Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 494 Long Queues

Xu Xiaoyan stared at the "connected" message for several seconds, as if trying to confirm whether it would change to "no network service".

She swiped down from the top of the screen and saw the Wi-Fi icon appear next to the signal strength icon. The icon was fan-shaped with three curved lines.

Only the shortest line in the icon is solid black, which means the network is working, but the signal is weak. No wonder so many people have installed private Wi-Fi.

But having a signal is better than having none. She opened her browser, but the homepage was blank; there was nothing there.

The address bar is at the top of the screen; it's a rectangular white frame.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time, completely unsure of what to type to find Qing City's online trading platform.

The payment guide that Sister Meng gave her explained how to check her account balance, make payments, and report repairs on the online trading platform, but it didn't include a website address; it only showed how to go to the trading center.

That's a physical store; what she needs is an online platform, one where she can complete the operation with just a few taps on the screen.

She tried typing "Qing City Trading Platform" into her browser, clicked the "Go" button, and the screen spun around a few times.

A white page appears with several lines of text in bold black font. The top line is the largest and most glaring: 404 Not Found.

She exited the page and closed the browser.

The biggest problem right now is not knowing the website address of the trading platform. Admittedly, she could search for it online, but she didn't want to waste time on this pointless search.

Xu Xiaoyan remembered that Sister Meng, the floor manager, had said that the trading center was located in the eastern part of Zone 8. It would take about twenty minutes to walk there from Building 612 along the main street. There must be something there that she needed to know.

With that thought in mind, she turned off her phone and fell asleep peacefully.

The next morning, Xu Xiaoyan took out scrambled eggs with tomatoes and rice balls from her space and began to eat them with relish.

The scrambled eggs with tomatoes were served in a transparent plastic container, with red tomato chunks and yellow egg chunks mixed together, covered with a thick sauce.

She took a bite of the rice ball, chewed it a couple of times, then picked up a piece of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and stuffed it into her mouth. The sweet and sour sauce burst in her mouth, mixing with the starchy sweetness of the rice, making it very delicious.

After eating and drinking her fill, she emptied her backpack, then put the large bed she had brought from Xuan County into her spatial storage, took out the original furniture, and restored the room to its original state.

Xu Xiaoyan walked east along the main street. The paving stones were all regular in size and shape, with fine sand filling the gaps, giving a slightly sinking feeling underfoot.

The streets are wide, with tall buildings on both sides. Most of the ground floors are shops, including breakfast stalls, shops selling daily necessities, shoe repair shops, barbershops, small clinics, restaurants, and even a small shop with a sign that says "Old Books Recycling".

The signs vary in size and color, some are new and some are old. The lettering on some signs has faded, while others are newly hung and the paint is still reflective.

Some shops occupy the width of two or three storefronts, while others are so narrow that only one person can squeeze through sideways, but every shop is open for business.

The shops here, the people coming and going, the steaming breakfast stalls—none of them resembled the post-apocalyptic world. This "normality" made her feel disoriented.

As Xu Xiaoyan passed by the breakfast stall, her steps involuntarily slowed down.

The shop is small, with a long table at the entrance. The tabletop is made of white fireproof board, and the edges are wrapped with aluminum alloy strips.

Several large stainless steel basins were placed on the table, filled with various breakfast items: steamed buns, twisted rolls, and mantou.

Her gaze shifted to the owner of the steamed bun shop, who was greeting customers. The owner was a middle-aged woman wearing a white apron. Her movements were so fast it was dazzling. She pinched off dough pieces, rolled out the wrappers, filled them with filling, and pleated them. A steamed bun could be made from scratch in just a few seconds.

A minute later, Xu Xiaoyan continued walking forward. She wanted to get to the trading center as soon as possible to check how much money was in her account and then quickly learn about the prices, types of goods, and wage levels in Qing City.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, she saw the trading center in the distance.

It wasn't because she recognized the building; the building's appearance was no different from other buildings on the street, except for the sign with the large white characters "Qing City East District Trading Center".

It was easily recognizable because of the long queue. The people started from the entrance of the trading center, snaked along one side of the street, rounded a corner, and disappeared at the next street corner.

There are already several hundred people in this visible section alone, and there are many more unseen people behind it.

Those people were standing, squatting, leaning against the wall, or sitting on the curb in twos and threes.

Some people leaned against the wall, using their backpacks as stools, with their legs stretched out, ankles crossed, heads tilted back, and eyes closed, as if seizing every spare moment to catch up on sleep.

People were talking in hushed tones, their lips close to each other's ears, their voices so soft it sounded like they were discussing a secret that couldn't be heard by a third party, but their expressions didn't suggest they were talking about anything important.

Someone was yawning, their mouth wide open, and after they finished, their eyes were wet, and they rubbed them with the back of their hand.

They were probably like her, checking their balances, looking for information, and figuring out how to live their lives from now on.

She walked forward until she reached the entrance of the trading center and glanced inside.

The place was packed with people, a sea of ​​black faces. They were crammed into the lobby, in front of the counters, in front of the bulletin boards, around every pillar, and at the base of every wall.

Someone was holding up a piece of paper, standing on tiptoe, trying to hold it above their head so that people inside could see it. The paper swayed in the air, and the edges trembled slightly.

Someone was shouting something, and in the end all you could see was him with his mouth open, face red and neck thick, veins bulging on his forehead, as if he was arguing with someone.

The trading center's lobby was much larger than she had imagined.

Looking in from the entrance, you can only see the front half of the hall, but that front half is already as big as a basketball court.

Deep inside the hall, there was a row of tall counters, behind which sat staff in uniform, constantly handling various matters. Some were answering the phone, their phones held between their ears and shoulders, one hand flipping through documents in front of them while the other typed on a keyboard.

Someone was typing on the keyboard, their fingers moving quickly, while also taking a moment to glance through some documents.

Someone was talking to the people in front of them. Through the glass partition, both sides were moving their lips, gesturing with their hands, and nodding their heads.

Xu Xiaoyan stood there for a while, feeling a bit suffocated, and really didn't want to wait there all day.