“Wu-Ant~ Shopkeeper, come with this Goddess!” Aqua cupped her face with an expression overflowing with happiness and satisfaction.
She leaned against the counter with both hands, looking at Shiro with extreme seriousness.
“Whatever you want, this Goddess can find a way to get it for you.
That God of Cooking fellow seems to be taking a long vacation; do you want to become the God of Cooking?” Too close, I can hear you.
Shiro felt like Aqua was about to press right up against him.
That look in her eyes, as if she wanted to kidnap him, gave him goosebumps.
He had indeed mastered the culinary skills of a male god, but his profession wasn’t a cook—it was the owner of the Yorozuya.
“Aqua, I am the owner of the Yorozuya.
I won’t leave with you.” “If you want to eat, you can come here.
It’s even better if you bring your own ingredients, and I’ll cook for you.” He offered a silent prayer for that God of Cooking.
Being targeted by Aqua…
it’s better not to take the other party’s divine seat.
“What a pity.
Is it possible that this Goddess has lost her charm?” Aqua began to doubt herself; he had actually rejected her outright without even considering it.
Shiro couldn’t help but complain inwardly.
It wasn’t that she was ugly, but her personality was…
hard to describe.
Aside from her status as a Goddess, she was fine, but thinking about her being a Goddess caused the image of a Goddess in one’s heart to collapse.
“Oh my, what did I just hear?
Someone is trying to poach my talent right under my nose?” Nicole entered the Yorozuya with Billy and Anby acting as her guardians.
She looked at Aqua with a fake smile, her chest propped up by her arms, creating a full sense of pressure.
She was always the one picking up bargains, but no one had ever picked up her bargains yet.
“Who are you?” Aqua asked.
“Who am I?
Even if Shiro is just an external member of the Cunning Hares, he is still one of my Cunning Hares’s people.
He’s not someone any random person can just take away,” Nicole said righteously.
Shiro smiled knowingly.
Although Nicole was a bit greedy for money, her loyalty was truly beyond reproach.
“What do you mean random person?
I am a Goddess!
Can a human like you compare to me?” Aqua said very dissatisfied.
So what if she was a little bit bigger?
“The shopkeeper is now my believer.” “Believer?” “Hmm?
Shiro, why is your hair dyed?” Nicole noticed the color of Shiro’s hair, feeling inexplicably that it looked very ‘intelligent’.
After turning blue, his temperament seemed to change.
Before, he was approachable (Shiro the Great Philanthropist), but now he appeared much softer.
Furthermore, he didn’t seem as cautious; he seemed more confident.
“Oh, you mean this?
I can switch it at will, just changing styles.” Shiro demonstrated the hair color switch.
The transition between Aqua blue and black was incredibly smooth, even faster than a Saiyan’s hair change.
Finally, he switched back to the original black.
“That’s so cool!
Brother Shiro, can I learn that too?” Billy’s eyes lit up as he asked while rubbing his hands.
“You can’t learn it, but I can help you dye yours,” Shiro said, shielding his eyes.
When other people’s eyes ‘light up’, it’s usually just a figure of speech, but for an Intelligent Heterogenuity like Billy, his eyes could literally light up on a visual level.
“Then never mind.” Billy continued to use the TV here to watch starlight knight.
After watching it last time, he found that the screen quality here was much higher than at the Cunning Hares.
Boss Nicole was the type of person who wanted to split a single denny into many pieces.
As for where the TV came from, the legendary bargain hunter simply went to the scrap recycling center to pick it up; she could find good things every now and then.
After Aqua left, Nicole noticed the changes in the room.
The brand-new furniture surprised her; she hadn’t noticed it last time.
“Shiro, when did the shop get renovated?
Did you make some money?” “I did.” In a sense, with the Yorozuya open, he had made a profit.
This house with permanent property rights was the first thing he had gained.
Nicole nodded thoughtfully.
“That Aqua who just left, claiming to be a Goddess or something…
is she a chuunibyou?” Speaking of Aqua, Shiro gave a strange smile.
“She’s not a chuunibyou.
She really is a Goddess.” “Pfft…” When Nicole saw Shiro’s certain expression, she sprayed a mouthful of juice directly onto Billy’s head.
“Aaaah!
Boss Nicole!
Juice is very hard to clean off a mechanical body!” Billy started shouting, but Nicole ignored the clown and waited for Shiro’s next words.
“She is a Goddess from another world,” Shiro said.
