"Ngh~"
Inside Lu Zhaoran's home, Cipher stretched lazily and then sat up from the bed.
Yesterday, after viewing the massive scars left behind by Firefly with Bartholos, she had bought some food at Greenshade Spring before having Bartholos open a portal to send her back to sleep.
Midway, she also had Bartholos toss the oxygen mask back, though by the time it was returned, Lin Zhiyuan likely had no use for it anymore.
After all, so much time had passed that the hospital should have long since replaced it with a new one.
Just as she walked out of the bedroom door, Cipher saw only breakfast on the table and the three members of the Ember Squad eating. As for Lu Zhaoran, she was nowhere to be seen for some reason.
"Where is Little Ran? Where did she go?"
After sensing the area and confirming that Lu Zhaoran was indeed not in the house, Cipher asked the three at the table.
At this moment, Luo Lin stood up, handed over an envelope, and said to Cipher:
"Sister Cipher, Sister Zhaoran told me to give this to you. She wouldn't let us look at it."
Hearing this, Cipher curiously took the envelope, opened it, and looked at the contents:
An old friend of mine found me and said she needs my help. I agreed. Originally, I wanted to ask if you, Big Shot, would like to come along, and I was going to bring the three from the Ember Squad as well. However, after learning that the location for the help was actually in the Chaos Capital, I dropped that idea.
After all, the Chaos Capital is still too dangerous for them. If we brought them along, at least one of us would have to spend most of our time watching over them to make sure nothing goes wrong.
So after thinking it over, I decided to go help by myself. Compared to over there, at least here in the Pit Bottom District, I don't need to watch them constantly; they are capable of surviving in this place.
Also, I left a Public Terminal in the study with one hundred thousand Credits stored inside—consider it living expenses while I'm away. As for the house's utilities and such, I've already paid for six months in advance, so you don't need to worry about that, Big Shot.
I'll probably need to be away for over a month before I can return, so in the meantime, I'll have to trouble you, Big Shot, to look after Luo Lin and the others~
"So she went out to help someone else? Lu Zhaoran said she helped Luo Lin because Luo Lin saved her before, but looking at it now, she seems like someone who naturally enjoys helping others~"
After putting the letter away, Cipher looked at the three members of the Ember Squad and said:
"Little Ran went to help a friend. She'll be back in about a month or so, so during this time, it's just the four of us again..."
At this point, Cipher paused and pointed to the floor beneath her feet. "Ngh, and this house."
"No wonder Sister Zhaoran disappeared right after making breakfast this morning... so she went out on business..."
After hearing Cipher's words, Lin Wei looked thoughtful.
"It's fine!" At this moment, Luo Lin interjected. "We've already stayed at Sister Zhaoran's house for over three days! It's time for us to go back to taking commissions to earn Credits. After all, we can't rely on Sister Zhaoran forever."
As she spoke, Luo Lin turned around, intending to go upstairs to pack her things.
"Eh, eh, eh! Don't be in such a hurry to leave!"
At that moment, Cipher hastily stopped Luo Lin.
"The utilities for Little Ran's house have been paid for over six months. If we don't stay here, we can't just let that money go to waste, right?"
"But..."
"No buts. The utilities cost several hundred Credits a month; it's a waste if we don't use them..."
Seeing that Luo Lin wanted to leave, Cipher immediately used the "if you don't stay, it's a loss" logic to stop her.
For a frugal little thing like her, she certainly wouldn't be willing to let those Credits go to waste, right?
"Sev... several hundred Credits?!"
Upon hearing this, Luo Lin's eyes instantly turned into swirls, and her whole being fell into a daze.
"How... is it that much... the most a single commission earns is only about fifty Credits... how long will it take to pay that back..."
'Hiss... I forgot about that...'
Cipher suddenly realized she had accidentally quoted a price that was too high.
She had been dealing with millions and tens of millions of Credits lately, causing her concept of money to become somewhat muddled.
She thought several hundred Credits was already a low estimate on her part, but she forgot that the Ember Squad's previous income per commission was only around fifty Credits!
That was equivalent to working oneself to death for seven or eight commissions just to cover the electricity bill...
Thinking of this, Cipher hurried to remedy the situation:
"It's not a big deal. Did you forget that I'm living here too? They say the electricity is in the hundreds, but actually, it's only just over two hundred. For the four of us, I'll pay one hundred, and you three can just pay the remaining hundred. Earning a hundred Credits a month isn't hard."
Only after Cipher finished speaking did Luo Lin snap out of her daze. She let out a small sigh of relief and muttered to herself:
"Fortunately, it's only a bit over two hundred..."
But quickly, she looked at Cipher and said:
"Sister Cipher, since it's two hundred, then the four of us should just pay fifty each. So I'll just pay fifty; you don't need to pay a hundred!"
"Fine... fifty it is."
Cipher didn't want to keep arguing with Luo Lin. Whatever she said goes. If she kept arguing, she was afraid Luo Lin wouldn't even let her pay those fifty.
"Alright, Captain, didn't we agree to go shopping together today? Let's stop thinking about these things for now, okay?"
At this time, Lin Wei stood up and spoke to Luo Lin.
"But the commissions..."
"Forget the commissions!"
Lin Wei forcefully interrupted Luo Lin and directly started pulling her toward the door.
"We've only been recovered for a day. Doing commissions in this state will definitely lead to another accident. When that happens, the medical fees alone will cost a ton of Credits! Besides, you promised us yesterday that you'd take Sister Cipher out to play."
As she spoke, Lin Wei signaled Cipher with her eyes to hurry up and help pull Luo Lin.
But Cipher ignored her gaze and instead watched their interaction with great interest.
"O-O-Okay! Little Wei, let go of me! I can walk on my own!"
In the end, Lin Wei failed to restrain Luo Lin, who broke free.
She looked at Lin Wei somewhat indignantly and said, "Little Wei! I am the Captain! How can you just pull the Captain around like that! As punishment, I plan to wait an extra day before buying you that Electromagnetic Augmentation Device you mentioned!"
Hearing this, Lin Wei's gaze turned resentful as she looked at Cipher, who was watching the scene from the sidelines, as if asking why she hadn't come to help just now—if she had, the Captain surely wouldn't have dared to act up.
However, all she got in response was Cipher's face full of mischievous grins.
★ ★ ★
T/N: I've recently rebuilt my glossary, if some existing terms don't match, please let me know.