The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 325

Chapter 325

It sounded like Nicole was asking Zeph, but maybe she was asking herself, too.

“We’re only at the beginning,” Zeph said. “We’ll live long enough to see the end of it.”

We.

Nicole thought about that and realized he was right. She was only in her early twenties, and Zeph was only a few years older. If they kept fighting their way through each disaster, maybe they really would live long enough to see a new world.

She turned in the sunset and wrapped her arms around him.

For the first time, she reached for him first.

Zeph lowered his head and kissed her forehead. The golden light stretched their shadows across the deck until they blurred into one.

The heat was still brutal. Holding each other for too long felt like standing too close to a grill.

When Nicole saw him lower his head again, this time clearly aiming for her mouth, she pushed him back and turned her face away, barely holding in a laugh.

Zeph caught her hand and led her into the cockpit. “There may come a day when you need this yacht, and I’m not here. You should learn how to handle it.”

Nicole paused. “Okay.”

The disasters were too unpredictable. No one could promise they would always be beside each other.

Zeph walked her through the control panel, explaining each function with patient detail.

This was a survival skill, so Nicole listened carefully. After he went over it a few times, the basics started

to make sense.

Once she understood the theory, Zeph moved on to practice. He stood beside her and let her take the

controls.

Starting the engine, accelerating, steering, turning, circling back.

They practiced for more than two hours, until the sky slowly darkened.

Nicole wasn’t especially skilled yet, but she learned fast. As long as she stayed calm and didn’t panic, she should be able to manage.

Later, she could practice more inside her storage space. Maybe someday, she might even get a real license.

Since the sky hadn’t gone fully dark, it wasn’t a good time to dock and put the yacht away. Nicole settled into the yacht’s luxurious cabin and took out chilled watermelon juice to cool down.

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+15 Bonus

In this miserable, sweat-soaked heat, a cold, sweet drink felt almost unreal.

Zeph sat beside her. “Did your storage space expand?”

Only then did Nicole remember. She had nearly forgotten the important part.

She quickly found her large backpack and took out the Ocean Star necklace.

A gemstone necklace worth a fortune. Before the disasters, she wouldn’t have dared dream of wearing something like this. At most, she could have stared at pictures of it online.

Nicole was a simple person, and she knew it.

She couldn’t resist. She put the outrageously expensive necklace around her neck and even took photos

to mark the moment.

Zeph said nothing. He only smiled.

After taking the pictures, she tossed the necklace into her storage space.

A moment later, she checked inside with her consciousness. The villa hadn’t changed, but the black-soil garden had expanded by about 16 thousand square feet.

As expected of the Ocean Star. Even her storage space liked it.

This was exactly the kind of thing it loved.

Last came the raw emerald. It was much larger than the piece from before. Nicole took a photo as proof that she had owned it, then threw it into the storage space without hesitation.

This one was truly impressive. It added roughly 32 thousand square feet.

Jake really was a decent man. He kept his word, did clean business, and gave generous extras. No wonder he had built a real empire.

A tape measure could no longer do much, so Nicole brought Zeph inside and had him use his long legs to measure the space.

And the man actually measured it.

Because of his work, Zeph knew the length of his stride with unusual precision. This time, the storage space had expanded by about 52 thousand square feet in total.

As for the height, Zeph kept looking up. “Does anything feel different?”

Nicole looked up, too. It did feel like the ceiling had gotten higher.

She took a pole to the fourth floor and poked upward.

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