Chapter 3: Group Members’ Profile Pictures
by LhaoziSong Jiu (Game World Wandering Merchant): “[Welcome, newcomer!] The announcement added a new rule: Members cannot leave the group, and no new members can be added. If the number of members decreases, it means someone has died. The group will only be disbanded when no members remain. That’s terrifying…”
Song Jiu (Game World Wandering Merchant): “[Quietly holding out a bowl] @Xie Yushan (Strange World Farm), can I have a little flower?”
Yan Cizhou (Cultivation Bookstore): “You’re even asking a little kid for her flowers?”
Song Jiu (Game World Wandering Merchant): “…I’m poor.”
Song Jiu (Game World Wandering Merchant): “[Quietly holding out a bowl] @Yan Cizhou (Cultivation Bookstore), you’re rich. You give me one.”
Yan Cizhou (Cultivation Bookstore): “…”
[Yan Cizhou (Cultivation Bookstore) gifted Song Jiu (Game World Wandering Merchant) a white porcelain bowl.]
“……”
The group discussion gradually went off track.
However, the atmosphere was lively and full of playful banter. Everyone seemed quite friendly.
The group members had warmly welcomed her arrival.
There hadn’t been a single unpleasant remark. They had even prepared a special gift for her.
Lu Weiran had spent quite some time quietly observing the group without saying a word.
Nobody specifically tagged her to make her speak, nor did anyone pry into her personal information.
They had managed to make her feel welcome without putting her in the slightest bit of an awkward position.
The inn system had automatically displayed each member’s world background and the specific type of business they operated in the group.
Including Lu Weiran’s Desert Inn.
Lu Weiran silently looked through the members.
She discovered that the gender ratio was quite balanced: three women and three men in total.
There was no way to tell what level the other members’ shops had reached.
A moment ago, Xie Yushan seemed to have mentioned her profile picture.
But she hadn’t uploaded any photos of herself to the group, had she?
Lu Weiran swiped her finger across the virtual screen.
She finally found her own profile picture.
The background showed an endless sea of sand stretching beyond the window.
She was leaning diagonally against a throne-shaped beanbag chair. One hand rested casually on the arm of the chair while the other propped up her forehead. Her relaxed posture carried an unmistakable hint of regal authority.
Her hair was tied into a voluminous high ponytail, with two delicate braids hanging naturally beside her face and falling along her arm.
Her long, slender legs rested naturally on the floor.
She was gazing sideways at the camera. She looked both beautiful and effortlessly cool. No wonder Xie Yushan had been so impressed that she’d immediately sent her a little red flower.
But… wasn’t this exactly how she was sitting right now? And wasn’t this exactly what she looked like at the moment?
Was this Shopkeepers’ Group using real-name photo verification?!
The instant Lu Weiran saw her profile picture—
Whoosh!
She abruptly straightened her back, her brows drawing together.
She held two fingers against the screen and zoomed in on her picture.
Bigger. Bigger. And even bigger.
That faint clicking sound when she had joined the group really had been the sound of a camera taking a picture.
It had happened so suddenly. It was practically a sneak-attack photo!
What if she’d happened to blink at that exact moment?
That would still have been manageable.
But she’d just been drying her hair!
What if the picture had been taken when she was bending her head down and flipping all her hair forward?
Wouldn’t she have ended up looking like Sadako from The Ring?
With an ugly photo like that as her profile picture, how was she supposed to show her face in the Shopkeepers’ Group ever again?
Fortunately, her profile picture looked perfectly normal.
Next, Lu Weiran opened the other members’ profile pictures one by one.
Xie Yushan (Strange World Farm) was a little girl. She wore a child-sized princess dress and sat quietly on the back of a cow-like supernatural creature. Holding one of its horns with one hand, she looked just like a little shepherd. A small whip was in her other hand, which she waved around enthusiastically. Her smile was innocent and radiant.
Xia Houlan (Western Fantasy Nail Salon) had the most unusual profile picture. It showed a demonic dragon raising one of its claws to make a V sign, proudly displaying the sparkling nail art on its claws. Beneath its feet lay a shield smashed into pieces.
The group leader was Ge Jiangfang (Interstellar Restaurant). He called himself Uncle, and his profile picture certainly matched the description. It showed a chubby middle-aged man with a warm, friendly smile. He wore a chef’s hat, his eyes narrowed cheerfully, and he had no beard. A pair of futuristic rimless glasses rested on his nose.
