Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 409 Numbering Grouping

Everyone waited in the same spot for about two more hours.

At first, everyone maintained a restrained silence.

After all, the military personnel had said they would "wait for the lottery results," and no one wanted to be labeled as "insubordinate" in the first round.

These people were scattered on the slope in twos and threes, sitting with their backpacks or squatting on the slightly drier grass, occasionally exchanging a few words in hushed tones.

Some people would glance down at the note in their hand from time to time, then quickly close it again, as if holding an unopened judgment that held neither good nor bad fortune.

Half an hour later, some people were still able to sit still.

After an hour, people started to stand up and walk around, pacing back and forth on the slope, leaving muddy footprints.

After an hour and a half, the whispers turned into undisguised complaints.

"Why haven't they arrived yet?"

"When exactly will we have to wait?"

"They haven't forgotten about us, have they?"

After two hours, some people already had a look of anxiety on their faces, as if they were about to explode at any moment.

Someone shoved the note they'd been clutching into their pocket.

Someone threw their backpack on the ground.

Some people began to loudly question the soldiers maintaining order nearby, but the soldiers stood there expressionless and silent.

Xu Xiaoyan leaned against the top of her backpack, her hands in the pockets of her windproof jacket.

During those two hours, she didn't stand up or take a single step, didn't say a word to anyone, and didn't even show any signs of anxiety.

She knew that rushing wouldn't help, and instead of wasting her energy on meaningless things, she might as well close her eyes and rest.

She even managed to take a few short naps on and off during those two hours.

At this crucial moment, movement finally broke out in front of the crowd.

First came a rhythmic thud of footsteps, all landing in unison on the wet mud.

Then came a group of soldiers dressed in neat military raincoats, marching in two columns from the direction of the main camp.

The soldier at the front was carrying a silver briefcase, while some of the soldiers behind him were carrying laptops.

Some people were carrying folding tables, some were carrying bulging canvas bags, and several people were working together to lift something rolled up, the contents of which were unclear.

A man who looked like a junior officer was holding a handheld megaphone, the mouth of which was pointing downwards and hanging down beside his legs.

Upon reaching a relatively flat open space in front of the hillside, the troops stopped, and the soldiers quickly dispersed and began working on the open space.

Soldiers who were scattered all over the hillside just minutes ago suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

They quickly gathered, lined up, and stood in neat rows in front of the crowd, shoulder to shoulder, chests out and backs straight, hats pulled down at the same height, eyes looking straight ahead.

They didn't speak, didn't make any unnecessary movements, and no one even coughed; they just stood there.

But that invisible, heavy, and oppressive aura silenced the noisy crowd on the hillside within seconds.

The soldiers worked quickly, setting up posts, pulling ropes, securing the tent, laying the roof, and tying it up. In less than five minutes, a square, simple tent with a taut roof was erected.

The folding table was set up under the tent, the laptop was placed on it, the power cord was plugged in, and the screen lit up.

The silver briefcase was also opened, revealing several pieces of equipment that Xu Xiaoyan couldn't name. The soldiers carefully took them out, connected them, and tested them.

At this moment, the junior officer with the megaphone walked to the front of the makeshift tent, faced the crowd, and raised the megaphone to his mouth.

The loudspeaker emitted a piercing electrical shriek, causing everyone to involuntarily shrink back.

He adjusted the volume, and the howling disappeared, replaced by an amplified voice.

The sound of "Attention everyone!" echoed through the rain, refracted, reflected, and superimposed by the hillsides on both sides, creating a three-dimensional sound field.

"Now, please open the slip of paper in your hand. There is a number on the slip of paper, and this number corresponds to the soldier you will be assigned to."

Please look carefully at the number, then find the soldier holding the same number tag in our soldier queue and gather behind him.

If you can't find the note, you can come here to get a new one.

Xu Xiaoyan reached into the chest pocket of her windproof jacket, unzipped it, and her fingertips touched the neatly folded strip of paper.

She took it out, unfolded it, glanced at it, read it aloud, then folded the note back up, put it back in her pocket, and zipped it up.

She raised her head, her gaze sweeping over the shoulders of the people in front of her and onto the column of hundreds of soldiers.

The soldiers had somehow erected a small sign in front of each of them.

Some were held in their hands, some were hung around their necks, and some were standing on the ground.

Some license plates are made of cardboard, with a white background and black numbers. The font is large and eye-catching, and can be seen clearly from a distance.

Xu Xiaoyan scanned from left to right, looking at each row of license plates, her gaze lingering on each plate for less than half a second.

It wasn't that she scanned them quickly; it was that the hundreds of license plates were arranged too neatly, with the numbers arranged from smallest to largest and from left to right in an extremely orderly manner.

She quickly saw her number.

At the right rear of the formation, a soldier of medium build stood ramrod straight, holding the number plate in his hand, his eyes looking straight ahead.

Without hesitation, she stood up from beside her backpack, brushed the grass clippings and mud off her pants, tightened the backpack straps, and walked toward the number.

Behind me, the voice from the loudspeaker continued, repeating the same instructions over and over again.

The number of people in front of each soldier holding a number plate began to increase one by one.

Soon, a group of 50 people would form, and the leading soldier would lead them toward a hillside in a certain direction.

Some groups went to the left, some to the right, some deeper into the valley, and some disappeared after crossing the gentle slope ahead. They went in different directions, some near and some far.

Xu Xiaoyan stood in her own line, waiting quietly.

She counted the heads of the people standing behind the soldier; including herself, there were about forty people.

The soldier was still holding the white number sign, standing at the front of the line with his back to the crowd.

The forty or so people behind him stood crookedly, some so close they were almost touching the backpacks of the people in front of them.

Some people stood far away, leaving gaps of several meters.

Some people felt that their position was too low and were afraid that they would be stepped on by the people in front of them when they walked away, so they moved a few steps to the side, and the people next to them followed suit.

The remaining ten or so people were probably gathered around asking for their numbers.

Xu Xiaoyan turned her head to look at the other side of the hillside, where several hundred people were still gathered around the makeshift tent, completely surrounding the soldier in charge of answering questions.