The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH131

Chapter 131 — Heavy Snow

Renovating the rooms was simple, and modifying the planting racks in the corridor wasn’t difficult either. As for running water and electricity for the corridor’s heating system, that was even easier. In comparison, seed cultivation took the most time.

Fortunately, they weren’t in a hurry. Even though the military cafeteria now needed large quantities of leafy vegetables, they weren’t pressing too hard. As for other teams wanting to purchase vegetables… they still hadn’t found a reliable long-term buyer, so there was no rush there either.

Who knew how the news had leaked from the cafeteria—but on the third morning after that discussion, when Luo Xun and Yan Fei went to deliver vegetables again, they were intercepted halfway before even finding a place to park.

Of course, by then the vegetables had already been sold.

The other party remained polite. This time it wasn’t the same team as before, but their purpose was identical. Luo Xun and Yan Fei didn’t waste words—after a brief exchange and leaving contact information, they went about their business.

Fortunately, they were inside the military’s “black fortress.” Anyone who could enter this place had some connection with the military and wouldn’t dare cause trouble here.

They were certain of one thing—

The person who leaked the information about them supplying non-mutated vegetables to the military wasn’t Captain Li. But with so many people in the cafeteria, it was only natural for someone to sell insider tips.

This time, when they delivered vegetables, even a young soldier helping carry the goods secretly slipped them a note—another team looking to buy vegetables.

After reading it, the two could only laugh helplessly.

—

The vegetables they had planted this round would take at least another twenty days before harvest. And when the time came, they would still need to reserve a portion for the military cafeteria.

In terms of stability, the military cafeteria remained their most reliable buyer.

As for other teams—earning some extra on the side was fine, but long-term cooperation? They weren’t optimistic.

—

The weather grew colder day by day. At night, the north wind howled outside the windows.

The underfloor heating across both floors was fully activated. Although Luo Xun’s unit (1604) didn’t originally have floor heating, he had modified the heating system early in the apocalypse. Once turned on, the temperature inside quickly rose.

Across the base, prices for firewood, coal, alcohol fuel, and gas canisters surged again. Even at the military exchange windows, these items were steadily becoming more expensive.

Back during the autumn harvest, the team had thoroughly dried rice stalks and similar materials. Though they didn’t burn efficiently, they were sufficient for cooking or starting fires.

Before the cold fully set in, Luo Xun and the others had also taken the opportunity—while searching for mushroom logs—to stock up on coal and firewood. Combined with their reliance on electricity for cooking, they had no problem getting through the winter.

—

“So far, seven teams have contacted us.”

Luo Xun held a stack of notes—each one from a team that had approached them over the past month, expressing interest in buying vegetables.

Everyone in the team knew about this, but they had all entrusted Luo Xun to handle it.

After all, he had been in charge of selling vegetables from the beginning. If others interfered blindly, it might only create trouble.

Yan Fei listened quietly. He also believed Luo Xun was best suited to make the decision. While Yan Fei could help maximize profits, he had no idea which teams were reliable or how long they would last. Luo Xun, with knowledge from his previous life, understood these things far better.

“These two offer the highest prices.”

Luo Xun pulled out two marked slips.

“One of them—I’ve never heard of before. I’ve asked around about their leader and key members, but nothing stands out. The other one I’ve heard of, but they’ve always been mediocre—not particularly strong. Neither seems suitable for long-term cooperation.”

He pulled out a few more notes.

“These teams offer lower prices. And judging by their attitude… even their messengers act arrogant. No need to deal with them at all.”

Finally, he tapped the remaining slips.

“And then there are these ones…”

Luo Xun finally picked out two teams that might be suitable for long-term cooperation. After weighing them, he discussed it with Yan Fei:

“What do you think? Which one should we choose?”

Yan Fei took the two slips, glanced at the team names, and smiled. “Contact both. Even if they buy vegetables, they probably won’t need that much. At most we split it—sell half to each. The rest can still go to the military camp.”

