The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH251

Chapter 251 — A Warm Winter

By the time the first snowflake drifted down, barely a trace of any mutated animals could be found outside the Otaku Team’s base.

Thereafter, the snow went from a light flurry to a heavy blizzard. This first snowfall of winter came down thick and fast for four full days without showing any signs of stopping.

Originally, Luo Xun and the others had worried that if their base was too warm, the snow falling on places like the roof might melt from the high temperature, exposing their coordinates if captured by a satellite. However, reality showed them that no matter how high the temperature inside their house was, it was no match for the swirling heavy snow that had fallen continuously for days. Although the snow on their roof was destined to be thinner than in other places, the difference was minimal. Once the entire earth was completely blanketed in white, their base blended perfectly into the snowy landscape.

To conserve energy, Luo Xun and the team had explicitly mounted the solar panels outside the third-floor windows and exterior walls. This way, even though the collected electrical energy fell short of their daily consumption, adding the storage batteries they had fully charged before winter meant they faced absolutely zero pressure getting through the season, with plenty of power to spare.

Besides, even if the electricity in their home ran out entirely, they could still rely on the firewood, rice straw, wheat straw, and other materials stored at the base to sustain themselves.

Outside, the snow continued to swirl down. The group was currently gathered in the game room; a few were huddled in front of the big TV playing a fighting game, while several others sat at computers playing a linked strategy game. Little Xinran was accompanying little Baozi under the watchful eyes of the two ladies, happily crawling and rolling around inside the inflatable castle—of course, little Baozi could only crawl around, making “ah-ah” noises.

Luo Xun and Yan Fei sat together on the sofa, scrolling through a tablet terminal that displayed various text communications, records, and notifications intercepted from the satellite over the recent period.

After scrolling through a few internal documents from the City A Base, Luo Xun commented casually, “With the experience from last winter’s heavy snow, the base harvested all its grain in advance this year, and their supplies seem mostly prepped. But I can’t help but feel that these supply numbers look a bit low.”

Yan Fei had also just finished reading. Handily tapping open a message sent from another base to alternative factions, he pondered for a moment. “Could the population inside the base have decreased?”

“No…” Luo Xun considered it for a bit, then his eyes suddenly lit up as he arched his brows and asked, “Do you think the supplies they prepped are meant strictly for the inner city?”

“Highly possible!” Han Li, who was currently gaming over there, suddenly shouted out a comment before aggressively mashing the controller buttons again.

Luo Xun cast a sideways glance toward him before lowering his head back to the screen in his hand. “Analyzing it that way, these goods are bound to be perfectly sufficient for the inner city. But as for the outer city…” Saying this, he shook his head with a soft sigh.

Yan Fei wrapped an arm around his shoulder, giving him a gentle shake. “Tell me, once this snow stops, are we going out to pack the traps with mushroom juice?”

When they were deploying the traps previously, they had agreed to fill them with mushroom juice after the first snowfall. It would freeze inside nicely, and with the external temperature running so low, it shouldn’t spoil.

Luo Xun looked out the window again, about to say something, when He Qiankun, who had just finished a round of his computer game, suddenly asked, “Boss, remember when it snowed last year, wasn’t a huge block of those zombies frozen right in the snow drifts? Do you think the zombie tide will get frozen solid too after it snows?”

The moment the words left his mouth, the entire group froze for a split second. This was a parameter they had completely overlooked before.

“Exactly! And even if those zombies don’t get buried by the snow, a heavy blizzard will definitely compromise their advance velocity!”

Big amount of elements. Zhang Su let out a cold snort through his nose. “I say, have you guys completely forgotten? That batch of zombies hasn’t even reached the north yet. Whether it’s even snowing where they are currently remains entirely unclear.”

Hearing this, the pack of young men stared at one another in blank bewilderment once more.

“Ahem.” Luo Xun let out a tactical cough. Seeing everyone focus their attention over, he smiled and said, “Lately, we still need to stay locked onto the dynamics shown in the satellite photos. As for the mushroom juice…” He pondered for a brief moment. “Let’s evaluate the situation as it goes.” If those zombies delayed their arrival for too long, even if they pre-packed the pitfalls with mushroom juice, what if the weather had already warmed up and flowers were blooming by the time they drew near? That mushroom juice would likely go completely to waste. They might as well track the dynamics first before making a definitive call.

