The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

"It's your fault for not listening to me when I called you several times."

If you had been paying attention to me, I wouldn't have had the chance to pour tomato sauce all over myself! Even if I was 99% in the wrong, aren't you at least partially responsible for not paying attention?

"Even so, you can't joke about your own safety!"

Otto's voice was slightly raised in concern, before he immediately realized he shouldn't have spoken that way.

And he really shouldn't have, because it gave Lihua an opportunity.

She stared at Otto, her eyes brimming with tears. "You didn't listen to me, and now you're yelling at me!"

"I don't want to play with you anymore, Waaah!"

With that, Lihua ignored Otto's reaction and started running towards the city.

[Energy +500]

I've earned almost 2000 energy points in just a few days! An average of 400-500 per day!

Otto was a walking ATM, showering her with gold coins.

With her nearly 2000 energy points, Lihua happily opened the system shop.

[Herrscher of Ice Core: 7,000,000 points]

[Key of Devouring - Star of Eden: 8,000,000 points]

[Kaslana Bloodline: 1,500,000 points]

[Titan Mech - Cutting Edge: 300,000 points]

[Fire Spirit Type 1: 80,000 points]

...

If I could earn 1000 points per day, I could get a Key of God in just twenty years! Wow, the prices in this shop are so reasonable-

Like hell they are!

Energy wasn't something you could just harvest at will. It wasn't a paycheck that arrived on a schedule!

Lihua glanced at the items with six or seven-digit price tags. Looking at her measly 2000 energy points, she felt a burning sense of frustration.

The ordinary daily goods at the bottom of the shop were quite cheap. A single energy point could buy many necessities, like water, food, or even gold and jewelry. Medicine was also incredibly cheap.

But these things weren't useful for her!

She needed items to increase her strength. The cheapest one, a pair of Schicksal's standard-issue pistols, cost a whopping 80,000 energy points.

She couldn't afford anything, especially those items that cost millions. She had no desire to even think about spending energy on that stuff.

Lihua glanced at the countdown at the top of the shop.

The shop's inventory would refresh in about twenty days. Every month, the shop's items would be replaced with new ones. The cheap, basic items would likely remain, but the rare, expensive ones would disappear.

If you wanted them, you'd have to wait until they randomly reappeared in the shop.

The system's item list was enormous, but only 100 items were displayed in the interface at a time. Finding the same item again was extremely difficult.

However, the system had a convenient feature: the shopping cart. You could add items you liked, and they would stay there even after the shop refreshed. It was a way to avoid the issue of not having enough energy when a desired item appeared.

Unfortunately, you could only put a maximum of five items in the shopping cart...

Ugh, I need to become energy-independent. If I wasn't worried about energy, would I even need a shopping cart? If I wanted something, I could just buy it!

That's why Otto was so important. Her ability to obtain the items she wanted depended entirely on him.

Teasing him was a necessary evil. Harassing him was something she had to do...

As for the risk of Otto becoming angry and ruining her plans, Lihua wasn't worried.

She had been trained in a little bit of modern-day martial arts. While she was just a beginner, she was more than capable of dealing with a little Otto.

And Otto? Kids were easy to coax. Like today, she had run off, but she'd just make some sweets for him in the morning and apologize. Otto would forgive her.

He definitely would, because Lihua was his only friend before he met Kallen.

Otto, you don't want to be friendless, she thought, before suddenly realizing something.

Was it a little bad to scheme against a child like this?

She was acting like a villainess from an anime, always bullying the hero...

Oh wait, she was supposed to be a bad woman.

Never mind then.

Otto was a Kallen simp, so she could only farm him for energy until they met. Once the plot started, her status was going to drop like a rock.

At that point, she could change from being a wicked brat to a comforting older sister. If she kept trying to manipulate him after he fell in love with Kallen, it was going to backfire spectacularly.

Besides, the "older sister" role was more suitable for a heroic sacrifice.

She was just trying to help Otto avoid being sad when his only friend dies, so she was gently manipulating him. Otherwise, she would've been hanging from his door! She was just collecting a little compensation fee, and it was all out of kindness!

Therefore, she wasn't a bad woman. She was a great human... Yes, she was a kind soul!

Lihua made the final judgment.