Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 535 Entering the City

Xu Xiaoyan stood there for a while, and a middle-aged man in a dark gray jacket in front of her turned around and glanced at her.

He glanced at the crowd still surging behind her, his eyes carrying the composure of someone who had been through it all.

Xu Xiaoyan hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Hello, I'd like to ask, what's the difference between these two teams?"

The middle-aged man sized her up, and seeing that she was a stranger, he smiled and said in a friendly tone, "Is this your first time visiting Satellite City Five?"

Xu Xiaoyan nodded: "Just arrived."

"That's right." The middle-aged man stepped aside to give her some space to speak. "Actually, the principle is very simple. People with chips can have their past experiences and behavioral patterns traced."

The system can automatically identify which batch of troops you came with, and you can basically just go through the motions and be let through.

He pointed to the fast lane on the left:

"Our train should have been faster. Each person should have walked up to the machine, the green light should have flashed, and it should have been over in three to five seconds. But look at us now—"

Xu Xiaoyan followed his gaze and saw that the group was moving at a slower pace than before.

Several people spent significantly longer in front of the equipment, and some were even guided to a small cubicle next to it for a private talk.

"For first-time visitors to Satellite City 5, there is an initial read time for the chip."

The middle-aged man patiently explained, "Since your chip was implanted, all your trajectory data has been stored in it, but it hasn't been connected to the system of Satellite City No. 5 yet."

During the initial connection, the system needs to read all the data and record your complete walking trajectory.

The richer the trajectory and the more places visited, the longer the reading time will be.

After listening, Xu Xiaoyan nodded, wondering if the troops from the Linchuan base had come to Qing City.

The line finally came to an end.

The middle-aged man in front of the machine stood for less than five seconds before the green light came on. He turned around, nodded to Xu Xiaoyan, and strode inside.

It was Xu Xiaoyan's turn, and she stepped into the metal doorway.

The door frame was wider than she had imagined, and several rows of fine sensors were embedded in the inner walls on both sides, like some kind of sophisticated scanning device.

After she stopped, an electronic female voice came from above her head: "Information is being read, please wait patiently."

Xu Xiaoyan stood still, not daring to move, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

She could feel a slight warmth emanating from the chip on her arm.

This sensation lasted for about a minute, then the warmth disappeared, replaced by a brief silence.

She silently counted the seconds in her mind, one second, two seconds, three seconds... Three minutes passed, but the electronic female voice still did not sound.

People in the line behind them started whispering, seemingly complaining about why they were stuck ahead.

About half a minute later, a small door next to it was pushed open from the inside.

A staff member in a dark blue uniform, who looked to be around thirty years old, came out with a name tag hanging on his chest.

He was holding a tablet computer and glanced down at the information on the screen.

Then he raised his head, his gaze falling on Xu Xiaoyan, and said in a polite but somewhat formulaic tone, "Hello, Ms. Xu."

The other party called her by her surname, indicating that her personal information on the chip had been read, but obviously the reading result was not as straightforward as the others.

She steadied herself and tried to make her expression appear calm and natural: "It's me."

The staff member took a few steps closer, stood next to the metal door frame, and said in a slightly lowered voice, "Because your chip record shows that you once lived in Linchuan."

We are not very clear about what happened there afterwards, so we would like you to tell us more details so that we can supplement and verify the information.

His tone was polite and his attitude wasn't harsh, but Xu Xiaoyan noticed that when he said "Linchuan," his gaze lingered on her face for a moment longer.

Several thoughts raced through Xu Xiaoyan's mind. She had already told the recorder about Linchuan in the bunker.

There were no cameras or recording devices that time, just simple written records, which are probably still in the bunker's archives.

"Yes, that's fine," Xu Xiaoyan readily agreed.

"When I was in Qing City, I received a notification that I had to arrive at Satellite City No. 5 within an hour, otherwise the land I had reserved would be void."

As she spoke, she glanced at her phone almost unconsciously.

After hearing her explanation, the staff member gave her a reassuring smile.

"Please rest assured, from the moment you pass through that electronic door, the system has already assumed that you have officially entered Satellite City No. 5."

The eligibility confirmation is based on the system time, and your arrival time at the checkpoint is entirely within the validity period.

"That's good." Xu Xiaoyan felt a weight lifted off her shoulders.

The staff member stepped aside and gestured for them to come over: "Please come this way with me for a moment. We'll make a quick record of your inquiry. It'll be done soon."

As compensation for our cooperation, we will give you a five-pound sealed bag of rice.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't hesitate for long. She nodded and followed the staff out through the side door next to the metal door.

Outside the side door was a narrow corridor with gray floor tiles and white paint on the walls. At the end of the corridor was a door. The staff pushed the door open and stepped aside to let Xu Xiaoyan go in first.

This is a small room of about ten square meters, with a white desk and two chairs in the middle and a water dispenser in the corner.

Xu Xiaoyan's gaze swept across the entire room, quickly settling on two locations.

In the upper left and upper right corners of the room, there is a black hemispherical camera, with the lens angle covering almost every corner of the room without any blind spots.

The staff noticed her gaze and explained, "Don't worry, these cameras are all connected to the internet and are mainly used for information verification."

With frequent natural disasters at present, our task is to record information in as much detail as possible about anyone related to the military.

We urgently need to find our former comrades who were separated from us, so we must do our best to contact them with any clues we have.

Xu Xiaoyan nodded and sat down in the chair.

This explanation sounded reasonable, but she knew in her heart that finding comrades-in-arms was, to put it nicely, about building relationships, but to put it bluntly, it was about taking stock of personnel and finding out their backgrounds.

She had heard a lot about soldiers who had been separated from their units while she was in the bunker.

Some were found, while others never returned to the team. Those who were slow to return often carried some unspeakable secrets.