Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

She reclined the driver's seat back, adjusted it to a position where she could barely lie down, took out a pillow from her pocket, placed it behind her head, and closed her eyes.

The driver's seat had limited space; she couldn't stretch her legs out or fully recline her body, but she was so tired that she didn't care about these discomforts.

The sunlight streamed through the windshield and shone on her face and arms.

She adjusted her posture, turned to the side, and faced the back of the chair to avoid the glaring sunlight.

She slept very soundly, vaguely hearing some sounds coming from afar, but she didn't even open her eyes. She just turned over in a daze and fell asleep again.

When she woke up, she squinted at the watch on her wrist and saw that it was already past 5 p.m. She was stunned, not expecting that she had slept for so long.

Looking out the car window, the sun had already set, and the light had become much softer, no longer the dazzling white of midday, but a hazy yellow with orange hues.

She had to hurry; once the sun set, it would get dark very quickly. If she didn't get there while there was still daylight, she would have to search in the dark when she arrived.

Xu Xiaoyan quickly took out a plate of chestnut and pork rice from her spatial storage; the plastic container was still warm to the touch.

As soon as the lid was lifted, the sweet aroma of chestnuts and the rich, fatty scent of pork wafted out.

The chestnuts were stewed until soft and tender, and the pork was cut into small cubes with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. The oil seeped into the rice, making the grains glossy.

She didn't have time to savor it properly, shoveling large mouthfuls into her mouth, her cheeks bulging, while tidying up the empty box and chopsticks as she chewed.

She finished her meal in no time, wiped her mouth, drank a couple of sips of water, felt relieved in her stomach, and regained her strength.

She got out of the car, glanced around, and made sure there was no one around and no unusual noises.

Then, with a thought, the entire truck vanished into thin air and was stored in her spatial storage.

After determining the direction, Xu Xiaoyan quickened her pace and headed towards the place where she had previously discovered the crack.

By the time she arrived at her destination, it was already quite dark, and the sun had long since sunk below the horizon, leaving only a faint red afterglow on the western horizon.

She didn't rush to take action; she stood there for a while, making sure it was safe before acting.

With a thought, he directly took out a pair of rubber gloves and an entrenching tool from his spatial storage.

The rubber gloves are dark gray and very thick. When worn, they fit the palms and fingers snugly without being too tight and hurting the hands, or too loose and restricting movement.

She made sure the top of her glove covered half of her forearm so that even if she got dirt or something dirty, it wouldn't get on her skin.

The entrenching tool is the three-fold type, military green, with a metal handle and a layer of non-slip rubber on the grip.

After putting on gloves, she picked up an entrenching tool and started working.

The crack in front of you appears from the outside to be a narrow, elongated depression filled with dead leaves, but if you get closer and peel back the layers of leaves, you'll find that it's hollow underneath.

Beneath the layer of dead leaves, there was a space where a cool breeze carrying the scent of damp earth could be felt seeping out from the gaps.

This made her even more certain of her judgment: the crack was indeed, as she had guessed, the entrance to a cave covered with a thick layer of dead leaves.

Those withered leaves had accumulated for countless years, layer upon layer, the bottom layer crushed and blackened, turning to powder with a pinch.

The upper leaves still retain their shape, some brown, some withered, some curled up, making a rustling sound when stepped on.

She didn't want to dig the hole too big, firstly because a large hole would leave traces, and secondly because if someone or something came looking for her through the hole, she wouldn't be able to handle it.

Secondly, since she's alone, she doesn't need much space; just enough for her to squeeze in sideways is sufficient.

Therefore, she was very careful when she used her entrenching tool, controlling the landing point of the tool within a range of about half a meter.

They dug along the direction of the crack, like a rat digging a hole, only digging the passage they needed.

It was only later that we realized it was less about digging a hole and more about clearing obstacles.

Because the outermost layer of dead leaves is formed by the accumulation of fallen leaves from the trees on this side, it is loose and scattered, and has little binding force.

The entrenching tool was inserted, and with a flick upwards, a large handful of leaves were pulled out and floated lightly to the side.

Some leaves were completely dry, and when the shovel touched them, it made a crisp "crack" sound, breaking the leaves into pieces that scattered in the air and slowly drifted down.

Cleaning it is not tiring at all; in fact, it can be described as a mechanical physical task that doesn't require much thought.

As she dug, she piled the cleared leaves aside. Occasionally, when she encountered a thicker branch that she couldn't move with her entrenching tool, she would squat down and pull it out by hand.

The twig creaked and groaned inside her gloves as she pulled and yanked it out, then tossed it aside.

She worked like this for about twenty minutes, and had pushed the tube in to a depth of nearly two meters.

The layer of dead leaves in front of me had become noticeably thinner, and when I dug down with the shovel, I could feel something harder and denser underneath.

After cleaning for another half hour, Xu Xiaoyan couldn't help but start to doubt herself.

Because she discovered that her entrenching tool had dug into the soil, not the loose, humus-filled topsoil, but the firm, sticky, yellowish-brown soil.

When the shovel was inserted, there was obvious resistance. The tip of the shovel only made a few shallow marks on the surface of the soil, and only brought up a small clump of soil and debris.

She stopped, squatted down, and used her gloves to brush away the dead leaves and loose soil in front of her, revealing the mud underneath.

Xu Xiaoyan tapped the soil with the tip of her shovel, and the soil made a dull "plop" sound, a solid sound, not an empty echo.

Her heart sank. Could this not be the entrance to the sinkhole?

She had always firmly believed that the crack was a natural passage leading to the sinkhole, and that the withered leaves were just a facade, and that the bottom was probably hollow.

Or at least there should be a narrow gap that she could squeeze through.

But now the entrenching tool is hitting solid soil, not hollow holes, which is completely different from what she had expected.

Or perhaps, this sinkhole never had an entrance in the first place?

Perhaps the sinkhole was sealed off, with hard rock walls and dense soil on all sides, without any natural cracks that would allow anyone to crawl in.

Xu Xiaoyan had no other choice. She stood in the narrow passage she had dug, holding an entrenching tool, facing the mud wall.

She only had two paths before her:

One option is to dig to the bottom and find out what's going on. Perhaps the soil is just a thin layer, and underneath is a hollow cavity.

Perhaps behind the soil lies rock, another, harder layer of soil, a dead end she simply cannot dig through.

No one will know the answer unless they dig to the bottom.

The other option is to abandon this place, pack up and leave before it gets completely dark, and find a suitable place to settle down.

As for whether there are any other sinkholes nearby?

She doesn't know; this is the only place she's found so far. If this doesn't work, she'll have to start searching from scratch.

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