Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 196 Air Force Guy

The contents of the pot gradually darkened in color, changing from a bright golden red to a more subdued dark reddish-brown. The texture also became increasingly viscous, with the fruit pulp almost completely melting, leaving only tiny seeds suspended in the liquid, forming a uniform, granular thick paste.

Seeing that it was almost done, she turned down the heat again to evaporate the excess water, allowing the jam to thicken further and be easier to preserve. She didn't continue stirring, but needed to check it from time to time to prevent excessive evaporation and burning. When a little jam could be scooped up with a wooden spatula and flowed slowly when tilted, leaving a clear mark on the surface, the consistency was about right.

She turned off the heat and carefully scooped the piping hot sea buckthorn jam into a large iron basin that had been prepared next to her. The deep reddish-brown jam, which exuded a rich sour aroma and was hot, swayed slightly in the basin. Soon, a thin, dull film of luster formed on the surface as it came into contact with the cold air.

The first batch is done! Ignoring the heat, she lightly dipped her finger into the cooled sauce and put it in her mouth. Instantly, an extreme sourness exploded in her mouth. There was only pure sourness and a slight bitterness unique to heated fruit. She grimaced and quickly drank some water to dilute it.

She stored the bowl of sea buckthorn sauce in her spatial storage, then washed the pot again, poured in the second batch of processed sea buckthorn, added water, lit the fire, and repeated the entire cooking process...

From dawn until sunset, she endlessly repeated the cycle of washing, boiling, plating, and cooling. The kitchen was always filled with steam and a sour smell. Her arms and wrists had long since gone from sore to heavy and painful. Her fingertips were white and wrinkled from prolonged contact with cold water and steam, and even trembled slightly.

It took her a whole day, during which she only ate a few steamed buns and dried meat to replenish her energy. She finally made most of the sea buckthorn into sea buckthorn jam. Although she was exhausted, she felt a great sense of accomplishment.

With her last bit of strength, Xu Xiaoyan moved to the rattan chair in the room, which was covered with a thick quilt and an old blanket. She curled up, feeling every muscle and joint in her body aching. She closed her eyes, not even wanting to move a finger. However, just as her consciousness began to blur and she was about to be dragged into a light sleep by exhaustion—"Ding-dong!" Her cell phone, which had been sitting on a small stool next to the rattan chair, rang crisply, and a small patch of pale blue light lit up on the screen, which was particularly noticeable in the dim room.

"Hmm?" She reluctantly opened her eyes a little and glanced at her phone. The light from the screen made her squint. She vaguely saw a message notification that seemed to be from Xie Yingtang. It was a voice message?

"Huh? That's strange..." she muttered to herself. Usually, they communicated mostly through text messages, especially between her and Xie Yingtang, whose communication tended to be efficient and practical. Today, she wondered what had happened, but Xie Yingtang had actually initiated a voice message? Was there something that couldn't be explained in words, or something urgent?

With a hint of curiosity piqued, she used her still somewhat functional left hand to laboriously reach for her phone, unlock the screen, and tap on the voice message from Xie Yingtang.

What came out wasn't Xie Yingtang's steady voice, but Wang Xiao's distinctive, slightly smug, loud voice. There seemed to be a "whooshing" sound of wind in the background, clearly indicating that he recorded it somewhere outdoors.

"Hey! Xiaoyan! Xiaoyan! Did you hear me? It's me, Wang Xiao! Lao Xie and I have a plan, tomorrow! Tomorrow! We're going to try ice fishing on that big river to the east! How about it, doesn't it sound amazing? Super cool! Do you want to come? I guarantee it'll be a lot of fun! Just thinking about it makes me excited! Are you coming?"

Ice fishing? Xu Xiaoyan was stunned, wondering if she was hallucinating from exhaustion. In this awful weather of minus twenty degrees Celsius, going to the frozen river east of the city to fish by breaking through the thick ice? This... were these two out of their minds from the cold during the day? Have they started pursuing "leisure and entertainment"? Her first reaction was disbelief, even finding it a bit absurd.

She pressed the voice button and replied in a skeptical tone, "Ice fishing? You two... have you ever ice fished before? What about your equipment? What about your bait? What about your safety measures? I remember seeing news reports during peacetime about many fishing enthusiasts going there with great enthusiasm, only to end up empty-handed nine out of ten times, earning them the nickname 'air-fishers'. In this freezing weather, are you sure you want to try your luck? Don't end up freezing into an ice sculpture before you catch any fish."

After the voice message was sent, it was as if a powder keg was instantly ignited on the other end, or rather, Wang Xiao's indomitable spirit was completely ignited by the words "Air Force Guy".

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—" Her phone beeped rapidly several times in a row, and several voice messages popped up on the screen in succession.

Xu Xiaoyan sighed helplessly, but still clicked on each one one by one. Sure enough, all that came out was Wang Xiao's urgent explanation, filled with indignation: "You can doubt my character, but you can't doubt my fishing skills."

"Who said I'm a 'short-sleeper'?! Xiao Yan, don't talk nonsense! I'm really good at fishing, okay? I used to be famous for it on the river back in my hometown!"

"How can that be the same?! Their skills are lacking! Their equipment is inferior too! Let me tell you, I used to be by the river... (a gust of wind blurred part of the speech)... the feel for it! Absolutely no problem!"

"We're definitely going to catch something this time! I have a feeling! Old Xie can vouch for that! Right, Old Xie?!"

However, in the background, Xie Yingtang's indistinct denial of "I don't know anything" could be heard.

Listening to Wang Xiao angrily defending his dignity as a "fishing expert" in the voice chat, with Xie Yingtang's helpless and sarcastic remarks in the background, Xu Xiaoyan couldn't help but smile. The fatigue and tension of the past few days seemed to be diluted a bit by this interaction, and even the soreness in her arms seemed to be relieved a little.

She exited the chat interface with Xie Yingtang and habitually clicked on the real-time temperature display pinned to the top of the forum. The number that popped up on the screen made her smile pause slightly: -22℃.

It was two degrees lower than when she checked last night. This continuously dropping, chilling number shattered the slight sense of relief she had just felt. Extreme cold is always a Damocles' sword hanging over her head.

She had just prepared to hibernate when she was suddenly tempted by ice fishing... This was a huge slap in the face. She was torn. It was -22 degrees Celsius outside, and there were unknown risks on the wild ice river. She had no experience and it was all just a matter of luck. She might waste her energy and time and end up with nothing.

Staying at home, with a heated kang bed and a relatively safe, sealed door, she was bored, but at least she was comfortable. Just as her thoughts were in turmoil, her phone dinged again, and Wang Xiao's new voice message came through impatiently.