Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Xu Xiaoyan fell into a deep sleep, a very peaceful sleep, without even a dream.

The next morning, she woke up in dappled light and shadow, the first thing she noticed being the orange-red light outside her eyelids.

She slowly opened her eyes, and what she saw was a patchwork of light and shadow. Sunlight leaked in through the gaps in the bamboo shed, casting irregular spots of light.

The entire hollow was filled with the morning light. She lay there watching for a long time, reluctant to move or get out of bed.

After looking for an unknown amount of time, Xu Xiaoyan finally reached out, took out her wristwatch from beside her pillow, and held it up to her eyes. The numbers on the dial clearly showed 8:30 in the morning.

She was stunned for a moment, never expecting it to be so late. She had thought she would wake up from the heat at six or seven o'clock like the past few days, but she had slept until this time.

She threw off the thin blanket, stretched lazily, and then turned off the electric fan that had been running all night.

After a quick wash, Xu Xiaoyan emerged from the cave, passed through the bamboo shed, and stood on the open ground at the bottom of the sinkhole.

Considering that I need to settle down here, I can't rely on the food stored in the space to live forever. Things will eventually run out!

Ideally, there would be a vegetable garden, so that one could be self-sufficient in the sinkhole, growing, harvesting, and eating vegetables in a continuous cycle.

She chose the existing open space at the bottom of the pit first, since it didn't require logging or clearing, and the soil looked good—a loose, dark brown loam.

If you grab a handful, it can be squeezed into a ball, but it will fall apart when you release your hand. It's just the right amount of moisture, so its fertility should be pretty good.

Xu Xiaoyan's space contains various seeds she purchased in the early days of the apocalypse. These seeds were collected from different places when she was still in Xuan County.

Some were bought from agricultural supply stores in town; they were vacuum-packed with colorful labels that listed the variety name, planting method, and shelf life.

Some were bought from small stalls, those small packages of home gardening seeds, piled up randomly on the ground.

Some were bought online, such as "Balcony Vegetable Garden Gift Pack" and "Ten-Piece Home Planting Set".

Inside were more than a dozen packets of different seeds, beautifully packaged, with colorful instructions printed on them.

At that time, she hadn't decided where she was going or what she was going to do; she just instinctively felt that she should prepare.

Seeds don't take up much space; you can just put them in a corner of the room. You never know when you might need them.

Now she stands on the open ground of the sinkhole, facing this land warmed by the sun, and feels that the "what if" is today.

In addition to the seeds purchased in advance, there were also sweet potatoes, potatoes, sugarcane, corn, taro, oranges, and other fruits collected on the way to Linchuan.

She collected all those things along the way, and the loofah seeds left the deepest impression on her.

The old loofah was hanging on the fence in the backyard of a dilapidated house in a deserted village; it was completely dried out.

She picked the loofah pulp, crushed it, and inside were plump, flat, black loofah seeds.

In the past, there were fixed rules about what to plant in spring, summer, and autumn.

When the solar term arrives, sow what needs to be sown and transplant what needs to be transplanted. Don't overthink it, just follow the solar term.

But things are different now. The climate is special, and we have no idea what to plant at this time of year, or what can be planted in this small environment of the sinkhole.

Xu Xiaoyan could only proceed cautiously, using the most basic method: planting a little of everything to see which crop was suitable for the bottom of the pit.

She plans to divide the open space into several areas, each planted with a different crop.

We will observe which plants grow quickly, which grow well, and which can adapt quickly to the sunlight and climate in the sinkhole, and then expand the scale based on the planting results.

If sweet potatoes or potatoes grow well, plant these tuber crops in the entire open space.

If corn or sugarcane seedlings grow strong, focus on those.

If the loofah or watermelon seedlings can climb the poles, she will plant them along the entire edge of the bamboo shed.

Of course, if a certain crop doesn't grow well, it doesn't matter. She can just try another one. Failure is allowed, since she has plenty of time and patience.

However, dreams are beautiful, but reality is cruel; the seeds she planted were all wiped out in just seven days.

She was full of confidence on the first day of planting.

The next day, there was no sign of anything. She told herself that the seeds wouldn't sprout that quickly; it would take at least three or four days. There was no rush.

On the third day, there was still no movement. She squatted at the edge of the field and looked for a while. The surface of the soil had dried, so she watered it again.

On the fourth day, there was still no sign of life. The corn and loofah should have been the first to sprout, and based on past experience, they should have emerged in three or four days.

But the surface of the soil was flat and there was nothing there. She started to panic, but she kept reassuring herself:

It might be due to insufficient humidity, or the seeds might have been stored for too long. Let's wait a bit longer.

On the fifth day, she carefully inspected every planting area, especially the corn, and gently loosened the soil with her hands.

The seeds are still there, but their color has changed. They are no longer the golden yellow they were when they were planted, but have turned dark and brown, with wrinkled lines on the surface.

On the sixth day, unwilling to give up, she dug up the location of the loofah seed as well. The seed coat had cracked, but the embryo inside had turned dark brown.

On the seventh day, she dug up and inspected all the planting areas. The sweet potato tubers had turned black, and the potatoes were in slightly better condition, but some parts had still turned brown.

Taro bulbs, corn, loofah, and oranges all rotted in the soil, a complete wipeout; not a single one survived.

Xu Xiaoyan squatted down, staring at the empty space in front of her that she had turned upside down, feeling empty inside.

After a while, she slowly stood up, walked to the bamboo shed, sat on the sofa, leaned back, and looked up at the top of the bamboo shed.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the bamboo shed, casting long, thin patches of light on her face.

She closed her eyes for a while, the same question swirling in her mind: Why?

After thinking about it for a long time, she finally understood. Although the temperature at the bottom of the pit was lower than that on the ground, it was still too high.

She had been keeping an eye on the temperature readings on her watch for the past few days; the highest temperature inside the sinkhole at noon was around 43 degrees Celsius.

It was indeed much cooler than the outside temperature of nearly 50 degrees Celsius, but the soil temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius was enough to kill the seeds.

If it's just heat, some heat-resistant crops might be able to hold out for a while.

She watered the seeds several times a day, with good intentions, fearing they would dry out and die. However, in this high-temperature environment, watering actually accelerated the rotting of the seeds.

Xu Xiaoyan looked up at the vibrant vegetation at the bottom of the pit, wondering why they could survive while her seeds couldn't.