Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World

He'd even given that chick a serious name, vowing to be best friends forever, and wrote an observation journal every day. But chicks like that rarely lived long; his had died after a little over a month.

No matter how heartbroken he'd been back then, the experience left him with a strong impression. There was no mistaking a chick's feather!

Why was there a normal-sized chick feather here? Their institute had never raised chickens, much less ones so small.

An astonishing thought crossed his mind, and he suddenly shot up, shouting toward Do Seungjin, who was a short distance away. "Director! Director, come take a look!" Continue reading stories on My Virtual Library Empire

Hearing the shout, Do Seungjin raised his eyebrows, striding over with a fierce expression.

"What is it?"

"Director, take a look at this—does it belong to our institute?" The researcher wasn't fazed by Do Seungjin's intense demeanor, knowing that was just his usual attitude. This was important.

Do Seungjin leaned in, inspecting and sniffing the feather closely. Finally, he concluded, "It's not from our institute. This scent is unfamiliar; it smells fresh, like it hasn't been here long. Where did you find this? Could it be a new breed? Where's the animal?

Why is there only one feather?"

The researcher pointed silently to the spot where he'd picked up the feather. "I found it right here. If it's not from our institute, then it must have fallen off one of the people who were just here."

Do Seungjin looked at the ground and asked, "Who was just standing here?"

"The consultant."

"You mean that consultant with the last name Kim?"

"Yes. And Director, I overheard your conversation just now, and I have a suspicion," the researcher said, sounding uncertain even to himself. "I think... that Consultant Kim might actually be raising animals for food."@@novelbin@@

Maybe more than just one.

His strange interest in the question of how to raise the black boar and now this chick feather in his hand...

...

Hwa Jian had visited several trade markets before finally finding a few roof tiles at a stall in the Fourth District. These tiles weren't even for sale—they were being used to display the goods the vendor was selling.

After asking, he learned that the vendor had a pile of tiles at home. Following him back, Hwa Jian bought the entire lot. Worried that these might not be enough, he also found out that there was an old tile workshop in the Fourth District before the apocalypse happened. Although it was no longer in business and had been taken over as a living space, it probably still had plenty of tiles.

Hwa Jian borrowed a tricycle and hauled back a full load of tiles.

However, finding hoes as Kim Hary had requested proved more difficult. With not much land needing cultivation, people often repurposed hoes as weapons or melted them down. Eventually, Hwa Jian went to a weapons shop and commissioned a metal-type ability user to craft two hoes.

Ordinary hoes were low-value items, lacking the technical skill required for weapons, and fetched much lower prices than other cold weapons. The shop owner was unwilling to make many of them.

He thought he might as well use that time to make a few more valuable steel knives.

Presenting the items to Kim Haru, Hwa Jian spoke in a low voice, "I'm sorry, Boss. This is all I could manage to find."

"These will do." Kim Hary paid him in crystal cores, not bothering to negotiate, and put everything into his system's inventory, ready to leave.

"Oh, right," Kim Hary suddenly remembered, "you don't need to come to the shop for the next three days. Come back again in three days."

When he got back, he planned to start planting cabbages, potatoes, and soybeans across the cleared land. It would take at least three days before he had any stock ready.

Hwa Jian agreed to the request, and Jang Dojang who is listening from the side, also looked pleased.

When Kim Haru left, he exited properly through the front gate first. Once he reached a secluded spot, he activated the teleporter Go Okrim had given him.

In an instant, he was back at the farm.

The tiles were meant to fix the roof of the pigpen, so he poured them out from his system inventory and placed them beside the structure.

Luckily, he had a handy helper here, so he didn't need to do the work himself.

"Little Oakie, I'll leave the task of laying the tiles to you. Finish this, and I'll give you two extra waterings today."

Kim Haru patted Little Oakie's trunk and receiving a rustling nod in response.

With the tiles handed over, Kim didn't rush to leave. Instead, he lingered by the pigpen, observing Little Snort inside.

After a day of confinement, Little Snort had accepted his fate. He was now munching on soybean leaves with little interest, occasionally pausing to drink some water nearby, all without sparing his farm owner a glance.

Kim Haru didn't mind.

His reason for staying here was simply that he'd thought of the black pig at the Animal Research Institute.

Poor Little Snort. Who knows if it was your mom or dad that's already gone—probably close to ending up in someone's stomach by now. So just stay here and grow in peace.

He wondered if a piglet born from mutated animals would grow into a mutated creature itself. If Little Snort did grow as big as half a house, he might struggle to handle it. Hopefully, Little Snort would take pity on the farm that's fed him for so long and go easy on him.

But how exactly do you raise a mutated black pig? Could it thrive on the same simple eating and drinking routine as an ordinary pig?

Maybe he should look around for a pig-raising manual or something, just in case.

After checking on the piglet, he headed to the newly cleared field, where Go Okrim had come forward to report, "Kim Haru-hyung, we've already dug up half the land."