Chapter 79: The Lucky Draw
Song Yuqing was still trying to parse the meaning behind Master Fu’s words when the system abruptly dropped a massive mission on her.
God’s Supermarket was to host a lucky draw. Customers could exchange one high-level zombie corpse or a single pink-and-white crystal core for one raffle ticket.
The catch? Within the next three days, the event had to draw no less than one thousand participants.
As for the prize pool, that was entirely up to her.
Song Yuqing felt a headache coming on. Was all this extra theater really necessary? Couldn’t they just run the business normally? Why did the system insist on these flashy gimmicks?
A thousand participants meant they needed to harvest at least a thousand of those specific high-level zombies. Leaving aside whether that many of those creatures even existed right now, she doubted there were even a thousand high-level espers in the area capable of hunting them down.
Master Fu sounded entirely righteous as he answered, “This is the most efficient way to gather intel on these new zombies.”
“And if I fail the mission?” Song Yuqing didn’t lack confidence in herself or the supermarket, but she liked to be prepared for the worst. Unexpected variables always popped up.
“Then God’s Supermarket will be forced to operate completely free of charge for twenty-nine days,” Master Fu replied smoothly. “Furthermore, by the end of the month, you must still meet your standard monthly sales quota of three thousand zombies.”
Song Yuqing’s mouth twitched. That wasn’t a punishment; it was a death sentence.
“The countdown begins now. Three days. Seventy-two hours.”
Suddenly, Song Yuqing could actually hear the distinct ticking of a second hand echoing right next to her ear. It sounded exactly like a death warrant.
“Chop chop.”
Annoyed, Song Yuqing pulled the blanket over her head, trying to drown out the maddening noise, but it was useless.
“Manager! There’s a bomb!” Liu Xiaona pounded fiercely on the bedroom door, her voice laced with pure panic. “I can hear a bomb countdown!”
Song Yuqing let out a heavy sigh and swung the door open. “Yeah. It’s a bomb, alright.”
Gathering the entire staff of God’s Supermarket on the second floor, Song Yuqing called an emergency meeting to iron out the promotional strategy and decide on the prizes.
Calling it a discussion was a bit generous, though; it quickly turned into a one-woman show.
“We’ll just do whatever you think is best, Manager,” Liu Xiaona said.
Needless to say, Gaha and Little Meat Bun knew absolutely nothing about event planning. When Liu Xiaona did try to pitch a few ideas, they were complete financial disasters.
For instance, her idea for the grand prize was to give the winner thirty days of free shopping at the supermarket.
Song Yuqing pinched the bridge of her nose. She needed to brainstorm rewards that were highly enticing to customers but wouldn’t break her own bank.
“How about a ‘Clerk for a Day’ experience at God’s Supermarket?”
“Or the grand prize winner gets to play with Little Meat Bun for a whole day!” Liu Xiaona laughed.
Little Meat Bun pouted unhappily, crossing his small arms over his chest.
With the phantom ticking of the clock driving her forward, Song Yuqing finally finalized a solid prize list.
First Prize: Ten store coupons, two zombie protective suits, two cups of ability coffee, and a day trip to a parallel world (redeemable next month).
Second Prize: Ten store coupons, a premium toiletries set, and a superpower-boosting gourmet meal personally prepared by Liu Xiaona.
Third Prize: Ten store coupons, a snack and drink combo pack, and a full day of playtime with the giant pandas.
Consolation Prize: Ten store coupons and a bowl of Truth Soup.
“What do you think? Not bad, right? Pretty tempting?”
Little Meat Bun scratched his head in confusion. Why was he still included in the prizes? Hadn’t they established that letting customers play with him was a bad idea?
Liu Xiaona, meanwhile, was pouting. A day trip to a parallel world? Even the store employees hadn’t been allowed to go there yet!
Song Yuqing offered a soothing pat to Liu Xiaona’s head. “Don’t worry. Next time, I’ll take you along to visit Sister Qin.”
