Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 558 Midnight Ambush

Sure enough, less than fifteen minutes later, a tricycle came from the alley entrance.

She peeked out through the crack in the door and saw three gray-white cement bags and a small cardboard box stacked in the back of the tricycle.

The cardboard box was open, and you could see the dense array of iron nails inside, gleaming with a metallic sheen.

The tricycle stopped in front of her yard. The young man jumped off, dusted off his hands, and grinned at her: "Hello, you're the one who called to ask for cement and nails, right?"

Xu Xiaoyan opened the door and went out to greet her: "Yes, it's me. Thank you for making the trip."

"It's no trouble, it's on my way," the young man said, turning around and walking to the back of the truck bed. He bent down and picked up a bag of cement, the bulging fifty-pound bag not seeming too heavy in his hands.

He deftly stacked the three bags of cement one by one against the wall at the entrance of Xu Xiaoyan's courtyard.

He then took the small cardboard box out of the truck bed and placed it on top of the cement bag. "All the nails are here, in various lengths. Go back and sort them yourself."

Xu Xiaoyan walked closer and took a look. There were indeed quite a few nails in the cardboard box, all mixed together, but they were all brand new, with no rust on the surface, and they felt heavy in her hand.

She reached out and pressed the cement bag again. The bag was firm and there were no lumps inside, which meant it had been stored quite well.

"Oh, right," the young man said, pulling another bag from the truck bed. It was filled with yellow sand. "This is the sand left over from my home renovation. There's not much left, about forty pounds."

"I have no use for this stuff. If you want it, take it with you. It's perfect for mixing with cement. It's free."

Xu Xiaoyan was stunned for a moment, then sincerely thanked her: "I can't accept this, you even gave me an extra bag of sand."

The young man waved his hand and laughed heartily: "It's no big deal. It'll just take up space if you leave it with me. You can take it and use it."

After speaking, he glanced again at the small building with gray brick walls behind Xu Xiaoyan, a hint of envy in his eyes:

"You built a nice house. The land is worth a fortune now. It took me a lot of effort to buy 200 square meters."

Xu Xiaoyan smiled but didn't respond to that question. Instead, she took out her phone from her pocket and asked, "How much was it again? Fifty-five in total, right?"

"Yes, fifty-five yuan."

She pulled up the payment code and handed it over. The young man took out his phone, scanned it, and with a "beep," the transfer was successful. After receiving the money, he turned and left.

Xu Xiaoyan bent down and carried the items home one by one, ignoring the several people peeking around nearby.

She changed into a thick pair of gloves and dragged the three bags of cement into the yard.

He opened a bag and poured it into a large iron basin, then picked up the bag of sand and poured it in according to the proportions. He also brought over a bucket of water and started mixing cement.

The grayish-white powder churned in the iron basin, slowly turning into a viscous mortar as water and sand were added, emitting the slightly pungent smell unique to lime.

She held a bamboo stick and stirred the water back and forth in the basin. The veins on her arms gradually bulged, and beads of sweat slid down her forehead, flashed in the sunlight, and fell into the mortar.

After the cement was mixed, she picked up the iron basin, stepped on the table and stools she had taken out from her spatial storage, and climbed up the wall.

She used a small shovel to scoop up cement mortar and spread it evenly along the top of the wall.

Then take out the nails and embed them one by one into the wet cement, with the pointed end facing upwards. The nail body is mostly buried, with only three to four centimeters of the sharp tip showing.

She worked for most of the day, and her back and hands ached, but she never stopped.

After finishing one basin of cement, she started on the second one, the mortar covering her gloves and trouser legs.

Her hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, and there was a small grayish-white cement mark on the tip of her nose, but she was completely unaware of it.

Just as the last nail was driven in, the sun had set behind the mountain, and the western sky was ablaze with a vast expanse of golden-red sunset.

She straightened up and looked around. The top of the wall was covered with a ring of brand-new spikes, the tips of the nails gleaming in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Xu Xiaoyan nodded in satisfaction, noting the height of three and a half meters plus the barb on the top of the wall.

Let alone flipping it over by hand, even if you bring a ladder and tools, you'd better think twice. If you touch it, you'll get several bloody holes. Who can endure that kind of suffering?

She dusted off her hands, took off her gloves, stored the remaining cement in her spatial storage, and then went inside to wash her face.

The cold water washed away the fatigue and dust of the afternoon, and she looked up at her disheveled self in the mirror.

A satisfied smile spread across my face; I could finally get a good night's sleep tonight.

In the middle of the night, Xu Xiaoyan was fast asleep. The fatigue accumulated from days of work allowed her to have a rare, sound and restful sleep.

In my dream, I seemed to be picking grapes in the yard, with bunches of bright purple grapes hanging heavily under the trellis.

The sunlight made each grape shine, and she reached out to pick it, her fingertips just touching the cool skin.

A dull thud suddenly came from downstairs, as if something heavy had hit the ground. The impact sounded particularly abrupt and jarring in the quiet night.

Xu Xiaoyan instantly sat up in bed, threw off the covers, and rushed to the window barefoot on the floor tiles.

Instead of immediately drawing the curtains, she stood sideways against the wall and used her fingers to pry open a small gap in the curtains to look outside.

Under the moonlight, a dark object lay on the blue brick ground of the courtyard, its outline resembling a bulging plastic bag.

The bag wasn't tied tightly, and some dark-colored crumbs spilled out, leaving a dark stain on the gray soil.

Outside the wall, a dark figure was running wildly along the alley, clearly having just thrown something away and preparing to escape.

Xu Xiaoyan's eyes turned cold. Throwing trash into someone else's yard in the middle of the night, and with filthy stuff that wasn't even properly sealed in a bag.

It's obvious what they're trying to do with this despicable tactic; they're deliberately trying to disgust her.

She took out her precision crossbow, inserted the bamboo arrow into the string groove, and turned on the infrared sight.

A clear outline of a red heat source immediately appeared in the scope. He pulled the trigger, and the bamboo arrow shot out.

The next instant, the running figure in the distance suddenly stopped, and a shrill wail broke the silence of the night. He staggered forward a few steps and fell to the ground, rolling around.

Hit!

Before she could even feel happy, the thermal imaging camera spotted another person. He had been hiding by the wall, and when he saw his accomplice being shot, he tried to run in another direction.

He quickly drew a bamboo arrow, pulled the trigger again, and the second bamboo arrow flew away. Soon, another mournful wail was heard.

Xu Xiaoyan put down her crossbow and watched calmly as the two men limped away.