The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 702

Poppy continued, "Diana woke up around dusk. She still has a low-grade fever, but I already gave her some medicine."

Nicole didn't head back to the tent right away. She rested near the entrance for a while, then told Poppy to go back and take care of Diana.

After that, she got up and headed toward the mountain.

It took her more than an hour to climb up in the dark. Once she made sure no one else was around, she took a firework from her storage space, set it on the ground, and lit the fuse.

Colorful sparks shot upward before bursting across the pitch-black sky in brilliant flashes.

They were bright, dazzling, and impossible to miss.

The fireworks were left over from the second Christmas after she met Zeph. She bought them from Weasel.

By then, she and Zeph were already together. They celebrated with Poppy and Cola and bought plenty of fireworks to make Christmas feel a little more festive.

They never used them all, so Nicole kept the rest in her storage space.

If Zeph saw the fireworks, he would at least know which direction to head instead of wandering around with no idea where to go.

The fireworks stood out too much against the dark sky, so Nicole didn't risk setting off another one. She tossed the empty tube back into her storage space, disappeared into the darkness, and hurried away.

When she returned to the rescue area, people everywhere were still talking about the fireworks.

"Those fireworks were beautiful. Was I dreaming?"

"Who still has fireworks after all these years of the apocalypse?"

"Dad, was that really a firework? That was amazing!"

Nicole had just reached the tent when she saw Beatrice coming back. One look at her defeated expression told Nicole she came back empty-handed, too.

They exchanged a glance and gave each other bitter smiles.

Neither of them said anything. Only someone who had lost the person they cared about most could understand what the other was feeling.

Diana was awake. When she found out Nicole had given her the medicine, her expression turned complicated.

"Nicole, you saved me again."

But at this point, it was hard to say who had really saved whom.

Without Diana, Poppy might not have made it back safely.

There was no point keeping score over something like that, but Nicole was truly grateful that Diana had stepped in when it mattered.

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