Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 491 Single Room

Seeing that Lan Yue accepted her explanation, Xu Xiaoyan finally breathed a sigh of relief. "...Okay."

They first checked the stairwell. The stairwell door was made of sheet metal, painted green, and the door handle was the old-fashioned, round kind that could be opened with a turn.

The stairs are made of cement, without tiles. The surface is rough cement, which is non-slip, but makes a rustling sound when you walk on it.

The edges of the steps have been worn smooth by countless feet, no longer sharp right angles, but a smooth, slightly shiny curved surface.

There is a window at the corner of each staircase, with an aluminum alloy frame, and the wind blows in from the outside in gusts.

They tried walking up three floors, and then Xu Xiaoyan said, "Let's take the elevator."

She had only gone up three floors, which was nothing to her, but she wanted to choose a room as soon as possible.

Blue Moon nodded.

The two waited at the elevator entrance on the third floor. While waiting, Xu Xiaoyan glanced at the elevator door and found that it was made of stainless steel. There were some minor scratches and fingerprints on the surface, but it was clean overall.

Above the elevator is a small display screen with the number "3" displayed in red.

Xu Xiaoyan pressed the upward arrow, the button lit up and made a soft "beep" sound. After about five seconds, the elevator door opened, and the elevator was full of people.

Fortunately, there was still room for two people. Xu Xiaoyan pressed the "18" button, and the button lit up, just like the upward arrow before, and made a "beep" sound.

The elevator began to ascend.

The ascent was very smooth, without any shaking or jerking, only a slight feeling of weightlessness.

The numbers on the display screen were jumping: 3, 4, 5... Xu Xiaoyan silently counted each number in her mind.

When the elevator reached the 6th, 8th, 12th and 16th floors, people began to exit.

Soon, the elevator arrived at the eighteenth floor, where only the two of them remained.

It seems that the number 18 doesn't suit everyone's taste, which she guesses is because of the saying "the eighteen levels of hell".

Fortunately, Xu Xiaoyan didn't believe in this nonsense and walked out as soon as the elevator doors opened.

In front of me was a long corridor, with a wall on one side painted with white latex paint. The wall was clean, without cracks or water stains.

The lower half of the wall was painted with a light green wainscoting about one meter high, and at the top of the wainscoting was a dark green wainscoting that extended along the corridor to the deepest part.

On the other side were rows of closed doors, painted with dark brown paint, some of which had peeled off, revealing the whitish wood underneath.

Each door has a small key inserted in the keyhole; the key is silver-white, the ordinary kind.

The two walked to the end of the corridor and found only a white wall with nothing on it.

Xu Xiaoyan chose the single room at the end of the corridor, while Lan Yue chose the one next to it, which was the second to last room at the end of the corridor.

After selecting the room, Xu Xiaoyan reached out, pinched the key handle with her thumb and forefinger, and gently turned it. Soon, the door lock opened.

She pushed open the dark brown door.

Behind the door was a small space with a single bed against the wall, the headboard against the wall and the footboard facing the window.

A thin mattress was laid on the bed. The surface of the mattress was a little yellow. The yellow color was not dirty, but a natural discoloration caused by the oxidation of the foam over time.

Xu Xiaoyan reached out and pressed on the mattress. The sponge was still elastic; her finger sank in and bounced back. It wasn't soft, but it wasn't hard either.

Opposite the bed was a wooden desk, painted in the dark brown color common in old-fashioned furniture. The desktop had several deep scratches, as if it had been carved with a knife.

It's impossible to tell what was carved anymore. Black grime has accumulated in the grooves of the scratches, and you can feel the depth and direction of those grooves by touching them with your fingers.

There is a drawer on the left side of the desk. The drawer handle is made of brass-colored iron with a layer of dark green rust on the surface and the edges are polished to a shine.

Xu Xiaoyan opened the drawer, which was empty except for a thin layer of dust. The wood grain at the bottom of the drawer was faintly visible beneath the dust.

Above the desk is a window with clear glass and a few thin water stains, probably left by rainwater seeping in through the gaps in the window frame when it rained.

Through the glass, you can see the outline of the dam in the distance. From the height of the 18th floor, the dam no longer appears as a massive structure that occupies the entire field of vision when viewed from below.

There was a small bathroom in the corner of the room. Xu Xiaoyan went over to check it out. The bathroom door was also made of wood, but it was thinner and felt flimsy when pushed up.

She pushed the door open, and the hinges made a slight, dry creak. Once the door was fully open, the entire bathroom was exposed to the light.

The white toilet is an old-fashioned model with a round tank that hangs on the wall above it. There is a long, hanging plastic pull cord on the side of the tank.

The toilet seat was closed, covered with a thin layer of dust. Xu Xiaoyan stretched out her right hand and gently wiped the dusty surface with the tip of her index finger.

Where my fingertips brushed, the dust was wiped away, revealing a layer of dark yellow stains underneath. In some places, the stains had seeped into the micropores of the ceramic surface, making them difficult to clean.

Next to the toilet is the shower head, made of metal, which is rusted. The surface of the shower head has an uneven, rusty texture, and you can feel sharp rust particles when you touch it with your fingers.

Below the nozzle is a rectangular drainage ditch made of cement, about forty centimeters long, twenty centimeters wide, and less than ten centimeters deep.

There was a small puddle of dried water at the bottom of the drain, and a few strands of hair, left behind at some unknown time, mixed with the color of the cement, in the corner.

Xu Xiaoyan straightened up, glanced around the bathroom again, and reached out to grasp the rusty faucet handle under the showerhead.

She twisted the faucet hard, and a low "humming" sound came from it. Then a small stream of yellowish-brown water gushed out of the nozzle.

As the water sprayed from the nozzle, some of the tiny rust particles on the nozzle's surface were washed away, leaving some reddish-brown marks on her fingers.

But she didn't pull her hand back; she turned the tap on even more, making the water flow stronger.

She also stretched out her other hand, placing both hands side by side under the water, feeling the hot water flowing through her fingers.

She bent down and turned off the tap.

The sound of water stopped, and the bathroom became quiet again, with only the dull sound of water flowing into the sewer from the drain.

The sounds lasted for a few seconds, then disappeared.