Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 238: Denton Moves In

Terry sounded a little embarrassed. "Honestly, besides you, I don't really know many people here."

So he wanted to live a little closer to Mariella.

Mariella understood. "Living nearby makes it easier to look out for each other. But No. 100 is even closer to No. 98."

She stopped there and did not say it outright. It would have been awkward to directly mention that No. 101 was considered a bad-luck house, with too many deaths tied to it.

Some people did not care about things like that. And while No. 100 had also seen an entire family killed, fewer people had died there. It was nothing like No. 101, which had gone through two major bloody battles and had been soaked in blood.

Besides, Terry had his whole family with him, including an elderly grandmother. They might care about things like that.

So it was better to give him a subtle hint.

Terry really was smart and tactful. "Alright, I'll listen to you. I'll choose No. 100."

After hanging up, Mariella sent Kieran another message. "Please get workers to renovate and furnish No. 100 to match the layout of my house as fast as possible. I'll settle the material and labor costs with you when I get back."

Kieran replied instantly. "On it right away! I'll cover this bit of supplies myself. Consider it a small thank-you from the Hancocks to the police. Don't fight me for the credit."

Mariella smiled and did not insist further.

She was just about to contact Denton when he called first.

"Babe, there's something I need to discuss with you." Denton's tone was as warm and familiar as ever. "My brothers and I want to move into Celestine Ridge. I already spoke with Mr. Hancock. He said I should ask for your opinion. If you agree, we'll start renovating right away."

Besides Mariella, there was one other person who had made a fortune these past few days, and that was Denton.

He had not only transported huge amounts of supplies into Celestine Ridge and earned countless profits from the price differences, but he had also helped Mariella complete two major gemstone deals. The commission he earned from brokering them had been astonishing.

While quietly making a fortune, Denton had also been looking for shelter to prepare for the coming brutal temperatures.

He was clearly good at getting on Kieran's good side. When he proposed moving into Celestine Ridge, Kieran had not refused. He had only told him to check with Mariella first.

Of course, Mariella had no reason to refuse either.

"I have no objections at all. I'd be happy to have you as a neighbor in Celestine Ridge, Denton." She agreed immediately.

Denton sounded delighted. "Thanks, babe! I'll gather the guys and move over right away."

Mariella asked out of concern, "Do you have enough materials for the renovation? I can..."

"We do. We've got everything," Denton said. As a reseller who dealt in supplies every day, there was no way he would come up short himself.

After chatting a little more, Mariella got to the point. "Denton, help me contact your old associates again today. I want to trade for gemstones."

Denton was startled. "Again... another trade?"

But he quickly recovered. "Alright, no problem!"

He did not even ask what goods she would be using this time.

Mariella smiled faintly. "Last night, our team found an abandoned fish pond and pulled out a lot of freshwater seafood. This time, besides grain, the main trade goods will be seafood."

"What kind of seafood?" Denton asked with great interest.

"The freshwater fish are mainly grass carp, crucian carp, silver carp, and common carp. The shellfish are mostly river crabs and river shrimp. There are seven to eight thousand pounds total. Everything will be traded at the same price as grain. Ask them if that works."

...

Mariella had underestimated the power of the big players.

She had thought they would find it troublesome, maybe complain a lot, haggle over the price, or even refuse to take the seafood entirely.

Instead, Denton quickly gave her an answer. "No problem! They happen to have an unused cold storage warehouse. They're temporarily running refrigeration with diesel generators. And with the brutal temperatures coming soon, storage will be easy after that."

Mariella felt relieved when she heard that. "Same trade location as the last two times?"

After two transactions, the supplies in that warehouse had probably been nearly exhausted.

Sure enough, Denton said, "No, we switched to another warehouse. I'll send you the location. I'm heading there now."

...

Mariella and Chandler entered the storage space again, and of course they did not forget to bring in the RV they had been using as a temporary resting place.

The two of them moved all ten thousand plus pounds of rice and flour they had stockpiled onto the largest wooden boat. Then they also loaded four to five thousand pounds of wheat grown from the black soil fields.

The rice planting area had been too small, and the yield had been low. They also needed to keep seed grain for raising rice seedlings, so they were not selling any rice this time.

More than 500 pounds of pumpkins and more than 500 pounds of potatoes were also moved onto the wooden boat.

Although they had harvested over 500 pounds of gorgon nuts, Mariella felt the one-to-one-point-five exchange rate was too low, so she could not bear to sell them.

The two of them left the storage space. Chandler first walked to the window of the building and carefully surveyed the surroundings several times with binoculars. Only after confirming there was no one nearby did he let Mariella take the wooden boat out of the storage space.

After boarding the boat, Chandler steered toward the warehouse using the new coordinates Denton had sent.