18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 176

Based on the direction of the gunfire, Jasper pushed back the underbrush, revealing two corpses sprawled on the ground.

Stella shone a flashlight on them, illuminating two blood dots in the middle of their foreheads. From the way they had fallen, one had been shot dead on the spot, while the other had attempted to flee in panic. He was fast, but not faster than Jasper's bullet. To land a headshot in the pitch-dark night required an extraordinary level of marksmanship, and Stella was awed that Jasper had pulled it off without a hitch, making her own anxiety seem superfluous.

Jasper dumped the bodies into the ocean and wiped away any traces of the crime scene before carrying Stella and continuing their ascent.

Once they reached the coastal road, Stella didn't rush to get down. Instead, she leaned over and kissed Jasper's cheek, whispering, "Thanks for everything today." Without him, getting a hold of that cruise ship would have been impossible. Jasper looked surprised. "Do we really need to thank each other?"

Stella simply smiled, not answering as she fetched the car from Arcadia. Feeling utterly drained, she hopped into the passenger seat and started munching on a granola bar to replenish her energy. Jasper tilted his body to fasten her seat belt for her.

On the way back, they collaborated in the same way, with one driving and the other keeping watch. Once they passed the security booth at the villa district, Stella finally allowed herself to relax. "I'm tired. I'm going to take a nap."

By the time they parked at the top of the hill, she was already fast asleep.

Jasper turned off the engine and carried her out of the car. Cooper wagged its tail and greeted them with a worried whine, looking up at Jasper.

Jasper signaled the dog to quiet down, murmuring, "She's fine. She's just sleeping."

Barely awake, Stella was roused by the morning light filtering through the curtains. She instinctively rolled over, only to bump into a warm and solid form. Startled, she shot up and almost went for her knife, only to realize that it was Jasper. Talking about overstepping boundaries.

Jasper was a light sleeper, and Stella's movement woke him instantly. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Stella stowed her knife back into Arcadia. "Why are you sleeping here?"

"I didn't want to leave you alone last night. I was worried something might happen."

hadn't happened already. Thankfully, he hadn't tried anything, or she would've had to give him a

sweltering heat, and the light was particularly intense. By six in the morning,

for fresh air, she was almost knocked out by the heat. Taking a reading with a thermometer, she

to rely

with milk, bagels, and scrambled

enjoying their meal. Stella asked, while sipping her milk, "Should we continue

before the trade that if the other party tried

moment before deciding, "Let's give

position; and second, Aqua Base's reputation was questionable. If they lost their ship and their people and still didn't get the medicine, they might just go berserk despite their breach of contract first. There was no point in inviting

Base had breached their contract, Stella

planned to trade at 10 o'clock and decided to set out early to be

the ship, they couldn't afford to let down their guard or remove

car, Rob came up to greet them. "Mr. Jasper, you've been living

rent had been raised by 50 pounds of food. An increase of 50 pounds? That sounded like

apologetically, "There's nothing we can do about it. We're just following orders. There's been an influx

in the middle of the night. They were even stabbed. I heard that the eight-year-old boy was stabbed to death and

each passing day since she arrived a month ago.

but whether or not to renew the lease was something Stella hadn't decided yet. First, she needed to see the attitude of Aqua Base. If they were willing to trade the medicine, renewing the lease might

to say that she would consider it, she noticed that the sky seemed a bit darker and the light not as dazzling as before. The unpredictable weather of the apocalypse had honed her senses. She looked up and was shocked by what she

were gathering at the end of the sea. Countless white clouds were moving and turning black at a visible speed, slowly forming into a mushroom shape. It was

at the mushroom cloud, Jasper's

pedal, and the car drifted on the spot before rushing up the hill with

cloud of exhaust

drove at breakneck speed up the winding mountain road,