After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World-Chapter 1785: Still Preparing! (Part 1)

Extra Insulation—the ones they could apply under the roofs or in walls—could mean everything.

This was something every older household had because they used them during the Extreme Heat a year prior. For the newcomers, this was still available for purchase in the Specialty Shop.

In the past few months, because they knew the extreme weather was happening soon, they also increased their production of anything that could be of help, regardless of the type of extreme weather they encountered.

Guides were published and available for the reference of the people, especially the house owners. This included a checklist of things they had to watch out for and check. The residents get first priority for the copies, asking them to keep quiet about it for a day or two. After that, it didn’t matter where it was leaked to.

Another issue was that they must seal all air leaks. If the cold wind entered, the crawling freeze thing could also enter. For people around level 10 and below, this could become a death sentence.

Even just using things like mud, cloth, or wax would be sufficient, as long as things were airtight. The problem here was the oxygen supply, which was definitely a problem since they didn’t know how long this would last. This would be especially obvious for lower-level people whose bodies would not be able to handle the lack of fresh oxygen for long.

Being in such sealed spaces, carbon dioxide would cause headache and sleepiness as early as 6 hours back in their old physiques. They’d get hypoxia in less than 24 hours. As they leveled up, that would be longer, but how long? Probably not even a few days.

To make sure there was no lack of oxygen, prismatic moss would be sold in the department stores and the specialty stores (Althea did note that she should open a plant shop in the future).

Mosses were great oxygen providers. Most mosses required sunlight to do this, but prismatic moss, which primarily flourished underground, did not.

Some varieties of moss—and many indoor plants—also consumed oxygen at night, but the prismatic moss was not like this. It would not only provide illumination but also oxygen; its food was carbon dioxide, as well as the customized fertilizer made of bones. For the purpose of keeping oxygen levels within houses that were completely shut, Prismatic was the best option.

Indoor plants were also fine, but they had a minimum required lighting requirement to make sure they wouldn’t consume people’s oxygen instead.

They also mentioned that smaller houses were also warmer. A compact room was easier to heat, so families were advised to decide which rooms they would all stay in for the majority of the day, possibly rotating in other rooms if they wanted.

People would, before the event, be advised to hold on to at least a few smooth rocks each, as they hold on to heat effectively.

For example, they could heat stones in a fire, wrap them in cloth, and use them as warmers. If it cooled down, then simply heat them again. It was quite a cost-effective heating strategy.

Another concern was, of course, the heat source. Other than the minor floor heating provisions, every house also had burners. Not to mention, the Specialty Store had long been selling portable ones for camping and the like.

They had also developed some enclosed ones before for heating, and they just had to increase production of them. Charcoal heating was strictly prohibited unless the household was ventilated properly, despite the cold. They did not want warm but dead bodies due to carbon poisoning.

They also had hand warmers. Other than the Research center, there was also a private company (with Golden Goose Baron as an investor) that made them.

One—made by the Research Center—used air-activated hand warmers that had iron/black metal powder and salt inside. One just had to open the packet, air would enter, oxidation would start, and could release heat up to 8 to 12 hours.

The other—made by the new company Baron sponsored— was using reusable crystallization warmers, which used sodium acetate (made from soda ash from their waste hardwood and vinegar) that crystallized when triggered.

In turn, there would be latent heat of fusion, which was the source of heat. They were much more expensive to make and even more expensive to sell, but at least they were reusable and more sustainable.

The Specialty Store could sell these too, but their goal was to make as many as possible since they had a territory to serve. Not to mention, they already had recycling methodologies in place, so nothing would go to waste.

Regardless, Baron really got a jackpot with this one. One had to know that Baron’s business instincts were really top-notch. He had no idea the Extreme Weather would happen within a few months since they started production, and that it’d be the Extreme Cold!

Baron had started a funding company because of how rich he had become. It was him being a businessman, an Alterran Patriot, and also hoping for good karma (cough, love life) to come to him.

He started an investment company where small business owners and idea makers could come and make proposals for him. There was the Research Center as an option, of course, and it was definitely much more prestigious, but some just preferred to work outside of institutions on principle. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Fortunately, they already knew months ago that another extreme weather change was imminent. It was either Extreme Heat or Extreme Cold. The other extremes were too difficult to prepare for, and usually, general disaster SOPs would apply, so they didn’t think too much about those.

Anyway, Alterrans had been preparing bit by bit for either case, so it wasn’t like they had no stocks of the tool.

In terms of preparation, only next to long-standing cities, they were really superior!

It was just that they would always have a certain level of anxiety. This wasn’t bad because it’d always keep them on their toes.

Well, whatever happened, they’d just do their best.