Song Jiu (Game World Wandering Merchant) was a young man wearing a mask and dressed entirely in black, including a black shirt and black cargo pants. He looked rather ordinary, standing stiffly on the roof of a vehicle with both hands in his pockets. There wasn’t anything particularly distinctive about him.
Yan Cizhou (Cultivation Bookstore), on the other hand, looked like a scholarly young man. He was lounging lazily on a tree branch, holding a scroll against his chest. Two fingers were raised to touch his lively fox ears. With dark circles under his eyes, he had the air of a carefree, unconventional playboy.
From the middle-aged uncle to the little girl—
Not a single one of them looked like an ordinary person.
Lu Weiran clicked to accept Xie Yushan’s little red flower.
A flash of white light passed, and a flower appeared out of thin air in Lu Weiran’s hand.
Of course, the little red flower wasn’t made of paper.
It was a freshly picked flower, delicate and exquisite, small enough to tuck behind one’s ear.
The flower resembled a lotus, with three layers of petals as red as blood. Beneath the petals, something seemed to flow like blood, and even its stem was red.
Its fragrance was delicate and refreshing, with a hint of sweetness.
It was undeniably beautiful, yet there was something faintly eerie about it.
Seeing a fresh flower in the middle of a desert was an unusual sight.
Lu Weiran wound the stem around her slender fingers, idly playing with it as she narrowed her eyes and examined the little red flower carefully.
The longer she stared at it, the more dazed she became. It almost seemed capable of inducing hallucinations.
She had never seen a plant like this before.
It must be a unique product of the Strange World Farm managed by Xie Yushan.
Gifts were sent in the form of red packets.
Although she had received a red packet from a child who looked around six or seven years old, and it was only a little red flower, she still felt somewhat embarrassed accepting it without giving anything in return.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have any points, so she couldn’t buy anything from the shop’s system store.
Lu Weiran thought for a moment.
Children generally liked candy.
As it happened, she had two White Rabbit Creamy Candies in her pocket when she transmigrated.
They had softened a little from being left in her pocket under the scorching sun, but they were still perfectly edible.
Lu Weiran explored the newly joined Shopkeepers’ Group and found the red packet gifting function.
She placed the two slightly softened White Rabbit Creamy Candies inside.
Then she scrolled down and selected Xie Yushan (Strange World Farm) as the recipient.
[Sending gift…]
Lu Weiran took the initiative to speak in the group chat.
Lu Weiran (Desert Inn): “@Xie Yushan (Strange World Farm), thank you for the little red flower! You’re very cute too.”
[Lu Weiran (Desert Inn) gifted Xie Yushan (Strange World Farm) one White Rabbit Creamy Candy.]
Lu Weiran looked at the gift notification, her brows furrowing slightly.
She had clearly sent two White Rabbit Creamy Candies. How had only one been delivered?
Was there some kind of transaction fee for transferring gifts?
Unable to suppress her curiosity, she asked directly.
Xia Houlan (Western Fantasy Nail Salon): “So the newcomer isn’t socially anxious after all! That’s great. I know the answer to this one. Since you’re returning a gift, the shop system has strict rules for both gifts and return gifts. If the system determines that the gifts aren’t of equivalent value, any excess items will be erased. That’s why only one White Rabbit Creamy Candy made it through~”
Xie Yushan (Strange World Farm): “That’s so unfair! Give me back my White Rabbit candy! The little rabbit on the wrapper looks kind of familiar. It looks so delicious! Thank you, Sister Weiran!”
Yan Cizhou (Cultivation Bookstore): “Judging by your outfit in your profile picture, you’re in a desert? Which desert? Is it a desert on Blue Star, or have you transmigrated too?”
Song Jiu (Game World Wandering Merchant): “[Curious expression]”
Lu Weiran rubbed her chin.
That phrase, “have you transmigrated too,” was worth thinking about.
Lu Weiran (Desert Inn): “That useless system dumped me into an extreme-heat apocalypse in another world. I almost got swallowed by a quicksand pit. I don’t think I’m on Blue Star anymore. You guys… are you also from Blue Star?”
The moment she sent that message, the group erupted with excitement and indignation, and more than a few members were moved to tears.
The group members, who had previously seemed somewhat distant from Lu Weiran, suddenly opened up and began chatting enthusiastically, as though they had finally found someone they had been waiting ages to meet.
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