Chapter 183
Ste felt a pang of emotion, never expecting Katie to be so reliable. "Thank you so much."
"It''s us, the Moores, who should be thanking you." Katie sped her hand, "Without your help these
two years, I can''t imagine what would have befallen us."
This girl, though cold on the outside, was always secretly helping others. If they didn’t move to the
17th floor, the survival of the Moores would have been uncertain.
Life at the research institute was tough, but it was better than themon folk. Besides having a
monthly sry, they also had the benefit of fresh water. The quantity wasn''t much, but it was
enough for a family.
Katie brought out a small package, "Ste, I''ve got some vegetable seeds for you. If you nt them
well, you''ll have something to eat in a fortnight. Remember to save some seeds. Don''t eat them all."
It wasn''t much, maybe half an ounce. "We''ve gathered some seeds too, during our travels." Ste
declined her offer and asked, "When are you moving? Jasper and I can help."
Her kids were working during the day, so Katie didn''t hesitate, "We''re moving tomorrow. Your help
would be appreciated."
She gave Katie the remaining hay, which could be used to feed the rabbits.
There was still water in the water tower, and it hadn''t gone bad even though they had added
purification tablets. Ste declined this too.
People came and went, and in the end, only she and Jasper remained. Ste wondered how Lukas
and the others were doing.
Ste herded the rabbits upstairs to continue raising them in 1803.
The rooftop was hot and stuffy, so she took out ice cubes to cool down the rabbits, along with some
fresh hay, vegetables, and carrots. Having adapted, the rabbits were no longer afraid of water and
happily licked the ice cubes.
As the sun went down, Jasper took the dog to the rooftop for training. Ste, who followed after,
was almost taken aback when she saw the dog carrying bricks and crawling or climbing.
Jasper’s training method hadpletely changed.
Ste wondered, "Are you training it for coordinatedbat?"
On the way back, she felt that Jasper was off. She initially thought it was because of Rosie, but now
it seemed moreplicated.
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Ste asked, "Those guys who collect protection grain are not small fry, are they?"
Jasper didn''t hide it, "Yeah. These guys may be a motley crew, but they''ve formed a base with
almost 200 people."
Ste pondered. His detailed knowledge suggested previous encounters, "Have you dealt with them
before?"
"They were stationed at the junction between Griffith and Swan Hill. They not only collected tolls but
also robbed people. The survivors were suffering. Griffith joined forces with Swan Hill''s police,
launching a major offensive that took down two of their bases."
But that was six months from now.
After experiencing a severe earthquake, survival got harder and they became more ruthless,
completely blocking the survivors'' way out.
Two bases? Ste was shocked, "Are you saying that the crew who collected tolls in Swan Hill is
also a private base?"
To put it nicely, it was a base, but actually it was a gathering of thugs who were increasingly
rampant. Now, Jasper had wiped out the check post. They wouldn''t just let that go. Living in peace
seemed harder and harder.
Ste didn''t want to cause trouble, but if trouble came knocking, there was no way to avoid it.
"It''s okay. We''ll kill everyone whoes to us."
Anyway, he''d given her quite a few homemade bombs and molotovs. She wouldn''t hesitate to use
them when the time came.
Facing these thugs, the more you tolerate, the more they''d push.
Jasper looked at her, "Are you scared?"
That was a no-brainer. Who wasn''t afraid of death? But fear wouldn''t help.
Ste managed augh, "I''m scared, but I won''t just sit around waiting for death."
Jasper sat beside her, "Don''t worry. You have me."
The next day, Jasper drove Katie.
The Moores had moved everything they could. Katie didn''t have much luggage. The hay was
strapped to the top of the Hummer, and the water was in the trunk.
Rosie and Cooper couldn''t bear to part with Katie and went with her.
The research institute was near the suburbs and consisted of severalrge buildings where all kinds
of researchers gathered. The family quarters upied arge area.
In this era, anyone who could still drive a car was definitely not ordinary. The Hummer stopped
under the family building, attracting many envious eyes.
Ste watched the car while Jasper helped with the luggage.
Katie kept thanking them, "Ste, Jasper, we''re on the third floor. Come visit us when you can."
Returning to Sunrise Sanctuary, the once lively apartment building now only had Ste and Jasper
holding their ground. It was eerily quiet.
Jasper fixed the front door of the building and changed the lock, making it harder for outsiders to
enter. Meanwhile, the three doors on the 16th floor were re-electrified, making it a challenge for
anyone trying to break in.
The two of them started their hermit life, rarely going out during the day. They turned on the air
conditioning, watched cartoons and read medical books. Aside from training Cooper and Rosie,
Jasper seemed quite rxed.
After sunset, Ste took the dog to the rooftop for a walk. Cooper had lost weight recently, due to
Jasper''s additional training. This fellow had an amazing bite force, carrying homemade bombs and
molotovs weighing over 10 pounds, jumping around without panting.
She took out a ball and threw it for the dog to rx, but as she kept throwing, Ste''s expression
turned serious.
Jasper came upstairs, "What''s wrong?"
Stemanded the dog to sit, then threw the ball. The ball rolled and rolled, sliding towards the
south. After several tries, the result was the same.
Ste''s expression was solemn, "There''s something wrong with this building."
Perhaps there had been problems for a while. The building was already old and had been soaked in
floodwater, then frozen for a year, and now subject to high temperatures. Ste might not have
noticed in her previous life, otherwise, it wouldn''t have copsed during the earthquake.
The quality of the building was quite good; other buildings with shallow foundations or poor quality
had either copsed or cracked already.
It seemed that they couldn''t live here anymore. They needed to find a new ce before the
earthquake hit.
But the earthquake caused severe damage, and most of the buildings had copsed in herst life.
Finding a safe house wouldn''t be easy.
Jasper sat beside her, "We''ll have to take it slow. We''ll go look for a ce tomorrow."
nning to finding a new house, they woke up especially early the next day. After breakfast, they
packed their valuable belongings into the Arcadia, took Cooper and Rosie, and went out to search
for a house.
Before leaving theplex, they circled the apartment building and indeed found a crack on the
south wall.
It was not particrly noticeable, and even from a distance, looking at the whole structure, one
wouldn''t be able to see that it was already tilting.
But it was true; just because you couldn''t see it didn''t mean it wasn''t happening.
Finding a house wasn''t an easy task either. Older buildings were out of the question, and new
ones... well, you never knew if the developers were honest or not.
Ste pondered, "What if we look for a ce with fewer buildings and more open spaces?"
In the event of an earthquake, at least there would be time to run.
Jasper thought for a moment, "Let''s go check out Eastwood Eden."
Eastwood Eden? Ste had never heard of it.
"It’s adjacent to the outskirts of the city. Should be a newly developed real estate project."
It was a long time ago, and Jasper couldn’t remember very clearly. He recalled participating in the
rescue efforts after the earthquake. He encountered a civilian rescue team organized around a
residentialmunity. The team leader mentioned that their neighborhood didn''t copse.
Not only had they taken part in the rescue, but they had also responded to the city''s call to free up
some empty buildings to shelter the homeless.
Ste pulled out her phone and used her offline map to search for Eastwood Eden, but it came up
with nothing.