Chapter 60: Swimwear Shop
After walking 50km in the morning, Yu Jiang started slacking off and lying flat, waiting for the afternoon instance mission to be trackable before continuing.
Lying in bed listening to rain sound white noise, eating some snacks—how comfortable.
She even had potato chips made by Sad Pig Intestine.
The remaining time was spent organizing the portable space grid and things to bring to the instance.
As soon as 3 PM arrived, Yu Jiang clicked mission tracking and headed to the instance entrance.
With experience from the last auto repair shop, she figured plenty of players would rush ahead to the instance.
What if they encountered another time-limited service area?
That’s what Yu Jiang thought too—no matter what, head there first.
At the instance mission, she and her four teammates were already teamed up; only the captain could click to track the mission.
After she clicked it, the other three teammates would sync track it too.
A team channel also appeared on the light screen.
Yu Jiang: “Everyone, let’s head out.”
Pure Love Cockroach Spicy Spicy: “So exciting! Finally meeting up with Big Shot in person!”
Lightning Mage King: “Me too!”
Strawberry Candy: “Charge!”
Yu Jiang looked at their responses in the team channel, and the corners of her mouth curved up too.
They could rendezvous once entering the parallel road; the map would update teammates’ positions too.
Just as Yu Jiang expected, there were lots of people on the parallel road; for a moment she thought she’d returned to the real world.
It wasn’t convenient to park and rendezvous here—easy to be targeted—so they agreed to go full speed ahead first and meet at the instance entrance.
With more vehicles on the road, Yu Jiang’s level four off-road pickup truck stood out among the level 2 vehicles.
Currently, few in the entire zone had vehicles upgraded to level 3, let alone level four—unavoidable to draw stares.
The public screen was talking about it too.
Ka Pi La La: [Holy crap!!! A few minutes ago, I saw an insanely good car ahead—super cool shape! The car paint wasn’t even damaged by acid rain.]
He added: [I only dared to post after pulling away; can’t see that car anymore now.]
Player 3420: [I saw it too! Ten minutes ago that car passed by me—too strong. I’ve seen level 3 vehicles; none this badass.]
Lone Wolf 2009: [That’s a Tyrannosaurus off-road pickup truck! Level four, right? I’ve seen level 3 pickups. Big Shot is too fierce—less than a month and already got the upgrade materials. When can I have a level four vehicle? So hard.]
Super Idea King: [Which Big Shot is it? I bet top ten from last instance.]
Luo Tuo Xiang Zi: [No need to say—besides top ten, who can afford to upgrade to level four vehicle? Hundreds of each material! Is it Hand Holding Cleaver Chopping Wire, or The King Called Me to Patrol the Mountain, X, Han Jiang Gu Ying, Life is Like a Play? Those few are filthy rich as far as I know.]
Little Orange Cat: [Ye Wuyou isn’t bad either—was prepping for level four vehicle upgrade a couple days ago, plus Sicily.]
Yu Jiang drove forward for an hour and found Lightning Mage King very close to her.
Pure Love Cockroach had a small truck—dangerous to drive fast in the rain. Strawberry Candy’s agricultural combine harvester had a slower top speed.
She and Lightning Mage King simply rendezvoused first and drove together. Yu Jiang was racing for speed, but unexpectedly, Lightning Mage King’s cyber cat car was this fast.
Forget her—even the public screen was stunned.
The Bigger the Waves, the More Expensive the Fish: [What the heck? Why does his car have sticker packs!]
July: [That car looks so good—begging the owner to say how they got it. Modified?]
Lightning Mage King, speeding wildly on the road, twitched the corner of his mouth.
He was going this fast because the car was too eye-catching—lots of shady people liked to mess with him, maliciously cutting him off.
Last time someone cut him off and cursed him for second chair—it was that idiot Ye Wuyou.
With acid rain falling, he didn’t want trouble, so he sped up to avoid chances.
Yu Jiang set autopilot, freeing up more energy to observe vehicles on the road.
The scenery on both sides of the road had changed—tall mountain range, and occasionally passing severely damaged houses.
“Service area arriving ahead—reduce speed to enter?” Autopilot issued a reminder.
“Enter enter enter!” After saying it, Yu Jiang sat in the driver’s seat looking around.
Wait, no.
Where was the service area? Why couldn’t she see it?
Soon, the car stopped roadside at a very crude stand—like a scenic area kiosk, no parking lot, just the pavilion.
“This is a service area too?” Yu Jiang’s brain shrank when she got out.
In the pavilion, a huge cockatiel stood on the table, with particularly pretty blush on its cheeks.
Its wings pointed to a wooden sign beside it: “Little Bird Swimwear—how is this not a service area? You looking down on our service area?!”
“No no no, I’ve just never seen such a… special service area.” Yu Jiang quickly explained, “It’s good—at least no parking fee.”
“Hmph hmph.” The cockatiel proudly turned its head away. “My colleague and I each work one day. The waterproof cloth factory behind is ours too! Buy quick for the high difficulty instance ahead—closes at 6 PM.”
That said, it would be great if this NPC could be raised—pretty cute, no boredom on the road.
Yu Jiang eyed the shop’s items: life jacket 399?
Auto-retracting vehicle sky curtain 499 (super sturdy version!)
Goggles were cheaper, just 199.
Damn, prices rival a scenic kiosk.
If not for the crystal coins from selling medicine, she’d be slapping her thigh today.
Took everything—still short 300 crystal coins. Yu Jiang private chatted X and Purple Butt Can Do It: one wanted Popeye’s Spinach, one wanted intermediate healing potion, traded for 400 crystal coins. Meanwhile, she posted about the swimwear shop in the friend channel.
Everyone set out at 3 PM—definitely arrive before 6. This service area didn’t limit shoppers, so no need for proxy buying.
“Thank you for your patronage.” The cockatiel flapped its wings, imitating Yu Jiang’s voice and shouting,
“Little Bird Swimwear Shop, Little Bird Swimwear Shop—damn boss is slacking off! Original prices all 1999, now just 399! Sold out and we’re off!”
Yu Jiang: ???
Suddenly hearing a voice 70% like her own, anyone would be a bit dazed.
“Why imitate me?”
“Haven’t heard a proper human voice in ages—yours sounds good!” The cockatiel declared righteously. “My shitty colleague is a frog—been around him so long my voice sounds bad too.”
Yu Jiang: .
Just thought the cockatiel was cute—not cute at all anymore!
She gritted her teeth leaving—out of sight, out of mind.
Only after leaving the swimwear shop did she get cockatiel affection +50.
Soon after, Shi Xu, Han Jiang Gu Ying, Sad Pig Intestine, and Strawberry Candy arrived, stunned for two seconds hearing the cockatiel’s voice—expressions priceless.
Scared them—thought the cockatiel was Little Drill Wind in disguise.
Players passing the swimwear shop one after another bought stuff just in case, several gritting teeth.
Some really out of crystal coins didn’t buy but urged others,
“What’s the point of buying swimwear on the road? It’s not like we can’t swim—this is scamming fools. Game never said every service area has useful supplies.”
Players hesitating in the swimwear shop thought about it—made sense. Saving crystal coins wasn’t easy.
Instance called Brave the Rapids—even if needed, no need for life jacket; an old tire floats just fine.
Of course, some quickly bought when others weren’t looking and stashed in space grid.
By the time people around said not to buy, they nodded along in the mix.
