Chapter 134: Bath Center
This time, it was four thousand points. Lily Hart casually grabbed four tickets for him and said shamelessly, "Here, go play over there."
The Zombie King watched her smile, and for some reason, he wanted to smile too.
But as a zombie, he didn’t possess the rich and varied emotions of a human—only the most basic ones like joy, anger, and sadness.
He only knew that he was a bit happy right now. ’Does buying Boss Hart’s scratch-offs make her happy?’
’A happy Boss Hart... would she taste more tender? Smoother? More fragrant when I eat her?’
The Zombie King thought so. As he looked at the pure smile on Lily Hart’s face, it became even more pleasing to his eye. ’Keep smiling. It’ll make the meat better.’
He began scratching the tickets, putting all the "Thank You For Playing" losers to one side and those with a pattern on the other.
There were only four tickets in total, now separated into two piles. Lily Hart watched him intently, terrified he would suddenly snap and kill everyone there.
"For you." The Zombie King handed the only ticket with a pattern to Lily Hart.
Lily Hart took it, noticing his fingernails were clean and rounded. Even the cuticles were immaculate.
’I wonder if he does that on purpose, or if this zombie is just a neat freak?’
She took it and looked. The pattern was the shape of a house, but she couldn’t tell what it was at all.
But a faint sense of dread washed over her. Her intuition screamed at her not to redeem the prize, but once a prize was scratched off, it was binding.
If it wasn’t redeemed within three months, the System would automatically teleport the prize to you.
Perfectly fair and reasonable.
It was the same fate either way. Gritting her teeth, Lily Hart shoved the scratch-off ticket at the Lucky Cat.
The next second, the Lucky Cat spat out a small card, and Lily Hart felt like the sky was falling.
’Don’t tell me this zombie actually won the grand prize,’ she thought, picking up the card with trepidation.
Her vision went dark. ’Well, well, well.’ Before her were two words: "Bathhouse Center."
’Him? A zombie? Won a bathhouse center? What the hell is this?!’
"What is it?" asked the Zombie King, Owen Warren. His gaze kept darting toward the small card, but he couldn’t see a thing from his angle.
Lily Hart was torn. If she redeemed the prize, it meant this damn Zombie King would be bound to her.
The bathhouse center couldn’t be more than ten meters from the lottery shop, so if he wanted to run it, he’d have to stick around.
Lily Hart was deeply concerned for her life, having to spend so much time in such close proximity to him...
Seeing her brain was about to explode from overthinking, the System was tempted to remind her that a binding contract would establish a superior-subordinate relationship.
A subordinate could never, under any circumstances, harm their superior. But the System remained silent, letting her figure it out for herself.
Something flickered through Lily Hart’s mind, but she couldn’t quite grasp it. Steeling herself, she asked decisively, "It’s a bathhouse center. Do you want to redeem it?"
Question marks seemed to float above the Zombie King’s head. ’A bathhouse center? A place for bathing?’
’You need a special center just for bathing?’ The apocalypse had lasted too long, and he’d been a zombie for too long. Owen Warren had completely forgotten what such a thing was for...
But he instinctively replied, "I do."
It sounded like something good. Free stuff was not to be refused, and once you had some, you always wanted more.
Lily Hart decided to stop fighting it and just go with the flow. Lazily, she scooped up the Lucky Cat and took a turn around the inside of the RV.
She was looking for a place to put this bathhouse center. Currently, the Dawn Hotel was to the left of the RV, and a convenience store was to the right.
’The back, then,’ she decided. ’It can’t be in the front. The RV needs to face the base’s main gate.’
The Zombie King trailed after her, his curiosity so piqued that his scarlet pupils nearly revealed themselves.
Before he could even get around to Lily Hart’s side of the vehicle, he saw the Lucky Cat’s mouth open impossibly wide.
It gaped wider than Lily Hart was tall, then, as if it had eaten too much, it let out a "COUGH, COUGH" and vomited up a building.
It was taller and had a larger footprint than the adjacent Dawn Hotel. The exterior was sleek and modern—a perfect, massive cube.
The outer walls were adorned with large, realistic-looking, aqua-blue bubbles, arranged in a tasteful, overlapping pattern.
It looked very high-end; one glance and you knew it was a place for water-based fun.
"Let’s go take a look inside," Lily Hart said, taking the initiative.
Back in the 21st century, she was from the south and had never had a proper bathhouse scrub; she had only heard tales of the sprawling bath complexes popular in the north.
Walking inside, she found a spacious and bright lobby. To the right was a rest area with comfortable sofas.
There was also a row of coolers lining one wall, filled with all kinds of beverages.
Next to it was a buffet station running along the wall, offering a small supply of fruit and a large supply of food, including but not limited to fried rice, stir-fried dishes, and pastries...
To the left was the bathing area, which was divided into men’s and women’s sections.
Lily Hart peeked into the bathing area; it wasn’t as fancy or complicated as she’d imagined.
There were just shower heads with an endless supply of running water, and the temperature was adjustable.
The bathing area also provided changing rooms, disposable hand towels, bath towels, combs, and so on...
In the corner were a few elevators, but their screens were dark. They were inactive, so there was no way to get to the second floor. She figured it probably had to be upgraded to unlock more features.
Still, this was more than enough for now. A place to shower, eat, and rest—it was practically heaven.
The Zombie King followed right at Lily Hart’s heels. Wherever she went, he went.
His attention wasn’t on the bathhouse center at all, but on Lily Hart.
This close, the meaty aroma wafting from her was even more intense, like a perfectly cooked, mobile piece of meat...
He couldn’t help but sniff, couldn’t help but imagine what this meat would taste like, all while desperately restraining himself.
He had no mental energy to spare for observing the bathhouse center.
Finally, Lily Hart stopped. Standing about two meters away, she turned and asked him, "So, what do you think?"
"Huh?" the Zombie King blurted out, completely baffled. ’What do I think? About her?’
He nodded repeatedly. "Definitely delicious." He even swallowed at the inappropriate moment, which infuriated Lily Hart.
She spun around and stomped off, filled with regret. ’Why did I redeem a prize for a zombie who only wants to eat me?!’
The Zombie King snapped out of it, catching up in a few strides and grabbing her by the wrist.
"It’s great! I was talking about this place." ’Of course, you look delicious, too,’ he thought.
He explained hastily, but his grip was so strong that he yanked Lily Hart around to face him.
Lily Hart shook his hand off and sneered. "Fine, as long as you like it. It’s yours now."
"It’s mine?" the Zombie King asked again, uncertain. "This whole place is for me?"
"Yes." Lily Hart couldn’t be bothered to explain the stupid rules to him, nor did she care whether he’d run the place properly.
A prize won by someone else belongs to them, after all.
Besides, she figured the Zombie King was wild and rebellious. It was one thing whether he even wanted it, but he probably wouldn’t be willing to be tied down and would likely just walk away from the whole thing.
She never expected him to ask, "So what do I have to do?"
His question shattered her train of thought. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.
’Am I supposed to teach him...?’
She printed out the detailed regulations for the bathhouse center, along with the terms of the partnership between the Zombie King and Lily Hart, and handed the papers to him.
They included major rules, such as the bathhouse center could not be more than ten meters away from the lottery shop, and that profits would be on a twenty-eighty split, among other things.
She said dismissively, "Read it yourself." ’There’s no way he’ll have the patience to read all this,’ she thought.