Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 357 The Woman on the Roof

She recalled a pattern: many people in this neighborhood slept during the day and were active at night. It wasn't that they were born liking to reverse day and night, but rather that the world forced them to do so.

It's too hot during the day. There's no air conditioning or fan, so many people just lie still to conserve their energy. At night, when the temperature drops a little, people start to emerge from all corners and move around.

The early morning hours were the time when there were the fewest people around, so by the time someone discovered the fire, it had already grown too large to be controlled.

The commotion from afar came at that moment, accompanied by men's shouts, women's screams, children's cries, and the sounds of things breaking and doors being kicked open.

She peered downstairs and saw several uniformed figures flickering in the firelight. They were soldiers, all young faces, the oldest probably no older than twenty-five, but their eyes already held a weariness and alertness that shouldn't be there for someone their age.

They didn't know where they had come from, but in any case, they were obviously too late. The group stood in the open space in front of Building 3, looking up at the burning building, at a loss.

There was no water, no fire extinguisher, and no tools to put out the fire.

One soldier tried to move closer to the building, but was pulled back by another.

It's too close. The building is burning so badly that it could collapse at any moment. The windows are being baked by the high temperature and are already crackling and shattering. Shards of glass are flying everywhere like shrapnel. Getting close would be suicide.

The most they could do was disperse the crowd, drive people away, prevent them from getting too close, and prevent the fire from injuring more people.

Xu Xiaoyan saw people running out of the unit doors of Building 3 one after another. They were disheveled, some shirtless and some barefoot. It was clear that they had been woken up from their beds and hadn't even had time to put on their clothes. They grabbed the people next to them and rushed out.

He ran and shouted, his voice coming through intermittently: "Someone's setting fire!", "They're really crazy!", "Are they out of their minds?"

The shouts contained fear, anger, and even more so, an indescribable shock. They never imagined that, even at this point, someone would still do such a thing.

The soldiers rushed forward, pushing them away, shouting something, but the roar of the fire drowned out their voices. They could only make out the gestures: retreat, retreat, don't stand here.

Several soldiers were already planning the isolation zone. The withered grass and trees in the community had long been baked into dry firewood in the continuous high temperature. If they were not removed, the wind would blow the flames up the grass and they could reach the next building.

They used borrowed tools to clear away the dead grass and trees, attempting to create a boundary to block the fire from spreading.

But what can it stop? A gust of wind can blow sparks that land on the roof of any building, and that will be the next disaster.

Xu Xiaoyan's fingers gripped the edge of the windowsill tightly, her knuckles turning white.

She glanced at her room, then with a thought, she stored the refrigerator, electric fan, battery box, Simmons bed, and other items into her spatial storage, leaving the room empty.

Then she turned around, walked to the door, moved the two bedside tables that were acting as a barrier behind the door, opened the door, went out, and closed the door behind her.

People were already running in the corridor. The other households on the same floor were quiet, their doors tightly shut, with no light or sound coming from under the doors. They had probably already run downstairs.

The family next door had probably just been woken up by the knocking. The door was wide open, and there were chaotic sounds coming from inside: things falling to the ground, people hitting the door frame, and children crying—all mixed together.

The man was dragging his wife and child out. The child, about four or five years old, was barefoot and crying loudly as he was held under the adult's arm. The child's feet were kicking wildly in the air, the soles of his feet were dusty, and there was black mud stuck under his toenails.

The woman had already leaned halfway out the door when she abruptly turned back, reaching her hand towards the inside as if to grab something important. The man grabbed her arm, his voice urgent and fierce, his shout echoing down the hallway: "Is your life more important than your possessions?!"

The woman was stunned by the shout. Her expression was complex in the firelight, showing resentment, fear, hesitation, and an indescribable heartache.

But she eventually withdrew her hand, and the man dragged her along, making a stumbling, scrambling motion towards the stairwell, her slippers clattering on the concrete floor.

Xu Xiaoyan followed behind them with her backpack. She didn't have much to carry; everything was in her spatial storage, and the backpack was all her belongings.

