Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

"It's the batch that was sent to major supermarkets in Xuanxian! Rice, flour, oil, salt, and convenience foods—it's all in there!" The supervisor's voice was filled with helplessness.

"The exact location is still unclear. The guards were injured, and the vehicle and cargo are all gone!"

The police have opened a case and are investigating, but these days... how can a case like this be solved so quickly?

The problem now is that all the supermarkets in Xuanxian County have run out of stock, and no one can hold on any longer!

A deathly silence fell over both ends of the phone call, a message that highlighted the vulnerability of official aid channels in the face of violence.

The last supply line that kept the city running normally was abruptly cut off, and panic was no longer just a feeling among the public, but instantly spread to the hearts of all supermarket managers.

Not long after hanging up the phone, Manager Chen's phone started ringing off the hook with calls from all sorts of numbers, mostly from owners or managers of other large supermarkets in Xuan County.

After a brief and tense discussion, a cruel but unavoidable decision was quickly reached in private: to temporarily close down.

Without official announcements or explanations, business rules and social responsibility appear pale and powerless in the face of a survival crisis.

Keeping the doors open, facing empty shelves and potentially even more frenzied and out-of-control panic buying, would be pointless except to cause greater chaos and danger.

Immediately following, another, more practical order came from the supermarket's actual boss:

"Old Chen, listen up, we can't sell the remaining stuff in the warehouse."

Take out a portion and sell it to employees at the employee price—no, at the original price. Sell as much as you can to stabilize the internal situation and prevent your own employees from panicking and causing trouble. We must also prevent people from smashing up the supermarket!

"The rest...all the rest, I will send someone over immediately to take them away and move them to a safe place for future use."

The meaning of this statement is quite clear: the so-called "safe place" is the bosses' own homes or private warehouses.

Before things spiral completely out of control, the last resources must be secured by our own people.

Manager Chen put down the phone, his hands and feet ice-cold, and he walked numbly out of the office.

Looking at the few remaining supplies in the corner of the warehouse, which were originally intended to be put on the shelves today to attract customers, I felt a sense of absurdity and sorrow.

He summoned all the employees who were still able to work and announced the decision to temporarily close the supermarket and prioritize the disposal of remaining inventory.

Upon hearing the news, the employees were initially shocked, and then panicked.

But when they heard that they could buy some supplies, they rushed forward and, almost by grabbing, quickly divided up the remaining rice, noodles, canned goods, toilet paper, and other items.

Everyone was silent, moving swiftly, their faces bearing a sense of impending doom.

No one objected, no one complained about the price; everyone bought what they could. Under this "last benefit," the internal emotions were temporarily suppressed, but a deeper, unspoken fear permeated everyone's heart.

While the employees were busy buying things, several vans with dark tinted windows quietly drove into the supermarket's backyard.

The boss's trusted men, expressionless, directed their men to quickly move the truly valuable and durable high-quality goods from the warehouse:

Bags of rice and flour, branded canned goods, cases of expensive cigarettes and alcohol, and some previously hidden rare items were all loaded onto the car, which quickly drove away and disappeared into the gradually brightening morning light.

Xu Xiaoyan watched all this silently as her colleagues frantically rushed towards the remaining rice, flour, cooking oil, and the few daily necessities.

Amidst the scrambling, calculations, and complaints, a desperate clamor filled the air, yet she remained unmoved, her gaze calmly sweeping over the shelves that were already half-empty and completely deserted.

While everyone was focused on the food, her gaze passed over the employees huddled together and landed at the boundary between the hardware and kitchenware sections.

There, various kinds of knives were hanging and displayed: bone cutters, slicing knives, watermelon knives... and even a few outdoor survival knives.

In peaceful times, they are merely kitchen tools, but when order is about to collapse, they represent deterrence and self-defense.

No one paid attention to her; everyone's attention was drawn to the food, and no one cared about someone who wasn't grabbing rice and noodles but instead pushing an empty shopping cart toward the knife shelf.

She quickly selected various knives, whether hanging or displayed, as long as they were sharpened and had a certain length and strength, she took them one by one and put them into her shopping cart.

A heavy bone-cutting knife, a long watermelon knife, a sharp chef's knife...

They were carelessly tossed into the car, colliding with each other and making a cold, crisp metallic clanging sound.

Soon, the shopping cart was filled with gleaming metal objects, reflecting the stark white light of the warehouse overhead lights and radiating a chilling aura.

A colleague who rushed by to look for the missing person caught a glimpse of what was in her car, paused for a moment, and a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.

But then the more urgent thought of finding food took over, and he immediately ran off, perhaps still thinking to himself:

"Has Xu Xiaoyan lost her mind? What's the point of having these useless things now? They're inedible!"

In everyone's eyes, in the face of a survival crisis, anything that cannot be eaten immediately is a useless burden.

She placed the last long watermelon knife into the car without any expression.

Pushing the shopping cart full of knives, I calmly walked towards the only exit—the temporary checkout point that was already packed with employees rushing to buy things.

The staff handling the checkout were so busy they didn't even have time to look up; they were just mechanically scanning codes, collecting payments, and packing the items.

When the cashier saw Xu Xiaoyan push a cart full of knives in, she was only stunned for a moment before she understood—probably restocking for some relative again? Or for her own home use?

The cashier made a rough estimate, gave a number, and Xu Xiaoyan promptly paid in cash. Then she watched as the cashier haphazardly stuffed the knives into several large shopping bags.

Xu Xiaoyan's gaze inadvertently followed the few employees pushing carts full of food as they quickly left the supermarket.

The wheels of the shopping cart made a rhythmic rolling sound as she bent down to put several shopping bags back into the cart, when several sharp screams suddenly pierced the air—

"Someone's stealing! Stop them!"

She recognized the voice; it was the same group of employees who had just pushed the cart away. Their cries were short and panicked.

In an instant, it was as if the supermarket had been muted; everyone froze in their tracks.

The temporary cashier stood frozen in place, the can of food hanging in mid-air in his hand.

The employee who had paid the bill but hadn't left yet gripped the cart handle tightly, his eyes darting nervously to his colleagues.

A silent panic filled the air; everyone was guessing what had happened, but no one dared to ask aloud.