Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 477 Unexpected Incident

The mudslide poured down from the mountain, spreading out a huge fan shape in the valley, with rocks of all sizes embedded in the dark brown mud.

The surface of the mud was covered with a thin, hard crust, making it look dry.

But anyone with experience knows that beneath that shell lies a bottomless quagmire; one step in and you'll sink in.

"Keep up! Follow in the footsteps of the person in front!" Captain Gu walked at the head of the squad, his voice echoing through the thick fog:

"Don't linger, don't hesitate, the slower you go, the deeper you'll sink! Take each step firmly before you move forward!"

The soldiers were scattered on both sides of the column, with one person standing every ten meters or so, holding a long stick, ready to pull out anyone who had fallen in.

The elderly and children were placed in the middle of the procession, while the young and middle-aged were at both ends. This was the usual formation for the migration procession, with the most vulnerable placed in the safest position.

Xu Xiaoyan stuck the branch into the mud to test its depth. The branch was already halfway in, and it was still sinking. Her heart sank with it.

"Stay close to me," she instructed Lan Yue, turning her head to look at her.

The team began to enter the debris flow area.

When Xu Xiaoyan stepped in the first footprint, her entire calf was swallowed by mud.

It's hard to describe the feeling; it's not sticky, but rather a feeling of being firmly gripped by something.

She didn't stop. Gritting her teeth, she stepped her other foot into the mud, then pulled the first foot out forcefully and took a step forward.

Each step required the effort of walking ten steps normally. Lan Yue followed behind her, stepping in Xu Xiaoyan's footprints.

When they reached the deepest part of the mud, Blue Moon ran into trouble.

Xu Xiaoyan heard a muffled thud behind her, followed by Lan Yue's exclamation, "Xiaoyan!"

Xu Xiaoyan suddenly turned around.

Lan Yue sank in completely; the mud had already reached her thighs and was still rising at a visible speed.

Her face was filled with terror, her lips were trembling, and her hands were frantically grabbing at the mud, only managing to grab the slippery mud, with absolutely nothing to hold onto.

She had lost the branch she was holding at some point, and without support, her body was sinking uncontrollably.

Without hesitation, Xu Xiaoyan squatted down and stretched the branch in her right hand toward Lan Yue.

But it was too far; the branch was about half a meter away, and I couldn't reach it.

She took another step forward, and the mud instantly went up to her waist. She shivered, but didn't back down.

"Grab it!" She pushed the branch forward a little further. This time, Lan Yue's fingers touched the end of the branch, slipped, grabbed it again, and finally held it.

"Don't panic! Pull your feet out slowly!" Xu Xiaoyan gritted her teeth and gripped the other end of the branch tightly with both hands.

Leaning back slightly, using the weight of his entire body as an anchor point, he secured the fragile branch.

Blue Moon gripped the tree branch, gritted her teeth, and strained to lift her leg upwards.

The mud made a chilling sucking sound, as if something was pulling at her legs from underneath.

Lan Yue's face turned bright red, whether from exertion or fear, she couldn't tell; her eyes were already glistening with tears, but she didn't cry.

She held her breath and tried desperately to pull her leg out, once, twice, three times, but her leg wouldn't budge. The suction of the mud was too strong; her strength alone was simply not enough.

A soldier nearby saw the commotion and, without saying a word, stepped through the mud to come over.

His movements were much faster than Xu Xiaoyan's, clearly indicating that this wasn't the first time he had rescued someone from such mud.

He bent down, grabbed Lan Yue's forearm with one hand and supported her armpit with the other, and exerted force at the same time as Xu Xiaoyan.

"One, two, three—Pull!"

The moment Blue Moon's leg was pulled out of the mud, it made a sickening "pop" sound, like pulling out a giant bottle stopper.

All three lost their balance at the same time, staggered a few steps in the mud, but none of them fell down in the end.

Blue Moon was panting heavily, her whole body covered in mud, not a single spot clean on her hair, face, or clothes.

Her hands were still trembling, but she was able to stand steadily.

"Thank you... thank you all," Lan Yue's voice trembled, but her upbringing made her express her gratitude first.

"Hurry up, don't stop!" The soldier had already turned to help another person, leaving only a trail of footprints of varying depths in the mud.

They continued moving forward, and just then, a quarrel suddenly broke out at the front of the line.

"What's wrong with your hand?! Why is it in my bag?!"

"My child is hungry! He's so young, please give me a piece of food, I'll kneel down and beg you, okay?"

"Who isn't hungry? Look at this line, who isn't hungry? My elderly relative is almost fainting, do you know that? This is robbery!"

"Just one piece, just one piece..."

"Let go! I'll call for help if you don't!"

Xu Xiaoyan looked up and, through the layers of figures, saw several people wrestling about seven or eight meters ahead.

The mud was splashed everywhere as they stirred it up. One person was pushed to the ground, got up and pounced on them again. The other two tried to separate them, but they only got closer and closer.

Several compressed biscuits were scattered on the ground, soaked in the mud and completely ruined.

There was also a torn-open supply bag next to it, with a large tear at the top, and the contents were completely empty.

Someone's stealing our food rations? Xu Xiaoyan's heart sank.

She subconsciously reached out and pressed her backpack to make sure the zipper was closed, and Lan Yue did the same.

The two men exchanged a glance, both seeing the same wariness in each other's eyes.

Captain Gu practically ran over; his long legs made his strides through the mud much longer than most people's, and he reached the scene in just a few steps.

He pulled the two men apart as they were wrestling. Their faces were covered in mud, their eyes were red, and their breath condensed into white mist in the morning fog.

Captain Gu stood between them, separating the two men. The suppressed exhaustion on his face was gone, replaced by an anger that made people afraid to look him in the eye.

"Stop! What time is it? Still fighting amongst yourselves?!"

The two who were wrestling finally separated.

One was a middle-aged man fighting for food rations; he was tall and thin, with prominent cheekbones and bloodshot eyes.

He clutched a stolen biscuit tightly to his chest, as if it were some precious treasure.

The other woman was the one who had been robbed. She was in her forties, with short hair, her face flushed red, her chest heaving violently, and her hand pointing at the middle-aged man was still trembling.

"He stole my food rations!" the woman who had been robbed cried out sharply.

"I was walking along peacefully when he suddenly reached into my bag and pulled out several cookies! My old lady was right behind me; she hadn't eaten properly for three days!"

The middle-aged man shrank his neck, but did not let go.

His lips were trembling, his eyes avoided looking at the people around him, staring only at the biscuit in his arms, repeatedly muttering the same sentence:

"My child is hungry... my child is about to faint from hunger... he'll die if I don't get him..."