Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 787 Flirting Techniques!

Yu Shijiu seemed to understand, but he was probably the one who understood the most among the four.

—To understand what kind of distorted mentality the adoptive mother was "cultivating" in a "child" whose thoughts always came first.

After a long while, He Lingling suddenly realized what was happening and slapped her forehead:

"Yes! Wasn't Thumbelina's adoptive mother a paranoid freak?!"

"...So Thumbelina has arrived?"

Xu Han stammered, "Thumbelina has been domesticated into a proper 'puppy'?"

"..." Chen Yi suppressed a laugh and said, "Xiao Han, may I ask you how you came up with the characters '孩狗' (haigou)?"

"Haha," Xu Han chuckled dryly, "I was just saying, just saying, thinking... thinking, isn't it just a child and an obedient dog? The two of them together are just a 'child and a dog'..."

Xu Han's voice grew softer and softer after An Jie looked over.

"Haha, Sister An, why are you looking at me like that? Is there something dirty on my face?"

"……No."

Ange withdrew her gaze and sighed, "I was just thinking that the name you came up with is indeed quite fitting for Thumbelina at this time."

As soon as the words were spoken, all five of them unconsciously looked toward Thumbelina not far away.

Thumbelina remained quietly kneeling on the table, delicately taking a bite of bread, chewing slowly for dozens of times before picking up her cup and taking a sip of water.

Her movements were gentle and quiet, she was both ladylike and well-behaved.

Every move he made perfectly matched the adoptive mother's expectations of the "child".

“…It really is true,” He Lingling said, her teeth aching. “Doesn’t she get tired doing that?”

"tired?"

Yu Shijiu chuckled: "Maybe I'll die if I feel tired."

"Sister Lingling," Yu Shijiu's smile became somewhat innocent and carefree as he said, "Those 'Thumbelinas' whose heads and limbs were torn off last night, they must have felt tired somewhere while they were alive, right?"

"..."

He Lingling felt a chill run down her spine from the question, and shook her head with a wry smile: "You're right, I was thinking too simply."

Yes, just as Yu Shijiu said, a Thumbelina who has been controlled and tamed for a long time, who has been gradually tamed into the way she is now by her adoptive mother in the name of "love" since she opened her eyes, may not even have the ability to think for herself whether she is tired or not.

"So, have we gone off-topic?"

Chen Yi said with a smile, "Shouldn't we be focusing on the plot point of the toad stealing people?"

“Brother Chen,” Xu Han frowned, “What do you mean by ‘stealing someone’? Let’s use a different word. These two words sound really strange.”

Chen Yi: "...Xiao Han, what exactly have you been reading lately?"

"Cowardly, despicable!"

He Lingling took the opportunity to directly hurl insults.

Xu Han: "..."

Xu Han was so angry that he jumped up on the spot.

Several players from the Eye of All Things nearby glanced over at the large movements.

Xu Han: "..."

Xu Han sat back down.

"Chen Yi is right."

Anjie ignored Xu Han's abrupt change of topic and said in a deep voice, "Judging from what my foster mother said before she left, the weather inside the instance should be in late summer or early autumn."

“Lingling,” Anjie looked at He Lingling and asked, “When did the toad originally appear in the story?”

"...It's probably autumn."

He Lingling carefully recalled the plot of the famous fairy tale "Thumbelina" and extracted the approximate seasonal possibilities from the subsequent series of events.

"I remember there was a part of the story after Thumbelina escaped that was close to winter, but that's where the next part of the story begins."

"It should be autumn."

Chen Yi nodded, "The final outcome is spring, so we should indeed be at autumn now."

"That's good."

After receiving the answer, Anjie looked at Yu Shijiu and asked, "What do you think, Shijiu?"

"what?"

Yu Shijiu paused for a few seconds when asked, "Autumn, then it should be autumn."

This is all Yu Shijiu could say, having only heard the fairy tale "Thumbelina" less than a day ago.

After all, the other three had read the book, while only he and Anjie had heard of it.

"Then let's tentatively set it for early autumn."

Anjie made a quick decision, her mind a jumble of chaotic clues and plot points, which she forcibly compressed into a tiny ball of yarn.

"In the time before Thumbelina was stolen by the toad, we were likely repeating the same things we did yesterday and today—that is, being good children by our foster mother's orders, being obedient and sensible without arguing, completely following her instructions, and... until late at night when we were fast asleep, the 'Thumbelinas' who had been killed by our foster mother would try to drag us down with them."

Anjie quickly finished speaking a long speech, took the water that Chen Yi had just handed her, tilted her head back, and drank a mouthful to moisten her throat.

"As long as you don't open your eyes and pretend to be asleep at night, you won't be killed by the 'Thumbelinas.' All you need is a strong enough mind. Xiaohan, can you do it?"

Xu Han, who was suddenly called out, looked up sharply. "Huh?! I can do it! I can do it perfectly well! I just need to pretend to be asleep without opening my eyes, that's my specialty! It's not like I'm going to fight monsters with my bare hands, hehe."

"……Row."

Anjie couldn't help but laugh, and then said, "That's fine then. While we wait for the toad to come, everyone should try to get to know Thumbelina a little better."

"..."

After he finished speaking, Yu Shijiu was the first to raise his hand.

He couldn't hide his excitement and said, "Can I go chat with Thumbelina now?"

"……Can."

Anjie sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation: "But Shi Jiu, remember to stay away from her—"

Yu Shijiu nodded quickly, stood up, picked up his cup, ran to the ceramic basin, filled it with water, and then ran over to sit down next to Thumbelina.

"……point."

Anjie's voice slowly faded away.

The four of them silently watched the boy's back as he tilted his head to talk to Thumbelina, feeling as if something was blocking their throats.

"An, Sister An," Xu Han whispered, "Will this work?"

"Row."

Anjie sighed silently: "Shi Jiu, as long as he keeps his distance, that's fine—"

"An, Sister An."

He Lingling said with some difficulty, "Why don't you look up again?"

Look up? What are you looking at?

Upon hearing this, Anjie looked up, but her gaze, which she had just withdrawn, fell on Yu Shijiu and Thumbelina, and her breath caught in her throat.

Not far away, Yu Shijiu turned his head and said something to Thumbelina beside him. Thumbelina's fair cheeks flushed, and she shyly rested her head on Yu Shijiu's shoulder.

"..."

An Jie, Chen Yi, Xu Han: "..."

"What's going on? Is there really something wrong with my eyes?"

Xu Han stared in disbelief, muttering to himself, "Did Shi Jiu secretly learn some unique flirting techniques?!"