Chapter 321: Simon Keane

Chapter 321: Chapter 321: Simon Keane

"Hey, old man, what’s your name?" Lily Hart asked, crossing her arms. She glanced around, but seeing nowhere to sit, she was left standing.

"Simon Keane," the old man mumbled, his voice muffled as he hid himself under the blanket.

"What was that? Sims?" Lily Hart leaned in closer. She hadn’t heard clearly and asked again.

Simon Keane repeated himself, his voice still muffled and even a bit hoarse, as if he had a wad of ancient phlegm stuck in his throat.

"Oh, right, Sims Keaton. Got it." Lily Hart nodded, thinking she understood. Who would have thought the man on the bed would suddenly bolt upright and shout, "SI! MON! KEANE!"

Startled, Lily Hart finally heard him clearly. "Okay, okay, I get it! Sheesh."

Simon Keane flopped back down helplessly. "...It’s a different character," he mumbled, as if he’d lost all his strength and cunning.

Lily Hart understood. She swung her hands a bit to hide her embarrassment. "You should’ve just said so clearly from the start. Honestly."

After a pause, she continued, "By the way, I found a few part-timers for the breakfast shop. At eleven o’clock, you’ll need to pay their wages. It’s ten Crystal Cores per person, and there are five of them today."

Lying in bed, Simon Keane gave a weak nod.

"You old coot, you don’t have to do anything, yet you look half-dead and listless. Can’t you show a little spirit!" Lily Hart tried to pump him up.

But it was no use.

The old man remained in bed, pulling the blanket over his entire body with the resignation of a dead pig unafraid of boiling water. Seeing this, Lily Hart turned and left, filled with exasperation at his incorrigible state.

She was still muttering curses under her breath.

But the moment she saw customers, her scowl vanished, replaced by a smile. She nodded to them and strolled gracefully out of the breakfast shop.

She then stood by a table, acting as a supervisor. A customer who had been planning to sneak a few small steamed buns while the part-timers weren’t looking immediately reined in his intentions the moment he saw Lily Hart.

He could only queue up obediently, not daring to let any hint of his ill intent show on his face, terrified of being found out.

Nearing ten o’clock, Lily Hart returned to the RV, grabbing two meat buns on her way.

She sat cross-legged on the sofa, munching on a large meat bun. It was full of savory, saucy flavor, with a doughy skin that was fluffy yet satisfyingly chewy. Warm and fresh, it was delicious.

She was just spacing out when a message came in from Elder Shaw. [Boss Hart, when are you coming back to Central Command?]

She had almost forgotten about the whole mess at Central Command. Elder Shaw’s question brought a flood of people and problems rushing back to her mind.

’The Mysterious Clan, eyeing them like a predator; the do-nothing Directors who only knew how to make trouble... It’s all a complete quagmire, and I really don’t want to go back.’ However, thanks to the efforts of Elder Shaw and others during this time...

...the internal situation at Central Command was gradually improving. The number of people affiliated with The Mysterious Clan was dwindling, slowly being replaced by their own people.

But The Mysterious Clan, their powerful backer, had only been slightly shaken. They still served as the solid support for several of the Directors. ’How can I wipe them all out in one go?’

She asked her system, [Do you have any ideas?]

[Since the Host is so troubled, the System suggests driving the RV over them one by one!]

[You’re a real genius,] Lily Hart praised perfunctorily. ’As if I haven’t thought of that already?!’

She didn’t want to think about it anymore. After finishing the bun, she threw the plastic wrapper in the trash, propped her head on her hands, and gazed outside. The distant horizon was a sea of yellow sand, and the early winter sun was soft and warm.

’How nice it is here at Steadfast Base. It’s like I’m back in the early days of the apocalypse.’

Carefree, just eating, drinking, and sleeping.

She replied to Elder Shaw, [Not just yet. I’m going to hang around for a few more days.]

