Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Looking at the young man's mysterious demeanor, as if he were about to share some earth-shattering secret, Xu Xiaoyan couldn't help but feel a little curious. She nodded to indicate that she had heard him, and then followed him to the small cart that was now empty and quietly parked in the corner.

The young man first looked around cautiously, like a thief, to make sure no one was paying attention to them before bending down and gently lifting a corner of the dusty cloth covering the cart.

What caught Xu Xiaoyan's eye were two transparent plastic jars placed side by side! The jars had thick walls and were tightly sealed. They were filled with a thick, clear, golden liquid that looked tempting and seemed to glow slightly in the dim light that shone through the gaps in the stall!

It's honey! And two jars of pure honey that look to be of excellent quality, very pure, and almost free of impurities!

The young man's face gleamed with barely concealed pride and boastfulness. He leaned close to Xu Xiaoyan and whispered in a voice barely audible to the two of them, "Look! My best stuff! Two jars of pure honey that I went through a lot of trouble to get! Not a drop of water added!"

He stretched out his rough fingers and pointed at the two jars in the air. "This is really good stuff! High in energy, a little bit can last half a day, and it keeps really well, it won't spoil no matter how long it's kept! In a pinch, it can also soothe inflammation and relieve sore throat, it's more effective than many medicines! Originally..." He deliberately dragged out his words, his face showing a very "conflicted" and "reluctant" expression, and he clicked his tongue, "I was planning to keep these two jars of treasure, to eat them slowly myself, or to use them to exchange for life-saving supplies when I really had no other choice..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Xu Xiaoyan's face and the remaining half-bag of oranges on her stall. Then, he abruptly waved his hand, adopting a generous stance of "reluctantly parting with what he has," pointing to the half-bag of oranges and saying, "But! Considering you're a young girl, it's not easy for you to make your way in this world alone, and you're so straightforward and trustworthy! Fine! I'll take a loss today and be your friend! All these oranges you have left, no matter how many, I'll buy them all for you! No need to exchange them piecemeal anymore! Here!" He picked up a jar of honey and stuffed it into Xu Xiaoyan's hand. "This jar of honey weighs a full two pounds! It's yours! Consider it an exchange for your oranges! Don't say I didn't support your business! It's only because of you; anyone else wouldn't even consider it!" He spoke with absolute certainty, as if he were giving Xu Xiaoyan an incredible discount.

Xu Xiaoyan looked at the jar of golden, translucent honey in her hand, which shimmered like amber in the light. A thought struck her, and a smile of surprise and gratitude spread across her face. She nodded readily, her tone slightly embarrassed, "Brother, you...you're too kind. How could I let you suffer such a loss? Well...okay, thank you so much. Consider this me taking advantage of you."

She picked up the jar of honey, intending to hide it under the cover of her backpack, but her gaze seemingly unintentionally fell on the equally tempting jar of honey left in the cart, and an idea flashed through her mind in an instant.

With a slight thought, she casually asked, "By the way, young man, what are you planning to do with this remaining jar of honey? Are you planning to exchange it for something else? I see you have quite a few good things here."

As she spoke, she leaned a little closer to the young man, lowering her voice even further, "Cigarettes...do you want some? I happen to have a pack left, the Tianxia brand, perfectly sealed, definitely high-quality stuff." She deliberately emphasized the "Tianxia" brand, which was considered a luxury item before the disaster.

"Tianxia brand cigarettes?!" Upon hearing this, the young man's mouth gaped open, almost exclaiming in surprise! Honey is certainly precious and a real source of nutrition, but for people like them who are addicted to cigarettes, cigarettes are simply irreplaceable "spiritual food" and top-tier hard currency!

Almost reflexively, he grabbed the remaining jar of honey from the cart and, as if afraid Xu Xiaoyan would change her mind, quickly shoved it into her other hand. His voice was urgent, like a string of firecrackers, as he said, "Exchange! You have to exchange! What's there to hesitate about! Little sister! You...you still have such good stuff?! Why didn't you say so earlier! A pack of good cigarettes for this jar of honey, I'll exchange! It's a deal!" His eyes were fixed on Xu Xiaoyan, as if she could conjure up that pack of cigarettes at any moment.

