Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 399 Leaving at the Right Time

She herself lives a very cautious life, how could she possibly shoulder the fate of others?

The rain was still falling. She glanced at her watch, then at the three silent women in front of her, and mentally set a time limit for herself: five minutes.

Within five minutes, they made their choices, and she cooperated; if they remained silent after five minutes, she would continue on her original plan alone, owing no one anything.

Time passed second by second, and Wang Ling lowered her head further and further until it was almost buried in her knees.

Chen Wenshan closed her eyes, tiny water droplets clinging to her eyelashes, indistinguishable as to whether they were rain or tears.

Wu Yue kept looking away.

None of the three spoke.

Time's up, that's enough.

Xu Xiaoyan pulled down the hood of her windproof jacket, squinted her eyes, and then said, "I'm leaving first," without any further explanation, and turned around.

Wang Ling suddenly raised her head, her expression changing from silence to terror, and hurriedly shouted:

"We choose the first one! We choose the first one! Thank you for helping us choose a place to stay."

Her voice trembled, and rain streamed down her cheeks, into her mouth. She didn't bother to wipe it away. "Thank you for leaving some food for us."

Chen Wenshan also raised her head, her eyes red and swollen, her lips pale, but she nodded, her movements very light but very clear.

Wu Yue didn't say anything, but just stared intently at Xu Xiaoyan's back.

There was something indescribable in his eyes, not gratitude, but more like a panic about what would happen to us if he left.

Xu Xiaoyan turned around and simply nodded slightly.

Then she began to survey the surrounding terrain, the beam of her flashlight slowly sweeping across the rain, searching inch by inch from left to right, from near to far.

The surrounding area consists of gentle hills with no protruding rocks or natural caves that can provide shelter from the wind and rain. In this terrain, finding a cave to take shelter from the rain is not very practical.

Her gaze swept past the nearest hill and landed further away, where there was a shadow deeper than the surrounding area.

I squinted for a while, then pointed the flashlight beam in that direction. The beam pierced through the rain and landed on the blurry outline of a large tree.

It must have been an old tree; its massive outline was visible even in the darkness. She looked at it for a few seconds, then turned to Wang Ling and said, "Wait here."

Wang Ling opened her mouth, as if to say something, but Xu Xiaoyan had already turned and walked towards the big tree.

The road beneath our feet was more difficult to walk on than before; the terrain here was lower and the water was deeper.

In some places, the water reached above the calves, and the uppers of the rain boots were submerged, with a chill spreading from the toes to the soles of the feet.

The big tree didn't look far, but you only realized how far it was once you got there.

The sense of distance is unreliable on a rainy night. A tree that looks only a few hundred meters away may actually require crossing two small hills and going around three puddles.

After walking for about 15 minutes, she finally reached the big tree. The beam of her flashlight swept from the canopy to the trunk, and then from the trunk to the roots.

Standing in front of the tree, she couldn't help but marvel at how lucky the three of them weren't too bad, because the tree was hollow inside, with an irregular hole at the bottom of the trunk.

The beam of the flashlight shone inside and revealed a cavity, a fairly large space that could easily accommodate three people huddled together.

Xu Xiaoyan bent down and crawled into the tree hole. The beam of her flashlight circled the cavity. The walls of the hole were made of wood that was pitted and dented by insects, but it was very sturdy.

There is a long, thin crack in the cave ceiling, through which rainwater seeps in, but not much, just an occasional drop.

The tree hole is about two meters deep and about one and a half meters wide. It is a bit cramped for three people to squeeze in, but at least it can keep out the rain.

The downside is that thunder is dangerous, but that's not something she should worry about.

Remembering what he had promised them, he took out six compressed biscuits and three packs of instant noodles from his spatial storage, bent down and put them all into the tree hole.

Then he turned around and walked back to where Wang Ling and the others were waiting.

When the flashlight beam shone on them, all three of them looked up at her expectantly.

Xu Xiaoyan stood in front of them, not getting close, but standing two or three steps away, pointing in the direction of the big tree and speaking.

"To your left, walk for about fifteen minutes, and you'll see a very large tree with a hollow trunk. I've put the food in the hollow of the tree; you'll see it when you get there."

Before the three could react, she turned and walked northwest, the beam of her flashlight swaying in the rain, illuminating the wet ground ahead.

After walking a distance and confirming that the three people could no longer see her through the rain, she raised her left hand and swiped her thumb across the screen of her watch.

The map interface appeared, with a blue path line glowing faintly in the darkness, and green dots representing her current location, which she was slowly moving along the line.

She glanced at the relationship between the dot and the blue line, making sure there was no deviation, before continuing forward with peace of mind.

Although walking at night is not very safe, you should at least find a secluded place to rest.

She was too close to those three people now. Although she knew they wouldn't be going the same way as her, she couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't accidentally come by another route like last time.

Instead of doing that, it's better to keep walking for another two hours and widen the distance enough.

Xu Xiaoyan set herself a small goal: two hours later, no matter what, she had to stop and rest.

After walking for about an hour and a half, she saw another big tree. The beam of her flashlight swept across the top of a gentle slope and shone on a huge, dark tree shadow.

The tree had a huge canopy, even larger than the one she had found before, and the ground below it looked much drier than the surrounding area.

She stood there, staring at the tree for several seconds, longing to pitch her tent under its canopy.

There is natural shelter there; the tree canopy can block some of the rain, and the tree trunk can block some of the wind, so there may not be as much standing water on the ground.

Xu Xiaoyan had even taken two steps and walked towards the tree.

But she stopped halfway through because she suddenly remembered the other survivors who were also traveling in the torrential rain.

On rainy days, many people will choose to use large trees for shelter when they have no other choice, because in a flat mountain field, a giant tree with a huge canopy is the most conspicuous landmark.

Anyone who glances in that direction in the dark can see the tree and walk this way; she doesn't want to be woken up by a stranger in her sleep.

Thinking of this, she had no choice but to give up, figuring that she had a waterproof tent and whether it was under a big tree or not wouldn't be a big problem.

"Let's walk for another half hour," she silently encouraged herself.