Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Xu Xiaoyan's heart leaped into her throat, and Xie Yingtang and Wang Xiao tensed up instantly, their negotiating words coming to an abrupt halt.

The shrewd stall owner's face also turned grim, and he quickly whispered to Xie Yingtang:

"You're out of luck. They're here. If you still want to exchange your items, you'd better decide quickly, otherwise, once they arrive, it's hard to say whether you can even keep your items!"

Xie Yingtang's eyes sharpened. Without hesitation, he lowered his voice and quickly told the stall owner, "Salt and dry rations, whatever you have, I'll give you! Quickly!"

Knowing the situation was urgent, the stall owner stopped haggling and quickly pulled a plastic bag from under his stall. Inside were twenty dried cakes, and he said, "These are all I have, for all your lotus roots!"

This condition is practically taking advantage of someone's misfortune.

Xu Xiaoyan picked up two dried biscuits and half a bag of dried fish from his stall and said, "With these added, the boss is really getting a bargain." After saying that, she turned and ran away.

"Hey, this won't do," the boss said before he could finish.

Wang Xiao took the twenty dried biscuits from his hand and said, "Transaction successful, we'll be going now."

He ran off after he finished speaking, leaving Xie Yingtang stunned. Seeing that the stall owner was about to grab his hand, he quickly dodged to the side and began to glance at the fishing gear on the stall owner's table.

"Don't look, I can't give it to you, I've already lost money!!!"

Seeing Xie Yingtang's behavior, the stall owner was afraid that he would follow the example of the two men and strike first.

Xie Yingtang had no intention of robbing anything; he was just looking for something else worth exchanging.

But the stall owner was already very wary of him, and he didn't want to waste any more words, so he turned and left.

The stall owner watched as the three people left.

He quickly covered the table with a dirty cloth, then placed the lotus root into the compartment under the table, and finally blocked it with a fishing net, while pretending to have sold out and was about to go home.

From afar, Lai Laosan's rough, arrogant voice rang out, "You all better behave yourselves! Everything at the market today has to get my approval first!"

An old man selling dried bamboo shoots was a little slow to pack up his stall when one of Lai Laosan's men kicked him to the ground. The brown bamboo shoots scattered all over the ground, and the old man lay on the ground trembling, not daring to make a sound.

Lai Laosan's gaze swept over the stall owner's dirty cloth and lingered for a moment. He curled his lip, seemingly not finding anything particularly noteworthy, and finally walked towards the next stall while grumbling.

The three dared not linger for a moment, and walked quickly in the direction they had come from, against the flow of people still pouring into the market.

Only after they left the market area and stepped back onto the much sparser main road did the three dare to slow down.

"Damn, that was close!" Wang Xiao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, still shaken.

"That Lai Laosan is too arrogant! He thinks he's some kind of market manager. Hehe, Xiaoyan, I never expected you to actually try to snatch it. You truly are a heroine!"

"There was nothing I could do. The boss's price was too low, so I had to make up for it elsewhere. As long as I got the replacement, that's good enough," Xu Xiaoyan said, patting her chest lightly.

Xie Yingtang remained silent, his brows furrowed as he gazed back in the direction of the market.

"These lotus roots can't rot in our hands. I'll go back to the market empty-handed and see if there are any vendors willing to trade durable food for them. You two take everything and go downstream to fill up the water."

He turned his gaze to his two companions and said, "While I'm not around, you two must be careful."

Xie Yingtang turned around and quickly disappeared down the path leading to the market.

Xu Xiaoyan frowned slightly, looking at Wang Xiao with a hint of confusion. "Brother Xie specifically emphasized 'be careful' before he left. Does his presence make a big difference?"

She vaguely sensed that Xie Yingtang seemed particularly worried about the two of them acting alone.

Wang Xiao was checking his shoelaces when he heard this. He paused, pursed his lips awkwardly, and seemed reluctant, but felt it was necessary to let his companion know the actual situation.

He looked up, his eyes darting around for a moment, before he mumbled, "That old Xie, he's a black belt in Taekwondo, and he's also studied karate. He's pretty strong in combat. We used to..."

"Well, he's had his share of trouble. He's dealt with several troublemakers all by himself. With him around, the safety factor is definitely a little bit higher," he tried to gloss over it in a nonchalant tone.

But Xu Xiaoyan was incredibly perceptive, and immediately discerned more from his evasive words and somewhat unnatural expression.

She raised an eyebrow, a hint of understanding and teasing in her voice, deliberately drawing out her words, "Oh—? Is it really just 'a tiny bit' short?"

Wang Xiangxiang was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on; he instantly bristled and stubbornly argued back.

"Hey! What kind of look is that?! Of course I'm amazing too! I'm just a tiny bit less skilled than him! Just a tiny bit!"

He gestured forcefully to indicate that tiny gap, trying to maintain his dignity.

Xu Xiaoyan watched his eagerness to prove himself and continued to tease him with a smile:

"Yes, yes, our Wang Xiao is certainly amazing, skilled in both academics and martial arts. Perhaps he might need Brother Xie's help in a crucial moment?"

"Xu Xiaoyan! That's enough!" Wang Xiao followed angrily, shouting defiantly.

"If anything happens later, just watch how I perform! I guarantee you'll be amazed!"

The two of them continued bickering and arguing about who was more reliable as they walked towards the riverbank along an area with relatively dense vegetation.

Xu Xiaoyan and Wang Xiao filled all the mineral water bottles from the river.

Just as they were about to leave the riverbank, a series of hurried footsteps and foul curses approached from afar.

The two immediately crouched down and hid in the waist-high weeds.

Ahead, two figures were stumbling and desperately fleeing.

Their clothes were tattered and covered in mud and dark, seemingly dried blood.

Despite their disheveled appearance, they moved with extraordinary speed, clearly having trained their footwork, and were gradually widening the distance between themselves and their pursuers.

The group chasing them consisted of about seven or eight people.

Each of them had a ferocious look on their faces, and they held rusty steel pipes, sharpened steel bars, and even a homemade hunting rifle that looked extremely poorly maintained.

Seeing their target getting further and further away, they roared in exasperation, their voices hoarse like sandpaper scraping.

"Stop right there! Stop right there! Don't think you can shake us off just because you're fast! We'll dig you out of the ground if we have to!"

The leader, a burly man with swollen bumps on his face, suddenly swung his machete, his roar particularly terrifying:

"Did you hear me! Hand over everything you have—food, water, everything! Otherwise, I'll make sure you die a horrible death, your corpses thrown into the ditch!"

In the bushes, Xu Xiaoyan and Wang Xiao exchanged a glance, both seeing solemnity and lingering fear in each other's eyes.

If those hungry wolves discover the supplies they have, their fate will be no better than that of the two men who were being chased earlier.