Chapter 65: The Temptation of the Shopping Carnival

Chapter 65: Chapter 65: The Temptation of the Shopping Carnival

Having successfully pulled a scam by feigning an injury, the Little Black Snake crashed at the animal dormitory to freeload. Meanwhile, Liang He was preparing to go on a massive shopping spree for winter supplies, hoping to give the furries the warmest and most comfortable winter possible.

"Although the Silver Moon Wolf’s injuries are mostly healed, if I let her take her two little wolf pups back to the prairie now, there probably wouldn’t even be bones left by next year," Liang He murmured to herself.

She was meticulously planning out the supplies, calculating every detail—what needed to be restocked and what needed to be added to the shopping list.

"What are you doing?" Hoder asked. He couldn’t quite understand Liang He’s actions. To purchase supplies, she only needed to submit a list to the reserve. Why was she calculating prices?

"You wouldn’t understand," Liang He replied. "Blue Star is having a shopping carnival right now, so I’m combining items to hit the discount thresholds."

Ever since Liang He created the Fur Raising Officer account, her side income had skyrocketed. Unfortunately, her update schedule was far too erratic; otherwise, she would already be quite the wealthy woman.

"Discount thresholds?" Hoder, who had never experienced the joy of online shopping, sat curiously beside her. He craned his neck to look at the notebook she was writing in, only to catch a glimpse of densely packed numbers that made his head ache just looking at them.

"Yeah. For example, with some merchants, you can get 150 Federation Coins off if you spend 500. Others offer 350 or 400 off if you spend 1,000 Federation Coins. You can even combine items across different stores to meet the threshold. It’s a great deal."

Liang He hadn’t understood these tricks before, either. She only figured it out after her followers from Blue Star taught her. For someone as cash-strapped as she was at the time, it had been incredibly helpful.

"Wow! The fitness equipment I’ve been wanting to buy is actually this cheap?" Hoder borrowed Liang He’s Light Brain and swiped a few times, his eyes instantly lighting up.

With his financial resources, he didn’t really need to join in the fun, but it saved money! He wasn’t a sucker, so why would he just give his money away to the merchants for nothing?

"Liang He, quickly share this shopping app with me! I want to buy things too!"

"Buy what? What app?" Xu Yi, having just finished his work, walked into the room and heard Hoder’s excited shouts. He looked at the two of them in confusion.

After sharing the app with Hoder, Liang He busied herself with calculating the discount thresholds. The sale was starting tonight, and if she didn’t strike early, things would sell out easily. Because of this, she had absolutely no time to entertain Xu Yi. Consequently, Xu Yi could only pester Hoder. After listening to his explanation, he immediately demanded the app be shared with him as well. He wanted to join the online shopping frenzy!

"Is the appeal of online shopping really this strong? It’s actually spreading like a contagion."

Stationmaster Uncle Liao happened to be inspecting the central control room and witnessed this exact scene. Even though he was over fifty years old, he couldn’t help but feel curious.

"My wife has also been obsessed with Blue Star’s online shopping culture lately," one of the workers chimed in. "It seems a bit different from the interstellar version. She’s completely addicted."

"It feels like the interstellar version of online shopping is a primitive prototype, while Blue Star has long since evolved an advanced version. You can even buy the rice they eat and the medicine they use online, and it’s delivered instantly."

"Is it really that amazing? I think the person who invented online shopping must have been a huge homebody, haha! How else would they have come up with such an idea?"

While the central control room was deep in a heated discussion, Liang He and the others were ruthlessly swiping through the app. She looked at the long, categorized list. Items that needed to be paid for together were grouped on a single invoice to prevent mix-ups and ensure no discounts were wasted.

"Hey, Liang He, I’ve got my eye on a game console, but I’m short by a dozen Federation Coins to hit the discount threshold. What should I do?" Xu Yi asked. He had recently been browsing the Star Network and saw a retro game console from Blue Star. He found it fascinating and had been wanting to buy it but never had the time. Now was the perfect opportunity.

"You can add some small items to make up the difference," Liang He suggested. "I happen to have a few extra things on my list. Place the order for me, and I’ll pay you back later."

Liang He had a lot of odds and ends to buy, and it was impossible for everything to add up perfectly. The leftover items were exactly what Xu Yi needed to hit his discount threshold.

"Sure! But there’s no need to pay me back," Xu Yi smiled. "We’re all on the same team here; I don’t care about a few coins."

He was mostly just enjoying the thrill of fleecing the merchants for discounts.

It had to be said that online shopping could be incredibly addictive at times. Especially when there were discounts, people instinctively wanted to hit the thresholds. As a result, they’d add more and more items, easily ending up with things they didn’t even need. Fortunately, Liang He was relatively experienced and rational compared to the other two. She quickly reined in their impulses, removed the unnecessary items, and finally finalized their shopping lists.

"Done! Now we just wait until eight o’clock tonight to snatch it all up!"

Having finally sorted out the lists, Liang He began preparing dinner.

Currently, apart from the Silver Moon Wolf who remained holed up in the medical room with her little wolf pups as usual, the Iron-eating Beast and the panda cub had both moved into the animal dormitory. Coupled with a thick-skinned Little Black Snake, Liang He could only be thankful that the reserve covered room and board. Otherwise, she truly wouldn’t be able to afford raising them all.

"AWOO!"

Seeing Liang He stand up, the Mojin King Tiger, who had been lying obediently by her side, gave a lazy stretch and sharpened his claws. He then immediately followed in Liang He’s footsteps toward the kitchen. The moment he moved, the other furries couldn’t sit still either. Aside from Xuan Jiao and Xingbao, who were naturally disinclined to move, the Mengji Snow Leopard and the rest all followed Liang He.

"Why are you all here?" Liang He asked. Listening to the heavy breathing of the wild beasts behind her, she didn’t even need to turn around to know there was a sizable crowd.

"MEOW!"

The Mengji Snow Leopard rubbed affectionately against Liang He, the tip of his tail hooking around her waist, nearly tripping her.

"Alright, alright, Little Wild Cat. Stop rubbing."

Ever since the netizens teased Liang He for playing favorites and not giving the Mengji Snow Leopard a nickname, she had brainstormed a new name for him. Cedriel was "Big Toiger," and the Mengji Snow Leopard was "Little Wild Cat." She thought it was perfectly reasonable, but Xu Yi and Hoder’s expressions had been complicated, to say the least. How should one put it? It was both awkward and cringe-inducing.

"SCREECH!"

Before the Mengji Snow Leopard even stepped away, the Canglan Hunting Eagle joined the fun. However, the collateral damage he caused was a bit too high, so Liang He only permitted him to walk in the kitchen, not fly. After all, if the Canglan Hunting Eagle merely opened his wings and gave them a couple of flaps, not only would the entire kitchen be wrecked, but the food would also be ruined.

"I know, I know. Go back to the dormitory and wait for me like good boys. It’ll be ready soon."

In winter, the furries generally didn’t go outside unless absolutely necessary. Even when they hunted, they moved as a group, mostly just to get some exercise. Because of this, Liang He now had to manage their three meals a day—and even their afternoon tea. She was incredibly busy.

"Why are you joining the commotion too?"

Just as Liang He finished coaxing the furries back to the dormitory, she suddenly felt a weight on her wrist. In the blink of an eye, a pitch-black bracelet, shimmering with a glass-like luster, had coiled itself around her arm.

"HISS!"

Elias had no desire to stay in the dormitory all by his lonesome snake self. Not to mention, there was an eagle in there, and in his current state, he was no match for the bird.

"Never mind. Just stay coiled right there," Liang He sighed.

Busy preparing dinner, Liang He didn’t bother arguing with the Little Black Snake. His insignificant weight wasn’t worth mentioning anyway, and it didn’t affect her knife skills in the slightest.

It wasn’t until Liang He finished doing her weight-bearing meal prep and carried the basins of custom feed out to the furries that they keenly realized a shameless snake had broken the rules to snuggle up with Liang He all by himself!

"AWOO!"

"MEOW!"

"SCREECH!"

"WOOF!"

Well then, the panda cub had been startled yet again.