Early the next morning, looking out at the leaden sky that appeared thoroughly caked in gray, Luo Xun exhaled a breath against the window pane, leaving a layer of white fog on the glass. The bedroom was immensely warm, but because the external temperature ran exceptionally low, a beautiful layer of frost patterns had stabilized across the glass by dawn.

Little Baozi had already rolled out of sleep by this point, waving his tiny arms with absolute vitality. Although he had looked incredibly thin and frail upon birth, appearing on the verge of slipping away at a moment’s notice, he had currently been nourished into a perfectly white, plump, and vibrant baby boy. As for whether his exact weight and physical parameters bore deviations from a standard infant of identical age? Luo Xun and the team lacked alternative metrics to execute a comparative check currently, so they remained rather unclear.

“You certainly have plenty of energy. Hold on.” Luo Xun cradled the heavy baby in his arms, walking over to retrieve a bottle that had been warming inside a container of lukewarm water. Testing the temperature to verify it was perfect, he gently guided the nipple to the baby’s mouth. Little Baozi’s nutritional intake was phenomenal, meaning two tiny teeth had already erupted inside his mouth. Although they systematically fed him formula mixed with cream-fruit extract in the mornings, Luo Xun and the team would introduce a medley of solid purees throughout the day.

Yan Fei had only just returned to the bedroom at this exact hour. Seeing him feeding the child, he glided over to take a look.

“Did you finish delivering their rations?” Luo Xun asked casually upon his return.

“Yeah, delivered. Those two certainly have a comfortable setup. Personally, I evaluate that once a full winter draws past, they’ll be even more reluctant to venture out to capture food on their own next spring.”

Yan Fei had just gone down to the basement tracks to deliver food to the two dimwitted wolves. During those days they spent constructing the traps, for the baseline survival parameters of the pair, the team had huddled to finalize a strategy—letting Yan Fei and little Xinran focus primarily on assembling the traps, while the alternative members swept the perimeter to hunt for mutated wildlife, successfully snaring a fair collection of prey under Zhang Su’s expert guidance.

Once the first heavy snowfall commenced, those two wolves refused to step past the threshold except to manage their basic biological functions—they were absolutely disdaining the freezing parameters outside. As for their own puppy, ever since these two predators arrived, he had grown completely wild alongside them, stubbornly nesting inside the basement to sleep rather than doubling back upstairs.

Luo Xun and the team had brainstormed a bit, resolving to blend cuts of raw meat with a medley of loose grains and vegetables to craft a batch of unsalted rations. Their original intent was merely to test whether the predators would accept the blend; after all, if they fed them exclusively pure meat, the quail and rabbit reserves stored at home wouldn’t be anywhere near sufficient to sustain their appetites.

The resulting feedback was intensely delightful, yet gave them a fair amount of anxiety. The wolves accepted the food unreservedly, and because the flavor profile felt entirely fresh, they actually appeared to love it—consequently, the entire base population universally locked in their assessment that these two frauds were absolutely dogs! However, because they had normalized calling them “idiot wolves,” everyone simply named them “Da Lang” and “Er Lang.”

The facet that caused them deep anxiety was—although the pair accepted this style of food, their volumetric intake was far too monumental! It was profoundly fortunate that after shifting to this new base, Luo Xun and the team had dedicated an entire one-acre block of planting rooms to cultivate a massive crop of corn, which was hitting its harvest window this exact month. Coupled with the lingering grain reserves—since moving out of the city walls, the team managed to harvest a vastly superior volume of fresh meats, causing their grain consumption velocity to drop substantially instead. In short, they could at least compromise to handle the wolves’ appetites throughout this winter, but following that, they would inevitably have to scale up the cultivation of alternative mixed grains.

Having meticulously ground through the grueling hours to cultivate these crops, the group had originally assumed they could comfortably live out a lifestyle defined by an abundance of food and zero worry over survival parameters, even planning to pack their surplus cargo along to trade for alternative practical assets the next time a trade marketplace opened up. Yet look how the dynamics shifted; their household had unexpectedly taken in two massive gluttons, forcing a full year of their agonizing physical labor to be dumped straight into their bottomless stomachs. Analyzing the loop, Luo Xun felt a trace of tender melancholy resonate through his chest.

At this thought, Luo Xun gritted his teeth. “No way. We can’t simply watch them gorge themselves while we hold back. Tonight, we host a hot pot feast!” Their complex stashed such an immense density of fresh meats, agricultural greens, and abundant grains; how could they passively watch these two frauds wreak havoc on their reserves? If they didn’t thoroughly gorge themselves to break even on the effort, it would be impossible to appease the collective rage of the populace!