With Nicole’s intelligence network, it wouldn’t be hard to find out that Aqua was an unregistered resident.
In this world, after the fall of the Old Capital and the establishment of New Eridu, there were inevitably unregistered residents who hadn’t been recorded in the New Eridu household registration.
So even if they knew someone was unregistered, the authorities had no way to track them.
The fall of the Old Capital happened too suddenly.
Although the initial period of rebuilding had passed, it had only been a few years since the outbreak of Hollow Zero—less than ten years.
“Sigh…
I’d rather not have heard such a fantastical tale.” Nicole sighed softly and rubbed her brow.
Having struggled for many years, she knew how deep the waters of New Eridu were.
What she saw was only the tip of the iceberg.
If certain people found out, her little brother might be in danger, but it shouldn’t be a big problem.
After giving a serious warning, Nicole left with Anby and Billy.
They had to go pick up commissions, otherwise they would have to come to Shiro’s place to scrounge for food.
Shiro muttered to himself, “Since it’s come to this, let’s eat first.” In a world with an apocalyptic atmosphere like Zenless Zone Zero, various dark sides were presented more directly: human cloning, organ trafficking, and so on.
Given time, he could do anything.
Smash it, reorganize it, and recreate it!
Sixth Street Video Store.
Shiro pushed the door and entered.
If he hadn’t been picked up by Nicole and didn’t have the Yorozuya, then in this world of Zenless Zone Zero, applying for a job as a video store clerk would be a good option.
If he could help pay the electricity bills, his chances of survival would be even greater.
“Wise, are there any videotapes with exciting content lately?
You should know what I’m talking about.” “Hey, come inside before you talk.” Wise quickly pulled Shiro into the employee-only room.
This place housed the Hollow Deep Dive System (HDD) and other devices.
Anyway, Shiro had been brought here by Nicole to see it before, so there was no need to worry about leaking secrets.
Shiro was a bit puzzled that this kind of room was placed right next to the counter; why not find a more hidden place?
In the later plot, Belle was terrified by the Public Security Officers who came for a search, her hands shaking so much she almost spilled the water in her cup.
“Shiro the Great Philanthropist, why say such misleading things outside?
Fortunately, there were no customers, otherwise the Public Security Bureau officers would have come for a vice raid,” Wise said helplessly.
They hadn’t known each other long, but Shiro dropped by so often that they felt like friends who had known each other for a long time.
“Wise, don’t make a fuss.
As Phaethon, have some spirit; don’t lose face.” “Even Phaethon is afraid of the law, Shiro the Great Philanthropist,” the quirky Belle teased while sitting in a chair.
She and Wise couldn’t expose their identities yet, otherwise they really wouldn’t have a place to stay.
Even if their friends believed in their character, in the eyes of the vast majority of citizens, their teacher, Carlos Arna, was the culprit who caused the fall of the Old Capital.
Just because of this relationship, citizens who lost loved ones due to the outbreak of Hollow Zero would likely classify the two of them as enemies.
Those who could think calmly were only a minority.
For those citizens who lost relatives in the disaster, they probably had no heart to inquire about right and wrong.
“Don’t call me by that title.
I just took a few commissions, that’s all,” Shiro said with a long, cat-like face.
Don’t let him find out who started that name first.
“Here you go, a new tape.
Take it back and watch it yourself,” Wise pulled a videotape from the shelf.
“Censored or uncensored?” Shiro took a look; it was one he hadn’t seen before, and even the packaging was unopened.
“It’s a normal videotape.
Inspections have been strict lately, so there’s no 18+ stuff,” Wise shrugged and said crossly.
The implication was that he could get it, but there was no need.
The siblings, Wise and Belle, had watched countless films; they weren’t in a hurry for that.
“Shiro, your muscles are quite hard.
Do you really have no combat power?” Belle got up from her chair and stepped forward to poke the muscles on Shiro’s arm.
She hadn’t noticed before, but his muscle lines were much better than her brother’s.
“Ahem, Belle, watch your image,” Wise coughed lightly and said with a forehead full of black lines.
Besides, I have some muscle definition too.
“We’re all acquaintances, what’s wrong with a little poke, right?” Belle said.
Poke, poke.
It has a very good texture.
Shiro was speechless.
You’re poking me non-stop.
Why aren’t you working hard to save money?
When the power-hungry Fairy arrives, you’ll have a real headache.
It’s all fun and games when you don’t have to pay huge electricity bills, but when you see that astronomical bill, your life will be in the hands of fate.