The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 189

Chapter 189

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Nicole sat down and counted.

There were a full 2,000 rounds. One thousand for the pistols, another thousand for the submachine guns.

Zeph checked the weapons, then handed her one of the pistols. “This one has lower recoil. It’ll suit you better.”

“M-Maybe I shouldn’t take it. My storage space already swallowed so much of your stuff.”

“It’s fine. I wasn’t after that in the first place.”

Nicole blinked at him, stunned.

Not just the pistol. He split everything evenly. One submachine gun each, and a thousand rounds per person. His generosity made her feel a little guilty, but she didn’t let her guard down. Who knew if this was bait?

“You’re really giving this to me?”

“Yeah.”

“And you actually expect me to take it?”

Zeph looked at her, a faint, helpless smile in his eyes. “Do you really trust me that little?”

“It’s not you.” Nicole quickly shook her head. “I grew up in an orphanage. I got picked on a lot and saw more backstabbing than I could count. After a while, you just…stop trusting people.”

Zeph thought for a moment. “I’m not a good guy, but I’m not a bad one either. You don’t have to be on guard around me.”

So he could tell, huh?

Nicole let out an awkward laugh. Sometimes she didn’t even trust herself, let alone anyone else. Whether Zeph could be trusted, only time would tell.

Sitting there in silence felt awkward.

Watching the time tick down, Nicole kept glancing at the timer. “You think they’re gone yet?”

“This operation’s big. There are a lot of targets involved. It won’t wrap up that fast.” Zeph studied her for a second. “You really wanna go out?”

If she had a choice, she would stay in her storage space forever. 1

“No. The space only gives me two extra hours a day. If I use it all up, it kicks me out.”

Zeph looked surprised. No wonder she braved the deep freeze to gather firewood and kept pushing

herself to train in the cold.

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Chapter 9

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“Do Jeremy and the others know?”

Nicole shook her head. “You’re the only one.”

For some reason, that warmed him a little.

She had risked bringing him in here. That had to mean something.

Everyone had secrets. Unless she chose to share, he wouldn’t ask.

The silence dragged again. Nicole figured she couldn’t let him just sit around doing nothing. “If you’ve got time… Can you help weed my corn patch?”

Zeph paused. “I can try, but I’ve never done that before.”

“It’s fine. I’ll show you.”

She led him to the cornfield and showed him how to tell the seedlings apart from weeds. He picked it up quickly and worked without slacking.

Nicole felt pretty good about it, sneaking glances at him now and then. Then she looked up and saw him pulling out corn seedlings like weeds.

He really had no idea what he was doing.

Swallowing the pain, Nicole said carefully, “Maybe… You could chop wood instead?”

The trees she had cut before still had branches. She hadn’t had time to trim them, so they were taking up

space.

Zeph didn’t argue. “Sure.”

So she handled the weeding while he moved to the other side and started chopping.

He worked hard. When it came to work, he didn’t cut corners. In just a few hours, he had hauled in a huge pile of firewood. His palms were probably blistered, but he didn’t say a word and still stacked everything neat and orderly.

Nicole wasn’t stingy. “If you ever need firewood, just come to me. No need to go up the mountain.”

If she had him around, she could take it easy.

She figured she would tell Jeremy and the others that the strong didn’t need firewood to stay warm. They could ride out the deep freeze on sheer will alone. That should be enough to shut them up.

Zeph nodded. “Okay.”

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