18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 33

Stella managed to crack into the maintenance supply warehouse, and finally found diesel in one room.

She found a good 30 barrels. There was 160 liters per barrel, equating to around 4 tons.

Given that there was an international fair in town, along with a once-in-a-century storm on the horizon, Stella knew that the preparation for a potential power cut couldn't just rely on this small amount of diesel. So, she cracked into every possible place, and indeed discovered two more rooms stocked with diesel, adding up to a total of 12 tons.

Her inflatable boat and RV could run on diesel, which would last her quite some time. She was excited, and hoarded it all into Arcadia.

Arcadia had an array of solar battery boxes, but who would choose when they could take it all?

Taking her tools, she completely disassembled the generator, bundled up the tools and parts from the maintenance department and took them all.

The seventh floor and below was filled with various styles of modern furniture, which Stella continued to gather as she moved along. She had a preference for modern furniture, as the designers took into account the needs of those living in small spaces, with many items having foldable feature.

With an extra 1200 cubic feet of space, Stella collected anything she could get her hands on, the epitome of indulgence.

Beds, latex mattresses, sofas, wardrobes, TV cabinets, bedside cabinets, tables, chairs, and rocking chairs...

Exhausted, she sat down for a rest, periodically checking in with Arcadia.

She noticed that only a portion of the wooden furniture she'd collected later had disappeared. It seemed that the vendors were craftier than she'd thought. They sold bad quality wood under the guise of valuable wood. Arcadia turned out to be a fantastic machine for detecting forgeries.

Moving up the spiral staircase, she found an extra living room, but no other changes were apparent.

She continued her collection spree until the fifth floor, only picking durable items. In this post-apocalyptic world, there was no room for frills, as they would only raise suspicion when traded later.

She had spent too much time at the exhibition center. She checked her phone and found it was already three in the afternoon. As she was driving her inflatable boat back, she noticed two buildings under construction on her way back.

Remembering the sight of houses collapsing during the earthquake, leaving ruins everywhere, she hesitated for a moment before steering her boat towards them.

The buildings were already completed and were in the decorating phase, with many materials already moved up to the floors.

Stella uncovered the waterproof cloth, revealing sand, cement, lime powder, glass doors and windows, ceramic tiles, waterproof coating, and more. The decorating progress varied from floor to floor, and so did the materials piled up.

Sand was easy to come by, so there was no need to waste Arcadia's space on it. The rest would be difficult to reproduce; even if the government were to rebuild it, not everything could be produced.

As Stella moved upwards, she collected into Arcadia, piling everything up in her black soil garden. She noticed that ever since the second floor of Arcadia had been completed, the height of the garden had changed and was now level with the second floor. This change meant the usable area of the garden had doubled from 900 cubic meters to 1800 cubic meters.

Thankfully, building materials didn't take up much space, so she gathered everything she found.

The garden didn't have any preservation capabilities, so Stella took the waterproof and light-blocking cloth to cover the cement, lime powder, and waterproof coating.

After gathering everything, she suddenly remembered the safes she'd left in Arcadia. So, she took them all out and started cracking them open.

The alarm was piercing, so she stuffed her ears with earplugs and gradually pried open the safes. The four safes from the jewelry store were all empty. It seemed Arcadia had swallowed everything.

Next, she cracked open the private collection safe of that big boss, and a gun actually fell out.

Was this something she could collect? It seemed all big bosses liked to challenge the criminal law.

Apart from the handgun, there were also two boxes of bullets, a total of 200 rounds. Even in a post-apocalyptic world, it was near impossible for ordinary people to possess such items.

This was a pleasant surprise. Stella had never handled a real gun, but her school had a shooting club where they practiced with rubber bullets, so she had some accuracy.

With this item, she could sleep more peacefully, and once again thanked him for his contribution.