The hallway grew increasingly noisy, disturbing the residents upstairs and downstairs. Door openings, footsteps, shouts, and children's cries mingled together, echoing through the narrow corridor and making the walls vibrate.

As she went downstairs, she was swept along by the crowd and pushed forward. The stairs were full of people; some were running up, probably to wake up people who hadn't woken up yet, while others were running down. The two streams of people collided at the corner, pushing and shoving each other.

Someone cursed, but no one responded. At a time like this, cursing is the most useless thing to do. Cursing won't make the people in front go faster or the people behind go slower. Everyone is just rushing to escape. No one has time to argue or talk back.

Xu Xiaoyan walked down the wall sideways, trying not to be pushed over by the crowd. The wall was cool, and the coolness seeped into her skin through her thin clothes, keeping her somewhat clear-headed amidst the chaos.

She arrived at the first floor and saw that the area outside the unit door was full of people. The firelight from Building 3 illuminated the entire community as bright as day. She could see the faces of everyone clearly: terrified, bewildered, crying, and dazed.

Some people were shouting "My house!", some were shouting "My water tickets are still inside!", some were crying while holding their children, and some were squatting on the ground trembling.

The soldiers weaved through the crowd, pushing everyone outwards, towards the edge of the residential area.

"Get out! Everyone get out! Don't stay! Don't run back!" A soldier stood by the flower bed, his voice hoarse from shouting, but he was still shouting desperately.

His face was covered in sweat and grime, and his uniform sleeves were rolled up above his elbows, revealing his tanned forearms. He shouted and waved, directing the crowd to move towards the main gate of the residential area.

A large crowd had already gathered at the entrance, a dense mass of people, at least several hundred in number. These people had come from various buildings, and everyone instinctively moved towards the crowds, as if the crowds made it safer. Hundreds of eyes were simultaneously fixed on the towering flames inside the residential area.

Several soldiers stood on the periphery of the crowd, watching their surroundings warily, probably to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos to cause trouble.

A night wind blew from afar, carrying the smell of burning, which made people's throats tight. Xu Xiaoyan found a relatively open place to stand and leaned against the trunk of a dead tree by the roadside.

No one spoke; everyone was watching the fire, watching it slowly devour the place where they had once lived.

Xu Xiaoyan leaned against the tree trunk, looking up at the sky. She remembered what she had said three days ago: "Unless trouble comes knocking on my door."

Now her words have come true; trouble has indeed come knocking, but it's not just targeting her, it's targeting everyone.

She leaned against the tree trunk for a while, then straightened up and moved a few steps to the edge of the crowd. She wanted to see which direction the fire was spreading and figure out where she should go next.

No matter where she goes, she won't be able to go back to that room tonight.

Before Xu Xiaoyan could even reach the edge of the crowd, a scream rang out from the side: "Look! There's someone on the roof of building 3!!"

The voice came from the front of the crowd. A man in a white shirt pointed straight ahead. The people around him looked up in the direction he was pointing, and then they all froze.

Someone stood on the edge of the rooftop, with towering flames and thick smoke behind them. The flames from Building 3 had burned through half the sky, and the orange-red light shone from behind, outlining the figure as a pitch-black silhouette.

The person was slender and clearly a woman. Her long hair was blown about by the night wind, and she was holding an axe in her hand. She just stood there.

The wind was strong, and her figure swayed slightly in the wind, but she did not retreat or even move. She stood there steadily, looking down at the group of people looking up at her.

The soldiers downstairs were the first to react.

"Come down quickly! Don't stand so high! It's dangerous—"

Several soldiers rushed to the entrance of Building 3, looked up and shouted, their voices filled with anxiety and tension.

One of the young soldiers tried to rush into the building, presumably intending to go to the roof to pull the person down, but was pulled back by his comrade next to him. It was far too dangerous...

The shouts were intermittent in the night wind, mostly drowned out by the roar of the fire, but the person on the rooftop seemed to hear them. She lowered her head slightly, leaned forward, and glanced in the direction of the soldiers.

From this distance, I couldn't see her expression clearly, but I could see that her head moved slightly, as if she was looking or trying to identify something. She seemed to shake her head, then raised her head, shifted her gaze from the soldier, and looked into the distance.

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