18 Floors Above the Apocalypse
Chapter 59

Jasper was paddling the inflatable boat, with Mikey on board, until they reached a spot about thirty yards out on the water. The fishing machine turned on, emitting a faint, buzzing, and harsh sound. Cooper, was restless, constantly nudging his head here and there.

Cody was scanning the water with binoculars and after a few minutes, he exclaimed excitedly, "Fish, there are really fish. They're jumping out!"

Stella took over the binoculars and, sure enough, she saw fish after fish leaping out of the water, belly-up after a few seconds.

After lingering in one spot for about ten minutes, the inflatable boat moved to another location. Stella inflated a life raft, took a duffle bag, and paddled her way towards the floating fish. The dog, Cooper, was in the lead, tirelessly paddling with his paws.

The belly-up fish were carried away by the current. With their three inflatable boats and four people, they paddled towards the fish, using their oars to scoop the fish into the bags.

The fish were not small; most weighed between six to eleven pounds, with a few heavier ones. The variety of fish in the reservoir was wide, including carp, catfish, and bass.

The reservoir, estimated to be about forty acres, was continuously being filled by the rainwater. As the reservoir overflowed, many fish were carried away by the current. If it weren't for this disaster, they could have caught tens of thousands of dollars' worth of fish. It was a rich harvest indeed.

The fishing machine was a huge drain on the battery, and it probably wouldn't last for many more catches. The fish in the reservoir would eventually be washed away by the overflowing water. What a waste...

While stuffing the fish into the bag, Stella took the opportunity to touch the fish in the water and put them into Arcadia.

Witnessing the fish vanishing from Stella's hands, Cooper, the dog, widened his eyes in astonishment. She was performing her magic trick again!

Under Stella's guidance, Cooper had developed a habit. Whenever she performed her magic trick, he would immediately become alert and start to keep watch around them.

In less than an hour, they had filled one duffle bag, weighing about 180 pounds.

Joey and Amber, who were diligent and not lazy, had already filled two duffle bags.

Cody shouted from a distance, "You two slow down. The fish are getting swept away."

Jasper and Mikey were also collection fish, their catch piled in eight bags under a tree, weighing about 700 to 800 pounds.

With no fish to eat, they were worried, but now that the fish had piled up like a mountain, they wondered how to get them out?

"Why don't we just catch a few hundred pounds each day?"

Mikey expressed his worry. "The fishing machine's battery won't last much longer."

"Can it be charged?"

"Yes, it can. But where can we charge it?"

Jasper suggested, "Let's exchange the fish first, and then ask them if they can charge it."

'Them' referred to the group of people from Monkey.

Stella had no objection, and so they agreed to carry a bag of fish down the hill each to exchange first.

They couldn't carry all the fish, so someone had to stay behind and guard them. Given her age and physique, Stella was the only choice.

Once Jasper's figure disappeared and she made sure there was no one around, she moved the remaining four bags of fish onto the life raft, paddled to the middle of the reservoir, and turned on the fishing machine. A few minutes later, fish began to float to the surface, belly-up. Stella took out a large net to scoop up the fish on the water surface and store them in Arcadia.

With the large number of fish in the reservoir, and her timely collection, each catch consisted of approximately 200 to 300 fish. After five rounds with the fishing machine, about 2,000 fish were caught, weighing several thousand pounds.

When the fishing machine ran out of power, Stella took out a solar power storage box from Arcadia.

After it was fully charged, she caught another haul. She didn't know exactly how much she had stored, but it was certain to be more than 20,000 pounds.

She charged half of the battery for the fishing machine again, then paddled along the edge of the reservoir, picking up quite a few dead fish that had been washed up by the current, enough to fill three duffle bags.

About half an hour later, Cooper became alert, and soon after, they heard the voices of Cody and the others. They soon arrived at the meeting point and were surprised to see three extra bags of fish. Cody asked in astonishment, "Stella, where did these fish come from?" "While you guys were gone, I went around the edge of the reservoir and found quite a few more fish." Stella looked up and asked, "Did the trade go well?"

Cody looked both happy and worried when he mentioned this matter. "They want fish, but they can't eat this much. Plus, they're only willing to exchange one pound of rice for every two pounds of fish. They can only give us 200 pounds of fresh rice at most, and the rest has to be bartered with other goods."

Scarcity made things more valuable, and fish meat was cheaper than pork.

Grain was becoming increasingly scarce, so its price naturally soared. Receiving 800 pounds of fish at once might not be easy to sell.

Stella asked, "What do we do now?"

The other items included medicine, canned food, salt, oil, clothing, and a variety of other things.

Jasper was willing to contribute. "Whoever is in urgent need of food can take my share. We can exchange it for medicine, canned food, or salt and oil."

Stella didn't mind. The people in room 1803 definitely needed food, since all three of them were big eaters. The Moore family was even more in need, so the shares of Stella and Jasper were divided equally between room 1803 and the Moore family.

The Moore family wanted broken rice, which would give them a bigger quantity, since they had a family to feed.

Stella asked the key question, "Do we continue fishing?"

"Of course."

Wasting food was a sin.

Amber already had an idea. "If they don't want it, we'll take it. We can make fried fish, crispy fish, smoked fish, or pickled fish."

In short, there were a hundred ways to eat it.

On the way back, they took a shortcut. Amber found a large patch of wild kudzu in the valley. She thought they could dig them up, crush and wash them to extract kudzu powder, which could serve as a source of sustenance. Stella was stunned. Indeed, human wisdom was truly infinite.

After discussion, they turned on the fishing machine again. As they fished, Cody frowned. "Why does it feel like there are fewer fish?"

Stella took a deep breath. And she thought to herself: "It's not me. I didn't do it!"

Jasper spoke up. "The ultrasonic waves have an impact on the fish. If they sense the danger, they will follow the current out."

That made sense. Besides, they had caught so many fish that they couldn't finish eating them all, and they were worried about how to deal with them.

After several rounds with the fishing machine, they caught more than a thousand pounds of fish and finally called it a day.

Cody, smelling heavily of fish and feeling nauseous even to himself, said, "Let's deal with these fish first, then figure out how to charge the battery."

Everyone agreed, and after filling their stomachs, they carried the fish down the hill.

They found a shortcut, making this trip much easier. After several rounds of carrying, all the fish were piled up in the villa. Even after the fish for the trade were deducted, there were still more than a thousand pounds left. Taking them back to the apartment was out of the question. The Moore family would be targeted immediately.

Stella exchanged a glance with Cody and then suggested processing the fish at the villa. The Moore family agreed enthusiastically, "That's a great idea."

So, Stella and Amber stayed behind to process the fish, while the four men took the fish to trade.

Handing Amber a butcher's knife, Stella squatted down to scale the fish, gut it, and cut it into chunks.

Cooper had a fat, juicy fish in his mouth, happily gnawing on it on the side.

The gas that was leftover from the last time they made meat sauce was still stored at the villa. Although there was not much left, it was definitely enough to fry some fish.

Under the guise of searching for supplies, Stella dug out the propane stove and some cooking oil and salt from the fireplace duct on the second floor.

Amber was incredibly surprised, exclaiming, "You young folks are really good at replaceing things."

There wasn't much oil, but it was enough to fry a few batches before they returned.

Amber was skilled at pan-frying, so Stella continued to prepare the fish.

The scent of crispy fish was too strong. All the chunks of fish in the pan were overcooked, but Amber seemed to have no intention of taking them out. Stella delicately suggested, "If they're fried too dry, they won't be edible, right?" "We need to fry out all the moisture. With this weather, it's easy for things to get damp, and we can't store them for long."

Fried food wasn't healthy, but filling up their stomachs and surviving was the most important thing.

Indeed, storage was a big issue. Stella, having choices, naturally wouldn't eat overcooked fish, "Cooper likes fish. Just fry mine the usual way, please."

Amber was amazed. How could they possibly finish so many fish before they putrefied?