Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 430 On-site Standoff

Two young men who had just arrived happened to pass by Xu Xiaoyan. One of them was wearing dark blue overalls, and the other was wearing a gray woolen hat.

The two were just passing by when their eyes inadvertently swept over the phone screen in Xu Xiaoyan's hand, and their steps suddenly slowed down.

The two people on the screen, one clutching his head and fleeing in a disheveled state, the other baring his teeth and claws and chasing after him relentlessly, weren't they the live footage of the farce that was happening not far away?

The man in dark blue overalls paused, turned his head, and asked with an incredulous look of surprise, "You filmed the whole thing?"

Xu Xiaoyan glanced at him sideways and simply nodded slightly.

The two men exchanged a glance, their eyes lighting up. The one wearing the gray beanie took a half-step forward. "Can I take a look? Just one."

Xu Xiaoyan didn't say anything, but handed over her phone with the screen facing out. The two men immediately huddled together, their four eyes glued to the small screen.

In the scene, the man in the gray jacket comes out of the second tent first, holding a few compressed biscuits in his hand and stuffing them into his backpack.

Then he turned around and crawled into the third tent, crouching down to search inside, his head almost completely buried; the third tent, the fourth tent... every tent, every reach, every movement was clearly captured by the phone's long-distance camera.

"Fuck..." the man in dark blue overalls muttered under his breath. His voice wasn't loud, but the anger that was squeezed out from between his teeth was exceptionally clear.

The man in the woolen hat didn't speak, but his brows furrowed more and more, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his fingers unconsciously clenched into fists.

When the footage showed the man in the gray jacket emerging from the fourth tent, he glanced back as if to check if he had been spotted. His furtive expression was captured on camera without reservation.

The man in the wool hat finally couldn't hold back any longer. He lowered his voice to a whisper but said, "That bastard, he's so shameless."

The video continued playing until the moment when Blue Moon rushed out from behind the tree and grabbed the man in the gray jacket by the collar.

The two men watched without blinking. When they saw Lan Yue throw a punch, the one in the dark blue overalls even subconsciously made a punching motion himself, clicking his tongue as if to cheer Lan Yue on the screen.

After the video finished playing, the two men straightened up, looked at each other, and both read the same emotion in each other's eyes—an itch to hit someone.

"I can't take it anymore." The man in the dark blue overalls rolled up his sleeves, revealing the strong muscles on his forearms. "I'll go up and help. This kind of petty thief would get beaten up and sent to the police station if he lived here."

The man wearing a woolen hat squeezed a step into the crowd, saying, "Count me in, it's infuriating to look at."

Xu Xiaoyan reached out and took her phone back from in front of the two of them, then calmly put it in her pocket.

Her gaze swept over the two indignant men. "The evidence is irrefutable. Let's see how he tries to deny it later."

The two men paused for a moment, then nodded in unison. "Alright, let's see how that bastard tries to cover it up. If he still dares to talk back, I won't mind teaching him a lesson on behalf of his parents."

The man in the gray jacket was exhausted from being chased by Blue Moon. He was bent over, holding his knees and panting heavily. His face was bruised and swollen, and there seemed to be a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth.

Lan Yue stood in front of him, hands on her hips, her chest heaving violently, but her imposing manner remained undiminished.

As more and more people gathered, the man in the gray jacket seemed to realize the situation was turning against him. Instead, he yelled at Lan Yue in a high-pitched and urgent voice, trying to overpower her with his imposing manner:

"You keep accusing me of stealing your sleeping bag! You're making baseless accusations! When did I steal your sleeping bag? Did you see it? Do you have any evidence? I've never seen a shrew like you, coming up to hit someone right away! Is there no law anymore?!"

He got more and more excited as he spoke, spitting everywhere, as if he were the one who had suffered a great injustice. The bruises on his face, combined with his righteous and stern expression, made him look somewhat absurd and comical.

Lan Yue stood opposite him with her arms crossed, a cold smile on her lips, glancing at him sideways.

She spoke calmly and slowly, her voice not loud, but every word was clearly audible to the onlookers: "The sleeping bag incident happened a couple of days ago, I can't be bothered to argue with you about it."

Let's talk about the immediate issue. You ransacked five tents and stole so much food. Can you honestly say you didn't steal anything?

As she spoke, she pointed to the bags of things that had fallen out of his pockets and backpack during the fight: compressed biscuits, canned food, and several packets of instant noodles that she didn't know which tent had found. They were scattered on the muddy ground and looked particularly jarring.

"This—" The man in the gray jacket's voice suddenly faltered, his eyes darting around rapidly, before he retorted sharply, "I switched these things myself! Why do you say I stole them? Which eye of yours saw me take them from the tent?"

Lan Yue ignored him, only slightly turning her head to glance in the direction of the crowd. That angle was exactly where Xu Xiaoyan was holding her phone.

The man in the gray jacket followed her gaze, and his expression changed drastically. He saw the woman wearing a black mask and a cap pulled low, and the phone in her hand that was pointed directly at him.

At this moment, the crowd erupted in chaos.

"Five tents overturned in a row? Really?"

"What, you're going to search the tent?"

"Holy crap, I have to go check this out!"

Several onlookers' expressions changed drastically. They hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd and ran towards their own tents.

For a moment, the camp was filled with the sounds of zippers being pulled open, the rustling of items being rummaged through, and a few long, relieved sighs.

"Mine is still here, it scared me to death."

"Mine wasn't missing either; luckily, I brought all my things with me yesterday."

"Hey, who's missing something? Come check it out!" A middle-aged man emerged from his tent, dusted off his knees, and shouted towards the crowd.

The other people who had finished checking the tents also returned one after another, their expressions changing from tense to relieved. Most of them had taken their valuables with them, and what remained in the tents were just some worthless junk, so there was nothing to steal.

When Lan Yue saw that the people who had been checking had returned, she raised her voice and said, "He stole these five tents on the right side. Does anyone know whose they are? Come out and claim them."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a young woman in the crowd suddenly slapped her thigh, turned around and shouted down the mountain, "Zhou Xiaojuan—! Come up quickly! Your tent has been stolen!" Her voice was incredibly loud.