Bai Li, on the other hand, didn’t notice any of these deeper thoughts. She was still stuck on her own situation. After calming down slightly, she looked at the card in her hand again, took a deep breath, and with a single thought, activated it.

The card flashed.

And the next moment, it turned into a neat row of Wahaha bottles in her hand.

Bai Li stared at them.

"...Wow."

"...Just wow."

She didn’t even know whether to laugh or cry anymore.

In the end, she just gave up thinking about it and sat down again, pulling out a pack of wet wipes from her backpack. She started wiping the blood off her hands slowly, her movements a bit tired but steady.

After cleaning up a bit, she picked up one of the bottles, inserted a straw, then paused for a second before taking another one and handing it to Yan Cijin.

"Drink this," she said, her tone calm again, though there was still a bit of hidden frustration. "Rest for a bit. We’ll think about what to do next."

Yan Cijin took it without hesitation.

"Okay."

She didn’t question it at all.

She simply inserted the straw and took a small sip.

And honestly...

It tasted... nice.

Sweet. Light. A bit nostalgic.

Yan Cijin blinked slightly, then took another sip.

"...Not bad," she thought to herself, her lips curving faintly again.

Bai Li watched her for a second, then finally drank her own bottle as well. The sweet taste spread in her mouth, and for the first time in a while, she felt a tiny bit better. Her body was still tired, but at least the sugar helped a little.

"...Yeah... this helps a bit," she muttered quietly.

She then looked at the remaining bottles, thought for a moment, and stuffed them into her backpack. No matter how useless it felt, it was still something.

Then she took a deep breath.

Her eyes went back to the machine.

"...One time is nothing," she said to herself quietly.

"I still have a lot left."

With that, she reached out again.

And started tapping.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Again and again.

At first, she still paid attention.

But very quickly...

That stopped.

"Congratulations, you have drawn a crow’s feather. Can be used to clean your ears!"

"...Are you serious?" Bai Li muttered flatly, staring at the feather in her hand.

"Sorry, best of luck next time."

"Sorry, best of luck next time."

"Congratulations, you have drawn one piece of chocolate cookie."

"...Okay, at least this is edible," she muttered, tossing it aside.

"Congratulations, you have drawn a can of soda."

"Sorry, best of luck next time."

"Sorry, best of luck next time."

"Sorry, best of luck next time."

"Congratulations, you have drawn... a used toothbrush."

Bai Li froze.

"...Used?" she repeated slowly.

"...USED?!"

Her eye twitched again.

Meanwhile, Yan Cijin...

Was trying very hard not to laugh.

At first, she just kept sipping her drink quietly, watching like it was some kind of show. But the more Bai Li drew, the harder it became to stay serious.

Crow feathers.

Random snacks.

Broken items.

Even... a single piece of bra.

Yan Cijin looked at that item for a second... then looked at Bai Li... then looked back at the item again.

And finally...

She couldn’t hold it anymore.

A small laugh escaped her.

"...Pfft..."

She immediately covered her mouth, trying to control herself, but her shoulders were already shaking slightly.

Bai Li slowly turned her head.

"...You laughed."

Yan Cijin shook her head quickly, still smiling.

"No, no... I didn’t."

"...You definitely did."

"...Maybe a little."

Bai Li stared at her.

"...You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?"

Yan Cijin didn’t answer directly.

But the slight smile on her face said everything.

Bai Li looked back at the pile of items in front of her.

Then back at Yan Cijin.

Then back at the machine.

"...This is bullying," she said seriously.

"I’m being bullied by a machine."

Yan Cijin couldn’t help it this time.

She actually laughed.

A soft, light laugh that didn’t carry any malice, just pure amusement.

"...Sorry," she said, though she didn’t look very sorry.

Bai Li’s face darkened slightly.

"...Don’t laugh."

"I’m not laughing."

"You are."

"...Maybe a little."

Bai Li let out a long breath, her expression turning completely blank again.

"...Fine."

"...Laugh all you want."

Then she turned back to the machine.

And continued tapping.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Completely expressionless.

Like she had already accepted her fate.

Meanwhile, Yan Cijin sat there, sipping her drink, occasionally eating the snacks Bai Li handed her, watching the growing pile of completely random and useless items.

And honestly...

She hadn’t been this entertained in a very long time.

Bai Li didn’t stop. Even after the first few draws turned into a complete disaster, even after the pile of useless junk started growing around her like some kind of cursed treasure, she just kept tapping the draw button with a completely blank face. No anger. No frustration on the surface. Just a calm, empty expression like she had already accepted that nothing good was going to happen anyway. One draw after another, the system voice kept repeating the same things over and over again, "Sorry, best of luck next time," "Congratulations, you have drawn..." followed by something even more useless than before. Within just a few minutes, she had already tapped it around 140 times. That was 280 crystal cores gone just like that. Vanished. Reduced to things like snacks, random trash, and things she didn’t even want to think about anymore. When she finally stopped, she checked her remaining cores and saw the number drop to just 74. For a second, she didn’t react at all. Then she slowly exhaled and rubbed her face. "...Yeah... this is definitely bullying."

