Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World

Both parties exchanged smiles, engaging in back-and-forth conversation, testing each other. Between the words, visible and hidden traps filled the dialogue, each side pulling out every stop to secure their desired benefits.

...

Kim Haru could easily imagine the exchanges going on in the Safe Zone Commander's building, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

He'd already made it clear—he was only responsible for farming and wasn't interested in meddling with other affairs.

At this moment, Kim Haru was idly flipping through the books that were lining in his study room's shelves.

Not a single literary book was in sight; every book was technical in nature. They covered a variety of subjects—not just farming and livestock raising, but also architecture, stonework, carpentry, manufacturing, and even mechanical repair.

Unfortunately, the knowledge on mechanical repairs was rooted in the world Kim Haru came from. After following instructions from one of the electronics repair manuals and wrecking a gaming console in the process, Kim Haru reached this conclusion.

Originally, he'd hoped to see if he could apply the knowledge to fix this world's network towers so that he could connect his gaming console to the internet. He was getting tired of playing single-player games. However, given the current circumstances, it seemed this idea would remain a distant dream. He could only wait and see if he might find similar books from this world someday or perhaps discover people with the relevant skills.

For a homebody like him, the lack of internet was a hard pill to swallow.

He picked another book at random, this one titled Technical Guide to Raising Broiler Chickens, and looked at the cover image of a plump flock of hens, thinking to himself, "It's about time I developed the livestock side of things."

So far, Kim Haru's farm had primarily focused on crop cultivation. As for animals, aside from Little Nugget, who was a system reward, Sir Peckington and Little Snort had both been caught by chance in traps. He'd taken a rather laissez-faire approach to raising them, as most of his attention was on the plants in the fields.

Now that his crops were growing steadily, not only were the plants on his small farm flourishing in an orderly manner, but the cultivated fields even extended throughout the entire safe zone. For a farmer, managing such a large expanse of farmland was a major accomplishment.

Kim Haru had already planted every seed he'd obtained. The next step was to let them grow on their own, apply some fertilizer here and there, and occasionally water them. Unless he managed to acquire new crop seeds, he'd completed this part of his work.

He'd considered this possibility, but that was something he planned to pursue after getting through the winter.

"So, how about I find you some new friends?" Kim Haru asked, resting his chin on his hand as he gazed at Little Snort in the pigpen.

It wasn't because the braised lotus root and pig's trotters tasted amazing before. No, Kim Haru just didn't want Little Snort, Little Nugget, and Sir Peckington to feel lonely. Yes, that was indeed the reason.

Naturally, Little Snort didn't respond to this odd human's thoughts. Day by day, it ate and slept in its new pigpen. Over the past month or two, the once-small pig was no longer the tiny creature Kim Haru could carry around. Now, standing on all fours, Little Snort was as high as Kim Haru's knees, and when it stood upright, it was taller than Kim Haru's shoulders. Its weight? No doubt, it was likely the equivalent of two Kim Harus combined.

When Kim Haru decided to do something, he wasted no time. After a quick word with Jang Dojang, he teleported directly to the Animal Research Institute to find Do Seungjin.

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"Director Do, how's the duck situation you mentioned last time?" Kim Haru is now more comfortable with the people at the research institute, so he can spoke without the usual awkwardness. "And, about catching a few more black piglets—how feasible is that?"

Hearing this, Do Seungjin immediately gave Kim Haru a resentful look and pitiful eyes. "Mr. Kim, you're so biased."

"Cough!" Kim Haru was startled and he could felt a chill run down his spine, goosebumps rising. "Director Do, please speak properly."

A grown man acting like a wronged woman, with a sulky tone, was just… unsettling.

Do Seungjin: "..."

Alright, even he thought he'd gone a bit overboard.

"Mr. Kim, look at all the land you've cultivated for the safe zone. The whole plant research team next door has been overjoyed for weeks. But our Animal Research Institute isn't lacking either, you know. The animals we raise could be an important source of meat reserves for winter. Meat is fantastic—it provides energy, fats, proteins, all the good stuff, and it tastes great. Mr. Kim, you shouldn't only be focused on farming."

Lately, Do Seungjin had shamelessly been running over to Jang Dojung's department to lend a hand, feeling frustrated whenever he saw the plant research team's smug satisfaction. They'd even bragged that Mr. Kim valued their plant research team the most.

It's so ridiculous.

If Kim Haru hadn't come over on his own, Do Seungjin was already thinking of finding an opportunity to quietly curry favor with him.

Kim Haru hadn't thought about it like that. He only knew that, since he had a system that provided three meals a day, he wasn't exactly craving meat. Plus, he often saw people in the safe zone eating meat, so he was under the impression that it wasn't in short supply.@@novelbin@@

However, with some free time recently—and after the lotus root and pig's trotters stew he had a few days ago, which was made from mutated black pig's feet—he began to reconsider. Though the system's kitchen and various seasonings had removed most of the mutagenic virus, the taste still didn't compare to pure pork. This got him thinking about raising more animals.

"Well, I came to find you, didn't I?" said Haru. "How about those ducks we talked about before?"