A beautiful day begins with slacking off.
“Mornin’~” “En-ne, en-ne~ (Good morning)” Shiro skillfully opened the shop’s rolling shutter door and stretched his somewhat stiff body.
The warm, gentle sunlight dispelled the night’s chill, plating him in a thin layer of shimmering gold.
“Finding a dog?” “How many times has it been now?” Over two months ago, when Shiro first arrived in the world of Zenless Zone Zero, he landed next to a trash heap.
Not long after, he encountered the legendary scavenger “Nicole the King of Scavenging,” who was diligent in “picking up” things for the household, and then he was “picked up” by her.
Unlike Anby and Billy, he was an external member of Gentle House.
Shiro was very grateful to Nicole for bringing him back so he didn’t have to be displaced.
In the environment of New Eridu, the fate of a homeless person without legal status would certainly not be very friendly.
The shop behind him now, hanging the [Yorozuya] sign, was located next to the 141 Convenience Store.
The original owner had already left and put up a “for rent” sign.
The landlord had once been saved by Gentle House in a Hollow, so the rent wasn’t too expensive; it could even be called staying for free.
Normally, the general rent here in Sixth Street starts at at least two hundred thousand dennies a month, let alone for an entire small building.
But the landlord only wanted one hundred thousand dennies per month for the first year, and even just fifty thousand for the first month.
A bowl of ramen at Master Chope’s costs at least 1,800 dennies for the cheapest and 5,000 for the expensive ones.
So, the first month’s rent of fifty thousand dennies was only equivalent to ten bowls of expensive ramen.
Even though it was so cheap, Shiro couldn’t produce a single denny, so back then he could only owe Nicole money, promoting himself to the status of a [Grandpa Debtor].
Speaking of which, to borrow money from Nicole, Shiro had talked until his throat was smoking.
He had already prepared to be rejected, simply because…
she was Nicole.
As his creditor, Nicole gave it a name: “Gentle House” All-Purpose Agency Branch.
To this, Shiro directly rejected it, saying it was fine to just call it [Yorozuya].
Thinking back to Brother Qiang’s time—no, before transmigrating, while logging into Zenless Zone Zero, his account had already accumulated one hundred million dennies.
One hundred million sounds like a lot, right?
But at Luminaire Square, that could only buy you one square meter.
[Do you want to experience a life unlike any other?] [Do you want to experience the feeling of being a hero?] [Do you want to encounter beautiful girls from another world?] [Yes] or [No] He didn’t know who put these three mysterious questions on his phone.
He subconsciously thought it was some pop-up window pushed by Hoyo.
Could he really transmigrate?
He didn’t choose [Yes] or [No]; instead, Shiro took a different path and chose “or.” However, the moment he clicked it, a sudden beam of light enveloped him.
He thought the light he had lent to Tiga in his childhood was finally being returned.
Gai—a—!
Finally, after successfully landing, he had really transmigrated.
Where the hell did this bring him?
Was he still in the country?
Returning to the present, Shiro looked over the honest and simple Sixth Street.
Running a hand through his messy hair, he had also boarded the transmigration train.
At least he wasn’t hit by a truck; a painless transmigration wasn’t bad.
However, he suddenly thought of something.
Coming to another world like this, did it count as being kidnapped by “human traffickers”?
During his time adapting to the new world, Shiro got to know many neighbors.
When the people of New Eridu talked about disasters like the Hollow, they didn’t turn pale with fear; there was a sense of familiarity, like an old story.
Compared to most everyday worlds, the pace of life wasn’t that different.
People worked and went to school as they should, and the city presented a scene of prosperity.
Although Shiro couldn’t see the Hollow from here because of the buildings, the nearest Hollow wasn’t far from Sixth Street, and Hollow Zero wasn’t far away either.
Zenless Zone Zero (Zenless Zone Zero)—most of this planet should be covered by Hollows.
Even the moon in the sky showed deep shadows.
As the saying goes, “You don’t need to run from small disasters, and you can’t run from big ones.” Where could one run?
Into a Hollow to play cards with the Ethereals?
Compared to deadly disasters like earthquakes and typhoons, although Hollows were extremely dangerous, many valuable things could be harvested from them, such as Ether energy.
Of course, if one was willing to lose their conscience, any disaster could allow capital to profit—looting while the house is on fire, with no moral bottom line.
Although New Eridu looked harmonious on the surface, the actual system was incredibly complex, deeply entrenched, mutually checking, and entangled.
Bureaucratic government, chaebol monopolies, military forces, and civil organizations could be summarized as a separation of powers between the military, government, and business, with no single, absolute leader.
Compared to the Hollow crisis, purging those high-level officials and parasites for a total overhaul might allow New Eridu to last longer.
