18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 79

Ascending the stairs, Angela offered to share some of her firewood with Stella.

However, Stella declined. "I've got plenty of blankets and clothing. I burn wood slower. You guys keep it. I'll chop my own when I need it."

Knowing Stella's independent nature, Angela didn't insist.

Lukas knocked on the door of apartment 1801, summoning everyone to gather in 1803. "Good news!" He announced.

Many people had gone to Griffith Mountain to chop wood that day, and they had gleaned some heartening information. "The government is going to distribute supplies," he said.

The previous floods had not only made it difficult for the residents to get around but also paralyzed many government departments. Now that the floodwaters had frozen over, it was frigid, but at least they could move freely.

"The government will distribute food the day after tomorrow. They will distribute it once a week. Each person will get a pound, and residents can collect it at the original community center with their ID."

One pound of rice per week wasn't much, but the disaster had struck suddenly, and all supplies had been submerged in the floodwater. Coastal cities had a low altitude, so even if the national grain storage facilities were situated at higher locations, how much could have been transferred in time given the devastating combination of the storm and the flood?

Griffith had several million inhabitants. Even if more than half of them had tragically perished, there were still over a million survivors. It was not easy to provide this amount of food.

"In addition, the government has declared the old currency invalid. They will introduce a new currency later. For now, we will barter," Lukas continued.

This news didn't mean much to the residents, who had already spent all their money. But it was a blow to those who had profited from the disaster. They were probably weeping in their home.

"Besides distributing food, the government has also announced a recruitment drive for thousands of positions, ranging from technical researchers to corpse collection teams. The pay is in food. Scarce technical researchers can get twenty to thirty pounds of grain a month. The laborers at the bottom, who do the hard work, get five pounds a month, with lunch provided."

Lukas joked, "Stella, do you think we should apply?"

you. I'm

labor wouldn't even feed one person, but with the

floor was to protect their home, not to earn a pitiful five pounds of food. They

there was no need for them to risk their lives for a bit of food. Besides, there was no guarantee they'd live long enough

noticed that Cody had a wound on his hand. "What happened?" She

were just cornered by several groups when we were chopping wood on Griffith Mountain. They

out in groups of three was fraught with danger. A moment's carelessness could get you schemed against. They were just chopping wood, and even with Lukas and Angela standing guard, they were still targeted. Stella wanted to console him, but she didn't know what to say. After all, this was not only the norm, but it

on Stella's door. Stella didn't

them from apartment 1803 went to the community

exceeded their expectations. When they were holed up at home, it seemed like the whole world had come to a standstill, filled with the silence of

the morning and only returned after one o'clock in the afternoon, pulling out the bags of rice from their thick

broken grains. To prevent people from collecting multiple times, they could only

was chaotic, but with armed police standing guard, no one dared to cause trouble at the distribution

cut open your bag and steal your rice, and there were those who would just snatch

the grain, the old lady passed away. Her family caused a scene

on the elderly woman. Her body was already stiff. "Sorry, but I used to work in

tolerated, and the troublemakers' right to collect

was about to scream but was met with the barrel of a

Stella, "There are thieves and robbers everywhere now. Hide your grain well and don't let anyone

of their building, but they didn't dare approach because Lukas

1803. However, the dog bit onto her trouser leg and refused to let

out there who want to eat

couldn't go out, the clear eyes of the dog dimmed, and he

squatted down and patted

opened the door and ran