Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 225 Preparing the Container

People automatically formed a small queue in front of her. Although it was not as spectacular as the long, twisted lines at the official windows next door, the queue moved much faster. There was no long wait, no repeated wrangling, and no impatient reprimands from the staff.

Check, quote, agree, transfer, leave—the process is so streamlined it's almost unsettling, yet it evokes a morbid sense of gratitude—in a time when everything is slowed down, blocked, and exploited, this "speed" and "slight fairness" are themselves a luxury.

Xu Xiaoyan inspected the goods, quickly calculated the price in her mind, and operated her mobile phone to transfer money. Her movements were swift and she hardly spoke. She quickly collected the food items from those people's hands, using points that were slightly higher than the official system.

These salt, sugar, vitamin tablets, dried mushrooms, chili sauce... may seem insignificant and troublesome to officials, but each item on her strategic reserve list could play an unexpected role in her monotonous and impoverished underground life in the future.

She could clearly feel the gazes cast upon her—some were those who breathed a sigh of relief after the deal was completed, their eyes revealing genuine gratitude; some were curiously observing her, guessing her background and purpose; and of course, there were also shrewd and calculating ones, observing her acquisition preferences, pondering whether they could find greater benefits from them.

Someone tried to sell a bag of obviously damp and clumped sugar along with the sugar, but she calmly picked it out, put it aside, shook her head, and didn't say a word. That silent rejection was more powerful than any reprimand.

Four hours passed quietly in the almost mechanical, uninterrupted trading. The sky turned from afternoon to evening, and the shadows cast by the warehouse ceiling gradually lengthened and dimmed. The flow of people at the purchasing point did not decrease; on the contrary, it became more crowded and anxious as the closing time approached.

The burlap sacks at Xu Xiaoyan's feet were already bulging with various small packages of items, mostly basic seasonings—salt, sugar, MSG, star anise, cinnamon, and dried chili peppers. The variety was more mixed than she had initially expected, and the quality was also uneven. In addition, there were some miscellaneous dried goods, bottled sauces, and a small amount of vitamin tablets.

There was too much stuff; she couldn't possibly carry it all home by herself. She looked around at the noisy, chaotic crowd, and her gaze finally settled on a young man squatting in the shadows against the wall, with a dilapidated pedicab parked beside him.

The young man looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old, pale and thin, wearing a thin old jacket. He shivered slightly in the cold wind, but his eyes were alert as he looked at the people and goods coming and going. He was obviously waiting for a job to move things.

"Feed," Xu Xiaoyan beckoned to him, her voice not loud, but loud enough for the other to hear.

The young man suddenly looked up and saw Xu Xiaoyan and the pile of supplies at her feet. His eyes widened immediately, and he almost jumped up, nodding repeatedly. His voice was a little tight with excitement, "Hey, miss! Want to move some things? I'm strong! My cart is stable! Price is negotiable!" He was eager to promote himself, afraid that this opportunity would slip away.

"Help me move these things to my house," Xu Xiaoyan said succinctly, pointing to several cloth bags and backpacks on the ground. "I'll give you 0.3 points."

0.3 points! The young man's breathing quickened when he heard the number. Although the job was not easy, it was definitely worth it. Without any hesitation, he nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. "Transport! Immediately! Don't worry, I guarantee it will be done perfectly!" He immediately started working, showing a dexterity and strength that did not match his thin figure.

The young man was clearly very familiar with the winding alleys of the outer city. He carefully stacked and adjusted several heavy cloth bags and bulging backpacks on the cart, and skillfully tied and knotted them with the old hemp rope he had brought with him to ensure that they would not fall apart while the cart was in motion.

Then, he stood in front of the bike, gripped the handlebars with both hands, hunched his back slightly, and nodded to Xu Xiaoyan, "Little sister, can you give me directions? I'll pull from the front, and you can keep an eye on things from behind."

Xu Xiaoyan did not refuse. She walked to the side and back of the cart, holding onto the edge of the cart with one hand. This not only helped her when the road was particularly bumpy or uphill, but more importantly, it allowed her to keep a vigilant eye on her surroundings. At this time, carrying so many "supplies" through the chaotic alleys of the outer city was a risk in itself.

