Nicole thoughtfully saved the contact information of everyone from Hare's House, as well as the video store siblings, into Sam Li's new phone.
Of course,
to prevent Soldier 11 from trying to poach again, Nicole simply ignored Soldier 11's contact information.
Trying to steal talent right in front of her? It was already generous enough not to block her number.
...
The night passed without incident.
In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
Sam Li got up early as usual, carrying his birdcage to Sixth Street.
After having breakfast—with the bill sent to Hare's House—he sat down outside Master Tingman's coffee shop.
He ordered a New Eridu Special.
Thus began his day... no, his "work."
He had just sat down for a mont when—
Ding ding ding—
His new phone rang.
Sam Li pulled it out and opened Knock Knock Chat.
It was a ssage from Billy:
"Go, Sam Li! Let's land another big commission today! Boss Nicole said that once we save up a million Dennies, she'll take us to New Eridu's city center to have fun. It's a rich district with lots of aweso stuff!"
Sam Li simply replied:
"Okay."
He had just put down the phone when it rang again.
Billy ssaged:
"By the way, Sam Li, you know how to do math, right?"
"A little."
"Do the math for . Yesterday, we earned 550,000 Dennies from Soldier 11, spent 40,000 on dinner, and paid 350,000 to settle debts and buy a phone. So there should still be 160,000 Dennies left, right?"
"You're right."
"But when I accidentally saw Nicole's phone this morning, there were only 30,000 Dennies left. That's 130,000 missing! Nicole didn't fall for so phone scam, right? I heard there are tons of scamrs lately."
"Report it to the police."
"I'm too scared... Nicole would kill ."
"..."
"After discussing it with Anby, we decided you should go and ask her."
Sam Li glanced at the ssage and put the phone away.
He knew Nicole wasn't the type to get scamd—she was craftier than most scamrs out there.
As for where the missing Dennies went and what she was up to,
he didn't care to get involved.
"Master Tingman, another New Eridu Special."
"Mr. Sam Li, would you like to try the Cream Latte?"
"Sure, one please."
Sam Li sat there quietly all morning.
Near noon, his phone rang again.
It was a ssage from Belle at the video store:
"Wow, it's Sam Li! Is this your Knock Knock account? Nicole finally bought you a phone?"
"Just bought it last night."
"Are you at Sixth Street today? I have sothing I want to ask you."
"I'm at Master Tingman's coffee shop."
"Wait for , I'll be right there..."
...
Inside the video store,
Belle sat on the sofa, smiling at her phone.
"Brother, I'm heading out for a bit."
"Where to?"
"Master Tingman's coffee shop. Don't worry, I'll bring you back a coffee."
After saying that,
Belle quickly put away her phone and rushed out.
Three minutes later,
she arrived at Master Tingman's and spotted Sam Li enjoying his coffee while waiting for a client.
Belle walked up and sat across from him.
"Sam Li, Master Tingman's is practically your office now. Aren't you worried the security bureau will catch you?"
"They're my clients too."
"No wonder! Your business range is even wider than ours. By the way, did you get any commissions today?"
"Not yet,"
Sam Li replied, taking a sip of coffee.
It was almost noon.
After waiting so long without a single client showing up to cover his tab, he was ready to write it off as a loss for the day.
Instead, Belle showed up.
"Master Tingman, a Moonsoil Mocha for Miss Belle."
"Thank you, Sam Li. You're so nice."
When Master Tingman brought the coffee over,
Sam Li asked,
"Belle, you said earlier you had sothing to ask ?"
Belle suddenly rembered,
"Right! I almost forgot. I wanted to ask if you could fly up into the sky again."
Sam Li blinked.
"Huh?"
Belle said excitedly,
"Last ti, my body stayed in the video store, so I only experienced flying through Eous's perspective. Could you use that giant golden pillar again and take up into the sky, just like yesterday?"
Sam Li thought for a mont.
"There will be opportunities in the future."
Belle bead with happiness.
"Promise!"
Soon,
their coffees were finished, and noon had arrived.
Sam Li slowly stood up.
"I should head back. Goodbye."
Belle also stood up, smiling.
"See you next ti. Master Tingman, the check, please."
Hearing this,
Master Tingman ca out holding the account book.
"Miss Belle, that'll be 8,000 Dennies."
Belle jumped in surprise.
"What?! 8,000 Dennies? Master Tingman, is your coffee made of gold or silver? Why did the price shoot up?"
Master Tingman explained,
"It's not for one cup—it's five cups total. I already gave you a discount..."
He had gotten used to other people covering Sam Li's bill every day, so he automatically charged it all to Belle.
Belle looked at Master Tingman, then at Sam Li.
It didn't take long for her to understand.
So that's what happened.
"Um... here's 8,000 Dennies, Master Tingman."
After paying,
Belle turned back to Sam Li.
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye. Thanks for the treat."
"…"
...
The entire day,
Sam Li didn't receive a single commission.
And in the next two days,
he didn't et a client either.
Without a penny coming in,
Hare's House was once again running out of food.
"Boss Nicole, what do we do?"
"What else? We wait for Sam Li. Anby, send him a ssage and tell him he must land a commission today."
"Got it. ssage sent—"
...
anwhile, on Sam Li's side:
He was strolling with his bird toward Sixth Street when he ran into Zhu Yuan and Qingyi, who were on patrol.
They decided to head to Master Tingman's for a coffee break.
As soon as they sat down,
Zhu Yuan leaned in seriously.
"Sam Li, did you know the Imperial City Hollow has suddenly entered a collapse phase these past two days?"
Sam Li looked puzzled.
"Imperial City Hollow?"
Seeing him shake his head,
Zhu Yuan explained,
"That Hollow used to be a giant film studio, and it had a replica of an old imperial city inside. So it was officially nad Imperial City Hollow. Recently, it's suddenly started collapsing. No one knows what's going on inside, but based on my analysis, it's very dangerous. You'd better tell your boss at Hare's House to stay away."
...
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