Chapter 42 Level Four!

Li Qingqing’s eyes lit up. She nervously twisted the hem of her clothes and asked tentatively, "Really?"

She said no more, simply turning on her optical computer to search the official website of the Central Base.

She swiped to the recruitment page and turned the screen to show Li Qingqing. The welfare and benefits were quite impressive.

The cafeteria served very nutritious meals, the dormitory conditions were excellent, offering double, quadruple, and single rooms.

Every month, crystal cores were granted as subsidies according to one's rank, and completing missions yielded extra crystal core rewards. For someone with no background, it was truly a good place to go.

The longer Li Qingqing looked, the brighter her eyes became. Her face flushed slightly with excitement as she grabbed Lu Li’s wrist.

"I want to go!" she said firmly.

"Then go!" Lu Li affirmed.

Li Qingqing bowed deeply to her, then turned and ran off with a resolute look in her eyes. "Thank you, Sister."

Lu Li watched her go once more, gazing at her skipping figure that seemed to have regained a new lease on life, feeling a sense of quiet gratification.

She slowly stood up, her feet somewhat numb from squatting. Her legs weakened and her body tilted to the side as a hand reached out to steady her shoulder.

"Many thanks, Hero Shen," Lu Li said casually, patting her backside.

This trick of patting her backside was a method she had previously seen online to quickly relieve numbness in the legs. She hadn't expected it to actually work.

The two walked back side by side. Shen Bing couldn't help asking, "What did you say to her?"

In the span of just a few minutes, she seemed like a completely different person, transforming from numb and desperate to thoroughly reborn.

Lu Li answered succinctly, "I just told her she could settle in the Central Base, where her most basic survival would be guaranteed."

Shen Bing suddenly felt that she was like a lighthouse in a vast, boundless sea, guiding the way for others.

Upon returning, Lu Li continued selling tickets, while Shen Bing kept watch over his convenience store, separated by less than ten meters.

"Boss Lu, we're out of tickets," someone reminded her.

"Got it." Lu Li reached out to grab more tickets from the side, but her hand grasped empty air.

For convenience, she used to keep all the tickets piled to one side, opening a new batch whenever the old ones ran out. Didn't this mean they were completely sold out?!

She had calculated this morning that once these were all sold, she would level up to Level 4!

Filled with excitement, Lu Li opened her optical computer, looked closely, and couldn't help crying out, "Damn it, finally let me—"

Halfway through, she suddenly caught herself, clapped a hand over her mouth, and finished in a quiet whisper, "—let me upgrade to Level 4!"

As the time approached seven o'clock, Lu Li adjusted her expression, clenched her fist, and said with exaggerated regret, "The tickets are sold out for today, come back tomorrow, haha!"

The person nodded in disappointment. "Oh, well..."

Seeing this, the people behind them also turned and headed back to their respective homes.

Over at the convenience store, Shen Bing’s third restock of goods had also completely sold out. He shook his arms, glanced at Lu Li, and likewise announced, "We're closed. Come back tomorrow."

Just like that, the customers gradually dispersed. Zombies were very active at night, making the survivors relatively quiet.

Shen Bing used his points to buy a few packs of instant noodles, ham sausages, and bottled mineral water, storing them in his spatial storage as he walked back to the small courtyard.

Lu Li poked her head out and, seeing that the surroundings were completely deserted, was just about to press the upgrade button when a voice interrupted her.

"Sister!" It was Li Qingqing’s voice.

Lu Li poked her head out again to look. Li Qingqing was holding the hand of a little girl slightly taller than herself, and the two stood obediently outside the RV.

Her eyes lit up; clearly, she had succeeded. She opened her mouth with immediate encouragement, "You're amazing, Qingqing!"

Li Qingqing lowered her head and smiled shyly, but when she looked up again, her face beamed with a carefree, joyous smile.

"Sister, you have no idea. I used water to wrap around their mouths and noses, watching them beg for mercy on their knees, feeling that slow suffocation as they lost their lives—it felt so good! Bad people are bound to pay the price, right?"

With that, Li Qingqing looked anxiously at Lu Li, somewhat afraid that the older girl might think her too ruthless.

Lu Li leaned her entire upper body out and patted both of their heads. "Yes, they certainly will."

She then pulled out a large bag of candy and shoved it into the girl's hands. "Eat these, and hurry to the Central Base to settle down and start a new life."

Li Qingqing nodded very vigorously. The two of them waved at her in unison, turned, and ran off.

