Apocalypse: System of lotteries

Nighttime falls, and Ming leans against Little Bear's belly, watching the continuous white light flashing in the night sky. He knows that those are the puppet masters from different districts, randomly picking up people. Tomorrow, after the merger of the two districts, they will have their first joint effort in facing shared monsters.

Thus, before 9 o'clock tomorrow, they must bring everyone from District 31 back. Otherwise, for those who couldn't make it, there is only one path - death. This is the situation they least want to encounter during the great migration.

"I hope it goes smoothly," Ming whispers as he pets the frogs and Little Bear beside him.

Little Bear nuzzles his face~

[Ding~ Triggered Broken Bowl Treasure Hunt, please check the obtained item yourself]

"What..."

Ming was planning to sleep, but unexpectedly, the broken bowl triggered its effect. He understands that the once-a-day chance happens at midnight.

But... where does he extract the item from? Opening the warehouse, he notices an additional, isolated slot outside of the warehouse grid, containing a card:

[Spiritual Energy Synchronized Translation Earphone]

[Description and Instructions: After wearing it, you can synchronize and translate the official languages of people from all around the world. The range of audio reception is synchronized with the wearer's hearing. The device runs for 24 hours and consumes 1 unit of spiritual energy. This item can be purchased in the Apocalypse Shop]

"Available for purchase in the Apocalypse Shop?"

Ming tears open the card, and the translation earphone looks similar to a Bluetooth earpiece. After wearing it, he doesn't feel anything special. He realizes that he has become lazy recently and hasn't checked the Apocalypse Shop for many days. This habit isn't good.

He immediately opens the Apocalypse Shop and finds the daily necessities category, indeed seeing the Spiritual Energy Earphone listed.

It costs 500 gold coins each, so the broken bowl has just saved him 500 gold coins.

Nevertheless, the psychic earpiece possessed merely a translation feature, catering to the masses. Seizing the opportunity, he surveyed the various categories, observing that the weapons and equipment section had commenced selling items of blue quality, all embodying a balance of attributes in standardized gear, with prices ranging between one and five thousand.

Furthermore, puppet repair cards had been added. According to the instructions, as long as injuries were not fatal or debilitating, all external wounds could be mended—a surprisingly useful feature. Astonishingly, there were even puppet face masks for sale, exclusively for human puppets, capable of restoring dullness, sagging, wrinkles, and lividity.

"These…" Ming thought they were excellent items, and after perusing the other wares without finding anything particularly necessary, he closed the Doomsday Shop and prepared for slumber.

As he closed his eyes, they suddenly snapped open, "Hold on, why didn't I receive any money from the Money Makes Money gold coins today?"

Ming hastily examined his attribute panel—his Money Makes Money title had vanished!

"What's going on? Who's wealthy enough to have surpassed me?"

He opened the leaderboard to check:

Wealth Rankings:

NO.1: Special Warfare Zone 2 Mary (1921232)

NO.2: Jack.AAA.Loris (1921231)

NO.3: Mountain Day Group.  Jiro (1921229)

…

Ming fell silent for three seconds; he was already out of the top ten, and those on the leaderboard each had nearly two million gold coins!

What on earth was happening? What had occurred in just one day?

Nonetheless, one fact was clear—these individuals must have pooled money from their respective zones, and the zones they resided in were already unified, as per prior knowledge.

Combining the funds of an entire zone, reaching two million was reasonable, considering the population ranged from 1,000 to 1,500. Everyone contributes a little resulting in staggering numbers.

In zones that had experienced four instances of shared wealth, who didn't possess tens of thousands of gold coins?

These contenders were striving fiercely for first place, and, upon calculation, earning 2,000 gold coins daily with two million was quite enviable!

Ming began to sift through chat logs, seeking details about the specific events, as the monetary discrepancies on the leaderboard were a mere one or two gold coins, which was highly unusual.

"Two thousand coins a day," Ming caught a whiff of the scent of money.

