Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

The system message reads, "Friend request has been sent, awaiting verification from the recipient."

The next few minutes seemed to stretch out.

Xu Xiaoyan sat in the driver's seat, trying to relax, but her gaze kept involuntarily drifting to the phone screen on her lap.

Unconsciously, his fingers tapped lightly on the cold plastic steering wheel, making a soft "tap, tap" sound.

About five minutes later, a crisp and pleasant "ding" sound suddenly rang out in the quiet carriage!

Xu Xiaoyan was startled and almost instantly looked down.

A new notification pops up on the screen: "User 'Ningjingzhiyuan' has accepted your friend request."

Success! She was overjoyed and immediately opened the messaging app, finding the profile picture nicknamed "Tranquility Leads to Far-Reaching Vision".

She opened the chat window, her fingertip hovering over the virtual keyboard as she quickly considered her words.

[Xu Xiaoyan]: Hello, ma'am! This is Xiao Xu, who was picking up the food cart at the management office this afternoon. Sorry to bother you! I just got the cart out smoothly. Thank you so much for your help and reminder!

I have a small question I'd like to ask you about. It's about the parking of the food trucks at night. I'm a little unsure and worried about violating regulations.

My rented place is a bit far from the designated stalls I'm assigned. If I drive my car back to a place near my place after closing time each day and park it, would that be considered exceeding the regulations?

I've read the manual and I'm a little worried that the car's GPS system might trigger an alarm... I'm so sorry to have caused you trouble!

After sending the message, she stared at the "sent" icon on the screen and began another round of anxious waiting.

This time the reply came even faster! Almost a minute or two after she sent it, her phone pinged again and the screen lit up.

[Ningjingzhiyuan]: Xiao Xu, it's good that you've received the vehicle. Don't worry about it. The management of the food trucks in your designated area has taken into account the actual needs.

Near each designated convenience service point, there is a special "convenience service vehicle parking and charging area" with signs.

In principle, vehicles are required to park in these designated areas to facilitate unified management and security patrols. If parked elsewhere, the system may record it.

Upon seeing this reply, Xu Xiaoyan breathed a long sigh of relief. Great! It turns out there's a designated parking area, and it's right near the location!

As for the issue of not being able to use the car as a mobile storage locker or a secret processing point... it seems that finding a separate room that is relatively close to one's business location is still an urgent need.

She immediately replied in the chat box:

[Xu Xiaoyan]: I understand! Thank you so much, sister! I feel relieved now. I'll go find the parking area right away. Thank you! You're busy, I won't bother you any longer!

The other party quickly replied with a simple "[OK]" emoji, and the conversation ended there.

Xu Xiaoyan carefully put her phone away and leaned back in her chair, but after a brief moment of relaxation, a more pressing question confronted her.

Although the vehicle is brand new and shiny, it is now just a moving metal box and cannot be used for any food processing.

It lacks the most essential and crucial element that transforms it from a "means of transportation" into a "means of production"—cooking utensils.

According to the "Basic Supplies Procurement Guidelines," almost all the basic ingredients listed therein are in their raw state and require processing before they can be eaten: flour needs to be kneaded with water, fermented, steamed, or baked.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes need to be washed, peeled, steamed, boiled, or baked.

Even leafy greens and Chinese cabbage need to be picked, washed, chopped, blanched, or stir-fried.

Even the frozen meat that is limited to half a kilogram per month needs to be thawed, washed, cut into pieces or minced, and then cooked.

Could she possibly sell noodles, potato chunks, or meat chunks that look like ice cubes directly?

Obviously impossible.

The section regarding vehicle maintenance and modifications clearly states in black and white: "All repairs, maintenance, and any form of modification must be entrusted to 'Honghu Motor Vehicle Repair and Modification Company'."

The name "Honghu" sounds quite imposing, carrying a sense of lofty ambition, like the proverb "How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan?"

But in Xu Xiaoyan's mind at this moment, it felt more like a "shady businessman" waiting for her, a new business owner who had just gotten her car, to walk right into his trap.

Monopoly means that pricing power, service attitude, efficiency and quality are completely in the hands of the other party.

You have no choice but to accept this; there is no other option to compare or choose from.

Along the way, starting from securing approvals, we had to pay "tolls" at every turn.

The approval office requires "gifts" to bribe officials, and the management office requires "generous gifts" to get a better car. Now that the car is finally in hand, and they want to turn it into a "production tool" that can truly create value, they have to go to this monopolistic "Honghu" company and wait to be ripped off again.

Where is the encouragement of convenient services and support for individual businesses?

