Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

This means that anyone who enters their territory, day or night, may be attacked.

I can picture the scene of thousands upon thousands of dark shadows swooping down from the cave ceiling.

Xu Xiaoyan felt a chill run down her spine at their sharp teeth and the unknown viruses they might carry.

Judging from the reaction of the group below, there are definitely a lot of bats in the tunnel, and they are quite aggressive.

"It seems I'll have to avoid this tunnel tomorrow," she resolved to herself.

Xu Xiaoyan was disturbed by the bat's thoughts and spent the whole night in a state of half-sleep.

When the first light of dawn barely seeped through the tent fabric the next morning, she felt dizzy and completely dazed.

She rubbed her temples vigorously and took out her watch from her pocket to check the time—5 a.m.

In the dim backlight, the numbers looked a bit glaring. She forced herself to stay alert and suddenly remembered the watch's offline map function.

The thought flashed through her mind, and she immediately took out the children's binoculars, adjusted the focus, and carefully looked above the entrance to the deep tunnel below.

On the weathered cement arch, the words "Makou Tunnel" can still be faintly discerned in large, mottled white characters.

She quickly typed four words into the offline map search box on her watch, and the map interface flickered, indicating a successful location.

A flashing red dot indicated her approximate location, while a dotted line representing a tunnel stretched across the mountainside, with its length marked as 3500 meters.

"This tunnel is quite long," she murmured to herself, looking up at the lush mountains above the tunnel. "I hope that once I get over this mountain, I can reach the other side."

With a try-it-out mentality, she entered "Linchuan City" into the destination field on the map. When the search results popped up, she gasped and almost burst out laughing bitterly.

"Good heavens, the two places are 1800 kilometers apart..." An indescribable sense of desolation instantly swept over her, and she felt that her legs would eventually give out on this long road.

Xu Xiaoyan took a deep breath, trying to forcefully suppress the feeling of powerlessness.

After putting all the items, including the tent and sleeping bag, back into her spatial storage, she took one last look at the tunnel below and began climbing along the mountain range where the tunnel was located.

The initial terrain was relatively gentle, but the higher you went, the more rugged and difficult it became.

The dense bushes, like an tangled net, kept tugging at her trouser legs and backpack, and the thorny branches occasionally left tiny bloody marks on the back of her bare hands.

She had to frequently swing the watermelon knife, hacking through the overgrown thorns in front of her to carve out a barely passable path for herself.

My breathing gradually became heavy, my chest felt hot and tight from the continuous climb, my mind was a little dizzy, and my steps were slightly unsteady.

She had to stop, lean against the rough tree trunk beside her to catch her breath for a moment, and then continue on her way.

The hillside was scattered with loose pebbles, and she took each step carefully, afraid of slipping and falling.

Sweat quickly soaked her hair and the back of her clothes, and the sticky feeling was very uncomfortable.

When she finally climbed to a relatively flat plateau, she looked back and saw that the winding road and tunnel entrance below had become tiny.

On the other side, the mountain range continues endlessly.

It seems there's still a long way to go before we can cross this mountain range.

She wiped the sweat from her face, tilted her head back and drank half a bottle of water. Not daring to linger, she took another step and disappeared into the lush green forest.

After Xu Xiaoyan climbed over two steep mountain peaks, her calves felt as heavy as lead with every step she took.

When she finally reached the top of the third mountain, panting heavily, and looked out into the distance, all she saw were endless, layer upon layer of mountains, and she was plunged into deep despair.

"I can't go on, I need to rest." She clearly felt that her physical and mental reserves were nearing their limit.

If you force yourself to keep going, you will be helpless in the event of a sudden danger. Rather than collapsing from exhaustion, it is better to take the initiative to rest and recover your strength.

She found a relatively flat, secluded spot on the mountaintop, took out a tent and sleeping bag from her storage space, and practically collapsed inside.

Before falling into a deep sleep, she mustered her last bit of consciousness and set her watch alarm for two hours.

"Beep beep—beep beep—" When the crisp alarm clock suddenly rang out in the mountains and forests, Xu Xiaoyan opened her eyes abruptly.

After a few seconds of confusion, she quickly regained her senses. She rubbed her legs, which were still sore but no longer stiff, and without delay, she neatly packed up all her equipment.

Two hours of high-quality sleep yields significant results.

The previous feeling of dizziness and lightheadedness has disappeared. Although my muscles are still sore, my mental and physical strength have been greatly restored.

When she set off again, she even had the leisure to travel and observe as she went, no longer just burying herself in arduous journeys.

That's why, when she reached the shady side of the fourth hill, her gaze swept over the ground under several large trees, and she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

On the thick layer of fallen leaves, which was already somewhat dry and yellowed, there was a scattered layer of dark brown nutlets with pointed tips.

She quickly stepped forward, squatted down, carefully brushed aside the fallen leaves on top, and picked up a few to examine closely.

These small fruits are much smaller than common chestnuts, with smooth shells and a distinct pointed cone-shaped protrusion at the top.

"It's chestnut!" A hint of surprise flashed in Xu Xiaoyan's eyes.

Upon seeing these, she immediately recalled the chestnuts she had collected at Qingshui Manor.

Those are cultivated varieties, and they are large, while these chestnuts in front of us are pure wild chestnuts, small in size but with an excellent taste.

After confirming that it was a wild chestnut, Xu Xiaoyan did not hesitate at all and immediately began to take action.

She first looked around and picked up a dead branch of moderate length and solid texture. She weighed it in her hand a few times to make sure it was comfortable enough.

Then, take out a shawl from the space and wrap it around your head. Choose a good angle, grip the wooden stick with both hands, take a deep breath, and strike the branch full of fruit!

"Clap! Clap! Clap!" The crisp tapping sound echoed through the forest, causing the branches to shake violently.

One by one, the bristly balls, some green and some slightly cracked, fell from the heights with a "pitter-patter" sound, crashing onto the thick layer of fallen leaves.

Some of the fluffy balls even burst open the moment they landed, revealing small, dark brown, glossy chestnuts inside.

She was extremely patient, repeatedly tapping every possible branch that might bear fruit around the chestnut trees, making sure not a single ripe fruit was missed.

This process consumed a lot of her energy and time; her arms ached from repeated swinging, and her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat.