Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 289, Section B

She was lucky; there weren't many people around. She quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth, went back to her room to change her clothes, and put on her backpack.

People were already walking around in the corridor. A middle-aged man was leaning against the door drinking water with a thermos in his hand. When he saw her come out, his gaze lingered on her for a second before looking away.

An elderly woman carrying a small bag walked by from the side, her steps hurried.

Xu Xiaoyan walked straight into the main passage without looking to the side.

Perhaps the aftershocks of yesterday's farce hadn't completely dissipated, because occasionally you could see a few people gathered together whispering about something, and you didn't even need to listen to know they were talking about the dried biscuits.

She didn't stop and continued walking forward.

Honghu Auto Shop is located on the northern edge of Zone C, about a 40-minute walk from where she lives.

As she walked and looked around, she finally arrived at Honghu Auto Shop. Just as she was about to go inside, the person at the door looked up and saw it was Master Wang.

Upon seeing Xu Xiaoyan, he paused for a moment, then grinned.

"Oh, the little girl's here!" He put down the wrench, stood up, and dusted off his hands. "Come in, come in!"

Xu Xiaoyan walked over with a smile, knowing in her heart that the two bottles of good wine had worked; sometimes, human relationships in this world are just that simple.

"Good morning, Master Wang." She walked to the door, took out the receipt from her pocket, and handed it over. "My car should be modified by now, right? I'd like to come and pick it up."

Master Wang took the receipt, glanced at it, nodded, and turned to walk inside. "Wait here, I'll get it for you."

"Come on, take a look," Master Wang parked the car in front of her, patted the seat, and said, "It's been modified according to your requirements. The key is here." He took a key out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Xu Xiaoyan took the keys and carefully examined the vehicle in front of her.

The passenger seat has been completely remodeled. The original seat has been removed and replaced with a metal table with a smooth, flat surface and finely polished edges.

Several sockets are embedded under the table, with neatly arranged wiring. Next to them is an LED light switch. With a gentle press, the overhead light strip lights up, providing soft yet not glaring light.

She went around to the back of the car, where the rear door was welded very securely.

Inside the carriage, the shelves had been installed according to her requirements. Several metal brackets were fixed on both sides of the carriage, and reinforced mesh panels were laid on top, which could bear the weight without affecting ventilation.

She squatted down again and carefully inspected the welds on the frame. Every weld was even and full, a skill that could be seen as the work of a master craftsman accumulated over many years.

Xu Xiaoyan stood up, dusted off her hands, and a satisfied look appeared on her face.

"Excellent craftsmanship!" she stood up and sincerely praised.

Upon hearing this, Master Wang's smile deepened.

"That's fine," he said. "Come to me anytime if you need anything. I'll fix small problems for free, and charge you cost price for big problems."

Xu Xiaoyan nodded and thanked her again. She drove north at a slow speed, her eyes scanning the road signs on both sides.

After driving for about twenty minutes, she noticed a problem—none of the road signs mentioned Zone B.

She passed several intersections and looked at several road signs, all of which marked place names within Zone C—such as a certain passage, a certain exchange point, a certain warehouse, and a certain residential area.

Occasionally there are one or two signs that mention directions like "south" or "north," but none of them mention "Area B."

Xu Xiaoyan slowed down, stopped at the roadside, put one foot on the ground, and looked up at a road sign in front of her.

"Northbound: Freight corridors in zones 17, 19, and 21"

"South-facing: Central Guangyang in Zones 8, 6, and 4"

She rode on for a while longer, looked at a few more road signs, but it was still the same.

Xu Xiaoyan stopped the car thoughtfully, leaned against the wall, and began to recall the outline of the B area diagram she had seen before.

Based on location, area B should be inside area C...

If area C is a ring, then area B should be the "inner ring" that is surrounded by area C.

In this case, if you go from area C to area B, no matter which direction you go, as long as you keep going in one direction, you will eventually reach the intersection.

This logic is correct.

The problem is that there should be many at the intersection, but she didn't see any.

Why?

She thought about it for a moment, and then suddenly understood.

The area between Zone B and Zone C should be "controlled and isolated," meaning there is a clear boundary between the two zones, with entrances and exits, checkpoints, and personnel guarding the boundary.

Ordinary residents of Zone C cannot freely enter Zone B, so there are no road signs indicating "the way to Zone B"—because that road simply doesn't exist for most people.

What she needed to find was not "the way to Area B", but "the border between the two areas".

There may be side roads, freight routes, or staff-only access routes.

Those passages are not open to the general public, but their locations are fixed. As long as you find the location, there is a way.

Xu Xiaoyan got into the car and continued driving.

