Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 341 Drawing Lots

Occasionally, you can see some remaining facilities: a metal frame for a bus stop, a leaning lamppost, and a phone booth without a roof.

The convoy stopped in front of a residential area.

The neighborhood wasn't very big, with a dozen or so buildings, all of them old-style multi-story residential buildings, five or six stories high, with dusty gray walls, some of which were cracked and some had collapsed corners, but overall they were still relatively intact.

There are some open spaces between the buildings, overgrown with withered yellow weeds, and a few surviving trees are bare.

Military vehicles parked one after another in the open space of the residential area, raising clouds of dust.

Xu Xiaoyan jumped off the vehicle with the people in front of her. When her feet touched the ground, her legs went weak and she almost knelt down. After sitting in the military vehicle for 4 hours, her legs were numb. She stood for a few seconds, holding onto the truck bed, and stretched her legs. Then she carried her bag and walked towards the crowd.

Before everyone had even come down, several soldiers started shouting through megaphones.

"Everyone, please gather here!"

"Everyone, please assemble here! There's an important announcement!"

The crowd began to surge in that direction, and Xu Xiaoyan followed the flow of people, finding a spot to stand on the side.

The soldiers were standing on the steps of a building, with a folding table in front of them. On the table were several cardboard boxes, and next to them were several laptops, with someone typing rapidly on the keyboard.

One of the soldiers picked up a megaphone and began to announce, "Gentlemen, our group has been assigned to this compound. The military has now cleaned all the rooms, and we are ready to move in."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the crowd. "Now we'll draw lots based on whether you're an individual or a family. Whatever number you draw, you'll be assigned a key with the corresponding number, and the information will be entered directly into the system."

Drawing lots? Xu Xiaoyan was taken aback.

Then the soldier continued, "If anyone is not satisfied with their living conditions and wants to change their place of residence, that's fine too."

He raised one hand, holding up three fingers. "Three water tickets allow you to draw again once, with no limit on the number of times, until you draw a room you like!"

These words caused an uproar among everyone.

"What? I have to pay extra?"

Three water tickets? That's three days' worth of water!

"Isn't this just a lottery?"

"Good heavens, we've barely arrived and there's already a consumer trap waiting for us!"

Xu Xiaoyan stood in the crowd, listening to the surrounding discussions, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

Three water tickets are not a lot, but they are not a little either. However, if you really draw a dilapidated house that is drafty, has collapsed corners, and is so broken that it is uninhabitable, then you still have to spend these three water tickets!

She looked up at the buildings.

Some of them look alright; the walls are old, but the overall condition is intact.

Some are not so good; not only is a corner obviously collapsed, but some windows are also gone. If you draw a house like that, you can't live in it at all.

No wonder the military is doing this.

If you're not satisfied, you can draw a different lot, but it costs money. If you're satisfied, you can move in directly without spending any money. It sounds fair, but isn't it just gambling?

Gamble on luck, gamble on your chances, gamble on winning a good house.

Moreover, and most importantly, if someone has a lot of water tickets, they can keep drawing until they get the one they want.

If you don't have many water tickets, and you're not satisfied with the draw after one try, you just have to accept it.

Isn't this just trading resources for opportunities?

Xu Xiaoyan stood there, watching the people gossiping, her mind racing with calculations.

She has 30 water tickets. If the house she draws is too bad, she can spend 3 tickets to redraw. She can draw up to 10 times and she should be able to draw a decent one eventually.

But that's the ideal situation. What if you're not satisfied after 10 draws? What if you're unlucky and keep drawing until you get a ruined house?

She shook her head, deciding to put those thoughts aside for now and see how things went.

There are already people queuing up ahead of us.

Several soldiers were maintaining order, making everyone line up in rows, while someone nearby was shouting, "Singles, line up here! Families, line up there! Those with children, priority!"

The crowd began to disperse.

Xu Xiaoyan looked around and walked towards the single-person queue.

There were many people in line, a dense, dark mass.

She stood in line, watching as the people in front of her walked to the table one by one, reached into the cardboard box, pulled out a slip of paper, and handed it to the person next to them.

The man took the note, typed a few things on the computer, and then took a key from another box.

Some people received their keys, their faces lit up with smiles, and they happily walked into the building.

Some people's faces fell immediately after receiving the key, and they stood there in a daze, probably because they had drawn a bad room.

Several people immediately pulled out their water tickets and demanded a redraw.

She saw a middle-aged man take a smoke, but he wasn't satisfied.

I paid three water tickets and drew lots again.

Still not satisfied, I submitted three more tickets and drew lots again.

This time he smiled, took the keys, and left.

Someone nearby muttered, "Six water tickets gone in an instant, how wasteful."

Another person said, "What if you can't bear to leave? Live in a run-down house?"

She stood in the line, inching forward little by little. The number of people in front of her decreased until it was finally her turn.

She walked to the table and looked at the cardboard box.

The cardboard box wasn't big; it was an ordinary corrugated cardboard box with a hole in it, just big enough to fit a hand. Inside, there were so many strips of paper that it was impossible to tell how many there were.

The soldier next to her glanced at her, his eyes showing a hint of routine weariness, but his tone was still relatively calm: "Reach in and grab a card."

Xu Xiaoyan nodded and put her hand inside.

The cardboard box was a little cool, and the strips of paper were slippery, feeling like ordinary photocopy paper.

She ran her fingers through the cards, without deliberately picking or hesitating, and just randomly grabbed one and pulled it out.

She handed the note to the person next to her, a young male soldier in military uniform who wore glasses and looked quite refined. He took the note, glanced at it, and his eyes fell on it.

Then I typed a few times on the computer: "Top grade, Building 3, Room 502".

His voice wasn't loud, but the moment he uttered the words "superior level," a gasp of astonishment erupted from the crowd.

"Someone else got a top-tier character? I'm so envious!"

"This girl is so lucky!"

"I wonder how many rooms there are of higher tier? I hope I can get one!"

"I'm so envious! I won the lottery, and I have to consider whether to try again."

"A top-class room, of course you don't have to worry about cracked walls or no windows..."

Xu Xiaoyan stood there, listening to the sounds around her, feeling a little dazed for a moment.

The highest tier? She had just grabbed randomly, not thinking about what she would get. She was okay with something average, and she would consider redrawing if it was low-tier. That was her plan. And what happened? She drew the best one.

The soldier took a key from another box and handed it over. The key was ordinary, made of iron, with a small label on it that read "3-502".

"Here are your keys."

If you enjoy stories about surviving the apocalypse by stockpiling supplies, please bookmark: Apocalypse Stockpiling Survival Story