Chatting and ughing along the way, the group soon arrived at Lin Qianxing's alchemist shop once again.

  This time, there were no other customers at the entrance.

  However, upon entering the shop, they noticed two other customers inside. They weren’t acquaintances, so they simply exchanged polite nods.

  The mechanical parrot greeted them, but instead of its usual “Welcome,” it screeched in its raspy voice, “Long time no see! Long time no see!”

  Chen Xiaofei grinned and replied, “It really has been a while—about a week, I think.”

  The clown puppet by the counter maintained its usual gentlemanly demeanor. Seeing them, it tipped its hat and said, “Good afternoon, my friends.”

  Bai Shu raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Oh? We’ve been upgraded to friends now? If we’re friends, shouldn’t we get a discount?”

  He smiled as he spoke.

  The clown puppet immediately went into “pying dead” mode, clearly indicating it would rather not have such friends.

  Wang Weihu chuckled and told them to stop joking around. As he looked around the shop, he couldn’t help but marvel, “Lin Qianxing, that kid, is a real workaholic. The inventory updates are insane!”

  “The Little Ice Age just started, and he’s already stocked new items. Let’s take a look—what should we buy?”

  But when he turned around, he found all his teammates had disappeared. Looking again, he saw them all gathered around the dress section, rummaging enthusiastically through the new arrivals.

  The two young women nearby couldn’t help but cover their mouths and giggle. Their expressions were peculiar as they whispered, “Wow, who would’ve thought? The 3A team has such… unique hobbies.” “So weird, but I kind of like it. Still, why haven’t we ever seen them wear dresses?”

  Wang Weihu froze on the spot, his face filled with embarrassment. The image of a tough guy suddenly turned shy as he stammered, “No, no, it’s not for us. It’s for our squad leader…”

  “No need to expin,” the two girls said, their expressions clearly saying, *We understand, we understand.* They quickly paid for their items and left, tugging each other along.

  As soon as they stepped out, their unrestrained ughter echoed back into the shop, loud and clear.

  Wang Weihu was left speechless. There was no way to expin this now, was there?!

  They weren’t perverts, really…

  Qin Luo, meanwhile, was examining the new winter dresses with great interest. “Wow, these designs are something else. Girls’ dresses are so intricate! Lin Qianxing’s really got an eye for this.”

  Chen Xiaofei picked up a particurly beautiful one and excimed, “This one’s great! Oh, and this one too! Hey, Bai Shu, grab this one!”

  Bai Shu gnced at the dress Chen Xiaofei was holding and frowned. “That’s way too fshy—bright red and purple. Are you trying to make her a walking target during battles? We’re heading to R City next, a pce overrun with pnts. Vibrant colors like these will attract bugs.”

  Qin Luo and Chen Xiaofei, of course, understood the logic, but… the dresses were just so pretty!

  “We’ll just save them for ter,” Qin Luo suggested.

  “Exactly,” Chen Xiaofei agreed.

  The two exchanged a look, clearly on the same wavelength. They high-fived decisively. “We’re buying it!”

  Real men don’t care about practicality.

  Girls, on the other hand, must look beautiful! They deserve to be dressed to the nines!

  Bai Shu shrugged and said, “Well, if you put it that way, I’m on board.”

  The dresses could always be worn ter.

  Wang Weihu watched the three of them monopolize the dress section and was at a loss for words. But he had to admit, the dresses were stunning.

  Every time they entered the shop, this section immediately caught their attention. It was hard not to notice.

  Especially since their squad included a little zombie who looked good in anything.

  Xu Duoduo gnced at the dresses they were holding and hesitated. Were they really expecting her to wear these?

  Her eyes shifted to the price tags. Goodness, the winter dresses were more than double the price of the autumn ones—each set starting at 600,000 points. Did she really need so many dresses?

  Noticing her gaze, Qin Luo immediately reached out to cover her eyes and turned her around. “Go try on the dress. Why are you looking at the price? Are we so poor that we can’t afford to dress you? Don’t worry, we’ve got money! Plenty of it!”

  His tone was full of confidence.

  Bai Shu adjusted his gsses and added, “Exactly. Even if we have to sell everything we own, we’ll make sure our girl is well taken care of. Right, Wang Weihu?”

