The first group of evacuees quickly boarded the plane. Most of them were middle-class people from the United States of Acre. Evacuation was determined by drawing lots. While reselling was prohibited in principle, gifts were permitted, giving them away, which gave rise to a vast underground black market.
Since the amount of items each person can carry during evacuation is very limited, most people would rather use most of their assets to exchange for a higher evacuation spot than let the money rot on the planet.
On the underground black market, the average price for the first five million evacuation slots was 300,000 Ak coins, and the price increased as you moved up the list. Most of these slots went to the middle class, while a small number circulated outside the black market, becoming a target of competition among the lower classes.
As for those who are truly rich, I can only say that when people have enough money, some things no longer require money.
The first 120,000 people had already completed ticket inspection and were queuing up to pass through the turnstiles for security checks and luggage weighing. Almost everyone had a large suitcase. Since regulations limited each person to a maximum of 20 kilograms, the luggage inside was mostly just clothing and personal items, though a few would also include special mementos.
Among the throng of people, one man stood out. He was dragging a large suitcase, the kind from the Renaissance period.
Although I don't know what he is packing, I can tell from his hunched body that the things in the box must be very heavy.
Sure enough, when the suitcase was being weighed, as soon as one corner was placed on it, the glaring red overweight light came on.
"Your box is overweight. What's inside?" The security officer on duty stopped the man.
"Um...this..." Faced with the question, the man seemed a little uneasy. He hesitated for a long time but couldn't explain it clearly.
The security officer's brow furrowed. He had just contacted the security inspector watching the X-ray machine via radio, and the inspector had told him that the man's suitcase contained many rectangular objects that the X-ray machine couldn't penetrate.
The suspicious object and the man's panicked expression made the security officer alert. He made a gesture and several soldiers who were originally on guard outside also gathered over. They surrounded the man in a fan shape, all holding weapons in their hands.
Although the muzzle of the gun was not pointing directly at him, the posture clearly showed that he was being told to obey.
"We need to open the box for inspection, please cooperate."
"Cooperate, I will definitely cooperate."
The man wasn't stupid; he knew he couldn't escape this time. He preferred cooperating with the inspection to risking a bullet.
"Now, please squat down slowly and open the box. Don't stand up or make any unnecessary movements."
The security officer looked at him seriously, his right hand already on the pistol at his waist.
The man naturally saw all of this. He hurriedly lowered his head, slowly squatted down as the security guard said, and then opened the combination lock of the suitcase.
"Step aside now," the security officer said.
The man obediently stepped aside, and two guards immediately grabbed his shoulders from behind, while the security officer walked forward and carefully opened the box.
As soon as he opened a corner of the box, golden light covered his face.
When the suitcase was fully opened, not only the security guards but also the onlookers outside gasped.
The box contained, besides some clothes and food, gold bars. These gold bars shone brightly in the sunlight, and the air seemed to be filled with the color of capital.
What happened in the security check area soon alarmed Andrew, the supervisor of the Xinjianuo evacuation point. When he heard that the security check had intercepted dozens of kilograms of gold bars, the burning cigarette butt at the corner of his mouth fell and almost set his shirt on fire.
He picked up the intercom and while shouting at the guards to protect the scene, he went downstairs to stop a forklift. With his arm stretched out, he hung his fat body on the forklift door and quickly approached the security checkpoint.
When he arrived at the scene, Andrew saw the owner of the controlled gold, a young man about 1.7 meters tall and a little thin.
The supervisor glanced around, his gaze lingering on the pile of glittering gold for two seconds before reluctantly looking away. He said to the man, "Your luggage is overweight, did you know that? Now I need to check your ID and evacuation code."
"Yes, sir. My ID is in the left pocket of my shirt. Please allow me to take it out." After the middle-aged man said this, he carefully took out his ID from his pocket. Andrew took it, checked all the information on his personal terminal, and thought about it carefully in his mind. After confirming that he had never seen this face and this name, he returned the ID to him.
"Mr. Miches, your documents are legal, but your luggage exceeds the maximum weight limit. According to regulations..."
"Please wait." Mitchell interrupted Andrew and took out another stack of papers from his other pocket and handed it to Andrew.
"This is my son's ID and his evacuation code. I'm carrying luggage for two people. The gold doesn't exceed the weight limit. I've weighed it."
Andrew was stunned. He took the ID handed to him by the man with a strange expression, then carefully compared the information on it with his personal terminal again. He tried hard to recall the information about various important figures in his mind, and found that there was indeed no one who could match these two people.
So he once again returned the things to the man.
"And your children?"
The boy's evacuation code was next to the man's, so he should have moved with his father, but Andrew had not seen him until now.
"This..." Miches said with grief, "We had a car accident on the way here. My son, Joey..."
"I personally sympathize with your situation," Andrew said, motioning for the guard to release the man. "But regulations limit the amount of luggage a person can carry to 20 kilograms. This rule applies to people, not documents. So, I'm sorry, you can only carry 20 kilograms."
Miches looked at him in astonishment. He opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, his spell was interrupted.
"Come here, pack this gentleman's box." Andrew waved his hand. "Weigh all the personal belongings and fill the remaining weight with gold."
So, everything in the luggage except the gold was divided out, and the total weight was 11 kilograms. Then the men took a gold bar and put it on the scale, and the needle came to 13 kilograms.
The man was about to take the second one, but was stopped by Andrew.
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