18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 446

Stella asked, "The sea's so deep, are they using a dredger?"

The site manager glanced over with a look of disinterest. "The specifics of how we're dredging don't concern you. Just focus on your work, grow your crops, and remember, we're all about community and support here at the base. Don't worry about how things run behind the scenes."

Too many nosy folks cause unnecessary trouble; best to keep your head down, feed your belly first, and pour your energy into this fresh start.

The base had a mountain of challenges to overcome, what use was it explaining to the survivors who couldn't help anyway?

Stella decided to keep her mouth shut and climbed the stairs to the third floor with her keys in hand.

Residential Area B was among the first to be completed. Active-duty military personnel occupied zones 1-3, while zone 4 housed the civilian survivors.

No matter which Kindle Society you belonged to before, at Hope Point, if you were willing to serve the people, you had to fall in line with the new arrangements.

With over 12,000 survivors, the majority were military. The rest were from well-established official bases, with only a handful of solitary fighters making it through.

The soldiers were busy working, rarely at home during the day, and some who went to sea might not return for weeks at a time. As a result, Area B was relatively quiet and uncluttered. Civilian survivors even took over private garden plots in zones 1-3, trying to grow more food.

Stella reached room 370, where someone had already placed a planter by the door.

She nudged it aside with her foot and stepped out.

The container-like room was small, about 1.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters long, with nothing but a ventilation window in the upper right corner.

The pleasant surprise was that the rooms were separated by movable steel panels, with sliding bolts on both sides. If both parties agreed, the panels could be shifted.

By combining three rooms into one, you'd get a 2.5 by 4.5-meter space, suddenly boasting around ten square meters, much less claustrophobic.

The steel was thick, making noise when moved, but it felt stable and safe to walk on. Thankfully it wasn't peak summer; otherwise, the metal rooms would turn into ovens. Jasper let Cooper, his loyal dog, out of his crate and reminded him not to bark.

After nearly a decade of working together, Cooper understood and wagged his tail excitedly.

The newly built rooms hadn't been used yet, so after resting for a moment, they began to clean up.

serve as a sofa during the day and unfold into

and prices of such furniture that could be found at furniture fairs were no joke - stylish yet understated

or electricity, but the sofa came with a USB charging port and an extendable lampshade for

a small round table and a

far better than most

health and unable to work for their keep, feeling they could never pay off their rent, so they chose to live on the ships to save money.

could quickly move to the platform

blind eye to this arrangement, understanding their

standardized, with no visible

was available, but it

as ordinary survivors, could only rent one room each. Renting additional rooms in exchange for extra rations was out

sofa and set up

rooms weren't particularly soundproof. The sound of waves crashing against the giant drilling columns

five, Stella opened the door

setting sun shone on her face, dazzling and somewhat

people were carrying buckets or basins

wooden buckets from Arcadia. Rosie stayed with the dog while she

beauty but by their health - everyone looked gaunt, their faces pale and haggard. It was the flesh on their bones, not their faces, that caught the eye. The pair stood out among the crowd,

had its drawbacks;

hour, it was finally

well filtered, with the salty brine taste much

noticed some people drinking

she found a woman in a red dress standing at

was thin, her worn dress hanging loosely, patched up in

the overturned planter in the hallway, her

on room 370's door, brandishing

displeased, "Your planter was blocking my door, we had to move it aside to get

Stella's voice, the woman turned around, her gaunt face

but froze in shock upon seeing Stella,

I accidentally knocked

her expression shifting