She put her backpack down beside her, leaned back slightly, and glanced at the time. There was still some time left before the market disappeared. Enough time to do something. Enough time to try again. Her eyes slowly shifted toward the mass of zombies outside the invisible barrier. They were still there, packed tightly together like a wall of flesh, pushing against each other, their hands clawing forward, their bodies squeezed so hard that some of them couldn’t even move anymore. That was when something clicked in her head. Her expression changed slightly. Not much, but enough. "...Fine," she muttered quietly. "If luck doesn’t work... I’ll just force it." She picked up her crossbow and arrows, stood up slowly, and walked toward the edge of the barrier.

The scene in front of her looked almost unreal. The zombies at the front were completely stuck, crushed between the pressure of those behind them and the invisible wall in front. Their heads were tilted, mouths open, eyes empty, unable to move forward or backward. Perfect targets. Bai Li didn’t waste a second. She raised the crossbow, her hands steady despite the exhaustion, her breathing controlled. She locked onto the nearest zombie. A slight adjustment. A small inhale. Then—

"Shiing!"

The arrow cut through the air with a sharp, clean sound and slammed directly into the zombie’s forehead. A dull crack followed, and the zombie went limp instantly, its body still held upright only because of the pressure from behind.

Bai Li’s eyes lit up.

"...This works."

There was no hesitation after that. She moved fast. Reload. Aim. Fire.

"Shiing!"

Another one dropped.

Reload. Fire.

"Shiing!"

Another.

Her movements became smoother with each shot, almost mechanical, like her body remembered everything perfectly. Even though she was tired, her precision didn’t drop even a bit. Every arrow went straight into the forehead, clean, efficient, no wasted movement. The zombies couldn’t dodge, couldn’t react, couldn’t even flinch properly. They were just standing there, lined up like targets waiting to be taken down.

Bai Li stepped forward slightly, retrieving her arrows quickly, pulling them out one by one with practiced efficiency, wiping them against whatever clean spot she could find on her sleeve, then immediately loading them again.

No pause.

No wasted time.

Shoot.

Retrieve.

Reload.

Shoot again.

From a distance, it looked almost like an action scene from a movie. The calm shooter standing just inside the boundary, surrounded by chaos, while outside, the zombies piled up endlessly, only to be picked off one by one with perfect precision. The sound of arrows cutting through air, the dull thuds of impact, the constant low growls of zombies—it all blended into a strange rhythm.

At one point, three arrows flew almost back to back.

"Shiing—shiing—shiing!"

Three zombies dropped in quick succession, their heads snapping back before going still.

Bai Li didn’t even blink.

"...Next."

Her voice was low, steady, almost cold.

She moved along the edge, changing angles, targeting different clusters, making sure she maximized every shot. Sometimes she fired from slightly above, sometimes from the side, adjusting her stance to avoid hitting already dead bodies blocking the path. Her mind was working fast, calculating angles, distances, efficiency. Even now, even when exhausted, she was still a soldier.

Minutes passed like this.

One zombie.

Then ten.

Then twenty.

Then more.

The pile in front slowly shifted as dead bodies started to slump, but new ones pushed forward to replace them, creating an endless supply of targets.

By the time she finished, her arms were trembling again, her fingers slightly numb from repeated movement, her breathing heavier than before. She fired the last arrow, watched it land perfectly, and then... stopped.

Silence.

Well... not complete silence. The zombies were still there. Still pushing. Still growling.

But Bai Li was done.

She took a step back.

Then another.

And then just dropped to the ground, her body giving up again as she lay there, staring up at the sky, her crossbow resting beside her.

"...I’m done..." she muttered weakly.

At that exact moment, the system’s cheerful voice rang out again.

"Congratulations, dear! You’ve killed 126 zombies and obtained 126 zombie cores. Adding to your remaining 74, you now have a total of 200 level 1 zombie cores."

Bai Li let out a long breath.

"...Finally..."

She didn’t even move for a few seconds, just lying there, letting her body rest, letting her mind calm down. 200 cores. Enough to try again. Enough to gamble again.

After a while, she slowly turned her head slightly.

Yan Cijin was already beside her.

Closer than before.

Watching her.

Her expression wasn’t amused this time.

It was... a little worried.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

Bai Li opened her eyes slowly, still lying on the ground, her body heavy and tired like it didn’t belong to her anymore, and the first thing she saw when her vision cleared was Yan Cijin leaning slightly closer to her than before. It wasn’t too close, but it was close enough that she could clearly see her face without even focusing, close enough that she could notice the small details she hadn’t paid attention to earlier. For a brief second, Bai Li just stared without reacting, and then something hit her all at once. The distance. The faint, subtle scent coming from Yan Cijin, something clean and soft, not strong, but noticeable enough to make her pause. It wasn’t like the smell of soap or perfume, it was just... her. Natural. Calm.

Bai Li froze.

Her throat tightened slightly and she swallowed instinctively, her heart suddenly beating faster than it had any right to in that moment. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t danger. It was something else entirely, something that caught her completely off guard. She immediately turned her head away, almost too quickly, like she was trying to hide the reaction even from herself.

"...What is this..." she muttered faintly in her mind, trying to calm down.

She reached for her phone just to distract herself, her fingers slightly stiff as she checked the time. 5:06.

Her expression changed instantly.

All that distraction vanished.

"...Damn."

Less than five minutes.

That was all they had left.

.

.

.

To be continued.