Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Just then, a shrill, almost distorted voice pierced the chaotic noise: "Earthquake! It's an earthquake warning! My phone received an earthquake warning!!"

A middle-aged man held up his phone, the warning message that had just popped up on the screen was bright red and glaring, the countdown numbers were jumping mercilessly, and the crowd was in an uproar!

Exclamations, cries, and the chaotic sound of running footsteps erupted instantly!

earthquake!

Xu Xiaoyan's pupils contracted sharply. Without the slightest hesitation, she pushed open the car door, jumped out, and quickly went around to the back of the car.

She flung open the rear door, blocking any possible view from outside, then stored the twenty heavy metal oil drums into her storage space. After doing all this, she slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

As for the small truck... she quickly glanced around. The terrain here was relatively open, with no tall buildings or hanging objects. Unless the ground cracked or subsided violently, it should be able to be saved.

Without pausing, she quickly slung her backpack over her shoulder and ran towards the nearby park without looking back, which was the most ideal refuge at the moment.

The sirens still echoed mournfully over the city, accompanied by countless anxious voices and the sounds of people running.

As soon as Xu Xiaoyan rushed onto the open lawn of the park, she felt an unusual sensation under her feet.

The ground beneath our feet was no longer a solid support, but rather like a deck on a turbulent sea, violently and erratically tossing up and down and swaying left and right!

She stumbled and almost lost her balance, so she instinctively lowered her center of gravity and half-squatted down.

Looking up, she saw the entire city of Jin being engulfed in a cataclysmic destruction unfolding before her eyes.

In the distance, those skyscrapers that once symbolized the city's prosperity and sturdiness now resembled drunken giants, swaying and twisting wildly!

The glass curtain wall shattered with a piercing, cracking sound amidst violent tremors, and countless fragments poured down like a torrential rain, refracting eerie light in the smoke and dust.

Immediately following was the sound of structural collapse, a terrifying sound that mixed with the cracking of steel bars, the shattering of concrete, and the tearing apart of the foundation.

A high-rise building of more than 20 stories was as if it had been cut in half by an invisible giant axe. The upper part slowly but irreversibly tilted and slid down, and finally crashed into the neighboring buildings with a devastating force, stirring up a cloud of dust that blotted out the sky!

More buildings collapsed in succession, some even collapsing in a downward motion, turning into a huge pile of ruins.

Some, like toppled building blocks, piled up layer upon layer, spreading outwards like a destructive wave.

The street was torn apart like a fragile biscuit, and huge cracks opened their dark mouths menacingly, swallowing parked vehicles, streetlights, and people who couldn't escape in time.

An underground pipe network ruptured, sending a jet of water mixed with mud and sand soaring into the sky, then mixing with dust to form a mud rain that fell down.

Screams, cries, and calls for help were drowned out by an even greater, devastating roar.

Xu Xiaoyan's ears were filled with the rumbling of collapsing buildings and the desperate cries of the people around her. She finally understood why the ancients called earthquakes "earth dragons turning over"!

Its mere impatient turn was enough to instantly crush human civilization into dust!

Smoke and dust quickly enveloped the entire city. Xu Xiaoyan covered her mouth and nose tightly, struggling to find a foothold amidst the chaos and the earth-shaking tremors.

As the roar of the earthquake was gradually replaced by an even more suffocating silence, everyone seemed to have gone deaf, with only the rustling of scattered building debris and faint groans coming from some unknown place in the distance.

But the deathly silence did not last long. Soon, another sound began to stubbornly emerge from every corner of the ruins—the cries of human survival instinct, sobs, hoarse calls for help, and shouts of searching for loved ones.

At first they were scattered, then they came together, forming a symphony of despair that echoed helplessly among the ruins.

Communication was almost completely cut off, the power system was paralyzed, and roads were completely blocked by rubble and cracks. The initial rescue came entirely from the survivors themselves.

The park where Xu Xiaoyan was located, by sheer luck, became a natural refuge due to its open terrain.

People, still shaken, gathered here, mostly disheveled and covered in dust, their faces a mixture of fear, bewilderment, and the pain of losing everything.

Some people were injured, their tattered clothes soaked in blood, and painful groans echoed everywhere. There were no professional rescue teams, no doctors, and no medicine.

"Does anyone know how to bandage a wound? My wife is bleeding uncontrollably!"

"Over here! It looks like someone's trapped underneath! Come help!"

"Does anyone have any water left? Share some with the children!"

Shouts echoed through the crowd. Xu Xiaoyan saw several men spontaneously organize themselves and begin digging at a nearby collapsed low wall with everything they could find—sticks, broken door panels, and even their bare hands. Faint knocking sounds came from below.

The women gathered around the wounded, tearing off relatively clean pieces of clothing to try to stop the bleeding and offering quiet words of comfort.

Xu Xiaoyan did not join immediately. She quickly scanned her surroundings and, after confirming that there was no obvious threat, reached into her backpack and took out several bottles of water, some compressed biscuits, and a small first aid kit.

She couldn't openly take out a large amount of supplies from her backpack; that would be tantamount to playing with fire.

She walked up to a mother who was holding a crying child and whose forehead was bleeding, and silently handed her half a bottle of water and a clean cloth. The woman was stunned for a moment, then thanked her repeatedly, and a glimmer of light rekindled in her eyes.

Then, she walked toward the group of people who were digging. Digging with bare hands was extremely inefficient, and many people's fingers were already worn raw and bleeding.

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was looking, Xu Xiaoyan took out two shovels for planting flowers from her spatial storage, pretending that she had picked them up from the pile of scattered debris nearby.

"Use this!" She handed over the shovel, and the men, overjoyed, took the tool and immediately sped up their digging.

Xu Xiaoyan joined in, using a small stick to clear away the rubble.

Sweat mingled with dust as it dripped down, and the sounds of the wounded groaning in pain and the heavy breathing of the excavators filled the air, a stench of death and despair permeating the atmosphere.

Two hours later, the roar of propellers filled the sky as two military helicopters struggled through the smoke and dust, hovering at low altitude.

They left behind some bundled supplies—medicines, bottled water, and compressed food.

This elicited a weak cheer from the crowd on the ground, who struggled to grab the items, and order instantly descended into chaos.

Under the pressure of survival, politeness and humility have vanished.

A fight almost broke out over a case of water, but Xu Xiaoyan didn't try to grab it. She looked at the airdropped supplies and knew that it was just a drop in the ocean.