She decided to keep heading north.

Regardless of whether there are road signs, I'll ride to the northernmost point first.

If Zone C is indeed circular, then the northernmost point is the boundary—it could be a wall, a door, a checkpoint, or something in general.

After driving for about an hour, we reached the end of the passage.

It's not the kind of end that gradually narrows; it's the kind where suddenly, there's no road ahead.

A wall.

A gray metal wall, stretching from the ground to the ceiling, blocked the passageway completely.

There were no signs, doors, or windows on the walls; only some large pipes emerged from the walls and stretched along the ceiling into the distance.

She got out of the car, parked it against the wall, and walked over to observe it carefully.

The wall is sealed off.

But those pipes... the pipes coming out of the wall mean there's space on the other side. The pipes are open, but people can't get through.

She walked along the wall to both sides, trying to see if there was a corner.

After walking a few dozen meters to the left, there was another wall, just like the first one, completely blocked off.

I walked several dozen meters to the right, but it was still the same.

There were walls on three sides, and the only passageway was the one she came from.

This is a dead end.

Xu Xiaoyan stood by the wall, looking up at the thick pipes, and suddenly thought of a question—if area C is really circular, then behind this wall should be area B.

The boundary line is very long, and it is impossible to have entrances and exits everywhere. A checkpoint is set up at intervals, and other places are separated by walls. This can control the flow of people and save costs.

So she needs to walk along the boundary line to find the next possible entrance or exit.

If she had just driven to the northernmost point, then her current location is at the northern end of Zone C.

The boundary line should extend eastward and westward along this northern end.

East or west?

She thought about it and decided to go east.

There wasn't any particular reason; I just randomly chose a direction.

Xu Xiaoyan drove her small truck along the road for nearly an hour.

A huge space appeared to the left front—like a distribution center. On the other side of the distribution center was an even larger passageway entrance, pitch black, and it was impossible to see what was inside.

But what caught her eye was not the entrance to the passage, but the people standing in front of it—soldiers.

Xu Xiaoyan subconsciously slowed down the car, her gaze quickly sweeping over the area through the windshield.

She roughly counted eight people, all wearing the same uniform, dark gray, which was different from the uniforms of the patrolmen in Zone C; the color was darker and the style was more crisp.

They stood on both sides of the entrance to the passage, some carrying guns, some with batons on their waists, and a few empty-handed, but their posture was upright and their eyes were sharp, clearly not ordinary patrolmen.

This formation is definitely not something that was set up randomly.

Is it open to people, or is it actually not open at all?

Xu Xiaoyan gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands and turned the car in that direction.

As the car drew closer to the gathering place, she could see the faces of the soldiers clearly—they were all young men, in their early twenties, with little expression on their faces but very alert eyes.

One of the soldiers standing at the front saw her vehicle, turned his head slightly to look in her direction, and then raised his hand to gesture to her.

The gesture for stopping the car.

Xu Xiaoyan slowly slowed down and stopped the car about five meters away from the soldier.

She didn't turn off the engine or get out of the car; she simply rolled down the window, stuck half her head out, and said, "Hello."

The soldier walked over, his gaze first sweeping over the license plate, then around the car, and finally landing on her face.

"Where to?" His voice was harsh, with a touch of professional indifference.

"Back to Zone B," she said, choosing the most ambiguous and least likely to make a mistake answer. "I'm from Zone B. This bus is the interchange between Zones B and C, so I drove here to test the waters."

The soldier didn't speak, his gaze lingered on her face for a few more seconds, then he took a step back and waved his hand behind him.

Another soldier walked over, holding a palm-sized device, like a scanner or something.

He walked around the car, scanning all parts of it with the instrument, and green dots flickered on the screen.

When he scanned the back of the car, he paused and looked up at Xu Xiaoyan.

"What's in the carriage?"

Xu Xiaoyan turned off the engine, got out of the car, and let the soldiers pass from the driver's cab to the carriage.

The soldier peeked inside, shone his flashlight on the shelves and then on the corners. The shelves were empty, there was nothing there. He scanned the area, found nothing wrong, and stepped back out, nodding to the person in front of him.

The first soldier walked back and stood in front of Xu Xiaoyan.

"Documents," he said, "take out the vehicle registration documents."

Xu Xiaoyan was glad that she had prepared the necessary reference materials in advance.

"The documents are all inside," she said, unzipping her backpack and handing the contents to the soldier.

The soldier took the stack of documents and flipped through them page by page.

The soldier turned to the third page, his gaze lingering on the modification registration form.

He flipped to the fourth page, glanced at it, and turned the page again.