After a fierce round of bargaining, Cipher ultimately suffered the painful loss of 990,000 assets.
The Cat Girl immediately collapsed onto Silver Wolf's bed, rolling around and throwing a tantrum without any regard for her image. Her furry head rubbed against the pillow as if trying to bury all her grievances inside Silver Wolf's bedding.
"You're bullying me, meow~ Wuwuwu..."
"Um... please don't be too sad. How about... I treat you to some cake?"
"Eh? As expected, Miss Firefly is much cuter. Even though Silver Wolf is also pretty cute being so small, why is she..."
"Even if you praise me, I'm not giving you a discount."
"Hmph, fine."
Hearing Silver Wolf's decisive answer, Cipher immediately gave up.
Knowing there was no longer any chance to exploit her, the cat girl returned to normal in the blink of an eye.
Having lost her precious gold coins, Cipher's mood became as gloomy as a cloudy sky.
Her ears drooped limply like wilted leaves, trembling slightly with every sigh.
"Honestly, we're so close. Couldn't you have made it a little cheaper?"
"Hmph, do you really think I'm some workhorse? Not taking the opportunity to extort you even more was already showing mercy."
With the deal concluded, the room instantly fell silent.
Neither of them spoke, yet a tacit exchange was already taking place across platforms.
...
"Here. This is the little toy you wanted."
Silver Wolf's slender fingers rapidly danced across the virtual screen, her movements light but focused.
Following a series of complex operations and the successful verification of a password, a square-colored window suddenly opened in the air. Light flowed inside like a portal leading to another dimension.
Without hesitation, Silver Wolf reached her hand inside.
After searching for a moment, she slowly withdrew a deep blue sphere roughly the size of a fist.
Without even glancing at it, she casually tossed it over.
Seeing such a careless action, Cipher froze.
The tail behind her instinctively swayed and accurately caught the blue sphere.
"Um... are you sure there isn't a mistake? Is this round thing really what I gave you?"
Cipher tilted her head, her finger resting on her chin as suspicion and confusion appeared in her eyes.
She leaned closer, carefully inspecting the little blue ball wrapped within her tail.
No matter how she looked at it, this thing looked completely different from the original object she remembered.
"What else? It's what you sent me before. I just upgraded it a little."
Silver Wolf immediately curled her lips unhappily after hearing herself being questioned.
"It's just a little toy. I don't have any use for it anyway."
Hearing this, Cipher's curiosity was instantly piqued.
She reached out with her slender fingers and gently touched the surface of the sphere.
Unfortunately, with her nonexistent knowledge of machinery, all she saw was confusion.
In the end, she could only ask honestly.
"Um... mind explaining?"
"This is indeed what you originally sent over. Silver Wolf just upgraded it herself."
Firefly's gentle voice sounded from the side at the perfect moment.
However, she herself didn't understand the specifics either.
Silver Wolf set down her game console and paused the game.
Casually stuffing a piece of bubblegum into her mouth, she puffed up her cheeks slightly while chewing, resembling a little hamster that had stolen some nuts.
Then she blew a bubble and answered lazily.
"Besides fully repairing it, I added some extra functions. Just a little upgrade I made out of boredom."
"As for the details...The instruction manual is included. Don't worry. This part is free. I won't charge extra."
Hearing that there were no additional charges, Cipher's eyes instantly lit up.
A smile unconsciously crept onto her lips.
She immediately put away the little sphere, handling it as carefully as if it were a priceless treasure.
"Hehe, free stuff really is the best~"
"Bye-bye then!"
Waving happily at the two of them, Cipher's figure suddenly transformed into dazzling golden light.
In the blink of an eye, she disappeared, leaving behind only a faint golden afterimage.
"Her Excellency Cipher really is free-spirited. Coming and going like the wind."
"More like a greedy and cunning Cat Girl."
Watching Cipher leave, both girls gave their own impartial evaluations.
Then they returned to their respective daily lives.
As for today's events, they were merely one of the many commissions Silver Wolf accepted out of boredom.
...
"Tsk tsk. A 99% rare item~ The value is absolutely through the roof!"
On the way home, Cipher lovingly stroked the blue sphere, amazement appearing on her beautiful face.
Even putting aside the massive cost of repairs and upgrades, the little "plug-in" Silver Wolf had casually mentioned was enough to make Cipher's heart race.
Not because it was necessarily powerful.
But because...
It sounded incredibly cool!
Just reading the descriptions in the manual was enough to make her cat ears stand up and her tail wag uncontrollably.
"Hmm, I wonder how it performs in practice. But with Silver Wolf's skills, it definitely won't be bad. If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have gotten curious and secretly tried to peek inside by myself."
"Now look at me. I can't stop feeling itchy with anticipation, meow."
Shaking her head helplessly, Cipher closed the manual.
More than half of it still remained unread.
Her ears twitched slightly, and her tail swept unconsciously across the ground.
If she continued reading, she feared she wouldn't be able to resist keeping this thing for herself.
But when she remembered the price she had paid...
Nearly a million assets had vanished like flowing water.
Cipher's heart immediately felt as though it had been viciously scratched by countless cat claws.
All that grief eventually transformed into a pitiful whimper.
Cipher (＞⤙＜):
"It really is a huge bargain for the Little Princess..."
Thinking of this, Cipher subconsciously quickened her pace.
Each step carried a trace of urgency.
As if by running faster, she could leave behind the sorrow of losing so many gold coins.
Unfortunately...
Some pain simply couldn't be outrun.
Especially the pain of watching 990,000 disappear from her account.
For a cat who loved money as much as life itself...
That wound was enough to make her heart ache for a very, very long time.