Open the Gate! Free Trade!

Carrying the case to one side, before he could open it, he heard Mohawk Head suck in a sharp breath and cry out, "Oh... holy shit!"

Yuan Zhu was immediately drawn by his reaction and hurriedly looked over.

He saw Lü Rang holding an unfamiliar firearm high overhead with both hands, raising it toward the chandelier as he admired the metallic gleam reflected off its matte surface, repeatedly letting out satisfied, strange noises: "Ooh... ahh..."

Firearms—the shared dream of a billion Earth boys! (Except for the male lead in that school shooting incident in America.) Pulling back his peripheral gaze, Yuan Zhu eagerly opened his own case as well. An unidentifiable rifle lay diagonally inside, with four fully loaded magazines in the upper-right corner and two boxes of ammunition. In the lower-left sat an equally unfamiliar handgun, three magazines, and a box of ammunition.

Moreover, at the very bottom of the case lay a neatly folded set of clothes. The style was impossible to make out, but the material was clearly of exceptional quality. As expected of the god who presided over luxury children's clothing in the Nightmare Layer! One move, and it was premium goods. On top of the clothes sat a row of melon grenades, meant to pray for blessings and suppress ill fortune.

Mao Mao King, I acknowledge you now! But what kind of god needed guns and grenades to promote a clothing brand in another world? Could it be that the "strategy" in brand strategy was meant literally? Wasn't it supposed to be a contest of brains, not lives? Besides the two firearms, three boxes of ammunition, and row of little melons, there was also a short blade that could be used as a long dagger. And a rat lying quietly atop the magazines?

Ratty? Ratty again! Yuan Zhu felt as though rats were written into his fate—wherever he went, they were there?! The evil demon with the rat head, the dried corpse made into a surveillance device, the sachet hanging outside his neighbor's door, the living battery drained dry by the Holy Light doctor... and now, it had spawned again in his beginner's gift pack.

Was it because he had reincarnated as a kitty that he had to face rats everywhere? "Ah!"

He was not the only one hostile toward rats. Bread Girl, Mai Lili, who had also opened her case beside him, screamed in fright when she saw the ratty lounging comfortably atop the magazines.

Rats themselves were not actually frightening. The ones in everyone's cases were all carefully selected cute little rats, attractive in appearance and smooth-furred, and they had even been given an extra dose of cuteness.

But the truly terrifying part was that they had all undergone brutal secondary modifications.

The originally rather adorable rat head had a third of it gouged out and replaced with metal components. Half its skull and eye socket had become a metallic structure born of blood, flesh, suffering, and mechanical ascension, carrying a strong air of a mechanical prosthetic body. Not cyberpunk, but certainly punk—gears and clockwork.

Apart from the small mechanical skull exposed on its head, an iron spike had been brutally driven into the very center of its crown, with obvious welding marks. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a miniature metal antenna that could extend and retract.

As for the ratty's body, its spine along the back had also been pierced through flesh by an exoskeleton like a facehugger's and firmly fixed in place. An insectile skeletal frame resembling a spider was embedded tightly in its living flesh, strangling it in a suffocating embrace from behind while driving sharp segmented bone spurs through its chest from the front.

Just looking at it felt wildly cultish and abstinent, like being transported back to Hellraiser. A bona fide "Hell Ascetic Rat."

Its gear-and-antenna mechanical head, biologically modified grotesque body, and the pollution warning that made the Immortal Scripture scream all proved that this ratty was anything but ordinary.

Meng Xiyue was the first to grab her antenna baby. Pinching its rotatable rat head between two fingers, she tugged the antenna out with force. As her wrist continually shifted directions, the ratty's half-mechanical head turned along with it, allowing the antenna to adjust flexibly as well.

She asked, "Captain, what does this thing do? How will it help with this mission?"

The captain replied, "It has undergone multiple engravings and modifications with extraordinary techniques. It is itself a valuable enchanted item, containing a miniature Elemental Heart that can provide energy for up to one month. It possesses three passive effects: anti-tracking, anti-divination, and minor mental resistance. At the same time, it supports linked communication over short to medium distances, which requires binding it to your mental frequency. In addition, it has basic functions such as knowledge-data storage and exchange, photography, video recording, and surveillance."

