Apocalypse: System of lotteries



The thunder had faded, the rain ceased, and the sun resumed its ascent in the eastern sky. ming raised an arm to shield his face from the morning light filtering through the glass.

"Boss, the rain has stopped, but... the water level doesn't seem to have receded."

As Euryale spoke, she pointed out of the window towards the floors below.

Ming approached the window to inspect. The floodwaters had risen to the third floor, making escape by foot impossible.

collection!

He summoned three 'divine' puppet figures into his space, made his way to the rooftop, and mounted Raoul, flying towards the Qianhai Garden. In ten minutes, they reached their destination.

3-1203.

Hovering in place, Ming leaped onto the balcony and carefully slid open the door just a crack.

Sniffing, he detected no scent of any living beings. Reassured, he opened the door fully and stepped into the living room.

It was a two-bedroom apartment, neat and minimally furnished with a sofa, a dining table, and an LCD television mounted on the wall. Proceeding down the hallway, he pushed open the door to the guest room. Instead of a bed, rows of monitors greeted him, with computer towers nestled below. 

Adjacent to the desk chair stood a cabinet filled with various electronic components and tools. On the desk, a photograph of 'Euryale' from before her transformation lay.

Such a sentimental soul.

A quick survey of the room confirmed it as Janice's new home. Knowing there was no electricity to power the equipment, Ming nonetheless bent down and tried turning on the main computer. 

As expected, no response. Wishful thinking...

Rummaging through the cabinet, finding only miscellaneous items, he moved on to the master bedroom. A bed and a standalone wardrobe were its only furnishings. No matter how much he searched, he found no items of value.

Janice, where are you? Dead or alive?

Frustrated, Ming sat on the bed's edge, unsure of his next move. Initially elated at finding Janice's residence, he had hoped it would bring closure. But all he found was a lead that seemed to end abruptly.

He had a vague understanding of the fifth chapter's theme from the "Initial Draft of the Plan," but what about the details?

Damn it!

Ming realized it was the first time he felt so despondent. Lying back on the bed, he wanted to do nothing but rest, leaving all thoughts behind.

[Your little frogs leap, staring at the advancing waves that froth at the edge. Your Da Vinci, with a heart of education, warns its younger siblings, "That's seawater. We can't go in, or we'll dehydrate and die."]

[Your foodie comments, "Only a fool would go into the sea." Napoleon halts its approach, croaking at its older siblings, "Why are you all looking at me? I just wanted to collect some seashells." It then withdraws its leg from the seawater.]

"!"

Jolting upright, Ming realized that the seawater had already reached the suburbs. He hadn't expected the water level to rise so rapidly. Since he couldn't find what he was looking for, he shouldn't waste any more time. He needed to go home!

With that thought, he immediately moved to the guest room, gathering all the items, useful or not. He'd decide their value later. And yes, the items in the master bedroom...

Ming re-entered the main bedroom and took everything he deemed valuable. When he reopened the wardrobe, he paused, staring at its contents. There were only long-sleeved garments, not a single short-sleeved one.

It had been nearly three months since the apocalypse began, transitioning from spring to summer. In a city like S, not having a single short-sleeved T-shirt in one's wardrobe was peculiar!

He then moved to the living room, inspecting it closely.

"The trash can!"

Crouching down, Ming began to rummage, finding a tag that read:

[LK Travel Luggage - Your Lifelong Companion.]

"Travel suitcase!"

Holding the tag, Ming stood up and searched the entire apartment again, but he couldn't find any suitcase. He also noticed that there was only one pair of slippers at the entrance of the room, and no other shoes. In the refrigerator, there were only a few ice packs and some sauce bottles; there weren't even any rotten vegetables.

Ming looked at these details, then walked back into the living room and sat down on the sofa to think.

Janice, a 32-year-old man with a stable, high-paying job, cooked at home and rarely ordered takeout. His refrigerator was void of fresh produce. His travel suitcase was missing, and there was only one pair of slippers at the door, with no shoe cabinet outside.

Inside the wardrobe, there were only long-sleeved garments, no short-sleeved T-shirts. Adding it all up, Ming deduced that Janice likely packed a few pieces of clothing, grabbed his suitcase, and went on a trip. The suitcase was newly purchased, indicating that Janice attached significant importance to this trip. Therefore, Janice wasn't in S city, and he likely took entities A and B with him.

To be able to transport A and B in a single suitcase suggested that they had been upgraded from the rudimentary versions described by Lusen and recorded in the journal. They now must have a genuinely portable 'body'.

"Where did you go?"

Ming rubbed his forehead, considering the possibility... Could Janice have gone to find Euryale?

He summoned Euryale, who appeared in the living room. The room was too small for her to move normally, so she coiled up into a tight mass.

Ming looked at her expressionlessly, "Tell me about your relationship with Janice."

"Ah, this..."

Euryale looked at Ming, puzzled. She didn't understand why the boss was interested in her connection with Janice and was even more curious about why he was looking for Janice. "Could it be," she wondered, "that you are his relative?"

"When it's time for you to know, you will," Ming replied, "Now, I just want to hear your love story. Pure and simple."

Ming relaxed on the sofa.

Euryale realized that she couldn't hide what was in her mind from Ming. Holding a picture frame in her hands, she said: "He said he would come to find me."

"!"

Upon hearing this, Ming felt a jolt in his heart.

Euryale continued: "I couldn't let him come, couldn't let him know I'm a liar, and couldn't let him jump into this trap. If he did come, he would either have to become a liar like me or he would be tormented to death. I didn't want that, so I lied to him again."

"How did you lie?"

"I told him that I already had another man, that I was married and had a child, and that I was only playing with him when I felt lonely."

"That's good a liar," Ming remarked, his tone mingling disbelief with irony.

"..."

Euryale fell silent and didn't continue, but eventually, she mustered the courage to ask, "Boss, what is your relationship with him? Why are you looking for him? Is he important to you?"

"I told you, when it's time, you will know," Ming responded, avoiding the question. After all, his own thoughts were still a tangled mess.

"Okay..."

Euryale's eyes welled up, and she smiled as she looked beyond the balcony. "If I weren't a liar, perhaps I would be with him now. Even if the apocalypse arrived, we would travel together. We'd visit the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal by the Ganges, Times Square, the East African Rift, the Amazon Rainforest..."

"..."

Listening to this, Ming felt a chill run down his spine. "Could it be," he thought, "that Janice has actually gone to one of these places? Is this a trick?