The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 275

Chapter 275

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Nicole slid the balcony door open, but the rats didn’t flinch. They kept chewing at the metal mesh and glass with razor-sharp teeth, their crimson eyes gleaming in the dark.

Nicole’s temper snapped.

And whenever she got mad, someone suffered for it.

She yanked a pot of boiling water from storage and hurled it straight at them.

The rats shrieked as the scalding water hit, then tumbled off the high-rise balcony and disappeared into

the floodwaters below.

The 18th floor was still fairly quiet, but the floors beneath it had already descended into chaos. 1

Honestly, it was hard to tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

The bad part was obvious. The rats were savage, fearless, and multiplying out of control.

The good part? Every dead rat meant more meat.

As for what those rats had been feeding on, nobody could afford to care anymore. People were already starving to death.

Before long, survivors stopped hunting rats only inside their own apartments. They started searching abandoned units and hallways, too.

Some even threw together crude homemade traps.

Of course, other people woke up screaming in the middle of the night after getting bitten, then desperately borrowed inflatable rafts to reach hospitals.

With great power came great responsibility.

Cola spent the entire day racing between the 17th and 18th floors, marking territory everywhere with

urine.

As much as nobody wanted to admit it, the smell genuinely kept the rats away.

The only problem was that the heat made it fade too fast.

The second Cola noticed the scent weakening around their balcony, he immediately reapplied it himself.

Eventually, the exhausted dog collapsed onto the floor with his tongue dangling out.

If Cola could talk, he would probably order his human to hurry up and bring him a sports drink. He had given everything for this family. At this rate, he was seriously going to run out of pee.

Nicole dragged out an oversized washbasin and filled it with water for him.

Zeph hadn’t been sitting around, either. He unlocked the triple doors on the 17th floor and let Poppy

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outside.

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The whole time, he stayed by her side while letting his little sister handle things on her own.

At dinner that night, Poppy looked unusually excited. “Nicole, I killed several rats today!”

Nicole stared at her in surprise. “How?”

“With a crossbow.”

Since Cola had kept the 17th and 18th floors mostly clear of rats, Poppy rarely got any chances to practice. So Zeph took her downstairs instead.

In just two hours, she killed twelve rats. 1

Nicole already knew Poppy was a good shot, but she hadn’t expected her to be this talented. Just as expected from someone Zeph had trained himself.

“Where are the rats now?”

Poppy glanced at Zeph first and only answered after he gave a small nod.

“A lot of people downstairs tried to take them. They wanted the rats I killed. Zeph said not to hand them over, or they would start relying on us.

Those people looked filthy and painfully skinny. Most of them had shaved heads, and every one of them carried a sour, unpleasant smell.

Poppy was scared of them.

At the same time, it made her cherish her current life even more.

“I didn’t give them the rats. I threw them away instead.”

Who picked them up afterward, or whether they got sick from eating them, had nothing to do with her.

Nicole smiled and praised her. “You did great.”

Poppy lit up instantly. Not only did she volunteer to wash the dishes afterward, but she even rushed to mop the floors, too.

For several days straight, the red-eyed rats kept causing trouble, especially at night, when they became

even more aggressive.

Gabrielle was as sharp as ever. She actually carried several bottles of mineral water upstairs to ask for dog urine.

She sprinkled it around the spots where rats showed up most often, and the effect was surprisingly good

Hughie and the others were stunned.

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Jeremy even carried over several basins. “Cola, we seriously need your help.”

Cola backed away in horror. He genuinely couldn’t squeeze out another drop. 1

Not long after that, the city released a new announcement.

After testing, officials confirmed that red-eyed rat meat contained no toxins. However, the rats carried large amounts of bacteria and could easily spread dengue fever and other illnesses, so private consumption was strongly discouraged.

Effective immediately, food processing plants would begin collecting fresh rat carcasses. Residents could register them through neighborhood committees in exchange for supplies. 1

Ten pounds of rats could be traded for one box of canned rat meat or exchanged for other necessities through the point system.

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