Apocalypse: I'm Bound to a Mobile Lottery Shop

Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Robot Employee

Inside the RV, Lily Hart was about to brush her teeth. Her long hair was getting in the way, so she instinctively reached for the hair tie on her wrist to pull it back.

But it wasn’t on either wrist. She searched everywhere but couldn’t find it. In a huff, she went and bought fifty more from the shop!

’Hair ties. You can never find one when you need it, but they’re everywhere when you don’t!’

She leisurely finished washing up, flopped onto her bed to play with her Light Brain, and fell asleep before she knew it, completely unaware that several men had lost a whole night of sleep over that little hair tie.

Roman Rowe and Frost Shaw were lying on the same bed, both staring up at the ceiling and sighing in unison.

Frost Shaw hugged a small blanket and turned over, his back to Roman Rowe, not wanting to talk. Stan Sterling’s smug expression and Lily Hart’s gentle smile flashed through his mind.

He sighed again unconsciously. He glanced down at himself. ’I’ve got a decent body, too... So why...’

Roman Rowe hugged himself and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. He was pondering some of life’s great questions.

Stan Sterling wasn’t asleep either. He had taken off the black hair tie and placed it carefully on his nightstand.

The sun wouldn’t delay its rise for the sake of these young men’s heartaches. It would only greet the earth with an even more blazing light.

As August approached, the weather grew hotter and hotter. The apocalypse already meant no water or electricity. Cold weather was manageable, but the heat was simply deadly.

As a result, business at the bathhouse was booming. It was as if everyone knew Boss Hart was leaving soon and wanted to get their fill while they could.

Besides, there was free air conditioning inside, and buying the 88-core package got you fruit. What a deal!

This all led to one thing... the Zombie King was completely swamped.

He had to register every customer and distribute numbered tokens. When the disposable towels in the bathing area ran out, he had to go restock them from the warehouse.

He didn’t even have time to look for solutions in the software or ask Boss Hart for help.

It wasn’t until Lily Hart came strolling over with her hands clasped behind her back like a curious old man that she saw just how insanely busy the bathhouse had become.

The lounge was full of people. The sofas, the chairs, and even the floor—every place a person could possibly sit was packed.

She peeked into the women’s bathing area—good heavens, there was someone under every single showerhead, and some had more than one person! Plus, there was a huge crowd in the waiting area.

The weather was just too hot; everyone wanted to take a shower, especially when the price was so affordable.

She ambled over to the front desk, frowning as she passed through the lounge. It was so dirty and messy.

Not every customer was considerate. Someone had eaten a Holy Daughter Fruit and just tossed the Leafy part aside. ’Did they think they were some goddess scattering flowers?’

There were banana peels, too, ground into the tiles by the constant foot traffic. They were practically turning into fossils!

Ugh, Lily Hart couldn’t bear to look. She tiptoed carefully, avoiding the discarded peels.

She reached the front desk, rested a hand on the counter, and tapped it lightly. The Zombie King looked up at her.

In just two short days, Lily Hart thought he was already starting to look like a burnt-out office drone. ’This will not do.’

’I need to keep working him to the bone to extinguish any thoughts he has of eating me. Exhaustion... yes, exhaustion is good.’

’When you’re exhausted, you don’t have the energy to think about such things.’

But to her surprise, the Zombie King’s eyes lit up. He shot up from his seat, rounded the front desk, and made a beeline for her.

He moved so fast Lily Hart couldn’t even react before he had her firmly by the shoulders. She squeezed her eyes shut instinctively. ’Don’t tell me...?’

"Quick, help out at the front desk," the Zombie King said, pushing her toward the seat and pressing down on her shoulders until she sat.

Lily Hart was completely bewildered. A computer sat in front of her, a line of customers stretched out before her, and when she turned around, the Zombie King was gone.

"Boss Hart, I’ll take the 288-core package," a customer said, holding out a Crystal Core.

"Okay," Lily Hart replied on autopilot, placing the Crystal Core on the scanner and entering the customer’s information.

She took a numbered token from a nearby drawer. "Here, go wait." Only after she’d handed it over did it hit her. ’How did I just start working?!’

Before she could grumble, the customers came one after another, leaving her no time to think.

A full ten minutes passed before the Zombie King returned, his face beaded with sweat. He plopped down next to her. "Okay, I’ll take it from here."

Lily Hart stood up, giving him the seat. She remained standing and asked, "Where did you just go?"

"Restocking toiletries," the Zombie King answered, too busy to give her more than a glance.

Lily Hart strongly felt the bathhouse needed some improvements. How could it possibly run with the Zombie King as the only manual laborer? But calling over the High-level Zombies was even more unrealistic.

’They aren’t like the Zombie King, who has normal human thoughts and intelligence. What would happen if they lost control and tried to eat someone...’

She grabbed the Zombie King’s Light Brain. There was no password, so she went right in, opened the "Bathhouse" app, and after poking around for a bit, found the "Employees" tab.

’You really can buy employees. And they’re robots, too. That avoids any conflict or arguments. They’ll just quietly do what they’re told. Perfect.’

"Should I buy one?" Lily Hart asked, turning the screen toward him. Owen Warren just grunted, it was unclear if he even looked. "Go ahead and buy it." He sounded a bit like a domineering CEO.

When she went to pay, she could see his balance. It was huge. She counted the digits—six figures. ’Good heavens,’ she thought, ’no wonder he’s so magnanimous. But where did he get so many Crystal Cores?’

Lily Hart didn’t dwell on it. After paying, she tapped "Summon Now."

A beam of white light delivered the new employee. The robot wasn’t tall, about 1.6 meters, with arms and legs. It was plump and white, looking like someone wearing a panda mascot costume.

Where its face should have been was a screen that could display expressions or be used to input commands.

Lily Hart studied it for a moment, then connected it to the Zombie King’s Light Brain, uploaded the bathhouse floor plan, and set its daily tasks.

[Clean the premises.]

[Restock toiletries in the bathing area.]

The tasks had barely been set when the robot employee sprang into action. A broom appeared in one hand and a dustpan in the other. Its legs transformed into wheels, and it zipped away at high speed.

It started sweeping from the entrance, cleverly dodging customers and calling out, "Please be careful, I’m sweeping now! Please make way, I’m sweeping now!"

Everyone watched it with fascination. They saw it quickly sweep the lounge’s trash into a corner, open a hatch on its stomach, and stuff all the garbage inside in one go.

It let out a loud BURP, and a mechanical voice announced, "So full, so full..."

CLANG. The broom and dustpan fell to the floor. The robot entered rest mode, its screen going dark. Lily Hart took a step to go check on it, but a second later, the screen flickered back on, displaying a simple smiley face.

It raised its arms and stretched dramatically a couple of times before retracting the broom and dustpan. Then it produced a mop that seemed to never need water and began to clean the floor.

In no time, the tiles of the entire hall were mopped spotlessly clean.

Lily Hart wanted to give it a thumbs-up. ’As expected of a robot, it’s so efficient!’ Just as she had that thought, the robot entered rest mode again, this time for longer.

It wasn’t until someone shouted that the shower area was out of body wash that the robot, as if summoned, snapped back to life. Its screen flashed on, its legs turned into whirring wheels, and it zipped off to the warehouse and then to the bathing area.

The Zombie King saw this and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. He looked up and met Lily Hart’s pleased gaze. She said, "Robots need to be charged, you know."