Chapter 387: The Hoarded Reward

Chapter 387: Chapter 387: The Hoarded Reward

Lily Hart had just finished her sandwich. She quickly got up and headed out of the RV. The two people knew the rules, and of course, they wanted to set up stalls in the night market.

The customer base was steady, and no one would dare cause them trouble.

A man and a woman, each with a machine in front of them. Based on Lily Hart’s experience... hmmm, she couldn’t tell what they were. The machines all looked more or less the same.

The only difference was the food they produced.

Before she even got close, the two eagerly started introducing the machines they had gotten from their scratch-offs.

As if they were afraid Boss Hart wouldn’t like it. They needn’t have worried—she loved to eat everything.

"Boss Hart, come take a look! This is a grilled cold noodle machine! I hear this stuff is delicious! I haven’t tried it myself yet, hehe~"

"Don’t look at hers, Boss Hart, look at mine first! This is for beef offal stew! Beef offal stew! It’s meat!"

Boss Hart stopped in her tracks. She stood a short distance away, feeling a bit conflicted. ’What should I do? I kind of want to try both...’

But she went to the woman’s machine first, since she had spoken up first.

"Have you tried it yet?" Lily Hart asked.

"Not yet. I was a little nervous. I wanted to wait for you, Boss Hart, before I tried," the woman said, hesitating slightly.

Lily Hart gave her an encouraging look. "Don’t worry, you can’t break the machine. Go on and try it!" she said with great gusto.

Encouraged, the woman followed Lily Hart’s instructions and twisted the machine’s switch on.

The machine was a rectangular metal box about 1.3 meters tall. On top was a griddle, with a spot to the side for tools.

Lily Hart sized it up with her eyes. She would have to stretch her arms out completely to cover the griddle.

’It looks quite large, the kind that could probably make many servings of grilled cold noodles at once.’

After the switch was turned, two blocks of yellow cold noodles appeared out of thin air on the griddle, lying loosely next to each other.

Then, one side of the noodles was lifted up as if by an invisible pair of large hands holding a squeeze bottle, squirting oil and water underneath.

The noodles began to SIZZLE, attracting the attention of many onlookers, including the owner of the beef offal stew machine next to them.

The residents of Kenseng Base had never seen such a spectacle and couldn’t help but gasp in amazement. A crowd gathered to watch from a safe distance.

After the oil was squirted, an egg was cracked onto each of the two noodle blocks simultaneously.

A pair of spatulas appeared in mid-air, spreading the egg evenly over the noodles. After flipping them over, sauce was brushed on. It was applied perfectly evenly, covering every spot.

Once both noodle blocks were sauced, it was time for toppings.

Things like onions, sausage, ketchup, and chicken strips.

Soon, a basic serving of grilled cold noodles was ready. It was placed in a disposable paper box, complete with two skewers. All eyes were on it.

It smelled absolutely incredible. The finished product was rolled up, stuffed with various fillings, and generously slathered with sauce.

Who would get to eat this serving of grilled cold noodles?

The woman swallowed hard. She desperately wanted to eat it herself, but she’d heard the rule of the night market was that the first serving should go to Boss Hart.

She held it out to Lily Hart. "Boss Hart, you try it. See how it tastes."

Lily Hart had just eaten a sandwich and wasn’t hungry yet, so she declined. "No need, you eat it. I’m not hungry. We can always just make another one."

Hearing this, the woman didn’t refuse again. She hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days and began to scarf it down.

The owner of the beef offal stew machine heard this and immediately stepped forward bravely, pulling Lily Hart over to his machine. "Boss Hart, come take a look at my machine~"

The exterior was similar—a rectangular metal box—but instead of a griddle on top, it had five stove burners.

Curious, she turned on the switch. An earthy-yellow, round clay pot appeared on one of the burners and began BUBBLING, puffing out clouds of steam.

She didn’t dare touch it, afraid of getting burned. She waited for a red light to turn green before lifting the lid.

An aromatic scent wafted out.

Lily Hart took a quick look inside. There was daikon radish, beef brisket, beef tongue, beef tripe, beef intestine... basically the whole cow family.

It looked especially fragrant, and Lily Hart’s mouth watered. ’It’s been so, so long since I’ve had beef offal stew. This stuff is delicious and warms you up—perfect for winter!’

The stall owner started salivating too. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d eaten meat. Right now, there was nothing else on his mind but this pot of beef offal stew!

Lily Hart immediately pulled out disposable bowls and chopsticks from a compartment in the metal box. She handed a set to the stall owner, took a set for herself, and declared without ceremony, "Come on! Let’s eat!"

She acted as if the machine were her own.

The stall owner snapped back to reality, took the bowl and chopsticks, and started to dig in greedily. His mind was filled with nothing but, ’This is incredible! So fragrant and delicious! It’s too good!’

Lily Hart picked up a piece of daikon. It was incredibly flavorful, with a slight spiciness that was perfect for the current weather.

But she really wasn’t hungry. After eating the daikon and a piece of tripe, she put down her chopsticks and patted the stall owner’s shoulder. "Keep it up." She didn’t forget the other stall owner’s shoulder, saying the same three words to her as well.

Once they had both finished eating, Lily Hart led the two of them to the night market. The area was quite large, but it was a bit of a mess.

The placement of the stalls, in particular. Let’s just say they all had their own "personality." None of them were lined up, which made Lily Hart a little uncomfortable to look at.

’More and more stalls will be set up in the future. This won’t do.’

She remembered night markets from the age of civilization. They were massive in scale. Each stall had a square tent, and they were all arranged in neat rows.

There could be hundreds of stalls.

There was a certain amount of space between the rows where sets of tables and chairs could be placed for customers to sit.

Lily Hart decided she would "reorganize" the night market according to this model later!

After getting the grilled cold noodle and beef offal stew stalls settled, Lily Hart returned to the RV. She wanted to make the adjustments now, but the other stall owners were all at the hotel catching up on sleep.

When she got back to the RV, Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe had already left.

She sat alone on the sofa, spacing out. Suddenly, she remembered something very important. She had reached Level 6 a while ago, ’but where’s my level-up reward?!’

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Lily Hart felt the system in her head give a jolt.

’Just as I thought. That damned, greedy system!’

’Other people’s systems rack their brains to find benefits for their hosts. Why is my system always trying to withhold my rewards?’

Her voice deepened. "Hurry up and hand it over. Don’t make me say it a second time!"

Hearing this, the system sensed she was genuinely angry, not joking around like usual. It quickly handed over the reward it had been hiding.

It wasn’t that it wanted to, but the system next door...

The reward appeared in her inventory: a large prize wheel for a lottery draw.

Lily Hart’s eyes scanned it. The most attractive prize was "Transportation," followed by a note in parentheses (including but not limited to: high-speed rail, buses, subways, shared bicycles, shared electric scooters).

’Whoa? Transportation?’ Lily Hart’s mind instantly flooded with possibilities.

’Can it only be used within the base, or can it connect the major bases?’

’If it’s the latter, that would be a real blessing for the people. The main reason goods aren’t circulating now is the lack of convenient transportation.’

The roads were filled with too many zombies and mutated plants and animals.