Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

I was lucky this time when I went down the mountain; I didn't run into any of those irrelevant people.

Everyone's hands suffered; their bare fingers turned purple from the cold, stiffened and unresponsive, making them almost unusable.

Upon returning to the cave entrance, the group, without even catching their breath, eagerly dragged their bulging snakeskin bags to Xu Xiaoyan.

The bag was tied tightly, but you could still vaguely see the plump, spiky chestnut balls inside.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't say much. He exchanged one snakeskin bag of chestnuts for fifty kiwis. They carefully took the fruit, put it in their pockets, thanked him softly, and then hurriedly returned to their respective caves.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Xiaoyan was the only one left in the cave.

She walked to the cave entrance, carefully bolted the wooden door, listened carefully to the sounds outside, and only after confirming that it was safe did she turn around and return to the cave.

Using the light of a flashlight, Xu Xiaoyan piled all the chestnuts in the space onto the open ground.

In an instant, the once spacious cave was mostly filled with a dozen or so snakeskin bags.

She poured out the chestnuts with their spiky shells, looked at the small "granary," and finally a faint, relieved expression appeared on her pale face.

She rubbed her still numb fingers and walked towards the makeshift tent deep inside. She was so tired from working all night that she needed to catch up on some sleep.

Deep inside the cave, Xu Xiaoyan was wrapped in a thick down sleeping bag, sinking into a rare dreamless sleep. The vigilance and labor of the past few days had made her body extremely thirsty for rest.

However, a sharp and intermittent electronic horn blared, abruptly shattering the tranquility. The sound came from the direction of the valley entrance, and after being reflected and amplified by the mountain walls, it created layers of echoes.

Xu Xiaoyan's brows furrowed first, her eyes darting rapidly under her eyelids. Her consciousness was forcibly pulled from the depths of sleep. She did not open her eyes immediately, but remained curled up, listening intently.

The loudspeaker's blare repeated itself, its tone cold and bureaucratic, and the content gradually became clearer:

"...Official temporary trading post...A batch of winter supplies has been newly unearthed from the ruins of the East District...including cotton-padded coats, gloves, winter hats...Survivors in need can bring equivalent supplies to exchange...Location: Former Qingshui Villa parking lot..."

Upon hearing the words "warm clothes," Xu Xiaoyan's tense nerves relaxed slightly, as she had prepared a lot of warm clothing in her space.

In contrast, the quality, completeness, and exchange conditions of the items that the authorities salvaged from the ruins are still unknown.

"No need," she told herself, then turned over, pulled the sleeping bag over her head to try to block out the annoying noise, and drifted back to sleep.

She didn't know how long she had slept, maybe a few hours, maybe just a moment, when a growing commotion woke her up again.

This time, it wasn't a loudspeaker from afar, but a cacophony of voices—arguments, shouts, and even pushing and shoving. The source of the sound seemed to be not far from her cave, probably in this mountain hollow.

Xu Xiaoyan had no choice but to open her eyes. She rubbed her temples, which were throbbing from lack of sleep, and her eyes quickly regained their clarity and alertness.

Something was wrong. The noise didn't subside; instead, it seemed to be getting worse, and the sound of a child crying could be faintly heard.

"Trouble..." she muttered, knowing she couldn't continue sleeping. She had to find out what was happening outside and whether it posed a threat to her safety.

She deftly crawled out of her sleeping bag, quickly put on a warm wool undershirt and thick work pants, covered it with an inconspicuous dark down jacket, and slipped on sturdy hiking boots.

He checked the fruit knife tucked into his lower back again before walking to the cave entrance.

She didn't open the door immediately. Instead, she pressed her ear against the crack in the door and listened carefully for a while, judging the distance and emotions of the crowd. The noise was indeed very close, seemingly just a hundred meters away on the gentle slope.

She took a deep breath, gently moved the thick wooden bar that served as a latch, pushed the heavy wooden door open just wide enough for one person to pass through sideways, and quickly locked the door after she went out.

Xu Xiaoyan followed the noise and walked quickly. She saw that a large group of people had gathered on the relatively flat slope in front of the second cave.

In the center of the crowd, two figures were wrestling, or rather, a thin man was being shoved and pulled by the collar by a burly woman.

The shouts, explanations, and chatter of those around them were all mixed together, creating a chaotic scene.

The woman was agitated, her face flushed red, and she was pounding on the skinny man's arm while yelling and cursing:

"I'll teach you to steal my things! You heartless, rotten bastard! How long have I been gone?"

"You dare sneak into my hole! That bread was bought with the firewood I painstakingly collected! I'll beat you to death, you thieving scoundrel!"

The man being grabbed turned purple in the face, struggling fiercely, but his voice carried a stubborn grievance:

"You're talking nonsense! You're slandering me! I went to the official redemption center before dawn this morning and used the points I had saved up to get this bread! How did it become yours? You're just a thief crying 'stop thief!'"

He suddenly raised his voice, trying to make sure everyone around him could hear him:

"Don't believe me? Let's go to the official exchange counter right now and see! I refuse to believe that the staff there have no recollection of the supplies I just exchanged! Do you dare go?"

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured into boiling oil; the people around who had been trying to break up the fight and watch the commotion fell silent for a moment, then began to nod and murmur among themselves.

"Ah, that makes sense!"

"Yeah, wouldn't it be clear if we just asked the official channels?"

"Exactly, you can't just accuse someone out of thin air, can you? They dared to confront you, so they must have some real reason to be confident."

"Sister-in-law, why don't we go ask? If he didn't redeem it, the official redemption point should remember!"

Everyone chimed in with their opinions, all agreeing that this was the most direct and effective method. Upon seeing this, the woman's imposing manner noticeably faltered, and she unconsciously loosened her grip on the man's hand.

She stammered, her voice lowering, but she still forced a smile.

"Go...go where! I was only gone for a short while, how come the things I put in the cave are gone?"

When I came back, I saw him walking past my hole! If it wasn't him who stole it, who else could it be? What a coincidence!

Seeing that she couldn't win the argument, the woman suddenly turned around, pulled a little boy of about seven or eight years old from behind the crowd, who was trembling with fear, squatted down, and frantically shook his shoulders:

"Big Brother! Tell them! Did you just see that? Was it this person who stole our things from the cave and ran away? Tell me now!"