Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 395 The Compass

Huaxing Underground City, military escort, transfer, mudslide, separation, walkie-talkie, reunion.

These words strung together formed a rough outline in her mind: Huaxing Underground City might be like Linchuan Underground City, some kind of underground refuge facility built before the apocalypse.

The people inside, like those in Linchuan, decided to move to the surface at some point, and the fact that they were escorted by an army along the way indicates that they had enough food.

Unfortunately, they encountered a mudslide, which scattered the orderly group, and some people fell behind. However, they knew their final destination and were trying to rejoin the main group.

As for the statement "The army has always been there, hasn't it?", a complex and indescribable emotion suddenly welled up in Xu Xiaoyan's heart.

I envy them; they have military escorts and organizations to rely on, unlike her, who had to rely on herself in the later stages.

There was also a hint of loneliness she was reluctant to admit. Under the protection of the military, they, living in the ivory tower, could be unguarded and friendly to others.

Looking at Wang Ling's bloodshot eyes, and then at the two equally disheveled women behind her, Xu Xiaoyan felt a slight, imperceptible shift in the wall that had been erected in her heart.

She didn't offer to help or lead the way, but she did something that stunned all three women.

She raised her left hand, held the watch to her chest, and then swiped twice on the screen with her right index finger.

"My watch has a compass function," she said, "which gives me a general idea of ​​where I am."

The three cheered instantly, and Wang Ling was so excited that she took a step forward and stepped into a muddy puddle, splashing mud onto Xu Xiaoyan's rain boots.

She was completely unaware, and kept repeating "That's great" "That's great".

Chen Wenshan almost dropped the waterproof tarpaulin in her hand again. She hurriedly grabbed the corner of the tarpaulin, and a relieved, almost tearful smile appeared on her face.

Even Wu Yue, who had been silently hiding in the back, raised her head and stared intently at the gleaming watch on Xu Xiaoyan's wrist, as if it were a life-saving treasure.

Xu Xiaoyan took a half step back, and the three people approached her at the same time. The feeling of being surrounded made her instinctively want to create some distance.

She kept her head down, her fingers swiping across the screen of her watch, pretending to operate the compass function.

In fact, she was doing something more important: turning off the navigation notification sound.

I quickly swiped through the settings menu, found the "Voice Navigation" option, tapped it, and turned the switch off.

The icon on the screen flashed, and then the little speaker icon that had been quietly guiding her disappeared, replaced by a mute symbol.

She then lowered the screen brightness in the "Display Settings" to prevent it from being too conspicuous in the rain, and locked the map zoom level to the current scale.

This way, even if she accidentally touches the screen, the map won't suddenly zoom in or out, and it won't reveal the dense contour lines and the carefully planned path.

As Xu Xiaoyan performed these actions, she slightly turned her body to the side, using her shoulder to block the view of Wang Ling and the other two.

Her fingers moved quickly across the screen, completing all the settings in less than half a minute.

The watch returned to the compass interface, where a large compass appeared on the screen, its red pointer trembling as it pointed north.

The more exposure there is, the greater the hidden dangers become. She always kept this principle in mind. It wasn't that she didn't trust Wang Ling and the others, but rather that trust was a luxury in this world.

She had only known these three people for less than ten minutes, and had no idea what kind of people they were, let alone what they would do when they were desperate.

What would they think if they knew that the watch in her hand could not only indicate direction, but also display terrain, plan routes, record tracks, and locate coordinates?

What will they think of her? Will they think she has more valuable things on her? Will they take advantage of her while she's asleep in the middle of the night?

Xu Xiaoyan didn't want to think so badly of people, but human nature couldn't withstand any test, and she absolutely refused to reveal this trump card to anyone.

"Okay," she said, looking up and turning her watch to show Wang Ling.

The screen displays a simple compass interface, with the letters N, S, W, and E marked on the compass. The red pointer wobbles slightly, pointing in the northwest direction.

"The pointer is pointing north now, and the northwest direction is in this position." She gestured with her finger on the outer ring of the dial, indicating that it was about 45 degrees to the left of the north pointer.

"We need to head northwest, so head in this direction, keep this angle, and don't deviate," Xu Xiaoyan said slowly.

Wang Ling leaned closer to take a look, her eyes almost touching the watch screen.

Then she suddenly straightened up, turned around and shouted to Chen Wenshan and Wu Yue, "The northwest is over there! Over there!" She pointed in a certain direction, her arm outstretched.

Chen Wenshan and Wu Yue looked in the direction she was pointing, but they couldn't actually see anything. However, they both had a relieved expression on their faces, as if they finally knew where to go.

More and more puddles formed on the ground, and the muddy road that was once barely passable had now turned into patches of yellowish-brown water with a murky sheen.

Some puddles are very shallow, just a thin layer. When you step on them, there's a "splat" sound, and water splashes everywhere. You can feel the hard mud underneath your shoes.

Some puddles were so deep that the bottom was not visible. The water was murky, with withered leaves and small branches floating on it. The mud on the edges was soft and blackened by the water, and your feet would sink in when you stepped on it.

They had to carefully avoid the puddles that looked too deep.

Sometimes you have to take a big detour, walking along the edge of the hillside, with slippery grass roots and gravel under your feet, and you have to test each step several times before you dare to step firmly.

Xu Xiaoyan led the way, occasionally raising her left hand to check the compass interface on the watch face.

Her finger lightly glided across the edge of the screen, a seemingly natural movement, but in reality, she was secretly checking the map route.

The green dots on the map show that their route has deviated slightly northward, about two or three hundred meters from the ideal blue path.

It's really not their fault; too many places were flooded and impassable, so they had to take detours, and as they went around in circles, they went astray.

Xu Xiaoyan silently calculated in her mind that if they continued to deviate from this direction, they might miss the most suitable ridge to cross in the northwest direction of Yunding Peak and have to go around to the steeper side.

She needed to correct her course, so at the next fork in the road, in front of a dirt slope that had been eroded by rainwater and split into two paths, she naturally chose the path on the right.

She didn't explain or even pause when she made the choice; she simply took a step naturally.

Wang Ling and the other two followed behind without asking any questions.

In their eyes, Xu Xiaoyan is probably a "professional" who has a watch, can read a compass, and knows where northwest is. The path she has chosen must be the right one.