Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 348 Water Room

Admittedly, she could buy less and leave some for later customers, but she doesn't know if there will be more starch sausages available later.

Since this is a commodity that can be traded and used openly right now, buying more would be beneficial for her, so of course she should buy it all if she could.

As for the water tickets, she came out tonight, and if she didn't exchange them for some water to take back, it just wouldn't make sense.

If a single woman hoards starch but not water, people will definitely wonder if she has water stored at home.

She thought of the people who had come with her earlier. If she had gone with them, she could have chatted with them and gathered some information along the way.

Unfortunately, those people left long ago. Now, I can only go to the water room to check the situation and change a little water to make it look like a proper performance. After all, if you're going to put on a show, you have to go all the way.

Xu Xiaoyan walked straight to the water room. The entrance to the water room looked inconspicuous, but she was stunned when she went in.

The water room was much bigger than she had imagined. It wasn't the kind of room that was big; it was the kind of room that connected several bungalows together.

The most eye-catching thing is those large white plastic buckets, one after another, row after row, neatly stacked against the wall.

Each bucket was about half a person's height, with a white plastic lid sealed at the top, and a ring of transparent tape wrapped around the lid tightly.

The barrels are printed with black words such as "food grade", "capacity 2000L" and "do not expose to direct sunlight". Some barrels also have labels with crooked handwriting, as if someone scribbled them with a marker.

There were already fifty or sixty people lined up in the water room. At the front of the line were two tables put together, with a laptop on each table. Behind the tables sat two soldiers, one scooping water and the other registering something on the computer.

The people in the group were carrying buckets, basins, and kettles; they had all sorts of containers.

Xu Xiaoyan stood at the end of the line. The woman in front of her turned around, glanced at her, and seemed to want to say something, but in the end she didn't. The woman was carrying a 20-liter white plastic bucket, which was brand new and obviously the kind that was bought specifically to store water.

The line moved forward very slowly. Xu Xiaoyan looked at the backs of the people in front of her with boredom, and then she noticed a problem.

Several other people, like her, didn't bring any containers with them.

The third person in front of her was a young man, empty-handed, with a backpack on his back, standing there alone, looking around.

A few steps further ahead, there was a middle-aged woman who was also empty-handed, carrying a bulging cloth bag, presumably she had just bought some things from the supermarket.

There were also two or three people empty-handed in the row against the wall.

Finally, a middle-aged man came out from behind the table.

The man was holding a white plastic bottle. The bottle was new, the seal was intact, and the bottle was clean, without a speck of dust.

As the man walked out carrying the bottle, several people immediately surrounded him as he passed the queue.

"Hey bro," a man leaned over, "Is that where they deliver water buckets?"

The man paused, turned around, and looked a little impatient.

"What are you thinking?" he sneered. "Of course I won't give it away."

"Then what about this—"

"If you don't have a container, use a water ticket as collateral." The man tilted the bottle in his arms up and changed the position of his arms. "A 20-liter plastic bottle, one water ticket as collateral. As long as the bottle is not broken, it can be recycled here. If it is damaged, the water ticket will be used as compensation."

After saying that, he picked up the bottle and left, walking hurriedly, as if afraid of being asked more questions.

The onlookers exchanged bewildered glances. The man clicked his tongue, shook his head, and returned to his seat.

An old woman next to me also sighed and muttered something, but it was hard to hear clearly.

But what Xu Xiaoyan heard most clearly was the laughter coming from the other side.

Those few people who brought their own containers were laughing there.

"They're really stupid and have too much money," a man carrying a plastic bucket shook his head, unable to hide his smile. "It would be so much better to bring your own pots and pans, why bother spending water coupons to buy containers."

"Exactly," a woman next to him chimed in, "They have to make the trip back and forth, and then they have to queue up, which takes up a lot of time on the road. Aren't they afraid of the hardship?"

"Of course," the man said. "What can you do with a bottle at home? You can't eat it or drink it. Spending a water ticket to rent a plastic bottle, isn't that just being stupid and wasting money?"

The two were talking animatedly, and several people around them laughed along.

Xu Xiaoyan stood in the line, listening to the laughter, without saying a word.

She knew she was the sucker they were mocking, but as her gaze swept over the various containers, she felt a little more at ease: it's okay to waste a little money, after all, it's something that goes into my stomach, and a clean bottle is always the bottom line.

Some of the containers were so unbearable for her to look at closely that she saw oily, mottled beverage bottles with blackened rims.

Another person was carrying an old paint bucket that had been used for something unknown. The label on the bucket was torn in half, and the remaining glue stains looked like an old scar. Even if the water had been boiled and scalded several times, she really couldn't guarantee that drinking it wouldn't cause an upset stomach.

She was fully aware of her current predicament. The medical system was practically non-existent. If she were to get an upset stomach, she would probably have to randomly pick one or two pills from the various medications to suppress the symptoms. Whether they would work or not depended entirely on luck, and she could easily pass out.

She had considered adapting to local customs and making do with what everyone else had, but faced with those dirty household items, she silently swallowed the word "make do." She really didn't want such a filthy lifestyle.

After waiting in line for about an hour, the line had only moved forward halfway.

Xu Xiaoyan's legs were starting to ache from standing, and she shifted her weight several times. The muffled thuds of bottles colliding and the splashing of water coming from ahead, mixed with people's hushed conversations, made the long wait even more tedious.

When it was finally her turn, she had already rehearsed what she was going to say in her mind several times, afraid that she would use the wrong word and reveal her naivety.

"I want to rent a water bottle and fill it up," she said, trying to make her voice sound as crisp as possible.

The staff member looked up at her, didn't ask any questions, just nodded, bent down and took out a full 20-liter plastic water bottle from under the counter. The plastic seal was intact, and the bottle was so clear that you could see the clear water inside.

Xu Xiaoyan readily accepted it, but it was much heavier than she had expected, and she almost couldn't hold it steady.

She quickly wrapped her arms around the bottle, her fingertips gripping the raised ridge below the bottle opening, barely managing to steady herself.

The staff member gestured with his chin toward the payment counter next to her, and she went over to pay with the bottle in her arms.

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