Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged woman's dim eyes instantly lit up with hope.

She immediately released her grip on the bespectacled man and lunged at Xu Xiaoyan, excitedly grabbing her arm. "Really? Girl! Are you serious? There's a way across?"

Xu Xiaoyan felt a sharp pain from her grip and frowned slightly, but still nodded. "It's possible, very dangerous, and requires extreme caution..."

"That's wonderful! That's wonderful!" The woman was almost incoherent, but the next moment, her tone suddenly changed, carrying an almost entitled pleading quality as she gripped Xu Xiaoyan's sleeve tightly:

"Young lady, please, have mercy! You're much more agile than us. Please get the medicine for me! My daughter can't live without it!"

Xu Xiaoyan was stunned. She hadn't expected that her kind suggestion would lead to such a direct request from the other party.

She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, and her tone turned cold. "Sister, I'm just an ordinary office worker. My physical strength is average, and I don't have much experience in the wild. That place is too dangerous. I can't do it."

She was telling the truth; it was uncertain whether that "road" even existed, and even if it did, it would be extremely dangerous.

She has her own path to follow and there's no need for her to risk her life for a stranger's package. Kindness has its limits, especially when she can barely take care of herself.

Seeing this, the couple next to them immediately chimed in, "That's right! The young woman is right, it's too dangerous! Let's hurry up and leave, don't delay any longer!"

The bespectacled man silently pushed up his glasses, clearly not intending to take any risks for other people's sake.

The woman saw her newly ignited hope about to be extinguished again, and the young girl in front of her, who looked kind and seemed easy to talk to, became her only lifeline.

An extreme emotion seized her: the despair of losing her medication and resentment toward the “indifference” of others, mixed together into a kind of paranoia.

Instead of letting go of Xu Xiaoyan, she used both hands to grip Xu Xiaoyan's arm tightly like iron clamps, her nails almost digging into her flesh, her voice becoming shrill:

"You're not going to help? None of you are going to help?! How can you be so heartless! You're just going to let my daughter die! If anything happens to my daughter, it'll be your fault! You're not leaving until you get my medicine today! We'll all die together!"

Xu Xiaoyan stumbled as she was pulled, a sharp pain shooting through her arm. Hearing this almost shameless threat, the anger of being morally blackmailed erupted in her chest like a volcano.

The little sympathy she had left was instantly burned away by her anger.

She suddenly raised her head, stared coldly at the crazed woman, and slapped her across the face. The woman was knocked backward by the slap, but managed to regain her balance. The little girl next to her was frightened and started crying.

Seeing that the strength in her hands hadn't lessened at all, and instead she was tearing at them even harder, Xu Xiaoyan said, "I won't let go! I won't let go unless you agree!"

"I said, let go," Xu Xiaoyan said, enunciating each word clearly. She no longer tried to reason with her or waste her breath.

Taking advantage of the moment when the woman pulled her and she turned her body to the side, with her backpack blocking between the two, she had a thought, and a small but sharp fruit knife silently appeared in her hand.

She didn't point the knife at the woman; instead, she flicked her wrist, letting the cold blade gleam in the dim light, aimed directly at the woman's hands that were gripping her sleeve tightly.

All the woman's cries and struggles ceased the moment she saw that glint of cold light.

As if burned, she abruptly released her grip, took two steps back in terror, her face drained of color, her lips trembling, unable to utter another threatening word.

She finally realized that this seemingly easy-going young woman was not someone she could easily manipulate.

The three people next to them were also stunned by this sudden turn of events, and dared not breathe.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't even glance at the woman again, casually gripped the fruit knife to her side, and turned to leave without a word.

Behind them, the faint sounds of a little girl coughing and a woman crying could be heard again.

But Xu Xiaoyan did not stop in her tracks. What she had just witnessed made her realize that excessive sympathy would only drag her into the abyss.

Xu Xiaoyan quickly left that place of trouble, until the sounds of arguing and crying were far behind her.

She looked at the ordinary fruit knife in her palm and sighed deeply. "Kindness needs teeth," she murmured to herself, as if trying to convince herself.

After confirming her direction, Xu Xiaoyan continued towards the location of Qingshui Manor that she remembered.

The mountain roads were more difficult to traverse than expected. The torrential rain not only brought mudslides but also altered the course of many trails.

Some normally passable paths were flooded or destroyed, forcing her to take detours repeatedly, which greatly depleted her energy.

As darkness fell, she felt waves of fatigue and chill creeping over her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Xu Xiaoyan seemed to catch a glimpse of something moving in the woods behind her. She froze instantly, all the muscles in her body tensing up.

She didn't turn around to look immediately, but kept moving forward, one hand slowly reaching for the fruit knife at her waist, her ears straining to catch any sounds around her.

It sounded like the faintest sound of footsteps on wet, slippery leaves, intermittent and not like the footsteps of a wild animal, but more like the footsteps of a human.

Is he a stranger?

Or did one of those people from earlier follow us?

Could it be that desperate woman, or one or all of the other three?

What is the purpose?

revenge?

Seize resources?

Or was it just a coincidence that they traveled the same route?

Various guesses flashed through her mind in an instant. Xu Xiaoyan's thoughts raced, and she spoke in a calm, almost soliloquy voice:

"You've been following me all this way, aren't you tired? If you have something to say, it's better to come out and say it."

A few seconds later, the bushes rustled, and a figure slowly emerged.

It was the young man in the gray windbreaker. He looked a little embarrassed and raised his hands slightly to indicate that he meant no harm.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to follow you," the man's voice betrayed a hint of nervousness.

"I saw the direction you left in, it seemed to be towards Qingshui Villa? The roads around here are too difficult to travel, many places are destroyed, I thought... maybe we could travel together and look out for each other."

Xu Xiaoyan remained vigilant, her hand holding the fruit knife behind her back, her body slightly turned to the side—a posture that allowed her to both attack and defend.

She sized him up.

He didn't seem aggressive at all; aside from a backpack that didn't look too bulky, he didn't have any obvious weapons. But you can't judge a book by its cover, especially in this kind of environment.

"Looking out for each other?" Xu Xiaoyan's tone was flat, with a clear sense of detachment. "Why do I feel like you're the one who needs someone to scout ahead?"