Chapter 8: Zhao Haiting

At the top of the line was Chen Zhi, who couldn’t hold back and exclaimed, “Boss, can you please stop taking naps during lunch? Don’t you know how hard it is for us to wait?”

Second in line was a familiar face, one of the trio with Chen Yue’s group.

Lu Li thought to herself: Since when did my name become so well-known?

Indeed, within the few short hours that Lu Li had been eating hotpot, watching variety shows, and dozing lightly, news had already spread throughout the base.

A camper van parked at the entrance was selling scratch cards, and astonishingly, these scratch cards could yield food and weapons.

Most importantly, the boss was incredibly powerful, and spending here was safe—unlike other places where customers got robbed as soon as they left.

This was explosive news! After so many years in the apocalypse, they had never seen such an extraordinary ability.

Yes, after much discussion, they concluded it must be an extremely rare supernatural power.

Lu Li wanted to argue a bit, but seeing the throng of people outside, she felt utterly derelict in duty and hastened to arrange the scratch cards neatly.

She then placed the lucky cat figurine on the counter and finally pulled out a megaphone, calling out, “Form groups of three, line up, and get your crystal cores ready!”

Having witnessed Zhao Haifeng’s example that morning, everyone obediently formed orderly lines.

Yet, as always, a few hotheads, convinced they were the best, loudly clamored to cut in line.

Lu Li was busy at the front, answering endless questions from first-timers who didn’t quite understand the process, all while managing the crowd.

Thankfully, with the lucky cat, she only needed to feed it crystal cores, and it would announce the person’s name and points, allowing customers to choose their scratch cards accordingly.

The procedure was simple, but some people insisted on knowing every detail, leaving Lu Li overwhelmed.

She resolved that once this group was done, she would post the rules nearby—and for anyone who broke them, she’d pluck out their eyeballs and stick them up as a warning.

The first ten or so scratch cards revealed mostly ordinary items—no food, but a few weapons appeared.

Most people came for the food, desperate to taste the juicy dumplings Chen Yue described or the crispy, fragrant apples Wang Qiang mentioned.

Lu Li hadn’t expected the food drop rate to be so low; that morning, when Chen Yue scratched her cards, she thought it was quite high.

But after all, food was a rare commodity in the apocalypse—scarcity made it precious. If it were easy to scratch out, it would be meaningless.

Some people, seeing they hadn’t won what they wanted, left—these were the sensible ones.

Others, unwilling to give up, kept scratching relentlessly until they emptied their crystal cores.

Near the twentieth person, there was one who surprisingly asked no questions and skillfully fed the cores, casually picking a scratch card.

Lu Li felt relieved and paid no mind—until she turned and suddenly felt a scratch card poke her arm.

She took it and immediately raised the megaphone to announce loudly, “Congratulations to this gentleman for scratching out a pear!”

The crowd erupted—so it really was possible to win fruit, fresh, juicy fruit!

Nearly a hundred pairs of eyes fixated on the window, but Lu Li remained unflustered, calmly feeding the scratch card into the cat’s mouth.

In the next moment, a gleaming pear, fragrant and fresh, appeared. The man hastily reached out to catch it, preventing it from falling to the table.

Someone jealous tried to snatch it, but the pear bounced away, repelling the greedy hand. Lu Li smiled warmly, her eyes crinkling with dimples.

She reassured him, “Eat it here—I’ll protect you.”

Relieved, the man bit in eagerly, the juice bursting forth, sweet and delicious, his hands catching the drips.

He even ate the core, chewing thoroughly and licking the juice from his palm, wasting nothing.

Everyone in line stopped what they were doing, paying the pear the highest respect—their eyes fixed on it from start to finish.

Lu Li was stunned, sparing herself the trouble of paper towels.

Those around were unfazed—this was fruit, after all, and anyone caught wasting even a peel would be beaten repeatedly.

This example fired up the crowd’s enthusiasm. Lu Li promptly grabbed the megaphone again, “Line up in groups of five, groups of five!”

Previously, it had been groups of three; now, five meant five people had to huddle around the small table to scratch cards, somewhat uncomfortable but necessary for efficiency.

Soon after, a girl scratched out a bowl of beef noodles. She ate while crying, tears streaming down, carefully keeping them from falling into the bowl.

Lu Li felt a pang of sympathy and handed her a tissue, comforting, “Why cry? Come back tomorrow and scratch again if you want more.”

This opened the girl’s floodgates: “I don’t want to kill zombies—they’re too hard to kill. Living is too exhausting. I really don’t want to live anymore...”

Filled with despair, Lu Li was at a loss but said, “If you die, you won’t get to eat such delicious beef noodles.”

The girl fell silent, sobbing softly, but ate quickly and thoroughly, leaving the bowl as clean as if it had never held anything.

“Thank you, boss. I’ll come back tomorrow to scratch again. I’m going to kill zombies right now!” The girl’s spirit reignited!

To be able to scratch the cards every day and eat delicious food daily!

Lu Li smiled encouragingly and turned to attend to other customers.

With the proof that food could really be won, enthusiasm surged to its peak. Before nightfall, the 200 scratch cards Lu Li had bought the day before were all used up.

She roughly calculated that she had earned ten thousand points in one day—enough for many hotpot meals.

Now, only a few stubborn people remained in line, desperately hoping to win food.

Each held one of today’s last scratch cards; Lu Li, too, awaited a miracle.

Of course, no miracle came. They left dejectedly but still called back, “Boss, will you come again tomorrow?”

Lu Li nodded, “Yes, why wouldn’t I?” The customers were such easy marks—one batch after another, and when finished, she’d just move to another spot to keep going.

The few left departed unwillingly. Lu Li began packing up to close—reborn, she vowed never to work overtime again!

“Wait.” Suddenly, a voice came from afar and reached Lu Li’s ears.

She looked up but saw no one—only the bored guards standing at the base entrance, yawning in boredom.

Lu Li thought she imagined it and quickly hugged the lucky cat, preparing to close the shutter when a stone flew through the air—

It struck the lucky cat’s eye, shattering the porcelain instantly. Lu Li stared blankly, stunned.

Once she recovered, anger flared. Hands on hips, she shouted fiercely, “Who did this? Come out now!”

A figure appeared swiftly before her. Squinting, she thought it looked somewhat like the fiery Zhao Haifeng.