Instantly re-energized, Liu Xiaona eagerly volunteered to post the raffle announcement on the store’s official website.
Song Yuqing then headed downstairs and walked next door to recruit Zhang Yimiao’s help. While she was at it, she counted out fifty zombie protective suits to bring along. This was the fulfillment of her earlier promise: a free suit for the first fifty customers who had watched their promotional video and come to the store.
The building where Zhang Yimiao’s squad was staying had been cleaned up beautifully. A wood-type esper had decorated the space with vibrant potted plants and flowers, and with various camping gear strategically arranged, the interior had a distinctly cozy, bohemian-jungle vibe.
“Here you go. I forgot to hand these over earlier,” Song Yuqing said, passing the neatly stacked pile of protective suits to Zhang Yimiao.
Zhang Yimiao wiped her hands on her pants before solemnly accepting them.
“All fifty are here. I don’t remember the exact order of who walked into the supermarket first, so I’ll leave it to you to distribute them among yourselves.”
“Thank you!” Zhang Yimiao beamed, running her hands excitedly over the smooth fabric.
Song Yuqing found a seat and laid out the details of the upcoming raffle, even revealing the underlying urgency of the event. She explicitly asked Zhang Yimiao to leverage her network to rally as many participants as possible.
“Leave it to me!” Zhang Yimiao promised, slapping her chest confidently.
A split second later, a wave of regret washed over her face. If only she had known sooner, she wouldn’t have traded those pink-and-white core zombies so early. “Do the zombies I brought in earlier count toward the draw?”
Song Yuqing smiled gently and shook her head.
Zhang Yimiao let out a soft huff and plonked herself down in the chair next to Song Yuqing.
Song Yuqing simply sat there, staring at her intently.
Feeling uneasy under the unblinking gaze, Zhang Yimiao shifted uncomfortably. “Is there something on my face?”
“The very first people to enter a raffle always have the highest odds of winning,” Song Yuqing drop-hinted. She desperately needed Zhang Yimiao to round up her crew and start hunting down those specific high-level zombies immediately.
“Oh! Right!” Realization dawning on her, Zhang Yimiao leaped to her feet and dashed off to rally her companions.
Song Yuqing let out a long breath. It had been ages since she felt this kind of crushing pressure.
Walking back outside, she pulled out her phone and fired off a text to Nanjiao:
[God’s Supermarket is hosting a lucky draw event! Could you help us spread the word?]
[Oh? Tell me more,] Nanjiao replied almost instantly, followed by excellent news. [We’re heading out to two separate bases today to install the network infrastructure and security gates. Plus, the tech teams at Base Zero and Base One are currently linking up with the supermarket’s online shopping platform. Your website is about to get a massive influx of customers very soon.]
Song Yuqing literally jumped for joy, pumping her fists in the air. With an expanded online market, completing the mission would be a breeze.
[Nanjiao, you are an absolute lifesaver!!!]
[Naturally! I’ll catch up with you properly when I have a free moment.]
After that last text, Nanjiao went silent. Song Yuqing didn’t think much of it. Returning to the supermarket, she gathered Liu Xiaona, Gaha, and Little Meat Bun to begin constructing the raffle boxes and cutting the paper slips.
Song Yuqing wasn’t one to be stingy. Since it was a raffle, she made sure to include a generous amount of second, third, and consolation prizes. She didn’t want anyone accusing God’s Supermarket of running a rigged event.
While God’s Supermarket was a whirlwind of cheerful productivity, the atmosphere over where Nanjiao and the Xie brothers stood was suffocatingly tense.
“So… you’re really not coming with us?” Although Nanjiao was asking Shen She directly, he couldn’t bring himself to look the man in the eye. One glance at that stoic face always made his heart ache.
“No. I have other matters to attend to,” Shen She replied quietly. “Thank you all for looking after me on the road.”
“Hey, man… you were the one looking after us,” Xie Hao muttered, his voice dropping low as a heavy silence fell over the group.
