Chapter 30
As they ventured upward, they found the offices in a mess, littered with stic and the asional
wooden desk - though these were simply sawdust and glue, certainly not fireproof and smelling of
toxic fumes.
The other office building was the same, yielding only forgotten fast food, a few cases of bottled
water, and a minor amount of timber.
They returned to the building housing Cody''spany. It was also ransacked, but the damage was
less severe, likely because intruders had discovered the ce had been picked over and made a
hasty retreat to the other two buildings.
Ste''s hunch was right. As they climbed higher, evidence of intrusion became less frequent. She
suggested a staggered search pattern, as each person might’ve noticed something different,
perhaps overlooked areas.
Ste set about searching the area Lukas hadbed through the day before, while Cody
swapped ces with Jasper.
Her motives had shifted. Yesterday, they sought medication and food. Today, with an additional 150
cubic feet in Arcadia, the overly cautious Ste wanted to fill it to the brim.
Books to enrich their minds, ornate vases from the boss'' office, wooden desks, wardrobes, jewel
ornaments, and mop handles from the janitor''s closet.
Men seemed tock the knack for scavenging. Ste, however, managed to find many overlooked
snacks and suitable clothing and shoes after a thorough search.
She stumbled upon a jewelpany. The counter was empty and showed no signs of vandalism.
After a quick tour, she discovered the manager''s office was locked tight.
After a struggle with the sturdy door, she found four safes inside. They likely contained jewels, so
Ste stowed all of it in Arcadia. She also found some tea, cigarettes, and alcohol, and used a
samurai sword to dismantle the office furniture.
She also raided a sportswearpany''s local office, taking only sizes suitable for their group, while
the rest were swept into Arcadia.
Onepany appeared to be nning a team-building event, leaving severalrge boxes of
barbecue charcoal and camping equipment behind in their administrative department.
After going through four floors, Ste returned to the clothingpany''s live streaming office and
gathered another batch of clothing, including women''s underwear and bras that the men were too
embarrassed to take.
She also revisited the home appliancepany from the night before and quietly collected a batch
of appliances that might’ve proved usefulter, including a high-end massage chair worth several
thousands of dors.
She stealthily sneaked into the ces the others had scoured at different times, taking anything
useful. She continued until the extra 150 cubic feet of Arcadia was filled.
To facilitate transportation, they dismantled all the wooden furniture and chopped it into simr
lengths. It had fit neatly into two intable boats and three rubber boats.
They returned home early, finishing the sorting and moving just after nine.
After today''s events, the residents of the 18th floor had gained a notorious reputation. The other
tenants viewed them with a sense of horror.
They didn''t try to hide it, hauling their timber upstairs.
Once Ste closed the door, she immediately entered Arcadia. The safes were safely tucked away
in a corner, but the living room, balcony, and toilet remained the same size.
Could it be that the jewelpany was selling fakes?
Unwilling to ept this, she opened the door to the master bedroom. A bathroom had appeared,
about 10 square metres.
The safes couldn''t be opened, but there must have been a lot of jewels. Disappointed to see only a
10 square metre increase, she realized that the upgrade conditions were quite strict.
Well, she would have to keep looking then. In this post-apocalyptic world, gold, silver, and jewels
were worthless.
She was awakened in the middle of the night by a loud noise and a horrifying scream from
downstairs. This was nothing unusual in the post-apocalyptic world, so Ste turned over and went
back to sleep.
She woke up naturally and ate two bagels and a donut for breakfast. She washed it down with a
bottle of milk.
The weather was terrible, and the green vegetables she had nted were turning yellow. Ste
diluted some nutrient solution and poured it over them, hoping for the best.
She checked Arcadia, but the timer had only increased by two hours. It was moving at a snail''s
pace.
She nned to continue nting greens in the new 10 square feet of ck soil. She wanted to
stock up enough tost two or three years before nting anything else. Of course, she could nt
some fruit seedlings first. The mature trees would surely bear fruit by next year.
Her physical fitness had improved significantly over this period, and she managed to save 15
minutes while tilling and sowing.
Just as she was about to leave Arcadia, Lukas knocked on the door. She opened the door to find
Lukas with a bruised face. Ste was startled. "Who did this?"
Lukas seemed a bit embarrassed. "Well, you know Cody and I aren''t as fit as the others? Ang
has been training us sincest night."
Before, Ang wouldn''ty a finger on Lukas. Now, she was training him to the point of exhaustion.
Lukas knew the world had changed. He couldn''t always rely on Ang and Ste to protect him.
From now on, he decided to man up and protect his woman.
"Right, you guys really need the training."
Ste suddenly remembered something. She went back into the room and took out a ck bag. "I
found these in the office building. I thought you and Ang could use them, so I kept them."
Seeing the contents of the bag, Lukas looked embarrassed, thenughed. "Thanks, I was looking
for these."
He almost forgot the main reason he knocked on Ste’s door. He asked with a grin, "Do you know
what happenedst night?"
"No idea, I was dead to the world. I was fast asleep."
"Hector and Sadie were robbed."
Lukas disapproved of Hector''s attempts to woo Ste while also stringing Ste along. Fortunately,
she had extricated herself from the situation. "After making such a show with the supplies
yesterday, they were targetedst night."
Hector was staying in suite 802, which couldn''t amodate everyone, so some people were also
staying in 1202.
The robbers targeted 1202 first. If Hector and his crew hadn''t rushed up when they heard the
commotion, Sadie would have been raped by several men. They managed to drive off the attackers,
but when they returned to the 8th floor, they found all their supplies had been taken.
Ste was taken aback. "A decoy?" Even bandits needed to use their brains these days.
"They kept most of their supplies on the 8th floor, but their intable boats and rubber dinghies
weren''t stolen."
Steughed. They weren''t spared - the bandits were just farming them slowly and steadily.
"One of them got injured, and they had the audacity to knock on our door earlier, hoping you would
help."
But no one on the 18th floor paid any attention to them.
There was another incident. This morning, two men from other buildings came over. "They wanted
to pay us protection money, but Ang sent them packing."
Ste was amused. They were just defending themselves. How had they be a crime
syndicate?
While they were talking, Cody came out with a bruised face. "Are we going out again today?"
"I don''t want to go out again. If you need anything, you can go. I''ll stay and watch the house."
Everything had been scavenged. She couldn’t find the items she needed now. Besides, Ang and
Lukas had been brainwashed by Cody''s end-of-the-world theories. They felt like they were always
lacking something, which made them overly cautious.
After exchanging pleasantries, the trio equipped themselves with an intable boat and ventured
out, with the dual purpose of gathering supplies and scoping out the situation.
Just after midday, another three people turned up at their doorstep, begging for their protection
Ste was vexed by their constant interruptions and penned a note and stuck it on the door. [No
Alliances.]
It wasn’t just the ill-intentioned neers she had to worry about, but even herpanions
Ang and the others couldn’t bepletely trusted. After all, in a post-apocalyptic world, human
nature was the most unpredictable thing. Even friends or co-workers could turn on each other when
times got hard. If it ever came to that, Ste knew she wouldn’t hesitate to walk away.
She had all the necessities - food, clothing, and shelter. As for other desirable supplies she couldn’t
find, Ste would have to figure out Arcadia first.
With the trio out, Ste indulged herself with her hoard offort food - Cheetos, cookies, Skittles,
and choctes, all while reading a book to pass the time.
It was still early, so she took out the cheese she had prepared earlier to make tortellini. She made
many tortellinis while binge-watching her favorite show until she heard the others returning.
They came back with some firewood and two stainless steel doors that they had salvaged from a
mall. Compared to Ste’s door and the door at 1801, Lukas felt uneasy, so they spent a long time
in the mall to find the right size.Content protected by N?v/el(D)rama.Org.
After a lot of nking and banging, they finally finished remodeling 1803. They had one door left,
which they installed on the staircase. To get to the 18th floor, one would have to cross three barriers
now.
Observing Lukas applying cement, Ste curiously asked, "Where did you find that?"
"We passed a construction site and I snuck in and grabbed a couple of bags."
They nned to go back again to get some ss to install on the balcony because the constant
rain was making everything too damp.
Ste reminded them, “Get good quality ones, in case another stormes and shatters the ss.
If that happens, it will be a hassle.”
Lukas agreed wholeheartedly, discussing with Cody about several incidents in their neighborhood
where windows had shattered due to the storm.
After a day of contemtion, Ste concluded that the expansion of Arcadia was somehow
connected to spirituality. The reason the antique shelf had disappeared was probably due to the
wood that it was made of.
Quality wood, which could take decades or even hundreds of years to mature. Most of the artifacts
from the flooded museum had been salvaged or relocated by the government, and items like gold,
silver, and jewels would be easy to find once the floodwaters receded.
The only option left was wood.
Wood? Ste suddenly had an idea.