  Wang Weihu: “???”

  Chen Xiaofei burst out ughing.

  Bai Shu then turned to Chen Xiaofei and teased, “Isn’t that right, son? Your dad’s got it all figured out.”

  Chen Xiaofei shot back, “Get lost! You’re taking all the credit! Besides, isn’t our squad leader Qin Luo’s first love? What now, Qin Luo’s your son-in-w?!”

  Qin Luo couldn’t take it anymore. “Both of you, shut up! Or I’ll fight you!”

  These two never missed an opportunity to joke around.

  Just then, the sound of a door opening interrupted them.

  “Click.”

  Lin Qianxing emerged from the back room, looking exasperated as he wheeled himself out in his custom wheelchair. “Are you guys from 3A ever not childish? I should post your private antics on the forums and let your fans see what you’re really like.”

  Qin Luo immediately perked up. “Oh, look who’s finally willing to show his face! Got another commission for us? We’re happy to help—for a small fee, of course. How about an 88% discount?”

  Bai Shu chimed in with a grin, “Yeah, just a tiny service fee. How about giving us a friends-and-family discount?”

  Chen Xiaofei pointed at Lin Qianxing’s wheelchair and commented, “Cool chair, by the way. Speaking of which, is that girl we saw st time someone you like?”

  Lin Qianxing regretted coming out. Why was the 3A team so noisy?! Qin Luo being chatty was one thing, but why were the rest of them just as bad?

  The shop instantly became lively and chaotic.

  Sighing, Lin Qianxing pulled out a few bracelets. “Here. Warming bracelets. Consider them part of your reward for helping me st time. I figured you wouldn’t have time to bring me materials to stack their attributes, so I made these instead. I heard you’re heading out on another mission?”

  “Yeah, we leave tomorrow,” Qin Luo replied.

  He picked up one of the bracelets and gnced at the manual: **[Warming Agate Bracelet: Reduces wind and snow within half a meter, increasing the temperature by 10 to 20 degrees.]**

  “Not bad,” he said. “With the Little Ice Age here, you’ve really updated your inventory.”

  Bai Shu examined the bracelet and nodded. “It’s a great item, especially since it can be enhanced with abilities.”

  Wang Weihu joined in. “Definitely useful. Thanks, boss.”

  Just then, Xu Duoduo stepped out of the fitting room in a champagne-colored Lolita-style dress. Qin Luo was the first to turn around, and he froze, his eyes glued to her. The delicate zombie girl was breathtakingly beautiful.

  The winter dress, with its intricate details and luxurious design, made her look even more otherworldly.

  Chen Xiaofei let out a loud “Wow!” and excimed, “We’re buying this one! Absolutely! Let me check the stats—holy crap, a 15% attack speed boost?!”

  Lin Qianxing’s face turned red. Seeing his masterpiece worn by such a perfect model filled him with pride. “I poured a lot of effort into this one. The materials were incredibly hard to gather, and it’s the most extravagant design I’ve ever made.”

  Wang Weihu was stunned, Bai Shu was full of admiration, and the entire team was in awe. The dress was gorgeous, and with the attack speed bonus, they couldn’t even imagine how fierce Xu Duoduo would be in battle.

  Qin Luo finally snapped out of it, cleared his throat, and decred, “Ahem. Wrap this one up!”

  Lin Qianxing, still blushing, instructed, “Abu, wrap it up for them. Give them an 88% discount…”

  The clown puppet was dumbfounded. What?! The stingy boss was actually offering such a huge discount?! Unbelievable!

  The mechanical parrot hopped around, squawking, “Gah gah! The sun’s rising in the west! The sun’s rising in the west!”

  Lin Qianxing snapped at the parrot to shut up.

  In the end, Qin Luo and his team also bought some handy tools and attribute-enhancing accessories.

  Unfortunately, Lin Qianxing wasn’t very skilled at making men’s clothing, so they didn’t find anything they liked. Their main purpose for coming here, after all, was to buy dresses for their little zombie squad leader.

  AnnouncementMy Patreon early-access chapters have been updated up to Chapter 240! You're welcome to support my work. Wishing everyone a wonderful day! http://patreon.com/SuperBC