Watching the two disappear from sight, Lu Li finally pressed the "Upgrade" button with a surge of excitement.

In an instant, Lu Li shifted sideways a few meters, directly moved out of the RV by the system as flashes of blinding white light flickered.

Lu Li shielded her eyes from the glare. After a short while, the white light subsided, and she slowly lowered her hands.

What came into view was a double-decker RV. The first floor contained only the driver's seat and nothing else.

The other four sides of the vehicle body were cut off midway, with the entire upper half removed, extending inward to form a stretch of countertop.

Lu Li stepped into the RV. The first floor was still the lottery-selling area, except that the single small window had been replaced by four oversized windows.

The overall area had also expanded significantly, about twice the size of the original RV.

Sitting in the driver's seat, she noticed several new buttons on the center console, one of which featured an upward-pointing arrow.

She pressed it, and after a dizzying spin, Lu Li arrived on the second floor, leaving her slightly speechless. "Using the driver's seat as an elevator? Truly ingenious, System."

The second floor had been converted into her living quarters. At the rear of the vehicle was a five-foot-wide bed, and the bathroom was equipped with a bathtub, featuring a wet-dry separation.

The front of the vehicle housed a small kitchen with all kinds of cooking utensils, a refrigerator, and a matching dining table and chairs for four.

In the middle area sat a large sofa that looked plush and cozy, facing the pet supplies for Xiaolu and Nainai.

Everything felt very warm and cozy, resembling a real home. Lu Li was extremely satisfied.

She didn't have many demands for her living environment—as long as it was clean, tidy, and she could sleep, that was enough.

[Host, there are more surprises in the store~]

Lu Li sprawled lazily on the sofa and lazily opened the store interface, where the points on her personal page had instantly transformed into a five-digit number.

And to think it had been a six-digit number before the upgrade! What a detestable capitalist system!

Not only had her balance changed, but several new settings had also been added, such as membership cards and group-buying...

She first clicked into the membership card section. It was just as she had envisioned earlier, only much more advanced than an ordinary membership card.

Instead of a physical card, it was a minor side-effect-free microchip implanted directly into the human body.

Furthermore, an app named "Lu Li Lottery Store" would automatically appear on their optical computers.

Through it, they could top up points, check point balances, view consumption history, locations, and a series of other functions.

This made things infinitely more convenient, eliminating the wasted time of standing in line to feed crystal cores to Zhaocai one by one.

After thoroughly studying the features, Lu Li clicked the "Start" button, officially launching the membership card system.

She then opened the group-buying section. She was rather curious—could they even do group-buying here? The world truly was one massive group-buying platform.

Perhaps because the feature had just launched, the group-buying page was completely empty, save for a "+" sign at the very bottom.

Lu Li tapped it, and the pop-up page made her instantly understand—it allowed her to set up her own group-buying packages.

She recalled the group-buying sets of the 21st century, which included multiple dishes and were much cheaper than ordering items individually.

Wouldn't that mean she would lose money? Petty-minded Lu Li decided to forgo the group-buying feature for now.

Other than that, she found no other new functions. Since things had come to this, she might as well wash up and go to sleep!

Just as she thought about getting up, her stomach let out a loud rumble. Lu Li remembered she had only eaten that unfilling roasted meat with Shen Bing at noon.

She browsed the store and placed an order for a luxury version of Luosifen (snail rice noodles). The moment it appeared...

Xiaolu let out a disgusted yelp, while Nainai buried her entire face into her cat bed and remained completely motionless.

"Is it really that dramatic? It smells amazing, okay!" Lu Li muttered as she honestly opened the window for ventilation.

She then dug in with gusto, unfazed if oil splattered on her clothes—there was a washing machine anyway, which cleaned things brilliantly.

After slurping down the last noodle, she leaned back against the chair in satisfaction and let out a burp, adhering strictly to the principle of not taking a shower immediately after a full meal.

Lu Li curled up on the sofa, played with her optical computer for a good long while, and only then sluggishly went to wash up.

Along the way, she operated her optical computer to completely close the shutters on the first floor.

The next morning, people who had arrived early to line up at the lottery shop were dumbfounded when they saw the brand-new double-decker RV.

Overnight, it had undergone a complete transformation, changing from one story to two.

Someone walked around it in a circle and couldn't help marveling, "It’s gotten so much bigger too. At least twice the size of before!"

The crowd immediately erupted into discussion. "Boss Lu’s superpower is truly incredible!" For a time, the atmosphere was exceptionally lively.