Seeing the other person's eagerness, almost to the point of lunging forward, Xu Xiaoyan understood. It seemed that the cigarettes were more lethal than she had anticipated.

She smiled slightly and said nothing more. Under the guise of stuffing two jars of honey into her backpack, she silently produced a pack of "Tianxia" brand cigarettes in her hand. She handed the cigarettes over naturally, as if she had just taken them out of the side pocket of her backpack.

The young man almost snatched the pack of cigarettes. He carefully checked whether the plastic packaging was sealed properly, and examined the cigarettes inside against the light to see if they were neatly arranged. His fingers even trembled slightly with excitement.

After confirming that everything was correct, his face instantly lit up with joy, and he exclaimed repeatedly, "Worth it! So worth it! Hahaha! Little sister, you really are... really my lucky star! This deal today was so satisfying!" He carefully stuffed the pack of cigarettes into his inner pocket, and pressed it firmly, as if afraid of losing it.

After the transaction was completed, Xu Xiaoyan said goodbye to the young man again and turned to leave the stall.

Instead of immediately returning to where the military vehicles were parked, she carried her belongings and slowly strolled through the bustling market.

She saw someone exchange three bottles of shampoo that looked relatively new for a small bag of rice, probably weighing less than two pounds and covered in sand, from the stall owner; both sides wore a strained sense of satisfaction. Others, carrying rusty old tools dug out of some factory ruin, repeatedly asked the stall owner if they could exchange them for even a little bit of food, only to be met with indifferent shakes of the head. Many more were engaged in a long and intense tug-of-war over bartering over tiny scraps of supplies, spitting and blushing, racking their brains over half a piece of bread or a pinch of salt.

She keenly noticed that in the market that had formed on the outskirts of this survivor base, at least for those who still had the resources and means to trade, the pressure to survive did not seem to reach the extreme, life-or-death cruelty she had previously imagined.

Otherwise, things like cigarettes and alcohol, which cannot fill an empty stomach and are purely for enjoyment, would never be so popular, and could even be exchanged for hard currency with extremely high practical value like honey.

"Looks like this is all I'll get from today's market trip," she said, clutching the dry biscuits in her arms. She turned and walked toward the relatively quiet and safe area where the military vehicles were parked.

Inside the carriage, Wang Xiao had returned and was leaning listlessly against his backpack, idly chewing on a dry grass stalk he had pulled from somewhere. His eyes were vacant as he stared blankly at the carriage ceiling, which was mottled with rain and dust. He looked dejected, like an eggplant wilted by the sun.

Xu Xiaoyan looked around the somewhat empty carriage and, not seeing Xie Yingtang, felt a little strange. She put down the bag of dried biscuits in her arms and asked, "Wang Xiao, where is Brother Xie? Where did he go? Didn't he come back with you?" According to Xie Yingtang's personality, he usually wouldn't leave Wang Xiao alone.

Hearing the sound, Wang Xiao lazily turned his head and saw that it was Xu Xiaoyan returning. He sighed weakly, his tone filled with helplessness and obvious frustration. "Sigh... don't even mention it. Brother Xie is still at the market, tending his stall! We take turns." He spat out the tasteless grass stalk in his mouth, sat up a little straighter, and began to explain, his tone somewhat sullen:

"Sigh, Xie and I originally thought that our fresh oranges were a rare and unique commodity around here, and would definitely be in high demand! But what happened?" He shrugged, with a "the ideal is beautiful, but reality is harsh" expression on his face. "It turns out that it's not like that at all! The people here seem to value solid, filling food more. They like our juicy fruit, they may, but when it comes to trading for it, they're incredibly stingy! They'll either only trade the worst-tasting dry biscuits, or even if they're willing to trade for something else, the exchange rate they offer is...tsk tsk..."

He shook his head repeatedly, his face showing indignation. "It's absolutely outrageous! They basically demand one to ten! Or even more outrageous! It means they'll only trade ten pounds of our perfectly good oranges for one pound of some other odds and ends! Who can afford that? It's such a bad deal!"

