Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 545 Housing Construction

Eight days is neither a long nor a short time, but when you actually spend it, it feels like someone has pressed the fast forward button, and it's over in the blink of an eye.

Xu Xiaoyan went to the E15 plot almost every day. For the first three days, she watched the construction team lay the foundation and pour the frame. The roar of the concrete mixer was heard from morning to night.

Workers wearing safety helmets were busy moving around on the scaffolding.

One by one, the steel bars were tied together, and the formwork was pieced together piece by piece. The entire skeleton of the building rose from the ground as if by magic.

The exterior wall construction began on the fourth day, the roof was laid on the fifth day, and the doors and windows were installed on the sixth day.

By the seventh day, the main structure was basically completed, with only some finishing details still being worked out.

Xu Xiaoyan stood outside the plot of land, watching the house slowly taking shape, and the feeling in her heart was hard to describe in words.

From a barren piece of yellow earth to a well-proportioned two-story building, it only took seven days. The speed of the integrated sculpting technology was indeed astonishing, much faster than she had imagined.

On the morning of the eighth day, Manager Fang called her and said that the project was completed and asked her to come and inspect it.

When Xu Xiaoyan arrived at the scene, Manager Fang was standing at the door waiting for her, holding an acceptance form in his hand.

The two of them walked through the entire house inside and out, checking the flatness of the walls, the opening and closing of the doors and windows, the waterproofing of the roof, and the levelness of the ground, confirming that every detail was correct.

Xu Xiaoyan signed the acceptance form, Manager Fang handed her the keys, gave her a few more instructions on daily maintenance, and then left with the workers.

Holding the brand-new key, she stood at her front door, looking at the Chinese-style building with its gray brick walls and dark brown doors and windows, and a strange, indescribable feeling welled up inside her.

This is her house, and it belongs entirely to her.

But this feeling of being touched didn't last long, because Xiao Wang and Xiao Lin called right afterward.

Master Chen's team of apprentices is ready and can start laying water and electricity at any time.

Xu Xiaoyan quickly composed herself and led them to confirm the locations of the sockets, switch heights, water pipe routes, and light fixture installation points one by one.

Xiao Wang made dense markings on the wall with chalk, while Xiao Lin repeatedly measured the distance with a measuring tape. The two worked together seamlessly and certainly didn't seem like novices.

Only after the plumbers and electricians officially entered the site and started working was Xu Xiaoyan finally able to get a little relief from the non-stop busy work.

She no longer needed to keep a close eye on things at the construction site. Xiao Wang and Xiao Lin brought three helpers, and the five of them were working in the house at the same time. The progress was much faster than she had expected.

She prepared a bucket of drinking water and a box of instant noodles for them, then left to wander around and familiarize herself with the satellite city.

Only after leaving did she realize how much the satellite city had changed.

When she first arrived eight days ago, the buildings in the city were scattered, most of the land was vacant, and only a few buildings were under construction.

But now, as she walks along the main road, she finds that the density of buildings on both sides is far greater than she imagined.

Buildings sprang up everywhere like mushrooms after rain, some of which were already inhabited, with colorful sheets and clothes hanging on the balconies.

Some sections are still under construction, with green dust-proof netting hanging on the scaffolding, and the clanging and hammering sounds of the workers can be heard incessantly.

Many shops have opened along the streets, including convenience stores, breakfast stalls, hardware stores, and general stores, one after another.

The signs were colorful, and although it lacked the hustle and bustle of the main urban area, it already had a bit of the lively atmosphere that one would expect.

As she walked, she suddenly realized something: the scale of this satellite city had expanded to be almost the same as Xuan County in her memory.

Since she entered the city, at least five or six side streets have extended from both sides of the main road.

Each street is planned with neatly arranged plots of land and buildings, with densely packed buildings stretching out as far as the eye can see.

When she arrived, the outpost was not far from the city gate; a few hundred meters away, one could see wasteland and weeds.

But what about now? The original outpost has been moved about five kilometers away and is now located on a more distant border line.

The entire newly developed urban area was included in the protection zone at a speed that was terrifying.

Strictly speaking, a settlement of this size can no longer be called a "satellite city"; it is clearly a city.

She suddenly realized that such a rapid expansion meant that the number of people pouring into the satellite cities must be staggering.

These past few days she's been busy working on her own construction site and hasn't been paying much attention to what's happening outside.

But now, walking on the street, the density of pedestrians is several times greater than the day she first arrived.

On the road, some people were selling vegetables from tricycles, and others were selling second-hand electronic products from roadside stalls.

Several staff members in uniform had set up a table on the street corner with registration forms on it, as if they were handling some kind of business.

Her gaze swept over the hurried pedestrians, and she noticed that many of them had different clothes and mental states.

Although the first and second groups of people arrived in a hurry, they at least managed to dress relatively decently. Although they looked tired, there was still a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

But the people in front of me all looked listless, as if they had lost faith in life.

Xu Xiaoyan felt a vague sense of unease rising in her heart.

She quickened her pace and headed towards the property transfer and transaction center, wanting to see what was going on there.

As soon as she arrived at the entrance of the trading center, she was stunned. The signboard had been changed to "Satellite City No. 5 Trading Center".

The square in front of the gate was packed with people, a dense, dark mass stretching from the gate all the way to the main road, numbering at least two or three hundred.

The crowd formed a long queue that meandered around several corners.

Some people were talking in hushed tones, some were squatting on the ground smoking, and some were dozing off on their suitcases. The procession moved very slowly, taking only a small step forward every now and then.

She remembered that when she came to register her property rights eight days ago, there were only three or four people in the hall, and it was deserted. But now there are hundreds of people queuing at the door alone.

The trading center was packed with people; through the glass doors, you could see a dense crowd of people thronging the hall.

The counter was so crowded that the staff were almost invisible, their figures swallowed up by the crowd.

Xu Xiaoyan stood on the outskirts of the crowd, her heart skipping a beat.

Her intuition told her that there must be a new policy coming out.

Moreover, it was the kind of policy that could make people drop everything and flock to it; otherwise, it would have been impossible to gather so many people in such a short time.