, there had only been about twenty corpses.

Now, it has risen to eighty-five.

That alone was worrying, but what concerned him more was the change in their size. Not all of them had grown, but the number of larger Glowbats was steadily increasing.

’I wonder if this barrier will eventually gain a feature to mask people’s heat,’ he thought as he looked out at the scattered corpses.

The food supply workers were already moving the bodies, chatting among themselves about their works they worked.

Despite the task and their tired face, their expressions were almost cheerful, knowing that the food supply would be enough for everyone.

More Freebound men had arrived today, bringing the total number of workers up to seventy-five, which meant they needed even more food and water.

Water, however, remained a problem.

Glowbats didn’t provide much of it, so some groups had been sent out to hunt Geysemire instead to supplement their supply.

They could rely entirely on the water from Gideon’s house, but with this many people, it wouldn’t be sustainable.

He needed the water system to support Freebound’s usage as well, and fortunately, the pump would be installed today. After that, the situation would stabilize, and he could save more of his budget.

Gideon made his way toward the food supply station. It was set up as a large open kitchen under wide canopy tents he had purchased from the system.

Most of the meat was processed into jerky for long-term storage, though they still prepared fresh meals for dinner whenever possible. For breakfast and lunch, jerky paired with different sauces from the Infinite Shop was more than enough.

He could smell the fried jerky before he even arrived.

Inside, the staff was busy cooking blue eggs taken from the Glowbats’ cave they found three days ago. It wasn’t from the bats for sure, but Delilah confirm it was safe to eat and filling enough for a proper breakfast, and the workers had already started lining up to get their portions.

Gideon watched them for a moment. The workers looked genuinely happy, especially the construction crew he had hired.

But when his gaze shifted to the food supply staff, the difference was obvious. Dark circles hung under their eyes, and although they tried to smile, they looked more exhausted than anything else.

"Morning, boss Gideon! The food supply is good. We still have enough aberrant meat for at least a week, and more importantly, the sauce and spices you bought really make a difference. It tastes amazing!"

Aria’s voice came from behind him. When he turned, he saw the same dark circles under her eyes, along with a tired expression she couldn’t hide.

They had been waking up around five in the morning to prepare the food, handling the Glowbat corpses, cleaning and cutting them, then setting them out to dry for jerky.

After that, they moved straight into preparing lunch, then dinner, and finally cleaning everything before starting the cycle again for the next day.

The kitchen had been running nonstop for over a week. Not at this scale before, but still enough to wear anyone down.

"Are you all okay?" Gideon asked, his gaze shifting past Aria to the girl standing behind her.

Messy brown curls covered most of her face. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Daphne?"

She lifted her head slightly. "Ye-yes?" It was indeed her.

She let out a tired sigh. "We are... tired, Chief. There are only fifteen of us, but we’re handling about fifty people, and now even more are coming..." She covered her face, clearly frustrated.

Aria nodded in agreement. "About that... we really need more workers for this station, especially for preparation. There’s just too much to handle."

Aria rarely complained. The fact that she was saying this now meant they had already reached their limit.

"I’m going to Climber Rift today," Gideon said. "I’ll meet Jade and talk to her about it."

"Thank God."

Both of them said it at the same time, their relief immediate as they let out long breaths.

After that, Gideon decided to meet William, who was already on site without even stopping for breakfast. Gideon himself had skipped the blue eggs as well. It still felt strange to eat something with a color so different from what he was used to.

William stood there with his tablet, already focused on calculations, barely looking up when Gideon approached. After a brief explanation, Gideon informed him that he would be away for the day.

William simply nodded. "If possible, increase the number of workers as well. At least one hundred. Once winter arrives the construction will be much slower. Even in bad weather it possible will be stopped entirely."

"It’s better if the housing project finishes in less than a month but it becomes unlikely if the workers are below one hundred."

Gideon nodded in agreement. The housing project was already in the planning phase, and he had both the blueprint and materials ready.

In theory, they could complete ten to twenty standard houses within a month, but the small apartment units were a different matter entirely. Those would take more time, more labor, and far more resources.

After that, Gideon returned to his house.

It felt... quiet.

There was no smell of coffee, no sign of breakfast being prepared, and the living room was completely empty.

Delilah and Elaine clearly hadn’t returned yet, and for some reason, that absence left a faint sense of loneliness lingering in the air.

"I can’t believe there’s a day when this house feels peaceful..."

The thought barely lasted.

A loud scream suddenly echoed through the building, sharp and relentless, coming straight from Kilian and Kanna’s guest house.

Gideon frowned immediately. Even though he had placed them in a separate section with thicker walls, the noise still carried through, especially down to the first floor. He never noticed it since he rarely stayed in this house.

"Goddamn, Kilian was right," he muttered under his breath. "This kid screams like a devil."

Shaking his head, he made his way toward the guest room. He still needed to inform them that he would be leaving for a while, especially since Kilian was probably still dealing with his hangover.