18 Floors Above the Apocalypse
Chapter 183

Stella felt a pang of emotion, never expecting Katie to be so reliable. "Thank you so much."

"It's us, the Moores, who should be thanking you." Katie clasped her hand, "Without your help these two years, I can't imagine what would have befallen us."

This girl, though cold on the outside, was always secretly helping others. If they didn't move to the 17th floor, the survival of the Moores would have been uncertain.

Life at the research institute was tough, but it was better than the common folk. Besides having a monthly salary, they also had the benefit of fresh water. The quantity wasn't much, but it was enough for a family.

Katie brought out a small package, "Stella, I've got some vegetable seeds for you. If you plant them well, you'll have something to eat in a fortnight. Remember to save some seeds. Don't eat them all."

It wasn't much, maybe half an ounce. "We've gathered some seeds too, during our travels." Stella declined her offer and asked, "When are you moving? Jasper and I can help."

Her kids were working during the day, so Katie didn't hesitate, "We're moving tomorrow. Your help would be appreciated."

She gave Katie the remaining hay, which could be used to feed the rabbits.

There was still water in the water tower, and it hadn't gone bad even though they had added purification tablets. Stella declined this too.

People came and went, and in the end, only she and Jasper remained. Stella wondered how Lukas and the others were doing.

Stella herded the rabbits upstairs to continue raising them in 1803.

The rooftop was hot and stuffy, so she took out ice cubes to cool down the rabbits, along with some fresh hay, vegetables, and carrots. Having adapted, the rabbits were no longer afraid of water and happily licked the ice cubes.

As the sun went down, Jasper took the dog to the rooftop for training. Stella, who followed after, was almost taken aback when she saw the dog carrying bricks and crawling or climbing.

Jasper's training method had completely changed.

Stella wondered, "Are you training it for coordinated combat?"

On the way back, she felt that Jasper was off. She initially thought it was because of Rosie, but now it seemed more complicated.

Stella asked, "Those guys who collect protection grain are not small fry, are they?"

Jasper didn't hide it, "Yeah. These guys may be a motley crew, but they've formed a base with almost 200 people."

Stella pondered. His detailed knowledge suggested previous encounters, "Have you dealt with them before?"

"They were stationed at the junction between Griffith and Swan Hill. They not only collected tolls but also robbed people. The survivors were suffering. Griffith joined forces with Swan Hill's police, launching a major offensive that took down two of their bases." But that was six months from now.

After experiencing a severe earthquake, survival got harder and they became more ruthless, completely blocking the survivors' way out.

Two bases? Stella was shocked, "Are you saying that the crew who collected tolls in Swan Hill is also a private base?"

To put it nicely, it was a base, but actually it was a gathering of thugs who were increasingly rampant. Now, Jasper had wiped out the check post. They wouldn't just let that go. Living in peace seemed harder and harder. Stella didn't want to cause trouble, but if trouble came knocking, there was no way to avoid it.

"It's okay. We'll kill everyone who comes to us."

Anyway, he'd given her quite a few homemade bombs and molotovs. She wouldn't hesitate to use them when the time came.

Facing these thugs, the more you tolerate, the more they'd push.

Jasper looked at her, "Are you scared?"

That was a no-brainer. Who wasn't afraid of death? But fear wouldn't help.

Stella managed a laugh, "I'm scared, but I won't just sit around waiting for death."

Jasper sat beside her, "Don't worry. You have me."

The next day, Jasper drove Katie.

The Moores had moved everything they could. Katie didn't have much luggage. The hay was strapped to the top of the Hummer, and the water was in the trunk. Rosie and Cooper couldn't bear to part with Katie and went with her.

The research institute was near the suburbs and consisted of several large buildings where all kinds of researchers gathered. The family quarters occupied a large area.

In this era, anyone who could still drive a car was definitely not ordinary. The Hummer stopped under the family building, attracting many envious eyes.

Stella watched the car while Jasper helped with the luggage.

Katie kept thanking them, "Stella, Jasper, we're on the third floor. Come visit us when you can."

Returning to Sunrise Sanctuary, the once lively apartment building now only had Stella and Jasper holding their ground. It was eerily quiet.

Jasper fixed the front door of the building and changed the lock, making it harder for outsiders to enter. Meanwhile, the three doors on the 16th floor were re-electrified, making it a challenge for anyone trying to break in.

The two of them started their hermit life, rarely going out during the day. They turned on the air conditioning, watched cartoons and read medical books. Aside from training Cooper and Rosie, Jasper seemed quite relaxed.

After sunset, Stella took the dog to the rooftop for a walk. Cooper had lost weight recently, due to Jasper's additional training. This fellow had an amazing bite force, carrying homemade bombs and molotovs weighing over 10 pounds, jumping around without panting. She took out a ball and threw it for the dog to relax, but as she kept throwing, Stella's expression turned serious.

Jasper came upstairs, "What's wrong?"

Stella commanded the dog to sit, then threw the ball. The ball rolled and rolled, sliding towards the south. After several tries, the result was the same.

Stella's expression was solemn, "There's something wrong with this building."

Perhaps there had been problems for a while. The building was already old and had been soaked in floodwater, then frozen for a year, and now subject to high temperatures. Stella might not have noticed in her previous life, otherwise, it wouldn't have collapsed during the earthquake.

The quality of the building was quite good; other buildings with shallow foundations or poor quality had either collapsed or cracked already.

It seemed that they couldn't live here anymore. They needed to replace a new place before the earthquake hit.

But the earthquake caused severe damage, and most of the buildings had collapsed in her last life. Finding a safe house wouldn't be easy.

Jasper sat beside her, "We'll have to take it slow. We'll go look for a place tomorrow."

Planning to replaceing a new house, they woke up especially early the next day. After breakfast, they packed their valuable belongings into the Arcadia, took Cooper and Rosie, and went out to search for a house.

Before leaving the complex, they circled the apartment building and indeed found a crack on the south wall.

It was not particularly noticeable, and even from a distance, looking at the whole structure, one wouldn't be able to see that it was already tilting.

But it was true; just because you couldn't see it didn't mean it wasn't happening.

Finding a house wasn't an easy task either. Older buildings were out of the question, and new ones... well, you never knew if the developers were honest or not.

Stella pondered, "What if we look for a place with fewer buildings and more open spaces?"

In the event of an earthquake, at least there would be time to run.

Jasper thought for a moment, "Let's go check out Eastwood Eden."

Eastwood Eden? Stella had never heard of it.

"It's adjacent to the outskirts of the city. Should be a newly developed real estate project."

It was a long time ago, and Jasper couldn't remember very clearly. He recalled participating in the rescue efforts after the earthquake. He encountered a civilian rescue team organized around a residential community. The team leader mentioned that their neighborhood didn't collapse.

Not only had they taken part in the rescue, but they had also responded to the city's call to free up some empty buildings to shelter the homeless.

Stella pulled out her phone and used her offline map to search for Eastwood Eden, but it came up with nothing.