Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 221: Tons of Gemstones

Chandler simply moved the RV into the open field and opened all the doors and windows.

If they wanted to air it out, it had to be done inside the space. Outside, there had been no sunlight for four or five months.

After organizing the vehicles, he moved all the non-perishable supplies into the two basement storage levels under the villa.

Those included leftover furniture, crates of high-proof distilled liquor, clothing, quilts, various equipment, glassware, porcelain, coal, charcoal, some heavy medical devices without expiration dates, and large solar panels.

As for half-used inflatable boats, kayaks, unused life jackets, and piles of cold weapons, he stacked them in the outer static zone for future trade.

The brand-new watercraft they had bought themselves were kept inside the static zone to avoid aging.

Last were the farm machines they had exchanged with Denton over two deals. There were so many types that it almost looked like a full farm system.

Seeders, harvesters, rice transplanters, threshers, dryers—it was basically a complete automated farming setup.

From now on, most manual labor would no longer be needed.

Chandler moved the rice transplanter into the paddy field and took out the rice seedlings they had grown themselves. After driving the machine back and forth a few times, transplanting was done.

Then he took the fish feed they had traded from Denton, scattered a basin into the paddy field, filled another bucket, and spread it into the pond.

Ripples spread across the pond surface as fish fry rushed up to compete for food.

Even though most were grass carp, they weren't strict herbivores. If given the chance, they would happily eat more.

After feeding the fish, Chandler suggested, "We should make our own feed from grain later. It'll be safer and more nutritious."

Mariella was extremely satisfied with his responsible attitude and strong work ability.

"Mm. You're right. Let's do that," she approved readily.

Chandler checked the virtual display again. "This time, the gold and silver we traded didn't change much."

Mariella looked at the display as well. The villa had stopped expanding. The farmland increased by about 1,200 square feet to around 0.25 acres. The pond grew by about 54 square feet to about 1,240 square feet. The static zone increased by 18,000 cubic feet to 332,000 cubic feet.

That growth came from resources her teammates had traded in by using all their savings.

Mariella nodded. "That's already good. Maybe our expectations just got higher."

Chandler thought about it and agreed. "When I first came into your space, it was only about 35,000 cubic feet. That already felt shocking."

Now that it had increased by over 18,000 cubic feet, he barely felt anything.

One reason was that the space was already huge, so this increase wasn't visually obvious. Another was that their expectations had risen over time.

Mariella smiled. "Just wait until the storage space absorbs that legendary 156 tons of gemstones. I wonder how big it'll become."

Chandler took out his phone, opened the calculator app, and did a rough calculation.

"Back when Denton gave us over 1,000 pounds of emerald, the static zone expanded by more than 81,000 cubic feet. After the villa stopped expanding, the energy that used to go into the villa is now evenly distributed between the farmland, the pond, and the static zone. Based on that, 1,000 pounds of similar gemstones should exchange for at least about 88,000 cubic feet.

"One ton is 2,000 pounds, so 156 tons equals 312,000 pounds, which should convert into about 27,500,000 cubic feet. Adding the nearly 350,000 cubic feet we already have, the total comes to roughly 28,000,000 cubic feet.

"Of course, that depends on whether we can actually absorb all 156 tons of gemstones. And the quality has to be similar to Denton's batch. If the quality is worse, the space expansion might be lower than expected."

When Mariella heard the number 28,000,000 cubic feet, she was so excited that she almost fainted.

Sitting in the chair, she felt light-headed, like she was floating.

"My God... 28,000,000 cubic feet... I can't even imagine how big that would be! It could probably hold an entire deep-water port!"

If it could hold a deep-water port, it could hold cargo ships. If it could hold cargo ships, it could even hold an aircraft carrier. And if it could hold an aircraft carrier, it was basically like holding an airport—holding their entire future and hope.

She was glad she was sitting down, or she might have actually collapsed from dizziness.

Chandler calmly reminded her, "Those gemstone dealers want grain in exchange, but we don't have that much grain. And our supplies are limited. Other than what we seized from Black Bear, Harvey, and Tigre, everything else needs careful planning."