Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World

As for Little Cinnamon, Kim Haru asked about its plans. It didn't want to go back with Go Okrim and insisted on staying with the apple tree. The apple tree could keep it warm during the winter.

Kim Haru left it with a teleportation device, telling it to come to the small farm if it got too cold, before finally leaving.

As for the fruit trees, they were mutated plants. Before Kim Haru arrived, they had undoubtedly survived countless winters like this on their own, so there was no need for him to worry about them.

Upon returning to the farm, Kim Haru immediately placed the hamsters in the living room.

The system's wooden cabin had already detected the drop in external temperature and activated the heating system. The room was now warm and cozy. The hamsters, fresh from the cold outdoors, instantly melted into comfortable, relaxed piles.

They became, quite literally, hamster pancakes.

Next door, Go Okrim's employee dormitory also had its heating system activated. The wooden wall that connected their two spaces had a door that could only be opened from Kim Haru's side, saving Go Okrim from having to step out into the cold to enter the house.

"Everyone can rest here for now. I'll send you back tomorrow," Kim Haru said, settling the hamsters in the living room. He placed food out for them and let them relax before heading off to wash up and go to bed himself.

Before sleeping, Kim Haru didn't forget to check the status of the chicken coop, pigpen, and cattle shed on his system interface. All the necessary heating was operational, ensuring that he wouldn't wake up the next morning to find his animals frozen to death.

...

The next morning, Kim Haru woke up to a warm and cozy room. For a moment, he almost forgot that it had snowed the night before.

Just as Kim Haru pulled open the curtains and glanced outside, he was startled.

Although he had known the snowfall yesterday was particularly intense, the transformation outside was far beyond what he expected!

Everywhere he looked was covered in a blanket of silver-white. The vibrant green color of the mutated plants from just a day ago had completely vanished. There wasn't even a hint of green left. The ground, too, was entirely hidden under the snow, leaving no trace of the brown earth beneath. The snow appeared thick and heavy, blanketing everything in sight.

Leaving the bedroom, Kim Haru found the hamsters in the living room already awake, they were gathered around the fruit platter on the coffee table and happily munching on their breakfast.

When they noticed Kim Haru come out, they raised their tiny paws and squeaked twice, as if to greet him.

Just then, a knocking sound came from the door that connected to Go Okrim's area.

Kim Haru opened the door to see Go Okrim entering the room. "I figured you'd be awake by now, Hyung. It snowed all night long, and the snow outside is piled up to knee height. I just tried pushing the door open, and it took quite a bit of effort. If we want to go out, we'll have to clear a path first."

"Or we could just stay inside. We've got the teleportation device, after all," Go Okrim added with a shrug.

Kim Haru hadn't expected the snow to accumulate so quickly.

"We still need to clear it. What if the weight of the snow collapses the house?" Kim Haru reasoned. Although he trusted the system-built wooden cabin to withstand the snow, he didn't want to take any chances. "Even if the house doesn't collapse, if the snow keeps piling up for a few more days, clearing it will only become harder. If the house gets buried entirely, even if we don't need to leave, we won't have enough air to stay holed up all winter."

Go Okrim nodded his head in agreement.

"You start by clearing the snow at the door. I'll take the hamster tribe back and then come help you," Kim Haru said, motioning for the hamster tribe to climb into the basket on his back. Once they were settled, he prepared to head out. Stay connected through My Virtual Library Empire

If the temperature hadn't dropped so drastically, Kim Haru wouldn't have been in such a hurry to send the hamster tribe back. After all, his place was equipped with heating, whereas the safe zone's heating conditions were much less reliable. But he didn't have a choice—most of the safe zone's winter supplies were stored in the cheek pouches of these hamsters. If they didn't return quickly, the people in the safe zone would face a harsh winter with limited resources.

Kim Haru had explained this to the hamster tribe in advance, worried they might think he was sending them away just because his own conditions were better.

However, the hamster tribe had proved to be remarkably reliable. Since they had signed a contract with humans, they didn't let environmental challenges affect their duties. Once they were delivered back to the safe zone, they dutifully handed over the supplies without a single complaint and quickly followed the logistics team members who came to retrieve them.@@novelbin@@

By now, each hamster had formed a one-on-one partnership with a logistics team member. They could recognize their human partner, and the humans could identify their hamster companions just as easily.

Kim Haru, on the other hand, couldn't tell one hamster from another if several similar-looking ones were placed in front of him. This only made him admire the logistics team members all the more for their dedication.

When Kim Haru arrived at the safe zone this time, he didn't immediately see Jang Dojang or Moon Baein. After inquiring, he learned that Moon Baein had been out since before dawn, organizing people to clear the heavy snow and checking the Fourth District for anyone who might have frozen to death during the night or lacked adequate heating measures.

Jang Dojang had naturally followed Moon Baein, as there was still plenty of work for them to handle.