18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 71

Having slept the day away, Stella was wide awake and ready to continue exploring Arcadia by night.

She had harvested the peppers, eggplants, and cucumbers from her garden, and now the grapevines on the old tree were starting to ripen. The grapes were turning from a vibrant green to a deep, sun-kissed red. She guessed they would be ready to pick in about a month. There weren't many grapes this first year, only about ten bunches, but she estimated she would get around fifty pounds when they were fully ripe.

On a whim, Stella decided to try and pick a grape using her consciousness. She didn't hold out much hope, as she had never been successful at harvesting this way before, but to her surprise, a single, ripe grape appeared in her hand.

This unexpected success brought a surge of joy, and she quickly tried to pull some vegetables from the garden. She was successful in pulling a few, but the effort left her feeling dizzy and drained.

Stella wondered if she could use this new ability to till her garden. After the dizziness passed, she decided to give it a try. She was able to till the soil, but only for a short while before her energy was depleted.

She wondered why she had been successful now when she had tried before without any results. Could it be due to her increased physical strength from her daily workouts?

Overjoyed by her discovery, Stella realized that she could train her mind just like her physical strength, saving time and making full use of her garden.

She planted corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, soybeans, green beans - everything she could think of.

Stella practiced this new technique all night, managing to till around 50 square feet of soil before exhaustion forced her to collapse onto her bed.

Cooper, her loyal dog, sensing something was off, came over and sniffed around her. "Woof, woof..." Cooper seemed worried. What was wrong with his owner?

Stella shared her excitement with Cooper, "We'll have more food now, Cooper. Are you happy?"

"Woof!" Cooper spun around in excitement, clearly pleased with the news.

The next day, Stella continued to till the soil with her mind until she was exhausted, then finally got up to have breakfast. She opened the curtains and was shocked to see that it was snowing outside. Snow in the South was a rare sight, usually only seen during natural disasters.

small and light, barely noticeable unless you

had been extremely cold, but now it was snowing?

as well? The floodwaters had already reached the sixth floor. If there was a snowstorm, they

as she finished breakfast, there was a knock at the door. A meeting was being held at number 1803, regarding the water

been so cold that everyone had stayed indoors, huddled around their fires for warmth. Today was even colder, but at

bundled up like snowballs. Their hands and feet still trembled from the cold. "The water tower is frozen. How are

water in Arcadia, so she wasn't worried. But she couldn't let the others know that, so she feigned

head. "I didn't shower yesterday, and I

"Me too, my

fell on Jasper. With everyone's attention on him, Jasper took a deep breath. "It looks like it was snowing earlier." Although the snowfall was light, if they collected enough of it, it

his idea. "Are you suggesting that we go up to the rooftop

didn't we think of

everyone hurried up to the

the door, the icy air

falling snowflakes had turned into ice. She suddenly slipped. Cooper, seeing his owner about to fall, rushed forward to try and cushion her

and glared at

righted herself. But

off guard, Lukas slipped and ended up falling hard onto the icy ground. Even though he was bundled up like a bear and didn't hurt, he felt wronged inside. Angela, his wife,

handle a small fall. If he couldn't, he would just have to suck it up! Cody was also pretty unlucky. He was walking half a step ahead of Jasper, but was suddenly pushed aside, colliding with the door frame. Well,

envy. She looked at Jasper, then at Lukas. Except for his handsome face, Lukas was...

gentleman, quickly let go of Stella after

think much of

was upset and started to scratch at the