Chapter 2: My Territory, My Rules

Only five points were needed, so she immediately placed the order. From then on, she had a secret language to communicate with zombies! It was absolutely incredible!

“Hey, how long have you been a zombie?” Lu Li asked curiously, resting her hands on the table.

The zombie, with only one eye left, suddenly widened it and took a step back. This human actually spoke zombie language!

Excited, he gestured wildly, “Uh, about half a year? Or a year? I forgot, hehe…”

For a moment, he even forgot he was here to eat her; her blood smelled especially delicious.

The two of them began chatting, covering everything from far-flung places to the humans the zombie had killed.

Lu Li didn’t forget her purpose and took the opportunity to promote her wares: “Want to try a scratch card?”

The zombie was stunned. “What’s that?”

Lu Li was also surprised. Could it be that this world didn’t even have scratch cards?

In her original world, they were called a new kind of drug—once you scratched one, you’d want more and simply couldn’t stop!

But since she couldn’t scratch it herself, she tried her best to explain: it was a great thing, a really great thing.

Seeing her struggle to praise it, the zombie asked, “Then… scratch one.”

Lu Li suddenly remembered she hadn’t set a price. The currency here was crystal cores, and she had no idea what the scratch card might yield.

She decided to make it a flat rate of one crystal core.

She held up a finger. “One crystal core.”

The zombie took a step back in fright, pointing to his head with his right hand, which had no palm, stammering, “Crystal core?”

Lu Li nodded firmly. “Yes!”

The zombie fled instantly, vanishing like a flash.

“Did he go get a crystal core?” Lu Li wondered.

“Host, crystal cores are taken from zombies’ brains,” the system kindly explained.

“Oh heavens, how cruel!” Lu Li groaned, collapsing onto the table, deeply shaken.

But she quickly pulled herself together. “No, zombies must also experience the joy of scratch cards!”

With that thought, she paced back and forth inside the RV, muttering, “Humans use crystal cores, but what do zombies use? It can’t be their little hearts…”

Suddenly, she recalled the points she’d used in the store earlier and immediately clapped her left palm with her right fist.

“All points it is!” Lu Li said, hands on hips. “On my turf, we play by my rules!”

But now, the only customer had fled. Lu Li was bored and started browsing the store. She was currently at level one, which came with many restrictions, even allowing only secondhand goods.

Still, that didn’t dampen her shopping desire. After placing several orders, the goods quickly arrived in her backpack.

She took out the items one by one: a bar stool so she could sit while selling lottery tickets, secondhand and costing only eight points.

A point exchanger, also secondhand, costing five points, shaped like a lucky cat.

It could convert crystal cores into points or exchange the prizes won from scratch cards.

Then, it would scan your entire body, record you into the system, and credit the points to your personal account, available anytime.

Finally, she could sit down and better support her chin while daydreaming. Suddenly, the bar stool creaked loudly, and Lu Li’s eyes widened…

The next moment, she vanished entirely, a wail rose from the ground, and a hand reached out, clutching the windowsill. Lu Li struggled to get up.

Hands on hips, she scolded angrily, “What kind of crappy stool is this? No wonder it was only eight points!”

On the ground, the bar stool lay broken in halves, no longer resembling its previous intact form—a mere decorative pillow, pretty but useless.

Infuriated, she ordered a new bar stool from the store, much pricier this time at sixteen points.

When she received it, she nervously pressed it with her hand. It was indeed sturdier, so she finally sat down with ease.

Then she placed the lucky cat in the corner of the table.

From dawn to dusk, no customers came. Lu Li even had a quick meal in between.

The food was ridiculously expensive: ten points for one meat and one vegetable dish. After cursing the system for ten minutes, she bought it, clutching her grumbling stomach.

“I can’t just sit here and wait to die!” Lu Li jumped off the bar stool, raising a hand to pump herself up.

“Fine then, I’ll sleep first.” Just as she finished her pep talk, exhaustion hit.

Fortunately, besides the bed, there was a bathroom—she could use the toilet and shower, so she wouldn’t have to relieve herself anywhere.

After washing up, Lu Li slept soundly.

She didn’t want to get up when dawn came, tossing and turning countless times before finally rising with difficulty.

She ate a ridiculously expensive breakfast: a small steamed bun costing five points, which made her feel the pressure.

She had only fifty-six points left. She needed to earn money and eat well. The store had all kinds of delicacies, but the points were precious.

Day by day, all her money was going straight into her mouth.

After zoning out on the bar stool for a while, Lu Li suddenly remembered this was an RV, and the system had said it was a mobile lottery shop.

Ah, her brain!

She tapped her head lightly, sat in the driver’s seat, buckled up, and looked around.

“I haven’t even passed the driving test yet. Can I drive?” she asked nervously.

“There’s autopilot and navigation,” the system replied.

“So thoughtful! So thoughtful!” Lu Li operated the central control screen, searched for the nearest human base, and set the autopilot.

Finally, she pressed the button, and the RV started, automatically avoiding obstacles along the way.

She glanced at the table extended from the right side of the vehicle. The scratch cards sat motionless, as if frozen by a spell.

Feeling relieved, Lu Li unbuckled her seatbelt, returned to the bed, and started playing with the holographic screen.

It was very much like a smartphone but could appear anywhere and had many more functions.

After an hour of driving, the RV slowly stopped. Lu Li climbed down from the bed, leaned on the sales window, and looked outside.

A desolate, bleak base gate stood before her, with a wooden sign reading: Newborn Base.

Her eyes lit up; finally, she could see humans again. Judging by the modest consumption level here…

No matter, she was here now!

She set the safe zone to five meters, arranged the scratch cards and lucky cat, and prepared to start calling out.

Just then, two men and a woman emerged from the base. The RV was parked right in front of the gate, impossible to miss.

“Come, come, take a look! Scratch cards, scratch cards! Want to feel joy? Try a scratch card!” Lu Li improvised a sales pitch.

The three were momentarily stunned by the brand-new RV, then exchanged glances, a flicker of greed unmistakable in their eyes.

Looking closer, they saw a petite, fair-skinned girl calling out—she looked clean and easy to bully. Most importantly, her clothes and hair were neat.

This suggested the RV likely contained water!

Water was exceedingly precious in the post-apocalyptic world. Only the base leader received 100ml daily, while everyone else got just 50ml.

Barely enough to moisten their throats.