At night, Perfikot had already gone to bed.

Although she still stayed in the ordinary residential area of the underground city, without lighting a stove for warmth, overall, she didn't feel very cold at night.

On one hand, she covered herself with a thick enough quilt, which was a common way for the ordinary people to keep warm at night, as covering with two layers generally provided effective insulation against the cold.

Even though what was stuffed inside these quilts was not cotton but linen.

Despite the fact that during this period, with the development of the industrial revolution, the cotton textile industry had already occupied a substantially important leading position in the textile sector, most of the time cotton would still be spun into yarn and then woven into cotton cloth.

Cotton cloth would be processed into various textiles and also made into clothes to sell, but lining quilts with cotton wool to keep warm was not the prevalent practice in the Victor Empire.

In fact, making a cotton quilt wasn't a simple matter of just stuffing cotton into the quilt.

And in this world's old world, just like in the Europe of Perfikot's original world before she crossed over, was not suitable for cotton growth, which also resulted in the countries of this world's old world not having the important skill of processing cotton.

They could only spin cotton into yarn like wool and then make it into cotton cloth, without being able to process cotton into cotton wool for warmth.

During this period, European countries continued to use their traditional woolen materials, and this world was naturally similar, with heavy woolen garments being mostly used for warmth in winter, but this was limited to the nobility.

Ordinary people still mostly used linen as the primary material for clothing, and having a woolen blanket or linen quilt for warmth in winter was already considered quite good.

In the 18th century of the original world, most of the cotton cloth produced by the British was for export, with its main export direction being South America.

There is actually an interesting little story here, that in the 17th century, cotton textiles had just begun to become popular in Europe, but at that time, Europe didn't produce cotton, so cotton could almost be said to be highly dependent on imports.

At that time, the main places in Europe could import cotton from were India and the New Continent of America, with Indian cotton immediately gaining popularity upon entering Europe.

This was a cheap textile equivalent to linen in quality but at only one-third the price of linen, naturally quickly becoming welcomed by ordinary people.

But at that time, the British government, out of considerations for protecting the local textile industry and other reasons, ultimately issued decrees banning the use of cotton cloth by the populace.

Because the decree at that time had a clause stating "plain fabrics, scarves, cotton-linen coarse cloth, and single-color dark blue cotton fabrics were not applicable under this decree," which is why later jeans made of woven cotton canvas would be deep blue, also considered a historical little joke.

Besides, during this period, cotton clothing existed more as summer wear, which is also why pure cotton clothing was considered revealing, as it could become semi-transparent and clingy once wet!

So during this era, the technique of using cotton for warmth had not been realized.

If Perfikot had realized this issue a few years before the disaster, she might have taught the world's textile factories how to make cotton wool, thereby developing items like cotton-padded jackets and quilts.

But now, at this stage, with less than a year before the world's end, advancing such technologies didn't hold much meaning.

A year's time wouldn't be enough for those textile factories to digest the technology, much less the Empire in this last year moving as much industrial production capacity as possible to the Northern Territory, they probably wouldn't have much time to produce cotton textiles.

Moreover, the more crucial point is, with the arrival of the world's end, the main cotton-producing areas would also fall into a cold winter, unable to grow crops, even if they were grown, they couldn't be transported over the sea as in the past.

So, the future main raw materials for the textile industry will transition from natural fibers to synthetic fibers, and Perfikot had already ensured this through Weir's research results, with clothing and other textiles made from synthetic fibers already on the shelves in the Northern Territory, just not yet fully popularized and widespread.

If it turned to textiles made with synthetic fibers, Perfikot felt she wouldn't need to place a warm bottle in bed to ensure she wasn't freezing awake at night.

This was also another major reason Perfikot didn't feel cold; she placed a copper warm bottle in her bed.

This warm bottle was essentially just a container, using copper simply to avoid dirtying the quilt, though ordinary people using cast iron wasn't out of the question, it was just that iron didn't conduct heat as well as copper did.

It would be filled with hot water, relying on the heat released by the hot water to ensure warmth against the cold at night.

Placing such a warm bottle in bed while sleeping at night could indeed greatly assist in keeping warm and preventing being awakened by the cold.

Perfikot also spontaneously recalled this method and followed her childhood memories to fashion a copper warm bottle to put in her quilt to sleep more comfortably.

As for hot water? Although the residents of Chernobyl would not light a stove at night to save money while sleeping, it didn't mean they couldn't afford to heat water.

This also made Perfikot feel that maybe she could have some warm bottles manufactured for cheap sale, allowing these residents to live more comfortably.

After all, if one wasn't willing to burn coal in a stove for warmth, heating a kettle of water should always be viable, right?

Perfikot still remembered that in her childhood, that was how her home kept warm during winter, and in the morning, the water in the warm bottle could even still have some warmth, just enough to be used for washing face and brushing teeth.

But later, as conditions improved, such things were no longer used, with her household beginning to use electric blankets, down quilts, and later even developing into electric heaters, warm air conditioners, and underfloor heating, making it hard to feel cold during winter.

The thoughts in her mind kept Perfikot from falling into a deep sleep, especially with the room remaining relatively chilly, although warm in bed, exposing her head outside still felt cold, which somewhat resulted in a headache, tossing and turning unable to sleep.

Fortunately, the underground city was relatively quiet, allowing Perfikot, accustomed to a quiet sleeping environment, not to feel overly tormented.

Yet just as Perfikot finally began to feel some sleepiness, drifting into a drowsy state, a sudden scream pierced the night's silence: "Fire! Someone, help put out the fire!"

This scream shattered the night's calm, causing Perfikot to wake startled from her dreams.

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