MORNING 2.5: CH 4 THE HALF-MILLION BOUTIQUE VETO

📖 MORNING 2.5: CHAPTER 4 THE HALF-MILLION BOUTIQUE VETO Following the immense standing ovation on the promenade, Astra Yao and Evelyn officially joined the tour squad. S-Rank powerhouse Xuánlong led the expanded group straight past the glass panels of Lumina Square’s most prestigious clothing boutique, The Galaxy Runway Faction. The interior air was cool, scented with expensive lavender and packed with high-tech automated dressing booth terminals. While Robin and Natasha quietly panned through the elegant civilian streetwear racks, Guinaifen hit an immediate, hyper-exaggerated One Piece style star-eye loop. She bolted straight toward a locked display booth, completely obsessed with the flashiest, most comically ridiculous, and stupid-looking outfit in the entire shop—a giant, puffy neon-green mascot bodysuit shaped like a chubby mechanical frog, complete with bouncing googly-eye sensors and oversized webbed shoe grids! Without a single microsecond of hesitation, she dragged the wacky suit straight into the nearest automated dressing chamber to test the wardrobe parameters. SWISH! The dressing room doors slid open dynamically, and Guinaifen marched out onto the shop tiles. She looked completely goofy, funny, and absolutely stupid! She awkwardly waddled across the floorboards, her long orange-peach side ponytail sticking straight out of the frog helmet ventilation seams as she frantically waved a signature peace sign. Guinaifen: "Oh my god, everyone look! This artsy mascot armor is a total 10/10 victory ledger masterpiece! It matches my streaming personality perfectly! I am completely in love with this gear, and I want to buy every single version of it right now!" The exact microsecond she tried to execute a cheerful performer victory spin, the massive webbed feet tripped over a decorative display box! Guinaifen hit a hilarious, hyper-exaggerated cartoon panic loop—flailing her arms in a blurred white circle before face-planting flat onto the soft carpet planks with a loud THUD! The response from the shop floor was an absolute comedy landslide. A whole crowd of local boutique helper Bangboos gathered in a massive circle, pointing their tiny metal fingers and unleashing a ruthless, hyper-exaggerated One Piece style laughing fit at her expense, their digital eye screens flashing comical rolling text metrics! Boutique Bangboos: "Ehn-ne! Na-na-ne!! [LAUGH! CLICK-CLACK!!]" (Translate: "Hahaha! Look at that ridiculous space turkey waddling in the frog suit! Absolute comedic failure!") Xuánlong hit a massive, synchronized white-eyed shock face profile, her plum-dark hair standing on end and her massive black Chinese dragon tail thrashing the floorboards in total visual embarrassment. Xuánlong: "Guinaifen, get out of that stupid costume right now! You are completely destroying our undercover tracking metrics on the public avenue!" Marching up to the checkout counter to settle the score, Xuánlong signaled the store's primary merchant robot. The owner Bangboo—wearing a fancy top hat and monocle—tapped the cash register terminal, prompting a digital screen to flash a terrifying numerical string. Owner Bangboo: "Ehn-ne. Na-na." (Translate: "That custom artsy mascot suit is an exclusive collector's item data asset. The price code is exactly 500,000 Denny coins! Settle the transaction ledger now!") Xuánlong: "WHAT?! HALF A MILLION DENNYS FOR A STUPID GREEN FROG SUIT?! SYSTEM ABORT!!!" The dragon maiden's crimson eyes violently popped straight out of her skull like dinner plates. Completely panicked and deeply shocked by the ghetto pricing matrix, she frantically pulled out her high-spec smartphone terminal, initializing a high-priority FaceTime video link straight to the mansion's 4th-floor streaming suite to demand emergency funds. The video call patched online in a single microsecond. The handsome, unmasked face of Reaper 800 appeared on the floating holographic screen panel, his ocean-blue eyes looking incredibly calm as he relaxed in his cozy dark purple hoodie back at the base quarters. The exact second Xuánlong panned the camera to show a face-planted Guinaifen and explained the half-million Denny dress bill, Reaper 800’s expression instantly turned into an absolute, unyielding shonen stone glare. Reaper 800: "Over my dead body, Xuánlong. You are absolutely, 100% not getting a single bronze coin out of my personal database vault to buy a stupid mechanical frog dress. Use your own private currency storage blocks." Xuánlong: "Hey! You gave me your infinite credit mandate for this tour operation! Don't be a cheap Aeon god right now!" Reaper 800 let out a loud, highly amused sarcastic chuckle through the smartphone audio link, pointing a finger straight at the lens to deliver a savage verbal roast that exposed her secret parameters. Reaper 800: "Don't play dumb with my tracking programs, you lying pants on fire! My satellite matrix scanned your personal accounts yesterday. I know for a absolute fact that you have plenty of hidden sovereign cash assets stored away in your private Yunkui Summit vaults from thirty years of martial arts tournament victories! You are lying pants on fire, Xuánlong! Pay the bill yourself!" CLICK! The Master Creator ruthlessly hung up the FaceTime link, deleting the digital connection box instantly. Xuánlong stood frozen on the tiles, her face turning a bright, blazing neon red with absolute, complete madness! A thick aura of dark purple dragon rage violently erupted from her black horns as she realized she had been completely caught by the Master's scanners. Turning toward the counter with an intense, comically furious glare, she had no other choice. She aggressively yanked open her own hidden spatial pouch, violently slamming a mountain of heavy, high-spec gold and bronze Denny coins straight into the owner Bangboo's hands. Xuánlong: "FINE!!! Take my private Yunkui savings, you mechanical bloodsucker! Guinaifen, if you don't stream a 10/10 performance record in that ridiculous suit to earn back my funds, I am personally going to toss your chassis straight into the active Hollow black holes myself!" Still completely mad, the dragon brawler turned flat-out on her heel, her black Chinese dragon tail swishing through the atmosphere in a heavy huff as she marched right out of the boutique entrance panels, while a cheering Guinaifen waddled happily behind her alongside a smiling Robin, Natasha, and Astra Yao, bringing Chapter 4 to a perfect, high-stakes comedic conclusion!