The Agro-Industrial Complex (1)
Chapter 58: Agricultural-Industrial Complex (1)
Jeron and Kang Yoo-jeong's bodies were gently pushed out through the portal.
The moment they crossed dimensions, extreme changes occurred both inside and outside Jeron's body.
As the temperature dropped by over 40 degrees, his body began to shiver. Internally, massive amounts of mana surged and resonated with his mana core.
A surging blue energy.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a wave of mana.
Jeron closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath.
The mana mixed in the air and the mana within his body were communicating and churning.
"Ugh, it's cold!"
At Kang Yoo-jeong's voice, Jeron opened his eyes.
The interior was exactly as it had been before they crossed over to the Karen continent.
When he turned on the light bulb, the civilized conveniences that couldn't be seen on the Karen continent were revealed—a neatly arranged bed, a coffee pot, a 220-volt outlet, an electric blanket, and even an electric heater.
"Sir, would you like a cup of coffee? It's so cold my hands and feet are shaking. I don't know how you managed here."
"Instant coffee sounds good."
There was no reason to refuse coffee.
Kang Yoo-jeong poured bottled water into the pot, and after a moment, steam began to billow out.
True to its name as a coffee pot, the water boiled in an instant.
She put the instant coffee mix into a paper cup and poured in about half the water.
As she stirred the paper cup with the mix packet, the rich aroma of coffee filled the room.
When she handed him the hot coffee, Jeron took a sip of the steaming beverage.
A sigh of admiration escaped him at the sweet and nutty flavor spreading across his palate.
"This is the taste I come to Earth for."
"You could take some to the Karen continent, you know?"
"There are only a few mixes left, so I can't do that."
Only ten mixes remained for the future.
He had saved them as a reward for coming to Earth.
Jeron slowly examined the electrical equipment inside.
When he first spoke with her, the atmosphere wasn't right to discuss electrical equipment, so he had let it slide.
But now?
Since they had become fairly close, she would probably entertain even trivial conversations.
"Yoo-jeong, where exactly does the electricity come from?"
"Surprised, aren't you? Electricity comes in even though there's no generator. Actually, this electricity can only be used during the day. It's connected to solar power facilities."
"I thought so. That makes sense."
Solar power facilities were used for household consumption during production, with surplus electricity sent to the power grid.
Drawing electricity from solar power wasn't that difficult, and with enough wiring, running electrical work here wasn't impossible either.
Jeron's eyes sparkled as he looked at the electricity—the very source of Earth's civilization.
"That's truly a tempting thing to have."
"The equipment isn't complicated. One solar panel weighs about 20 kilograms. It would be possible to disassemble them and bring them to the Karen continent as is. And you don't even have to move entire solar power facilities—these days, there are plenty of portable solar generators too."
"I had given up on electricity entirely, but hearing what you say, it seems possible after all."
It felt like a revelation.
Solar panels have a lifespan of several decades.
Of course, the inverter would need to be replaced a few times during that period, but if he looked carefully, there would be plenty of functioning inverters out there. Modern Earth's technology was more advanced than people realized.
Installing solar facilities in the territory would be difficult in itself, and he would need someone who knew how to handle electricity, but simply seeing the possibility was already something.
Once solar facilities were installed, he could bring in and use electronic devices afterward. What an innovative prospect.
Of course, it was still a very vague idea for now.
Kang Yoo-jeong downed her lukewarm coffee in one gulp and continued.
"Someday, if we find solar facilities in a safe place, we should dismantle them and take them. From now on, we should sweep up all the electrical appliances that could help the territory."
"If only that could happen."
Jeron shook his head.
Now wasn't the time to be thinking about such things.
Today's goal was clear.
Enter the agricultural-industrial complex and find the Kang family.
If the Kang family had moved elsewhere, he had to find even traces of them.
Jeron also emptied the remaining coffee completely.
The sweet taste spread throughout his body, seemingly raising his blood sugar.
Kang Yoo-jeong was silently checking her equipment.
"I'm glad you're not in a hurry."
"I am in a hurry."
"Hm?"
"I'm so anxious I feel like I'm going crazy. On the Karen continent, I was so impatient I couldn't sleep. But being impatient would only ruin things that could work out, so I just cooled my head."
"I see."
Kang Yoo-jeong's eyes were wavering.
She was going to find a blood relative who might be the only one left in this world—of course she would be anxious. If she weren't, that would be stranger.
On Earth, Jeron's family had all died, but if, like Kang Yoo-jeong's case, a son or daughter had survived and was wandering around, he wouldn't have been able to focus on anything.
Kang Yoo-jeong's resolve was certainly strong.
"If you've adapted to the cold, let's get moving."
"Yes! I know the route, so just follow me."
Jeron decided to move before his body stiffened further.
Clomp, clomp.
They walked through the narrow sewer.
It felt even colder than last time.
The seasons were completely opposite to the Karen continent.