Lily Hart planned to move to another base soon. Her goal was to first establish convenience stores or factories in the surrounding bases to solve their food and drink problems. The other shops would come step by step.

As eleven o’clock approached, Lily Hart made a special trip to the convenience store. Seeing that the part-timers were reasonably proficient and not making any mistakes, she felt reassured.

When it was time to pay the part-timers, that old man Simon Keane didn’t even show his face. He just put fifty Crystal Cores in a plastic bag and tossed it onto a table outside.

Lily Hart really didn’t get it. ’Why is he so obsessed with hiding his face? Who’s even here to see it!’

For lunch, they had some stir-fried dishes. Lily Hart polished off two bowls of rice and announced that they would be moving to a new base the next day.

No one had any objections; in fact, they were all happy about it. Boss Hart’s reputation was growing by the day. No matter which base they went to, the residents would basically greet them with smiles.

Aside from the jealous and envious types, all the other residents hoped Lily Hart would visit.

Hardly anyone caused trouble. If anyone even showed a hint of wanting to start something, they were quickly shut down by other customers who were afraid Lily Hart would get a bad impression of their base and never come back.

For instance, right now, someone was shouting outside, "This lottery shop is fucking bullshit! I scratched five tickets! Not a single winner! This has to be rigged!"

Before Diana Sharp or the others could even come out to explain, the man was nearly drowned in a tide of verbal abuse from the surrounding customers.

"If you’ve got bad luck, then don’t play! You’re just wasting your money!"

"Nobody’s forcing you to play! Can’t take a shit so you blame the toilet?!"

"It’s a willing transaction, what’s there to yell about!"

"Seriously, stop yelling, stop yelling! Hurry up and leave. It won’t be good if Boss Hart hears you."

The man only got a couple of curses out before he was collectively chased away by the other customers, both sides looking indignant.

One side thought: ’How can you curse out the lottery shop just because your luck is bad!’

The other thought: ’Damn this lottery shop, why can’t I ever scratch a winner!’

Lily Hart was in the middle of her meal when she heard the man yelling. She had been about to get up and maintain order, but to her surprise, it gradually grew quiet. Everyone went back to their scratch-offs, completely unfazed.

Roman Rowe let out a goofy laugh. "Boss Hart, everyone’s gotten with the program now. You don’t have to worry about a thing."

Lily Hart nodded in deep agreement. ’It would be great if everyone were like this, just scratching tickets in harmony, without any arguments or conflicts.’

But obviously, that was impossible. There would always be petty people, always be those who grew envious of others.

After lunch, Lily Hart went back to lounging around. Two first-place prizes had been won on the very first day at Steadfast Base, but yesterday and today had been completely quiet. ’Could it be that this base’s quota of first-place prizes is used up?’

Lily Hart thought it was highly likely. The system had said before that a first-place prize required the perfect convergence of timing, location, and people; not one could be missing.

She mentally listed her current businesses: a convenience store, a hotel, a bathhouse, a factory, a hot pot restaurant, a breakfast shop...

Lily Hart felt that the system’s goal wasn’t just to open a lottery shop in every base, but rather to build up an entire industrial chain and form a commercial empire.

By then, she would have everything, be able to produce anything. She would be the sole supplier of goods for all of Cathaya, and Crystal Cores would flow to her in an endless stream.

’Ah... just thinking about it is exhilarating.’

’Time to work hard for this grand goal!’

Time flew by. Half of the two hundred books of scratch-offs had been sold, and Lily Hart was quite satisfied. Because there were so many customers, they didn’t get to eat dinner until after closing time.

Seeing that the customers were gone, Old Man Keaton finally dared to come out for a stroll. His wanderings took him right outside the lottery shop, and the moment he saw the scratch-offs, his hands started to itch for no reason.

But he had learned his lesson and didn’t dare to scratch any recklessly. He could only feign a mysterious air, wandering around with his hands clasped behind his back.