The two barely spoke along the way; the only sounds were the crunching of the old tricycle wheels over gravel, rubble, and frozen mud, and the young man's slightly heavy breathing due to the weight of the load, echoing through the alleyway as dusk deepened.

Occasionally, passersby would cast curious or scrutinizing glances, but upon seeing that the cart was filled with nothing but bulging sacks and a heavily wrapped woman with a cold gaze following behind, most would look away.

Finally, the tricycle stopped in front of Xu Xiaoyan's door. The young man helped her carry several sacks into the room. After finishing all this, a fine layer of sweat had seeped out of his forehead. He wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, looked at Xu Xiaoyan, and his eyes showed the expectation of completing the work, as well as a trace of barely perceptible fatigue from physical exhaustion.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't delay, and didn't even let him remind her. She directly brought up her phone and found the young man's account that she had just noted down. "As agreed, 0.3 points. Thank you for your hard work."

Operate and confirm.

A crisp "ding" sounded on the young man's old phone. He looked down at the numbers flashing on the screen, and a relieved and genuinely happy smile instantly appeared on his face. The smile washed away the fatigue on his face and made him look much younger. "Thank you! Thank you, young lady!" he said repeatedly, his voice light and cheerful.

After seeing off the brisk-looking employees, Xu Xiaoyan's calm expression vanished instantly, replaced by a serious look mixed with exhaustion and urgency. She quickly locked the door, and then, with a slight thought, the burlap sack in the corner was stored in her spatial storage.

After finishing all that, she didn't rest. Instead, she turned and walked towards the small door leading to the backyard. Since she couldn't take the coal and firewood with her, she would try to make the most of them before leaving.

She had a considerable amount of rice, flour, and cooking oil stored in her space, but most of it was raw food that needed to be processed and cooked. If she could use this fuel, which she couldn't take with her and it would be a pity to waste, in the last day and a half, to cook the raw rice into cooked rice, stew the frozen meat until it was tender, and stir-fry the cabbage until it was fragrant...

She could even use that large iron pot to cook enough dishes to last a long time, and the almost time-freezing preservation properties of her space could perfectly preserve the state, temperature and flavor of these cooked foods when they were fresh out of the pot.

What does this mean? It means that in the initial stage of entering the underground city, when everything is unstable, the environment is unfamiliar, cooking may be extremely inconvenient, and there may even be safety hazards, she will have a "personal mobile canteen" that is readily available, hot, and nutritionally balanced!

This is not just about satisfying one's appetite, but also about providing a huge guarantee of physical strength, energy, and a sense of security. While others may need to adapt to a new environment, or go through hardships or risks to get a hot meal, she can calmly take out the prepared food.

The plan was exciting, but a practical problem immediately emerged: a large amount of hot food would need to be stored in containers. She couldn't possibly want to bring out a heavy iron pot from her space or use a basin to hold rice when she wanted to eat braised pork. She needed a lot of disposable or reusable food containers that were easy to store.

She immediately took out her phone, her fingers swiping rapidly across the cold screen, logging into the base's intranet, a chaotic yet unusually active local trading section, and entering the keywords "disposable lunch boxes," "plastic lunch boxes," and "food containers" into the search bar.

The search results and prices made her brow unfurrow. At a time when most people were frantically buying up "hard currencies" such as food, fuel, and tools, the price of this seemingly insignificant plastic product had fallen to an astonishingly low point.

Especially those large rectangular white lunch boxes with compartments, which are claimed to be made of "food-grade PP material". Sellers usually describe them as "stored inventory from a closed hotel", "unable to take with them during relocation", or "available for points". A pack of 100 brand-new large lunch boxes costs only 0.5 to 1 point, or even less.

Without blinking, Xu Xiaoyan quickly browsed, compared, and placed orders. She specifically chose "clearance items" with realistic descriptions, clear pictures, and low prices, and quickly clicked "buy" and "confirm payment".

In just over ten minutes, she swept up all the large lunchboxes listed by several sellers on the trading platform like a shopping spree! The points she spent were less than a fraction of what she had spent on acquiring food that day.

Then, she thought of the homemade sea buckthorn jam stored in various sizes of basins, buckets, and jars in the space. The current storage method is not only space-consuming and inconvenient to access, but also has inconsistent sealing properties, posing a risk to long-term storage. Her finger swiped across the screen again, and "sealed glass jars," "glass bottles with lids," and "storage jars" became the new keywords.