“Right! That works perfectly!” Luo Xun smiled in relief.

Some of the leafy vegetables grown in the corridor were already nearing harvest. Although they hadn’t picked them yet, they could roughly estimate the yield. No single buyer could take it all anyway—better to divide it between two teams. That way, if one backed out, they’d still have another customer.

After making the calls, just as expected—once Luo Xun reported the quantity, both sides discussed internally. One team said they could take everything, even more if available. The other said the current amount was already enough.

The vegetables sold to these two teams all came from the corridor crops. As for the produce from other rooms, part was for the team’s daily consumption, and part was reserved for the military cafeteria.

Currently, vegetables sold to the cafeteria fetched 4 crystal cores per jin, rising to 6 per jin if exceeding ten jin. Meanwhile, the two teams were paying 10 crystal cores per jin.

Of course, that was just the winter price—when vegetables were scarce. Once the weather warmed, prices would likely drop to about half.

—

Early the next morning, everyone in the team got up early to harvest, package, and load the vegetables. Only after that did they return to their rooms to eat and change.

When they stepped out through the iron gate on the 15th floor, everyone shivered at once—

The outside world had truly turned cold.

“The sky looks gloomy… feels like it’s going to snow.” Someone glanced up at the gray sky and couldn’t help but shudder.

“Normal. Every autumn rain—wait… isn’t it already winter?”

“Yeah, Start of Winter was last Monday,” Wu Xin replied.

Han Li turned around in surprise. “You actually check the calendar?”

Wu Xin rolled his eyes. “It’s on the phone, okay?”

—

After delivering the vegetables to both teams and settling accounts, Luo Xun drove toward the military camp. Before getting out, he took two thick down jackets from the car and handed one to Yan Fei.

It wasn’t quite cold enough for them yet—but with this kind of weather, better safe than sorry.

“You’re here? Hurry up—looks like it might rain,” Captain Guo urged, glancing at the sky.

“Captain, what if it snows? Are we still working?” a soldier asked, his breath fogging in the air.

“If there’s no stop order, we keep working. Luckily the bridge is almost finished. After that, we’ll focus on the outer wall,” Guo replied helplessly.

They weren’t doing drills—they were building structures. If not for abilities, how could they guarantee the materials wouldn’t be affected by temperature?

—

Not long after work began, something started falling from the sky.

At first, everyone thought it was rain—fast, droplet-like. Then they realized—

It wasn’t rain.

“These aren’t snowflakes either… they’re ice pellets!”

They hit with light “pa pa” sounds.

Luo Xun immediately raised a transparent shield with one hand while pulling out an umbrella with the other. Perfect timing—waterproof and snowproof, as long as there wasn’t strong wind.

Captain Guo quickly ordered others to fetch umbrellas from the vehicles. Soon, a neat row of umbrellas lined the city wall.

After lunch, the ice pellets grew larger… and then, suddenly—

Heavy snow.

Thick, swirling flakes fell like goose feathers.

From the bridge, whether looking inside or outside the base, everything gradually turned into a vast white expanse.

—

They pushed through to complete the final part of the bridge before finally retreating to the vehicles, exhaling clouds of white breath as they returned to the camp.

Back home, Xu Mei and the others had already increased the heating in all rooms to protect the crops.

After climbing more than ten floors, Luo Xun and Yan Fei were warm again, the snow on their clothes long gone.

“Hey—don’t jump!”

Luo Xun was nearly knocked over by the overly enthusiastic dog. With layers of clothing and a bulky down jacket, the impact almost sent him falling—fortunately, Yan Fei was behind him.

After calming the dog down, Luo Xun muttered, “It’s gotten heavier again… and stronger too.”

Xu Mei smiled. “We adjusted all the room temperatures. Go change and see if it’s comfortable.”

“Alright, we’ll check upstairs.”

The two men and the dog headed home.

—

After checking all rooms, everything was fine.

Luo Xun then took out the earnings from the morning.

