The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 315

Chapter 315

Night was when the place came alive.

Countless survivors emerged from their shelters. Some people had even set up stalls selling grilled seafood: squid, cuttlefish, kelp, ocean fish, and whatever else they could get their hands on.

With no oil and no seasonings, the taste was about what anyone could imagine. The fishiness was strong enough to make a person gag.

The grilled seafood was still the better option.

The seafood soup smelled even worse. Vendors threw in all kinds of seafood together and boiled it in big pots, sending that rank, briny stink drifting for what felt like miles.

Nicole couldn’t stand the smell now, but in her last life, she wouldn’t even have had the chance to eat something like this. This time, she had simply gotten lucky and scored a storage space.

Plenty of people still couldn’t afford to eat. Their pockets were empty, and hunger had hollowed them out.

Along the roadside, many fishing village residents sold water. It still carried that salty, fishy taste from the sea, but it was better than filtering seawater straight from the ocean.

Even so, plenty of people asked about it, but very few actually bought any.

Farther away, a long line had formed outside a relief station, where people used their checkpoint passes to receive emergency rations.

The beach was packed shoulder to shoulder. For safety and peace of mind, Nicole had no desire to go there, so she switched course and lined up for relief rations instead.

The ration cake was about the size of a fist. With a pass, each person could claim one a day for the first seven days.

They called it a rice cake, but it was really just mashed raw seafood mixed with flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran, then pressed into a dense lump. It looked awful, but it did fill you up.

There were three people and one dog. Cola didn’t get a share.

The smell was honestly rough, and eating it scraped the throat, but none of them complained. This was food that could keep someone alive.

Zeph was just about to eat when he caught sight of a child running toward the soldier handing out relief rations. Small, helpless, and pitiful, the child looked up at him and begged, “Mister, I’m so hungry.”

The soldier was young, barely in his early twenties, with a lean frame.

He held the last ration cake in his hand. It was his own food.

Looking at the child in front of him, he didn’t hesitate. He handed the ration over and gave the child a

gentle smile. “Eat.”

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The child grabbed it and shoved it into his mouth. He didn’t even say thank you. He only covered his

mouth, turned, and ran.

At the same time, several more children rushed over and crowded around the soldier, begging him for

food.

“Mister, I’m hungry, too. Please give me something to eat.”

They surrounded him and clutched at his clothes, refusing to let him leave.

The soldier looked torn, but he couldn’t produce food out of thin air. He looked at the children helplessly, his voice thick as he said, “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

The look in his eyes made it seem as if he had committed some unforgivable crime. 1

The children kept at it for more than ten minutes. Only when they realized they wouldn’t get anything did they finally leave in disappointment.

Zeph walked over and handed the soldier his ration cake.

At first, the soldier refused.

After Zeph said something to him, he finally accepted it and began to eat. Only halfway through, he started crying.

Poppy held her own ration cake and turned to Nicole, her eyes asking for permission. “Nicole.”

Nicole didn’t stop her. “Go ahead.”

Poppy got up and ran to Zeph, then handed her ration cake to the soldier.

After that, she gave him a light hug.

Only after watching him finish the ration did Poppy come back, looking especially happy.

Zeph returned and sat there in silence.

Nicole divided her own ration cake into four pieces. “Everyone, try some.”

It tasted salty and fishy, and the texture was rough, but no one wasted a bite. 1

Zeph took his portion and chewed slowly. After a long while, he finally asked Nicole, “Do you think I count

as a deserter?”

Every time he saw people like that, something in him twisted hard.

“I don’t think you are,” Nicole said after thinking for a moment.

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