Doomsday Pillars

Chapter 166 - The Safest Place

While Farel was busy making preparations, Alex continued with the next agenda. Alex, along with Tony and several other division managers, went to a hidden location in the west of the island of Bali. 

In an area full of hills, lies an ancient temple. The temple was like a gate of a valley with two hills on its side. The group walked the large road between the two rocky hills filled with trees.

"What are we doing here?" Asked Tony, as well as Devita and several others, thought the same thing.

Alex took them about 500 meters further and there they found a cave.. They entered the cave only to find a dead-end, but the ceiling of the cave seemed to be a sturdy stone wall.

Alex turned around and said in a serious tone. "Listen carefully, this location will be an extremely important place. Now that the Starbase is almost done, it's time we place our focus and preparing this place."

"What is this place?"

"Two to three weeks from now, this wall will be split. And behind this wall is one of the thousands of gates that connect the underworld and the surface world."

"!!!"

Alex had once shown a map of important areas to some of them, and this location was one of the places that received a red marker. In fact, this was the only place with a red marker on the island.

"Thousands and thousands of horrible creatures, worse than the zombies we've encountered, will come flooding out from behind this wall."

Devita, who already knew and believed in Alex's reincarnation, understood her husband and immediately asked, "Do you know the dates and times?"

Alex shook his head. "No, nobody knows. They come randomly."

This was one of the unsolved mysteries in Alex's previous life. But following his experience, the monstrous creatures began to appear not long after the Doomsday Pillars descended. The presence of these Pillars would also make the zombies more violent. So, not long after the Doomsday Pillars descent, zombie horde sieges would become more frequent. That's the reason why Alex wanted to rid the island of Bali of zombies before the arrival of the Pillar, it was to ensure the maximum safety in this area.

Two weeks were not long, so Alex together with Tony and the group they had brought immediately devised a plan. The hills in the area were a natural fortress which meant it would be advantageous for defense. In general, those who control higher ground wins the battle. Capitalizing the elements in Sun Tzu's Art of War was definitely not wrong. Tony suggested building defenses along the hills surrounding the cave. Alex liked the idea, but Alex explained that the types of monsters that will come out would have no difficulty climbing the hills, which meant that the defenses on the hills might not have much effect.

However, a little advantage is better than no advantage at all. So, they built on that idea of defense and watchtowers will be prepared. All watchtowers will be equipped with Bofors 44mm automatic machine guns and Oerlikon's 20mm cannons, the weapons they won from the Midway warship. A plan for 100 watchtower locations will be prepared on this hill. Each of them will be no more than 30 meters apart.

The next design they needed to build was to place a fortress in front of the mouth of the cave. The cave's mouth will be where the monsters will come out. Thick walls with a height of 4 meters will be made forming a half circle along a 1-kilometer radius. In addition to the machine guns and cannons, behind the wall, a defense post will be prepared to house more than 5,000 soldiers. The soldiers who will be assigned here will always be ready on a shift guard duty.

Another huge project was handed to Tony. Although he didn't have difficulty finding workers, there were only a few people have had experience making buildings like this. The biggest problem would be moving the materials, luckily, the mutated ox they brought from Madura would greatly increase their efficiency.

As Alex was coordinating the development, the long-lost passion for designing and building things began to resurface. But when he was getting more focused, he realized his wife was watching him. "What is it, Vi?"

"No, nothing…"

Alex realized that there were still many things that disturbed his wife's thoughts. He then finished his work and walked over to his wife, who was also busy arranging supplies for this new base.

"Let's go back."

"Where are we going?"

"Family time."

"But there's still so much to prepare. There's only two weeks and... and…"

"Don't worry, they can handle this. Tomorrow we will do it again."

Alex gave full authority to Tony and his team in preparing the new base. After that, they walked back and took one of the vehicles and drove with his wife back to the main headquarters. 

Alex told his two daughters that they were going to play at the beach, but when they heard the word 'play at the beach', the two children immediately went out and invited friends; they asked Vina and her younger brother to join.

"..."

In an unexpected turn of events, the afternoon turned into a gathering of two families, his family and Erick's family. For children, of course, the more the merrier. So for Alex, as long as his children were happy he didn't mind. Together they went to the beach near Bay City, one of the safest beaches from the of zombies and mutated animals.

The children played and made sand castles. Tiffany and Vina, even though they're 12 years old, played with their younger siblings. Alex took the time to thank Erick and his wife for looking after his family. 

Erick had already reached the peak stage of the mortal realm. He may not be as great as the other fighters, but Alex trusted Erick's integrity. Erick was ecstatic to receive an assignment that needed him to stay close to the family.

Alex invited his wife to walk together on the beach. While watching the sun beginning to set. His wife started a conversation. 

"So, Alex... can you tell me again about the things you did for those 10 years?"

Alex was silent for a while. For Alex, there wasn't much to tell, the only things that were interesting were stories of his battles together with his fellow survivors. As for the rest, they were only death and suffering.

His wife soon realized that this was a question that botherd Alex's mind. She switched the question and asked, 

"Ok, then how about this. Answer me honestly.  Were you… were you remarried?"

"!!!"

Alex's eyes bulged as he heard the question... Devita smiled. 

"Surely you had a lover, right? Right? Don't tell me it's Aria! Was she your lover in your previous life?"

"No, Vi... She wasnt.. i didnt"

Alex answered with a smile, but Devita as a woman did not believe his answer. She secretly planned on getting Theo, placed him in front of Alex and repeated the same question. 

Alex had never been close to Aria in his previous life. At that time, Aria was a legendary figure. She was a spirit enhancer, deathsquad member and the granddaughter of the country's most well-known man, the Regent, who fought in the forefront against the end of time. While Alex was just an ordinary fighter. As for a woman who became close to him in that 10 years… Alex thought about someone... but that woman also died. Even though that was a different time, Alex was wise enough not to tell his wife.

The two of them enjoyed chatting and joking together. But the following question from his wife made him feel heavy.

"I can see that you seem to be in a hurry to prepare everything here in Bali. Are you… are you planning to leave again?"

The plan for Alex to go to Australia was not a secret, but Alex had never told details of it to his managers or his wife.

"Yes, I have to go."

"When?"

"Immediately."

"How long?"

"Approximately one year."

"..."

This news greatly disturbed her. Devita was very smart, but she right away knew that Alex would leave his family again... With the current condition of the Starbase, and the responsibilities she currently hold; more importantly their daughters. There were a lot of various reasons for him to leave his family in Bali.  But she know in her heart, she wishes to come with him...

"Can't we come along with you?'

Alex paused for a moment and reluctantly said, "It's too dangerous, Vi. You and the kids will be safer here."

"But there's no safer place in this world for us, other than being with you. We are at our most safest when we're with you."

These words etched deep in Alex's heart, but still, he didn't want to have his wife and two children entering with him to an extremely dangerous place such as in Australia. Alex was about to say something when Erick suddenly came running.

"Alex! The surveillance team is back but they don't seem too good. They're looking for you."

Family time had to be cut short. Alex hurried to the military headquarters in the city of Antiga. As Alex neared, Rama's mutated bears was seen hurting in front and was being tended to. Inside the command center room, Rama in a bloody shirt stood up and the other ready to give a report.

"What went wrong? anyone injured?"

"One seriously injured.." Rama show one of the master hurting in the corner.. but fortunately not life threatening.. Alex order someone to take him to the medical center first.

Alex immediately noticed that the returning surveillance team lacked one person. 

"Aria? Where is Aria?!"