Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 529 Double Room

The next day, Xu Xiaoyan woke up at three in the morning. She wasn't woken up by an alarm clock; she woke up naturally because she had something on her mind.

She lay on her bed in the attic, listening to the occasional footsteps and hushed voices coming from the street outside.

At 4:50, she put on her N95 mask and opened the shop door; the deliveryman had just arrived.

"Hello, your goods have arrived. I'm at the entrance of C-12." The delivery person stood next to a small van, the door of which was already open, and the van was filled with the items she had ordered.

The boxes and bags were stacked neatly and wrapped with several layers of transparent tape, making them look very sturdy.

"Here are your items, please check them." He handed over a delivery slip, which listed more than forty items, with unit price, quantity, and total price clearly displayed.

Xu Xiaoyan took the order, quickly scanned it, and found that the quantities matched. She nodded and signed, "Thank you for putting it on the floor inside."

The deliveryman started carrying boxes into the store one by one. When he made the tenth trip, he stopped to catch his breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

Looking at the ever-growing pile of boxes and bags in the store, then at Xu Xiaoyan, he hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up: "Why did you buy so much stuff at once?"

Her expression carried a hint of helplessness: "We're closing down the day after tomorrow. These things are meant to be stockpiled for later use. I'm buying more while they're still available."

The deliveryman nodded, as if he understood.

Xu Xiaoyan stood at the door, watching the truck disappear around the street corner, then closed the door and put everything into her spatial storage.

She stood in the middle of the empty shop, looked around to make sure nothing was missing, then pulled down the roller shutter and reset the combination lock to the original one.

After leaving the house, she walked along the main road towards District Nine.

Xu Xiaoyan opened her phone and checked rental listings as she walked. She had already looked through all the available properties within a few kilometers and had a general idea of ​​what to expect.

While there were still few people on the streets, she had to hurry and walk through each street to check things out.

Later in the day, when there are more people, the risk of infection will increase simply by entering and exiting the building and taking the elevator, and she doesn't want to take that risk.

She pushed her mask up, pressed the metal strip on her nose, and began her "street sweeping" operation.

The first listing was in an old-fashioned walk-up building on the edge of District 7. The hallway was dark, and there were traces of water seepage on the walls. She stood downstairs, glanced at it, and shook her head. It was either too damp or poorly ventilated; germs love this kind of environment.

She visited several places, including the second and third, but the rooms were too densely packed. There were more than a dozen doors lined up on both sides of a corridor, and the residents were almost facing each other, making her feel instinctively oppressed.

Either the corridor is so long you can't see the end of it, like a hospital ward building, and in case of any emergency, you won't be able to run out.

She stood in the middle of the corridor, looked back and forth across the long, open space, and felt her breathing become labored.

The results were similar for the fourth to the seventh locations. One building was quiet, but it was surrounded by high-density residential buildings. The buildings on all four sides enclosed it like a cage, preventing even sunlight from shining in. She stood by the window, glanced out, and then left.

She even began to doubt whether she was being too picky, but then she thought that these were special times and she couldn't compromise.

She suddenly stopped after turning a corner on a sloping road.

The building in front of us has sixteen floors and a gray-white facade. It doesn't look new, but its unique location makes it stand out. It is situated right on the boundary between Zone 8 and Zone 9.

On the east side, there is a small hill that acts as a natural barrier, separating the building from other buildings. In other words, this building has only one side with adjacent buildings.

Xu Xiaoyan stood downstairs and looked up, immediately feeling a sense of goodwill towards her.

What she liked was the side without the mountain blocking the view, which ensured good lighting and ventilation, unlike the previous buildings that were surrounded by walls on all sides, like an airtight box.

She entered the building number and carefully read the room description, but her heart sank; there were no single rooms in this building.

The building has a layout of three apartments per floor, with two apartments having double rooms and one apartment having a triple room. This means she either has to accept sharing the apartment or pay extra for the double room on her own.

She stood in front of the notice board, bit her lip, hesitated for more than ten seconds, and then decided to go upstairs to see the actual situation first.

The elevator reached the seventh floor. The corridor was quiet. The moment the motion-activated light came on, she saw three security doors of different shades of gray.

She walked quietly, checking the door numbers one by one, confirming that the doors ending in 3 faced the mountainside, while those ending in 1 and 2 faced outwards.

She took out her phone to examine the apartment listings closely. Soon, her eyes locked onto the apartment number "1203". She checked it again on her phone and confirmed that it was indeed vacant.

She turned and went downstairs to the building manager's office on the first floor.

The building manager was an old man around sixty years old, with gray hair, wearing a faded dark blue overall, and was taking a nap on the table.

As she walked over, the old man raised his eyelids and glanced at her through the gap above his reading glasses.

"Hello, I'd like to see room 1203," Xu Xiaoyan said, getting straight to the point.

The security guard put down his newspaper and slowly took off his reading glasses: "1203, that's a double room, and it's not cheap."

Xu Xiaoyan nodded, her tone calm but firm: "I know, I have money in my account."

The gatekeeper glanced at her again but didn't say anything more.

He took out a bunch of keys from the drawer, with more than a dozen keys on the metal ring. He squinted and picked out one of them, got up and walked out, with Xu Xiaoyan following behind him.

The two entered the elevator one after the other and went up to the twelfth floor.

The building manager unlocked the door, pushed it open, and stepped aside to make room for him.

Xu Xiaoyan's gaze quickly swept across the entire room.

The layout of this small two-bedroom apartment is not large. The toilet is near the door, the kitchen is connected to the living room, one bedroom faces outwards, and the other bedroom faces the wall. This is a rare advantage in a densely populated urban area.

She walked to the window, pushed it open, and a gentle breeze carrying the scent of mountain vegetation blew in, dry and refreshing.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then turned around and said to the building manager who was leaning against the door frame waiting for the results, "I'll rent this one."

The building manager nodded and took a folded contract out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Xu Xiaoyan took it, glanced at it briefly, and after confirming that there were no problems, picked up a pen and signed her name.

"Here's the key. If you need anything, come find me on the first floor. The rent is 18 yuan per month, which will be deducted automatically by the system. If you don't want to renew the lease, remember to cancel it online or let me know," the building manager said before leaving.