18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 561

Stella carefully unpacked the first aid kit she'd grabbed from the hospital, cleansing and bandaging the wound with practiced hands, even adding a couple of stitches where needed. The team worked together seamlessly, and in no time, they had the submarine spick and span.

With the sea finally calm, Stella, always the one to step up, offered to fix a hearty meal – she suggested making dumplings. Flour, dried green beans, cured pork – simple, yet filling. After more than a decade of life-and-death experiences, especially for a special forces soldier like herself, the concept of mortality had become somewhat abstract. As they rolled out the dough and filled the dumplings, they praised the team leader for having a well-stocked pantry and Cole for his world-class submarine skills. The mood was light and harmonious.

Stella's mind drifted for a moment, thinking of the high-rise, the villa district in Newtown, sharing Moutai and hot pot with Austin and the second-generation slipper moguls. Having survived two major disasters in one day, the journey that followed was smooth sailing, and they arrived safely at the fifth coordinate. This time it was underwater, and only a little over a hundred meters deep. According to the sonar, the container was neither damaged nor buried.

Stella was brimming with confidence; this task seemed like the easiest yet, practically a hand-wave away from entering Arcadia. That's what she thought, and that's what she set out to do. Daniel's pneumonia hadn't fully cleared up and needed careful nursing. Besides, this was Rosie's first real independent mission, and Stella couldn't help but worry. Emerging from the depths, she realized how much the feeling of home meant – an irresistible pull to return to familiar comforts.

Stella suited up in her diving gear, giddy as she swam towards the Kindle Chest. As she approached the chest, something seemed to light up abruptly. There was something on the Kindle Chest, quite a lot of something! When she finally made out what it was, Stella's mouth went agape in shock, nearly letting in a mouthful of seawater.

Run, she thought. Flee as fast as you can! She turned tail, her earlier bravado lost in a flutter of panic. Cole was stunned. Was he seeing things, or had Stella been possessed? Jasper, sharp-eyed, shoved him forward. "Move it!"

The murky underwater light masked the sight of the chest, enveloped in silt and surrounded by a writhing mass of sea snakes. Belcher's sea snakes – the most venomous in the world. They thrived in the reefs, reaching up to three meters before the catastrophe. Despite their mild aggression, their venom remained potent even after being exposed to 100°C for 5 minutes, and it was stable in both acidic and alkaline environments. But now, in the post-catastrophe world, they had mutated, their grotesque eyes betraying an absence of goodwill.

Sensing the approach of intruders, several Belcher's sea snakes uncoiled and chased after them with deadly precision. Stella, like most people who feared snakes, was out-swimming even the fastest Belarusian sprinter. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," she cursed internally. "That was too close for comfort!" Jasper and Cole could hardly keep up with her frantic escape. What she had anticipated as the simplest task had turned into the most challenging. The mere thought of the chest, swarming with Belcher's sea snakes, raised goosebumps all over her skin.

She couldn't stand the sight of snakes, let alone wrestle the Kindle Chest from their clutches. Why on earth had the snakes made the chest their stronghold? There must have been hundreds, and just one glance was enough to trigger a bout of trypophobia. Amelia, unaware of the situation, remarked, "Wow, you guys are fast." Everyone was relieved; they could finally go home.

Everyone has their fears, and Cole didn't want to force Stella to face hers, especially since the Kindle Chest was critical for the base's future and they lacked the equipment to salvage it properly. He looked to Jasper, unsure of how to broach the subject. They all understood the logic, but overcoming a psychological barrier wasn't so easy, especially given the lethality of the Belcher's sea snakes. Now that the truth was out, they came together to brainstorm solutions.

"We could use sonar to drive them away." "Doesn't the sub have a harpoon gun? Fire one of those off." "Blow them up with depth charges – the Kindle Chest can take it." "Our sub is built to withstand tsunamis; just ram it into the chest."