Chapter 31: Setting Up Shop

He ran up, caught his breath, and said, "Boss Lu, you're up early."

He had come by three or four times already this morning, but every time he arrived, the curtains were drawn, and it was as quiet inside as if no one were there.

Lu Li understood. She gave him a sidelong glance and smiled indifferently, her shallow dimples appearing.

She asked directly, "Is there anywhere in the base where I can set up a stall?"

Feng Fuzhi’s carefully prepared words were derailed, his train of thought scattered. He could only answer blankly, "Yes."

"Take me there," Lu Li said, dropping the subject.

With that, she turned back to her RV, scooped up Little Deer in one arm and Zhaocai in the other, then kicked the door shut.

The entire sequence of movements was fluid and effortless.

Little Deer was even still chewing on something, staring at Feng Fuzhi with wide, watery, innocent eyes.

Having finished this, Lu Li stood before Feng Fuzhi once more, her tone slightly commanding: "Let’s go, lead the way."

Feng Fuzhi turned around, his expression dazed, as if his soul had been snatched away; he could only instinctively obey her.

Halfway there, Feng Fuzhi stopped abruptly. Lu Li stopped too, adjusting Little Deer in her arms as the creature was about to slide to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Lu Li asked.

"The Base Commander asked me to invite you to the victory banquet this afternoon," Feng Fuzhi said, word by word.

His soul might have returned slightly, but not much; he still looked dazed and foolish.

Lu Li refused decisively. "No time. I have to set up my stall and sell scratch-offs!" *I have to work hard to reach level four!*

Feng Fuzhi started walking again, then suddenly jolted, his expression clearing. He rubbed his face and muttered, "What just happened?"

Lu Li paid no mind to this, her attention captured by the surrounding architecture. It looked like a restored civilized city.

There were trash cans every five hundred meters, and there were even bus stops and shared bicycles—it was clear this base was truly vast.

Walking on two legs definitely wouldn't cut it, but fortunately, the spot for stalls wasn't far from Lu Li's RV; it was about a ten-minute walk.

While called a stall area, it was essentially a farmers' market.

Those who wanted to set up shop had to pass a base verification process. Once compliant, they were all gathered in an enormous plaza.

Lu Li stood at the entrance of the plaza, listening to the bustling noise inside—the sounds of haggling and hawking—full of the vitality of everyday life.

She followed Feng Fuzhi inside, wandered around a bit, and picked a random empty spot to begin business.

First, she took a long table out of the mall inventory; if people squeezed in, it could seat about twenty.

She placed the lucky cat, Zhaocai, at the end of the table and set Little Deer beside her. The kitten was very obedient, just lying quietly and occasionally batting at Zhaocai with her paws.

Finally, she ordered scratch-offs from the mall. The "Big 7" series was always the most popular, so she bought ten books of those, along with three books each of the other three varieties.

She lined the scratch-offs up neatly in front of Zhaocai and pulled out a comfortable chair.

Lu Li leaned back into the chair, hugging Little Deer in her arms, and let out a satisfied sigh.

Refreshing!

This feeling of having everything arranged, just waiting for customers to arrive, was simply wonderful!

But, as Lu Li curled up in her chair and nearly fell asleep, not a single customer had approached.

She opened her eyes, feeling drowsy, and looked at the untouched scratch-offs and Zhaocai, who was nearly starving to death. She found it strange.

What was wrong? Did no one love scratch-offs anymore?

Weren't scratch-offs everyone's favorite little game?

After dozing off for a while longer, Lu Li remembered the lottery shop’s group chat. She hurriedly opened her light-computer and entered the chat.

The first thing that caught her eye was: [Where on earth is Boss Lu?!]

She scrolled up, and it was a continuous stream of people asking where Boss Lu was, wondering if she had abandoned the Hope Base for another.

There were even survivors in the residential area who had taken photos of her RV to reassure everyone.

Lu Li slapped her thigh, hurriedly posted her location in the group, and added: "Farmers' Market, Stall E4. Come quickly!"

The group went silent for a few seconds, followed by an even more intense barrage of messages: "I'm coming!", "On my way!", "I'm right nearby!"

Seeing so many messages like that made Lu Li feel a bit panicked. Were there really that many people coming?

The table didn't seem like it would hold them all...

Just as this thought crossed her mind, someone arrived at Stall E4 and sat down with great familiarity.

He sat in the seat closest to Lu Li and the scratch-offs—the first seat on the left.

Lu Li took a closer look: the familiar black cloak. It was that guy, Shen Bing, again.

Had he installed a tracker on her? It hadn't even been a minute since she posted her location in the group. Not even someone who could fly would be that fast!

After sitting down, Shen Bing just lifted his head slightly, pulling up the brim of his hat, and nodded at Lu Li, acknowledging her.

He then grabbed an entire book of "Big 7" and began to pick through them. Seeing this, Lu Li’s heart skipped a beat.

What kind of ridiculous intuition did he have? If he picked out all the winning tickets, how was she supposed to do business?!

Without a second thought, Lu Li reached out and snatched the book from Shen Bing’s hand. She said sternly, "You are not allowed to pick!"

Hearing her tone, Shen Bing felt a bit defiant and asked, "Why?"

Lu Li gritted her teeth. "You tell me!" *You caused this mess, and you're still asking? Everyone thinks these scratch-offs are fake and have no prizes!*

"..." Shen Bing had nothing to say. Since she was the boss, she had the final say.

He pulled down his hat brim in frustration and, trying to sound as cold as possible, offered a compromise: "Then I'll buy this whole book."

He had been about to get up and leave, but the scene of Big Dong, Xiao Di, and the others sitting under the eaves, eating delicious food and laughing, flashed before his eyes.

He compromised; with his inexplicable intuition, this was the fastest way to obtain food.

Lu Li finally smiled. "Here." She happily placed the book of scratch-offs on the table.

Then, she held out her palm toward him and said righteously, "Cores." Her eyes were filled with a craving for points.

Reluctantly, Shen Bing pulled energy cores from his space—twenty of them, all level one.

He hadn't returned to the small courtyard last night, but instead, under the cover of darkness, had picked up cores from the periphery of the zombie horde, filling an entire burlap sack.

The total amount of cores collected by the guards was even transported by truck—it took three full trucks to haul them all away.

So, today, the residents of Hope Base were all wealthy, filled with joy, their faces beaming with bright smiles.

Lu Li held the cores in her hands, feeding them to Zhaocai one by one, and felt very satisfied as she listened to the cat’s happy, mechanical purring.

Little Deer was also pawing at the cores to play with them, occasionally moving over to watch Shen Bing scratch his tickets, restlessly stepping on him with her paws.

Shen Bing’s arm was stepped on, his skin occasionally grazed by her sharp claws, but he didn't care; he even found he kind of liked this little kitten.

Yet, his expression remained cold, even appearing somewhat disdainful.

By the time Shen Bing had scratched through half of his book, customers began to arrive one after another, mostly regulars.

Everyone was very familiar with the routine: first, feed the cat some cores, then pick out some scratch-offs, and finally find a seat to start scratching.