Chapter 21, Bento Attack, Epic Victory!
Bai Song took a deep breath, no time for hesitation!
Even if it meant waiting another second outside the store, the possibility of getting half-priced bento was worth it. After all, there were enough aunties inside the convenience store.
As everyone knows, regardless of the country, aunties tend to appear in major supermarkets and swiftly sweep away cheap food that ordinary people can't reach with their lightning-fast hands.
And in this convenience store, there were several such aunties...
So, there should absolutely be no hesitation at this moment because hesitation leads to defeat.
Bai Song quickly wrapped Tom around his neck and flicked his tail, suspending him right in front. Then, with sharp eyes, Bai Song pushed open the glass door of the convenience store, walked in briskly, and headed straight for the bento section!
"Welcome... Huh?" Just as the cashier welcomed Bai Song, he casually grabbed a shopping basket and turned towards the bento area, his movements so swift that it left the cashier momentarily confused.
"Sizzle..." Since the distance was not long, Bai Song had just picked up speed when he began to decelerate using the brakes on his feet. For some reason, even though this speed didn't usually require such a long deceleration, he ended up sliding for a meter before coming to a stop, as if the floor had reached a whole new level of slipperiness.
After decelerating, Bai Song didn't intend to conceal his intentions. He directly rushed to the bento area, urged on by Tom. He casually glanced around and confirmed that the half-priced tags were already attached, immediately starting to make his selections.
Basically, anything cheap and delicious-looking was tossed into the shopping basket.
"They're putting on the tags over there." Unfortunately, before Bai Song could pick a few, one of the aunties beside him noticed that the bento was on sale and even spoke it out loud.
Hearing this, Bai Song's heart sank, realizing it wasn't good.
As a result, before he could grab a few, the group of uncles and aunties swarmed in. Each time a cashier pasted a tag, they would take one, and Bai Song's position was extremely awkward. He happened to be at the end of the line, so he was easily pushed out. After all, his combat power in buying things was far inferior to those aunties.
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Looking at the bento in his shopping basket, he had already taken six boxes. Bai Song hesitated for a moment. At this point, stopping would still be a profitable situation, but unfortunately, it wasn't a significant profit. It felt worse than death to see others getting more advantages than him.
And at this moment, it seemed as though Tom could sense that Bai Song didn't want to go. Tom's brain quickly started searching for a solution, and finally, it patted Bai Song's shoulder.
"Hmm? What's up?" After making sure that no one was watching them, Bai Song whispered to Tom while using his back to block the surveillance cameras.
Tom casually pointed to the bento boxes nearby that didn't have tags yet. Then it pointed towards the cashier and, as if grabbing an imaginary piece of paper from thin air, slapped it onto one of the boxes. Finally, it looked at Bai Song.
After the performance, Tom put the bento back into the shopping basket and started performing a ribbon dance once again.
Seeing Tom's pantomime-like performance, Bai Song instantly understood.
After a hesitation of 0.114514 seconds, he decisively walked towards the left side of the cashier. Under the slightly surprised gaze of the cashier, Bai Song started selecting the bento boxes that didn't have tags yet.
Since there was no competition in this area, he quickly picked around ten boxes, all of them offering good value for money. He especially chose the ones that could last longer. After looking at the somewhat heavy shopping basket, Bai Song decided to stop!
With the shopping basket in hand, he approached the cashier who was putting on tags and firmly said, "Could you please put tags on these? Thank you."
"Huh?" The cashier clearly paused upon seeing Bai Song's actions. It was evident that Bai Song's move had caught him off guard. After reacting, he took the bento boxes that Bai Song handed over. "Ah, sure."
As the cashier continued to put tags on the bento boxes Bai Song had chosen, Bai Song felt extremely awkward under the gazes of the uncles and aunties. But hey, saving money was worth enduring a little discomfort.
After the tags were all applied, Bai Song quickly walked towards the cash register.
If he stayed here any longer, Bai Song felt like he could count the tiles on the floor with his toes.
After paying at the cash register and walking out of the convenience store with the plastic bag in hand, Bai Song felt a huge sense of relief. A total of 21 boxes of half-priced bento, spending a total of 4000 yen, averaging less than 200 yen per box. It was truly an epic victory!
Thinking about it, Bai Song felt that his sacrifice of dignity was extremely valuable!
Although it was still early, Bai Song decided to head home first. After all, he had already been through one battle tonight, and the other participants in the Holy Grail War wouldn't make any major moves. It was likely to be a peaceful night, and there was no need to wander outside. Honestly, after the thrilling mountain road ride with Tom and the rapid free fall from the sky, Bai Song just wanted to relax.
Of course, Tom's urging to go home for dinner played a significant role as well and had a great influence on the decision-making process.
After about twenty minutes, Bai Song quietly returned to the vicinity of "home" with Tom. After looking around to make sure no one was nearby, Bai Song silently climbed into the yard.
When he left in the evening, Bai Song didn't have a key, so he had inserted a piece of cardboard into the door lock. This way, it would appear from the outside that no one had entered the house, but in reality, the door could be easily opened by pulling it.
"Phew~ Finally home." Once inside the living room, Bai Song immediately took Tom off his neck and casually placed him on the floor. He handed Tom a bento box and took one for himself as well.
Tom sat cross-legged on the floor, holding the box in his left hand and chopsticks in his right hand, and started eating directly.
Seeing this, Bai Song also prepared to start his meal.
"Beep beep~~~ " Just at that moment, an unpleasant sound suddenly echoed in Bai Song's mind, immediately grabbing his attention.
Clearly, it was the sound of a notification from his interface panel.
"Interface panel." Bai Song forgot about eating and stood up, summoning his interface panel. Soon, a floating display screen appeared right in front of Bai Song. On the left side, where he had previously summoned Tom, the summoning button had turned gray but now lit up again.
Seeing this, Bai Song became instantly alert. He knew exactly what it meant. He could finally perform the summoning ritual again!