Chapter 10: The Fawn

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Luli lay on the bed, teasing the kitten nestled in the cat bed by her bedside. She gazed into the kitten’s eyes, clear and moist like a young deer’s. A sudden spark of inspiration lit up her mind. “Then how about I call you Little Deer?”

“Meow~”

“Is that a yes or a no?” Luli was certain this time she had the kitten’s agreement.

“Meow~” Little Deer nodded earnestly.

Luli lifted her gently, their eyes meeting, and softly tested, “Little Deer?”

“Meow meow meow!” The kitten seemed a bit impatient but still responded, as if even letting out a yawn.

She placed Little Deer back in the cat bed, stroked her soft fur once more, and finally felt at ease enough to turn off the light and go to sleep.

The next morning, barely awake, Luli heard knocking at the window. The bed was too comfortable to leave, so she turned over, hoping to catch a few more moments of rest. But the knocking grew louder, accompanied by chattering voices.

Through the cracks in the window, fragmented sounds reached her ears. Little Deer also grew restless, meowing anxiously, as if sensing the presence of strangers.

Luli turned again, reaching out to stroke Little Deer’s head, calming her, before finally sitting up with a heavy sigh to open the window.

Pulling back the blind, she found a dozen or so people tightly packed outside the window, faces lit with eager hopes of striking it rich.

Luli, still annoyed from waking up, glared at them. Chen Zhi quickly spoke up, “Boss, we came here for scratch cards.”

She glanced at the time—6 a.m.! Only six o’clock!

She wasn’t sure whether to marvel at how few entertainment options people had in this post-apocalyptic world or how deeply they loved scratch cards.

With customers at her doorstep, Luli had no excuse not to do business.

She washed her face and returned without even changing out of her pajamas, set up the lucky cat statue, and brought out four different kinds of scratch cards she had ordered the day before, carefully opening one of each.

Little Deer climbed out of the cat bed, drank water, and ate her food. Using the camper’s furnishings, she nimbly jumped onto the table in front of Luli and obediently sat beside the lucky cat.

A real cat and a fake cat, both sitting neatly on the table, looked quite alike at first glance.

However, when Chen Zhi and the others saw Little Deer, they took several steps back in fear. “Boss, is your cat mutated or something?”

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“Ah?” Luli suddenly recalled that in this world, not only humans but even animals and plants could mutate.

Sometimes an ordinary puppy could transform into a five-meter giant dog, ready to swallow you whole with one bite.

She stroked Little Deer’s head proudly. “She wouldn’t do that. My little cat is the best-behaved.”

Little Deer cooperated with a couple of meows, lifting her head with a proud air, the resemblance between the two unmistakable.

Reassured, Chen Zhi and the others grew anxious, “Boss, come on, let’s scratch the cards!” Those around them nodded, pulling out a handful of crystal cores from their pockets.

Luli noticed the dark circles under their eyes and wondered if these people had been up all night fighting zombies, just to enjoy scratch cards during the day.

Though they were customers, Luli still warned, “Young folks, take care of yourselves. Scratch cards will always be here, but you only have one life.”

Chen Zhi and his friends were touched for a moment. In this harsh world, there was little friendship, love, or family—survival was all that mattered.

Yet here was someone caring about their lives, even if only so they could keep scratching cards, which felt unexpectedly moving.

Moved, Chen Zhi decisively slammed the crystal cores down on the table and declared boldly, “I’m going to scratch them all!”

Then he glanced around and leaned in to whisper to Luli, “Boss, be careful lately. I heard you made an enemy of the base commander.”

Luli nodded matter-of-factly, “He’s the one who should be careful.”

Chen Zhi was speechless. He knew the boss was powerful, but there were always stronger forces out there.

Little Deer seemed to be having fun, playfully pawing at the crystal cores, pushing them toward the lucky cat, and feeding them one by one into its mouth, clearly enjoying the game.

With one less thing to worry about, Luli rested her chin on her hand, watching them scratch the cards.

A system message appeared in her mind: “Host, a friendly reminder: scratch cards are now categorized. For example, the ‘Big 7’ cards only scratch out food, but the drop rates are random... The rest you’ll have to figure out yourselves.”

She pondered the message thoughtfully. Since everyone liked food, she ordered five more books of “Big 7” from the online shop.

She didn’t forget to suggest to Chen Zhi and his friends who were scratching at the moment, “You might want to try more of these ‘Big 7’ cards.”

That was all she could do; the rest depended on their luck.

Chen Zhi thought about it and decided to trust the boss, spending all 350 points earned from exchanging seven crystal cores on “Big 7.”

The other three had their own preferences and chose the newly released scratch cards “New Year Dragon’s Luck” and “Instant Fortune.”

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The four began scratching almost simultaneously, wielding small golden spatulas, their eyes focused and expressions serious, as if performing some sacred ritual.

Not only that, but they also shielded their cards with their arms, wary of any ill-intended glances. Luli understood, but still thought, “Didn’t you just reveal everything when you exchanged them?”

Luli propped her chin on her hand, curious to see what surprises might emerge this time.

Soon, Chen Zhi suddenly looked up, his eyes shining with excitement. He silently stared at Luli, overwhelmed and unsure how to express himself.

Luli thought, Let me see what’s going on.

She reached to take his scratch card for redemption, but Chen Zhi quickly pocketed it, nonchalantly beginning to scratch another card.

Luli thought, Man, you’ve definitely caught my attention.

But no one else seemed to notice; it was as if nothing had happened.

Not long after, another man looked up excitedly, “You can actually scratch out a grenade! Boss, do you know how many crystal cores it takes to buy one of these?”

Someone nearby retorted, “Buy? I want to see you buy one. Even with crystal cores, they’re not always in stock! The military controls them all!”

Ignoring the sarcastic remark, the man said, “Boss, exchange this for me.”

Luli took it, slipped it into the lucky cat’s mouth, and watched as it spat out a grenade.

“There you go!” Luli handed it over casually, as if the grenade was nothing special.

The man accepted it respectfully, held it in his palm, and it vanished in a flash.

Curious, Luli asked, “Is that an ability?”

The man gave her a puzzled look, reluctant to answer such a foolish question, but out of respect for her as boss, he reluctantly said, “Yes, spatial ability.”

He added, “My space is small, only a few square meters. The higher the level, the bigger the area, and the longer items can be preserved.”

Luli understood—there really were all kinds of strange and wonderful abilities. This was basically like having a super-sized pocket where anything could be stored.