Wanda's cheerful greeting sounded strangely out of place to the three gang members.
They had gone out of their way to look the part, dyed hair, gold chains, visible tattoos, just so people would immediately recognize who they were.
And here was this little girl, smiling at them like they were regular customers.
"May I help you?" she had asked.
Help them?
Did they look like they were here to buy something?
They were here to offer their services, the kind of services that came with a not-so-optional protection fee. Business owners around here paid them to keep their shops safe... from the very people offering the protection.
Just as the trio were about to clear up Wanda's "misunderstanding," none of them noticed the strange flicker of light that passed through the lucky cat's eyes.
A soft, eerie glow.
A moment later, all three men froze slightly, their expressions going slack for a beat. A strange fog seemed to cloud their thoughts, like they were trying to remember why they came in but couldn't quite place it.
The red-haired man, standing at the front, blinked rapidly and shook his head.
"I, uh... I think I need to buy a... wastepaper basket."
What?
That didn't sound right. But also, it sort of did?
This was a store, right? People came here to buy things. So that's exactly what he was doing.
Behind him, the blue-haired heavyset guy frowned. "A wastebasket? What for?"
The red-haired man turned to him with a slight pout. "Because you keep leaving toilet paper all over the floor, remember?"
"Oh," the blue-haired guy muttered, nodding. "Right... guess I need one too, then."
The yellow-haired, skinny one piped up, "Actually, I need a hammer and some nails. The door at home's busted."
"Don't hog all the nails," the blue-haired man grumbled. "I need a few too."
"I might get a fan while we're at it. It's getting quite hot lately."
And just like that, the three gangsters were casually discussing home repairs and basic household needs.
Wanda, who had been watching the scene unfold, now looked more annoyed than pleased. Her smile faded a smidge.
Seriously? They didn't look local. Did they really come all the way here just to buy this little stuff?
She could already tell she wasn't going to make much from this sale.
Grumbling inwardly, she walked over to the shelves and began grabbing what they needed, three wastebaskets, a fan, a hammer, and a box of nails, and tossed it all onto the counter.
"That'll be seventy bucks," she said flatly, without even doing the math.
She'd jacked the price up on purpose to see if they were serious or just wasting her time.
Honestly, the total was maybe thirty dollars, tops. If they bailed, fine. No loss.
But to her surprise, not only did they agree, they didn't even blink at the overinflated price.
The red-haired guy casually pulled out a fat wad of cash from his pocket, peeled off a hundred-dollar bill, and handed it to her.
"Keep the change."
Wanda's eyes widened when she caught a glimpse of the thick stack of money in his hand.
Wait, what? That was too easy!
She stared at the hundred-dollar bill in her palm, stunned.
If she'd known they were that rich, she would've said five hundred!
She had no way of knowing that the cash came from the protection fees they had just collected from the neighboring stores...
The red-haired guy stuffed the rest of the money back in his pocket, gave a quick nod to his companions, and headed for the door. They grabbed their items and followed.
Before leaving, they even turned back to offer polite thanks.
"Thank you!"
Wanda blinked, watching them disappear down the street.
They were actually quite polite, and unexpectedly rich…
Her earlier judgment instantly crumbled.
Okay, maybe people who dress like that aren't so bad after all... Not exactly good-looking, but generous and well-mannered!
She turned back toward the counter, waving the crisp bill in her hand.
"Brother, did you see that? Those guys just casually pulled out thousands of dollars like it was nothing!"
She huffed.
"And look at you, playing games all day and ignoring your job completely!"
But Luke didn't respond. He was still slouched in his chair, eyes glued to the screen, hands lazily moving over the mouse and keyboard.
Just then, as if fate wanted to mock Wanda even more, Luke's phone buzzed and displayed a new system message:
[Ding~ Your mobile phone is tired of seeing you being looked down upon. It has decided to work hard and self-learn master-level stock trading to help you make money.]
…