The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 429

Chapter 429

Sven might be sharp in business, but he had his own code, and he hadn’t forgotten that Nicole had once saved his

life.

“Water’s the hardest thing to come by right now. If you donate it under your own name, you could earn a lot of credits.”

Nicole smiled. “That’s not really my style. I don’t put my name on things like that.”

Sven, who preferred the exact opposite, went quiet.

She let it sit for a beat, then added, “Relax, I’m kidding. If you want credits, we’ll figure something else out. I just don’t want trouble coming from this.”

She didn’t circle around it. “If you need it, I’ll provide the water. If you want to return the favor, keep an eye out for radiation suits.”

“Radiation suits?” Sven blinked, then looked at her more carefully. “We go way back. Did you hear something? Give me a heads-up so I can prepare, too.”

The more sven thought about it, the more it fit. Nicole wasn’t the type to take losses, but the things she had been stocking always felt a little off.

“You’re reading too much into it.” Nicole laughed. “With things like this, anything’s possible. I’m just being cautious.”

Sven narrowed his eyes. “You think the quake could cause a nuclear leak?”

“Careful,” she said lightly. “People get sent off to labor camps for making things up.”

Sven understood. The ocean had already gone bad, with contamination and mutations everywhere. At this point, nothing felt impossible.

If something like that really happened, what hope would people have left?

The thought dragged at him, but he forced it aside. He could only deal with what was in front of him.

They settled on a time for the water, and Sven left with Weasel and the others.

On her way back through Oakhaven Gardens, Nicole passed Building Two and saw Alex organizing people to fix the well.

She walked over out of curiosity. The old well-digger was preparing to go down.

A rope was tied around his waist so they could pull him up right away if anything gave way below.

Nicole watched him for a moment. His face was sunburned and peeling, his temples streaked with gray. He looked to be in his fifties.

At a time like this, just staying alive took everything a person had.

Back at the apartment, Nicole didn’t hide her plan to donate the water.

Zeph thought it through. “Most of the deep wells in Westbridge are gone, and what’s left is murky. The water in storage is too clean. If we give that out, people will notice. Better to use the rainwater and well water we’ve been collecting.”

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+15 Bus

Nicole had already come to the same conclusion.

Rainwater just needed purification tablets. The well water was cloudy and had to be filtered first.

Twenty tons was a lot to process, but Zeph had planned ahead and stocked filtration equipment before everything went bad. Otherwise, it would’ve taken everything out of them.

He went into the storage space, set up the filters, and started drawing water from the tanks, running the well water through until it cleared.

Every second counted inside. Nicole turned to leave.

Zeph caught her hand, his expression a little off. “So… Cola hears everything.”

Nicole blinked.

“Poppy, too. She might be young, but her hearing’s just as good.”

She stared at him. “What are you trying to say?”

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