Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Without needing further explanation, Xie Yingtang and Wang Xiao instantly understood what she meant.

Those people's scratching is most likely an initial reaction to being bitten by one of those black insects—a tick, or some other weird thing!

The unusual withdrawal of the army, the disappearance of nearly half the population in the rear, and these gradually emerging signs...

All the clues, when pieced together, point to a clear conclusion: danger is all around us, and it's spreading!

Without the slightest hesitation, the two nodded immediately. Xie Yingtang said in a deep voice, "Let's go to the middle!"

The three moved carefully and steadily through the slightly crowded flow of people, trying to keep their distance from the bushes on either side that might harbor dangerous insects, and from the people who had already begun to show symptoms.

In the eerie atmosphere, we walked for about two more hours.

At first, the crowd huddled together in fear and herd mentality, but soon more and more people noticed something was wrong.

At first, only a few people started scratching their skin uncontrollably, making rustling sounds and suppressed groans.

But under the bright moonlight, those with sharp eyes could already see those walking on the edge of the line or those who had inadvertently gone near the bushes.

On the dark clothing, there were some tiny black dots, about the size of sesame seeds, that were moving slowly!

They are trying to squeeze into the gaps in clothing, or have already firmly adhered to exposed skin, bulging out as small, creepy bumps.

"Insects! They have insects on them!" Someone cried out, their voice quickly drowned out, but fear spread like wildfire.

The crowd instinctively began to keep their distance, no one wanting to be the next target of that dreadful little bug.

The once bustling queues gradually began to widen into invisible ravines.

Pushing and arguing have decreased, replaced by a more suffocating, wary silence, and a deliberate distance of one meter, two meters, or even more.

Although Xu Xiaoyan and her two companions were fully armed and wrapped up tightly, they still felt nauseous and chilled when they saw the wriggling black dots clearly visible on the bodies of those people under the moonlight.

They wanted to get away from people as soon as they noticed something was wrong.

But everyone was crammed together, with no room to move around. We had no choice but to grit our teeth and struggle forward through the crowd, our nerves on edge.

As time went on, the situation began to "ease," some people fell behind, and those who had been bitten more gradually developed symptoms:

Dizziness, weakness, and unsteady gait eventually prevented him from keeping up with the group's pace. He swayed and collapsed by the roadside, letting out a feeble wail.

It was precisely in this chaos and self-evacuation that the tight formation of the hundred-person group that had previously held the front of the line finally crumbled.

Faced with this pervasive biological threat, numerical superiority may actually become a burden.

There seemed to be internal divisions and panic among them, and the group gradually broke apart, no longer organizing to stop newcomers.

Xie Yingtang seized the opportunity and whispered, "Let's go!" The three of them immediately quickened their pace.

Ignoring the scattered commotions and cries behind him, he walked through the wary, fearful crowd.

They finally managed to move to the very front of the column, closely following behind the military vehicles.

By the moonlight, they noticed that the military trucks covered with tarpaulins were not just carrying fully armed soldiers with stern faces.

In the corners of many vehicles, several people dressed in ordinary casual clothes were found sitting!

There were men and women, and you could even see one or two children being held tightly in the arms of adults.

Like the soldiers, they swayed with the bumps of the vehicle, their faces showing exhaustion.

But compared to the crowd below, who were trekking and covered in dust, they were clearly in much better condition.

Wang Xiao squinted and scrutinized them for a while, then couldn't help but lower his voice, leaning closer to Xie Yingtang and Xu Xiaoyan, and asked with a hint of doubt and barely perceptible sourness:

Are those people sitting in the car military dependents?

Xu Xiaoyan's gaze remained fixed on the trucks.

Hearing this, he shook his head slightly and said in a low voice, "I don't know. Next time the team stops to rest, we can try to find out."

She paused, a shrewd calculation flashing in her eyes. "If it really is a military family member, then we have nothing to say; that's the rule."

But if the ride was obtained through other means, such as handing over important supplies or information, then perhaps we can think of a way to help.

Her words made Wang Xiao's eyes light up, but then dimmed again.

He sighed, his voice filled with a sense of powerlessness in the face of reality, almost inaudible amidst the roar of the vehicles:

"Sigh, back in our area, the earthquake destroyed the roads beyond recognition. Cracks and landslides were everywhere, and many cars were simply scrapped on the side of the road, unable to be driven."

"Well, the road conditions here look alright, at least enough to get so many military vehicles moving..."

His words revealed a deep longing for a means of transportation that could save energy and provide convenient transportation.

Xie Yingtang had been listening in silence, but then spoke up to comfort him, saying, "It's a good thing that the road conditions have improved. As long as the road is passable, we'll always have a chance to get a car in the future."

Whether we find an abandoned vehicle that can still be repaired, or use other methods, once we have a vehicle in the future, it will be much easier for us to move around, and we will be able to gain an advantage in searching for supplies and avoiding danger.

His words were like a reassuring pill, and they also rekindled a sense of planning for the future in Wang Xiao and Xu Xiaoyan's hearts.

After walking with the group for another three hours, my legs had long since gone from sore to numb, and the eastern sky was beginning to lighten with a pale white hue.

Xu Xiaoyan was panting heavily, her bangs sticking to her skin with sweat. She looked around and felt a chill run down her spine.

The once vast and bustling crowd is now pitifully sparse; a rough estimate suggests that it is about two-thirds smaller than it was at the beginning!

Looking around, the view opened up considerably, but it also made the scene seem more desolate.

Looking at the troops ahead, who showed no sign of stopping or even slowing down, Xu Xiaoyan complained in a hoarse voice:

"They've been walking for a whole day and night, a full fifteen or sixteen hours, right? Judging from this, I reckon they're about to activate the 'natural selection law,' using their walking distance to filter out the 'qualified' survivors."

Wang Xiao was in slightly better condition than Xu Xiaoyan, after all, he was a boy, but his face was also full of fatigue.

He grinned upon hearing this and chimed in, "That's right! This elimination round is quite well-structured. The first round eliminates the elderly, the weak, women, and children because their bodies can't keep up."

The second batch consists of those unlucky enough to be bitten by ticks; this is considered an unexpected loss.

The third batch, like now, is purely a test of physical strength; those who can't endure it will automatically fall behind.