"Just once, just once, please?"
Despite Master Fox's refusal, Tang You shamelessly stepped forward, holding the little fox's paw and slapping it on the screen. A ten-shot draw followed, leaving Tang You's heart cold with disappointment—nothing but blue skies and white clouds.
The lottery in the game has a guarantee system, which, after exhausting, costs just a few hundred bucks.
But it's because of this system that drawing a skin before hitting the guaranteed limit is quite something to brag about.
Tang You had just bragged in the group chat about striking it rich in CS, claiming that her luck was through the roof while riding the car.
But the truth is, she wasn't lucky at all—the real luck magnet was Master Fox.
"Oh, Master Fox! So mystical!"
Unfazed, Tang You held the little fox's paw again, slapping it on the screen. Detective coins spilled everywhere, making Tang You gulp nervously.
"........"
With a little fox in her arms, Ah Qing looked at Tang You with a helpless expression and said:
"Don't mess with superstition, our Xiaolan is just an ordinary little fox. It can't guarantee a prize win."
"Alright then!"
Tang You looked at the coins on the screen and sighed, "Then let's top up with a 648, exhaust all the guarantees, and just buy it outright."
Ah Qing: "......."
Did I... Did I mean that?
"Hey!"
While Ah Qing wasn't paying attention, and Tang You's big black hand didn't touch him, Ansheng quickly stretched out his little foot and gently kicked the ten-shot button on the screen.
The ten-shot draw started.
Ten cards flew out of the magician's hat, and Conan and Kaito Kid's skins appeared on the screen.
Tang You: "........"
Ah Qing: "........"
Tang You looked at Ah Qing, then at the little fox.
Ah Qing covered the little fox's eyes and said:
"Don't look at the phone, little fox, it's bad for your eyes. Let's go shopping in a bit." After saying this, Ah Qing quickly scooped up the little fox and moved away from the couch.
Tang You already has a severe spending problem, and Ah Qing felt that if she and the little fox stuck together, they'd never return from the spending spree—as if, though they weren't burning their own money, Ah Qing still felt something wrong about it.
She feared that at this rate, Tang You's farm might turn into an internet café overnight.
...
"Why are you all just sitting? Wasn't it time for shopping?" Lingren came out of the washroom looking very comfortable, seeing Mo Yiqing with her foot on the coffee table, the little fox in Ah Qing's arms walking briskly, and Tang You trailing behind with a resentful look, following the scene of one person and one fox leading the way.
"Aren't we waiting for you? It's been almost half an hour just for a bathroom break." Mo Yiqing shifted her gaze from the selfie screen to complain to Lingren, "Did you explode the toilet?"
"A lady."
Lingren waved carelessly, "I was just checking the bathroom ceiling, you know? Women outside should always pay a bit more attention to safety and privacy—never wrong."
As Lingren touted herself a woman, Mo Yiqing glanced at her chest and then retracted her gaze. Lingren, feeling aware, covered her chest with both arms and appeared bashful.
"Let's head out! I hear the traffic jams are terrible over at Never Night City, even bicycles get stuck." Mo Yiqing got up from the couch, grabbed the car keys, and said to everyone, "Let's hurry over there!"
"Let's feast first, then go shopping, and score a couple sets of authentic Hanfu to mix with black silk."
"Yay!" Lingren cheered excitedly, whether it was for the chance to shop or something else.
Everyone tidied up a bit, pulled out their room cards, and left the suite to take the elevator downstairs.
"Wheee~"
Just as everyone was about to leave, an extraordinary scene unfolded in the hotel lobby.
A dozen little foxes of different appearances and colors emerged from behind the hotel, cooing to each other as they ran towards the lobby staircase.
At the front, the black-as-night bat-eared fox strutted lightly, leading the way with two Tibetan foxes trailing behind with apathetic expressions. Several sand foxes looking like wolf-dog hybrids barked behind them.
"Please make some room, the little ones need to head to the Fox Fox Club for ear cleaning and spa services."
