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墨書 Inktalez
"Silence!"
Everyone held their breath as the burly man with a fierce expression bravely stepped into Hope Mall, standing in front of one of the side windows.
He began to display the items he intended to sell.
Before him lay countless Zombie Crystal s, all First Level Zombie Crystal s, numbering in the thousands. This was the total harvest of their Mercenary group over the past few months, all sold to this newly opened Hope Mall.
The currency he received was not the common Currency used within Gathering Place, but rather a Consumption Card from Hope Mall, which stored his wealth.
"What’s going on? Isn’t this supposed to be the universal Currency of Gathering Place?" the burly man suddenly shouted.
The commoners outside felt their hearts and blood run cold. If it wasn’t the universal Currency of Gathering Place, it meant that these items would be worthless once they left Hope Mall.
"Can I spend it right now?" the burly man asked, puzzled.
"Yes, sir. Please proceed to the Counter across from you. Here is your Lottery Ticket Voucher; please keep it safe. After spending, you can go directly to the Lottery Area in the central hall to draw your prize," a girl at the Counter smiled and directed him.
They were among those who had recently been hired at Hope Mall, earning generous wages and receiving protection from the establishment.
Such jobs were incredibly rare, especially in this post-apocalyptic world.
And this was just as sales staff; if they advanced a level higher, the benefits would be even more significant. The prospects for the future were promising, with different levels of employee treatment dangling before them like a carrot, driving them to pursue their goals relentlessly.
"Help me exchange all the money on this card for rice," the burly man said, clearly distrustful of this unsecured card. He wanted to convert all his funds into food—true hard currency in this world.
"Alright, sir, please wait a moment. Today is the opening promotional period, and the food prices are at a 20% discount. It will be 0.8 yuan per jin. You have a total balance of 75 yuan, which allows you to purchase 90 jin and 6 liang of food. Please choose the types of food." The salesperson pointed to three thick booklets on the table that looked like menus.
Rice, White Flour, corn, potatoes, Sweet Potatoes... everything was available. The food booklets also included various side items, meats, and vegetables.
It felt like a scene from a Post-Apocalypse story; in an instant, it seemed as if time had turned back more than a year.
"Sir, you have one minute left to shop. Please make your selection quickly. We also sell a simplified version of the sales list for just 1 yuan," the salesperson said politely.
"Then give me a copy of the list and convert all my money into rice," the burly man decided he couldn't worry about anything else for now. He would get rice first; as for the other items, he would let the sharp-minded members of his Mercenary group handle that—they truly couldn't afford anything else.
"Alright, sir, please hold on." The salesperson pressed a few buttons on the computer in front of him.
Soon after, a cart was wheeled out from an adjacent room, containing 58 jin of rice along with a receipt.
"This is your Lottery Ticket Voucher; you can redeem it for seven lottery chances. Please head to the central area of the hall to draw your lottery," the salesperson said politely while gesturing for him to proceed to the next customer.
The burly man walked dazedly to the central position.
"Welcome to become a Member of our mall! We hope our service makes your shopping enjoyable. Please come here to collect your Lottery Card." There were over twenty temporary sales staff at the Lottery Card Exchange Center, with stacks of Lottery Cards filling the giant glass display cases in front of them.
"Sir, you can redeem a total of 144 Lottery Cards. Please scratch off your tickets in the Redemption Area," one salesperson handed him a thick stack of lottery tickets along with a Plastic Scraper.
The burly man took the lottery tickets with a puzzled expression.
This thing is such a scam. With 144 Lottery Cards, everyone knows the chances of winning are incredibly low. How many people are there? He doesn't know, but he knows that what he sold is definitely not too much or too little; it can only be considered above average.
"Sigh, just take your time scratching. I've never found more than a dollar on the street in my life," the burly man said, sitting in a corner and scratching off his lottery ticket with a grim expression.
Outside, people looked on in amazement at the burly man. They recognized him as a key member of the Blade Mercenary Group, known for his formidable combat skills and ranking among the strongest Superpowered Individuals.
His current expression was as if someone owed him eight million dollars, curled up in the corner, slowly scratching away at his ticket.
With impressive speed, Zheng Yifan had made the tickets easy to scratch; just a gentle glide of the scratcher revealed the entire area beneath.
"Nothing... nothing... nothing..." With each utterance, more and more people gathered in the Prize Redemption Area.
However, most of them had very little to show for it, exchanging only a few prize tickets.
Those waiting outside watched with bemusement as they caught glimpses of the despondent expressions of those inside scratching their tickets, nearly laughing themselves to death.
"Master, this lottery is simply a scam. Look at the people ahead; with so many tickets scratched, not a single one has won. The odds are just too low!" a young boy said to Wu Yingzhou.
