The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 281

Chapter 281

To enter a government-run base, each person had to hand over 20 pounds of food. A military base demanded 50 pounds.

Nicole frowned. “Why is the gap so big?”

Most lower-class survivors couldn’t even scrape together 20 pounds, let alone 50.

Zeph explained, “The state government is running the bases with the local authorities. The military’s mostly there to keep order. Military bases are different. Those are federally authorized and fully run by the military from top to bottom.”

He paused before adding the ugly truth.

“People also call them Seed bases. They’re humanity’s last fallback if things reach the point of no return. The food requirement is just the bare minimum. They screen everyone hard after that. Not just anybody

gets in.” 1

Nicole started to understand. The 50 pounds of food only bought you a chance to get through the gate.

Whether rich or poor, capable people could always find a way to gather that much.

In other words, military bases only wanted people who could prove their value.

“And that’s not enough,” Zeph continued. “Your background has to be clean, too. Anyone tied to gangs or carrying a criminal record doesn’t stand a chance. Once you’re inside, everything runs under military rule. Cause trouble, refuse orders, rack up three violations, and you’re out. Commit a serious crime, and they shoot you.”

Nicole stared at him, stunned, though part of her knew it made sense.

Harsh as it sounded, extraordinary times called for extreme measures. The military’s job was to keep humanity alive and preserve civilization.

Without strict control, a base housing 300 thousand people would collapse sooner or later. As the natural disasters kept escalating, survival outside would only grow harder.

Nicole thought for a moment. “Do you want to go?”

Zeph had clearly considered it long ago.

“The idea behind the bases is fine. The problem is people. Pack enough survivors into one place, and

sooner or later, every kind of monster starts crawling out.

“Government bases won’t just be filled with officials and their families. Wealthy people will flood in, too. Once the population grows, power struggles start showing up fast. In the end, rules only really hold down the people without power.

“Military bases run on strict rules. Everybody who gets in gets assigned work. As long as you’re willing to

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work, you probably won’t go hungry. But the military has absolute authority there.”

The early arrivals would be pushed into construction, food production, and stockpile labor, all brutal physical work.

Zeph personally didn’t care about hardship, but he didn’t want Nicole or Poppy dragged into that kind of

life.

Sure, they could stay hidden at home and live off the storage space, but underestimating the military base’s ability to investigate people would be a mistake.

They might keep the secret for a year or two, but there was no way they could hide it forever.

Once Nicole’s storage space was exposed, nobody could guarantee her safety or freedom. Maybe they wouldn’t kill her, but they could force her into research or make her do things she never agreed to.

Zeph had already given ten years of his life in the last one. This time, he only wanted to protect the people he cared about.

“We’ll stay in Westbridge with Poppy and Cola. If things ever get bad enough that we can’t survive here anymore, we can head to a base then.”

Every region faced different disasters.

Westbridge had suffered badly, but at least Zeph had already survived ten years in this city once before. Starting over with preparation meant they could avoid the worst of it.

And now, it was time to start planning seriously.

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