The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 654

Chapter 654

Marcus had already come up with a plan.

“The volcanic ash has been hanging around for a long time. If it rains, there’s a good chance it’ll turn acidic, and we have no idea how long that could last. If it’s strong enough, it might eventually eat through the roof. If you can afford glass, buy as much as you can. If you can’t, dig a basement as a backup.”

The villas were two stories tall. Unless the rain was basically concentrated acid pouring down nonstop, a basement should still keep people safe even if it lasted for months.

The homeowners might have stopped caring about a lot of things, but when it came to actually dying, nobody wanted that.

There was no point envying the villas with glass enclosures. Digging a basement and staying alive mattered more.

With the Oakhaven Gardens residents moving in, the neighborhood started up security patrols again. The teams were smaller than during the polar night, and each household usually took a shift once every three days.

Most patrols stayed near the neighborhood entrance, with occasional rounds through the residential streets. No one knew when the acid rain might come, so whenever they weren’t on patrol, people dug basements like their lives depended on it.

They didn’t waste the soil they dug up either. They saved it for future planting.

Sven was probably the only person in the whole neighborhood relaxed enough to get bored. He already had a glass greenhouse, and his basement was fortified like a bunker.

With nothing left to worry about, he kept bothering the neighbors every few days.

“Zeph, you digging a basement? I can help.”

“We’re not planning to. Thanks.”

The rooftop glass enclosure extended past the walls like oversized eaves. As long as there weren’t constant strong winds, it would shield most of the exterior walls from the rain.

The walls had also been reinforced and thickened, so even if some corrosion happened, it shouldn’t cause serious damage.

Zeph wasn’t sitting around either. Whenever he had time, especially when they went to bed early or got up late, he shut the bedroom door and slipped into the storage space with Nicole, leaving Cola and Poppy outside.

There, he taught Nicole how to fly a plane and handle the yacht more confidently. Even if it was mostly theory for now, memorizing every step could save her life in an emergency.

According to Zeph’s memories, the smog would last about a year, so Nicole continued visiting the alternative medicine research institute whenever she could.

Alternative medicine was a field someone could study for a lifetime and still never master completely. Opportunities like this were rare, and Nicole had no intention of wasting one.

Sven was a natural wheeler-dealer who knew how to flatter people and talk his way through just about anything. Somehow, he and Marcus got along surprisingly well whenever they met at Villa 50.

Marcus had no real experience running an HOA, and the two of them just clicked. He ended up picking up quite a few useful tricks from the seasoned middleman.

As he matured, he finally stopped wearing flip-flops everywhere and started showing up in polished leather shoes instead.

One morning, Nicole woke up and looked out through the hazy window. “The smog looks thinner.”

Zeph opened the window and took a look. “It does.”

The smog had already lasted more than six months, and now, it finally started thinning day by day. Visibility steadily improved, from barely 15 feet to well over 100.

As the haze slowly lifted, the heavy feeling hanging over everyone began to ease. Survivors took the opportunity to start planting again.

After dinner, Nicole took Poppy and Cola out for a walk.

They hadn’t gone far when a loud crash suddenly came from up ahead.