The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 255

Chapter 255

Hughie, Beatrice, and Jeremy looked completely stunned.

“Extreme heat?”

Nicole nodded. “A nonstop heat wave. Heat exhaustion would be the mild version. The real danger is

heatstroke.”

That wasn’t something to joke about.

The body basically cooked from the inside out. Burning skin, confusion, organs shutting down as heat built up faster than the body could release it. Once the proteins and enzymes inside the body started breaking down, death usually came soon after.

Jeremy felt his scalp go numb. “How reliable is this information?”

“It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but rumors are already spreading outside,” Nicole replied.

She handed them the temperature chart she had been recording daily.

“I don’t think this is just gossip. You should start preparing now.”

The three stared at the steadily rising numbers on the paper, chills crawling across their skin.

As a friend, Nicole spoke honestly, “If the temperature suddenly spikes one day, all this ice will melt fast. Westbridge will flood again.

“There are already countless corpses and piles of rotting garbage trapped in the water. If extreme heat really comes, an epidemic could break out.

“I think you should quit your jobs. Survive this disaster first, then worry about the future later.”

You needed to stay alive before money or food meant anything.

The three exchanged uneasy looks.

Hughie still clung to hope. “It can’t be that bad… Right?”

Before vacation, the captain had personally called him in for a talk. Because of his performance, he had officially been promoted to squad leader starting next shift, with a higher food salary to match.

For 20 years, aside from his looks, nobody had ever truly acknowledged or praised him like this before.

To Hughie, it felt like the first real honor he had earned in his life.

“The day the deep freeze hit, the temperature dropped over 40 degrees overnight,” Nicole said quietly.” Do you think the opposite can’t happen, too?”

Hughie immediately fell silent.

Nicole could tell the three of them treasured their current jobs and didn’t want to quit.

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You couldn’t force people to change their minds if they’d already made their choice. She had already said everything she could.

“This is just my advice. Think it over yourselves.”

After chatting a little longer, she got up to leave.

By the time she returned to Zeph’s apartment, dinner was already ready.

Poppy carried dishes to the table. “Nicole, dinner.”

The four of them sat down to eat together.

Catching the faint tension in her expression, Zeph asked, “They don’t believe the extreme heat is coming? They don’t want to quit?”

Not wanting to quit was definitely part of it.

A few months ago, Jeremy had worked his connections and gifts hard enough to become a squad leader. Hughie had earned his own promotion through performance, while Beatrice had become one of the captain’s trusted people and recently got promoted to district lead.

During this period, the three of them had collected plenty of extra benefits on the side. The food alone could probably sustain them for two years, not to mention the other supplies they had gathered.

Their futures looked promising. Who would willingly walk away from that?

“You already did everything you could,” Zeph said calmly. “Besides, their situation isn’t the same as ours. Most people wouldn’t give up stable work that easily. You don’t need to force them.”

Nicole took a deep breath. “Yeah. Let’s eat.”

Even so, she still slept badly that night.

People weren’t made of stone. After being reborn, all Nicole had wanted was to protect herself and Cola.

But Jeremy and Hughie were the only real friends she had, and Beatrice had once saved her life.

They had fought side by side for over a year now. How could she stop caring just because she wanted

to?

Neither epidemics nor heatstroke were things people could simply brush off.

Just as she was about to get out of bed, loud knocking suddenly echoed outside. Hughie stood in the

hallway, banging on both her door and Zeph’s at the same time.

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