“Boss-chan, I came here to redeem my machine tool-kun!”
“Ah, so you’ve finally decided to sell yourself to pay off your debts?”
The gray-haired girl crossed one leg over the other, peering at the three customers in her shop with a single open eye.
She looked a bit disheveled—her short gray hair was messy, and she wore only a white pajama top printed with a chibi character’s face.
Any slight movement revealed her beautiful pale legs and the mysterious black silk panties beneath.
But she didn’t mind at all. In fact, catching Chunfeng’s gaze, she deliberately lifted her shirt hem.
“Hmm? Interested in me?”
“Five hundred per night. At my looks, that’s quite a bargain.”
“Stop teasing a kid, will you!”
But Yijinmo quickly pushed her shirt back down with one hand.
“Besides, I haven’t fallen so low as to sell myself!”
Miss Luo hadn’t even gotten that far with her yet. Usually, it was just sleeping together or cuddling. Their closest intimacy so far was that first night when they took a bath together.
Their friendship was pure!
“Then where’d you get the money? Don’t tell me you robbed a bank?”
“Hmph, a gentleman loves wealth but earns it honorably.”
She made money with her brains—noble, legal income.
A matter of mutual consent.
“Whatever, whatever, come with me, let’s go see your stuff.”
Supporting her back, the gray-haired girl stood and led the group toward the grocery store’s warehouse.
“Boss, is this lady-owner… a weirdo too?”
“Hm? Of course.”
Otherwise, how could she have shattered her insides and still be here leading the way like nothing happened?
“Then why…?”
She seemed like a perfectly normal person, even running a shop here?
Chunfeng and Steel Spike hadn’t been weirdos for long and had been taken away by Ice Spike early on, living in an abandoned factory outside the city.
Aside from buying groceries, they hardly ventured out and had almost no contact with the weirdos of Jiangnan City.
“Because everyone has their own way to survive.”
Weirdos are chosen by evil energy, but the selection criteria are far too broad.
Whether you’re a hopeless criminal or a good student, a single wicked thought can make you fall into becoming a real weirdo.
Like that unconscious Flame weirdo reported by the police—she was already desperate, came to the bank with the intention to rob it, and “just happened” to be chosen by the evil energy, granted the power to burn everything.
These people, guilty or innocent, though hated by all and hunted like rats, still had to live their lives, and the sun still rose as usual.
People like Yijinmo and Vita, strong enough to control their internal evil energy, can live their normal lives, just hiding the fact they’re weirdos.
Those weaker like Chunfeng and Steel Spike, who can’t revert back, live hidden in the city’s shadows.
As long as they avoid raids and trouble, they’re fine… until their evil energy flares up again.
Then there’s a third type, like Boss-chan here, whose abilities are so unique and irreplaceable that neither the underworld nor the authorities dare touch her.
She can live openly under the sun and even run her own little shop.
“Unique…?”
“What kind of unique…?”
“Reversion.”
“Boss-chan’s name is—the Reversion Weirdo. Whether it’s life or objects, she can revert them back to how they were an hour ago.”
Glug.
Chunfeng and Steel Spike swallowed hard at the same time.
Such an ability was unheard of.
Revert to an hour ago… So this girl, who looked like a two-dimensional shut-in, actually had the power to bring the dead back to life?!
“Right. That’s why no one dares offend Boss-chan.”
Even the most brutal gangs wouldn’t dare offend the underground doctor, let alone a doctor who can revive them on the spot.
“But… wouldn’t they just take Boss-chan into their own factions?”
“Nope. There’s only one restorer-type weirdo in all of Jiangnan City. Everyone relies on her to save their own skins. If anyone dared kidnap her, they’d be attacked by all.”
But staying neutral was also a necessity. To maintain this life, Boss-chan couldn’t show any affiliation, couldn’t side with anyone in Jiangnan City.
“Such a terrifying ability… her rating must be very high, right?”
“Not really.”
Yijinmo shook her head.
“Boss-chan can only use her ability twice a day, so her rating is about Lv.4. Unless she could use it unlimited times, she couldn’t advance to Lv.5 like me.”
“Chatter chatter, come on, hurry up!”
Waving her hand impatiently, the gray-haired girl pushed everyone into the warehouse, pulling aside a colorful rain tarp to reveal a uniquely shaped device inside.
“Give me the money, take your stuff.”
Boss-chan reached out to Yijinmo, who readily transferred the 300,000 coins Miss Alice gave her yesterday.
“Thanks, Boss-chan.”
“…Why thank me? It’s just business.”
“Nope, it’s not just business. It’s our bond!”
“Thank you for not really selling it back then, so I still have a chance to redeem my past.”
Facing Yijinmo’s sincere, almost excessive gaze, the gray-haired girl blushed and turned away toward other warehouse clutter.
“Tch, I just didn’t want to see some idiot crying like a mess anymore.”
“Take your stuff and get out. I still need my nap!”
Grabbing a broom nearby, she was ready to shoo them away.
…………
She and Yijinmo had quite a long relationship.
Many of the Lightning Weirdo’s equipment parts were sourced from her.
You could say Reversion had watched this Jiangnan City rising star’s birth, rise, and fall firsthand…
Despite her youthful appearance, Reversion was actually middle-aged, her power preventing aging.
In over a decade as a weirdo, she had seen many bright gems like Yijinmo covered in inescapable dust for various reasons.
That stormy night, upon hearing news of the Lightning Weirdo’s death like everyone else, she was expressionless, thinking it was just another boring cycle.
Until that soaking-wet girl stood alive before her.
“Boss-chan… can you help me?”
“I want to sell my machine tool.”
“…What for?”
“For my best friend, and my foster mother, so they can live well.”
“And you?”
“…Me? Doesn’t matter. It’s already like this.”
She had no interest in why the false death news happened, nor in why the once-cool, charismatic weirdo leader had become so broken.
She pulled the slightly feverish girl into the shop to wash up properly.
“Thank you…”
“Are you sure you want to sell your manufacturing machine tool to me?”
“Yeah… Boss-chan, just sell it as scrap… The era of lightning… is over.”
“…It’s not over.”
Rubbing the young girl’s head, it was the first time she spoke so earnestly—more sincere than during a gacha pull.
“Consider it sold to me. It’ll stay here with me… until the day you decide to rise again and redeem this heap of scrap.”
“Consider it our pact.”