Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World-Chapter 209: The Swamp’s Secret

The conditions for unlocking the grain silo were different from those for the chicken coop, pigpen, and cowshed. The latter required only the presence of the respective animals on Kim Haru’s small farm (zombie animals excluded) to automatically unlock the corresponding building options. However, the grain silo required Haru to gather sufficient materials.

A grain silo capable of properly storing food had very high requirements: it needed excellent ventilation to prevent the grain inside from getting damp and molding. At the same time, it had to guard against animals that might steal the grain, such as rats, sparrows, and ants. Naturally, such a silo couldn’t be built out of wood.

"Is there any suitable clay in the mountains?" Kim Haru called Go Okrim over to ask.

Unlocking the silo required a significant amount of clay and a small amount of iron.

The iron wasn’t an issue for Kim Haru. He still had plenty left over from dismantling the pile of scrap machines he brought back from Gokmul County. The clay, however, was another story—he wasn’t sure where to find it.

Go Okrim, being someone who couldn’t sit still, had gone up the mountains far more times than Kim Haru since arriving at the farm. Naturally, Haru’s first thought was to ask him for help.

After thinking for a moment, Go Okrim indeed came up with a location.

"About a kilometer past where you set the traps, there’s a big patch of swampy ground. It’s all water and mud mixed together, but it’s incredibly sticky. I threw a stone in once, and it got swallowed up almost immediately."

"What do you need clay for, hyung?"

"To make something," Kim Haru replied as he started walking in the direction Go Okrim had described.

If Go Okrim hadn’t mentioned the traps, Kim Haru might have completely forgotten that he’d set one there. Since he was passing by, Kim Haru decided to check on it.

The trap he set up before was now overgrown with mushrooms—clusters upon clusters of them, the same kind he’d picked last time and found to be particularly delicious.

"Pick all these mushrooms. Let’s cook a dish with them tonight," Kim Haru instructed Go Okrim as he inspected the trap. After a moment’s thought, he added, "And water the surrounding plants a bit too."

The moment he said that, Kim Haru noticed out of the corner of his eye that the nearby plants were subtly swaying. But as soon as he turned to look directly at them, they instantly froze in place, standing perfectly still as if they were ordinary, unremarkable plants.

What could Kim Haru even say to that?

He stared at the crude trap he’d made and decided not to dismantle it after all.

By now, Kim Haru had figured it out. The reason he’d managed to catch Sir Peckington and Little Snort in this trap wasn’t because he was particularly skilled at setting traps or had picked an excellent location—it was thanks to some kind mutated plants that helping out behind the scenes.

Looking back, he’d noticed the root on Sir Peckington’s leg at the time and had even wondered how a piglet as strong as Little Snort could have been caught in such a simple trap. But he hadn’t looked deeper into it. If he had, he might have...

Might have what? Realized sooner that the plants here were mutated?

Kim Haru thought about it. If he had discovered that back then, he likely would have chosen a different spot for his wooden cabin. Perhaps many things would have turned out differently after that.

But he didn’t regret it.

These mutated plants were actually quite cute.

This trap will stay here as a memento. Who knows, I might stumble upon something strange again in the future.

While Go Okrim stayed behind to pick mushrooms, Kim Haru followed the path Go Okrim had pointed out and moved forward.

With so many mutated plants around, there was no way Kim Haru would lose his way. It wasn’t long before he reached the swampy area Go Okrim had described.

"This is a swamp, isn’t it?" Kim Haru guessed, eyeing the large pool of mud before him.

The mud pool was bigger than the pond on his small farm. It looked as though a mischievous child had stirred water and mud together and dumped it here. On the surface, it seemed shallow enough that even a slightly taller shoe sole wouldn’t sink into it.

But was that really the case? Of course not.

Not only had Go Okrim mentioned that the stone he threw in was quickly swallowed up, but from what Kim Haru was seeing now, this place was far from harmless.

Scattered across the surface of the muddy swamp were pale, skeletal remains. There were large bones, small bones, single fragments, and even entire skeletal frames. Some were barely visible above the mud, while others looked like they had been freshly tossed in, slowly sinking into the mire.

As these skeletons sank deeper, bubbles began to rise and pop near the area.

The bubbling sound seemed almost gleeful, as though the swamp itself was sighing in satisfaction, saying, So full and content!

Kim Haru stopped in his tracks.

He opened the system’s construction interface and asked, "Can this mud be used?" Your next journey awaits at novelbuddy

The system didn’t respond directly, but the grain silo icon in the interface lit up faintly.

What did that mean? Haru tapped into it.

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A notification popped up.

[ The materials too far away. ]

It looked like he’d have to figure out a way to extract the mud from the swamp.

Kim Haru looked around but didn’t see any suitable tools nearby. His gaze landed on a patch of vibrant green plants.

These were clusters of shrub-like plants. Kim Haru still couldn’t identify their species, but the small red berries, no bigger than a fingernail, hanging from the shrubs seemed vaguely familiar.

"You’re a mutated plant too, aren’t you?" Kim Haru asked tentatively.

He thought, even though this spot was quite far from the farm, the fact that he’d made it here without being attacked probably meant these mutated plants were just as friendly as the ones near his farm.