The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 239

Chapter 239

Gabrielle was the careful, long-term planning type.

Every so often, she would ask how the potatoes on the 18th floor were growing, then quietly remind Derek and Victor to start gathering antifreeze ahead of time.

Little by little, the family managed to accumulate an entire barrel over the course of three months. T

The moment Nicole asked for some, Gabrielle agreed immediately and scooped out five pounds of antifreeze solution without hesitation, refusing to accept potatoes in return no matter what.

The potatoes were meant as repayment for the seed potatoes they had originally received. Nicole hated owing favors, so while the Goodmans weren’t paying attention, she secretly stuffed a slab of frozen pork belly into the bag.

It wasn’t much, maybe around a pound. But meat was a luxury item now, more than enough to cover the value of the antifreeze.

The two sides kept trying to push things back onto each other so stubbornly that they nearly argued themselves into enemies. Nicole, who had never been good at emotional back-and-forth, grabbed the antifreeze solution and escaped as quickly as possible.

Gabrielle shook her head helplessly after she left.

“That child is as stubborn as a mule. She insists on keeping things perfectly fair.”

She picked up one of the potatoes grown on the 18th floor and examined it carefully.

“I thought she wouldn’t know how to farm at first. Turns out she grew them even better than we did.”

Some people really did survive well because they genuinely had the ability.

Once Nicole got the antifreeze solution, it still took two full days to finish planting all the potatoes.

The traded planting troughs weren’t enough, so Zeph hammered together several wooden planters himself while the two of them worked side by side planting all 100 pounds of potatoes.

The balcony overflowed first. Then the hallway. Then even the stairwells ended up packed full.

Zeph never slacked off when it came to work. He handled all the heavy labor himself and left Nicole only

the easier tasks.

There weren’t enough grow lights either, so they had to rotate lighting in batches at different times of day. Zeph handled all of that as well without ever once asking Nicole for help.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Anything’s fine.”

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+15 Bonus

Nicole never requested dishes when freeloading. She simply ate more of what she liked and touched

less of what she didn’t.

From that day onward, she stopped cooking entirely and brought Cola next door for meals every single day.

Even Nicole herself couldn’t have imagined that one meal somehow turned into three full months.

Seriously.

Not once during that entire period did she contribute so much as a grain of rice or a single vegetable leaf.

Of course, she kept a mental track of everything she owed.

Part of her wanted to see how long Zeph could really keep this up before finally showing impatience or frustration. When that happened, she planned to repay everything with interest included.

However, she had underestimated just how much emotional endurance the man possessed. In the end,

Nicole was the one who couldn’t keep playing this game.

She had genuinely never met a man with this much patience before. He cooked every single meal and never once let her wash dishes. He didn’t even complain about how much Cola ate.

Nicole felt dangerously close to breaking under the pressure.

Internally, she suffered more and more every day, until she finally sneaked off to talk with Hughie in

private.

Jeremy was useless for this kind of thing. The guy had never successfully dated anyone in his life.

“Why wouldn’t you accept him?”

The moment Hughie heard the full story, he nearly exploded.

“Nicole, are you stupid?”

Nicole stared at him in disbelief. He actually called her stupid.

“Free labor just fell into your lap. The guy can fight, earn supplies, do housework, and keep you company. What more do you want?” 1

For the first time in years, Hughie looked genuinely disappointed in her.

“You’re smart about everything else, so how are you this clueless when it comes to this stuff? If Zeph liked men, I would’ve made my move ages ago. There’s no way I would’ve left him single this long.”

Nicole’s mind went blank. She was beginning to seriously doubt Hughie’s sexuality.

“Nicole, we grew up together, so I need you to really listen to me. The world’s not the way it used to be anymore. Back then, if you worked hard enough, you could build a decent life for yourself. Now? Most people are struggling just to make it through the next day with a full stomach.

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