The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 744

Camila seethed as she thought about Nicole.

Back at the villa community, Nicole had beaten and humiliated her, forced her to eat filth, and left her with no dignity at all.

Now, Nicole had followed her all the way to the base, humiliated her in public again, and threatened the one thing Camila couldn't afford to lose: her identity as Arthur's daughter.

Without that, Camila had nothing. She couldn't protect the life she had now, much less marry well and stay comfortable for the rest of her life.

She and Irene could deny everything, but Nicole was still a threat. Worse, Arthur wasn't the kind of man they could fool forever.

Nicole couldn't stay at the base. They had to get rid of her before she ruined everything.

The thought festered until Camila's expression turned vicious.

"Nicole, I'm gonna kill you."

Nicole, meanwhile, had no idea what Camila was thinking.

She was in the middle of eating when she suddenly sneezed several times in a row. She rubbed her nose.

"Someone must be talking about me."

After spending so much time with her, Zeph had finally picked up a little humor.

"Probably Camila."

"Definitely."

Camila was probably somewhere cursing her out right now.

Nicole wasn't worried. They were inside the base, and even hardened scavengers knew better than to cause trouble there. Camila certainly wasn't going to try anything.

And even if Camila did try something, Nicole wasn't worried. The worst she could do was pull some dirty trick, and Nicole had dealt with plenty of those over the years.

What did make her curious was how well Camila seemed to be doing.

After all these years of surviving one disaster after another, Camila was still just as vicious and clueless as ever.

That alone told Nicole someone powerful had been looking out for her.

The trading hall was run by the military, and jobs there usually went to military families first. There was no way Camila would've landed a position like that without connections.

She was even meeting a man at work, which meant she was still single and clearly trying to marry well.

"No idea. Once the inspection results come back, we'll get the points and buy the submarine."

Right. Camila was nothing more than a distraction. Nicole couldn't let herself lose sight of what actually mattered.

The wait dragged on, but none of the four went anywhere. They stayed home, ate, slept, and played cards whenever they got bored.

Unfortunately, trouble kept finding them anyway.

By then, word had spread through the scavenger community about the haul Nicole and Zeph brought back, and people showed up at their door every day.

Some came looking for handouts, some tried to recruit them, and others wanted to make connections. Every kind of opportunist came knocking.

No matter how much noise they made outside the courtyard, Nicole and Zeph stayed upstairs and ignored them.

Cola sprawled out nearby, snoring so heavily that he barely looked alive.

Two days passed.

After breakfast, the four of them headed to the scavenger weighing station at the trading center.