Chapter 351: Phanfly Base

Chapter 351: Chapter 351: Phanfly Base

That evening, Lily Hart posted her usual poll. Perhaps because everyone knew the base’s supply depot had been shut down,

the convenience store’s ranking shot to the top, leaving the runner-up in the dust.

Lily Hart granted the people’s wish and replicated the convenience store.

Afterwards, she sent a message to the shop owners’ group chat: "We’re heading to Phanfly Base tomorrow. Everyone be ready."

Lily Hart had already mentioned it during dinner, but this was just another little reminder.

Lily Hart was lying in bed, just on the verge of drifting off, when she suddenly jolted awake.

’What about Old Man Keaton? Did he leave?’

’He’d made me so mad this morning I stress-ate two extra bowls of rice, and then this afternoon, I had to deal with that whole thing with Jessica Corbin.’

’I’d completely forgotten he was supposed to leave. The thought just hit me.’

Lily Hart scrambled out of bed. She took two steps in her slippers, then stopped and turned back to ask the system, ’Help me check if he’s left.’

The system had to pull up the surveillance footage, and what it saw was quite amusing.

It displayed the feed directly for Lily Hart. She took the opportunity to lie back down and watch in a more comfortable position.

It was from the RV’s security camera, pointed directly at the breakfast shop. The image was clear and perfectly angled.

On the screen, the breakfast shop’s door creaked open, and a head poked out.

The hair was a frizzy bird’s nest—a signature hairstyle so recognizable that it could only be Simon Keane!

He peeked his head out, surveyed the area, and pulled it back in a moment later. That was the first time.

About half an hour later, he poked his head out again, only to pull it back in. The second time.

This repeated five or six times in succession. Lily Hart could tell he wanted to leave, but he was too afraid of the crowds.

Lily Hart found it strange. ’He’s a grown man, how can he be this scared? Just because there are a lot of people? Does he have social anxiety?’

’How did he get through the last few decades of his life?’

After nearly ten of these back-and-forth attempts, night had fallen, and Old Man Keaton still hadn’t managed to leave.

But by now, the lottery shop was closed for the night. The other shops followed suit, and the customers gradually returned to the base.

’Will he try to leave now?’

Lily Hart thought for a moment, then threw on a jacket, crept down to the first floor of the RV, and stood just outside the breakfast shop.

Sure enough, a rustling sound came from inside, and the door opened once more.

The familiar bird’s-nest hair poked out. His beady eyes scanned the surroundings, and his breath suddenly hitched.

’Is that a person over there? Who is it?’

Lily Hart didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’What is this old man staring at?’ She stepped forward, emerging from the shadows.

A small lightbulb outside the breakfast shop clearly illuminated the small area.

When Old Man Keaton saw who it was, he breathed a sigh of relief. But then, as if remembering something, he tensed up again, staring at her cautiously.

Lily Hart chuckled. "Trying to leave?"

She stepped aside to clear a path for him, shrugging with a smile. "Go on. I’m not stopping you."

’If you can even get away, that is. Theoretically, the shops can’t be too far from the lottery shop.’

’And if a shop owner strays too far for too long, they get forcibly recalled anyway.’

’Just like when Frost Shaw and the others went out, they always returned within the allotted time.’

Thinking of this, Lily Hart felt it was a bit tragic. It was as if winning the grand prize meant you were bound to it for life.

The system chimed in at the perfect moment. "Host, it’s not an unsolvable problem. If they are willing and can find a successor, they can be unbound."

Lily Hart was speechless. ’That’s not what you said before!’

"Unbinding requires a payment of five million points, oh, and finding a successor of comparable ability who must also pass a system assessment~"

’The requirements are pretty steep. No wonder everyone who wins a grand prize is so powerful.’

’The lowest among them is Roman Rowe, a Sixth Rank, followed by Cynthia Whittaker, a Seventh Rank.’

’Then what about Simon Keane? Isn’t he just a regular person? Why...’

"Don’t judge a book by its cover~" the system said.

’Alright, alright, I knew this old man had to be more than he seemed.’

Simon Keane was still scrutinizing Lily Hart’s expression, trying to gauge if she was telling the truth. ’Can I really just leave?’

But since Lily Hart was conversing with the system, her face was completely blank, giving no hint of her thoughts.

"To hell with it!" Simon Keane threw caution to the wind, rising onto his tiptoes and sneaking away.

When Lily Hart snapped out of her thoughts, she saw Simon Keane’s furtive back retreating into the distance. She shrugged. ’Whatever. He’ll just be forcibly recalled anyway.’

She turned off the lights in the breakfast shop, ignored the messy room inside, and went straight back to the RV.

Before going to sleep, she set the RV to drive on a timer, with Phanfly Base as the destination.

...

Late at night, several elders of the White Family were huddled in a camera-free corner, whispering amongst themselves.

Fifth Elder said, "In the last few days, the supply depots at two bases in Kaelus have been shut down."

The Great Elder was confused. "Why? Don’t they need them anymore?"

Fifth Elder gave a self-deprecating laugh. "How could that be? It’s because they’ve been buying supplies from Lily Hart."

The Great Elder fumed, "That damn Lily Hart! Always getting in the way of our business!"

"So what do we do?" Fifth Elder asked.

"Tomorrow, we’ll ask the other families. It’s not like our depots are the only ones affected," the Great Elder said, annoyed.

...

「A new day. Phanfly Base.」

At six in the morning, the RV parked right on schedule, about a hundred meters from the base’s main gate.

Lily Hart, however, didn’t get up until eight. The first thing she did upon waking wasn’t to buy a scratch-off, but to open the doors to the breakfast shop.

She then turned on all the machines, only returning to the lottery shop once she was satisfied they were all working properly.

’I still need to find part-time staff for the breakfast shop... What should I do? I’m starting to think about using robots.’

The previous part-timers had all been left behind at Prudence Base. She had made a point of asking them after the breakfast shop closed yesterday.

They all had families and ties in Prudence Base and weren’t willing to leave, so Lily Hart hadn’t pressed the issue.

’Thinking about it now, buying robots is just more convenient. No communication needed, you just have to feed them Crystal Cores.’

’You don’t have to worry about whether they’ll be willing to relocate, whether they’ll get peckish and sneak food, or whether they have ulterior motives.’

Lily Hart immediately opened her Light Brain and searched for suitable robots.

There was a huge variety of models in all sorts of shapes, but their functions were all more or less the same.

They could all follow a customer’s order, go to a designated spot, and retrieve a specific food item.

All they needed was some initial setup: inputting the food information, like names, pictures, prices, and locations.

Lily Hart found a mid-priced, run-of-the-mill model that was unassuming and plain.

Worried that one wouldn’t be able to handle the workload, she bought three just in case.

After the purchase, she immediately went to the breakfast shop, took them out, and got right to work setting them up.

The breakfast shop now offered nearly a hundred different breakfast items; there were almost twenty different fillings for the steamed buns alone.

Just inputting all the information took her a full ten minutes.

Once everything was entered, Lily Hart decided to test it herself. She stood before the counter and called out to a robot, "I want two pork buns, one sticky rice chicken, and a cup of soy milk!"

She deliberately made the order a bit complex to see if they could handle it.

The robot closest to Lily Hart received the command and immediately sprang into action.

It extended a mechanical arm, lifted a steamer lid, precisely located the pork buns, grabbed a plastic bag, and packed two of them inside.