Apocalypse: I'm Bound to a Mobile Lottery Shop

Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Time Superpower

But it felt too real—so real it was as if it had already happened, or was destined to happen in the future.

Frost Shaw pulled out a tissue and gently wiped the sweat from her forehead. Lily Hart kept her eyes shut, taking a few deep breaths before finally opening them.

She glanced down at her wrist. It was slender and fair, and she couldn’t imagine what it would look like with tubes stuck all in it.

Nor could she imagine what it would feel like to have blood continuously drawn from her body...

"What just...?" Lily Hart asked, having composed herself.

Frost Shaw pulled his hand back. "We saw you were asleep, but you were cold all over and looked like you were in pain. You kept whispering ’wake up.’"

Roman Rowe added, "So we woke you up."

"...I had a nightmare," Lily Hart answered in a low voice, letting out a long sigh.

She couldn’t help but recall the scenes from her dream. ’Was it a premonition? Or just a simple nightmare?’

Lily Hart was more inclined to treat it as a prophecy. It felt too real, like it was bound to happen someday.

Besides, they were in the apocalypse now. ’Was I just supposed to sell lottery tickets? Something more exciting was bound to happen, right~’

Lily Hart was generally very accepting, but she couldn’t accept the idea of lying on a lab table, completely at someone’s mercy.

’And was it the same group of soldiers who were chasing me and Frederick Shaw in the dream?’

’What was the connection between these things? And what was so special about her and Frederick Shaw that they were worth studying?’

’I just can’t figure it out...’

"What kind of nightmare did you have? You look terrified," Roman Rowe asked, his voice a mixture of curiosity and concern.

They stood on either side of her, leaning in close, their faces filled with unconcealed worry.

Lily Hart couldn’t see herself, so she didn’t know how terrible her complexion was, or that her forehead was still beaded with cold sweat.

Her face was deathly pale, her lips were colorless, and the hair at her temples was soaked with sweat.

"Sigh..." Lily Hart let out a breath and looked up at the two of them. Different faces, but equally handsome. Her mood lifted slightly.

’If it happened just once, it could be dismissed as a coincidence. But it happened again today, and it was even a continuation of the last one.’

Lily Hart couldn’t just brush it off, so she gave them a rough summary of her dream.

The two of them were stunned. "Someone was trying to kill you and Frederick Shaw?" Roman Rowe asked. "Why?"

Lily Hart shook her head. "How should I know?"

Frost Shaw took the opportunity to sit on the nearby recliner, leaning toward her. "And then they probably captured you two for experiments. But what is it about you that’s worth them going to such great lengths?"

Based on her description, the army was massive, numbering in the thousands. ’Could Central Command even assemble a force like that these days?’

Frost Shaw was highly doubtful. ’So where did this army come from? And who sent them?’

There were too many questions. Discussing it with the limited information they had would only lead to dead ends and add to everyone’s anxiety.

Lily Hart took the matter to heart. ’I need to get stronger, to give myself a better fighting chance.’

’And Frederick Shaw... I have to push him to train his cultivation more, too. We can’t wait until we’re truly cornered.’

But her superpower user rank was tied to her system’s level. To reach the Sixth Rank, she would need to earn a total of ten million points...

She checked her balance. It was less than a million. ’It’s a long road ahead...’

’I’m not going to think about it!’

Lily Hart glanced at the time. It was already almost six in the evening. ’Did I really sleep that long?’

’I’m hungry...’ Lily Hart rubbed her stomach, then asked Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe, "Dinner?"

The two of them were still reeling from the story of Lily Hart being hunted down, captured, and strapped to a lab table. They were a little dazed by her question.

"Huh?"

’Isn’t this a bit of a leap in logic...?’

After a moment of silence, they both replied, "Yes!"

So, the three of them sat down, each holding a bowl of brown sugar ice jelly topped with small chunks of watermelon, dragon fruit, taro balls, and other fixings.

It was cool, refreshing, and sweet—absolutely delicious. Roman Rowe devoured his, licking his lips in satisfaction, still wanting more.

After the appetizer, it was time for the main course: fish with pickled mustard greens, whose sour flavor was quite appetizing.

But Lily Hart’s spirits were low, and scenes from her dream kept flashing through her mind. Frost Shaw noticed immediately but said nothing, continuing to eat his meal quietly.

After the meal, Lily Hart called Frederick Shaw over. They sat facing each other, their gazes meeting.

Frederick Shaw felt a little uneasy. ’Does Lily think I eat too much? Is she going to kick me out?’ He looked into her clear, pure eyes as she asked, "What’s your other superpower?"

"!" Frederick Shaw’s eyes flew open. He stared at her in shock, his mind going BLANK. He scanned her face, searching for any sign that she was just bluffing.

He found none.

’Lily knows. She’s known all along and just never said anything.’

A baseless guilt welled up in his heart. Feeling exposed, he frantically tried to explain, "Don’t worry! I just... I just want everyone to be able to protect themselves, to spend more time on improving their cultivation."

"We can’t wait until we’re cornered and being hunted. Only by becoming strong ourselves can we make our enemies hesitate."

Frederick Shaw let out a sigh of relief before confessing, "My other superpower... is time."

"Time?" Lily Hart was amazed. ’What an elusive superpower. Doesn’t that mean you can reverse or accelerate time?’

"Yes, but I’m only at the First Rank right now, so there’s very little I can do," Frederick Shaw said with some resignation. He held out the back of his hand, where the image of a black clock gradually appeared, its second hand ticking away. TICK. TOCK. It looked incredibly lifelike.

Lily Hart asked curiously, "What do you normally use it for?"

Frederick Shaw scratched his ear, looking a little sheepish. "Right now, I can only make time speed up. For example..."

He pulled out a piece of paper and placed it in his palm. Lily Hart watched with wide eyes, not wanting to miss a single detail. In an instant, the paper began to shrivel and blacken, until it completely rotted away.

Lily Hart’s jaw dropped. ’So, speeding up time doesn’t just mean adjusting time in the conventional sense, it can also accelerate an object’s lifespan.’

’Making a perfectly good piece of paper rot was the same as sending it directly to the end of its lifespan. What a badass superpower! Does that mean he could also make people age and die instantly?’

She reached out and patted Frederick Shaw on the shoulder encouragingly. "Train hard! Go ask Leo and Brother Frost for advice more often. They’re both incredibly strong."

"Okay!" Frederick Shaw responded loudly. ’As long as she’s not kicking me out, I’m good.’ Fired up, he went back to the convenience store to help out, planning to start his cultivation as soon as they closed for the night.

Lily Hart watched his cheerful figure retreat and couldn’t help but sigh. ’He’s at an age where he should be carefree, but he’s stuck in the apocalypse, living this crappy life.’

「Night fell.」

The lottery shop and the convenience store closed one after the other. Lily Hart glanced at the still-lit bathhouse, realizing she hadn’t seen The Zombie King all day. ’I wonder if he’s getting used to the new environment,’ she thought.

With that in mind, Lily Hart retracted the RV’s slide-outs, hopped out, and headed for the bathhouse.

The sofas in the lounge area were all occupied, and the fruit and food on the buffet table were half-devoured. The Zombie King, Owen Warren, was busy working behind the front desk.

Thanks to the help of the robot staff, the main hall was always spotless. If any trash appeared, it was immediately "eaten" by the cleaning bot.