This year"s winter was clearly much colder than the first two years. Since the start of winter in November, it snowed without end. Each week there would be snow falling for at least two or three days.
Plus Luo Xun sent out the hungry…no the right team member Zhang Yi to sweep the snow each week. Otherwise, the snow would pile up and the vent would get blocked.
Although the plants could produce oxygen, they could not be completely sealed in during the winter.
Thankfully, they had studied the satellite photographs for a while and found that the zombies were moving slower and slower as winter continued. The road delays were getting longer and longer – for two weeks there had not been any movement. Of course, this was certainly a disaster for that base, but for the others, especially ones in the north were given breathing room.
In this snow-filled weather filled with zombies, the whole country ushered in the new year.
No firecrackers, fireworks or candy but still a new year nonetheless. This was the third New Year since the apocalypse for Luo Xun, but also the first one since the little bun"s birth. After all, the baby was born on the first day of last year on the first-day of January.
Now the little baby who could barely cry was snow able to stand up and stumble for a few steps and then continue crawling around.
And the small bun could make some monosyllabic sounds to call people, for example, he would cry "Pu" when seeing Luo Xun, "Pa" for Yan Fei and "Dog" when seeing Puppy…why was the last one correct?
This was a mystery to everyone in the house because even Yu Xinran called the dog Puppy when playing with the baby. Who knew how the baby knew that Puppy was a dog? Could it have been when Luo Xun had complained about her silliness?
In short, setting aside the baby"s matters, since it was New Years", it was dumpling day at home.
Although Luo Xun had quite a few ingredients and tried new recipes from time to time, dumplings were not often served. After the wrapping was somewhat troublesome so they would only eat once in a while. Most of the flour was usually used for pancakes or steamed buns.
The Otaku squad had a number of people so there were naturally many tasks to be completed. They also had to prepare the fillings for the dumplings.
They had gathered a lot of food and drink, they even did not have to go out to collect metal. Other than spending an hour or two each day taking care of the crops, they idled around playing games or pondering what to eat. So the team discussed and decided to make several kinds of dumpling fillings.
Lamb carrot stuffing – the taste was always popular. Three seafood filling – since the base had a lot of fish and shrimp along with creeks on base so they were not afraid to eat. Pork cabbage filling – a very traditional filling that everyone understood. Beef onion stuffing – this came from a few who suddenly thought of meat pies. Mushroom pork filling – they had quite a few mushrooms as a result of the mutant mushroom cultivation. The proportion was around ten to one, thinking about the size of the base, their mushroom production was amazing.
Finally, the team tentatively set up these five along with Luo Xun"s notebook could try some more exotic flavors such as tomato and egg, black pepper beef along with egg cuc.u.mber stuffing. Although relatively normal, they did not want to have some like leek and bean sprout filling.
After a morning consultation, the team went to the bas.e.m.e.nt to check on the crops. Once they were ready, everyone went to the kitchen to cook together.
Luo Xun and Yan Fei pushed a small cart together, it was full of heavy barrels.
The two of them took the elevator directly down to the second underground floor. They pushed the cart down the pa.s.sageway to a gate.
When the door opened, before the pair could go in, Puppy ran out with her tongue wagging followed by the two wolves – this was their kennel. An acre-sized area that Yan Fei had double layered on purpose. There was a ramp against the wall with some other places where they could sleep.
The two pulled the cart to the corner, there were two large and three smaller pots. Luo Xun lifted the lids to reveal flour, corn and sorghum noodles along with a mixed vegetable stew. He dipped a spoon into the pots.
Next to them was a big water bowl with clean water, there was even an open tap. The water tank was taken care of Song Lingling who would check the water level every couple days and fill it up.
Usually, the base water was from the source using Yan Fei"s created pipes that were connected to each room. He could also use his ability to deal with any rusting.
The two men set out the food and changed the water while also petting Puppy"s head. "Good, stay. Return when you are tired of playing."
Luo Xun had put a door when they made this room. First, the two wolves needed enough exercise each day, such as running around in the pa.s.sage or something to promote digestion. Second, Puppy also ate with them but it was hard to ensure that the two wolves would not follow when she went up to find Yu Xinran. Due to their huge size, they would not fit in the stairwell.
Puppy rushed the pair with a bark before settling down to eat.
The pair pushed the cart filled with empty pots down the hall. The meat they had cooked for the two wolves was not frozen. In the past, Luo Xun had directly dried some of the prey. Luo Xun calculated that the fridge simply did not have enough meat for them to eat for the winter, not to mention the rest of the team!
So they tried mixing in noodles while steaming the dried meat and the two wolves were eating their fill!
This was much more convenient.
After all, dried food was easier and less perishable so Luo Xun would always dry a part of the spoils. Over time since they only consumed a small portion of it, they actually had more dried food then frozen. Now that the two wolves were willing to eat it, they were welcome to it.
The couple returned to the second floor to see everyone inspecting the crops. The set the cart aside and grabbed a special basket for the eggs. They used a newly built staircase to head to the third underground floor.
The third bas.e.m.e.nt floor was later expanded into a large room underneath where the two wolves lived. It was a lush area filled with a variety of green, leafy vegetables. There were areas of gra.s.s, some streams that contained seafood along with the quails and rabbits that were housed.
The middle of the stream was a small pool where the domestic animals could drink water.
Today Luo Xun had put all the quails inside – the gra.s.s had several rows of nests. Other spots had half-buried rabbit dens.
The thirteen rabbits that survived were not afraid of the two showing up – they leisurely jumped around while eating gra.s.s.
The two went to check the nests and found some eggs. They were split into two different baskets – the fertilized ones were to be placed in the hatchery above.
Then the two went to check the dens. They looked inside one – empty. In another they found a large rabbit watching warily. Another…had a group of newborn rabbits. Yes, there was enough s.p.a.ce and there actually was a full dozen inside!
When the rest learned of the situation, they exchanged shocked looks and said, "No wonder there would be a disaster if rabbits had no natural enemies, no wonder if this many are born at once!"
The two patrolled around the floor to confirm the animal"s conditions and crop growth. They were ready to head up when their phone rang – it was He Qiankun who was in the greenhouse. "Luo Xun, Yan Fei hurry up! Those two eagles are going to tear apart our house!"
"Huh?" Those two eagles? Demolish? How were they going to do that?
"They have abilities! The both of them are lightning types! Just now we were checking the fruit trees and we heard that they have blown up a mushroom box!"
Oh no, they had forgotten about that!
Luo Xun remembered that he had seen the big eagle grab a mutant animal and discharge the prey. It seemed that the two babies were its offspring, even the ability was similar!