This income counted as extra profit. One portion was set aside as team funds, and the rest was divided equally per person, to be distributed once Li Tie and the others returned.

Outside, the snow grew heavier. Darkness fell earlier than usual.

They were just sitting around the warm heating, discussing whether to make duck stew for dinner, when Luo Xun’s phone rang.

“It’s Li Tie.”

He put down his cup of tea—precious pre-apocalypse stock—and answered.

“Li Tie?”

“Brother Luo…” The line was noisy, voices in the background. “The snow’s too heavy. We’re worried Zhang Ge and Wang Duo might run into trouble walking alone, so we went together to pick him up from the hospital.”

“Good call.” Luo Xun looked at Yan Fei, then at Xu Mei and Song Lingling. “We’re planning to make a big hotpot tonight. We’ll start preparing now—should be ready when you get back.”

“Sounds good, sounds good! We’ll head back together later. Once we pick up Zhang Ge, we’ll text you!”

Although everyone had learned how to cook, when it came to truly tasty meals, it was still best left to the two ladies plus Luo Xun. Li Tie and the others could manage daily meals, but if they wanted something really good, it had to be during group dinners.

Their voices were loud, and Xu Mei and Song Lingling heard everything. Smiling, they said, “Then we’ll start preparing first.”

“Let’s do it together.” Luo Xun stood up and headed for the kitchen, while Yan Fei went upstairs to grab a piece of duck meat from their fridge.

Soon, a steaming pot was ready—duck meat, radish, potatoes, vermicelli (collected before the apocalypse), dried eggplant, dried beans, dried pumpkin, dried mushrooms, plus fragrant white rice. The dish was first cooked on the stove, then transferred into a large microwave-safe pot to keep warm.

By the time Li Tie and the others came in, the aroma hit them immediately.

“Perfect timing—we just added the napa cabbage.” Luo Xun pointed at the pot in the center of the table. “Go change first, then we’ll eat together.”

“Alright, alright!”

“Change what? Let’s eat first!”

“It’s freezing out there! The roads are terrible!”

“The snow’s that deep?” Luo Xun glanced outside, puzzled. Being upstairs, he hadn’t really noticed.

“Super deep! Up to our calves already!” Li Tie said as he sat down.

He Qiankun sniffed the air, already reaching in with his chopsticks. “We were saying tomorrow we might have to wear rain boots to work.”

Luo Xun shook his head. “Better wear proper boots—tight at the top, tuck your pants in. If snow gets into rain boots… it’ll be even colder, might even cause frostbite.”

While everyone was still talking about the heavy snow, Zhang Su’s chopsticks and spoon were already moving like lightning.

—How did we forget about this guy?

That thought flashed through everyone’s mind as they saw him reaching into the pot for the third time. Instantly, everyone sprang into action, scooping food into their bowls as fast as possible.

After the meal, not even a single piece of potato was left.

Song Lingling giggled. “Wow, you even scraped the bottom clean! That makes washing dishes so much easier!”

Almost everyone slumped in their chairs, holding their stomachs, too full to move.

Only Xiao Xinran was still energetic, holding a bowl of strawberries, her big eyes blinking as she ate one herself and fed one to the dog.

The strawberries had only recently started ripening, adding a nice vitamin boost to the winter. Compared to regular meals, both Xiao Xinran and the dog clearly preferred these sweet-and-sour fruits.

Even the grown men ate a few every day—usually before meals, but today, they counted as dessert.

“We still… need to prepare… lunch for tomorrow…” He Qiankun said, already thinking ahead.

“There are still ingredients left. We didn’t use everything. We’ll make another pot later, let it cool, and pack it for you,” Xu Mei said with a smile, earning grateful gestures from the others.

Ironically, the worst meals now belonged to Luo Xun and Yan Fei—they had to eat the “wonderful” large-pot meals with the metal team every noon. No need to describe the taste—everyone understood.

—

The next morning, Luo Xun got up and pulled back the curtains—

“There’s frost on the glass!”