He felt increasingly frustrated as he spoke, and his voice rose a little. "We thought about it and realized that this wouldn't work. We couldn't get any good stuff, and trading for small amounts of bread felt like a huge loss. So, we decided not to rush to sell everything at once, but to take turns guarding the stall and selling slowly. Whatever we could get was better than having it all stuck in our hands."

Old Xie just told me to come back and rest for a while, and he'll keep watch. Oh, right," he seemed to remember something and added, "We just paid some oranges to the guy who manages that area, the one with the tattered armband, and paid him a 'stall fee,' otherwise they wouldn't let us set up there! This world is really..." He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was obvious.

After explaining all that, he seemed to have finally found someone to confide in, and asked Xu Xiaoyan curiously, "What about you? You've been shopping for so long, how's it going? I see you've only brought back a bag of dry biscuits?" He pointed to the bag of biscuits at Xu Xiaoyan's feet, which looked dry, hard, and unappetizing, with a questioning look in his eyes, as if he thought her haul wasn't very good.

Xu Xiaoyan carefully placed the heavy bag of dry biscuits in the corner of the carriage and said in a calm tone, "I'm alright, I managed to get some things I needed." As she spoke, she bent down and opened the burlap sack that had been in the carriage and was now mostly empty, gesturing for Wang Xiao to come and take a look.

Curious, Wang Xiao leaned closer and, using the light filtering in from the carriage entrance, saw some mud-covered winter bamboo shoots and a roll of dark brown dried kelp lying open at the bottom of the burlap sack. Then, to Wang Xiao's surprise, Xu Xiaoyan took out a thick, transparent plastic bag from her backpack, inside which lay three sausages—red, glossy, and perfectly marbled, looking incredibly appetizing!

"Wow! Sausage!" Wang Xiao's eyes widened instantly, and he couldn't help but exclaim softly, his Adam's apple bobbing involuntarily.

Xu Xiaoyan then explained, "I used about one and a half bags of oranges." She gestured to show the capacity of the sack she had just used. "In return, I got these three sausages, five catties of winter bamboo shoots, one catty of dried kelp, and all the dried biscuits you saw earlier." She paused, pointed to the remaining half-bag of oranges in the sack, and said, "I thought that fresh fruit can supplement vitamins, so I can't exchange it all. I'll keep this half-bag of oranges for later and eat it on the way."

Looking at the things Xu Xiaoyan had acquired, especially the three tempting sausages, Wang Xiao's eyes immediately filled with intense, almost tangible, envy. He couldn't help but sigh, his tone sour, "Sigh! It's true what they say, different people have different fates! You girls really have an advantage! Xie Ge and I are two grown men, and when we stand there, big and strong, people immediately think we're a threat, or that we don't know the ropes and are easy to fool! After asking around, they either insist on exchanging for the cheapest kind of dry biscuits, or even if they say they're willing to exchange for something else, the price they offer... tsk tsk..."

He shook his head angrily again. "They're utterly heartless! Forget it, arguing with these people is a waste of time and just makes me angry. I'll just get the pancakes instead! At least they're plentiful, filling, and satisfying..."

His tone was filled with lamentations about "sexism" and "inequality in the world," clearly indicating that he had been quite discouraged by the market transactions and that his confidence had been affected.

When Xu Xiaoyan heard his complaints, she just smiled understandingly and didn't explain the secret operations she had made during the trading process. These things couldn't be said, nor did they need to be.

She began to sort the sausages, bamboo shoots, kelp, and dried biscuits she had acquired, putting them into her backpack and sacks as appropriate.

While sorting through the bag, looking at the bag full of different colored but uniformly dry and rough biscuits, Xu Xiaoyan felt her throat getting dry, as if she could already feel the discomfort of swallowing them.

This stuff is almost unpalatable without plenty of water or soup; it's like torture. She turned to Wang Xiao, who was still looking dejected, and asked, "By the way, Wang Xiao, when you were walking around the market or nearby, did you notice any streams or relatively clean water sources? We need to find a way to prepare some water, otherwise, the little bit we got in the car won't be enough to deal with these pancakes."