Madness After the Apocalypse-Chapter 18: Jadeite Rough

An Nan had been staying indoors, avoiding any unnecessary attention. It seemed like her reserves were abundant, but staying hidden for too long could make others curious.

While no one bothered her for now, An Nan knew that as time went on, desperation could make people do anything, including breaking into others' homes.

Thus, she decided to step outside for some fresh air, taking her dog Fu Gui with her.

Although the reinforced door was solid, she wasn't sure if there were still any lock experts like Liu Lao'er in the neighborhood. Leaving Fu Gui at home felt unsafe, and fortunately, the small dog fit comfortably into her backpack without weighing her down.

Fu Gui had never been in a backpack before and resisted a bit, pawing at it.

An Nan teased, "If you don't hide, someone might grab you and turn you into dog stew!"

"Woof, woof, woof!"

Fu Gui's eyes widened in fear, and in an instant, he scampered into the open backpack, turning around to paw at the zipper as if asking An Nan to close it.

"Little rascal!" An Nan chuckled as she zipped up the bag, leaving just a small opening for air before slinging it over her shoulder.

She had also taken out a small inflatable boat from her space and carried it to the seventh floor.

Due to the flood, the sixth floor was submerged, and now the seventh floor was essentially the ground floor. People entered and exited through the windows of the seventh-floor hallway.

As she stepped out, she noticed many of the neighbors from her building heading out in groups. In the chaotic new world, people often fought over supplies.

To preserve their scavenged goods, most formed teams based on their building blocks, searching together.

At first, there had been some tension due to past break-ins, but after a few failed solo attempts and being robbed by others, the residents had started to cooperate, at least temporarily, for mutual benefit.

Except for An Nan and the Zhao family from the 15th floor, everyone else was present.

An Nan's inflatable boat stood out starkly in contrast to the mismatched "boats" and containers the others used.

While the others had buckets, pots, and makeshift rafts, she was the only one with a real boat. Naturally, everyone eyed her with envy, but when they saw who was carrying it, memories of the blood stains on the walls made them quickly abandon any thoughts of approaching her.

The fat uncle from apartment 1302, however, smiled warmly and approached her.

"Hello, I'm Sun Peng, the temporary team leader for our unit. You must be An Nan? Welcome to join us on our supply run."

An Nan eyed him carefully.

Most of the others were gaunt from hunger, but Sun Peng still looked well-fed, his face round and oily, a clear sign that his stockpiled jerky had kept him satisfied.

"I'm good," she replied curtly, "I'll go alone."

She had no intention of teaming up with them. It would be inconvenient to use her space, and frankly, this group wasn't likely to find anything of real value.

In her previous life, An Nan had been in such a group. The small amount of food they scavenged was barely enough to divide between everyone.

Bai Wenbin and Qian Ying'er were also part of the group.

Bai Wenbin seemed about to say something, but Qian Ying'er tugged at him, eyeing An Nan surreptitiously.

An Nan caught their gaze and decided to completely ignore them.

To her surprise, the buzz-cut man from 1301 was also there, holding his wife's hand and standing at the back of the group, clearly keeping his distance from Sun Peng.

It seemed the situation outside had gotten so bad that the buzz-cut man, despite his previous cowardice, had no choice but to join the others.

An Nan thought to herself: The apocalypse really changes everything—murderers and witnesses are now teaming up for food runs.

Sun Peng, still trying to win her over, called out, "It's dangerous out there. You'll be safer with us."

He smiled broadly, looking sincere, but internally, he was scheming: If he could hitch a ride on her boat, it would save him a lot of effort! Besides, with her strength, she would be a great asset to the team.

It wouldn't be hard for her to take out a couple of people. Look how scared the others were! It was nothing to him—he'd killed before, they just didn't know it.

An Nan firmly rejected again, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Without further word, she moved past the curious stares and stepped out of the window, pushing the inflatable boat forward.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

Sun Peng, humiliated in front of everyone, gritted his teeth, but maintained a smile as he waved to the neighbors.

"Well, if she doesn't want to join, let's go too."

Bai Wenbin and Qian Ying'er exchanged a look, their eyes dark with desire.

"Brother, did you notice? She hasn't lost weight, and her skin's even looking better," Qian Ying'er whispered, jealousy seeping through her words.

Bai Wenbin thought for a moment and replied, "Her supplies must be abundant..."

The siblings exchanged a look of greed.

Despite the thoughts of others, An Nan sailed away from the neighborhood in her inflatable boat, heading out toward the larger city.

The streets were packed with people, most of them in groups, breaking into high-rise buildings in search of supplies.

An Nan avoided the crowds and steered her boat toward quieter areas.

Her space had enough stockpiled to last her a lifetime, so her goal wasn't the same as the others. She was here to find jadeite.

Since her space could upgrade, she intended to make it the highest level possible. While its size was currently enough, she felt that its full potential had yet to be realized.

With all the shopping malls submerged, searching through every jewelry shop for jadeite was impractical. Though she had diving equipment, she wasn't professionally trained, and repeated dives could be dangerous.

She planned to find a place where she could gather as much jadeite as possible in one go.

A gem stone auction had been held earlier in the year at Mingxing Plaza in Guangcheng District, but when the flood came, the event hadn't finished yet.

She was sure that many jadeite rough stones would still be lying around unsold.

An Nan made her way to Guangcheng District, a long and treacherous journey through the flooded streets, taking hours to reach the vicinity of Mingxing Plaza.

The area was low-lying and one of the oldest parts of the city, with six-story residential buildings, most of which had been completely submerged.

No one had come here to search for supplies, and the area was eerily quiet.

An Nan located the general area of the plaza, left Fu Gui on the boat, and donned her diving gear before plunging into the water.

She quickly realized that the plaza was still some distance away, so she swam over.

To her surprise, the event was still set up, with ticket barriers and security, though everything was flooded.

An Nan swam to the area where the stones had been displayed. She wasn't familiar with jadeite and couldn't distinguish its quality just by looking at these dull, grey stones.

Instead of wasting time analyzing, she decided to simply collect them, trusting that her space would sort them out.

Jadeite of better quality would expand her space significantly, while lower-quality ones would have little effect.

Some stones didn't even contain jadeite at all and were ignored by the space.

"Seems like betting on stones is risky business. Be careful how much you invest," An Nan mused as she collected every stone in sight.

Her space grew larger and larger, surpassing one million square meters, and her jade bracelets became more transparent.

An Nan was thrilled. This trip had definitely been worth it.

But just as she continued gathering, she suddenly noticed... the space stopped expanding.

What was happening?!