Chapter 12: Mysterious Powers?

System spoke sardonically: "How is that possible, host! Whether you burn or soak our scratch cards, they never get damaged in the slightest. Forget about any so-called X-ray vision."

The system was about to add that Shen Bing’s ability wasn’t some kind of X-ray vision at all...

Having received the system’s firm reassurance, Lu Li stopped worrying. No matter how slow the customer was picking, as long as they paid, they were her god.

Shen Bing leisurely selected three cards and began scratching, completely immersed in his own world, unaffected by the outside noise.

After a long while, two groups of customers had come and gone at the counter, yet Shen Bing was still scratching those three cards.

Lu Li had peeked many times, noticing he was simply slow—strangely, the first three cards had been scratched quickly.

What’s this, now switching to slow mode?

As noon approached, Lu Li prepared to close shop. Turning around, she found Shen Bing still there.

A thick pile of scratched but unredeemed cards lay beside him. A new batch of customers had just arrived, and she was busy attending to them, thus ignoring him.

Shen Bing wasn’t pretentious; he fed the lucky cat with crystal cores, then chose scratch cards himself, a process he was thoroughly familiar with.

“Finished scratching? Want to redeem? I’m closing soon!” Lu Li reminded.

It seemed everyone knew the boss was going for a nap; the counter was empty except for Shen Bing, who was still scratching the last card.

He slowly looked up. Though the cloak obscured his eyes, Lu Li couldn’t see them; only his thin lips pursed slightly, as if pondering something.

“Redeem,” Shen Bing said.

Lu Li beamed, grabbing the thick stack of scratch cards—there must have been thirty or forty. He was really loaded—not just with crystal cores!

She stuffed them all into the lucky cat’s mouth. Perhaps it was her first time handling such a large order, or the secondhand cards were of poor quality, but the cat choked.

Its eyes spun wildly, emitting faint meows that drew the little deer’s attention. The deer leapt onto the table in a few bounds.

Reaching out to pat the lucky cat, it meowed anxiously. Lu Li couldn’t understand but didn’t mind; she immediately bought a Meow Language translator from the mall, pricier than the Zombie Language.

It cost ten points.

But points were the one thing she had plenty of.

The moment the order was completed, she understood the little deer’s meows.

“What’s wrong, Lucky?”

“Please don’t die on me—you’re only the second friend I’ve ever had in this world.”

“Are you just tired from working? Want to rest a bit? It’s okay, Lucky, being a cat is like this...”

Then she heard the cat’s weak voice: “N-no, that’s not it... ah, I’m choking...”

Lu Li laughed loudly. Shen Bing glanced over; her dimples were clear now, her brows and eyes lit up with a strong smile, her face radiant and elegant.

It was completely out of place in this bleak, desolate, dark post-apocalyptic world.

Even her teeth were perfectly neat and clean—Shen Bing envied her immensely...

After laughing for a while, Lu Li tried to help the cat but had no idea how to get the cards out...

“Little Deer, ask your friend Lucky how to get it out before she chokes.”

The little deer was shocked; Lucky was shocked. The eyes stopped spinning, and after a long pause said, “Master, press the left eyeball three times...”

Lu Li did as told, and sure enough, the cards she had just fed were all spat out. Then she heard: “Master, no more than five at a time, I can’t take it...”

“Okay, okay...” Lu Li agreed.

Shen Bing looked utterly baffled. How did this porcelain girl start talking to a lucky cat? And this real cat? So adorable!

Inside, Shen Bing screamed, but his face remained impassive. One hand rested on the table, his index finger tapping absentmindedly, the other hanging naturally at his side, showing slight impatience.

But in truth... he just wanted to pet the little deer...

Lu Li fed the lucky cat five cards at a time, repeating six times before finishing.

A rough count showed about 32 cards. This guy had scratched so many this morning? That’s 1,600 points!

Lu Li did some quick math and was stunned. Her gaze burned with excitement. A big client! Must treat well!

Shen Bing didn’t move the entire time, maintaining his earlier posture. His finger taps slowed.

Only he knew he was waiting—for the lucky cat to spit out the rewards so he could finally feast!

Soon, the lucky cat spat out the rewards in the order the cards were fed.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly. It took the lucky cat nearly three minutes to finish spitting everything out, and Lu Li, unaware before, was shocked on seeing it.

All food... the entire table was filled to the brim, even piled two layers high. Lu Li didn’t dare touch any.

Scratch cards really can’t be read through? Lu Li doubted again but chose to trust the system’s word.

She was a bit annoyed—no wonder no one else scratched food all morning. So all those big 7s sold were snatched up by this guy!

Lu Li shot Shen Bing a look but could only see the brim of his cloak’s hood, unable to meet his gaze. He was completely unaware.

“Here, your rewards,” Lu Li said casually.

Among the food was a pack of braised chicken in a transparent container, the broth rich, with vegetables and mushrooms, accompanied by a bowl of rice.

It looked so appetizing that Lu Li’s stomach rumbled. She’d skipped breakfast because Chen Zhi and others arrived too early, and after a busy morning, seeing the feast but unable to eat, she was starving...

Shen Bing stored all the food into his spatial ring, a new product launched by Central Base this year, specially for ability users without spatial powers.

Pricing depended on freshness duration and ring size, starting at a thousand level-one crystal cores, and was limited in quantity—only the powerful could buy it.

Just as Shen Bing was about to leave for his secret base to enjoy a hearty meal, a faint aroma wafted in.

He turned and saw the lottery shop’s partition still open. Inside the camper was a table with an electric grill.

Several slices of pork belly sizzled with oil, curling up as they cooked. Nearby, four or five white, plump mushrooms gave off a captivating fragrance.

Shen Bing instinctively stopped. When he had stored the food earlier, this wasn’t here. Could the owner perform magic?

He turned fully, standing still, staring silently at the grill, swallowing hard.

Lu Li came out of the bathroom shaking water from her hands. Seeing the table of food had made her hungry...

She quickly ordered a barbecue set she had eyed in the mall yesterday, first placing pork belly and mushrooms on the grill, then went to wash her hands.

She eagerly sat down, rubbing her hands in anticipation. The little deer jumped onto the table too, eating its bowl of cat food—a meal shared together.