The nights in the Northern Territory are cold. Even though Perfikot’s tent has two layers, the cold wind still transmits the chill into the tent along the ground.
However, as a noble, Perfikot’s tent is equipped with a stove, and the burning fire not only provides her with a continuous supply of hot water but also dispels the cold inside the tent.
As for the guards, they have it worse. They can only light a campfire outside the tent, which offers some warmth, but the effect is less than satisfactory.
After all, they are just ordinary soldiers, right? The tents of the Knights and exploration team members nearby are much better than theirs, but those are supplies brought by those individuals themselves and are not the same as the military tents equipped by the guards.
But there’s nothing much to complain about; having a campfire and a tent is already quite good for these ordinary soldiers.
It’s important to know that in normal military marches, to avoid being discovered by the enemy, campfires are generally not allowed to be lit.
Additionally, during field marches, sometimes suitable campsites cannot be found, or when the officers worry that camping might lead to ambushes, soldiers can only sleep with their clothes on, lying on the ground.
Perfikot was not concerned or paying attention to these details. She was currently using a lantern to review data and materials provided by the Empire Exploration Company.
Although she had looked through these materials more than once, it was still necessary to go over them again at this moment.
Previously, she had only been looking at the data against a map, so she wasn’t clear about the specific situation.
Now that she had finally arrived on-site, comparing the map, data, and the actual site gave her a deeper understanding of the area’s environment and resource distribution.
"This coal mine is quite ideally located; the semi-open burial state makes it convenient for extraction. As for the reserves, a more detailed investigation may be needed..." Perfikot was sketching on the map with a pencil.
And as she made her notes and modifications, a plan or project was gradually taking shape.
Building a forward base here is essential, but the exact location and the manner of its construction involve many intricacies.
Perfikot couldn’t begin construction and planning according to the requirements of a shelter right away. At most, she could hide these plans within the existing design and proceed with initial construction.
Only when the news of the impending apocalypse was officially announced by the Empire could she transform this forward base into a shelter on a grand scale.
Although this might make Perfikot seem cautious in her actions, even in a place like the Northern Territory, lacking boldness, in her eyes, it was necessary.
Because she needed this to trick some scientists into coming over.
Even though Perfikot could inform those scientists about the impending apocalypse, she still needed to consider some impacts before the government officially announced it.
After all, no one can guarantee that among those scientists, there wouldn’t be someone with an overwhelming sense of social responsibility who would reveal the matter.
Such an action might cause social unrest, affecting the Empire’s response to this apocalypse, leading to more deaths.
Perfikot herself would also be implicated, and her plan might not be smoothly completed in the end.
Therefore, from the beginning, Perfikot had discussed with Eldest Princess Annie, deciding to initially organize a group of scholars from related fields under the guise of Arctic research, using their knowledge for the construction of the shelter.
This was, in fact, both a protection and utilization of these scholars, as scholars involved in related fields would be of enormous importance to the Empire after the apocalyptic winter arrived.
Rather than requisitioning these people after the catastrophe started, it would be better to send them over in advance under the guise of Arctic research.
In order to avoid some unnecessary accidents, the forward base still needed some disguise initially.
As for how to disguise it, that would depend on Perfikot’s skill.
Fortunately, for a royal chartered Engineer, this was not too difficult. As she scribbled on the map, a rough idea had already formed in her mind.
The first construction obviously had to be the coal and iron mines. With these, the forward base would have its skeleton and blood.
Using the steel and coal, Perfikot could then construct the forward base.
Although the initial building materials still needed to be transported from outside, as the forward base developed, many things could be produced here directly, laying a solid foundation for the construction of the shelter thereafter.
Regarding the construction of the forward base, besides basic housing, it also needed a greenhouse capable of operating in a cold environment to provide food for the entire shelter in the future.
This is very difficult to achieve, but it is nonetheless necessary.
As such, Perfikot planned to solve the greenhouse issue primarily this winter.
The problem was, she was utterly ignorant about agricultural planting. To truly build a greenhouse, she would need the assistance of agricultural and biological scientists.
Fortunately, these could be solved easily; bringing in a few experts and scholars from relevant fields from the Empire’s mainland wouldn’t be difficult.
The real challenge would be how to survive in the freezing weather of minus 40 degrees Celsius, encountering problems that Perfikot could not imagine or foresee.
All she could do now was to take advantage of the time before temperatures plummeted, relying on the Empire’s still-peak national power, to explore and develop a practical survival experience during this winter.
Accomplishing this would provide a glimmer of hope for the future.
Otherwise, if clueless about survival, when the extreme cold weather brought by the apocalyptic winter truly arrived, everyone would perish. Updates are released by novęlfire.net
As for after surviving this winter, she planned to use the extracted steel and coal to build a factory for producing various machinery used in the cold icy environment.
Of course, there weren’t even blueprints for these machines yet.
However, Perfikot was not worried about this. Once the forward base was constructed and she made it through the first winter, she could return to Langton and entice those scholars from related fields to come over.
By then, these people would naturally help her complete these designs without requiring her to do everything herself.
Not only scholars, but it might also be necessary to hire a batch of workers for mining.
Though playing post-apocalyptic games in her previous life often raised her blood pressure due to various unreasonable citizens, that didn’t mean Perfikot truly didn’t need labor.
Even if she managed to create automated working robots, she would still require a large number of technical personnel to maintain and repair these robots, ensuring their diligent and smooth operation.