That alone showed how warm it was inside and how freezing it was outside.

Thinking back, he wondered how he had survived winter in his previous life.

After some thought, he remembered—back then, without proper winter clothes, he had stuffed shredded paper and newspapers into his clothes and blankets just to stay warm. Fortunately, his living space had been small, and he hadn’t dared to keep the stove burning too strongly—otherwise, one stray spark could have burned the entire basement down along with him.

“The snow looks really deep,” Yan Fei said, observing the neighboring rooftop. After estimating the thickness, he frowned slightly. “Look at that—doesn’t it seem like the snow is almost burying half of that small building?”

“Exactly. This snow is at least half a person tall,” Luo Xun said firmly. In previous winters, once heavy snow blocked the doors, he would stay indoors as much as possible, only going out after some of it melted and people in the neighborhood started clearing it. He couldn’t say exactly how deep it got, but it was definitely enough to seal the doors shut—and worse, this happened every single year.

“Then… do we still have to go to work today?” Luo Xun suddenly thought of this and looked up at Yan Fei with hopeful eyes.

Yan Fei raised an eyebrow as well. That… really was a good question.

“Brother Luo, Brother Luo! If there’s too much snow on the roof, will it cause problems?” After the two got up and went downstairs, they ran into Li Tie, who had come to check on the situation.

Hearing this, the two exchanged a glance. Yan Fei said, “I’ll deal with it using the metal mesh on the roof.”

The entire rooftop was covered with a metal mesh Yan Fei had installed for protection and detection. Unexpectedly, it could also be used to clear snow. Even the solar panels outside, once covered in snow, could be cleaned using his ability.

The whole building seemed to tremble slightly. Before anyone inside even realized what was happening, there was a soft rustling sound, and suddenly, another thick layer of snow had piled up around the building.

Not only Luo Xun and Yan Fei were wondering whether they still needed to go to work—Li Tie and the others also had to contact their superiors.

This heavy snow had come suddenly, and its intensity exceeded everyone’s expectations. Even the military and various workplaces couldn’t immediately come to a clear decision.

It wasn’t until 7:30 in the morning that the final notice arrived—

Li Tie and his four teammates didn’t need to report to work.

But Zhang Su, Yan Fei, and Luo Xun still had to.

Zhang Su worked at the hospital—on days like this, there would definitely be cases of freezing injuries, so the hospital couldn’t stop. As for the city wall… the higher-ups labeled it “extremely important,” so it couldn’t be delayed either.

However, driving was impossible under these conditions. They could only walk.

So the three of them, including Zhang Su, trudged forward step by step through snow that reached up to their waists, sinking with every step.

What made it worse—

When they finally arrived, Captain Guo announced that due to the heavy snow, vehicles couldn’t be used, so they would have to walk all the way to the outer city wall.

“Captain, can we go out via the overpass instead?” After hearing this, the entire team fell silent for a while before a metal-type ability user raised his hand to ask.

“Exactly what I was thinking!” Captain Guo said with a grim expression, exhaling a puff of white breath. “Let’s go—onto the bridge!”

It was obvious someone was making things difficult for them. This was tied to the power struggles among the higher-ups. Another faction had tried to recruit their metal ability team, but Guo had ignored them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been forced out to work in such weather. This was the result of their superior compromising in the political tug-of-war—but if someone got frostbite, who would take responsibility?

Walking on the unfinished overpass felt… extremely thrilling.

The metal plates were relatively thin, and only the beginning section had been paved with concrete by earth-type ability users. The rest of the path was honestly quite terrifying.

Fortunately, they were a metal ability team. Once on the bridge, they simply used their abilities to shake off the thick snow from the metal surface, eliminating the need to wade through snow. Although the metal surface was a bit slippery, walking in the middle was safe enough. Plus, everyone was tied together with ropes around their waists.

Compared to trudging below, this route was much smoother.

“Are the earth-type ability users off today?” Yan Fei asked quietly when he noticed none of them were working on the bridge.

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