Chapter 25: The Flower of Medicine and the Blind Box Sensation

“Is there anything?” Qiao Jia asked.

“No,” the system replied after carefully scanning, and both she and the system sighed in disappointment.

As they were still feeling dejected, a group of oddly dressed humans rounded the corner and approached them. The loudspeaker at Qiao Jia’s side was still playing, and it was the very reason that group of survivors had been drawn here.

“Brother Lu, the sound is coming from over there!” The survivors clustered protectively around a young man at the front, eyes vigilant as they glanced at Qiao Jia, who was mingling with a group of zombies.

The moment the survivors appeared, the zombies trailing behind Qiao Jia also noticed them. The zombies, who had been docile as lambs at her side, instantly let out terrifying, aggressive growls!

The survivors were suddenly on high alert.

“Would you like to buy a mystery box? Weapon mystery boxes,” Qiao Jia announced, standing between the zombies and the survivors. She rummaged through her large bundle and pulled out a weapon mystery box.

“You can get all kinds of weapons from these—perfect for dealing with zombies,” she coaxed.

To the survivors, everything about her was strange. A woman appearing out of nowhere, claiming to sell mystery boxes, and surrounded by zombies—she was terrifyingly suspicious.

To them, Qiao Jia seemed like some kind of undercover zombie.

But she didn’t look like a zombie; she clearly appeared human.

“Have zombies evolved this quickly?” one survivor exclaimed, raising his weapon to fend off the charging zombies.

Since getting scratched by a zombie didn’t turn them into one, these survivors dared to go out and hunt the undead.

“Please refrain from slander and spreading rumors,” Qiao Jia replied, deadpan, her eyes dull as dead fish.

“Low-durability weapon mystery boxes: ten crystal cores each, only forty-nine left. Standard weapon mystery boxes: two hundred crystal cores, only five available. Medical mystery boxes: twenty crystal cores each, running low. First come, first served.” She recorded a new announcement, raised her loudspeaker, and calmly broadcasted it to the survivors opposite her.

“Are you kidding?” one of the survivors finally shouted in frustration. “How are we supposed to buy mystery boxes with our hands full fighting zombies?” The zombies didn’t attack her, but they were attacking them!

“Well then, goodbye.” Qiao Jia waved nonchalantly and strolled through the melee of zombies and survivors, waving again as she passed, inciting even more animosity.

“Wait! I’ll take ten medical mystery boxes—don’t go!” The man at the front, called Brother Lu, immediately called out to her as she was about to leave. They had been attracted here by the sound of the mystery box vendor; how could they just let her walk away?

If she left, their trip would have been for nothing!

“All right, ten medical mystery boxes—two hundred crystal cores,” Qiao Jia replied, setting down her bundle and searching through it for a while.

Her large bundle inadvertently shielded the survivors, buying them a moment’s respite. Many of the zombies had already been killed by the big red flower—there weren’t many left. Under Brother Lu’s leadership, the remaining zombies were quickly dispatched.

At last, Qiao Jia unearthed ten medical mystery boxes from the bottom of her bundle.

“Two hundred Tier-1 crystal cores,” she said, holding out her hand to Brother Lu—payment upon delivery.

The man didn’t try to haggle, counting out two hundred Tier-1 crystal cores from his backpack. After all, several of his group had been injured fighting the zombies; the medical mystery boxes would come in handy.

“Next time, you can give me two Tier-2 crystal cores instead. One Tier-2 is worth one hundred Tier-1s, and one Tier-3 is worth one hundred Tier-2s,” Qiao Jia explained, responsibly ensuring the survivors understood.

“A friendly reminder: the contents of the mystery boxes are highly random. A medical mystery box might contain a single cotton swab and a bandage, or it might produce a spray that instantly heals injuries—anything is possible. Items and quantities are both random. If you don’t get anything good, that’s not the fault of the box, but your own luck. Once sold, mystery boxes are nonrefundable,” she added.

Qiao Jia slung her bundle over her shoulder again. She’d just accumulated a good number of crystal cores—enough for the system to restock. The pace of mystery box sales in Giantwood City was far faster than in a small town; there were more survivors and monsters here, and they had money.

It really paid off to have a crowd.

She gazed at the vast city before her, wishing she could pack up all the survivors at once—but that was beyond her power.

Unlike the survivors in small towns, who would always perform some elaborate ritual before opening a mystery box, this group simply opened theirs without ceremony.

“Hey, ‘Healing Bloom’? A Tier-1 medical item?” one survivor read off the label of a flower-shaped spray, her eyes filled with astonishment.

“Point the bloom at your wound, press the green leaf at the base, and the flower will spray a healing mist,” she read aloud.

Was this some kind of game?

“Boss, is this a rare item?” she asked, looking up at Qiao Jia.

“Congratulations. The odds of drawing a rare variant from a mystery box are only one percent,” Qiao Jia replied, applauding with a blank expression, her face betraying no real enthusiasm.

“If I get a rare item, do I get another box?” The survivor’s eyes lit up as she looked at Qiao Jia.

“…I’m just a small business,” Qiao Jia replied, a little startled by the survivors’ logic. How could people be so clever? She’d have to create a new promotion later and push more water and drink mystery boxes. Those were cheap, affordable for anyone, but hard to come by. She’d have to boost their sales.

“All right then.” The survivors weren’t disappointed at being refused; getting a rare variant was already incredibly lucky.

“How much did you say the weapon mystery box was?” someone asked.

“Low-durability weapon mystery boxes are ten crystal cores each, standard weapon mystery boxes are two hundred,” Qiao Jia repeated.

“Buy a low-durability weapon mystery box and get a water and drink mystery box free. Food mystery boxes are two crystal cores each,” she added.

With no zombies around, Qiao Jia untied her bundle and laid out all her mystery boxes for the survivors to browse and choose themselves.

These survivors, who dared to hunt zombies outside, clearly had considerable spending power.

“What’s the difference between a low-durability weapon box and a standard one?” asked a buzz-cut survivor as he browsed.

“Dummy—one’s low-durability, the other’s normal. It’s in the name! If I were the boss, I wouldn’t even bother answering you,” snapped the bespectacled woman next to him, smacking his head.

“Then I’ll take a standard one. What if the other breaks halfway through a fight?” the buzz-cut man decided.

“But what if you just get a kitchen knife? That’s two hundred crystal cores—a whole two hundred zombies we’d have to kill!” someone else retorted.

“I want a few food mystery boxes. It’s been ages since I’ve had anything tasty,” another survivor chimed in.

As the survivors picked out their boxes, the discussion grew lively.

“Host, someone in the small town has been captured by goblins,” the system reported.