America: Daily Intelligence Starting with the Homeless

Chapter 57 Character Fans

Lin Ximeng put away his phone, stuffed the guitar back into the cardboard box, and pondered:

The guitar collaboration character, Xiangzi, may seem to be losing money lately, but at least the guitar is brand new.

The owner of that game store last time, Leo, might also buy back this.

Next, Lin Ximeng put the co-branded guitar back into its box, threw everything else into the trash can, and then slowly rode his bicycle toward the game store.

Before long, we arrived at the entrance of the "Super Block Game" store.

Lin Ximeng pushed open the glass door, and sure enough, the boss, Leo, was still slumped in the chair behind the counter, engrossed in playing a Switch game.

"Hi, Leo," Simon Lin greeted him with a smile, placing the box on the counter. "I brought you something nice again."

"Oh, what good stuff?" Leo heard the voice, looked up and saw a rather large box, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"Such a big box? If it's full of those misprinted game discs from last time, even just half a box, I could close up shop early to celebrate."

At Leo's store, game discs that become limited editions due to accidents are not common.

So the game disc of "Rogue Hunter 4" that Lin Ximeng brought earlier was quickly sold at a higher price, which made him a small profit.

Therefore, Leo was also hoping that Simon Lin could bring more.

Lin Ximeng said, "Don't worry, this is also a limited edition product."

He then pushed the box towards the center of the counter: "Look, this is a limited edition guitar released worldwide."

He paused, then added, "I looked it up before. This is a collaboration with the 'Mother Hen Card' anime band. There are only 10,000 units available in the entire US. There are five characters in the band, and each character gets 2,000 units."

"Mother Hen Card" is a band of beautiful girls active in the world of anime and manga. After the anime aired on the West Coast some time ago, it still enjoys good popularity in some areas.

"Mother Hen Card?" Leo's eyes lit up; he had clearly heard of the band. He reached out and examined the packaging closely, his tone becoming increasingly excited.

"Let me tell you, their songs are really good..."

He eagerly tore open the packaging, but when he saw the figure printed on the guitar, he exclaimed, "Xiangzi?"

Lin Ximeng nodded calmly: "Yes, Xiangzi."

Leo's face fell instantly. He shook his head several times, his tone full of disdain: "How could it be Xiangzi?"

No, did the blue twin tails eat your rice? Why are you so disgusted?

Ignoring Lin Ximeng's indignation, Leo clicked his tongue and bluntly said, "It's a pity it's not one of the other four characters. As for Xiangzi... he's not worth much."

"So you mean how much?" Lin Ximeng thought, at least he should ask about the price first.

Leo tapped his fingers twice on the counter, and after a moment slowly announced the specific price: "Putting everything else aside, just look at the collaboration items of the other four members of this band. I've bought them here several times, they're easy to sell, I can offer you $260."

He changed the subject, his eyes sweeping over the image of Xiangzi on the guitar, and sighed, saying, "But this one is Xiangzi's, the market price is far below that. I can only give you a maximum of $130, and I'll lose money if I give you a penny more."

Simon Lin's heart skipped a beat: What's going on? He had just searched online and it was clearly listed at $200, and now it's been reduced by $70?

No, what exactly did Xiangzi do to you people on the West Coast?

Lin Ximeng frowned, his tone clearly skeptical: "You're not deliberately trying to cheat me by lowering the price, are you? Aren't they all collaborations from the 'Mother Hen Card' group? The materials and craftsmanship look exactly the same, so how can the price difference be so outrageous?"

Leo rolled his eyes at the question, leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and gave him a disdainful look that said, "You don't know anything about the market."

Who has time to lie to an amateur like you!

Recently, this group's animation has encountered a huge problem. The plot is completely broken, especially the character Xiangzi, whose character design has been completely ruined!

The previously cultivated image of a cool and talented woman was completely ruined; her later behavior became illogical and disturbing, even breaking the hearts of her fans.

The internet is full of insults against her; everyone is condemning her. Even her merchandise is unwanted; there's a boycott.

He paused, then spread his hands, his tone tinged with helplessness:

"I'm already being generous by accepting this; it's just $130."

I also have to bear the risk of not being able to sell them and ending up with unsold stock.

—I bought a batch of her badges last time, and they're still piled up in a corner of the warehouse, completely unsellable.

If it really becomes unsellable, wouldn't I have to bear the loss myself?

Leo leaned forward and asked again, "Just $130, will you sell it or not?"

Lin Ximeng frowned, deep in thought, calculating in his mind:

Although I don't watch many anime, I know that character derailment and low popularity are temporary. Maybe the hype will die down and the price will rebound. If all else fails, I can try again next time. Anyway, I don't need a hundred or so yuan.

Just as he was about to respond, the store door was pushed open with a "ding," and a fat white man wearing black-rimmed glasses walked in, his large belly stretching his T-shirt tightly.

Leo immediately switched back to his enthusiastic mode, calling out, "Hey bro! What do you need? New fighting games or some new figurines?"

Lin Ximeng glanced at the fat man subconsciously, then his eyes lit up:

The fat man was wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon image of Xiangzi printed on it.

"Wait a minute, it seems like things are taking a turn for the better?"

Before Simon Lin could think further, the fat white man went straight to the counter and asked, "Boss, do you have any merchandise from the band 'Mother Hen'?"

Leo's eyes darted around, and he quickly nodded, "Yes, please wait a moment."

As he spoke, he turned around and pulled a box of badges from under the counter, spreading it out in front of the fat man.

"They are all character badges from the Mother Hen card series, with a complete range of styles."

The fat white man bent down, fiddling with each badge one by one, muttering repeatedly, "I don't want this one, I don't want this one..."

Leo and Simon Lin watched from the side, both somewhat puzzled: If you don't want anything, what are you here to buy?

Even Leo began to suspect that the fat man in front of him was just there to make fun of him, and he was even about to pull out his baseball bat to teach the fat white man some customer etiquette.

"I'll take this one," the fat white man suddenly said excitedly, grabbing one of the badges.

Lin Ximeng glanced at it and realized it was the badge of the character Xiangzi.

After a moment's thought, Simon looked at the badges that the fat white man had rejected and found that they all belonged to other members of the band.

"What a coincidence, I've run into the ultimate die-hard fan."

Before long, the fat white man picked out a handful of Xiangzi badges.

"Boss, how much is all of these?" the fat man asked, straightening up.

Leo quickly counted them, then laughed and said, "The original price was $5 per badge. You know, the Xiangzi character isn't in high demand lately, so I'm clearing them out cheap. You want 32, I'll give you $3 each, that's $96 in total, how about that?"

Before he could finish speaking, the fat white man abruptly interrupted him: "No way! How can we sell Xiangzi cheaply? If others see this, they'll think our Xiangzi has no fans!"

The fat white man slammed his wallet on the counter, his tone resolute, "It's $5 each, not a penny less."