The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 205

Chapter 205

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Chapter 205

Zeph caught Poppy’s hand and followed behind Nicole at an easy pace.

Nicole kept walking, scanning the stalls as she went. It took her a while to settle down after what just happened.

Along the way, she spotted a few alternative medicine practitioners trying to make a living. They offered treatments for sprains and injuries, along with massage and bone-setting. Without proper medicine, and with everyone bundled up in thick layers against the deep freeze, they had barely any customers. The few who stopped by were mostly just asking questions.

The market was huge, selling a bit of everything. The most common stalls were secondhand clothes.

Dozens, sometimes hundreds of pieces were piled together, ranging from cotton coats and pants to sweaters. They looked filthy and poorly kept, but plenty of people still stopped to ask about them, even if their expressions were complicated.

It wasn’t hard to guess where those clothes came from.

They had been stripped off the dead.

It was taboo, something people would normally avoid at all costs. Even so, survivors didn’t have the luxury of choice. Without them, they would freeze to death.

Staying alive came first.

After about an hour of walking around, no one bought anything except Nicole.

Still, Jeremy and Hughie were in good spirits. Prices for tea, cigarettes, and alcohol had gone up. Medicine, especially fever reducers, anti-inflammatories, and antibiotics, was even more valuable. A single row of pills could trade for several pounds of grain.

Everyone on the 18th floor had a supply of medicine. As long as they stayed healthy, those could be traded for a decent amount of food later on. They were holding onto their stock, just like people used to hold properties back in the day, waiting for prices to climb so they could get the most out of it.

With medicine in hand, they felt secure. The future didn’t seem quite as uncertain anymore.

Nicole pretended nothing had happened, and Zeph didn’t bring it up. The awkward “rubber” incident quietly faded into the background.

Three days later, the neighborhood committee released an announcement: survivors were to collect

compensation rations for what had been stolen.

The distribution was based on the criminals’ confessions. Communities that lost more would receive more, and those that lost less would get less. It couldn’t be perfectly fair, but they would try to keep it as balanced as possible.

Crownview Residences had been hit hard. Each person was entitled to two pounds of grain.

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Chapter 305

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The 18th floor hadn’t been robbed at all, so when residents lined up to collect their share, Nicole stayed home and did nothing.

Everyone in the complex knew the 18th floor hadn’t suffered losses. Quite a few people lingered in the shadows, waiting to see if they would try to claim rations anyway. If they did, someone would report

them.

But no matter how long they waited, no one from the 18th floor showed up.

To their surprise, the so-called “devils” actually had some principles. They didn’t try to take what wasn’t

theirs.

If they could keep that up, people almost wished for more “devils” like them. At least with them around, any outside gangs would think twice before targeting the complex.

The Goodmans didn’t collect rations, either.

Their food supply wasn’t abundant, but compared to most survivors, they were doing relatively well. Three people in the household were working, bringing in about 35 pounds of grain each month. As long as they budgeted carefully and stayed healthy, they could get by.

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