At that moment, a passerby walks past her from around the corner. She nervously tucks away the lottery ticket, then breathlessly leans against the wall, completely unconcerned about the strange looks from the passerby.

When she thinks about rushing into the lottery shop to tell the owner about winning the jackpot, standing at the entrance, she hesitates. She makes an effort to regulate her breathing and starts walking towards her home instead.

Back at home, illuminated by the streetlamp and the moonlight outside the window, she lies on her bed, staring intently at the numbers on the lottery ticket.

The intense joy has made her forget the feeling of hunger, forget the cold.

This night, she thinks a lot, and as she drifts into a deep sleep, it's finally not due to the cold. She forces herself to sleep.

The next day, she doesn't go to the dairy farm or the slaughterhouse, instead, she goes to school. Climbing over the fence at the back of the school, she enters the computer room, turns on the computer, checks the latest winning numbers, and carefully verifies the numbers she has in her hand. Indeed, she has won.

Then she searches for the process and precautions for claiming the prize. After doing all this, she uses the little money she has to call her bosses, asking them to settle her wages for these days. Some kind-hearted bosses inquire if she is facing any difficulties. When she goes to collect her wages in the afternoon, she even discovers that some of the bosses have given her a little extra money – everyone sympathizes with her.

With this money, she decides to set off immediately to claim her prize! She lingers outside the prize-claiming building for a long time, but she still doesn't have the courage to walk in. In the end, she decides to use the wages she just received to stay for a night at the hotel across the street. One night costs 180 euros, which is enough for her to eat for two months…

Even though 180 euros is very expensive, spending this money pains her, but Lucie still resolutely books a room.

From checking into the hotel until the next day when the prize center opens, Lucie doesn't sleep. She stares at the prize-claiming building, observing the surroundings.

The next morning, as soon as the staff starts working, she goes fully prepared to claim the prize. When she walks out of the prize center, looking at the new bank card and the millions of euros after tax deduction, it feels like she's in a dream.

Suddenly, Lucie wakes up with a start from the table. The prolonged lack of food and insufficient water supply caused her to pass out.

Stolen novel; please report.

Lucie checks her phone, luckily, it's fully charged, and the electricity in this area is still being supplied. It's September 7th, now the third day since the zombie virus outbreak. The virus is spreading from south to north, and her home area is still a safe zone for now.

In the previous life, she won the lottery on January 4th. After winning, she didn't tell anyone. Instead, she quietly dropped out of school and left the city. Before leaving, she bought some gifts and placed them at the doorstep of her uncle's house. Each person in her uncle's family had a gift. She had listened to their wishes for many years — her aunt wanted a new oven and refrigerator, her nephew wanted a bicycle...

Before leaving, she sold her own house and paid the rent and electricity bills for the elderly lady downstairs, hoping she could endure for more than 10 years.

After arriving in Paris, she bought herself a beautiful apartment. The apartment had hot water, heating, a lovely balcony, and a clean bathroom. Then she applied to the university of her dreams and, relying on her intelligence, made many investments. She almost never worried about money again. However, the coins that weren't enough to buy bread that night, she still kept with her, a constant reminder.

From the winning month in January until September, Lucie lived a life she had never dared to dream of in just nine short months. However, in July, during a gathering at her home with other investors, she drank too much and accidentally entered a room. The room was very messy, and a video was playing on the television in the corner. The signal was not great, and it intermittently played a video recording of a researcher.

In the video, there were two researchers wearing protective suits. They were sitting in a research room surrounded by chemicals and equipment. In a panicked tone, they said, "Things are getting a bit out of control…"

The video paused for a moment and then the image reappeared. "Everything is not as we expected..." they said.

Before they could finish, the video cut again, and after a while, it loaded and showed another researcher speaking: "Yes, now she must be taken back to the laboratory, or everything will spiral out of control, and the world will be overrun by the virus."

Perhaps due to the effects of alcohol, Lucie felt a splitting headache and was in a daze. Back in her apartment, she had trouble recalling the events of the previous night, but this particular incident kept popping up in her mind. Whether she was in class at school or having a meal at the restaurant, this incident would always resurface, forcing her to pay attention.

Lucie's intuition has always been accurate, shaped by the struggles of her early life for mere survival. Now, her keen instincts make her sense an impending crisis, a threat pressed upon her by death.

Without hesitation, Lucie began gathering various pieces of information. Finally, with determined effort, she managed to locate the researchers from the video. They turned out to be secret researchers from a pharmaceutical company. To extract information from them, Lucie had to expend a considerable amount of both social connections and money.

As she prepared to drive south to locate the researchers from the video, it was already September 2nd. Upon reaching the destination on September 4th, the zombie virus had erupted comprehensively in the south and was beyond containment.

Before setting out, she bought a new apartment at the northernmost part of the world, equipped with enough food, water, and weapons.

On September 4th, when she found the researchers from the video, they still retained a glimmer of sanity. In the last moments of life and death, they entrusted their daughter to Lucie. When Lucie arrived at the school, she saw zombies running towards the school. The virus's spread and infection rate were terrifyingly fast.

Lucie's car sped recklessly on the road, unhesitatingly crashing into the zombies blocking the way. Upon reaching the school, she wasted no time and immediately showed the photo to the teachers, locating the daughter of the researchers.

At this moment, one or two zombies had already invaded the school, engaging in a bloody massacre as they pursued students across the campus. When Lucie tried to leave with the researcher's daughter, her car had already been overrun by zombies, and the blood on it excited them. She had no choice but to take the girl back into the school, find a safe place to hide, and then wait for the right moment to leave.

Lucie covered the girl's eyes.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Lucie."

"I'm Charlotte. Are you a friend of my mom and dad?"

Lucie didn't answer, she remained silent for a moment. Then, she said, "Yes."

"Why didn't Mom and Dad come to pick me up?"

"They are very busy with work. They will definitely come to pick you up later."