The price surprised her even more this time. Perhaps it was the fragile, heavy, and inconvenient nature of glass products that made these containers unsurprisingly "unsaleable" and "burdensome" on the eve of a move when everyone was pursuing "light travel".

Normally, it might take 1 point to exchange for a dozen or twenty glass jars with rubber sealing rings, but now many sellers are offering dozens of them for just 0.2 or 0.3 points, along with promises of "buy more, get more free" and "damage guaranteed".

In the product images, the transparent, round-bellied, narrow-necked glass jars gleamed under the light. Some were standard 500ml jam jars, while others were larger, such as 750ml or one liter jars, with a full range of sizes available.

The product description emphasizes that it is "brand new and unused" and has a "silicone sealing ring with excellent sealing properties, suitable for storing sauces, dried goods, seeds, and many other items."

This was exactly what she needed! Without further hesitation, Xu Xiaoyan quickly calculated based on the approximate total amount of her sea buckthorn jam and the possible future packaging needs. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she placed another bulk order, specifically choosing links with suitable specifications, good sealing, and the lowest prices. This time, she was even more "generous," ordering another eight hundred sealed glass jars of various sizes in one go!

Over the next hour, orders were marked as "shipped" or "accepted." The logistics system in the outer city, which had been barely established during the apocalypse and relied on human-powered bicycles and simple carts, stubbornly continued to operate during this final period of chaos.

When the first deliveryman arrived at Xu Xiaoyan's small house, carrying two large cardboard boxes, he looked at the young woman inside and the supplies already piled on the floor. His expression was a mixture of surprise and understanding. "You've really gone on a big shopping spree," he muttered, but didn't ask any further questions. After all, people buy all sorts of things before moving, from tools to bedding, from medicine to... a whole bunch of empty lunch boxes and glass jars? It was a bit strange, but it wasn't something he hadn't seen before.

Xu Xiaoyan simply smiled politely at him, signed for the package, and carried the cardboard box into the house. Soon, the second and third deliverymen arrived one after another, and the small space of the house began to pile up more and more cardboard boxes, which were printed with the words "100 disposable lunch boxes/box" or "24 glass jars/box".

When Xu Xiaoyan signed for the mountain of cardboard boxes for the third time, the young deliveryman was panting heavily and couldn't help but mutter, "Sister, are you opening a general store?" His eyes were filled with curiosity, but even more so with numbness after being used to it—after all, what strange people and strange things aren't there these days?

Xu Xiaoyan simply smiled and offered no explanation. She carried the cardboard boxes into the house, piled them in a relatively open area, and then began unpacking them.

"Rip—" The cardboard box was torn open, revealing neatly stacked brand-new plastic lunch boxes inside. They were white, clean, and divided into compartments, stacked together, emitting a faint smell of new plastic. She checked a few; they were sturdy, undamaged, and the lids were securely fastened—very good.

The other large box contained round, translucent glass jars, available in 500ml and 1L sizes. Each jar was crystal clear, with a brand-new milky-white silicone sealing ring at the mouth and a metal screw cap with an inner sealing gasket.

She picked one up, unscrewed it, and tightened it again, making a soft "click" sound. The seal sounded good. Eight hundred glass jars, once unpacked, filled almost half a wall, reflecting a faint light under the dim light.

With the container in place and the fuel readily available, it was time for the "kitchen battle"—a race against time. Xu Xiaoyan took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and headed towards the stove.

She took out supplies from her space one by one: two large bags of 20-kilogram vacuum-packed rice, several five-liter buckets of filtered water, more than twenty pieces of frozen pork with skin, each weighing about a pound, a large bag of peeled chestnut kernels, and more than a dozen large and sturdy cabbages. The small kitchen floor and the only countertop were quickly filled with these raw materials, leaving almost no room to walk.

The two large iron pots on the stove were washed clean, and dry firewood and a few pieces of tinder were put into the firebox. A match was struck, and orange-red flames leaped in the firebox, quickly becoming strong and licking the black bottom of the pots. The pots began to heat up, and a little bit of blue smoke rose from them.