Apocalypse: I'm Bound to a Mobile Lottery Shop

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: My Turf, My Rules

And it was only 5 points! She placed the order immediately. From now on, she had a secret code to communicate with zombies! ’This is so freaking awesome!’

"Hey, how long have you been a zombie?" Lily Hart asked curiously, her hands folded on the tabletop.

The zombie’s only remaining eye suddenly widened. It took a step back. ’This... this human can speak the zombie language!’

It danced with excitement. [Uh, maybe half a year? Or a year? I forgot, hehe...]

For a moment, it completely forgot it had come to eat her. Her blood smelled exceptionally fragrant.

And so, the two of them started chatting, talking about everything under the sun—from the places the zombie had been to the humans it had killed.

Lily Hart didn’t forget her goal, seizing the opportunity to make a sales pitch. "Wanna scratch a lottery ticket?"

The zombie froze. [What’s that?]

Lily Hart froze too. ’Don’t tell me this world doesn’t even have scratch-off lottery tickets?’

’Back in her original world, they were known as a new kind of drug, making people want to scratch one after another. You just couldn’t stop!’

But she couldn’t scratch one herself, so she could only do her best to explain to him that it was a good thing, a *really* good thing.

Seeing how hard she was working to hype it up, the zombie asked, [Alright, I’ll scratch one.]

Lily Hart then remembered she hadn’t set a price. The currency in this world was Crystal Cores, and she had no idea what the tickets could even win.

’Might as well just make it one Crystal Core for all of them.’

She held up one finger. "One Crystal Core."

The zombie stumbled back in fright, extending its right arm—which had no hand—and pointing at its own head. It stammered, [A Crystal Core?]

Lily Hart confirmed, "That’s right!"

The zombie was so scared it bolted, disappearing in a flash.

"? Did he go get a Crystal Core?" Lily Hart wondered aloud.

[Host, Crystal Cores are extracted from the brains of zombies,] the system helpfully chimed in.

"Oh my god, that’s so messed up!" Lily Hart wailed, slumping onto the table, completely devastated.

But she quickly pulled herself together. "No, zombies have to experience the joy of scratch-off tickets too!"

With that in mind, she began pacing back and forth in a small area inside the RV, muttering to herself, "Humans use Crystal Cores, so what would zombies use? It can’t be their little hearts, can it..."

She suddenly remembered the points she had just used in the shop. She immediately formed a fist with her right hand and smacked it into her open left palm.

"They can all just use points!" Lily Hart declared, hands on her hips. "You’re on my turf now, so you play by my rules!"

But now her only customer had run off. Bored, Lily Hart started browsing the shop. She was currently only Level 1, so there were too many restrictions; she could only browse secondhand goods.

But that couldn’t stop her desire to shop. She placed a bunch of orders, and the items quickly appeared in her inventory.

Lily Hart took the items out one by one. A high-top stool, so she could sit while selling lottery tickets. It was a secondhand find, only 8 points.

An exchange machine, also secondhand, for just 5 points. It was shaped like a Lucky Cat.

You could use it to exchange Crystal Cores for points, or to redeem the prizes won from the scratch-off tickets.

It would then scan you from head to toe, register you in the system, and link the points to your personal account for you to use anytime.

She could finally sit down and prop her chin on her hand to space out more comfortably. Suddenly, the stool let out a CREAKING sound, and Lily Hart’s eyes flew open...

The next second, she vanished. A wail came from the floor, and a hand reached up to grab the edge of the window as Lily Hart struggled back to her feet.

She put her hands on her hips and cursed, "What a piece of junk! No wonder it was only 8 points!"

On the floor, the stool lay in several pieces, looking nothing like its previously intact self. It was all show and no go.

Furious, she ordered a new high-top stool from the shop, one that was much more expensive than the last one, costing 16 points.

Lily Hart took out the new stool and, feeling extremely wary, pressed down on it with her hand first. It was indeed much sturdier, so she finally sat down with confidence.

Then she placed the Lucky Cat on the corner of the tabletop.

From dawn till dusk, not a single other customer showed up. In the meantime, Lily Hart even had a quick meal.

The food was ridiculously expensive—a meal with one meat and one vegetable dish actually cost 10 points. After cursing out the system for ten minutes, Lily Hart clutched her RUMBLING stomach and bought it.

"I can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen!" Lily Hart hopped off the stool, raised a fist, and hyped herself up.

"That being the case... I’ll just go to sleep first." The useless pep talk had just ended, and Lily Hart already felt tired.

Fortunately, besides the bed, there was also a bathroom where she could use the toilet and take a shower, so she didn’t have to relieve herself wherever she pleased.

After washing up, Lily Hart had a wonderful night’s sleep.

She slept until broad daylight and didn’t want to get up at all, finally dragging herself out of bed after tossing and turning a hundred times.

She ate another ridiculously expensive breakfast. A single serving of soup dumplings actually cost 5 points, which gave her a sense of crisis.

After all, she only had 31 points left. She needed to earn money and eat well. The shop had all sorts of delicacies, but the point costs were just as "beautiful."

Day after day, all her money was being shoveled into her mouth.

After spacing out on the stool for a while longer, Lily Hart finally remembered this was an RV, and the system had called it a mobile lottery shop.

’Ugh, my brain.’

Lily Hart gave her head a light tap, sat in the driver’s seat, and looked around after buckling her seatbelt...

"I haven’t even passed the first part of my driver’s license exam. Can I even drive this thing?" Lily Hart asked, lacking confidence.

[It has autopilot and navigation.]

"So thoughtful! You’re the best!" Lily Hart operated the central control screen, searched for the nearest human base, and set the autopilot.

Finally, she pressed the button. The RV started up, automatically avoiding obstacles on the road.

She glanced at the tabletop extending from the right side of the RV. The scratch-off tickets on it were perfectly still, as if someone had cast an immobilization technique on them.

Lily Hart felt relieved. She unbuckled her seatbelt, went back to the bed, and started playing with the light screen.

It was a lot like a smartphone, except it could appear wherever you wanted and had more functions.

The RV drove on its own for an hour before slowly coming to a stop. Lily Hart, who was right in the middle of having fun, got off the bed and leaned against the sales window to look outside.

There was a desolate and bleak base entrance with a wooden token next to it: Rebirth Base.

Her eyes lit up. She could finally see humans again! But, looking at the base, it didn’t seem like the residents had much spending power.

’Whatever, I’m already here!’

She set the safe zone to a five-meter radius, arranged the scratch-off tickets and the Lucky Cat, and prepared to start hawking her wares.

Just then, two men and a woman walked out of the base. The RV was parked directly in front of the main gate, making it impossible to miss.

"Come on, come on, take a look! Scratch-off tickets, get your scratch-off tickets! If you want a little happiness, scratch a ticket!" Lily Hart casually made up a sales pitch.

The three of them were stunned at the sight of the brand-new RV. Then they exchanged a look, an unavoidable glint of greed flashing in their eyes.

Looking closer, they saw it was a young girl hawking her wares. She looked fair-skinned and easy to bully. Most importantly, her clothes and hair were neat and tidy!

This was indirect proof that there was very likely water inside the RV!

You have to understand, water was an extremely precious resource in the apocalypse. Only the Base Commander got a daily supply of 100ml; everyone else only got 50ml a day.

Barely enough to wet your throat.