Ever since he left the orphanage, Li Ang rarely returned. His personality wasn't exactly endearing, he had few friends, and his relationships with everyone there were neither good nor bad. Even with the director, his contact was limited to sending a generic holiday greeting found online once a year.
Forget it, we'll talk about it tomorrow, Li Ang thought. Sitting at his bedroom desk in front of the computer, he scratched his head, pushed the issue aside, and turned to say, "Right, Chaichai, let's wait until the new equipnt is ready before we go out to look for the Soul Banner's energy source."
"Mhm—"
Miss Chai, lying sideways in her hammock, continued to play with her phone. She rely humd lazily and rubbed one foot against the other, looking as listless and idle as a salted fish—utterly indistinguishable from one.
Since Miss Chai didn't need sleep, nor did she have to worry about overusing her eyes, she could play with her phone and tablet day and night. The re safe couldn't stop her. With Li Ang unable to discipline her effectively, he could only let her continue her salted-fish ways.
As an Elf, Miss Chai couldn't enhance her strength through exercise or other ans. Fortunately or unfortunately, Li Ang had neither found nor learned any thods of Elf cultivation. This perfectly justified Miss Chai's persistence in her salted-fish lifestyle.
Yesterday, during her free ti, Miss Chai had clung to the excuse that, "Although I don't have a physical body, a stable and warm nest is more conducive to my ntal recuperation." She pestered Li Ang into using his origami skills to fold her a paper hammock with a blanket, modeled after so pretty examples she found on an online marketplace.
Li Ang crafted an exquisite paper hammock and burned it for Miss Chai. Afterward, Chaichai promptly moved into Li Ang's bedroom, claiming it was perfectly justified. Her given reason was, "It's more convenient for
to protect you."
Yeah, right, Li Ang thought.
The spot Miss Chai chose for her hammock was, quite coincidentally, directly above Li Ang's bed. The previous night, the mont he opened his eyes, he saw her: ssy-haired, head poking out of the hammock, looking down at him. Half her face was obscured by the phone screen, the other half lit by its cold glow, her mouth turned up in a silent, eerie grin. In the pitch-black room, the sight was enough to scare soone half to death.
It wasn't that Miss Chai was trying to frighten Li Ang on purpose. Whenever she read a thrilling part of a novel on her phone, she liked to blush, tilt the device, and peek with one eye—as if by doing so, she could see content that was wholeso and uplifting.
Cute and silly. It was hard to imagine she was once the notoriously vicious and evil Elf from near Solitary Cold Temple.
"Oh right!"
Still lying in her paper hammock in her salted-fish state, Miss Chai suddenly thought of sothing. She flipped over energetically, propped her chin in her hand, and stared intently at Li Ang's back as he focused on the computer screen. Raising her voice a bit, she called out, "The Mid-Autumn Festival gift!"
"Hm?"
Li Ang, who had been browsing featured forum posts, was startled. He took off his music-playing headphones and turned around in his chair. "What gift?"
"The Mid-Autumn Festival gift?!"
Miss Chai, still maintaining her salted-fish position of rubbing her feet together, suddenly looked gloomy and mournful. "I've been with you for so long, mostly trapped inside the Soul Banner. It's so empty and boring! Even when I get out, it's just fighting monsters, fighting monsters—my spiritual life is totally lacking! Just like a Pokémon trapped in a Poké Ball: pitiful, tragic, and in need of care! Humans demand not to work 996, and you don't even pay
a salary!"
Miss Chai grew more self-righteous as she spoke, dangling a pale arm from the hammock and flailing it like a salted fish, embodying the fearless spirit of, "If you don't agree, I'll die right here to show you!"
"So, gifts, gifts, gifts!!"
"You've already turned into a salted fish. What more gifts do you need?"
Li Ang, headphones around his neck, felt a headache coming on. He rubbed his temples. "All right, what do you want?"
"Eh?!"
Caught off guard by Li Ang's quick agreent, Miss Chai was stunned for a mont. Then her face brightened, and she began listing her desires like a greedy bear cub gathering corn, counting on her fingers, "I want a desktop computer, a PS4 Pro, an Xbox, a Nintendo Switch, comics, art books, headphones, figurines, clothes...."
As Li Ang's expression grew increasingly stiff, Miss Chai's voice trailed off. Finally, she blushed and waved her hand dismissively. "Hey, just buy whatever. You're loaded anyway."
Then, she hastily added, "Um, the gaming consoles are a must, okay? I see others having so much fun with their gas, and you just can't get that sa exhilarating impact from mobile gas! Figurines can wait, and clothes... well, you can just fold paper ones and burn them for ...."
Miss Chai, after all, considered herself a lady of high standing. She knew the principle of "If I take a step back, it'll be harder for you to refuse
again," and thus argued her case, trying to get Li Ang to pay.
Listening to Miss Chai's faltering demands, Li Ang couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Wow, Miss Chai, you really don't know the cost of living since you don't manage a household, do you? Even if you have money, you can't just blow it like that."
In the past, forget a PS4 Pro; even buying a comic book collection would have made Li Ang's heart ache for days. He'd have to console himself with cheap soy sauce noodles to recover.
But now that he was a player, with over a million in cash on hand, money wasn't an issue. That was one of the perks of being a player: sell a few Ga Coins or so equipnt, and you could beco a millionaire, even a multimillionaire, overnight.
"I'll take a look and order them. Hopefully, they can be delivered by tomorrow."
Li Ang looked at Miss Chai's stunned and disbelieving expression and smiled casually. "I feel like I've been neglecting you a bit lately. Might as well make up for it now."
"Uh, I, uh..."
Her prepared spiel cut short, Miss Chai seed a bit lost. She suddenly flipped over in the hammock, turning her back to Li Ang, and waved an arm. "Fine, then! Hmph. It's your fault for luring
here in the first place. As my boss, you should foot the bill!"
It wasn't that Miss Chai absolutely needed these gifts. But during the day, while hiding inside Li Ang and watching him interact with Wang Congshan, she couldn't shake off a strange feeling, as if she had suffered so sort of loss. It felt... like she had beco a vividly green, yet completely ignored, backdrop.
"Hehe."
Li Ang chuckled and didn't argue. He turned away, put his headphones back on, and continued listening to music while using different phone numbers, IP addresses, Taobao accounts, and personal information to buy a variety of gifts.
Money, after all, is worthless if not spent. Even spending it for a bit of happiness is worthwhile.
"Happy Mid-Autumn Festival."
Li Ang's smile deepened as he heard the barely audible muttering from behind him.
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