Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 206: Cleanup Time

Chandler wasn't about to be dismissed with a couple of deflections. "You've got a backlog building up in your storage space. It needs sorting."

In other words, he was there to work.

And what employer could turn away an employee who volunteered for overtime?

Mariella stepped aside and let him in.

Unlike Mariella, who'd thrown on something comfortable and loose, Chandler was fully dressed and put-together, looking every bit like someone who'd shown up for a work shift.

When she stepped close enough, she caught the clean, faint scent of aftershave. He'd clearly groomed himself before coming over.

Mariella had been wanting to check on the storage space's latest upgrade anyway, so she took hold of his hand and pulled them both inside.

Just as she'd anticipated, the villa's footprint had stopped expanding, and even the underground floors had settled at two levels below ground.

With the villa no longer growing, the freed-up capacity had redistributed itself into the garden and the static storage space.

The garden had already converted into open farmland back when it absorbed the large haul of gold and valuables from Bellverde Estate. This time, after consuming Tigre's stockpile, it had expanded by another 2000 square feet, bringing the total to just under 0.2 acres.

The pond had grown to well over 1000 square feet, its surface catching the light in rippling fragments, with occasional bubbles rising from somewhere below.

Chandler's gaze sharpened. "Are there fish in that pond?"

Mariella blinked. "The storage space can't sustain living things."

"Things brought in from outside can't survive here," he said. "But if the storage space generated them on its own, that might be a different matter entirely." He reached into the static storage space, pulled out a piece of bread, and walked to the edge of the pond.

He broke the bread into pieces and scattered them across the water.

After a moment, a dark, dense cloud of fingerlings surged upward, breaking the surface in a frantic scramble for the food.

Mariella stared, unable to fully process what she was seeing. "There are actually fish in there!"

Chandler found a fishing net among her stored tools and swept it through the thickest cluster.

Mariella grabbed a bucket, and Chandler emptied the catch into it.

The two of them crouched over the bucket, trying to identify the species.

"Mostly catfish by a wide margin, with some walleye, tilapia, and trout mixed in." Chandler studied them, then reasoned it out. "Probably because there's a dense growth of water plants at the bottom. catfish have the most abundant food source, so their numbers are highest."

Mariella nodded, and then something else caught her eye. "Wait, look at this. What is this? A shrimp!"

She held up a nearly translucent crustacean between two fingers, barely larger than a peanut.

It would've been nearly impossible to spot among the fingerlings without looking closely.

"Freshwater shrimp," Chandler confirmed, then added, "If there are freshwater shrimp, there could also be freshwater lobsters and mussels."

Mariella's excitement hit a new peak. "Freshwater lobsters! I love those!"

"What thrives in this pond depends on what's available to eat. Right now there's nothing but water plants, so most other fingerlings are sparse, and the shrimp population isn't large either. As for crab juveniles, none spotted yet. The mussels are probably buried at the bottom." Chandler worked through the logic one piece at a time.

Mariella thought it tracked perfectly. "Then we start putting feed in regularly. That way we can grow out more than just catfish. We can have shrimp and crabs too."

They moved on it immediately, pulling out some animal offal, chopping it up, and tossing it into the pond.

The moment the feed hit the water, a thick mass of fingerlings surged up from below and swarmed the surface.

"Looks like I need to add fish feed to the list for Denton." Mariella was fully energized now, her enthusiasm burning steady and bright.

She checked on the static storage space next, and it didn't disappoint. A new addition of nearly 32 thousand cubic feet brought the total to just over 313 thousand cubic feet.

Looking out across the vast open expanse of the static storage space, the urge to fill every last inch of it with supplies was almost irresistible.

The road ahead was long when it came to stockpiling. Very long.

Chandler organized the collected firearms, then inspected the Gatling gun seized from Black Bear and gave a satisfied nod. "Next time we go into a fight, one Gatling each. Hit them by surprise and we can tear through an entire armed outfit."

Black Bear had brought down an entire police unit using exactly that strategy, after all.

Mariella decided to needle him a little. "I never said that Gatling was going to you."

"Who's going to get more use out of it than me?" He raised an eyebrow.

Mariella moved quickly to smooth it over. "I'm teasing you! Take whatever you want from this storage space. As for the Gatling, let me hold onto it in here for now and bring it out whenever you need it. It's too heavy to carry around."

She kept going, giving him a little more to hold onto. "I don't let anyone else into my storage space, either. You're the only one who knows my secret."

That seemed to satisfy him. A quiet smile crossed his face, and it was genuinely striking.

Mariella got a little lost looking at it. She had a sudden, distinct impulse to kiss him.

Then he glanced over at her with a casual, unhurried ease. "Ready to get started?"

Something in Mariella seized up. "Right now? I'm not mentally prepared for this! And honestly, this place isn't exactly the right setting! I don't have any experience with this kind of thing, so let's not rush into anything!"