Sleeping~

The following day, as dawn broke, Ming took advantage of the little ones' slumber and prepared to descend the mountain. As he reached the peak's edge, he noticed the spiderwebs had spread halfway down.

the tiny spiders wished to transform their home into a silken mountain. To avoid damaging its hard work, Ming unfurled his wings, displaying six green psychic feathers, and soared down the mountain.

Moments later, he arrived at Village 109, where he found the number of houses had increased since two days prior, some of which likely belonged to the inhabitants of the recently migrated Zone 31. At this point, many villagers had emerged onto the streets, engaging in conversations and greetings.

Sniffing~

It was David.

"I've been waiting for you."

"Stop beating around the bush, I was looking for you too."

"I'll talk first."

David was somewhat excited, "Did you see the wealth ranking? Ming got taken down."

"…"

Ming patted the person beside him, "Mind your language; you could easily get a beating for talking like that~"

"Let's not get caught up in the details; let's discuss the matter at hand. Yesterday, Special Warfare Zone 2 suddenly pooled a massive amount of gold coins, staging a surprise attack on the Wealth Rankings, throwing up a million coins. I didn't even notice this; a group of friends working on a big project with me informed me via private messages."

David paused for a moment, then continued, "Later, AAA from Zone 1381 and the Mountain Day Group from Zone 1124 joined the fray, followed by people from Angola and Italy, pushing the total close to two million. That's not the point, though. The point is, I caught a whiff of money, you know? With two million a day, that's two thousand gold coins—who wouldn't be envious of that?"

"Did you speak with the people in Zone 31?" Ming hurried the conversation along; everyone was in business, so there was no time to dawdle. They should get started earning money right away.

"My goodness, it turns out you and I had the same idea. It's all arranged, and we're prepared to give them a run for their money! As long as we secure the title, we'll all get a share of the spoils!"

David spoke excitedly, with spittle flying. "Besides, our zone has twice the population of the others, and our financial power is terrifying. We'll scare those guys to death."

Ming responded, "I want that title more than anyone. You have no idea how much I've longed for it…"

"I know you want it. I can understand your feelings, but the money can't be with you. Don't worry, just listen to me first~"

David stated seriously, "We initially considered leaving the money with you, but you'd have to stay within the zone, not participating in dungeons or regional events. Moreover, the materials required for the well city upgrade are immense, and we've started purchasing resources from the Doomsday Store. If something happens to the person carrying the money, our zone would be done for it. So, whoever holds the money cannot leave the zone and must be protected by others in rotation."

"I understand~" Ming nodded. As long as Zone 109 could reclaim the title, he would receive his share of the money, which was the main focus.

Furthermore, Ming couldn't possibly stay in the zone every day. In the ever-changing world of Doomsday, growing stronger was the priority. He knew what mattered most, and having too much money might make it hard for him to control his left hand…

"Thank you for understanding," David said with excitement. "How much money are you going to contribute?"

"I have no money~" Ming spread his hands, his left hand still clenched.

"…" David's head ached upon hearing this. No money? Who would believe that?

"But I do have resources~" Ming waved his hand.

Crash~ Rumble~ A small mountain of psychic stones, fine gold, and other materials fell onto the street.

"Holy sh*t!" People on the street gasped, their eyes widening. One fellow, engaged in a romantic encounter, immediately let go of his girlfriend's hand, his gaze fixed on the mound of materials.

"Who the hell is this rich?!"

David, overwhelmed by astonishment, grabbed Ming's hand and patted the back of it. Struggling for words, he finally blurted out, "Boss, let's not discuss this further. Rest assured, I'll make sure you're satisfied. If I can't make you satisfied, you can beat me to death!"

"No, I'm not that cruel." Ming smiled, withdrawing his hand and patting David's shoulder. "You know, I'm a very amiable person."

David nodded vigorously, "Boss, don't worry, I'll never give you a reason to dismember me."

"What are you saying~"

Ming glared at David, then addressed the people from Zone 31, "Don't listen to his nonsense; I'm very approachable~"

David laughed and agreed with everyone, "Yes, yes, yes~"