By the time the first snowflake fell, there were almost no traces of mutant animals outside the Otaku base.
After that, from the first now, it snowed for four solid days.
Originally, Luo Xun was worried that their base was too warm and that the snow would melt and reveal their location. But the truth was – even if the temperature at home was even higher, it would not stand up to the full days of heavy snow. Although the snow on their roof would be thinner than other places but everywhere else was completely covered in white and their base would blend in.
For energy reasons, Luo Xun purposely put the solar panels outside the third floor windows. Although they collected less electricity than what they consumed, however coupled with the batteries they had acc.u.mulated in the winter, there would not be any issues.
Moreover, even if their home ran out of electricity, they could make ends meet with firewood, straw, and other options.
Outside the snow was still falling while the team was gathered in the game room. A few people were playing a game on the large TV while some others were playing a strategy game on the computer. Yu Xinran happily accompanied the baby under the watch of the two women in the bouncy castle – naturally the baby was crawling around.
Luo Xun and Yan Fei were sitting on the sofa, looking at a tablet that contained the most recent texts, exchanges, records and notifications from the satellite.
After looking over several internal doc.u.ments, Luo Xun casually commented, "With the experience last year, the base distributed grain in advance and they seemed to have prepared supplies for the most part. But I think it seems a tad too little?"
Yan Fei also finished reading and casually opened another message between bases and thought. "Wouldn"t the number of bases have decreased?"
"No…." Luo Xun suddenly thought of something. "Do you think they are only preparing supplies for the inner city?"
"That"s possible!" Han Li suddenly interrupted before continuing playing his game.
Luo Xun glanced over and then continued to look at the screen in his hand. "Ah, this amount would certainly be enough for the inner city, but the outer city…" He shook his head and sighed.
Yan Fei hugged his shoulder and asked, "When the snow has stopped, shall we go out and fill the traps with mushroom juice?"
Before setting up the traps, they decided that the mushroom juice would be added after the first snowfall. Let them freeze outside, the outside temperature should not be bad.
Luo Xun looked out the window and was about to answer when He Qiankun looked up from his computer and asked, "Boss, don"t you remember last year with the snow, the zombies were frozen? Do you think the entire wave would freeze in the snow?"
His words grabbed the team"s attention to something they had ignored.
"Yeah, even if the zombies are not buried in the snow, it would definitely slow them down!"
Zhang Yi yawned. "Did you forget? The zombies haven"t come north yet and it"s not known if there is enough snow there."
The team exchanged looks again.
"Okay." Luo Xun coughed. "We have to pay attention to the satellite photos. As for mushroom juice …" He pondered. "Let"s watch the situation." If the zombies come too late, they"ll be able to prepare the trap in advance but if they came in the spring, the materials may be wasted. It was better to keep an eye on the situation.
The next morning, Luo Xun watched the lead-dyed sky and breathed out white wisps. The room was warm but since the outside temperature was too low, there was a layer of frost on the window in the morning.
The little bun had woken up and was waving his little arms in great spirits. Don"t look at his appearance at birth, the baby was plump and healthy. Compared to average weight, size, and age? Luo Xun was not clear as they did not have anything to compare to.
"You"re spirited today, wait." Luo Xun picked up the baby and grabbed a bottle, he checked the temperature before feeding. The baby was well fed so there were two teeth in his mouth. Although they still fed him fruit milk in the morning, during the day Luo Xun would feed him some solids.
Yan Fei just returned to the room and saw his lover feeding the baby.
"FInished feeding them?" Luo Xun asked him.
"Yes, they"re both comfortable and I guess once winter is over they"ll go out and grab their own food."
Yan Fei had just gone to the bas.e.m.e.nt to deliver food to the two silly wolves. Part of the traps they set up were for their livelihood. They decided that Yan Fei and Yu Xinran were responsible for building traps while others were looking around for traces of animals. Under Zhang Yi"s leaders.h.i.+p, they would hunt down prey.
After the first snow fell, the two wolves did not go out – it was definitely too cold outside. Puppy had tired herself out and refused to sleep in the bas.e.m.e.nt.
Luo Xun experimented and decided to use meat mixed with some grains and crops. They intended to test and see if they would eat it. Otherwise how would they be able to just let them eat only quails and rabbits?
The results were sadly encouraging. The two ate the food and seemed to like it because the taste was fresh – so those on base once again agreed they were two dogs! But since wolves seemed more intimidating, they two were named Wolf One and Two.
The sad thing was that although the two would eat, the amount was too much! Fortunately, after they set up the new acres of room for corn, it could be harvested this month so their food consumption was manageable. In short, they should be able to cope with the winter but they had to increase grain cultivation.
The hard-earned crop, they thought that they would be able to eat richly. Then they waited until the commodity exchange to sell for other goods. Now the previous year"s work had been eaten away. Luo Xun felt bad thinking about it.
Luo Xun ground his teeth. "No, we shouldn"t just watch them eat. Let"s have hotpot today!" With so much meat and food at home, how could they just look at the two scourges? They should enjoy the fruits of their own labor!
"Li Tie also mentioned that, he said that with the snowy weather, it"s perfect to eat hotpot." Yan Fei laughed as he watched Luo Xun.
"Right? Who doesn"t want to have hotpot now? And we have a lot of lamb!" When they picked up the sheep, Luo Xun deliberately left most in storage and they mostly ate pork and all kinds of bird. Now in winter, it was time for beef stew and lamb! "Grab the pot, I"m going to make spicy soup today!"
Luo Xun changed his clothes in high spirits. He fed the children after going downstairs and told the team his plans. The team cheered in unison.
These days, the second wave of grains were not ready for harvest. The base was already completely transformed. With the snow-sealed door, they could not leave the house, what else would they do but eat and rest at home?
After breakfast, the team of people went straight to the bas.e.m.e.nt and started caring for the crops. At 9:07 in the morning, the team disregarding that their breakfast had not been digested, went straight to the kitchen.
The frozen lamb in the fridge was not easy to slice, although they set it out since breakfast, it was still hard. But that did not stop their excitement.
A few people fought with the lamb while taking turns. When one was tired, they would change places.
The rest either helped wash the dishes and pick vegetables or they helped Luo Xun prepare the pot.
Luo Xun had a bowl of red peppers as well as previously made chili sauce along with fresh pepper.
Within five minutes, the team of people working in the kitchen covered their noses and burst into tears. They grabbed Zhang Yi and asked him to act as ventilation.
Zhang Yi had a dark expression. He glanced at the sheep leg and the chicken on the plates, he decided he would eat as much as possible later on.
Although everyone began to prepare early, by the time everything was prepared and chopped, it was already 11:30, just in time to eat.
Half of the hot pot was red and spicy while the other was soup with bird bones and mushrooms. Various meats and vegetables circled the pot, all within arm"s reach.
"Let"s eat!" Luo Xun waved his chopsticks after everything was on the table.
"Yeah!"