Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 425 Early Transaction

He bent down and tied the straps of the woven bag to his backpack to make sure it wouldn't come loose halfway.

Then he straightened up, his gaze sweeping over the two faces, his tone carrying an almost stubborn seriousness:

"So, if you can queue overnight, do so. Changing an hour earlier or an hour later might result in a different price."

If everyone goes to exchange pine resin after dawn tomorrow, and the authorities see that there is a sufficient supply, they will immediately lower the exchange rate.

Then all that hard work we put into finding those few pounds of stuff in the middle of the night was for nothing, wasn't it?

After he finished speaking, he didn't wait for their response and started leading the way back.

Xu Xiaoyan and Lan Yue looked at each other, their lips moved, but neither of them could utter a rebuttal.

After about three seconds of silence, Xu Xiaoyan spoke first, "You're right, we were thinking too little."

Qiu Dayong waved his hand and grinned, "You guys are still young and inexperienced. I'm an old hand who's learned my lesson from my mistakes."

Alright, I'll take you over here and down to the foot of the mountain. Your mountain peak is right next to us.

We'll split up then. I'll go back to get the tent; it should take about an hour to get to the trading point.

He shouldered his backpack, carried his woven bag, and led the two down the mountain.

Half an hour later, he waved to the two of them. The light became smaller and smaller, farther and farther away, and finally disappeared behind the bushes at the foot of the mountain.

Xu Xiaoyan and Lan Yue stood there, watching the faint light disappear completely into the darkness, remaining silent for a long time.

"What he said... makes so much sense," Lan Yue said, her voice so soft it sounded like she was talking to herself.

Xu Xiaoyan looked down at her bag containing several kilograms of pine resin, and then thought about Qiu Dayong's words, "If you can queue overnight, then queue overnight as much as possible."

"Let's go," she tugged at Lan Yue's sleeve.

"Let's go back to our camp first, take a short nap, and set an alarm for 4:30."

"Set off before most people wake up. You don't necessarily have to stay up all night, but you have to be among the first to arrive."

Lan Yue nodded vigorously and tightened the backpack strap on her shoulder.

The two walked one after the other along the narrow mountain path they had come from, a path so narrow that only one person could pass at a time, toward their encampment.

When the two made their way back to their encampment, the camp was already mostly quiet.

Most people were too exhausted to continue, so they either lay down in their tents and slept soundly or dozed off under the trees.

As Xu Xiaoyan walked ahead and bent down to unzip her own tent, her fingers suddenly paused.

Not right.

She remembered clearly that she had zipped the tent all the way to the left before leaving, but now the zipper was stopped in the middle to the right, almost a hand's width away.

She has a habit when packing her luggage: no matter how urgent it is, she will deliberately zip the zipper all the way up.

Her adoptive parents used to laugh at her for having "obsessive-compulsive disorder," but now it seems that raising her was worthwhile.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't go in immediately. Instead, she squatted down and shone the flashlight around the inside of the tent. There were some mud spots on the moisture-proof mat inside the tent.

Before she could take a closer look, she heard Lan Yue whisper, "Where's my sleeping bag?"

Xu Xiaoyan turned her head and saw that her sleeping bag was gone from her tent, and the flashlight beam illuminated the empty sleeping mat.

The person who rummaged through the items clearly had a specific purpose: to target what was least likely to be traced.

"I just didn't bring a sleeping bag because I was too lazy to carry one, and it got stolen right away?" Lan Yue's voice went from a suppressed tremor to an outburst of anger in just one sentence.

His face flushed bright red. "Some people are shameless! Are they really that shallow? They'd steal a sleeping bag?"

She turned around, unzipped the tent, and leaned half her body out, the sound particularly jarring in the quiet campsite:

"Don't let me find you! Otherwise, I'll make sure you suffer! Do you hear me?!" The last few words were almost shouted.

There were rustling noises coming from several nearby tents. Someone unzipped their pants and peeked out, then quickly shrank back in, as if afraid of being caught in the rage.

Xu Xiaoyan reacted quickly, grabbing Lan Yue's arm and pulling her back from the tent entrance.

"Alright, alright," Xu Xiaoyan said in a low voice, her words quick and steady. "Stop shouting. It's no use shouting. They've already stolen it; they can't just grow legs and run back, can they?"

Lan Yue's chest heaved violently, her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her eyes were a little red, not because she felt wronged, but purely because she was angry.

Xu Xiaoyan helped her sit on the moisture-proof mat before speaking, "Think about it, luckily we had the foresight to bring all our valuables with us."

As she spoke, she patted her bulging backpack and pointed to Blue Moon's equally full bag. "If the sleeping bag is gone, it's gone. It's not a big deal."

Don't forget we still have lots of points; what can't we buy with them?

Lan Yue bit her lip and remained silent, but the rise and fall of her chest gradually subsided.

Xu Xiaoyan continued to persuade her, "Don't get angry. It's not worth ruining your health over someone like that. Wait until dawn tomorrow, then go to the trading point and get a new sleeping bag that's even better than the old one."

As for the thief, you don't need to look for him; someone will deal with him sooner or later. In a place like this, how long can someone with dirty hands hide?

After a long silence, Lan Yue finally let out a heavy breath, and her agitated state gradually softened.

She raised her hand to rub her eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "That's true."

Then she put her backpack on the edge of the sleeping mat and added irritably, "Consider it feeding the dog."

Xu Xiaoyan's lips curved slightly, but she didn't say anything more.

"Little words".

"Um?"

"Luckily you reminded me to keep all my valuables with me, otherwise I can't even imagine what would have happened."

"Go to sleep. We'll go to the trading point early tomorrow morning."

"Um".

Soon, the lights went out, and the last few whispers in the camp gradually faded into the night.

Only a few flashlight beams, refusing to go out, remained lit on the various hilltops in the distance.

At 4:30 a.m., the watch's vibrating alarm clock rang softly on Xu Xiaoyan's wrist right on time.

She rolled over, nimbly crawled out of the sleeping bag, and casually folded it up and tossed it into her storage space.

She secretly used a small basin of water to brush her teeth and wash her face, then used her spatial ability to take out two steamed buns and eat them while they were still hot.

After everything was settled, she wiped her mouth, left her tent, and went to Blue Moon's tent.

Using the faint glow of her watch, she located the tent zipper, bent down, and gently tapped the tent fabric twice with her knuckles.

"Blue Moon" spoke in a very low voice, almost in a whisper, "It's 4:30, time to get up."

There was no immediate response from inside the tent, so she knocked again, this time with a bit more force.

Finally, a rustling sound came from inside, followed by Lan Yue's sleepy voice, "Wait a moment... I'll get up right away."