Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Xu Xiaoyan drove her gray pickup truck and waited in line at the gas station all night. When the gas station lights became thin in the morning mist, it was finally her turn.

"Could I... use this to pay for the gas?" Xu Xiaoyan's voice was dry as she handed two packets of braised beef noodles out the car window. The plastic packaging gleamed greasy in the dim light.

The worker was a man with sunken eyes. His greasy thumb was about to press the oil nozzle when he suddenly stopped. His eyes lit up, and his lips moved as if he was about to speak.

"Instant noodles?! She actually paid with instant noodles?!" A dilapidated Santana leaned out from behind, and a hoarse voice broke the silence, "I'll buy it! I'll pay three hundred! No, five hundred!"

Like a pebble thrown into stagnant water, the entire weary convoy suddenly came to life.

People leaned out of the car windows, their eyes gleaming like hungry wolves, shouts of price gouging rising and falling, crumpled banknotes sticking out from different windows, trembling in the cool morning breeze.

The staff member snapped out of his daze, grabbed the two packets of instant noodles, and almost dug his fingers into the packaging. "Fill them up!" he yelled at his colleague behind him.

He then lowered his voice and said to Xu Xiaoyan, "Two packs, I'll fill them up for you. Don't take any more, or it'll get messy."

The fuel nozzle clicked, and fuel gushed into the tank. Xu Xiaoyan looked at the fluctuating numbers and suddenly leaned forward. "Do you have any bottled diesel? I'd like to stock up on some."

The staff member's eyelids twitched, his gaze swept over the crowd still bidding, and he quickly recited a string of numbers: "Call this number and say that I, Lao Huang, recommended you."

After saying that, he turned around abruptly, and the click of the oil gun was exceptionally loud, cutting off any possible follow-up questions.

Xu Xiaoyan drove the small truck slowly out of the gas station and turned into several streets and alleys.

After parking her car, she picked up her phone and dialed the number. The receiver was busy, and it took eight rings before it was answered. The other person didn't speak, only their slow, deep breathing could be heard.

"A Mr. Huang from a gas station just recommended you to me for diesel," Xu Xiaoyan said in a low voice. "How much do you have? Can you trade it for instant noodles?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end before the rough male voice rang out, carrying a hint of barely perceptible wariness: "I have a total of twenty barrels here, 200-liter tin barrels, just arrived, first come, first served."

He paused for a moment, then quoted the price: "A 200-liter barrel of diesel fuel costs twenty packs of instant noodles."

"Okay," Xu Xiaoyan said without any hesitation, her voice so calm that even she was a little surprised. "Location."

"In the west of the city, at the junkyard behind the old agricultural machinery factory, call this number when you get there. Only one vehicle is allowed to enter."

The other party spoke very quickly and hung up immediately after finishing, leaving no room for bargaining or asking questions.

Xu Xiaoyan looked at the darkened phone screen and did not set off immediately. Instead, she carefully recalled the map of the western part of the city.

The old farm machinery factory is located in an area with a wide field of vision. The junkyard has only one entrance, making it easy to set up an ambush or be trapped inside.

She took a deep breath. The instant noodles that were close to their expiration date tasted perfectly fine and were perfect for the trade.

With a slight thought, ten corrugated cardboard boxes silently appeared in the back of the small truck. Each box was printed with "Braised Beef Noodles" and a conspicuous expiration date spray code. There were forty packs in each box, and a total of four hundred packs in ten boxes.

Xu Xiaoyan started the car and navigated to the scrap yard in the west of the city.

The iron gate of the junkyard was wide open, and the piles of abandoned cars inside cast distorted shadows in the morning sunlight. A dark green pickup truck, modified and with raised guardrails, was parked in the center of the yard.

Three men stood beside the car. The one in the lead was a bald, burly man wearing a coat stained with oil, his sharp eyes scrutinizing her coming from.

Xu Xiaoyan's truck stopped about 20 meters away from them. She didn't get out immediately, but honked the horn.

The bald man walked over alone, and Xu Xiaoyan got out of the car, opened the back door, and found ten cardboard boxes stacked there.

The man casually opened the top box, pulled out a package, checked the production date, pinched the packaging with his fingers, and then peered into the back of the carriage to confirm that it was packed full.

He waved towards the pickup truck, and the other two began rolling heavy metal oil drums off the back of the truck one by one. The pungent smell of diesel fuel immediately filled the air.

The metal oil drums rolled across the concrete ground with a dull rumble. Xu Xiaoyan counted them while warily scanning the mountains of scrapped car frames around her to see if anyone was still hiding there.

One bucket, two buckets... nineteen, twenty dark green tin buckets were neatly arranged next to her car.

"Take an inventory," the bald man said in his still rough voice, devoid of emotion.

Xu Xiaoyan stepped forward, randomly selected two buckets, and laboriously unscrewed the small oil filling caps.

She leaned closer to smell it, and then carefully observed the color and state of the liquid in the bucket—it was normal diesel fuel. She nodded and tightened the screws again.

Throughout the entire process, there was no further communication between the two parties.

The men silently pried the oil drums off one by one and rolled them onto the back of the van. The sound of metal scraping and heavy thuds were the only conversations in this ruin.

As the last barrel of diesel rolled into the truck bed, Xu Xiaoyan immediately closed the rear door. The metallic clanging sound was particularly jarring in the empty junkyard.

She quickly jumped into the driver's seat, turned the key, and the engine let out a low growl. The car body visibly sank down, and the suspension system bore a weight far exceeding normal levels.

She jerked the steering wheel, the tires crunching over the gravel, and sped off along the road she had come from.

Through the slightly vibrating rearview mirror, the mountain of steel wreckage grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared behind the rising dust.

Not long after it started, a sharp, penetrating buzzing sound suddenly tore through the sky!

The sound came from all directions, as if pressing down from the clouds or emerging from the ground, instantly filling the entire Jin City!

It's an air raid siren! A disaster warning sound we haven't heard in a long time, yet it's etched into everyone's bones!

Xu Xiaoyan's heart sank, and she instinctively slammed on the brakes.

She quickly looked around and saw that the few pedestrians on the street were all frozen in place, their uniform bewilderment quickly replaced by terror.

People subconsciously looked up at the sky, seemingly searching for the non-existent enemy aircraft in that hazy gray sky.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Is it a drill? We weren't notified!"

"My phone! Look at your phone!"

After a brief silence, panic spread rapidly, like ripples spreading from a stone thrown into still water.

Almost everyone frantically pulled out their phones, frantically refreshing news homepages, social media, and local forums... their fingertips trembling, hoping to catch even the slightest bit of official information or explanation from that small screen.

The network seemed to become congested as a result, with loading circles spinning futilely, exacerbating people's anxiety.