As Tang Feng was mulling things over, the voice of the beautiful female doctor suddenly echoed beside him, "Tang Feng, right? Come, I'll take you for a CT scan."

"Hold on, a scan?" Tang Feng hastily asked, "What's my situation now?"

The beautiful doctor looked at him, "We preliminarily suspect you have post-traumatic concussion syndrome, but we won't know for sure until we do a CT scan."

"How much does it cost for a scan?" Tang Feng grimaced as he asked. His monthly living expenses were already running low.

"Not much, a few hundred yuan." The beautiful doctor casually replied.

"Darn it, that's not expensive? Why don't you guys go rob a bank?" Tang Feng was nearly hopping mad, his monthly living expense was only five hundred yuan.

After shaking his head without feeling any discomfort, he hastily removed the IV drip, "Forget it, I'm already alright, I don't need any further checks."

What a joke, a random check costs a few hundred, plus some medication and that will exceed a thousand. Even if he sold himself, he wouldn't be able to afford it.

"Hey, wait, you have to get examined. I suspect there might be something wrong with your nerves..." the beauty doctor pointed to his head.

Tang Feng was instantly offended, "Something wrong with my nerves? What does that mean? Are you saying I'm mentally ill?"

The beautiful doctor pursed her lips but didn't dare to utter a word, although it was clear she agreed.

"Darn it!" Tang Feng cursed, "You're the one with the mental issue! Don't treat me like a fool, you're only trying to squeeze more medical fees from me, right? Let me tell you, no way!"

"But..."

"No buts. I only have fifty-six point five yuan on me. If I die, I can just donate one yuan to each ethnic group, and use the remaining fifty cents to buy you a pack of spicy strips!"

The beautiful doctor couldn't help but giggle, "Your medical expenses are fully covered by the girl who brought you here. Are you sure you don't want to take another look?"

"Huh?"

The room fell silent in an instant. After a prolonged pause, someone's weak voice broke the silence, "Hey, why didn't you say so earlier?... Um, can you point me to where the CT room is, Miss?"

...

Leaving the City People's Hospital without spending a single dime for medical fees, Tang Feng was in a great mood. Even his whistling melody became more cheerful.

Of course, he was just pleasantly broke. His pocket was emptied of cigarettes, he had only fifty-six yuan in cash, and his bank balance was less than a hundred and couldn't be withdrawn...

Gurgle, gurgle...Unfortunately, his stomach decided to self-declare its hunger at this very moment.

"Well, nothing is more important than food." No matter what, he needed to eat first. Turning around, Tang Feng walked towards a small supermarket by the roadside.

"Pickled cabbage instant noodles and two sausages? That's too luxurious! But after getting injured today, I, too, should comfort myself somehow." Decided, Tang Feng said, "Shopkeeper, give me a bottle of Yanjing beer too."

After doing the math, it all came up to sixteen yuan.

Tang Feng handed over a twenty. The sophisticated shopkeeper wearing a charming smile said, "Handsome, you still have some change left. How about buying a couple of lottery tickets?"

That's when Tang Feng noticed that this supermarket also sold lottery tickets. But he knew too well that he wasn't destined for a windfall. He had bought quite a few tickets over the past two years and hadn't won a single dime. He waved his hand dismissively, "Ninety percent of gambling ends in deceit. I pass."

The shopkeeper pouted and handed four yuan back to Tang Feng, "This is not gambling."

"Yeah, right. Almost the same!" Tang Feng grumbled as he began to prepare his instant noodles. Suddenly, he let out a small gasp, his eyes were attracted by a raffle box on the counter next to him.

The shopkeeper promptly pounced on the opportunity, "This private environment does lotteries. They are instantly redeemable if you win, with a ten percent chance of winning. How about it? Wanna buy a few and test your luck?"

Tang Feng had heard of these kinds of raffles before. The rules were simple; whether you won or not entirely depended on your luck.

