Is This Membership System a Joke?

"I think I forgot something."

Chen De stepped back behind the door and shut it with her backhand.

Qubi jumped down from her shoulder and landed steadily on the entryway cabinet.

"What was it?"

"Did you forget to bring your brain when you went out?"

Chen De ignored it and rolled her eyes.

She changed into her slippers and pattered back to the bedroom.

Then, without the slightest concern for appearances, she squatted on the floor and stuck half her body beneath the bed.

From among a pile of clutter, she dragged out that heavy cardboard box.

That was right, that cardboard box.

The remnants of a JD Express label were still stuck to the outside.

Shipping origin: Shenzhen.

Noble Mithril, processed through a magic disinfection cabinet.

"I thought you'd forgotten already."

Qubi followed her over and squatted in the doorway.

"I spent fifty thousand yuan on this! I could forget my own name before I'd ever forget! This! Thing!"

Chen De gritted her teeth and flipped open the lid.

She had cleaned out most of the foam packing last time.

Eight silver bars lay neatly inside the box.

The words "investment silver bar" looked especially glaring beneath the light.

Every time she saw them, her heart hurt.

Purity: 99.99%.

Too bad it wasn't gold.

She had spent five thousand Magic Coins to buy ten bars, and used two of them for a coating last time.

Now, eight remained.

Each one was worth five hundred Magic Coins.

That was equivalent to five thousand yuan.

Other people could spend five thousand in a game and pull a limited-edition skin with a matching set and special effects.

She could only spend five thousand on a silver bar made in Shenzhen.

The psychological damage from that conversion was simply priceless.

Chen De took a deep breath and held out her hand.

"Weapon."

A pure white short gun condensed into being, its silver glow still lingering around the barrel.

It seemed to be breathing.

That was the result of the two silver bars from last time.

White light lit up in her left hand as well.

A short blade appeared.

Its edge also bore a faint layer of silver, giving off the fragrance of Chinese yuan.

It did look good.

And it was genuinely handy to use.

The maintenance cost was just far too expensive.

"After the last enhancement, you should have felt that your magic power flowed more smoothly, right?"

Qubi jumped onto the bedside table.

"Yeah."

"Then that's it. The effects stack with every enhancement."

"I know. You already recited that sales pitch last time when you were pretending to be a salesman."

As she spoke, Chen De took two silver bars from the box.

They were icy cold in her hands.

And satisfyingly heavy.

This was two hundred grams of genuine investment-grade silver.

"Two bars should be enough, right?"

"Enough. Two at a time. Any more and the weapons will explode."

"Good. Saving one bar is still saving one bar."

"You're quite frugal with something that cost fifty thousand yuan."

"Of course! That's called careful budgeting! What would a cat like you, who's never run a household, know about the cost of living?"

Chen De glared at it and refocused on the silver bar in her right hand.

Magic power seeped out from her palm.

A faint glow began to spread across the silver bar's surface.

The chill of the metal gradually faded, replaced by a warmth.

It really was like a sugar cube melting under the sun.

Then the silver bar began to soften.

Just like last time, silver liquid flowed through her fingers toward the gun.

It spread along the patterns.

Seeped in.

Merged.

When the final drop of silver liquid sank into the gun grip,

the silver glow across the entire weapon brightened visibly.

The second layer of coating was complete.

Chen De lightly bounced the gun in her hand.

It felt a little lighter again.

Holding it gave her an indescribable sense of compatibility.

As though the weapon had finally recognized who its boss was.

"The right side's done." Chen De raised the gun and examined it.

It really was different.

If the first enhancement had been a coat of primer,

then the second was a layer of varnish.

The sheen was richer, and the lines sharper.

Five-thousand-yuan varnish.

The most expensive kind in the world.

She sighed, shook her head, and picked up the second silver bar.

She aimed it at the short blade in her left hand and repeated the process.

Practice made perfect.

The same procedure.

Magic power flowed in.

The silver bar melted.

Silver liquid ran along the blade, seeping into every groove along its edge.

The blade flashed beneath the light.

It looked sharper than before.

Visibly sharper.

Chen De held the blade horizontally before her eyes.

Silver light wandered over its edge like an extremely thin stream.

"Not bad."

Qubi nodded.

"The effect of the second enhancement is more obvious than the first."

"It gets more obvious the further it goes?"

"Yes. Increasing marginal returns."

Chen De's eyes widened in shock.

