Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 501 Nighttime Visit to C-12

She walked over, stood in front of the door, and carefully examined it by the light of the street lamp.

The storefront was empty, and there was a thin layer of dust on the doorknob, but it was clear that someone had moved on it not long ago.

A blue metal sign with the words "C-12" printed in white is nailed to the left side of the door.

It is here.

Xu Xiaoyan took a deep breath, squatted down, and found the palm-sized combination lock in the gap between the iron gate and the ground.

The trading center's website states that the shop's temporary combination lock is located in the lower left corner of the door.

She pushed open the lid of the box with her fingers, revealing a row of number keys.

The buttons are made of plastic, grayish-white, and neatly arranged, like a small calculator.

她按下初始密码：5-8-6-3-5-8，然后是「咔」的一声，锁舌弹开了。

She opened the door. The sound of the roller shutter being pushed up was louder than she had expected, so she quickly stopped and listened to the sounds around her.

There were no lights on in the next room, and no windows were open in the building across the street. No one was disturbed by the noise.

She reached inside the door frame and felt around until her fingertips touched a square switch.

When I pressed it, a fluorescent light above my head flickered twice and emitted a faint buzzing sound, as if it hadn't been used in a long time.

Then the lights came on, the light was stark white, without a trace of warmth, illuminating the entire shop in every detail.

Xu Xiaoyan stood at the doorway, her gaze sweeping from left to right. The room was square and straight, without any strange corners or protruding pillars.

The innermost right corner against the wall is an old-fashioned stove with white ceramic tiles, the grout lines of which are somewhat yellowed.

Overall, it was fairly clean, without the kind of grease buildup that comes from not wiping it down for a long time.

Above the stove is a range hood with a stainless steel casing that reflects light, making it difficult to see the thick layer of grease.

Next to the stove is a stainless steel sink, a double sink, with the faucet handle facing upwards. There is no dripping water or signs of leakage.

Xu Xiaoyan carefully examined the wall and found several holes left by expansion bolts about 1.5 meters from the ground, probably where the tenant had installed shelves before.

There were also some irregular, light gray marks on the wall, as if something had been pasted on and then torn off.

The ground is cement, and it has been swept, but there is still some dust and small pieces of trash in the corners.

There is a wooden door on the far left of the shop, which is not locked and is held in place by an iron pin.

The iron pin was bent by hand, thick at one end and thin at the other. The thicker end was bent into a loop, and the thinner end was inserted into an iron ring on the wall.

Xu Xiaoyan walked over, pinched the ring of the iron pin, and pulled it out. The iron pin slid out of the ring.

She pushed open the door, behind which was a narrow staircase, each step worn smooth, as if trodden by countless feet.

She leaned against the wall to go upstairs. The wall was whitewashed and rough to the touch. In some places, the plaster had crumbled, and pressing it with her fingertip would leave a faint white mark.

The stairs were very steep, with an incline of about 45 degrees. Each step was higher than a normal staircase, so she had to lift her legs higher to step onto them.

The attic space is half the size of the downstairs space. There is a small bathroom inside, barely big enough for one person to turn around.

The toilet was white ceramic, and the lid was covered with a layer of dust, similar to the toilet in her room in building 612.

The shower head is mounted on the wall, and below it is a round floor drain.

There was a small window facing the street, the glass covered with a thick layer of ash, so thick that you couldn't see the streetlights outside.

The moonlight scatters through the layer of gray, casting a blurry patch of light on the ground.

"It's alright," Xu Xiaoyan nodded. There was water, electricity, a stove, a range hood, a bathroom, and a loft where people could live.

Three hundred yuan a month, that's worth the price.

She went downstairs and began to check the facilities from top to bottom.

The faucet handle was the old-fashioned cross-shaped type, and she had to use force to turn it.

After turning it on, water gushed out with a "whoosh." At first, it was a bit yellow, probably because it had been stagnant in the pipes for too long.

After a few seconds, the yellow water became less yellow, and soon the water became completely clear.

She then tried the gas stove, which had two burners, one large and one small, with iron burners and a thin layer of rust on the surface.

She turned on the switch for the larger burner, and with a "click," the ignition needle began to discharge electricity, crackling a few times.

The blue flames shot out with a "whoosh," initially very small, just a ring, then slowly grew larger, the flames evenly distributed across every hole in the stove.

She tried the small stove again, and it was the same.

She tried each of the range hood switches and found that they all worked.

Standing in front of the stove, she finally felt a sense of peace.

She didn't rush to tidy up. First, she closed the glass door, pulled down the roller shutter from the inside, inserted the latch, and hung the electronic combination lock.

Then I took my phone out of my backpack, opened the trading center's website, and found the page to change my password.

The page is very simple, with three input boxes: current password, new password, and confirm new password.

She tapped the first input box on the screen, the keyboard popped up, and she entered the initial password: 586358.

Next, she entered a new password, using her usual string of numbers, and then clicked to confirm the changes.

The page scrolled around and a line of bold green text popped up: "Modification successful".

Next comes cleaning!

Xu Xiaoyan took out a rag, a bottle of dish soap, a broom, and a dustpan from her spatial storage.

She swept the floor first.

A pile of dust, hair, and a few sunflower seed shells that had been sitting for who knows how long were swept up from the cement floor. The broom tip scraped against the corner of the wall, making a soft, rustling sound.

Then I diluted dish soap with water and squatted down to wipe the stove, sink, and wall tiles bit by bit.

The white tiles became much brighter after being wiped, and although the yellow stains at the grout lines were still there, they looked much better.

She rubbed the yellowed crevices vigorously, her knuckles turning red from the tiles, but watching the tiles gradually regain their original color filled her with an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

She took off the range hood filter and washed it. The grease wasn't thick, so it was probably cleaned before the previous tenant left. She wiped the sink inside and out clean and wiped the faucet until it shone.

By the time I finished all that, it was almost eleven o'clock.

She straightened up, rubbed her sore back, climbed up to the attic, took out the large bed from her home in Xuan County, along with a thin quilt and a pillow, and neatly laid them out.

The attic windows were still covered in ash, so the moonlight couldn't get in, but that was fine too; it was completely dark, and I could sleep soundly.

She plugged her phone in and turned off the lights.

In the darkness, she heard the occasional footsteps of people passing by outside the shop, which quickly faded into the distance and eventually fell silent.

She turned over, pulling the blanket up to her chin, and smelled the familiar scent of laundry detergent.

Xu Xiaoyan closed her eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep.