Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 19: Never Running Out of Money

But no matter how hard Mariella searched—turning the whole storage space upside down and going through every inch of storage space—there was no sign of the jewelry.

How could that be?

Mariella was certain she had put every piece into the storage space. There was no way she'd made a mistake.

She stepped inside the storage space and searched again and again, but still found nothing.

She couldn't help but stare in shock. Had the storage space swallowed her jewelry?!

Mariella stood there in a daze for a few minutes before she finally noticed something was off.

The countdown timer in the storage space had changed to an hour and a half. That meant she now had an extra 30 minutes inside it every day.

The virtual display showed the room area as about 900 square feet, roughly 40 square feet larger than before. The total volume had increased by around 1,060 cubic feet as well.

Mariella blinked in surprise, then a wave of joy hit her—her storage space had grown!

It had only expanded after swallowing the gold, silver, and emerald jewelry she'd bought. That meant as long as she kept feeding it valuables like these, it would keep getting bigger.

At last, she knew exactly how to spend the remaining balance in her account.

She used to regret how limited the storage space was, but now she had found the solution.

Only then did she notice the emerald bracelet on her wrist looked clearer and more refined than before, like its quality had improved.

Mariella was so excited she couldn't sleep, itching to run to a jewelry store and buy everything they had.

But at this hour, every jewelry shop was already closed. If she really showed up and banged on the doors, people might think she was trying to rob the place.

She took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down, but there was no way she could fall asleep.

...

In the middle of the night, Mariella knocked on Chandler's bedroom door.

He was probably already asleep. When he heard the knock, he called out, "Who is it?"

"It's me," Mariella said.

A moment later, Chandler opened the door, fully dressed.

He looked completely put together, even his collar buttoned all the way up.

Mariella was stunned.

Why did it feel like he was on guard, like she might steal something?

"Ms. Townsend, do you need something?" Chandler asked. His dark gaze held a trace of caution, and he kept his distance.

Mariella let out a small snort. "Come a little closer. Relax, I'm not going to bite."

Huh? So he really did think I was some kind of creep.

Chandler stayed calm and polite, his tone stiff and formal. "If you need anything, Ms. Townsend, just say it. I can hear you."

After a pause, he added, "I can read lips."

Mariella didn't know what to say.

She shot him a glare and said bluntly, "You're working overtime tonight."

...

Chandler followed his boss to a temporary storage room where they kept diesel fuel.

It was a simple warehouse he and a few bodyguards had put together using composite boards. Inside, they stored about five tons of diesel and one ton of gasoline. Two hundred propane tanks were kept in three other storage rooms nearby.

Mariella had also stored about one ton of diesel.

After the apocalypse began, the shortage of electricity would be a long-term problem they had to deal with.

Solar panels wore down over time, and they were useless during long periods without sunlight. Kinetic energy power generation was too physically demanding and time-consuming. Diesel generators, on the other hand, were simple and reliable.

Besides, the chainsaws she'd prepared ran on diesel, and large vehicles usually needed it too.

In the apocalypse, diesel would become hard currency—sometimes even more valuable than gasoline.

Mariella pulled out a diesel generator from her storage and asked Chandler, "Do you know how to use this?"

He took a look and nodded. "Yeah."

"Try it now. See if there are any problems," she ordered.

Chandler moved quickly, assembling the generator and adding diesel. Within moments, it roared to life.

The power storage indicator lit up, showing the charging progress.

The noise was loud—loud enough to wake everyone in the entire club.

"Is there any way to reduce the noise? Or at least keep it at a level where it won't disturb people trying to sleep?" Mariella asked.

Chandler realized she had dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night to work—nothing else.

He let out a small breath of relief. At least he didn't have to think about quitting his job for now.

"I can fix it. We just need to install soundproofing equipment."

He paused, then added, "Good soundproofing isn't cheap."

Mariella didn't even ask for the price. She made the call right away. "You're in charge of buying 100 sets of soundproofing equipment. Once they arrive, you'll install and test them yourself to make sure the noise is as low as possible. Also, in five days, the first round of evaluations will eliminate the bottom five. You need to prepare tactical gear for the ten who make it through."

She transferred another million to Chandler's account.

He froze for a moment, then couldn't help but speak up. "The first million you sent me still has over 200,000 left. Then you gave me another million to buy diesel, gasoline, and propane tanks—I only spent about 150,000, so there's still 850,000 left. And now you've sent me another million tonight..."

The way she kept sending it to his account felt like her money never ran out. Honestly, he couldn't even spend it all.