Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 20: Expanding the Storage Space

Mariella's expression turned serious. "We're going to have plenty to spend money on. You don't need to check in with me over every little thing. My time's limited—you'll need to help stock up."

The diesel generator was loud enough to wake the sleeping bodyguards.

Those on night watch peeked around curiously, but when they saw their boss talking alone with their captain, they wisely backed off and returned to their posts.

A few others came downstairs grumbling, only to spot the two of them. They immediately shut up and quickly turned back.

Every one of them had the same look—was their boss really meeting their captain alone in the middle of the night?

So it wasn't the most muscular guy, Number One, she liked—it was their handsome captain!

Figures. People only cared about looks these days.

Mariella rubbed her nose, completely unfazed by the gossip.

In the apocalypse, who cared about rumors like that? They couldn't hurt her anyway.

Chandler put away the diesel generator and asked in his usual stiff, formal tone, "Ms. Townsend, anything else?"

Seeing how serious he was, Mariella suddenly felt like messing with him. "Not really the place to talk. Want to go to my room?"

He stiffened like he was facing down an enemy. "A man and a woman alone together at this hour... That's not appropriate."

Mariella relented a little. "Then how about we go to your room?"

Chandler's face turned red. He took a step back, his eyes wary.

Mariella just stared at him.

She was just joking. It wasn't like she was actually going to do anything to him.

Tsk. This guy is way too stiff—no sense of humor at all.

She had no choice but to ask, "So where do you think would be appropriate?"

...

The two of them went into Mariella's private storage room. Only about a ton of diesel was stored here, so the smell wasn't too strong.

She turned on the light, and the room brightened instantly.

Chandler froze for a moment when he saw the piles of supplies.

Mariella didn't bother explaining. She rummaged through the stacks and pulled out a nail gun, handing it to him.

"Can you modify this? Increase its range and power?"

Chandler was a retired special forces soldier. Firearms were second nature to him—he could strip them down and reassemble them with ease.

He examined the nail gun several times, his tone turning serious. "This is already the longest-range model. At about 33 feet, a steel nail can seriously injure someone."

That alone already made it a dangerous weapon.

But Mariella wanted more. "Thirty-three feet isn't far enough. After modification, I want it to reach at least 66 feet."

Chandler looked up at her.

Mariella met his gaze and repeated, "You get what I mean, right?"

After a moment, he said, "Yes, Ms. Townsend."

She gave a satisfied nod and patted his shoulder. "Relax. I'm not going to use it for anything bad—just for protection. If no one messes with me, I won't mess with them."

But if they do... I'll eliminate them completely.

...

By the time Mariella finally drifted off, it was already the middle of the night. When she woke, it was past nine.

She let out a pitiful groan, leapt out of bed, and bolted for the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, she emerged feeling refreshed.

She didn't even have time for breakfast. In a hurry, she ran downstairs, jumped into her car, and sped off toward the nearest bank.

Gold bars and silver bars at the bank were much cheaper than at jewelry stores.

Mariella bought about 22 pounds each of gold and silver bars in one go.

She wanted to test how much the storage space would expand after absorbing them.

If both produced the same increase, then silver was obviously the better deal.

Back in her car, she first stored the gold bars in the storage space.

Using her mind to check inside, she saw that the gold had indeed been swallowed.

The room area increased by about five square feet, and the total volume expanded by around 175 cubic feet.

She quickly tossed the silver bars in as well. Once they were absorbed, the virtual display showed the area had only increased by about 0.05 square feet, and the volume by just 1.75 cubic feet.

The result was exactly what Mariella expected.

Looks like the storage space was picky—cheap stuff wouldn't fool it.

...

Mariella then went to jewelry stores and emerald shops, buying all kinds of gemstones, diamonds, emerald pieces, and accessories.

She tossed items of equal value into the storage space and checked how much the area and volume expanded each time. In the end, she came to a conclusion—emerald had the best value for the price.

She checked her account balance. There was less than nine million dollars left. Paying off the remaining renovation costs and buying the escape pod would take about a million. On top of that, she still needed to keep stocking supplies.

Money that once felt impossible to spend wasn't enough anymore.

She set aside one million in cash, then used the rest to buy gold bars and emeralds.

After feeding all of it into the storage space, the emerald bracelet on her wrist improved again. It had started as a low-quality emerald, but now it had become smoother, more lustrous, and noticeably clearer.

She entered the storage space and saw that the virtual display now showed a countdown of three hours.

That meant she could stay inside the storage space for three hours a day now!

The room area had expanded by about 140 square feet, bringing it to around 1,045 square feet—upgrading from a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom layout. The total volume had increased by another 3,885 cubic feet, reaching about 10,240 cubic feet in total.