Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 645 - 609: Animals in the Midst of a Cold Apocalypse

"Good morning, Knight Shay!" A villager, dressed in thick winter clothes and with a small piece of leather wrapped around his face, greeted Shay.

"Good morning, Frank! How was it last night? The snow was really heavy!" Shay also greeted the villager and inquired about the situation last night.

"The situation was a bit bad, the snow collapsed two houses; since the snow hasn't stopped, we couldn't clear it, your brother was exhausted last night!" Frank reported the situation to Shay.

With the advent of the apocalyptic winter, settlements like the one Shay belonged to, that still had houses above ground, had to face a serious problem: the heavy snowfall would cause the snow to crush the wooden houses.

Therefore, Shay and his brother discussed and decided to arrange for people to patrol at night so that any unexpected situations could be dealt with in time.

After all, after the apocalyptic winter's arrival, the issues they faced were not just limited to snow.

Shay patted Frank on the shoulder, brushed off the snow, and said, "Alright, I'll go find my brother. You go back and rest! I've asked the cafeteria to prepare hot soup for you, Martha cooked it this morning, and I saw her add venison."

"That's great! Nothing warms my stomach better than Martha's venison stew!" For Frank, who had been on guard all night, a steaming bowl of venison soup, rich in meat aroma and fats, was irresistible.

Saying farewell to Frank, Shay climbed up the settlement's outer wall and soon found his brother in the guard post on the wall.

It was clear that even with the heating field's protection, the guard post's outer wall blocking wind and snow, and even a fire lit inside the post, Shay's brother was still freezing.

"Brother, I brought you breakfast, eat up and rest quickly!" Shay said, pulling a lunch box from inside his clothing.

Due to being held close all along, the lunch box was still warm.

Shay's brother took the lunch box eagerly, opening it with anticipation, releasing a rich meat aroma. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Venison soup? That's awesome!" Though once a Langton official, Shay's brother had experienced a lot; but in the Northern Territory the living conditions were clearly not comparable to Langton's, and a pot of venison soup was enough to make him delightfully surprised.

As Shay watched his brother eat happily, he left him undisturbed, simply picked up a fur-wrapped telescope, and went to the window to look through the thick double-glazed glass at the woodland outside the settlement.

With the environment becoming increasingly harsh, various animals struggled to survive in these extreme conditions.

The settlement, having a heating field formed by the Energy Tower and a permanent thermal barrier, had temperatures still low but at least allowed animal survival.

Thus, some lucky animals came to the outskirts of the settlement, benefiting from its heating field.

Shay and the settlement's residents welcomed this occurrence, as animals attracted by the heating field provided a source of meat, greatly improving and diversifying the residents' diets.

This morning's venison soup was made from a frozen buck found yesterday.

In such weather, any deceased animal would freeze hard within hours, nullifying concerns about spoilage, and even dead deer could be eaten with confidence.

The villagers were quite pleased with the occasional delivery of fresh meat, as animals not only provided food but also valuable resources like fur, fats, and more.

This was a great supplement for the settlement facing the apocalyptic winter.

To protect wildlife, Shay limited the villagers' hunting of animals outside the settlement, allowing only the collection of frozen animal carcasses instead of direct hunting.

Even to prevent animals from starving, Shay, after discussing with the villagers, started feeding them and cleared an area outside the settlement as a habitat for these animals.

Over time, these animals became accustomed to the settlement's villagers, and now villagers feeding them wouldn't startle them; instead, some animals approached showing friendliness and attachment.

Under these circumstances, Shay considered whether to directly develop animal husbandry, domesticating these animals.

However, the villagers felt the current situation sufficed, and the settlement lacked adequate space to support domestication.

Though the heating field allowed some animals refuge, it was merely a narrow strip extending from the settlement's outer wall, essentially open and unprotected.

Animals took shelter here due to the warmer environment but knew that the area couldn't accommodate many of them.

Every time the animal population reached a certain size, they would instinctively crowd out old or weak or new animals, maintaining the local group's population within a certain scale.

Those animals forced out couldn't go far, ending up either frozen to death or hunted by the villagers.

Though Shay limited direct hunting of animals living within the heating field, those expelled were outside the protected range; if caught, they could be hunted freely.

It was thanks to this arrangement that Shay's settlement not only had meat during the apocalyptic winter but could also sell fur, frozen meat, and fats to traders.

These items had become very precious materials in current times, especially animal fats, which were extremely valuable to city dwellers.

In cold environments, maintaining body temperature and energy consumption relied not only on sugars but also fats.

"Was there any animal frozen last night during the heavy snow?" Shay asked his brother, as he had not seen any signs of animals through the telescope; perhaps the snow was too heavy for them to venture out.

Shay's brother shook his head while drinking venison soup, replying, "Didn't see any. The snow was too heavy last night. Even if an animal froze to death, it would quickly be buried; the weather is too terrible."

"Who wouldn't agree? Wish we had a robot! Large robots would clear snow much faster than manual labor!" Shay sighed, though his thoughts oddly shifted to robots.

Large robots were key carriers for trading caravans between settlements, as well as crucial production tools in larger towns. Shay's settlement was not large enough to have such robots, but some settlements did, making Shay envy for a long time.

"If you want it so much, during the audience with Count Brandelis, you could try asking her for one?" Shay's brother joked.

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