The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 497

Chapter 497

Hayley stepped onto a full street’s worth of expensive wool carpet and followed Nathaniel into the reception hali he had prepared.

A massive table of food was already laid out.

“You must be hungry,” Nathaniel said with a smile. “Let’s eat first.”

The table was packed with carefully prepared dishes. Roasted chicken thighs glazed in sauce, pan–seared fish fillets, barbecue ribs, steak, buttered vegetables…

Nathaniel glanced at the spread and felt a quiet thrill.

This would impress her for sure!

She came from outside. There was no way she ate like this on a regular basis. Once she tasted the difference, he was confident she would want to stay.

Hayley took one look at the food and raised an eyebrow. “Huh. You guys eat pretty well.”

It was almost on par with her own base’s average meals. That alone put them above most places.

Nathaniel caught the note in her voice and felt a flicker of pride. He nodded. “You probably never had food like this at your brother’s place. Here, we have plenty. Eat as much as you want.”

Hayley paused. For a second, she didn’t know what expression to make.

Nathaniel clapped, and people immediately carried in several large bowls of dog food.

“I noticed you brought a lot of dogs,” he said smoothly. “We still have some dog food in storage. I had it brought out so they can eat, too.”

He looked so generous and thoughtful.

The moment he saw she had dogs, he sent people to check the warehouse. With the amount of supplies Ark One had, finding dog food was easy.

He assumed Hayley probably didn’t even have proper dog food. At best, they were feeding them scraps.

Surely, she would be pleasantly surprised.

Instead, she glanced at it once and said, “Eh. It’ll do.”

Nathaniel froze.

What did she mean, “It’ll do?”

That was dog food. Actual dog food!

Hayley sat down with Griffin and the dogs and ate a very plain meal.

Figures. Life outside really was rough.

Still, this was pretty bad. This level of food, and they invited her here like it was something special?

Please!

She had to mentally adjust her expectations.

772

+15 Baus

The apocalypse had been going on for over two and a half years. Outside of her own league, only Ark bases could still afford to put this much meat on a table.

They even had their own production, with hydroponic crops and small–scale livestock raised exclusively for the upper class.

Other than places like this, no one else was eating like this anymore. By that standard, it was impressive.

It just felt underwhelming to Hayley.

She had expected some kind of luxury getaway, but it turned out to be not even as good as staying home and doing her own thing.

The outside world really was lacking.

Nathaniel had no idea what she was thinking.

In his mind, this dinner was extravagant, something Hayley couldn’t possibly have enjoyed since the apocalypse began.

After dinner, Hayley went to the room Nathaniel had arranged for her.

The food was nothing special, but the living conditions were genuinely good.

She got a five–star hotel–level suite. The bedding was top quality, with soft pillows and thick blankets.

The bathroom had an oversized soaking tub, and the taps ran hot water around the clock.

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