Apocalypse: System of lotteries

Inside the cave, Russell had built himself a makeshift chair out of wooden planks, similar to a child's high chair with a small table attached, so he wouldn't have to lie on the ground all the time.

He kept a distance from the other three, as he carried hundreds of viruses on him, so it was better not to get too close.

At the moment, he was eating corn given to him by Erik and a coconut from Ming, using his hands that had fused with his wings – or, more accurately, hands that were closer to claws.

As he ate, Russell shed tears. According to him, his metabolism sped up after becoming a bat-man, and he needed to eat a lot every day. Plus, the coins gained from killing mutated creatures in the wild were scarce, so he could only eat their meat. On top of that, most of his puppets had been eaten too.

"Why didn't you think of selling all that steel wood outside and buying more food to stock up in the second chapter?" Desmond pointed outside the cave.

"Do I look like I can do any work?" Russell lifted his clawed wing, "I can't use tools, and I can't even stand steadily. I tried lying on the ground and gnawing at steel wood with my teeth, but look, I've already gnawed off most teeth."

"…"

The three looked at his mouth, and he only had two teeth left.

"Ah~"

Russell gnawed open the coconut with his teeth, took a sip of the coconut water, and continued, "After this forest turned into a regional map, I've eaten almost all the creatures in the entire region. It seems like there's only one squirrel and three snakes left. Wait, one of them has already been eaten by this guy." He finished and smiled at Ming.

"…"

Ming wanted to keep Russell from knowing that the frogs had also collected the other two snakes. He looked at the squirrel playing not far away with the frogs, wondering if the little guy would also be taken away. He then took a coconut, poked a small hole with a knife, and threw it to Russell as compensation.

"Thank you~."

Russell caught the coconut and took another sip, "The most annoying thing is, I finally managed to gnaw down a steel wood tree and sold it for some coins, just in time for the third chapter to start, and the store stopped selling food and drink…."

"…"

The three fell silent again. This guy was genuinely pitiful. Erik took out another ear of corn, "You can eat raw meat, so eating raw corn shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Touched, Russell shed tears, "Could you please roast it for me? Thank you~."

Desmond took out a monkey carcass and started roasting it over the fire, "Don't worry; since we're here today, we'll make sure you have a full meal."

"I'll leave you a few coconuts." Ming tossed four coconuts to Russell before asking, "Haven't you considered returning to human society?"

"Ah~ Bro, just mentioning that makes me want to cry~."

"Go ahead and cry~ We won't laugh at you."

"If you worry about you're lack of water, I'll give you another bottle."

"…"

"Boo hoo~."

Russell cried and said, "I bought a Town Portal Scroll, and guess what? When I used it, I freaking ended up back in this cave! Boo hoo~ Damn it~"

"…"

The three stared at each other, dumbfounded. This poor guy was genuinely miserable.

"Sigh~ Can't waste water~" Russell stuck out his tongue and licked his tears before continuing, "Later, I thought I'd fly out of the mist to another area, using my small bat puppet to scout. But as soon as we flew out, our mental connection broke… So that idea died."

"…"

After hearing his story, the three fell silent again. This poor guy was indeed in a deadlock – so utterly miserable.

"Alright~"

Russell took a deep breath and faced the three, "After observing you during the day and spending time with you just now, I'm completely convinced that you're all good people, friends worth making. I want to make a gentleman's deal with you."

"…"

"…"

The three remained silent, gesturing for Russell to continue.

"Look!"

Russell turned and pointed into the cave's depths, "This cavern is bottomless, several hundred meters to the very end. Inside, there's a large open space filled with pure gold ore!"

"Uh?"

Desmond was about to ask why Russell didn't mine it himself when he glanced at Russell's clawed hands, fused with his wings. He couldn't drill – he simply couldn't.

"A gentleman's deal?" Eric was a bit confused.

"I hope that after you mine the ore, you can leave me some food to last the remaining 26 days," Russell said, sighing. "Or, you could just kill me, and then you won't have to give me anything…." He was gambling.

Moments later, the three built a seesaw with wooden planks and launched Russell back into mid-air. He flapped his wings and slowly flew back to hang upside down from the ceiling, leading the way.

After all, his legs had degenerated, and he couldn't jump. He had struggled on the ground for several minutes without taking off, insisting that the others not touch him. So, they had no choice but to use the seesaw to propel him into the air.

Ming put the frogs and the squirrel in his pocket. The little creatures had played all day and fallen asleep. Ming thought he'd need a backpack for future outings since his pockets would no longer suffice.

Ming noticed a larger space with more open areas as they ventured deeper into the cave. He, Desmond, and Erik agreed on a plan: whoever took more ore would share more food.

Ming thought this was a fair arrangement, so he agreed.

"We're here!"

Russell hung upside down from the ceiling and pointed ahead. The three threw their torches in unison.

Ming also threw a torch, as he couldn't reveal his ability to see in the dark as if it were daytime.

The torches illuminated a massive pit, about 50 meters wide and long. The pit's walls sparkled with gold – all pure gold ore.

"…"

The three fell silent again, amazed by the wealth before them. Then, Russell hung upside down from the ceiling, chatting with the three 'miners' below.

"I know a guy named Dimon with mantis wings who lives in Zone 54. I heard about an ongoing civil war there, and he got caught up. The last time they fought a shared boss, the whole zone almost got wiped out. But now they've united again."

"But according to him, even if they survive the second shared boss, they might not make it through the third. Now that I think about it, my place here might be the safest…."

"…"

At 3 AM, the mining was completed. Since Desmond and Erik had yet to learn any forging skills, Ming reluctantly helped them, charging a refining fee of several dozen pounds of pure gold. The other two were extremely 'touched.'

According to the initial agreement, Ming gave Russell 100 coconuts and 30 fish, Desmond gave him 20 monkey carcasses, and Eric handed over 40 ears of corn and 20 potatoes. He also taught Russell how to grow potatoes and corn.

At 5 AM, the three left the cave while Russell hung upside down at the entrance, continuing to chat with the three who had now become 'lumberjacks.' After being alone for so long, he finally had someone to talk to and was determined to make the most of it.

"I'm telling you, before they divided this area, the northern mountainside was full of steel wood trees, more than ten times what's here. If I hadn't become like this, I would've been a wealthy man by now."

"Back then, I might have been surrounded by beautiful women, sipping fine wine and living a life a thousand times better than now. Alas, such a pity…."

"…"

The three remained silent, not wanting to interrupt his dreams and fantasies, as they were all he had left.

Desmond and Erik were chopping trees with all their might, trying to make up for the loss from the refining fee, and they had no time to chat. Ming, wanting even more, was working harder than ever.