Apocalypse: I'm Bound to a Mobile Lottery Shop

Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Don’t Play with Him~

"Try it?" In the darkness, Stan Sterling’s voice was soft and a little hoarse. The two short words seemed to hold a boundless temptation.

Lily Hart’s mind went blank, her vision blurring for a moment. By the time she came to her senses, she had already blurted out an uncontrollable "okay."

’This Stan Sterling must have a superpower like Charm!’

If Stan Sterling could read minds, he would have been shocked. Had she actually guessed right...?

Since she had already agreed, Lily Hart asked, "How do we try?"

The moment she spoke, Stan Sterling pulled a small sapling from his spatial storage, as if presenting a treasure.

It wasn’t even as big as her palm, and its roots were still caked with fresh soil. There was no telling where he’d dug it up.

Lily Hart’s eyes widened. "Where did you get that?" she asked instinctively.

Stan Sterling chuckled lightly, then casually pulled out a shovel and other tools.

"I dug it up from the roadside. It looked like a newly sprouted, ordinary plant that probably wouldn’t survive more than a couple of days, so I thought I’d move it here and see if it has a chance."

In the present-day apocalypse, all the soil was contaminated to varying degrees.

Part of this was due to the toxins from the dead when the apocalypse first broke out, the Earth’s magnetic field fell into chaos, and seventy percent of humanity turned into zombies.

Another part was because of mutated plants and animals. To grow stronger, they needed to constantly devour other life, and over time, ordinary plants became increasingly rare.

Even if new plants did sprout, they were either devoured or had an extremely low survival rate due to the contaminated soil.

It was only because Stan Sterling had made a special trip out today that he managed to find this weak little plant growing in a crevice, and it had taken him a great deal of effort to dig it out.

"Great idea!" Lily Hart praised.

’What’s that saying again? Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth!’

Working together, the two of them planted the palm-sized sapling next to the one that could improve the soil, then stared at it intently.

Hoping for a miracle.

Of course, a miracle wasn’t going to happen that quickly...

After about three minutes, Lily Hart rubbed her eyes, pushed herself up with her hands on her knees, and said with her hands on her hips, "Let’s come back tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Stan Sterling’s eyes lit up, and he hastily agreed, afraid she might get upset and take back her words.

He couldn’t help but wonder, ’Does this count as having a little secret together?’

Lily Hart wasn’t thinking about any of that. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the sun was making her dizzy, so she beckoned for him to head back.

They had walked one after the other on the way there, but on the way back, they walked side by side.

Roman Rowe was loitering at the convenience store entrance like a punk. He missed his motorcycle, which was probably collecting dust in his spatial storage, and was wondering when he could take it out for a spin.

He turned and happened to spot Lily Hart and Stan Sterling walking out from the side of the hotel. ’Strange, what were they doing over there?’

He was a little too far away to make out their expressions, but he could vaguely sense that the atmosphere between them was very good.

When they reached the hotel entrance, Lily Hart waved to Stan Sterling. Without waiting for him to go inside, she turned and went back to the RV.

Roman Rowe’s eyes lit up. He scurried over with a PATTER PATTER PATTER and leaped onto the RV from the steps.

"Boss Hart~"

The cheerful voice rang in her ear. Lily Hart was still thinking about improving the soil and was suddenly startled.

She jolted and spun around. Seeing it was Roman Rowe, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes before turning back and leaning against her chair. "What do you want?"

He eagerly sidled up to her, a hint of a pout in his tone. "You go out to have fun without me now..."

Lily Hart: "When have I ever taken you?"

Roman Rowe: ?

’Come to think of it, Boss Hart rarely goes out, doesn’t she...?’

’Whatever! I just don’t want to see her hanging out with that sly fox Stan Sterling!’

Having thought it, he said it. "Boss Hart, I don’t think that Stan Sterling is a good person. You should definitely stay away from him..."

His earnest, pleading expression made Lily Hart want to laugh. His petty thoughts were written all over his face.

