Chapter 6

The noise around Chris faded into the background. His entire focus was on the lottery tickets in his hand.

"Not a winner."

"$1."

"Sorry, try again!"

One after another, he revealed more than a dozen losers. The biggest prize so far was a measly five dollars.

But Chris didn't get discouraged. He trusted the system's intel completely.

He picked up the third-to-last ticket and carefully dragged the edge of the quarter across the silvery coating.

First row—nothing.

Second row—zip.

But as he cleared the third row, three identical "Money Bag" symbols lined up perfectly. Below them, the prize amount was printed in bold, unmistakable numbers:

$20,000!

He did it!

Chris's heart slammed against his ribs. A jolt of pure, electric adrenaline shot through him. His head snapped up, instinctively scanning around him.

Luckily, no one was paying him any attention.

He swiftly gathered the winning ticket with the rest of the losers, stuffed them all into his jacket pocket, smoothed his face into a neutral mask, and walked calmly out of the shop.

Twenty thousand dollars. All his.

The thin slip of paper in his pocket felt as heavy as a brick of gold.

It was time to find his mother.

Without pause, Chris hurried toward the Eastglade Market.

It was peak shopping hour. The marketplace buzzed with chatter and the clamor of bargaining voices.

Circling the stalls near Exit Two—where his mother usually set up—he quickly spotted her familiar figure.

Laura stood hunched, briskly weighing vegetables and taking payments. Tiny beads of sweat dotted her brow.

"Mom!" Chris rushed forward.

She looked up, surprised. "Chris? What are you doing here at this hour? Have you had lunch?"

"Mom, stop selling. Pack up and come with me!" He grabbed her arm, eager to pull her away.

"Hey, what's gotten into you, child?" Laura shook him off, scolding. "Look at all these vegetables! If I don't sell them, they'll go to waste."

She gestured at the neat piles of greens and radishes still on her stall.

"Mom, it's urgent! Really urgent. Something big just happened!"

"What could be more important than selling vegetables?" she said dismissively.

Chris leaned close, lowering his voice with deliberate mystery. "Mom, I hit the jackpot. I won twenty thousand dollars!"

"What?!" Her eyes went wide, her voice breaking into a sharp pitch. "Twenty… thousand?!"

She clutched his arm, disbelief written all over her face. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

"Of course not!" He carefully pulled out the winning ticket and waved it before her. "See? Lucky Scratch-Offs Lottery, grand prize—twenty thousand!"

Laura peered at it closely. She didn't fully understand the fine print, but she knew how to count zeros.

In an instant, joy overwhelmed her.

"Dear heavens! We really… we really won twenty thousand!" Her hands trembled with excitement.

Then worry clouded her expression. "But… but what about the vegetables…"

"Oh, Mom! Vegetables will still be here tomorrow. Right now, you have to come with me to the city lottery center to claim the prize! I'm too nervous to go alone."

She gave him a look that was equal parts amused and exasperated. "You're a grown man, afraid to claim a prize? And besides, it's safer if you go alone. With me tagging along, we'd only attract attention."

"I don't care! You have to come. If you don't, I won't go either! We'll just forget about the money!"

"You!" Laura sighed, helpless before her son's stubbornness. Looking at his adamant expression—ready to throw a tantrum if she refused—she thought of the twenty thousand. At last, she relented.

"Fine, fine. I'll go with you! You win."

Though her words sounded like a complaint, a broad smile lit her face as she quickly packed up the stall.

Before long, mother and son were at the city lottery center.

The redemption process went smoothly. After deducting twenty percent for personal income tax, Chris's bank card was credited with a solid 16,000 dollars.

When the text message notification flashed on Chris's phone, Laura's eyes brimmed with tears.

"Sixteen thousand! Chris, our family… our family finally has money!"

Chris steadied her with a smile. "Mom, this is only the beginning. From now on, you and Dad won't have to wake up at dawn and toil every day at the market. Just stay home, play cards with the neighbors, chat, and enjoy life."

But Laura's expression hardened immediately. "Absolutely not! This money must be saved carefully."

She began ticking things off on her fingers. "You're divorced from Katie. When you remarry, there's the bride price, house, wedding banquet… All of those cost money! In times like these, even 16,000 isn't enough. It won't even cover a down payment!"

Chris sighed, feeling helpless. "Mom, don't worry about the money. We're going to have more than enough soon."

"Don't be foolish!" She shot him a sharp look. "You win a little bit and suddenly you're a big shot? You're getting ahead of yourself!"

Just then, a woman walking by pointed to the basket of vegetables Laura had brought with her. "Excuse me, are you selling those? They look incredibly fresh."

Laura's face immediately brightened. Her vendor's instincts kicked into high gear.

"Selling? Of course I am! Picked from my own garden this morning, see how fresh they are?"

Without a second thought, she set the basket down on the curb and began expertly arranging the produce into a makeshift stall.

"Would you like a few pounds of these greens, dear?"

"Sir, these radishes are wonderful, you should take some!"

Chris could only watch, both amused and exasperated.

Some things never changed. No matter the circumstance, his mother was always ready to make a sale.

Resigned, he crouched down to help her weigh vegetables and collect payments.

When most of the basket was sold, Laura stuffed the coins into her pouch and muttered contentedly, "You know, there's quite a crowd near the lottery center. Maybe I should start selling here instead?"

Chris was just about to try and talk her out of it when a flash of movement caught his eye. A modified yellow motorbike was hurtling straight toward them, engine screaming.

The harsh roar ripped through the calm street.

The rider was a young man with bleached-blond hair, weaving recklessly at a terrifying speed—heading directly for his mother, who was bent over her basket.

"Mom! Watch out!"

Chris's instincts took over. He lunged forward, grabbing her arm and yanking her back with all his strength.

"SCREECH—!"

The bike whipped past the exact spot where Laura had been standing, the rush of air buffeting them both.

Pulled off balance, Laura stumbled and fell to the pavement with a sharp cry, her face pale with shock. "Good heavens! What in the world?!"

Chris's heart hammered against his ribs as he watched the rider tear off down the street without a backward glance, disappearing around a corner. A cold sweat soaked through his shirt.

He dropped to his knees, his eyes immediately checking his mother's leg.

Thank goodness, she hadn't been hit. Maybe she'd twisted her ankle when he pulled her, but that was a million times better than being mowed down.

A cold, hard dread settled in his gut.

'Son of a bitch! This isn't an accident. We changed locations, and they still found us?'

Gritting his teeth, he demanded inwardly, 'System! What the hell is going on? I brought her here to avoid this! How did the danger still find us? Is someone actually targeting us?!'