As for the Hollow disaster, anyone with a little understanding wouldn’t believe it had nothing to do with certain people for a single second.
The plan to eliminate humanity was made by humans; it was a bit laughable.
“Good morning, Brother Shiro.
One hamburger, please.
Thank you.” The white-haired poster girl Anby appeared, naturally sitting on a chair inside.
“Can Boss Nicole no longer afford your food expenses?” As Shiro spoke, he prepared the hamburger and soy milk, both of which he had just made that morning.
Anby still loved eating hamburgers as much as ever.
Mainly because he didn’t know how to cook, he chose the easiest way, using ready-made ingredients.
If he were given the ability to cook, he could certainly change things up.
Gentle House didn’t open every day, but once it did, they could eat for a while.
He didn’t know how much debt Gentle House had, but “too much debt is no burden.” His Yorozuya currently took on daily commissions from neighbors, which happened almost every day.
For example, a certain dog basically had to run around every day.
Gentle House’s unit price wasn’t low, while his was a steady business of small but constant flows, ensuring he wouldn’t starve.
Sometimes the rewards were very high, and he had already paid back the money he owed Nicole.
Although Gentle House’s reputation on the [Inter-Knot Forum] was quite unique, with a complaint rate in the top three, “bad publicity is still publicity.” Many people still commissioned Gentle House through the Hollow Network.
“Nicole said that if I come here to mooch breakfast, we can save on breakfast money,” Anby said bluntly while enjoying her hamburger.
Shiro: “…” As expected of Nicole, she truly was diligent and calculating, saving every penny she could.
Even mosquito legs are meat.
“Brother Slacker…
why are the commissions you take so ordinary?” Anby’s cheeks puffed out as she ate, making her look like a cute hamster.
“Swallow before you speak, don’t choke.
As for why…” “Because I am…
kind?” Shiro handed a glass of iced cola to Anby and teased himself in a joking tone.
He had a “Gold Finger”—a Yorozuya system—but the prerequisite to activate it was to complete one hundred commissions of any difficulty.
Finding cats and dogs, cleaning, delivering lunch boxes to forgetful students for their parents, helping the Mai Pian Siblings move films, etc.
Whenever help was needed, he would take it on.
He had now completed 99 commissions; as long as he finished this 100th commission of finding the dog, the activation conditions would be met.
Over these past two months, he had even joyfully earned the title of [Mu the Great Philanthropist].
He was a bit numb, feeling like a certain blonde Traveler—once an “!” appeared above someone’s head, he would rush over to help.
In a place like Sixth Street, you can’t be without work or remain unknown.
His reputation could be considered established now.
“Brother Shiro, I remember you’ve looked for pet dogs over fifty times, right?” Anby finished eating and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“Don’t mention it.
That client’s dog basically runs away from home every day; it has a heart that yearns for freedom.” Shiro’s eye couldn’t help but twitch.
He was now incredibly familiar with Sixth Street.
Having looked for the dog dozens of times, he had run through every alley and lane, his footprints covering almost every corner.
The dog’s owner was wealthy and paid generously every time.
He had earned quite a bit from it, enough to cover his current daily expenses without any problem.
The commissions could be done so quickly thanks to “Brother Dog.” He would bring some dog food later to express his gratitude.
“Do you need my help?” Anby asked.
Having eaten Shiro’s breakfast for a while, she wanted to do what she could.
Just say the word—who to kill?
No, where to find it.
“No need.
A tiny dog is no big deal.” Shiro waved his hand.
He knew the few places where the dog was most likely to appear.
After Anby left, Shiro began searching for the dog.
“Woo~” Next to the bare-bottomed Bangboo statue by the toy store lay a husky with mostly white fur.
The black fur patterns on its body were like undulating mountains, and every strand of fur seemed to exude an aura of freedom.
“Hey, Little Bai Luan, 66, come here.” This dog raised by Old Pan was named Bai Luan, with the nickname 66.
Seeing Shiro, it didn’t run away.
They were old acquaintances, so it wouldn’t hiss or react defensively like at the beginning.
It walked over to Shiro’s side familiarly.
Dog: Family, the fresh air time is over.
“Thanks, Brother Dog.” “Woof~ (You’re welcome, lil’ bro).” Dog: For some reason, the term “Brother Dog” makes a chill run down my spine.
After feeding it dog food, Shiro brought the dog back to the shop to wait for its owner to get off work.
If no one came looking for it, the dog wouldn’t go home on its own, and the owner didn’t have time to look for it everywhere.
[Commission Count: 100/100] [Yorozuya activation progress bar is full.
Now opening Dimensional Yorozuya.] [1%…
2%…] …