’Even Easton and Diana Sharp aren’t like this, saying stuff like, ’Don’t play with him, play with me!’’

’So childish~’

Lily Hart tilted her head back, too lazy to bother with him.

Roman Rowe eagerly scooted to her other side, just about to try and "sow discord" a little more when Stan Sterling arrived.

Dressed all in black, he stood outside the RV, just in time to catch Roman Rowe’s still-lingering, somewhat pouting and fawning gaze.

The moment their eyes met, Roman Rowe’s expression instantly switched to one of coldness and annoyance. It was, in short, extremely obvious.

He changed his posture, gripping the armrest of Lily Hart’s lounge chair with a look on his face that said, ’I’m just going to stay right here and watch you two.’

Sitting in her lounge chair, Lily Hart raised an eyebrow at Stan Sterling and said, "Make yourself at home~"

Stan Sterling naturally nodded, withdrew his gaze from the sharp confrontation with Roman Rowe, and calmly selected a few scratch-off tickets.

Then he left a large pile of Crystal Cores, saying it was to repay his debt to Lily Hart. The moment Stan Sterling left, Roman Rowe jumped up and pounced over to look.

"Boss Hart, that’s so many Crystal Cores!" Roman Rowe exclaimed dramatically, feeling a strange sourness in his heart.

Lily Hart didn’t want to move. "Just put them away," she replied.

Roman Rowe complied, pulling a large box out from under the table and sweeping all the Crystal Cores off the tabletop into it, like an autumn wind scattering leaves.

After buying the scratch-off tickets, Stan Sterling didn’t linger at the lottery shop, instead taking them back to his room to scratch.

On his way upstairs, he ran into the woman who had been digging behind the hotel last night. One was going up, the other down, and they met head-on.

Dawn Lowell smiled at him, turning sideways slightly to let him pass as she continued downstairs. As she passed, Stan Sterling smelled a rich, fruity fragrance on her.

Her collar was splattered with a few drops of red watermelon juice, as if she had just been voraciously devouring a large watermelon.

Stan Sterling’s lips curved into a smile. He also turned slightly, pressing against the wall to avoid her as he went up.

The staircase was actually quite wide—three people could have walked side by side without issue—but for some reason, this felt safer.

Today, her fruit tree had borne a large watermelon, and Dawn Lowell couldn’t wait to pick it and eat it.

This was why she had ambitiously gone to get some scratch-off tickets, wanting to see if the good luck buff she got yesterday was still working.

She also regretted not scratching more tickets yesterday, having been completely carried away by the excitement of the fruit tree.

Five tickets in a row yielded nothing. She was starting to suspect her "+1 Good Luck" had drained all of her luck for today and the future.

She was about to leave, dejected, when Lily Hart casually tried to stop her, "Don’t go! Scratch one more. What if the next one’s the winner!"

This was her standard sales pitch. No one knew if the next ticket would be a winner, but what if the next one was the grand prize?

Dawn Lowell’s eyes lit up. She had clearly taken the words to heart. She turned back, stood her ground, closed her eyes, and pointed randomly at the tickets.

Throwing caution to the wind, she declared, "That one!" With that, her eyes snapped open, and she immediately picked it up to pay.

Then she quickly began to scratch, armed with the supreme mindset of ’if this one doesn’t win, I’ll just get another.’

And just like that, she won. Dawn Lowell almost screamed, so excited she wanted to rush forward, grab Boss Hart, and roar with joy three hundred times.

Lily Hart knew from her expression that she had won, but what she asked was, "What kind of fruit did you get today?"

Dawn Lowell paused, then answered instinctively, "A big watermelon. It was super sweet."

Hearing that made Lily Hart crave watermelon too, so she bought a few big ones from the store and tossed them all into the fridge to chill.

When she came back out from the kitchen, Dawn Lowell had already redeemed her prize and was staring at her reward in a daze.