Pink Hair marveled, "Wow! This really is good stuff. Even at the Academy, I've never come into contact with luxury goods of this caliber."

The multicolored-haired Lü Rang asked, "Sister Yue, is this ugly rat worth a lot?"

"Worth a lot? You can't buy it on the market at all! At least, I've never heard of any device or modified rat capable of medium-range communication, let alone one modified so compactly. It's practically a work of art! All the communication devices on the market right now are fixed installations."

Lü Rang protested, "What if there are some? You just haven't come across them."

"Heh... I live in Tai Xi, not Running. Tai Xi International University is at the cutting edge of international academia. If even I haven't heard of it, then it definitely isn't a commercial product available to ordinary people. So don't even dream about it."

Upon hearing that, the country bumpkin from Running lowered his noble rainbow mohawk in shame. Clutching the ratty he had squeezed slightly out of shape, he swore that he would rise above the crowd one day and make everyone see him in a new light.

Yuan Zhu also picked up his own antenna baby, its exoskeleton somewhat cold and hard, and asked curiously, "How do you use this thing?"

The captain said, "Don't rush, everyone. First put on our Happy Home standard uniform. Although Mao Mao King is the god of luxury children's clothing, she possesses unique authority in the field of textiles and can also produce adult clothing. This uniform not only uses precious materials and has a novel, fashionable design, it also contains extraordinary abilities that can help everyone complete the mission smoothly."

"What effects does it have?"

The captain said, "Besides the most basic pollution resistance, handgun-level defense, resistance to cutting and piercing, and minor fire resistance, it is breathable and warm, waterproof and leakproof, resistant to deformation, and elastic. Finally, whenever needed, you can actively overdraw your stamina and let the uniform take over part of your nervous system, temporarily strengthening your speed, strength, and defense. However, you must be careful with the actual operation. Without experience, it is very easy to strain muscles, sprain joints, or bruise soft tissue."

After hearing this, Yuan Zhu deeply felt the sheer generosity of Happy Home. Not only did they provide weapons and grenades, but also rat-brand walkie-talkies and clothes that enhanced the body.

With this loadout, he could clear the first stage of a traditional Infinite Flow scenario.

Next, the captain opened seven private bedrooms for them. The rooms were not large, each with a bed for resting. Once they had changed into their uniforms, the clothes seemed to come alive, automatically shrinking and adjusting themselves to fit perfectly.

Yuan Zhu looked himself over in the mirror. This material, this cut, these effects... he had to admit it.

The Little Elf decisively came online: "I have to say, Boss, you're a born clothes hanger. You're simply too hot! Your looks utterly crush every man in Happy Home—I've never seen anyone more handsome than you!"

"Be humble, be humble." Yuan Zhu restrainedly waved a hand, desperately suppressing the corners of his mouth, which were curling higher than an AK. His gaze fell on a fashion magazine tucked beneath the uniform.

But when he opened it, it was filled with photoshoots for Mao Mao King's luxury children's wear. Different civilizations, different styles, different designs... The models included handsome little boys and girls, sweet types, cool types, athletic types, top-student types...

There were also separate luxury children's leather shoes, children's watches, children's earrings, children's belts, children's bags... every single item was priced like a work of art, not childlike in the slightest! They were clearly not made for commoners. In all his life, this was the first time he had seen a fashion magazine like this. Only true aristocrats and powerful clans could afford such things. All the clothes he and his younger brother owned combined were not worth as much as a single pair of "Genuine Dinosaur Leather Shoes."

Could the upcoming mission be to carry semi-automatic rifles, hang grenades from their bodies, force the natives to browse this magazine, pick out their favorite absurdly expensive luxury children's clothes, and pay cash for them?!

'Closed-door policy? Open the Gate! East India Company, free trade! Fire in the hole!'

Ha, now that had the right flavor.

Monthly votes, recommendations, tips, bookmarks, comments... I'll take whatever you've got.

Make the comments positive and uplifting, alright? Don't give me anything negative—I still want decent results...