“Just now, Li Tie and the guys were huddling to debate identical logistics, noting that since the snow continues to lash down outside today, this weather parameter maps perfectly onto hosting a hot pot feast,” Yan Fei noted, thoroughly amused by the sight of Luo Xun gritting his teeth.

“Ain’t that the truth? If we don’t gorge on hot pot during a stretch like this, when on earth are we supposed to eat it? Besides, our household stashes a substantial hoard of mutton!” When they initially scavenged those mutton blocks early on, Luo Xun and the team had explicitly held the asset in reserve without consuming much of it. Throughout regular days, the meals prepared for the crew comprised primarily pork and various flying waterfowl cuts. Now that the winter parameters had thoroughly set in, it was precisely the most comfortable stretch to tuck into stewed beef and shabu-shabu mutton! “Re-forge one of our household pots into a dual-flavor split pot structure. Personally, I intend to craft an intensely fiery, spicy broth base today!”

Luo Xun’s momentum was exceptional. Changing out of his garments and completing the baby’s feeding, he marched downstairs to announce his intention to upgrade the family’s menu for today, earning a synchronized, thunderous cheer from the young men.

Over these few days, the secondary wave of household grains hadn’t hit its harvest window yet, and their base architecture had long since been beautifully finalized. Coupled with the heavy snow blocking the main gate threshold, they couldn’t even step past the front door anyway. If they didn’t hole up inside the warm complex to watch over the winter, play video games, and gorge on premium food delicacies, what alternative projects were they supposed to manage?

Finishing breakfast, the group deployed straight down to the basement tracks to manage their household crops. By the time they circuited a full check across the three subterranean levels and the above-ground glass greenhouse, the clock read exactly 9:07 AM. This pack of gluttons completely cast aside whether the hour ran far too early, or whether the breakfast sitting inside their stomachs had been processed yet, deploying straight to the kitchen tracks to kick off the preparations.

The mutton blocks frozen inside the freezers weren’t anywhere near elementary to slice on the fly. Although they had extracted the mutton from the units to let it sit during breakfast to initiate a thawing sequence, the core remained completely rock-hard currently. Yet even under these dynamics, it failed to compromise a single shred of their fierce enthusiasm toward shabu-shabu mutton.

Several large men locked into a grueling match against the mutton blocks; the moment one finished slicing a batch, the alternative stepped up to resume the line, and once a member ran completely out of physical strength, the next tool hand rotated in to take over.

The remaining members divided the labor—one faction assisting in washing and trimming the agricultural greens, while the alternative team helped Luo Xun organize the broth components and dipping sauces.

Luo Xun extracted a massive bowl of red bird’s-eye chilis, supplementing the mix with the spicy chili paste they had fermented during the previous pepper harvest, rounded out by a handful of fresh Sichuan peppercorns newly plucked from their household trees that hadn’t been sun-dried yet.

Within barely five minutes, the entire pack of young men who had originally huddled inside the kitchen tracks to wash the greens and prepare the fixtures came charging out in a frantic column, clamping their noses tightly while tears streamed down their cheeks. They forcefully cornered Zhang Su, who was resting on a seat to play a handheld console, pleading for his Eminence to unleash his superpower—to siphon the kitchen exhaust.

With a completely darkened face acting as a literal range hood, Zhang Su panned a glance across the raw sheep legs arrayed across the counter boards, before evaluating a nearby platter packed with pre-sliced waterfowl meat, silently resolving to do his absolute best to buy out these two meat varieties the absolute moment they joined the dining table later.

Although the group had kicked off their preparation sequence exceptionally early, by the time the entire layout was systematically finalized and the custom dipping sauces were beautifully blended, the clock read precisely 11:30 AM—mapping onto a perfect window to kick off the feast.

Across the newly forged dual-flavor split pot structure, half of the container held a shimmering, intensely red, spicy broth base, while the alternative side showcased a rich, savory clear broth simmered out from waterfowl skeletal frames supplemented by fresh wild mushrooms. Layering the immediate perimeter with a dense array of platters showcases various meat cuts, internal organs, and fresh agricultural greens, the sight was perfectly sufficient to send everyone’s appetite skyrocketing.

“Let’s dig in!” The absolute moment the final assets were neatly arrayed across the table layout, Luo Xun vigorously raised his chopsticks to wave the command.

“Ohhh!!!”

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