The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 292

Chapter 292

Zeph didn’t just lend Hughie and Jeremy the siphon pump. He even handed over the motorboat and patiently explained how to deal with anti-theft fuel screens inside vehicle tanks.

“Use something sharp and punch straight through the filter,” he told them.

Just like that, Hughie and Jeremy took over the routine of leaving before dawn and coming back after

dark.

Nicole reminded them, “Make sure you drink something to keep from overheating.”

Earlier, Hughie and Jeremy used to complain that Nicole and Zeph smelled awful after scavenging trips.

Then they came home smelling even worse. The sour stench of sweat hit from several feet away.

There was no helping it. Their protective suits trapped the heat so badly that their sweat dried into white salt stains around their necks.

Still, thanks to Zeph’s advice, the trip paid off. On the very first day, they hauled back more than 50 gallons of gasoline.

The only problem was fuel quality. They couldn’t reliably tell different gasoline grades apart, and they didn’t have enough containers to separate everything anyway, so it ended up mixed.

But gasoline was gasoline. The smart move was to collect as much as possible first and worry about the

rest later.

So the two of them kept going out every day, and for several days straight, the haul stayed decent.

The 18th floor had become the unofficial weather vane of the entire apartment complex. People in the complex quickly noticed what Hughie’s group was doing.

Nobody said anything out loud, but nobody was stupid either. Once they saw the fuel containers, it didn’t take much to figure it out.

Soon enough, others started following their lead. If the people on the 18th floor were getting the lion’s share, everybody else hoped they could at least pick up the scraps.

After nearly two years underwater, most supplies had already been ruined beyond use.

Survivors naturally focused on whatever still carried trade value, and gasoline had quickly become one

of the hottest commodities around.

As more people caught on, the amount Hughie and Jeremy brought home each day gradually shrank.

Even so, they still managed to stockpile more than a ton of gasoline.

Around the same time, the city government released another public announcement: to speed up reconstruction efforts, officials would begin purchasing gasoline directly from survivors.

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Five quarts of gasoline could trade for a pound of grain, or one quart of gas for three quarts of water.

The news exploded across the city. Countless survivors rushed out under the brutal heat, trying to collect fuel.

As a result, another wave of people went down.

Some collapsed from heatstroke. Others suffered severe infections after getting cut by submerged debris in filthy floodwater.

Unfortunately, survivors didn’t really have choices anymore. Stay home, and you risked starving, dehydrating, or cooking alive indoors anyway.

At least scavenging gave people a chance.

The city broadcast warnings over the radio nonstop, urging survivors to collect gasoline “rationally and responsibly.”

Nobody listened.

The government wasn’t the only buyer, either. Private bases and black-market traders had started purchasing fuel as well. Many offered slightly better rates than the official exchanges.

After pretending to head out one afternoon, Nicole quietly passed information to Hughie’s group.

“There are private buyers taking gasoline,” she told them. “Some people are even trading mixed fuel for clean gas. Three quarts of mixed gasoline for one quart of fresh fuel.”

In reality, the rates depended entirely on who you were dealing with and the quality of the gas.

Clean fuel could trade at three quarts of water for one quart of gasoline, while lower-quality gas

sometimes took five quarts just to get the same amount.

Plenty of scammers simply recycled already mixed fuel and sold it as clean gas. Most ordinary people couldn’t tell the difference just by smell.

Still, Hughie’s group didn’t hesitate.

“We’ll trade.”

They had more than a ton of gasoline stored up. Even if they only got back a third of it in clean fuel, they

could still end up with at least 150 gallons.

Hughie grew increasingly excited and immediately asked Nicole and Zeph to help handle the trade.

The two of them trusted Nicole completely at this point. Every deal she brought back somehow ended up better and cheaper than expected.

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