18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 135

As Stella looked unmoved, the man gritted his teeth, "10 pounds of rice or flour, and you can take it away."

He was reluctant to sell it, but his family was struggling to survive. If he waited any longer, lives could be lost.

Seeing Stella not responding, the man became anxious, "8 pounds, I can't go lower. 5 million in cash, no scam, I've cared for them more than my own children."

"All I have are potatoes."

The man paused, then said, "Potatoes work too, but it'll be 20 pounds."

His family was unlucky. They didn't win the lottery for cold-resistant beans the first time, and when they finally did in the second round, the harvest was still more than a month away.

Stella nodded, taking out potatoes from her large backpack.

The man handed her the snow globe, reminding her of the preservation method, showing his deep love for the artwork.

The snow globe seemed to be stored in the bag, but in fact, it was thrown into Arcadia.

As she was leaving, the man spoke again, "I have more collections at home. Do you want them?"

Stella didn't rush to answer, but instead used her consciousness to probe Arcadia. Indeed, it swallowed the snow globe.

The second floor now had an extra bathroom. 20 pounds of potatoes was indeed a bargain.

Stella was overjoyed, but remained calm, "Alright, but they must be genuine."

Fearing for his safety, the man didn't bring everything at once, but his collection consisted of over 20 pieces of vintage jewels and artworks from different dynasties, valued at over 20 million.

These were his lifelong collections, and many had coveted them, offering several times the price, but he was reluctant to part with them.

Yet now, he couldn't even exchange them for a pound of rice.

In prosperous times, antiques were valuable. In times of chaos, gold was valuable. In the apocalypse, food was valuable.

He tried to sell his collections to middlemen. At first, he could exchange them for supplies, but soon, even the middlemen stopped accepting them.

When he finally found someone willing to exchange food for them, he had to make the painful decision to part with them, his eyes revealing a hint of unease, "If you want, I can give you a discount."

Stella pondered, "How do we exchange?"

The man thought for a while, "100 pounds of rice or flour, plus 100 pounds of potatoes?"

She and Jasper had quite a stockpile of rice and flour. But who knew how long they could survive? If they accidentally lived to be a hundred, there was a good chance they would run out.

"I can only give potatoes." Stella was unwilling to exchange non-renewable resources.

Even though she could exchange other items for rice and flour, after enduring extreme cold and heat, how well could food be preserved?

The man relented, "300 pounds, in batches."

He feared attracting too much attention if he did it all at once. He was also afraid of possible ill intentions from them.

Stella was more than happy to agree, "Deal."

On their way home, Jasper asked, "Does the snow globe make your Arcadia bigger?"

They had been holding hands the whole time, and Stella didn't hide it, "Gold, silver, jade, or other old items with spiritual energy can do that. After Arcadia swallowed the snow globe, it gained an extra bathroom."

"Shall we ask Monkey if they can exchange some artworks or gold and jade artifacts?"

Stella was full of energy, "No rush, I already have a plan to exchange items."

She wouldn't trade non-renewable resources unless absolutely necessary.

The next day, they still left Cooper and Rosie at Katie's house.

Stella and Jasper went to the agreed location, and exchanged with the man on time.

The man came with his wife, trading seven pieces of artworks for 100 pounds of potatoes.

The last exchange was paintings, all collections from famous artists throughout the history. The man's heart ached as he held onto the painting of a royal lady, as if he was losing his soul.