The receptionist at the front desk noticed the group of four people and one fox coming down the stairs and called out with a smile.
Bat-eared and Tibetan foxes wore expressions so sour it's like others owed them millions.
But their cooing sounds, paired with the little sand foxes' faux fox barking, told one thing.
That they were truly looking forward to it.
They all anticipated getting to the Fox Fox Club to enjoy ear cleaning services and spa treatments.
"Ah Qing, I want to go too."
Hearing the bat-eared fox talking about "so enjoyable it might make you pee," and "fox tail turning into a helicopter," Ansheng couldn't help but look curiously at the line of little foxes heading up the stairs.
Compared to Ansheng, both bat-eared, Tibetan, and sand foxes all belong to small-sized fox breeds.
Just how small are they? Compared to the common brown house mouse, Ansheng could usually smack one away with a paw.
But the bat-eared foxes, when facing a brown house mouse the size of a cat, might have to struggle for a while.
"Um... might I ask, does the Fox Fox Club upstairs welcome outsider foxes?"
"My little fox seems keen to visit." Ah Qing asked the receptionist.
"I'm truly sorry..." the receptionist shook her head apologetically. "Although we welcome foxes here, the Fox Fox Club in the Fox Kingdom isn't open to outsiders because young foxes might use it, and we want to prevent potential cross-contamination with shared equipment."
"Young foxes don't have high immunity, so the facilities in our park are more suited for other foxes to use—all adult large foxes with stronger resistance..."
The receptionist concluded apologetically, then ushered the little foxes upstairs.
Aside from regular foxes, there are a lot of protected fox species in the Fox Kingdom.
Therefore, there's more meticulous management involved.
"......." Master Fox pouted, grumbling inwardly with a trace of dissatisfaction.
"There's no help, it's not open to outsiders over there......" Ah Qing patted the little fox on her shoulder and said.
"No problem, I'll go over tonight and replace all their massage oils with glue." The little fox cooed.
The Fox Fox Club might be restricted to Ah Qing, but surely not a fellow fox like herself?
I see you're deliberately making things difficult for Ansheng.
Facing the receptionist's rejection, Ah Qing didn't seem too bothered. She hopped into Mo Yiqing's car, ready to head over to the bustling Night City to experience its legendary Tang Dynasty charm.
"So many people!"
As the car neared Night City, the surrounding streets were packed with people, including some young adults in Hanfu.
Ah Qing exclaimed in surprise as she glanced at the crowd:
"It's like a parade to greet a noble, feels like you might get punched just walking through."
"For god's sake, let's go! It's the third red light already!" With veins popping on her forehead, Mo Yiqing pounded the steering wheel in frustration, huffing angrily as she stared at the traffic light stuck on 99. Nearly rage-quit there.
For a distance under two kilometers, it took three red light cycles to finally park the car in an empty spot.
"Xiaolan, sorry to inconvenience you, but there are way too many people here..."
Faced with the packed crowd, Ah Qing apologized and placed Xiaolan in a travel bag.
In the chaos outside, if the little fox lost its grip on Ah Qing's shoulder—even if he dropped to the ground—Ah Qing felt that given the current dense crowd, before she bent down to save the fox, it would have probably been trampled underfoot by ten or twenty people, covered in shoe prints.
So... Xiaolan will have to endure a little inconvenience.
Ah Qing slung the travel bag over her shoulder, leading the way, raising her arms to carve a path through the crowd for the dorm mates.
"Rip..."
The travel bag initially slung halfway over Ah Qing's shoulder was suddenly fully opened by someone.
"Ehh?"
Ansheng froze, tilting his head to gaze at the rogue hand reaching into the travel bag.
"Come on, dude! A fox this big, sitting in a travel bag, and you completely act like you haven't noticed, ignoring the entire security system presence, right?"
"Ah Qing!"
"There's a fox kidnapper, grabbing Ansheng's chicken leg!"