Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World

Standing near the pile of ice bricks, he already felt chilled to the bone. He'd nearly dropped a brick earlier when moving it and was incredibly curious about Kim Haru's idea of building an igloo.

Kim Haru pointed to a bucket of water that had already frozen into slush. "With this."

The snow on the plot of land Kim Haru had chosen had already been shoveled up by the ginseng spirit and turned into ice bricks. Without any additional preparation, Kim Haru began using the ice bricks to lay the first layer of the wall.

Then he started stacking the second layer.

In the process, after completing each layer of ice bricks, Kim Haru poured water over it. When the water came into contact with the freezing ice, it solidified quickly, becoming harder and harder. This not only filled the gaps between the ice bricks but also acted as an excellent adhesive to bind them together.

A nearly 50-square-meter igloo took Kim Haru and his companions three days to build. By the morning of the fourth day, they finally sealed the roof with the last ice brick.

To ensure the igloo was sturdy and wouldn't collapse unexpectedly, Kim Haru poured another layer of water over the entire structure. This turned the igloo into a seamless whole.

Of course, they didn't forget to leave an opening for a door.

During the construction, Kim Haru finally understood why most igloos he'd seen before were dome-shaped. In an environment without any specialized tools, a dome design was simply more practical. While building straight walls was relatively convenient, sealing the roof at the top proved to be incredibly challenging.

At first, Kim Haru hadn't realized this. It was only after running into difficulties that he decided to dismantle the partially built igloo, redesign it, and start over.

Walking into the igloo from the entrance, it was noticeably warmer than outside.

If the outside temperature was minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, the inside of the igloo was only around minus ten degrees.

Once the door was installed, the interior would become even warmer. While it would never rise to several degrees above freezing, it was still a significant improvement over the harsh cold outside.

The ginseng spirit had been eagerly waiting. The moment Kim Haru nodded in satisfaction, signaling that the igloo was finished, the ginseng spirit rushed inside. Its root-like appendages twirled like the skirt of a spinning dancer, and one by one, small radishes appeared on the igloo floor.

Only the heavens knew how restless the ginseng spirit had been these past few days without its radish companions.

Watching the ginseng spirit plant radishes at lightning speed, Kim Haru felt even more satisfied with his decision to pick up the ginseng spirit earlier.

However, he didn't forget to call out a reminder: "Save me half the space. I want to plant other things."

Kim Haru planned to create a small greenhouse inside the igloo. He still had some melon seeds he hadn't planted yet. He didn't know the growth cycle of these seeds, but the sooner they sprouted, the sooner he could enjoy fresh melons.

Perhaps it was the allure of the unattainable that made such things so desirable. Every winter, Kim Haru found himself craving watermelon and ice cream. Yet when summer came around and these items were abundant, he lost interest.

Before his journey to this post-apocalypse world, winter watermelons were still available for purchase. Now, if he wanted one, he would have to rely on his own efforts.

The most crucial part of building a greenhouse is having insulating plastic sheeting—or glass, which works just as well. However, plastic sheeting was beyond Kim Haru's ability to produce. Even in the Pyeongseong Safe Zone, finding any was a challenge. On the rare occasion it was spotted, the material would crumble to pieces at the slightest touch.

Over the years, all plastic sheeting had weathered away.

As for glass, Kim Haru had a rough idea of how to make it. If he remembered correctly, it was made by heating sand.

But as he looked around at his surroundings, he realized there wasn't any sand to be found. Making glass would also require building a kiln, and the high temperatures necessary to melt sand couldn't be achieved with wood. A more efficient fuel like coal was needed.

And he didn't have any coal either.

Was his greenhouse plan doomed before it even began?

No, he was just overthinking it.

Kim Haru slapped his forehead, suddenly reminded that the world he was in now wasn't like his previous life. There might not be coal, but there were Fire-type ability users.

He had seen fire-type ability users in action before. The temperatures they could generate were more than sufficient for melting sand.
Continue reading stories on My Virtual Library Empire

With this realization, Kim Haru glanced over at the cattle shed and sighed.

Wasn't there a few zombies buried there? Little Ignis and Power Ranger Squad's Ranger Red were Fire-type zombies. These walking furnaces were even better than human Fire-type ability users. Unfortunately, they had powered down completely and weren't functional anymore because of the snow.

He wondered if digging them up and putting them in a heated room might revive them.

Although the thought crossed his mind, Kim Haru didn't seriously consider unearthing the zombies. The likelihood of success was too low. After all, the cattle shed had heating before, and those zombies had still wandered off into the snow to freeze themselves into uselessness. Even if he dug them out, they might end up shutting down again the moment he looked away.

Just thinking about it seemed like too much trouble, so Kim Haru decided to abandon the idea.

He remembered Gang Yuwon from the Delta Squad was a Fire-type ability user. Perhaps he could invite him to stay at the farm for a few days.

Speaking of his employees, aside from Go Okrim, who lived in the employee dormitory, the others had never stayed there. Especially Hwa Jian, Han Gwonhee, and Moon Baein.