It was clearly a meticulously designed assembly line of "plucking feathers from passing geese" and "skinning layer by layer," with a hand, either overt or covert, reaching into the pockets of struggling survivors like her, seizing their already meager resources and hopes.

A feeling of helplessness and deep weariness welled up in her chest.

What can she do?

Rules are rules, printed in black and white in the official manual.

She can't just conjure up a wok and a cleaver out of thin air and put them in the car with a clanging sound, can she?

Putting aside the devastating risks of exposing the space, the consequences of such unauthorized modifications, once discovered by patrol personnel, would be far more severe than being ripped off at "Honghu".

At that point, it will truly be a complete disaster, with all previous efforts wasted.

"Shady businessman..." she muttered under her breath, then bent down again, picked up the "User Manual," and quickly flipped to the last appendix.

Sure enough, behind a pile of documents and instructions, I found a brief introduction, contact number and address for "Honghu Motor Vehicle Repair and Modification Company".

The address was marked in the northern part of Zone C, near the edge of an area called "Cuihu Citizen Park". She memorized the address and checked the approximate location on the map again.

Then, he tossed the manual back to the passenger seat, started the vehicle, skillfully shifted gears and turned, and the food truck slowly drove out of the temporary parking space, heading towards the "Honghu" company.

The car drove smoothly, and after about twenty minutes, a relatively open area appeared ahead, with a small public park in the middle.

The sign for "Honghu Motor Vehicle Repair and Modification Company" soon came into view.

Just as Xu Xiaoyan had predicted, it was not in a remote location. It was right on the edge of the square next to the park entrance. The sign was large, with red background and white lettering, and hung prominently above the door, even with a somewhat tacky neon frame.

Several parking spaces were marked with white lines on the open space in front of the entrance. One of the spaces had a sign that read "For Public Service Vehicles Only".

Xu Xiaoyan carefully drove the No. 03 food cart over and parked it in one of the empty "dedicated parking spaces".

Before she could even remove the key, she heard an unusually loud commotion and fighting sounds suddenly erupting from the open "Honghu" door, which was covered by a half-transparent plastic curtain!

It wasn't a typical argument between a customer and a shop assistant, nor was it a noisy bargaining session; it was the sound of real, chilling physical collisions!

The dull thuds of fists hitting bodies, the muffled groans of pain, the angry roars, and the crashing sounds of things being knocked over... all mixed together, instantly shattering the somewhat dull tranquility of the neighborhood.

Xu Xiaoyan was startled and subconsciously turned her head to look at the entrance of "Honghu" through the side window of the food truck.

A crowd quickly gathered at the entrance, consisting of nearby residents, passersby who stopped to walk by, and a few seemingly idle men.

They all craned their necks, stood on tiptoe, and strained to peer into the shop, their faces displaying a variety of expressions:

Some were simply excited and curious, their eyes shining; others were gloating, amusement playing on their lips; and a few frowned, seemingly feeling something was amiss, but showed no intention of leaving.

Through the gaps in the crowd, which was shaking with excitement, and through the open door, Xu Xiaoyan could clearly see two figures wrestling fiercely inside the shop, near the entrance!

The movements were fierce and chaotic, a typical street brawl, with almost every punch landing with a ruthless intent to kill the opponent.

The reason why one of them could be recognized at a glance was that he was a "Honghu" employee, because he was wearing a dark blue, rough-made jumpsuit.

On the back of the work clothes, two large, bold characters in regular script were printed in bright yellow paint: "鸿鹄" (Honghu).

In this chaos, those two words stood out like a target, making it hard to mistake them!

At this moment, the work clothes that should have represented his "officially designated" status were torn and askew, one shoulder strap had slipped off, and his chest and sleeves were covered with dust and stains that were hard to tell whether they were from sweat or something else, making him look extremely disheveled.

His opponent was a burly, dark-skinned middle-aged man wearing an ordinary old jacket.

The man's face was flushed, veins bulged on his forehead, and his eyes were bloodshot. Every punch he threw was filled with hatred and brute force. He kept cursing in the local dialect with extremely foul language, spittle flying with his angry roars.

"Wow, we've arrived just in time for a 'live broadcast'?"

Xu Xiaoyan raised an eyebrow. The somewhat oppressive mood she had been feeling because she had to come to this "shady merchant's" territory was inexplicably lightened by the violent conflict scene, and she even felt a subtle interest in "it's better to be lucky than early".

Anyway, there's no rush to get things done right now.

Judging from the current situation, the shop is "busy" and probably no one has time to pay attention to her, a new customer who came to modify her car.