Lee skimmed past the anxious replies, the curses, and all the rest.
But soon, the thread changed—and in a way that delighted him.
"Wait, Lulu can be saved! Look who that is!"
"Holy crap, the Merchant!"
"Is this a hero-rescues-beauty plot? This game is so advanced! Can players actually take part in the story as the protagonist?"
"6666, the Merchant showed up just in time. For that alone, I'll stop calling you the Merchant from now on. I'll open one more box next time to thank you!"
"Opening a box to thank you +1!"
"+2!"
Lee's expression at that point was: (ˉ﹃ˉ)
Could he, maybe, possibly, make another pile of money? And clear his name in the process?
The thought made Lee feel downright delighted. He decided not to hold Luna's secret photo-taking against her and kept scrolling through the thread, carefully counting how many people planned to open boxes to thank him.
"Holy crap, so much cutting-edge tech! That green armor looks awesome. I wonder if the Merchant's selling it."
"Damn, the Merchant is so badass! He left that sleazy curly-haired creep speechless!"
"Exactly! What a piece of junk that Rhino Armor is. The design is garbage too. It's nowhere near as good as the Merchant's Bumblebee!"
"Right? Bumblebee looks so cool. I'd bet it could beat that crappy mech with one hand!"
"It's over for me. Rescuing a beauty, putting a scumbag in his place, and that line—'No petty thief gets to steal the fruits of my hard work'—was just too cool! I think I'm becoming a fan of the Merchant. What do I do?"
"Wake up, people upstairs! Did you forget the Merchant's 'I have a dream' speech? It's all a trick..."
"Mm, I should jot this down in a little notebook. The people who said