Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World-Chapter 82: For My Granddaughter

"Wait," Gideon said. "If they needed parents, why did Daphne end up calling you Grandpa instead?"

Johan nodded slowly. "My daughter and her husband joined the project. They had always wanted a child, so they agreed to become part of it."

His expression softened. "But they both died during the apocalypse. So Daphne ended up with me."

A faint smile appeared on his face. "She’s a good girl. She misses her parents a lot, but she keeps trying to stay strong. After all, she’s only eighteen."

Gideon nodded slightly. Daphne seemed no different from any other human. She could laugh, cry, and feel empathy. She felt real, not like some laboratory experiment.

If Johan’s story was true, then the "mother" might really be the core of that asteroid. Somehow, the scientists had altered Genome IX enough to create humans with superpowers, each with different abilities.

"Then the government is really not searching for you? Don’t you know more than this?"

"The government..." Johan’s eyes turned cold. "They made a terrible mistake. They created something they should never have created. Chaos."

"The zealots? You mean the Scion of the Lord?"

"No. The one controlling them. Its even worse than those zealots." Johan leaned closer. "Something without a face or a name."

He lowered his voice as if afraid the walls themselves might hear him.

"This is only a theory between me and my colleagues, but we believe they wanted another apocalypse. They wanted the world to end."

The old man suddenly grabbed Gideon’s hand and clenched it tightly.

"I don’t have much time left, so I will give you a way to contact my colleagues. Please take care of my granddaughter. She’s alone in this cruel world, and I cannot leave peacefully if no one stands beside her."

Gideon’s expression turned serious. "Then what is your relationship with Jade? And what about the government?" he asked firmly.

"You need to tell me everything you know. If you can’t answer those questions, I can’t trust you, Johan. Believe me, I feel sorry for Daphne, but not for you."

Johan sighed heavily before speaking again. "In the last note my friend sent before he died, he told me to prepare for the end of the world. He wrote that they made a mistake and no one could fix it anymore."

His voice dropped as he continued. "He said they fought back and punished us."

"The way he wrote about punishment sounded like he was talking about a god or some kind of deity, not an asteroid. Even I don’t believe such an asteroid truly exists. It must be something the government hid from us, but all the evidence was destroyed during the apocalypse."

Johan paused for a moment before continuing. "Only those in power know the truth, and now they are gathering all the Children of Eden. That can only mean one thing. They are preparing something, just like those zealots who are preparing for the end of the world."

"And Jade?" Gideon asked.

"She is the one who helped me. No, helped all of us. The parent replacements who only wanted to protect our children."

The old man’s hands trembled slightly. He was weak. All the strength he had left had been used to act normal in front of Daphne and to tell Gideon this much.

"Please rest, Mr. Johan," Gideon said gently. "You can’t leave yet. You still need to take care of Daphne."

He slowly released the old man’s wrinkled hands and eased him back against the bed.

"And I still need you to guide me. I am also one of the Children of Eden, and I will make sure you stay alive."

Gideon reached into his storage, and Johan’s eyes widened slightly when he saw the ability in action. Gideon pulled out a small green bottle filled with liquid and handed it to him.

"Drink this and you’ll recover. For the sake of your granddaughter. No... your daughter."

Johan hesitated. Gideon understood why. He once heard Delilah mention the same worry. In this world, growing old often meant becoming a burden, and many people did not want to live long enough to reach that point.

So Gideon stood up. "I will leave you to decide. But remember this, Mr. Johan. Your daughter still needs you."

Johan let out a quiet chuckle. "Those are cruel words for an old man."

***

Not long after Gideon left, Johan was still lying on the bed with the potion in his hand. His head turned toward Daphne, who was sleeping on the bed beside him.

She always slept like the dead when she was exhausted. No one had ever been able to wake her up once she reached that state.

"Oh, Daph... if only those times could come back again..."

Johan remembered the day he told his daughter about the program. The couple had agreed almost immediately, without thinking too deeply about it. They never even considered that the child might turn out to be a monster.

After all, the baby did not come from a human mother but from an experiment in a laboratory. There was always the possibility that it would grow into something unnatural.

But when Daphne arrived, she looked just like a normal baby.

She had big round eyes the color of an emerald lake, and soft chestnut brown hair that curled slightly at the ends. She was unbelievably adorable.

His daughter held the baby carefully in her arms and said with a gentle smile, "I will name her Daphne. May her life be as sacred and victorious as the laurel tree."

"Sure, as long as she doesn’t end up with a tragic love story like that of Daphne Nymph," her husband added jokingly.

"Of course not! She will be loved from the beginning until the end. Right, father? You will love her like your own too, won’t you?"

His little girl, who had already grown into a woman, looked at him with hopeful eyes. Of course he could not refuse. He simply nodded.

"In the end I love her the same way I love you too, Laurie..." Johan murmured softly. "I really want to meet you again, but the child still needs me. So please wait a little longer."

He closed his eyes and drank the potion in one gulp.

Instantly he felt the effect. His stamina returned, filling his body with strength, and the pain in his crushed legs faded until it felt almost normal again.

"What an amazing potion," he murmured while looking at the empty bottle in his hand.

Not long after, the door opened. A red haired woman he was very familiar with stepped inside and quietly closed the door behind her. Her face still carried the same sour expression as she crossed her arms.

"You didn’t tell him anything about me, did you?"

"Of course not. It doesn’t benefit me in any way and it wouldn’t change anything either." Johan smiled faintly. "But you really do resemble your father."

"Are you messing with me, old man?" Jade clicked her tongue. "Anyway, your friends are safe for now. I will find a way to get them out of that place."

"Thank you, Princess. But they are already moving toward this place, even if it takes years. What will you do then?"

"Isn’t it obvious? They won’t be able to touch my land." She sighed and sat down on the chair. "And your friends will come here with their children. They will stay in Gideon’s territory. He still needs more residents anyway."

"Will he become your last resort?"

Jade did not answer the question, but the silence itself was enough of an answer.

"Then let me ask you this," Johan said as he slowly shifted his body to sit up. "If they truly believe they are doing all of this for a better future, would you really refuse to set aside your pride and join them?"

"Good?" Jade snorted. "There is nothing good about the institution that ended the world, Johan. And even if we somehow end up chasing the same goal, I will build my own side."

Her eyes hardened. "A faction stronger than theirs. That is my answer."