Wu Yingzhou nodded in agreement. "With so many people today and the need to ensure everyone gets a chance to win, the odds reflect the value of the prizes. The current low odds indicate that Hope Mall has put out few prizes as mere decoys, or they have reduced the chances of winning while increasing the value of individual prizes."
"I'm actually looking forward to seeing who among the Lucky Ones wins a prize," he added with a smile. Wu Yingzhou remained calm and composed, embodying the serenity that only a true martial arts master could possess.
A stir had already begun to ripple through the crowd. They looked ahead, noticing that no one had won, and a sense of being deceived settled in their hearts. However, the prices for purchasing and selling were indeed genuine; the food had been verified and was all legitimate new grain, with even the worst storage time being no less than a year and a half.
Occasionally, there would be a lucky person who received this year's new rice, likely harvested from other Gathering Places.
Currently, the Han Sui City Gathering Place was not cultivating any grain. Their stock of food was ample, so there was no need to exhaust themselves planting crops in a place overrun by Zombies.
Just as everyone was feeling a sense of foreboding, a howl suddenly echoed from the Redemption Area.
It came from a burly man who had been scratching off tickets in the corner of the Prize Redemption Area.
"I won! I won! This is my first time winning in my life!" The man kissed the redemption ticket in his hand vigorously before continuing to scratch off other tickets.
"Hey~" A chorus of boos erupted; everyone looked down on this overly dramatic Fellow.
He still had more than ten other redemption tickets in his hand. In just over a minute, he had scratched them all off.
"Ugh, what bad luck. Out of 144 tickets, I only got one win—6th prize. What is it?" The burly man walked over to the salesperson.
"Congratulations on winning! Actually, we don't know what each prize is either; only the core members of the mall are aware. Now, please come forward to scratch off your prize," the salesperson guided him to a large panel at the back.
On it were various mysterious prize zones.
"Is it here?" The burly man pointed at the position for the 6th prize.
"Yes!" The salesman handed him a specially designed scratch-off knife.
The burly man, both amused and bewildered, scratched off the prize in the sixth tier.
Ten boxes of premium liquor (one bottle per box).
Everyone stared in astonishment at the prize. Premium liquor—those claiming to be premium in the Post-Apocalypse were not something an ordinary person could afford.
Then, from a nearby door, several trolleys were rolled out.
Each trolley carried two cases of liquor, totaling five trolleys. They were all unbranded, but a few sample bottles at the front had already been opened and poured into cups for the burly man to taste.
"Wow! This is good stuff! Back in the Post-Apocalypse, I had a sip of something that tasted almost like this when I was accompanying my boss to a meeting. That was over a thousand yuan a bottle. And there are ten cases here?" The burly man felt as if he might faint from happiness.
"I'm going to find someone to help me move this. Don't let anyone else mess it up!" In an instant, the burly man dashed away, disappearing within seconds as he likely went to find his mercenary team to help haul the goods back.
This left Zheng Yifan feeling somewhat awkward.
While he wanted to make the event impressive, he never expected that the customer's prize would be too much for one person to carry back alone.
Despite this, excitement surged through the crowd. Ten cases of liquor could be exchanged for food, enough to sustain them for several years, or even allow them to live well and support a dozen girls to attend to their needs.
Beautiful days were beckoning to them, with alcohol being the ultimate luxury among luxuries in this post-apocalyptic world. It could serve as a substitute for medicine to reduce inflammation and disinfect wounds, and it could ward off the cold during the winter or help with fevers.
In this desolate world, alcohol held great value. However, at the Hope Mall, the sixth prize was ten boxes of liquor. What could the five prizes before it possibly be?
It sent shivers down their spines.
“Quick! Give me my redemption ticket; I want to win the sixth prize… No! I just need the last prize, anything that can give Ahua a glimmer of hope to survive,” a woman, ragged and resembling a beggar, slowly scratched off her redemption ticket in the corner of the Redemption Area. She had just sold some rice for one yuan and used that money to buy a small amount.
“Didn’t… didn’t win.” Tears welled up in her eyes. All she hoped for was to win something that could help her injured man recover; only then would she have a chance to continue living in this harsh world.
Her reliance, her man, would regain his strength and go back outside to join the Mercenary group, earning enough to fill their stomachs.
“Ahua! I hope you have that luck!” With tears in her eyes, she slowly scratched off the last ticket, perhaps her final hope. They had already exhausted all their savings over these days, and this last bit of food was meant to be exchanged for better rations at the First Division—at least enough for two more pounds. This way, maybe her man could recover; she could only deceive herself like this.
“Guanyin, bless me! Post-Apocalypse, I offer my prayers to you. I hope the compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva can bless me with a reward that can help Ahua recover. I would even trade my life for it.” The woman murmured as she slowly scratched off the coating.
Ninth Prize
In that moment, heaven seemed to take notice.
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