Buy a Hundred Chocolates, Get a Free Case of Anxiety

At two in the morning, the line outside the northern warehouse club was still three hundred meters long. Shoppers charged inside for one product: Deep-Sea Reserve salted chocolate. Some bought ten cartons. One woman wept over the last box. An old man traded two packs of toilet paper and an air fryer for half a sample square. “This isn't shopping,” Xiaoman said. “It's a hamster convention on Singles' Day.” Chen opened a box. [MONSTER RECIPE: SALT HAMSTER, STARVED FORM] [BASE: Fear that tomorrow will have nothing left.] [CATALYSTS: Sea salt, cocoa, one empty storage compartment.] [PRICE: Preserve what you gain—and the panic of losing it.] [RIDDLE-HEART: Food was never what you were hoarding.]