Jack dragged Lilly along in plenty of shops. He first needed new clothes so he'd stop embarrassing her— even if she didn't mind.
Anyway, it was time to spend!
He swaggered in many clothing stores, but every time the clerks would discreetly (or not) laugh upon seeing him.
Heck, they were either attentive to all clients but him or watched him closely to prevent him from stealing. Where was the basic trust between humans?!
He could have easily done the "Screw you I'm a big shot routine" and slapped them into submission with his bank card. But wouldn't that give them a commission?! Fuck that! It was better for him just to leave!
That's why they kept going from shop to shop akin to explorers looking for a lost treasure; one called basic human decency! It seemed pretty impossible to find.
But then they found the jackpot! Even after looking in his general direction, the clerk didn't show any sign of looking down on him! She was also blind, but whatever.
Before long, Jack tried various clothes and forced Lilly to do the same. On the side, that one blind girl was praising how handsome/gorgeous they looked— talk about shameless!
Well, in this case, she was right. It turned out that going from rags to riches did increase his handsomeness a lot! The only downside was that he had lost his rugged hobo look…
"Wow! Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?!" Lilly jokingly praised.
Slowly but surely, he convinced her to buy a few things for herself. But this was just the start of their shopping spree!
They rented themselves some U-Bot helpers to carry the luggage and bought more and more!
- Even more outfits (Mostly for Jack).
- New super fluffy pillows and mattresses for them both!
- Plenty of vitamins that were supposedly "perfect" for Infinite VR Gamers.
- They had even stopped to buy her an Infinite VR helmet, even with how expensive it was!
Lilly had protested during the entire purchase and calibration phase, but so what?! He had been adamant and bought one anyway! After all, Infinite would become mainstream very soon.
The whole time, many glared at her in utter jealousy! Heck, it wasn't just the women being jealous. Many dudes totally wanted him as a sugar daddy if it meant getting an Infinite helmet!
There was only one thing that she had wholeheartedly accepted without grumbling during the entire trip. It was a small, round, cute, and cheap pumpkin pin that she could hang to her long black flowing hair.
He had instantly thought of her upon seeing it!
It looked a bit childish, yet somehow made her look even more beautiful. He could often see her run her fingers on it, a smile blossoming on her face. This was a token more than anything,
But they weren't just shopping. They were enjoying the sights too as they strolled the mall. Honestly, the view almost justified the over-inflated prices.
She began to loosen up enough to start enjoying herself:
"Look at that! That's so damn cool!" She exclaimed, her eyes full of wonder.
Above them, there was a lazy river seemingly just floating in the air. Inside of it was plenty of colorful fishes that swam following the current. The light from the surroundings vibrantly reflected on their scales. It was gorgeous!
"Oh? Is that free?! I want to try it!" She pointed at a train that ferried the shoppers around.
It was neither fast nor slow and would sometimes rise in the air, allowing them to get a perfect view of the mall. Before long, they had glanced at most of the attractions.
There was a cinema.
There was a petting zoo.
There was a shooting range.
There was a small botanical garden.
There was a zero-gravity floating simulator.
There was so much varied stuff! It was crazy!
There was even a tiny Roombot shop that Jack insisted on visiting alone for some reason.
The place was small, the white of emptiness, and only had a single Roombot tirelessly working.
The little robot kept moving about, cleaning the already pristine floor and chanting prerecorded messages.
It sounded so cute! Heck, this little thing had more personality than 99% of social media influencers!
That's when a man came out from the back store.
He looked relatively ordinary but was surprisingly very fit. He had a kind face, a small mustache, and looked like a jovial uncle.
Oh yeah, he was also wearing a name tag: <Darius>. The man had recognized him, even if he tried to hide it.
"Hello there! How can I help you?" He asked with a gentle voice.
"Tch— Give me the debt transfer contract already. After today the old man won't owe you anything." Jack spat out, cutting straight to the chase.
"Ah, don't tell me you're—"
"No need for the theatricals. You already knew I was in this shopping mall." Josh had noticed his lack of surprise upon seeing him.
The man chuckled, grabbed an envelope from his pocket, and handed it over. But right before Josh could grab it, he clicked his tongue.
That's when five powerful-looking men came out of the back store and surrounded him. All glared at him menacingly, but he didn't flinch!
Were his nerves made of freaking steel?!
A few then seemed to recognize him as they shuddered. They had heard horror stories about him! Was it all true?!
It was strange as hell. How could such a young guy be that confident while outnumbered?! He even calmly looked at them one by one before uttering:
"Were you guys having a sausage party back there or something?" His voice was so very calm and easygoing. But he was suddenly interrupted by the very serious-sounding loan shark/ Roombot seller.
"Needless to say, either you'll pay up, or we'll use your organs to settle the debt. Do you understand?" Darius gave him an ultimatum, mobster style.
He then gave a long speech:
"You really don't want us to collect—"
— Roombot! Reporting for cleaning duty! —
"….For we'll quickly turn you into sashimi! We'll—"
— Cleaning your house like a boss! —
"…Gouge all your organs out and sell them to—"
— Roombot Powwaaa!!! Eiyaaa!—
The upbeat sound of the miniature robot was so damn awkward! It completely screwed up the otherwise intense atmosphere!
This was so damn ridiculous! Trying to intimidate someone with these silly messages playing in the background?! At that moment, Jack just couldn't take it anymore.
"Pfft— Hahaha! Bro, these Roombots are the best, hahaha!" Jack was chuckling while holding his stomach. "This cover business of yours is really too good!"
"Tch— Cover business? I'm an amazing Roombot salesman! Or are you looking down on me?!"
Jack couldn't help but stare, perplexed. Wait…what?!
"Are you serious?!" He asked in disbelief.
"Hell yeah! Selling Roombots brings joy to tons of families all over the world!" He thundered, weirdly motivated.
The goons scratched their heads awkwardly. Did they really need to be there? They would rather go back to playing poker!
As they saw Jack's bright smile, they figured that they definitely didn't want to stay there anymore.
"Actually, if you really care about this Roombot business, I may just have an opportunity for you," Jack uttered.
He looked more like a shark than the actual professional loan shark.