18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 561

Stella carefully unpacked the first aid kit she'd grabbed from the hospital,

cleansing and bandaging the wound with practiced hands, even adding a couple of stitches where needed. The team worked together seamlessly, and in no time, they had the submarine spick and span.

With the sea finally calm, Stella, always the one to step up, offered to fix a hearty meal – she suggested making dumplings. Flour, dried green beans, cured pork - simple, yet filling. After more than a decade of life-and-death experiences, especially for a special forces soldier like herself, the concept of mortality had become somewhat abstract. As they rolled out the dough and filled the dumplings, they praised the team leader for having a well-stocked pantry and Cole for his world-class submarine skills. The mood was light and harmonious.

Stella's mind drifted for a moment, thinking of the high-rise, the villa district in Newtown, sharing Moutai and hot pot with Austin and the second-generation slipper moguls. Having survived two major disasters in one day, the journey that followed was smooth sailing, and they arrived safely at the fifth coordinate. This time it was underwater, and only a little over a hundred meters deep. According to the sonar, the container was neither damaged nor buried.

Stella was brimming with confidence; this task seemed like the easiest yet, practically a hand-wave away from entering Arcadia. That's what she thought, and that's what she set out to do. Daniel's pneumonia hadn't fully cleared up and needed careful nursing. Besides, this was Rosie's first real independent mission, and Stella couldn't help but worry. Emerging from the depths, she realized how much the feeling of home meant – an irresistible pull to return to familiar comforts. Stella suited up in her diving gear, giddy as she swam towards the Kindle Chest. As she approached the chest, something seemed to light up abruptly. There was something on the Kindle Chest, quite a lot of something! When she finally made out what it was, Stella's mouth went agape in shock, nearly letting in a mouthful of seawater.

Run, she thought. Flee as fast as you can! She turned tail, her earlier bravado lost in a flutter of panic. Cole was stunned. Was he seeing things, or had Stella been possessed? Jasper, sharp-eyed, shoved him forward. "Move it!"

in silt and surrounded by a writhing mass of sea snakes. Belcher's sea snakes - the most venomous in the world. They thrived in the reefs, reaching up to three meters before the catastrophe. Despite their mild aggression, their venom remained potent even after being exposed to 100°C for 5 minutes, and it was stable in both acidic and alkaline environments. But now, in the post-catastrophe world, they had mutated,

deadly precision. Stella, like most people who feared snakes, was out-swimming even the fastest Belarusian sprinter. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," she cursed internally. "That was too close for comfort!"

Chest from their clutches. Why on earth had the snakes made the chest their stronghold? There must have been hundreds, and just one glance was enough to trigger a bout of trypophobia. Amelia, unaware of the situation, remarked, "Wow, you guys are fast." Everyone was

hers, especially since the Kindle Chest was critical for the base's future and they lacked the equipment to salvage it properly. He looked to Jasper, unsure of how to broach the subject. They all understood the logic, but overcoming a psychological barrier wasn't so easy, especially given the lethality of the Belcher's sea snakes. Now that the truth was out, they came together to brainstorm

could use sonar to drive them away." "Doesn't the sub have a harpoon gun? Fire one of those off." "Blow them up with depth charges - the Kindle Chest can

to retrieve it." Choosing this path meant there was no room for child's play. Earlier, fear had simply overpowered her logic - it was just a few hundred snakes, after all. She'd been through life-threatening situations

herself. She was a grown adult, after all. She

trials and tribulations, he knew her next move and said to Cole, "We're going back down. Keep an eye out for snakes that might come up." Cole was worried sick at

about snakes? She had survived the apocalypse. Jasper held her hand, facing the fear with her. As they

She felt the snakes wrap around her diving suit, tightening around her arms... In a flash, the Kindle Chest was secured within Arcadia, nestled in The Garden. She and Jasper emerged in the villa's

the snakes were long and surprisingly strong, and their venom spurted out toward the suit. Several snakes leaped at the diving mask, but Stella slashed at them with her knife, killing a few, and then doused Jasper with a mixture of realgar and alcohol. The concoction's pungent smell was unbearable for the Belcher's sea snakes, and those clinging to Jasper quickly