After a few moments of idle chatter, Wendy Lynch pretended to bring the topic up casually.
"By the way, Shirley, do you have a habit of buying lottery tickets?
"I saw on your Instagram that you’ve posted about winning the lottery several times just this year."
At the mention of the lottery, the slight drowsiness on Shirley Lowell’s face vanished, as if she had been injected with adrenaline.
"What! Are you interested too?
"Let me tell you, my luck has been incredibly good this year!
"I’ve already won twice just this month alone! I won 500 bucks once and 1,000 another time!"
Wendy quickly pressed further, "What kind of lottery do you usually play, Shirley?"
Shirley took a sip of her latte before explaining.
"I used to play Powerball, but I felt the winning odds were too low.
"Starting this year, I only play Pick 7.
"Even though the prize money is much lower than Powerball, the probability of winning is very high.
"I usually buy twenty lines at a time. Even if I only hit the lowest sixth-tier prize, that’s still 200 bucks!
"How about it? Interested in playing together?"
Hearing Shirley’s explanation, Wendy breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad she hadn’t spiraled into overthinking last night and had instead come straight to the source to feel things out. Knowing she would be fishing for information today, Wendy had not only scrolled through Shirley’s Instagram last night but also brushed up on the common types of domestic lotteries.
The Pick 7 format was very simple. From a pool of thirty-six numbers, players randomly selected seven regular numbers and one special number. The grand, first, and second-tier prizes were pari-mutuel, meaning the payouts fluctuated based on the total prize pool and the number of winners. The more people who won a particular tier, the smaller their individual cut would be. On the other hand, the third through sixth-tier prizes had fixed payouts. Even if a hundred people won simultaneously, the prize amount per person remained unchanged.
Wendy had a good memory, and she clearly recalled that the fixed payout for the third-tier prize was exactly 1,000 bucks. Twenty lines multiplied by 1,000 equaled exactly 20,000 bucks. This perfectly matched the contents of the email!
It was a done deal!
Wendy nodded eagerly.
"Sure, sure!
"Shirley, what numbers did you buy for this draw?
"You have such great luck. If I buy the same as you, I’m sure I’ll win!
"When I win, I’ll treat you to a meal!"
Shirley didn’t refuse, readily pulling out her phone.
"No problem. I’ve been playing this same set of numbers for quite a few draws now!
"I have a feeling it’s going to hit soon!"
As she spoke, Shirley sent over a screenshot of her ticket purchase.
"Those are the numbers I recently bought. If you’re interested, you can play them too!"
Wendy opened their WhatsApp chat. Inside was a digital receipt for a Pick 7 ticket.
The regular numbers were: 2, 7, 8, 15, 24, 28, 36.
The special number was: 4.
After chatting with Shirley for a while longer, Wendy saw it was getting late and hurried back to her cubicle.
Opening the official lottery website, Wendy found the rules for Pick 7. Soon, her eyes locked onto the third-tier prize requirements.
Third-tier prize: Match any five of the drawn regular numbers plus the special number to win.
Looking at the screenshot on her phone, a very bold idea suddenly popped into Wendy’s head. She wondered if she could use this set of numbers to reverse-engineer the actual winning combination. The grand prize for Pick 7 took a whopping sixty percent of the entire prize pool. The current pool had accumulated to over twelve million, meaning sixty percent would be 7.1 million. Even after a twenty percent tax deduction, she would still take home nearly 5.7 million.
However, once she suppressed her excitement and thought it through carefully, she realized how absurdly flawed this bold idea was. Based on the known conditions, the only winning number she could pinpoint with absolute certainty was the special number. As for the regular numbers, she only knew that five of them were correct—but she had no idea which five.
Using this limited information, her only option was to use combinatorial mathematics to brute-force all possible outcomes. After a few minutes of calculating, a number appeared on her A4 scratch paper:
8,526.
She would need to buy 8,526 lines to guarantee hitting the grand prize. Over eight thousand lines would cost less than 20,000 bucks in total, allowing her to easily snatch a prize of over 5.7 million. It seemed like a massively profitable move.
Yet, a moment of serious reflection revealed just how outrageous it would be. As someone who had never bought lottery tickets in her life, suddenly buying over eight thousand lines was highly suspicious. It would be fine if she didn’t win, but the moment she did, such bizarre behavior would definitely put her on a high-priority watchlist. Who knows, the very day after she won, government agents might just show up at her door for a "friendly chat."
Moreover, Wendy thought of another possibility: she might not even win the grand prize, even if she bought all eight thousand lines at once. As the previous two emails had shown, the future was not set in stone. Her massive purchase could very well cause the winning numbers to change. She had heard plenty of rumors about lotteries being rigged like that, after all.
Wendy took a deep breath, pushing down her inner restlessness. She knew she couldn’t rush this and absolutely couldn’t get greedy. With such a powerful cheat at her disposal, there would undoubtedly be plenty of opportunities to get rich in the future. There was no need to rush. What she needed to do now was lie low, bide her time, and grow her wealth steadily, rather than get carried away the moment she gained a slight advantage.
Staring at the set of numbers on her phone, Wendy quickly calculated in her head. Buying eight thousand lines was too conspicuous, but only buying twenty felt like a waste. After all, this was a guaranteed win. Gritting her teeth, she finally settled on a compromise: one hundred lines!
This amount wouldn’t arouse suspicion, yet it would still multiply her winnings several times over. Even after taxes, she would walk away with 80,000 bucks.
Taking advantage of her hour-and-a-half lunch break, she grabbed her phone and ran to a lottery stand near the office. Fifteen minutes later, looking at the tickets in her hand, Wendy let out a long sigh of relief.
Excellent! Eighty grand secured!
Now, all she had to do was wait for tomorrow night’s draw, and her little piggy bank would be eighty thousand bucks richer!
Thinking about this unexpected windfall, she remained in a highly cheerful mood all afternoon. Even her usually dull and tedious work seemed oddly pleasant.
Returning home early, she casually cooked herself some noodles, just like always. Eating her dinner while binge-watching a TV show, time slipped by unnoticed until it was once again midnight.
Seeing the clock in the bottom right corner of her computer screen hit 00:00, Wendy quickly closed the TV show. She rubbed her hands together somewhat nervously and then opened her inbox.
[Time Mailbox: You have a letter from September 17, 2025]
...
"Shirley really is my lucky star!
"Two hundred bucks turned into eighty thousand!
"I’ve decided, I’m going to follow Shirley’s lottery picks from now on!"
...
Wendy finished reading the email, her excitement slowly fading. Her luck today wasn’t great. Aside from the lottery win, her future self hadn’t mentioned anything else. But it was understandable. After all, eighty grand was a massive sum of money—it was nearly equal to her entire annual salary. If she hadn’t known about it in advance, she definitely would have been thrilled beyond words too.
Just as Wendy was about to close the email and wait for tomorrow night’s draw, out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a single line of complaint at the end of the message.