Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Half an hour later, she saw a dilapidated ruin in a mountain valley.

The beam of the flashlight swept across the rain, revealing gray walls and black window openings that flashed alternately in the light; it must have once been a small village.

Today, the roof has long since collapsed, the beams and pillars lie scattered in the mud, and the walls are covered with moss and unknown vines.

Between the ruins, the accumulated water has formed a shallow pool, with withered branches, broken tiles, and other debris whose original appearance is no longer recognizable floating on the surface.

Because of the low elevation, many dilapidated houses are severely flooded.

In higher areas, the water reached the corners of the walls, while in the lower-lying areas, the water had already overflowed the thresholds of the houses and was spilling out of the doorways. The collapsed roof beams were half-submerged in the water.

Xu Xiaoyan stood at the entrance to the ravine, the beam of her flashlight lingering there for a few seconds before moving away.

She had no intention of going in; such a place, seemingly a shelter from the rain, was actually more dangerous than being in the open.

She walked up the edge of the ravine, the slope gradually becoming steeper, her rain boots crunching on the gravel and grass roots.

As she walked, she scanned the terrain on both sides, the beam of her flashlight searching back and forth in the darkness. Her legs felt heavier and heavier, each step requiring more effort than before, and her knees ached as if they were filled with lead.

She had been working for nearly twenty hours since yesterday, and considering that she was too tired, she finally found a relatively flat place halfway up the mountain.

It was a slightly sunken natural platform, about four or five square meters in size. The ground was a mixture of gravel and hard soil, and the water was not deep; it was just a thin layer when you stepped on it.

Behind the platform is a gentle slope covered with low shrubs, which can block some of the wind blowing in from behind.

The view ahead was expansive, revealing the valley and the opposite ridge. If anyone approached, she could see them as soon as she opened her eyes.

There are no tall trees, no broken walls, and no conspicuous landmarks here, making it easy to go unnoticed.

She tucked the flashlight under her arm, bent down, wiped the ground with her palm, picked up the larger pebbles and threw them aside, then stomped on a few soft spots to firm them down.

It doesn't need to be flat or dry; as long as the tent can be pitched and she can lie down, that's fine.

Xu Xiaoyan took out a single tent from her spatial storage. The tent was military green, lightweight and portable, and could be set up by one person in three minutes.

She pulled the tent out of the storage bag, unfolded the inner tent, threaded the two crossed tent poles through her sleeves, inserted the ends of the poles into the metal buckles at the four corners, and then lifted it up, and the tent stood upright on the platform.

She bent down and crawled into the tent, zipped up the outer tent, and fastened the rain curtain from the inside.

The tent was small, just big enough for her to lie down by herself. She had to be careful even when she turned over. She took out her sleeping bag from her storage space and laid it on the bottom of the inner tent.

The sleeping bag's inner lining was fleece, which felt warm and cozy against the skin, a stark contrast to the damp, cold, rain-soaked world outside.

Outside the tent, raindrops pattered against the waterproof outer tent, making a dense "pattering" sound. She closed her eyes and almost instantly fell asleep.

Six hours later, Xu Xiaoyan opened her eyes and saw a gray-green tent top and a thin water mark on the roof.

The fatigue in her body had eased considerably, but the soreness in her muscles remained, especially in her legs and waist. It took her a while to slowly sit up.

When she regained consciousness and looked around, she discovered that the water level in the ravine had risen again.

Xu Xiaoyan was located halfway up the mountain, at a higher elevation, so the rising water level did not directly affect her.

Looking down from this angle, the changes in the low-lying area in the valley are immediately apparent. The bases of some broken walls that could still be seen last night are now half submerged in water, and only a short section of the fallen beams and pillars are visible above the water.

The few paths that were barely discernible last night have now completely disappeared beneath the brownish-yellow water.

The water level has risen by at least 20 to 30 centimeters since last night, and it continues to rise slowly and imperceptibly.

Xu Xiaoyan squatted at the tent entrance, watching the rising floodwaters for a while, her brows furrowing slightly.

It wasn't that I was worried about myself; the location halfway up the mountain was safe enough, and even if the water rose another meter, it wouldn't submerge her.

Instead, she thought of a bigger problem: rising water levels meant that the water volume upstream was still increasing, which meant that the low-lying areas, valleys, and streams along her route might have become deeper and wider bodies of water.

Some of the places I visited last night are probably inaccessible now.

She needs to replan her route, taking as many ridges and highlands as possible, and avoiding all low-lying areas that may be flooded.

Knowing that the road ahead would become increasingly difficult, she knew she couldn't delay any longer. Every minute she paused could make the road ahead even more treacherous.

Perhaps in a few hours, a shallow ditch that could previously be waded through will become an insurmountable river.

She couldn't wait, she couldn't stop, she had to hurry.

After a quick breakfast, Xu Xiaoyan packed the tent into her spatial storage, took one last look at the rising water level in the valley, turned around, and continued walking northwest along the ridge.

Soon, she found herself very close to the summit of Cloud Peak. She could see the distant mountain peaks with the naked eye. The mountains were grayish-white, and the area above the waist was completely shrouded in clouds and mist. She could not see the top, only the steep rock walls and dark crevices that occasionally peeked out from the clouds.

She stopped and stood there for a few seconds. The summit was steeper than she had imagined. The slopes were sparsely vegetated, with large areas of bare rock exposed, eroded by rainwater into grooves of varying depths.

Climbing this kind of mountain is not easy, but once you get to the top, you shouldn't be flooded. At an altitude of over 3,600 meters, even in heavy rain, the water won't reach that height.

As she was thinking about when to start climbing, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind: the three women had said that "the soldiers said to go northwest, where there are mountains."

Seemingly remembering something, she took out a children's telescope from her spatial storage. Although the magnification was not high and the magnification effect was limited, it was much clearer than what the naked eye could see.

She aimed her binoculars at the foot of Yunding Peak and slowly scanned it from left to right.

At the foot of Yunding Peak is a rocky beach, where rainwater splashes through the rocks, creating white curtains of water that appear perfectly normal.

As she was about to put down her binoculars, her gaze inadvertently swept across a gentle slope on the right side of the foot of the mountain, and then her hand stopped.

A group of people was passing by at the foot of the mountain. It wasn't a small group of three or five people, but a rather large group, moving in a grand manner along the gentle slope at the foot of the mountain towards the southwest.