Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 476 Supply Interruption

"Quick! Add two more ropes!"

The soldier's voice carried an almost tearing urgency.

"Everyone, step back! Make room for the rescue!"

The crowd immediately took a few steps back.

Several emergency lights were set up by the soldiers at the edge of the muddy ground, their beams shining on the dark brown mud.

The mud was still spreading upwards at a visible speed, and her hair was disheveled and stuck to her face, its original color no longer discernible.

With both hands, I weakly gripped the thin, broken shell on the surface of the mud. With each effort, my fingers sank in, and when I pulled them out, they brought out a clump of sticky black mud.

Her mouth was moving, she was shouting, but her voice was drowned out by the gurgling of the flowing mud and the shouts of the soldiers.

Only a few fragmented words could be faintly heard, as if someone was calling a name.

Xu Xiaoyan stood in the crowd, her hands unconsciously gripping the shoulder straps of her backpack tightly.

She recognized the woman; she had seen her walking not far ahead of them during the day.

She was holding a three- or four-year-old child in her arms and carrying a bulging woven bag on her back.

It wasn't dark yet, and the road wasn't so difficult to walk on. Although the woman's steps were heavy, she took each step very steadily.

The baby in her arms was asleep, his little face pressed against his mother's shoulder, with a trace of drool at the corner of his mouth.

The woman would occasionally lower her head and gently rub her chin against the top of the child's head.

The rope was finally looped around the woman's hands. The soldiers, standing on relatively solid ground, pulled on the rope, chanting slogans, and slowly dragged her out.

The woman's face flickered in and out of focus under the white light of the emergency lights, making her expression difficult to discern.

"One, two, three! Pull!"

As the rope was pulled hard, the mud descended to the woman's chest.

After an unknown amount of time, the woman's body was finally pulled out of the mud.

Two soldiers, one on each side, carried her and dragged her to the relatively dry ground.

She was covered in black mud, her consciousness was blurred, but her lips were still moving.

Xu Xiaoyan wasn't far away, and she heard the woman saying something like, "Xiao Bao... Xiao Bao... are you alright... Xiao Bao..."

The crowd gradually quieted down.

The soldiers placed the woman under a large tree away from the muddy area. Someone draped a dry coat over her shoulders, and someone else handed her a bottle of water.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't know what time she fell asleep. In her hazy state, she heard the piercing assembly whistle, "Beep—beep beep beep—".

She suddenly opened her eyes, and Lan Yue beside her also sat up in an instant. The two looked at each other, said nothing, and began to move at the same time.

Packing up the backpack, checking the supplies, tightening the shoelaces—all the movements were fluid and effortless.

The campsite was already bustling with activity, and tens of thousands of people were slowly gathering as far as the eye could see.

Xu Xiaoyan and Lan Yue quickly found the rendezvous point for Team 12.

The team members gradually arrived, each with the same expression on their face: exhaustion, numbness, and a lingering fear.

Captain Gu stood at the foot of the earthen slope, his face even more somber than yesterday. His combat boots were covered in dried mud, and his trouser legs were half-wet.

"Squad 12, assemble!" Captain Gu shouted, his voice much hoarseer than usual. Everyone quickly gathered together, forming a semicircle with Captain Gu at the center.

Xu Xiaoyan stood in the middle of the crowd, looking at Captain Gu's face, which was etched with fatigue and anxiety, and a sense of unease rose in her heart.

Her intuition has always been accurate, and it is now telling her that today's path will not be easier than yesterday's.

Team Leader Gu raised his head and glanced at everyone:

"We should all learn from what happened last night. I know you are afraid, but being afraid is useless. If you don't watch your own path, no one can save you."

No one responded.

Captain Gu shook the map in his hand, pointed to a winding red line on it, and continued:

"The second thing is that the road is even more difficult to travel today. There are three sections of road that have been washed away by mudslides, and they are all in the same condition."

He pointed to the direction where the woman had fallen into the pit last night. "You will have to cross three paths today."

A suppressed gasp rose from the ranks.

Someone muttered a curse under their breath, while others exchanged horrified glances with those next to them.

"There's one more thing," Captain Gu dropped the worst news. "We just received a notification from headquarters that the supply trucks are stuck on the road."

The road was completely blocked. The mountain bike that had just scraped along the edge of the road was too low for the transport truck to make it.

The command center is trying to find a solution, but we don't know when it will be possible to get through. So, everyone, please try to save your rations.

This time, everyone fell silent.

Xu Xiaoyan subconsciously touched her backpack, which contained more than a dozen compressed biscuits, dried mushrooms, and two bottles of water.

There are still many things in the space, but she can't take them out; she doesn't want to become the target of everyone's criticism.

Someone spoke up from "Team Leader Gu's" group. It was a middle-aged man, his voice carrying a suppressed anxiety:

"How long will it take for the supply truck to arrive? Give us a definite answer so we can have a better idea of ​​what to expect."

Captain Gu looked at him but did not answer immediately.

His gaze lingered on the man's face for two seconds before shifting away and sweeping over everyone present.

His "I don't know" offered no comfort whatsoever.

"I'm just as anxious as you are, but being anxious won't help. If it's blocked, it's blocked. The only thing we can do now is get to Qing City as quickly as possible. If we can't get there..."

He didn't say the second half of his sentence, but everyone understood.

If you can't reach it, then there's no more.

At six o'clock sharp, the migrating team set off on time. It was not yet fully light, the morning fog was thick, and the visibility was so low that they could only see the backs of people a few dozen meters ahead.

The group moved slowly along the edge of the hillside, the soil under their feet soaked by the dew and mist of the previous night, making it even more slippery than yesterday afternoon.

Each step required a great deal of effort, and the soles of the shoes made a sticky "plop" sound as they stepped on the mud.

The mud seeped up my trousers. At first, I could feel the cold touch, but after walking for a while, my legs went numb, leaving only a sticky and uncomfortable feeling.

Xu Xiaoyan and Lan Yue walked side by side in the middle of the group, each holding a tree branch they had picked up on the road.

The tree branch wasn't very useful, but it was better than nothing. At least it provided a foothold when you stepped into a mud pit, preventing you from falling in completely.

Neither of them spoke, not because they didn't want to, but because speaking was too much of a strain.

Around 10 a.m., the team reached the edge of the first debris flow-covered area.

The sight before her made Xu Xiaoyan pause in her tracks.

The original highway was covered up, and the asphalt road surface was torn up in chunks by the mudslide, and it is unknown where it was washed away to.

All that remained was the bare roadbed, soaked in mud and unrecognizable.