18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 557

Years of surviving natural disasters had made everyone experts in staying alive. Stella, feeling her strength return, examined the seaweed closely. There were no signs of abnormal growth.

"Why don't we give it a try?" Amelia suggested.

No one objected; in fact, they were eager to try. They chose the healthiest-looking strand, washed it thoroughly, chopped it into pieces, and blanched it in boiling water for ten minutes. Then, they added a generous amount of salt and let it stew for a full hour.

An hour should be enough to kill any virus.

But when it finally came time to eat, there was a palpable hesitation. Jake, one of the team members, stood up decisively. "I'll go first."

With a bravery that bordered on recklessness, he grabbed a forkful of the seaweed and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing determinedly.

"How does it feel?" the others asked nervously.

Stella couldn't help but laugh. "Even if there were any viruses, they'd be dead by now. At worst, you might get an upset stomach, and I've got medicine for that. Don't worry too much."

Relieved, Amelia added, "Right, Stella's our medic."

After half an hour with no ill effects, Jake helped himself to another generous forkful. Another half hour passed, and he ate even more. After two hours without any sign of discomfort, Jake went for a whole bowl.

Stella finally intervened. "Moderation is key. Let's not actually ruin your stomach."

That night, Jake slept without any adverse reactions, and the group decided to have seaweed soup for breakfast the next morning. True to their plan, Stella and the others enjoyed a hearty seaweed soup the following day.

The Kindle Chest had been retrieved, and Cole proposed they collect seaweed as a supplementary food source. Most of the seaweed grew in shallow waters, away from the larger, more dangerous sea creatures, making it safe to harvest.

They didn't spend much time retrieving the Kindle Chest, and it was too early to return. Jasper agreed, "Let's spend some time gathering seaweed. It'll be a valuable addition to our supplies."

The task of collecting the Kindle Chest was light, so everyone volunteered to harvest seaweed. The eleven team members dove into the sea while three stayed above to collect the haul, spreading it out to dry on the deck of the nuclear submarine.

After two days of hard work, they had gathered over 4,000 pounds of seaweed. Since a pound of wet seaweed dried down to about four ounces, they ended up with roughly a thousand pounds of dried seaweed after all their labor.

Despite growing a bit tired of it, the seaweed was a welcome change to their diet and provided many of the nutrients their bodies needed, so everyone was quite happy.

After drying the seaweed, they set course for the second set of coordinates, over four hundred nautical miles away. The team members, all around the same age, quickly became familiar with one another.

The twelve single folks on the team would groan whenever their captain flaunted his sweet relationship, feeling like they were at a live 'rubbing-salt-in-the-wounds' show. Even in the face of disaster, the sweetness between the couple made everyone else yearn for a spontaneous wedding.

After days of observation, no one showed any unusual behavior, and Cole was particularly helpful in providing cover for everyone. During casual chats, Amelia and some of the others even speculated about the potential benefits the collected Kindle Chests could have for their base's development.