Apocalypse: I'm Bound to a Mobile Lottery Shop

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Hope Base

He spoke deferentially to the man behind him. "This is the place. We’ll be troubling you to lift a finger in a moment."

The man didn’t answer. He simply stood his ground, his powerful presence on full display.

Chester Carter and his group were still squatting on the ground, huddled around a slip of paper and discussing something. They were completely oblivious to the Base Commander’s arrival behind them, right up until the navigator with the superpower was ruthlessly shoved to the ground.

Everyone turned to look. Seeing it was the Base Commander, they scrambled to their feet, flustered. "Greetings, Base Commander."

They usually wouldn’t see the Base Commander even once a year, and only at major events could they hope for a distant glimpse. Now that he was right in front of them, everyone was at a loss for what to do.

Hayden Donovan couldn’t be bothered to waste words on them. "Where’s the woman who was selling scratch-off tickets here a couple of days ago?" he asked directly.

Chester Carter silently took a step back, discreetly placing his foot over the note on the ground. He and the others exchanged glances before they all shook their heads.

"We don’t know," he said. "She wasn’t here when we arrived today."

They all instinctively wanted to hide Boss Hart’s whereabouts from the Base Commander. They’d had a run-in with him a few days prior, and knowing how petty he was, he was probably here to cause trouble.

Hayden Donovan’s sharp, hawk-like eyes swept over them, but he let it go when he saw nothing amiss.

He turned and strode back. The moment he neared the other man, his demeanor became deferential again, even a little obsequious. "I’m terribly sorry, but she’s not here today. Tomorrow, if you wait until tomorrow, I’ll definitely..."

Before he could finish, the man spoke. "Who are you talking about? The girl selling scratch-off tickets out of an RV?" He had deliberately lowered his voice, but it still sounded very familiar.

Hayden Donovan nodded eagerly. "That’s the one, yes..."

He was only halfway through a nod when he was frozen solid in an instant. He was still wearing that fawning smile, the creases on his face clearly visible.

He had become a human ice sculpture.

Frost Shaw spoke impatiently. "Who gave you the nerve to cause trouble for Boss Hart?" ’She can’t die,’ he thought. ’I haven’t had my fill of her scratch-off tickets yet.’

Chester Carter and the others were stunned, staring blankly. After a long moment, someone finally screamed, "It’s Frost Shaw! The Ice Sculptor!"

Frost Shaw glanced at them. Even though the upper half of his face was hidden, with only his jawline visible, it was enough to scare the living daylights out of them. Like a startled flock of birds, they suddenly scattered.

He walked around the ice sculpture of Hayden Donovan and slowly approached the spot where the RV had been parked the day before. All that remained was a single slip of paper.

Frost Shaw bent down to pick it up. He gazed at the words written on it, a look of melancholy resentment in his eyes.

In an instant, the paper froze over and shattered into evenly-sized ice fragments that fell to the ground.

And just as quickly, he vanished from sight.

The "everyone" was, of course, Chester Carter and his crew, who had just been frightened off. They regrouped and began discussing their imminent departure.

「Hope Base.」

The moment Lily Hart opened her eyes, she realized the RV was already parked securely at the main gate of the base. A clamor of voices and noise drifted in from outside.

She glanced at the time—seven in the morning. ’Does everyone in the apocalypse wake up this early?’ she wondered. She then opened a holographic screen to check the RV’s travel time and trajectory.

The RV had started driving itself after she fell asleep, taking a full five hours to reach Hope Base. ’This place is pretty far,’ she mused. The main issue was that various obstacles on the road had caused delays.

She pulled back a sliver of the curtain and squinted outside. ’This is way livelier than Rebirth Base.’ The permanent population alone was nearly one hundred thousand.

It was a far cry from Rebirth Base’s ten thousand residents. Consequently, the area it covered was also much larger.

People were even running stalls at the entrance of Hope Base. She took a closer look. Some were selling tattered clothes, others worn-out shoes. Everything looked second-hand, or maybe even third- or fourth-hand.

But as she scanned the area, she noticed no one was selling food or water. ’Looks like those two resources are truly precious,’ she thought.

Lily Hart first bought a small whiteboard from her system’s shop, along with a black broad-tipped marker and an eraser. All set.

She picked up the marker and wrote on the board: "Scratch-off Tickets! One Level 1 Crystal Core each. Scratch enough, and you can win everything you’ve ever wanted!"

Her handwriting wasn’t elegant and didn’t quite match her appearance. It was a cute, highly legible script.

The scratch-off tickets she’d bought yesterday were sold out, so Lily Hart ordered 10 more books of the "Big 7" variety, plus 5 books each of the other three types.

If she could sell all 25 books today, that would be another twenty-five thousand points. ’That’s a fortune!’

Lily Hart was brimming with motivation. ’With so many people at this base,’ she thought, ’25 books probably won’t even be enough.’

An image of her scratch-off tickets being instantly snapped up flashed through her mind, and Lily Hart couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Lily the cat was busy burying her face in her food. Hearing the strange laughter, she looked up in confusion and gave a little shake of her head. ’I’ll never understand humans...’

Once she finished her preparations, Lily Hart lowered the service window cover to open for business. First, she set up the small whiteboard in the most conspicuous spot.

Next, she placed her Lucky Cat on the counter, along with two books of each of the four types of scratch-off tickets. With everything ready, she pulled out a megaphone.

She recorded a message to play on it: "Scratch-offs, get your scratch-offs here! Scratch one ticket and find instant happiness!"

"You can win more than just Crystal Cores! Win food, fruit, vegetables, all kinds of weapons, and daily necessities!"

"Just one Level 1 Crystal Core! It’s a deal you can’t lose, a bargain you can’t beat! Don’t you want to get rich overnight and feast like a king?"

The tempting words, now a bit robotic, blared from the megaphone and echoed across the base entrance.

Some people walking out of the base stopped and listened for a moment, then smirked contemptuously and began joking with their companions.

"What year is it? Who still falls for this kind of crap?"

"Win food? Yeah, right! Whoever believes that is the biggest idiot in the world!"

The group walked past the front of the RV, chatting and laughing. They weren’t particularly surprised to see a brand-new vehicle like this.

The Base Commander of Hope Base also used an RV for transportation, but his was much older and more worn-out than this one.

Seeing people pass by, Lily Hart put on an enthusiastic smile and waved. "Hi! Want to try a scratch-off ticket?"

But the group walked away without a single glance back, not even bothering to give her the time of day.

It was the first time Lily Hart had been refused, and it actually piqued her interest. She was the type to become more determined in the face of a challenge, so she continued to hail down passersby.

A few people came closer to look but ended up turning away. Most didn’t even bother to stop, hurrying off to kill zombies.

Scammers were a dime a dozen in the post-apocalyptic world. People avoided anything that required paying a Crystal Core for an uncertain reward.

Lily Hart found it strange. ’Is no one interested in this new addiction called scratch-off tickets?’

’Or are the people from a big base like this more worldly? Maybe they already have plenty of food and don’t care about my prizes?’

She didn’t buy it. Planting her hands on the counter, she hopped down from her high stool and reached for the megaphone to start shouting herself.

Just then, a figure suddenly appeared before her, marked by a signature black cloak and a delicate jawline.

Without a second thought, she blurted out, "Frost Shaw, what are you doing here?"

Frost Shaw didn’t even raise his head. "I’m here for the scratch-offs," he said flatly.

Lily Hart broke into a nervous sweat, feeling inexplicably guilty. "I was going to head back tomorrow anyway. You didn’t have to follow me all the way here, did you?"