Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 390 Leaving the Sinkhole

The rain was getting heavier and heavier. Her hair, soaked and clinging to her forehead, peeked out from under the brim of her hat. Rainwater streamed down her cheeks and into her mouth, but she didn't stop.

It took Xu Xiaoyan about two hours to cut down all the large bamboos in the sinkhole, and she also dug up some bamboo whips and threw them into her space.

The skin around my thumb and forefinger was worn away, revealing pink, tender flesh that hurt terribly when it got wet in the rain.

But looking at the space filled with bamboo, she felt an indescribable sense of peace.

The rain showed no signs of stopping. She took a breath, wiped the rain off her face with the back of her hand, and turned to walk towards the entrance of the cave.

The mud beneath our feet was getting deeper and deeper, and every step felt like walking on paste.

The soles of my shoes were stuck, and it took a lot of effort to pull them out. The hem of my raincoat was covered in mud and felt heavy.

The entrance to the cave was just ahead. Xu Xiaoyan bent down and crawled inside. Darkness instantly swallowed everything, and the sound of rain subsided. The air inside the cave was still so humid.

But compared to the torrential rain outside, the dampness here is nothing.

She took out a flashlight from her spatial storage, and the light illuminated the wet rock wall in front of her and the gray-white limestone ground beneath her feet.

When the beam of her flashlight swept across, she saw shimmering water, not the large reflection of a pool, but a thin film of water covering the rocks.

Shining a flashlight, the water glistened brightly. She looked down at her feet and realized that a small stream had formed beneath her feet.

The water flowed down the path from behind her, splitting into streams at her feet, winding around protruding rocks, and then rejoining in the low-lying areas.

Then it continued to flow deeper into the cave, the water was just above the soles of the shoes, but in some places it was already submerging the ankles.

Now, as torrential rain falls from the sky, the water level at the bottom of the sinkhole rises, and the water flows down the slope of the channel to the lowest point. The "stream" under her feet is the water in the sinkhole searching for a way out.

As Xu Xiaoyan walked along, she was very careful. The road under her feet was slippery. The limestone ground was uneven to begin with, and some places had been washed away by water.

So she had to test each small spot with her toes before she dared to shift her weight onto it.

Several times her feet slipped forward a few centimeters, which startled her so much that she quickly regained her balance, pressed her back tightly against the rock face, dug her fingers into the cracks in the rocks, and waited for her heartbeat to calm down before continuing.

The beam of the flashlight swayed back and forth in front of her, casting the passage in shifting light. The sound of water echoed through the passage, mixed with her own footsteps and panting.

When Xu Xiaoyan arrived near the giant salamander pool, the passage suddenly widened, and the beam of her flashlight could shine much further.

She pointed her flashlight towards the pool, and the beam pierced through the dim passage and landed on the water's surface, revealing that the water level had indeed risen considerably.

Last time I came, the water level in the pool was nearly half a meter below the ground of the passage. Now, the water level has risen to less than ten centimeters below the ground.

The giant salamander is gone; it may have swum to deeper waters or been swept into some corner of the channel by the rising water level.

The water level was still rising slowly, and the change was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, but after squatting down and watching for a while, she could feel the edge of the water spreading outward little by little.

The water level in the pool had risen so high that it was almost submerging the path she had walked along.

The path was a natural passage along the edge of the pool, clinging to the rock wall; at its narrowest point, it was only wide enough for one person to pass sideways.

The lowest point of the path is now submerged. If the water level rises another ten centimeters, the entire path will be completely submerged.

She could only be thankful that she woke up in the middle of the night; if she had only remembered it the next day, she probably would have had to wade through the water.

No, it's not wading, it's swimming! At the rate the water level in the pool is rising, the path will be completely submerged in a few hours.

The lowest point of the entire passage will be transformed into a pool of water, with a depth expected to exceed one meter.

She glanced at her dirty shoes, which were covered in a layer of yellowish-brown mud.

The soles of the shoes were filled with small pebbles and mud, and the trouser legs were wet up to the knees, with muddy water dripping down the trouser legs and forming a small puddle of murky water on the ground.

Needless to say, the hem of her raincoat was covered in mud, and almost no part of her body was dry. She looked down at herself and couldn't help but frown.

So she took out a windproof suit and non-slip rain boots from her space. The windproof suit was black, and the fabric was high-density nylon, which felt smooth to the touch and was light and thin.

The non-slip rain boots are military green high-top rain boots with deep treads on the soles, specially designed for walking on wet and slippery surfaces, offering much better slip resistance than ordinary rain boots.

She placed the two items on a relatively dry rock nearby.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that the water level hadn't risen too much, she quickly washed her dirty clothes and shoes clean. After cleaning, Xu Xiaoyan changed into clean clothes and rain boots.

With everything ready, she walked along the passage toward the cave exit. This stretch of road felt completely different today.

The path underfoot was dry, or rather, much drier than the area around the pool. Although the water level in the pool had risen, it hadn't reached this point on the path yet, so it felt very solid to step on.

She walked much faster than before, the deep treads of her non-slip rain boots gripping the dry limestone ground firmly, each step steady and resonant.

The marks she left behind reappeared frequently on the rock face, and Xu Xiaoyan could sense the air changing.

The damp, chilly air with its mineral smell was being replaced by fresh air, carrying the scent of rain, rushing in from outside the cave.

A breeze was blowing in from the cave entrance; it wasn't strong, but it was quite cool.

The wind blew across her face, causing the stray hairs on her forehead to flutter slightly. She quickened her pace, almost running to finish the last leg of the journey.

She reached the exit of the cave, squeezed through the narrow gap, bent down and crawled through, pushed aside the bushes at the entrance that were bent over by the rain, and stood in the outside world.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't rush to leave, but instead took out her watch and glanced at it.

At 2 a.m., it was pitch black all around. The distant mountains, the nearby trees, and the dirt road underfoot all melted into the night.

All that could be seen were some blurry, varying shades of black outlines.

Thinking that traveling in the dark was not a good idea was ultimately not advisable.

Although she had a flashlight, traveling in the middle of the night after a heavy rain was too risky, and her current condition was not suitable for traveling.

After several hours of intense labor, from harvesting vegetables to cutting bamboo, from wading through caves to changing clothes, her strength was almost completely depleted.

Sharpening the axe won't delay the work of chopping wood. What she needs now is rest and to recharge her energy before setting off again at dawn. This will be much faster and safer than traveling in the dark.