Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Xu Xiaoyan sighed softly, "This is the 'market' now... Let's go, these things are not something we can worry about right now."

They didn't linger and walked through the temporary barter market.

The three quickened their pace, and the further northwest they went, the denser the crowds seemed to become.

After driving for another hour or so, we came to a relatively open section of road near an abandoned service area.

They discovered a clearing that had been cleared, with numerous neat and uniform tire tracks, much wider and deeper than those of ordinary vehicles, a typical feature of military trucks.

"It's them! They must have taken a major break here!" Wang Xiao said excitedly, bending down to pick up an empty can with grease stains from luncheon meat still on it.

"I need to find someone who knows the answer to ask," Xie Yingtang said, looking around before fixing his gaze on the entrance of the main building of the service area in the distance.

There were several survivors there who seemed to be resting, one of them drinking water from a jug.

The three walked over, and this time, Xie Yingtang took the initiative to speak. His voice was calm and steady as he directly stated his intentions:

"Excuse me, gentlemen, we'd like to inquire about the troops that were previously stationed here. Which direction did they go? Do you have any specific information?"

The men eyed them warily. The one holding the kettle was a scarred man. He tightened the lid and said in a deep voice:

"I left this morning, heading northwest," he said, pointing into the distance.

"Thank you," Xie Yingtang nodded in thanks and was about to leave.

The scarred man added, his tone slightly mocking:

"Don't get your hopes up too high. That unit only cares about the mission. We wanted to go with them before, but we were turned back. You guys will probably just be wasting your time."

Xie Yingtang's eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't ask any more questions. He simply thanked him again and then gestured for Xu Xiaoyan and Wang Xiao to leave.

After walking a short distance and making sure no one was around, Wang Xiao asked anxiously, "Old Xie, what do we do?"

"It's alright. If we leave in the morning, we don't need to worry about safety along the way."

Xie Yingtang looked up at the sky and said, "Let's go, hurry up and try to cover as much distance as possible before dark."

After four days of rushing, my legs felt like lead, but I still couldn't catch a glimpse of the troops. I could only occasionally find some blurry traces left by the army by the roadside.

On the evening of the fourth day, just when the three were exhausted, a sudden enlightenment appeared before them.

Along the roadside were large swathes of half-withered cornfields. The once neat stalks were now bent over and crooked, clearly indicating that several rounds of sweeping had taken place, but many ears of corn were still hanging on the stalks.

Even more striking is that there are already quite a few survivors in the field, who are tirelessly and frantically picking corn.

Some people even lit small fires on the open ground along the field ridges, and the faint aroma of roasted corn mixed with the scent of earth wafted over, making people's mouths water.

"Corn!" Wang Xiao's eyes lit up instantly.

Having survived on dry rations and a small amount of wild vegetables for several days, upon seeing this natural food, he was driven almost instinctively to leap off the roadside and rush into the cornfield.

He grabbed a man who was working diligently, already carrying several ears of corn, and asked urgently, "Brother, is this land... owned? Is it okay to pick like this?"

The man didn't even look up, frantically breaking off an ear of corn, speaking rapidly, "These days, who cares whose it is? We're lucky to have anything to eat! Hurry up, or there won't be any left!"

After saying that, he grabbed his spoils and hurriedly went deeper into the cave.

Having received this tacit approval, Wang Xiao immediately turned to Xie Yingtang and Xu Xiaoyan by the roadside and shouted, "Get down here! It's unclaimed! Everyone's grabbing it! If you don't hurry, it'll be gone!"

Xie Yingtang and Xu Xiaoyan exchanged a glance, and without any hesitation, they rushed down the roadbed to join the chaotic "harvest".

Xu Xiaoyan moved quickly, plucking ears of corn within easy reach while urgently asking the other two in a low voice, "Do you have bags? We can't carry much by hand!"

Xie Yingtang patted the folded pocket on the side of his backpack, and Wang Xiao also indicated that he had a spare mesh pocket.

"Okay!" Xu Xiaoyan replied, and using the corn stalks as cover and bending over, she nimbly hid in a relatively quiet corner.

She quickly removed her backpack to cover herself, and focused her mind on the space. The next second, a thick, crumpled snakeskin bag appeared in her hand.

She tossed aside the burlap sack and began her efficient "sweeping".

With both hands working in unison, a series of crisp snapping sounds filled the air as ear after ear of corn, still covered in its husks, was deftly snapped off.

On the surface, she threw the corn she picked directly into the snakeskin bag, but secretly, she strictly controlled the frequency.

For every three ears of corn she put into the bag, two ears of corn were simultaneously and silently transferred into her spatial storage.

The burlap sack bulged at a visible rate, and the corn piled up in her space grew larger and larger.

She didn't stop until the burlap sack was completely stuffed and couldn't hold any more.

Pretending to struggle, he dragged the bag to a more concealed clump of straw, then quickly moved most of the corn inside into his storage space, leaving only a small portion as a cover.

After finishing all this, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and continued picking the "visible" parts, but at a noticeably slower pace, as if she were checking for any omissions or gaps.

As Xu Xiaoyan carried the snakeskin bag, which was more than half full of corn, she pushed aside the layers of sparse corn stalks and began to search for Xie Yingtang and Wang Xiao.

A glance swept across the chaotic fields, where many people were still racing against time to harvest corn.

Soon, she spotted the two familiar figures in a relatively open corner near the edge of the field, far from the crowd.

The two seemed to have finished picking. Wang Xiao was quickly gathering some dried corn leaves and broken stalks together into a small pile.

Xie Yingtang, meanwhile, squatted to one side and skillfully lit the dry leaf tips with his lighter.

A small cluster of orange-red flames suddenly sprang up, greedily licking at more fuel, making a soft crackling sound.

Are they... going to start a fire to roast corn?

Xu Xiaoyan paused for a moment, then quickly walked over.

The firelight illuminated Wang Xiao's face, which was covered in soot and dirt. When he saw Xu Xiaoyan coming over, he immediately looked up, grinned, and revealed a smile that was both smug and eager.

He was also holding two ears of corn, some of the husks removed, revealing plump, golden kernels.

"Xiao Yan! You've come at the right time! Are your bags full? Come over here and rest for a bit! Look what great spot Brother Xie and I found!"

He waved the corn in his hand, his tone excited:

"We're getting ready to grill it! This corn is freshly picked; it tastes best grilled! We were planning to surprise you with it after it was done!"