The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 293

Chapter 293

Fortunately, Hughie’s group could handle themselves, and they weren’t walking around unarmed. Nobody managed to take advantage of them.

As the floodwaters dropped to knee level, Zeph finally stopped sitting on the sidelines and started going out with Hughie’s group to look for vehicles. If they waited much longer, most of the remaining cars would be stripped for parts or damaged beyond repair.

They weren’t the only ones moving quickly.

City crews had already begun large-scale recovery work.

Excavators and drilling rigs appeared throughout the area. Some teams were digging wells, while others started building public restroom facilities.

Everything moved with surprising efficiency, as if the entire recovery process had already been planned

long ago.

Under the relentless heat, water evaporated at an unbelievable speed. The thick layers of sludge covering Crownview Residences dried and cracked apart within a single day.

At noon, temperatures climbed to 127 degrees. Standing outside felt like lying on a sheet of burning

metal. 1

The underground parking garage dried out quickly as well, exposing rows of abandoned vehicles buried beneath layers of hardened mud.

Zeph’s Hummer was still there, too, though it had already been dismantled so thoroughly that it barely resembled a vehicle anymore.

When Hughie and the others saw it, they stared for several seconds before giving him a thumbs up.

Hughie said with genuine admiration, “That’s next level.”

Together, they dragged six SUVS back for inspection, all of them decent off-road models with strong frames and good performance potential.

However, the excitement faded almost immediately.

The vehicles had spent too long submerged and frozen solid during the deep freeze. Many critical parts were destroyed. Restoring them would be unbelievably difficult.

Still, nobody wanted to give up.

At this point, survival itself was the only thing keeping them moving.

Zeph checked over his own vehicle first.

It looked filthy, but the damage wasn’t nearly as severe as expected. Before the disasters began, he had already done extensive protective work on it and removed as many vulnerable components as possible.

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With Jeremy and Hughie helping him, the three men spent their days in the parking garage cleaning vehicles, replacing damaged parts, and slowly piecing things back together.

While they worked downstairs, Nicole stayed busy upstairs with Beatrice. The two of them sat in front of the fan, making iced tea to beat the heat while they talked.

“Now that the water’s finally dropping, you guys should be able to leave once the vehicles are ready,” Nicole said.

“Halloway has better water resources than Westbridge, but it’s nowhere near as industrialized. If they’re building a military base there, most of the easy supplies have probably already been scavenged.

“What else do you still need? I can go out the next couple of days and try trading for whatever I can find.”

Beatrice had already felt guilty about relying on Nicole so much, so hearing that made her visibly relieved. 1

“Nicole… Seriously, thank you.”

Nicole waved it off. “We’re friends. Don’t make it weird.”

Knowing they would be separating soon made Beatrice emotional, too.

“It’s a shame you and Zeph aren’t going to the base. Otherwise, we could’ve stayed together.”

Nicole smiled. “People always end up going their separate ways eventually. Doesn’t matter where we are. As long as everybody stays alive, maybe we’ll meet again someday.”

That night, Beatrice sat down with Jeremy and Hughie to talk things over.

Thanks to regular exercise and relatively stable living conditions, the three of them had barely gotten sick during the past two years of disasters. Most of their medicine remained untouched.

After digging through everything, they realized many medications were getting close to expiration, while others were so specialized that they probably wouldn’t ever use them.

In the end, they packed up several large bags filled with near-expiration and less useful medication, then handed everything over to Nicole along with a list of things they still needed.

Nicole glanced over the list and frowned slightly.

“These are all common supplies,” she said. “But the climate researchers warned that more extreme weather could still be coming. Once this heat wave ends, nobody knows what’s next. Aren’t you planning

ahead at all?”

Jeremy immediately caught on. His mind worked fast.

“How about this?” he suggested. “Whatever you and Zeph decide to stockpile, help us prepare the same

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