"A cat like you knows economics?"

"There's plenty I know. I could even chat with you about the truths of the universe."

"Then do you know how to get the price of silver bars down?"

"Uh... that, I really don't know."

"Useless thing."

Chen De rolled her eyes and dismissed both the blade and gun at once.

The white light faded, and the weapons vanished.

She squatted down and looked at the six remaining silver bars in the box.

Six bars.

Two per use.

That meant she only had enough for three more enhancements.

Once they were gone, she would have to buy more.

Another fifty thousand yuan.

This spending cycle was shorter than her phone plan.

"Qubi."

"Yeah."

"Does your shop have a membership system?"

"Yes."

"Do you get discounts for topping up?"

"Top up sixty thousand and get five hundred free."

"Not even a ten percent discount?"

"Correct."

"Is your membership system here to be a joke?"

"Our target market is high-end users."

"So high-end users deserve to be fleeced?"

"High-end users don't care about such a small amount of money."

"I care! I care very much!"

Chen De kicked the box back under the bed.

When she stood up, her knee cracked.

That was definitely not because she was getting old.

It was entirely because this body's legs were too short, and squatting so low had made her bones protest.

She rubbed her knee and grumbled as she headed back to the living room.

She glanced out the window.

The sky was completely dark.

The streetlights were on.

People occasionally walked their dogs around the residential complex.

The lit windows in the building opposite were scattered like pieces on a chessboard.

"Tell me, where's tonight's trouble?"

Chen De put her hands on her hips and switched into work mode.

"The old district."

"Why is it always some dump like that? Why do they all like staying in these deserted hellholes?"

Qubi jumped onto the sofa.

"The distribution of Calamities has no absolute pattern. They incubate wherever they feel like it."

"As for why there are fewer in the city center, it's simply because other magical girls are usually keeping watch there."

"From the moment a potential location appears to dispersing a Calamity that hasn't fully formed..."

"It only takes under ten minutes."

"Calamities need time to incubate too. Although they incubate faster in crowded places, the clearing efficiency is even faster."

Chen De sighed.

"Fine."

She walked to the entryway.

She was still transformed.

The transformation outfit was bound to her anyway, saving her even the effort of worrying about matching clothes.

Even changing into a different coat felt unnecessary.

She opened the door.

The evening wind blew in.

It was exactly the same as the gust right before she closed the door.

Only now, she held the confidence of two silver bars in her hand.

Even though this confidence was only worth ten thousand yuan.

Chen De stepped out.

Qubi skillfully jumped onto his shoulder.

"Head east, take a left at the third intersection, and follow the river all the way to the end."

"Received."

Chen De closed the door and locked it.

He walked all the way to the residential area's gate.

His toes tapped the ground.

His figure was like a white arrow being shot out, instantly catapulting through the buildings of the residential area.

The speed was very fast.

The wind brushed past his ears, blowing his long white hair streaming backward.

His skirt fluttered in the wind.

His entire person raced along the road like a silver stream of light.

It only took three minutes.

The old district had arrived.

"Chen De, your speed has increased again."

Qubi was as steady as Mount Tai in the wind, not even a single hair out of place.

"Did it? Maybe."

In the darkness, a familiar mass of black was writhing.

Lesser Calamity.

It was a size smaller than the previous one.

Roughly speaking, it was just a malnourished little brother.

Chen De landed on the roof of a certain household.

His right hand materialized a short spear.

His left hand materialized a short blade.

The silver halo from the recent pay-to-win upgrade lit up on both weapons simultaneously.

A ten-thousand-yuan halo.

Quite bright.

Chen De looked at the black fog below, the corners of his mouth slowly curling up into an extremely villainous smile.

"Qubi."

"Hmm."

"I'm going to make this ten thousand yuan back from this Lesser Calamity."

"A Lesser Calamity is only worth fifty thousand, and after deducting the platform fee, you get forty thousand."

"Enough."

Chen De leaped down from the roof.

The white figure streaked across the night sky.

"Forty thousand minus ten thousand, still a profit of thirty thousand."

"Net positive, not a loss."

The tip of the spear lit up with a silvery-white light.

The blade reflected the moonlight.

The Lesser Calamity hadn't realized anything yet.

Then it was split in two by a silvery-white beam of light.

More tips mean an extra chapter

Thanks to Eternal Collapse big shot for tipping a speed-up talisman

Thanks to Iceberry big shot for tipping an inspiration capsule