The kingdom's summer was deepening to the point where it was hard to sleep at night, but Earth's winter had reached its peak, with temperatures dropping to minus 12 degrees.
As humanity perished, Earth was visibly recovering.
It was quite ironic.
From Earth's perspective, it almost seemed like humanity's extinction had been a good thing.
More and more corpses began to appear in the frozen waterways, but by now, they barely stirred any emotion.
Jeron and Kang Yoo-jeong climbed up to a manhole through stairs at a bend in the waterway.
This was the underground parking lot of some building.
Underground parking lots on Earth all showed similar patterns wherever you went.
There were quite a few intact cars, but the exits to the ground were in complete disarray.
The building's entrance was in a serious state. A dump truck had apparently veered off the lane and crashed into the parking lot entrance, completely blocking it.
In front of it, vehicles were overturned or had collided, with dust piled up over the long years.
Building stairs.
The stairs were also blocked with corpses, forcing them to step over them.
Frozen heads and limbs were scattered all around.
Trails of blood stretched endlessly.
An ordinary person would have collapsed on the spot at such horrifying sights, but Jeron and Kang Yoo-jeong passed through calmly.
The entire first floor of the building was a novelty store.
"Jackpot, isn't it?"
"Right? I think so too."
When Kang Yoo-jeong had lived on Earth, she would have passed by novelty stores without a second thought.
There were some useful items for survival, but in a post-apocalyptic world, novelty store goods couldn't attract much attention.
But Kang Yoo-jeong had experienced running a trading company on the Karen continent.
Knowing how valuable Earth's novelty store items could be traded for there, this place looked like a treasure trove to her.
Inside the novelty store, display racks were toppled and corpse fragments of the dead were strewn about, but relatively speaking, it was well-preserved.
The storefront wasn't shattered, likely because it used reinforced glass.
There was no better treasure trove than this.
"If we go to the second floor, you'll be even more amazed."
"What kind of place is it?"
"A Daiso."
"......!"
Jeron had been selling Daiso products at exorbitant prices all this time.
Most of the items had been brought from ransacked houses.
Wasn't it reality that a simple glass cup was sold as a dwarven craft?
Especially glass products—all of them could be marketed as luxury items.
And that wasn't all.
As a budget specialty brand, countless craft items were also scattered about.
The entire second floor was a Daiso.
A shiver ran through his body.
It wasn't that he didn't know where Daiso or large novelty stores were located.
Large stores were usually located in city centers, but those areas were occupied by variants, so he had wanted to scavenge as safely as possible.
Scenes of customers who had been shopping at Daiso being torn apart by variants were unfolded, but there weren't many corpses.
It seemed the customers had tried to move underground.
Many people had died near the entrance, but the interior of the store was fairly well-preserved.
Essential survival products had already been picked clean, but there were far more products that hadn't been.
"This building itself is a treasure trove?"
"I think there's enough here to run a trading company for about a year."
"I'm worried the prices might drop."
"Don't worry. If we control the supply well, we can implement a premium strategy."
It seemed Kang Yoo-jeong was already planning in her head how to operate the trading company.
From the third floor up were offices, so there didn't seem to be much to scavenge.
They passed straight through from the third to the ninth floor.
When they came out onto the rooftop, a sharp, cutting wind hit them.
Jeron looked down at the desolate small city.
Now, he was so accustomed to it that he felt no emotion.
Jeron and Kang Yoo-jeong lowered their postures and stuck to the railing, only poking their heads out.
"There doesn't seem to be anything nearby."
"Let's expand our search further out."
They surveyed the surroundings with binoculars.
"Kkeeeeek!"
"Kweeeek!"
"......!"
An intense wave of energy felt from afar.
Two variants were frantically tearing through buildings in the small city center.
They smashed through the windows of every studio apartment, destroying all the furniture inside.
Seeing the sight, Jeron clicked his tongue.
"Could they still be doing that because of last time?"
"Probably? Those bastards never forget once they've been wronged."
"What a tenacious grudge."
It was truly vicious enough to make one click their tongue.
If they were rampaging like that, there seemed no need to provoke them.
The creatures had their own territories, and generally, they wouldn't cross into another variant's area.
According to Kang Yoo-jeong, these days they often formed pairs of two or three to cooperate.
Even with team activities, if they invaded another's territory, a fight would inevitably break out, so they were careful around each other.
Jeron and Kang Yoo-jeong surveyed the opposite side.
Through the binoculars, familiar street scenes stretched out, and finally, the agricultural-industrial complex came into view.
The agricultural-industrial complex was built on a fairly large site, and many stores could be seen abandoned in a dilapidated state.
Jeron surveyed the surroundings before the agricultural-industrial complex itself.
He was looking for areas suitable for reconnaissance.
"Hm?"
Then Jeron spotted a farm attached to the agricultural-industrial complex.
[Oprin Mill Farm]