Chapter Nine: Heaven-Defying Luck in the Lottery

After making her purchases, Qiaoqiao Liu suddenly exclaimed in delight, “Yang Fan, Yang Fan! The system just notified me—I’m the first person whose transaction exceeded 1,000 points! I’ve received the appreciation of my Patron Deity, so I got a bonus: a random weapon, a random pet egg, a random skill book, and a random set of items. Plus, my talent has been upgraded in advance!”

“What… Talent upgrade? What did it enhance?” Yang Fan was startled. Talents could be strengthened? He couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy at Qiaoqiao’s luck, though he was also puzzled by the phrase ‘the appreciation of the Patron Deity.’ But now was not the time to ponder such things.

He asked Qiaoqiao to share her talent with him.

“Advanced Prepayment: Any purchase from the system shop is now 20% off, with a minimum of 50% off—but items cannot be traded. Humph, only 20% off, and even at 50% off you can’t trade, plus there’s a daily limit of ten items. What’s the point?” Qiaoqiao, initially thrilled, now pouted, a bit greedily muttering, “At least it should be 70% off. So stingy.”

“Twenty percent off…” Qiaoqiao spoke offhandedly, but while this talent might seem mediocre to others, Yang Fan—who had truly experienced the apocalypse—knew how invaluable it was. His mind was buzzing. Twenty percent off! To him, Qiaoqiao now looked like a hen laying golden eggs.

What did that mean? From now on, if an item cost 100 points, Qiaoqiao would pay 80, then sell it for 90, making a clean 10% profit. Such a margin! Even with just ten items per day, it was enough to get wealthy early on. In his mind, Yang Fan was already picturing himself living the good life with Qiaoqiao.

Especially thinking about the future.

What’s that? S-class weapon? No, no, trash.
What? S-class pet? Forget it, trash.
S-class bloodline? Not interested, trash…

Yang Fan felt tears welling in his eyes—he’d met someone with truly outrageous luck.

“Sis Qiao, I’m sticking with you from now on!” he howled, half in jest but wholly excited.

Qiaoqiao was still a bit confused about what had happened, but with a free lackey offering his services, she playfully adopted the role of big sister, patting Yang Fan on the shoulder and saying, “Don’t worry, stick with me and you’ll eat well and live well.”

“Thank you, Sis Qiao.” Yang Fan grinned obsequiously, and after joking around for a bit, he focused and asked Qiaoqiao to begin the prize draws.

“For physical combat—a Desert Eagle (Bronze grade), with powerful armor-piercing force, highly effective, needs no bullets, only physical energy, and can currently fire one shot with auto-aim.”

That was the weapon Qiaoqiao drew. She tossed it to Yang Fan, saying, “I’m a girl, not used to guns. You take it, Fan.”

“Oh wow, thank you, Sis Qiao, thank you!” Yang Fan eagerly accepted the Desert Eagle, beaming with excitement. Among equipment, firearms were pricier than melee weapons—the cheapest 68-model pistol cost 300 apocalypse coins, which most people couldn’t afford.

A regular Desert Eagle went for at least 700 coins, let alone a bronze-grade one, which was worth over 1,000. And this one didn’t even need bullets; its firing capacity depended on personal strength. After Yang Fan took the gun, it showed it could fire sixteen times, based on his strength.

This weapon was well known to Yang Fan. With its auto-aim, you could hit precisely where you wanted—head, left middle finger, you name it. A real treasure.

“The pet egg is opening… Ah! It’s a snake!”

Qiaoqiao shrieked and instantly hid behind Yang Fan, trembling all over.

“A snake? What kind?” Yang Fan asked. Qiaoqiao was too scared to answer and simply shared the information.

“Giant Devouring Python hatchling egg, infancy stage. Once matured, it will possess tremendous physical strength and ferocious hunting ability, requiring large quantities of meat energy to grow.”

“Damn, you managed to draw a Giant Devouring Python? Were you a saint in a previous life?” Yang Fan couldn’t help cursing in shock, staring at Qiaoqiao in disbelief. The others, busy with photocopying tasks, were now curious after hearing his reaction.

The Giant Devouring Python was a mutated species, vastly powerful. Others might not know its true strength, but Yang Fan remembered in his previous life seeing someone with such a pet. Even in its adolescent phase, not yet fully grown, it spanned over thirty meters and could battle ordinary insectoids.

Back then, his own team only caught a glimpse of its silhouette before being so terrified they hid for hours before daring to emerge.

Now, to have such a pet himself—how could Yang Fan not be thrilled? Just imagine, with a single call, a giant python bursts from the pet space—who would dare challenge him? Its jaws would swallow them whole.

“If you don’t want it, can I have it…” Yang Fan pleaded eagerly—he truly wanted it.

“Take it, take it, I don’t want a snake,” Qiaoqiao said in her sweet, childlike voice.

Yang Fan traded for it at once, then asked Qiaoqiao to continue the draws. Next came the skill book, and with her extraordinary luck, she drew a rare summoning skill.

Yang Fan was left speechless in awe.

[Frostwater Giant]: Summon one Frostwater Giant, lasting twenty-four hours, with power equivalent to fifty percent of your own, costing thirty percent of your mental energy, with a one-day cooldown. Requires a level one Ice Mage to learn.

This skill was excellent, truly excellent. There were two main classes—Warrior and Mage. To become a Mage, one needed at least seven points in Intelligence, which meant four out of five people became Warriors, and only a fifth could become Mages—not counting hidden classes.

Every class, upon reaching a new tier, could choose one to three skills, depending on circumstances, but had only three skill slots—typically one attack, one support, and one movement skill. However, without class change, this skill couldn’t be learned just yet.

As for the final set of items, Yang Fan was quite expectant.

“A set of first-tier Explosive Talismans…” Qiaoqiao announced after a moment.

“Explosive Talismans? You drew Explosive Talismans—how many?” Yang Fan asked urgently.

“Ninety-nine…” Qiaoqiao replied with delight, knowing from his expression that she’d drawn another prize.

“Sis Qiao, I’m sticking with you for good now!” Yang Fan was beside himself with excitement. Each Explosive Talisman could create an explosion equivalent to a grenade—akin to a level ten professional's full-power strike.

More importantly, they could stack. One might not kill, but five, ten, twenty, fifty—oh, the possibilities…

Yang Fan lost his composure for a moment.

Once things settled down, Qiaoqiao traded the python egg and the Explosive Talismans to Yang Fan. She’d planned to give him everything, but Yang Fan insisted she keep ten for herself, just enough to stay safe by his side.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” Yang Fan said seriously, grateful for Qiaoqiao’s generosity.

“It’s nothing,” Qiaoqiao replied, blushing slightly but beaming with happiness.

Meanwhile, Bai Su, who was binding documents with Yinmei Wu and Xin Liu, overheard Yang Fan’s words, and her thoughts drifted back to long ago.

She vaguely remembered a winter day, walking in the snow with Yang Fan, who was telling jokes she didn’t find funny. Back then, they’d been close. Suddenly, a truck skidded toward them, and Yang Fan shielded her, his left leg slashed by a bloody wound.

At that moment, he’d told her, with the same serious expression,

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

A year had passed, and now he was saying those words to someone else. For a fleeting moment, regret pierced Bai Su’s heart—a sharp pang of loss, as if something precious had been taken from her. Still, she showed no outward sign, quietly binding the photocopied pages with utmost focus.