"This is slightly interesting..." He said, taking a swig from his beer. His eyes narrowed slightly as he subconsciously activated his perspective ability to gaze at the lottery box. Soon, every letter on the back of the tickets became clear. He could easily tell which tickets were winners and which weren’t.

Tang Feng immediately beamed, "Hey, not bad. Very good indeed!"

"How about it? You can try your luck for two dollars," encouraged the store owner's wife, noticing his interest.

"Alright, I'll start by drawing two tickets," Tang Feng replied as he took out ten dollars, added to the four he had earlier, and casually drew seven tickets from the box.

The first few tickets drew a blank.

Tang Feng was unperturbed, calmly waiting for the last ticket- as expected, it was a ten-dollar winner.

Upon seeing the winning ticket, the store owner's wife couldn't help but praise, "Handsome young man, you've got some good luck there. Wanna try your luck again?"

"Of course, I have a feeling I might strike it big today!" Tang Feng said. Determined, he took out twenty more and reached into the lottery box once again.

Minutes later, he had selected his tickets.

He opened them one by one.

Eight out of ten were duds, while the other two were winners. However, the total prize money was only sixty dollars.

Tang Feng was not bothered. After all, he had intentionally set this result, fearing that the anomaly of constantly winning would attract suspicion.

"Wow, you even earned forty bucks. Not bad, handsome!" The store owner's wife commented playfully.

Tang Feng gave a sheepish smile and asked, "Ma'am, what's the jackpot prize here?"

The store owner's wife giggled, "The highest is fifty thousand dollars. Young man, you seem quite ambitious. I've been running this store for a few years now and no one has ever hit the jackpot."

"Maybe I'm the first? I have a hunch that I'm going to hit the jackpot today." Tang Feng gave a sly grin.

"A hunch?" At this moment, a lean middle-aged man entered the store. Hearing Tang Feng's words, he couldn't help but laugh. "Young man, lottery hinge more on skill than hunches. Do you understand that?"

The tall and skinny middle-aged man with black spectacles and glossy long hair parted in the middle, looking much like an artsy professor, sauntered over to Tang Feng with an air of familiarity.

"Skill? What skill is needed for scratch cards? Do you think it's like card shuffling magic in gambling?" Tang Feng was bemused, assuming this fellow was too engrossed with the lottery. He ignored him and drew another ten tickets.

"Come, I'll bet on these combinations today. I refuse to believe I still can't win!" The man with the spectacles threw out a few sheets of paper on the counter from his briefcase. The papers had numerous numbers written on them and even had tables. They were clearly the work of a professional lottery player.

This time, Tang Feng quickly revealed the results, as he had already deduced which tickets would win or lose. With previous preparation, now it was collection time.

Upon seeing Tang Feng's consecutive five tickets all miss, the middle-aged man with glasses could not help but speak out, "See? I told you. Lottery is about skills, not hunch."

Tang Feng lifted his head and asked with a smile, "So, have you ever hit the jackpot based on your skills?"

"Heh, still striving, still striving," the spectacles man touched his nose. "But it's coming soon. This time I've cast a wide net with a sure number bet. I refuse to believe it can slip away!"

Tang Feng was speechless. It seemed this man was a true blue technical lottery player. He couldn't resist asking, "Brother, do you know that both welfare lottery and sports lottery are artificially manipulated?"

"And so what? The numbers I calculated are those manipulated by those bastards! This is what we call the grand scheme, psychological warfare. The ones that need to win must win!" The glasses middle-aged man confidently smiled, "There is pleasure in combating with the others."

"Bro, you're freaking awesome," Tang Feng completely admired him and felt that the CT scan earlier should have been performed on this guy instead.

Watching Tang Feng still expectantly scratching his lottery ticket, the spectacle man shook his head, readying himself to continue his discourse. But then, he saw Tang Feng shaking the last ticket in his hand at the proprietress, "Sis, can I redeem this one?"

The spectacles man curiously looked at Tang Feng's ticket and was startled, "Is this... a second-place prize, ten thousand?"