Chapter 369: Pearl Base

Chapter 369: Chapter 369: Pearl Base

Lily Hart avoided milk tea at night, afraid she wouldn’t be able to sleep, so she went to cut up a cantaloupe instead. It was incredibly sweet, especially the very center—a sweetness that warmed her heart.

Munching on cantaloupe and chocolate cookies—now this was the life.

Time flies when you’re having fun. The customers hadn’t had their fill of scratching, but it was already closing time.

They all knew Boss Hart was leaving the next day and were sad to see her go. But when they looked at the automated scratch-off ticket machine and the vending machine, their spirits lifted a little.

At least she had left something behind.

After closing up, Lily Hart started a poll. She checked it before bed and saw that the clinic was in first place. She duplicated the clinic, then set the next base as her destination.

And with that, she went to sleep peacefully.

The residents of Bain Base woke up to find that Boss Hart had indeed left. But in her place was a new clinic, and their gloomy mood instantly brightened.

They immediately and cheerfully went to line up to buy scratch-off tickets.

Meanwhile, Lily Hart was also cheerfully selling scratch-off tickets. This was a new base, called Pearl Base, and Lily Hart began to make her usual prediction.

Based on past experience, she made another prediction. ’The Base Commander of this base must have "bright" or "pearl" in their name, or maybe their name is just Pearl.’

Lily Hart organized yesterday’s unsold scratch-off tickets, then took out dozens of new booklets, unwrapped them, and laid them out. It was a required part of her daily routine.

It wasn’t tiring in the least. She could relax and let her mind wander during the process. ’Actually, it’s pretty stress-relieving.’

Soon, the residents of Pearl Base arrived.

Their reaction upon seeing her went from shock to scrutiny, and finally to elation.

Lily Hart figured the next step would be a mad rush to buy scratch-off tickets. Instead, they all whipped out their Light Brains and started snapping a flurry of photos of her and the lottery shop.

Thankfully, Lily Hart had excellent control over her expression. She subconsciously flashed her signature professional smile, a flawless, 360-degree masterpiece.

After they finished photographing the lottery shop and Lily Hart, the crowd still didn’t buy any scratch-off tickets. Instead, they moved on to photograph the breakfast shop, then the convenience store, the clinic, the bathhouse...

They weren’t going to miss a single shop!

Lily Hart started to suspect they weren’t ordinary residents, but rather social media content creators. ’Wait, it’s the apocalypse. Is that even a job anymore?’

Since it was still very early, only the convenience store was open. So they photographed it from the outside, capturing every possible angle and not missing a single detail.

’They seem so professional...’ Lily Hart thought.

When they finally finished their photoshoot, the group reappeared before Lily Hart, every one of them looking ecstatic.

They were chattering amongst themselves.

"What do you think of this shot I got?"

"This? It’s awful! You didn’t capture the lively atmosphere of the hot pot restaurant at all!"

"Dude! There were only a few occupied tables. How was I supposed to make it look lively?"

"Well, I managed it!" the person said proudly, showing off their photo.

Everyone crowded around to look. The photo really did give off a bustling vibe. Even though only a few tables were occupied, he had found such a good angle that it made the whole place look packed.

"You... You... That’s a total fabrication! A photographic lie!" the other person shot back stubbornly.

"Hmph."

"You two, stop arguing. Are we scratching tickets or not? If we wait any longer, it’s going to get crowded."

"We’re scratching, we’re scratching," the two said in unison.

Seeing that they had finally finished their conversation, Lily Hart spoke up. "So, why all the pictures?"

The group was completely absorbed in picking out scratch-off tickets. Hearing a voice suddenly descend as if from on high, they jumped in surprise and all looked up.

One of the more extroverted ones answered for the group. "We post them online for people to see and collect some tips. Boss Hart, you’re the latest sensation! Any topic related to you gets a ton of views!"

"People give you tips? What kind of tips? Crystal Cores?" Lily Hart asked, intrigued.

"Yep! Crystal Cores. The platform takes a fifty-percent cut, and the rest is deposited into our accounts," the man said as he continued to choose his tickets.

"Wow, that’s amazing," Lily Hart said, surprised.

She’d always thought the Light Brains were incredible. They were similar to the smartphones from the age of civilization, but they didn’t seem like something the folks at the research institutes could have invented.

She glanced at the group. "You all do this for a living?"

"Yeah. We also film zombies and mutated flora and fauna sometimes. We upload it all online. If you get clicks, you get traffic, and if you get traffic, you get tips."

"Wow. But aren’t people sick of seeing that kind of stuff by now?" Lily Hart asked, confused.

The extroverted customer finally finished picking his scratch-off tickets. "Heh, we film whatever’s ugly and whatever’s bizarre. The research institutes even collect our photos to use in their field guides."

Lily Hart gave them a thumbs-up. "Keep up the good work!"

Happy to have received her approval, each of them picked out a few more scratch-off tickets. Hearing the news, other residents also began to emerge one after another.

And so began their shopping sprees.

The hardware store had just been added yesterday and was only supposed to open today. There hadn’t been a whisper about it online.

The residents were intimately familiar with all of Boss Hart’s establishments. So when they wandered toward the back and discovered a shop they’d never heard of, they rushed to press their faces against the door and peer inside.

"Huh? What do they sell in here?"

"Are those shovels and spades? Do people still farm these days?"

"Of course they do. The people at the research institutes have to farm, even if they haven’t managed to grow anything yet."

"I see a lot of light bulbs, too. I’d love to install one in my room, but we don’t have electricity!"

"This place has everything! I even see screws. The other day I found a broken table outside the base—I bet I can fix it and it’ll still be usable!"

The crowd was still pressed against the door, chattering away, completely oblivious to Molly Mason’s arrival behind them.

She had spent the night in the hotel. It was the best sleep she’d had in all her years since the apocalypse began. She’d even enjoyed a comfortable bath and washed her hair.

Now, she was absolutely radiant, her shoulder-length hair soft and smooth.

She cleared her throat twice, but failed to attract anyone’s attention. They were all still craning their necks to see inside, taking inventory of the contents.

Seeing this, Molly Mason simply strode forward, nudged aside the people blocking the entrance, and took out a key to unlock the door. Only then did they realize—oh, the shopkeeper was here!

They all eagerly followed the shopkeeper inside.

They made a beeline for their chosen items. Having already spent a while window-shopping from outside, all they had to do now was grab what they wanted and pay.

Even though they had no immediate use for many of the items, they still bought huge piles of them, thinking they might come in handy someday. Just in case!

It must be said, this was a wise choice.

After leaving the hardware store, this group immediately started spreading the news, not just by word of mouth in the other shops, but also by posting about it online.

They described it as a veritable treasure chest that contained everything imaginable!

Their original plan was to do a quick tour of all the shops first to see what was available, then go back for a more thorough look.

So much for walking through from start to finish. They’d already done a round of shopping at the hardware store. Which shop was next? ’Let’s rule out the hot pot place for now,’ they thought. ’We can go there at noon, since that’s a place to eat.’

However, someone in the group who was deeply knowledgeable about Boss Hart’s shops said confidently, "I suggest we go get a number first."

"Get a number? What’s that?"

The person explained patiently, "There are a lot of people in our base, but limited space in the shops. So we have to queue, right? And if we have to queue, we need numbers, right? That’s why Boss Hart set up a ticket system."