Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 206 Winter Fishing?

Seeing this scene, Xu Xiaoyan felt relieved. The thief had left her with lingering fear, and she was constantly worried about the safety of her belongings. Now it seemed that the extreme cold weather itself had become an extra strong and difficult-to-break natural anti-theft lock.

Without further delay, she bent down and skillfully pulled out a plastic bag containing coal from under the frozen waterproof tarpaulin in the shopping cart, then crawled back into the relatively "warm" tent.

She didn't close the curtain completely, but left a gap for ventilation. She lit the small stove in the center of the tent, and the rest of the time became a kind of ritualistic repetitive work. She carefully controlled the stove's damper, keeping the flame at a level that could boil water quickly without consuming too much fuel. The orange-red flames were initially weak, but gradually became stable and bright as the added coal burned, dispelling the chill that had accumulated inside the tent.

She took out a bottle of tap water from her spatial storage, poured it into a kettle, and started boiling it. She carefully controlled the heat to bring the water to a boil, then poured it into thermos flasks. On the silent glacier, only the faint sound of the stove burning and the humming of the kettle could be heard.

After the fifth kettle of hot water was filled and properly stored in her space, Xu Xiaoyan looked at the few remaining coals and decisively extinguished the stove. With the fire out, the temperature inside the tent began to drop slowly, but the warmth that had accumulated earlier could still be maintained for a while. She completely closed the gap in the curtain to keep the cold out.

Clutching two hand warmers, their comforting warmth seeping through her clothes, she quickly crawled back into her sleeping bag, wrapping herself tightly. This time, she didn't set an alarm. The prolonged period of intense focus and the thief incident had left her physically and mentally exhausted. She needed a complete rest to recover her energy. She vaguely thought, "I can fish again tomorrow. No rush, I'll take it slow."

Exhaustion washed over her like a tide, quickly engulfing her in a deep, dreamless sleep. Outside the tent, only the radio continued its tireless, low-pitched broadcast.

……

She didn't know how long she had been sleeping when a series of sharp, dense, and penetrating noises disturbed her sleep. At first, it was just a distant, intermittent muffled sound, like someone was hitting a huge block of ice. But the sound quickly became clear, sharp, and dense, and it carried a high-frequency vibration that made her teeth ache.

Buzz—Buzz! Buzz—Buzz!

Click click click... Buzz—! ! !

Are they electric drills? No, that's not right, they're ice drills! And powerful gasoline-powered ice drills at that! Not just one, but many, making noises from different directions working simultaneously!

Xu Xiaoyan was suddenly awakened from deep within her sleeping bag. The stinging sensation of the noise seemed to linger in her eardrums. The tent was pitch black, with only the faint white breath she produced when she breathed out appearing for a fleeting moment in the cold blue light of her phone screen.

She grabbed her phone; the glaring light made her squint. The time displayed on the screen showed that nearly six hours had passed since she fell asleep.

The annoying drilling noise didn't stop or lessen; instead, it intensified, and the source seemed very close to her, as if the drilling was being carried out right next to her tent! A strong sense of unease instantly gripped her, completely banishing any remaining sleepiness.

She carefully moved to the tent flap, not lifting it immediately, but listening intently. Besides the continuous rumble of the ice drills, she could vaguely hear shouts, heavy footsteps, and some kind of... noisy background noise.

Taking a deep breath, she lifted a tiny corner of the curtain and peered out with one eye. The once empty and desolate ice surface of the deep water area had now completely changed, becoming incredibly "lively" and even crowded!

Less than fifteen meters in front of her tent, a yellow gasoline ice drill was roaring furiously under the operation of a burly man, attacking the thick ice layer, with ice shards flying in all directions like a fountain.

To the right rear, another ice drill was also in operation. As far as the eye could see, there were at least four or five such work sites. Drilling workers, dressed in bulky work clothes and wearing earmuffs, were working hard on this white "ice field construction site".

But that wasn't the most alarming thing for her.

When she looked away from these construction sites and onto the wider ice surface, she saw that the once smooth and clean ice was now covered with all sorts of markers, placed, and pressed down on it!

The little red triangular flags fluttered in the cold wind, tree branches tied with strips of cloth were stuck crookedly in the ice crevices, and even just a few stones of different colors and a few plastic bags weighed down with paper strips clearly declared, "This place is already occupied and waiting to be opened!"

Densely packed, stretching from her vicinity to the horizon, this remote, deep-water area, which yesterday was considered "not cost-effective" by most anglers due to its thick ice and high drilling costs, was almost frantically booked and occupied overnight!

The deafening noise and the busy, unfamiliar figures around her created an absurd contrast with the quiet, lonely world she lived in while she slept!

Xu Xiaoyan's grip on the curtain tightened slightly. Could it be that the possibility of a "big fish" hiding in the deep waters had attracted this wave of imitation and territorial grabbing?

She paused for a moment, tightened all the zippers and buckles, put on her hat and scarf, lifted the curtain, and walked straight to the nearest and seemingly noisiest punching point.

The ice drill operator was an old master craftsman whose cheeks were red from the cold. He was completely focused on controlling the roaring machine in his hands, seemingly oblivious to everything around him. Standing next to him was a customer, a middle-aged man with a plump figure wearing a thick, dark blue cotton-padded coat. He was rubbing his hands and stamping his feet, his eyes fixed on the drill bit as it went deeper, his face a mixture of anticipation and impatience.

The obese man noticed someone approaching, turned his head and glanced at her. He saw that it was Xu Xiaoyan, who was fully armed. He didn't seem too surprised that she came out of the nearby tent. He just nodded slightly as a greeting and quickly turned his attention back to the ice cave.

Seeing that the drilling master was completely absorbed in his work, Xu Xiaoyan turned to the seemingly more idle, chubby uncle. She raised her voice to make sure it could penetrate the roar of the ice drill, "Uncle, excuse me, I'd like to ask, what's going on here? Why are there so many people drilling and fishing here all night? It was quite deserted yesterday."

Upon hearing this, the obese man turned his gaze from the ice cave back to Xu Xiaoyan, sizing her up before letting out a heavy sigh. "Young lady, you came yesterday, lucky to get here first, right?" He shook his head, his tone grave. "You have no idea, something terrible has happened! The upper reaches of this river near the old sluice gate, and the lower reaches, were completely fenced off and booked out from late last night until early this morning! Several vehicles arrived, carrying equipment, saying they're going to do 'winter fishing'! Quite a show!"