18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 26

Without further ado, Lukas knocked on the door of their friendly neighbors in this post-apocalyptic world. Upon hearing their need for medicine, Jasper agreed after some consideration.

As usual, Angela stayed behind with the kid to guard their base. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

Even though Cody proposed the idea of the world's end, Angela still had her concerns. She wasn't ready to believe it fully, and after some hesitation, she said, "On this trip, focus on finding survival supplies and medicine. Anything else...you can decide whether you need it or not."

She didn't spell it out, but those who understood, got it.

Stella quickly caught on. "If we find medicine and survival supplies, we will split it evenly. Any personal needs aren't included, but let's not use too much of the group's resources."

Everyone agreed; it was better to be clear from the start.

With one speedboat and three rubber boats, they could bring back lots of supplies. Their only worry was that someone else might get to them first.

There were 20 kilometers to Cody's company, and the four of them braved the rain on their speedboat.

As they had guessed, the water flow became more complex the further they got from the city, and the wind started to blow. Even the best sailor would struggle to navigate through such conditions.

Jasper, however, was skilled enough to traverse the complex waterways. In the gloomy weather, they spotted a few skyscrapers standing above the water. Cody pointed out the direction, and they moved towards the skyscrapers. Through the glass on the fifth floor, they could see an office submerged in the flood.

"The office looks pretty tidy; it probably hasn't been looted yet."

They took a hammer and smashed the glass, letting the floodwater rush in. Once the water level stabilized, they entered the skyscraper and secured their speedboat.

They were lucky, the large skyscraper hadn't been looted yet. With a clear goal, they headed straight to the 12th floor, where Cody's pharmaceutical company was located.

Using bolt cutters, they broke the lock and Cody was the first one to reach his desk. Upon seeing several large boxes piled up behind it, he sighed in relief. "I was supposed to deliver these to the pharmacy that day. But then the storm came, and they delayed the delivery, so I brought the goods back to the company."

The goods were a variety of things, including antibiotics, rheumatism medication, cold medicine, and much more.

The pharmaceutical company wasn't big, with only about a dozen people in the sales department. The exhibition room had all sorts of medicines. Although the volume wasn't much, there were many different types, and they managed to fill several large boxes.

Stella suggested, "We have limited space, so let's remove the outer packaging and just take the medicine. That should save us about three-quarters of the space."

"Sure, I know what each medicine is for anyway. I can sort them out when we get back."

While they were removing the packaging, Stella searched the workstations. She found coffee, biscuits, various snacks, tea for the men, herbal tea for the women, and some instant noodle.

The quantity wasn't much, but they didn't leave anything behind.

The pantry had more stuff, all the drinks, tea, and bottled water were taken. Stella even took the packages left at the reception desk; as long as they were useful, they would take it.

Whatever they didn't need, she secretly stuffed into Arcadia.

The medicines filled up two large backpacks, making it a fruitful trip.

After hiding the other supplies, they moved to the 15th floor with the medicine. There were three pharmaceutical companies in the building, and they prioritized collecting from all of them.

The second one also had a lot of medicine. Cody looked at the large fridge in the exhibition room with regret. "This company mainly deals with vaccines. These are all valuable, but we can't take them."

Through the glass, Stella saw several types of vaccines for smallpox, tetanus, rabies, meningitis, HPV, influenza, and more. The fridge was designed to keep running for a month after a power outage, but once taken out, the vaccines wouldn't be able to be preserved at room temperature.

Stella glanced at them without saying anything and continued to gather supplies.

They stuffed a rubber boat after going through the three pharmaceutical companies.

Around one o’clock in the afternoon, they sat down for a meal, feeling hungry. They had coffee, tea, and various popular snacks they had found.

Listening to the rain outside and eating snacks, it felt like one of the best moments in their life.

“We have enough medicine now, but not much food. There are a few internet infuencer live- streaming companies in this building. Let’s try our luck.”

No sooner said than done, they continued to pry.

Unfortunately, the first one was a makeup and skincare company. Cody and Lukas weren’t interested, but Stella’s eyes lit up. High-end skincare products, makeup, lipstick, face masks, and luxury creams, were piled everywhere. Stella didn't hold back and picked the most expensive ones to put in her bag.

Lukas thought of bringing something back for Angela, so he picked a few items too.

The men weren't interested. They were only looking for survival supplies, so they moved on to the second company. "Stella, hurry up, we'll wait for you upstairs."

Once they left, Stella cleared everything and put them into Arcadia.

Their luck didn't improve, the second company was a women's clothing company, with all sorts of clothes, dresses, shoes, bags, and more. Lukas picked a few items for Angela, and Stella also chose several pieces.

Finally, the third company was a food company, but it was all snacks - beef jerky, lamb jerky, nuts, various types of bread and pastries, popular drinks, and even ice-cream, but it had all melted in the freezer. These items took up a lot of space, so they filled several large black plastic bags. Even the garbage bags from the cleaning room weren't spared, as they could come in handy.

Time passed quickly, and they realized that their approach wasn't efficient enough.

Stella suggested that they split up to cover different floors, which would save time and increase efficiency. There were a total of 15 floors above the water surface. Stella was responsible for three floors, and the three men each took four floors.

Stella was assigned the 12th to 15th floors, and she decided to start from the 15th floor and work her way down.

Once she reached the 15th floor, she went back to the pharmaceutical company and took all the vaccines from the fridge. Arcadia could keep them fresh, no matter how long they were stored.

Time was running out, so she decided to focus on the larger companies first. She spotted the local office of a well-known appliance company in Griffith. The product exhibition hall was large, with air conditioners, washing machines, fridges, smart cookers, and all sorts of trendy appliances.

In her past life, she heard that the government would be setting up bases around the country in the future, and some of them had pretty good conditions. Plus, Arcadia had a solar generator, so Stella decided to pick a few items she liked, just in case they came in handy in the future. If they didn't end up needing them, they could always throw them away.

She chose a six-figure double-door fridge, a five-figure air conditioner and washing machine, a multifunctional air conditioner fan, an ice maker, a cooker, a bread maker, a soy milk machine, a wireless vacuum cleaner, a dryer, and more. Stella liked cooking but hated washing dishes, so she decisively took several dishwashers.

These items took up a lot of space, but luckily they had cleared out Arcadia in time.

The perks of working for a large corporation were quite impressive. The break room was brimming with all sorts of goodies. Milk, snacks, and drinks were a given, but there was also an assortment of whole grains available. Dried fruits and nuts, and even delicacies like caviar and lobster, presumably for entertaining clients. Unfortunately, all the fresh fruits had spoiled, leaving only a pile of wilting lemons.

Adjacent to the break room was a bakery, specifically set up for the employees. It was stocked with milk, flour, cake mix, eggs, condensed milk, dried fruits, and many others. The refrigerator was stocked with red wine and steaks, although the steaks, too, had spoiled.

Stella wasn't in need of these, nor did she want to deplete the resources that Lukas and Cody might need. She packed up everything useful.

The workstations were also thoroughly scavenged. Useful items were kept, and inconvenient ones were thrown into Arcadia, like wires, sockets, and various tools, along with all kinds of books.

While unpacking a delivery, she discovered two pairs of ice skates. Considering they might’ve been useful in extreme cold, she tossed them into Arcadia as well.

From under a workstation, she dragged out two large parcels. The delivery note didn't specify the content, so she sliced it open with a knife.

Well, what do you know? To her surprise, both boxes were full of condoms. Two large boxes, amounting to a total of three thousand.

Stella glanced up at the nameplate on the workstation - it read 'Max King.'

She praised every warrior who prepared for every sexual experience!