Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

After thinking for a moment, the old lady finally conceded, "There is a ground-level parking garage behind my building. You can park in front of the garage, but I can't guarantee safety." Xu Xiaoyan nodded in agreement.

So the old lady took out the contract she had prepared beforehand. The terms were clear and even a bit strict, stipulating details such as water and electricity usage, garbage disposal, and quiet periods.

Xu Xiaoyan read them one by one and solemnly signed her name.

After the deal was completed, Xu Xiaoyan made an excuse to go pick up supplies and returned to the back of the small truck at the entrance of the community. She then transferred three boxes of instant noodles from her spatial storage, forty packs in each box, totaling one hundred and twenty packs.

She carried two boxes of instant noodles back to the old lady's house.

The old lady unpacked and inspected the boxes very carefully, picking up each package to check the production date and the integrity of the packaging. Only after confirming that everything was correct did she nod and say, "It's okay."

Xu Xiaoyan went back and moved the last box of instant noodles to the old lady.

As she put down the instant noodles, the old lady surprisingly handed her a glass of water. "Young lady, you're very kind. Are you tired? Have some water. Here's your room key."

Xu Xiaoyan carefully put away the room key, then gave a slight bow to Grandma Wang. "Thank you. I'll go and buy some bedding and household items now. Do you have any recommendations?"

Grandma Wang adjusted her reading glasses and calmly offered two options: "You'll have to go to the largest designated shopping mall in Jinbei District. They have everything, but there will be long queues, and—"

She paused for a moment, then said, "The prices aren't cheap. If you want to save time, there are also basic living supplies available at various resource distribution points in the South District. They just have fewer varieties, but they are convenient."

Xu Xiaoyan recalled the distribution point number five she had just visited and asked in confusion, "I just came from point number five, and I only saw food and cooking oil; I didn't see an area selling blankets and mattresses?"

"You're too late," Old Mrs. Wang shook her head, her tone carrying a nonchalant indifference that suggested she was used to it.

"Those items are only supplied in one batch every day, and you have to line up before dawn to get them. In this situation, who doesn't know that things are getting harder to buy every day? Any decent daily necessities are gone as soon as they're put on the shelves."

She walked to the window and pointed into the distance. "If you need it urgently, why don't you try your luck at the shopping mall in Jinbei District now? But at this hour..."

She glanced at the old-fashioned clock on the wall. "I guess the good ones have already been picked out. Or, you can wait until tomorrow morning, and go to the distribution point at 4:30 to wait outside."

Xu Xiaoyan's heart sank as she realized that she had underestimated the current shortage of supplies. She had thought that having a place to stay would be enough to settle down, but she hadn't expected that even the most basic necessities would require her to act quickly.

"I understand, thank you for reminding me," she thanked Grandma Wang, her mind already racing. She wondered if she should go to Jinbei District to check out the situation, and she needed to know what kind of things cash could buy.

When Xu Xiaoyan arrived at the designated supermarket in Jinbei District, the scene before her made her gasp in shock.

Long, winding queues had already formed in the food purchasing area. The crowd was restless, and pushing and shoving were frequent, despite uniformed soldiers loudly announcing:

"Each person may choose to purchase three food items (each food item shall not exceed 5 catties) or fifteen daily necessities. All items shall be purchased under real names and may only enter the mall to make purchases again after a ten-day interval."

However, driven by survival anxiety, order remains very poor.

She noticed that many well-dressed people clearly no longer valued paper money, spending lavishly just to get a bag of rice or a barrel of oil; money was losing its purchasing power at a visible rate.

Looking at the crowd frantically buying, Xu Xiaoyan suddenly felt a pang of regret. Was she too impulsive to buy those 120 packs of instant noodles?

It might be more cost-effective to pay rent with cash, which is almost worthless.

But she quickly suppressed her hesitation, touched the neatly stacked 12,000 yuan and 700 yuan in cash in her backpack, and sensed the mountain of supplies piled up in the space, before calming down again.

She bought far too much instant noodles; taking out a small amount to buy a stable place to live for a year would be acceptable. And these soon-to-depreciate banknotes could be used to figure out the patterns of price changes.

Turning towards the relatively quiet non-food section, she pushed a shopping cart. The supply of goods here was fairly plentiful, but the prices on the tags were alarming!

A thin air-conditioning quilt costs 800 yuan, mosquito repellent and mosquito coils cost nearly 200 yuan per box, a roll of ordinary sun protection cloth is priced at 500 yuan, and even a small air purifier box costs 100 yuan!

She specially bought a children's telescope for 300 yuan, which was a bit extravagant, but considering that she might need to observe the outside world from a distance in the future, she decided to put it in the car.

At the checkout counter, the machine kept beeping until the screen finally displayed "3000 yuan".

Xu Xiaoyan calmly handed over thirty banknotes. As soon as she stepped out of the supermarket's automatic door with her heavy shopping bag, she was surrounded by a noisy commotion.

On the open ground next to the supermarket entrance, a small black market trading point spontaneously formed by the crowd, with anxiety and urgency flashing in almost everyone's eyes.

"One thousand dollars! Just three kilograms of compressed rice, deal immediately if you have it!" A middle-aged man in a shirt with messy hair shouted, holding up banknotes. His voice was quickly drowned out by other bids.

"1500! I'll offer 1500! I'll buy 5 jin of compressed rice at a high price!"

"Looking to buy any brand of canned luncheon meat for 800 yuan, as many as you have!"

Every now and then, someone would successfully make a transaction, quickly clutching the food they had acquired to their chest, scanning their surroundings warily, and then hurrying away.

Many more people linger in disappointment, their money feeling like a hot potato, unable to buy what they need most.

When Xu Xiaoyan appeared carrying a shopping bag with the supermarket logo, several people immediately surrounded her.

"Hey girl, did you manage to buy anything to eat? Noodles are fine too, I'll double the price!"

"Do you have any extra biscuits? Instant noodles are fine too!"

However, when they saw clearly that what was sticking out of her bag were mosquito coil boxes, the corners of sun protection cloth, and a plain-colored air conditioning quilt, the expectation in everyone's eyes instantly died down, replaced by expressions of disbelief and even contempt.

"What's going on... going to the supermarket and not buying food, but buying all this useless stuff?"

"What an idiot! Who cares about mosquito repellent and sunscreen these days?"

"Are you so desperate for money? You have the credit limit to buy this?"

The crowd receded from her like a tide, rushing towards the next person coming out of the supermarket.

The whispers drifted clearly into Xu Xiaoyan's ears, but she remained calm, as if she hadn't heard them.

He simply adjusted the position of the bag in his hand, gripped the car keys tightly, and looked through the noisy crowd, precisely heading towards his small truck parked in the distance.