Free Web NovelChapter 138: Chapter 138: 123 Wooden Man
Faye Yardley once again found herself in a loud, crowded environment. Far from excited, she felt deeply uncomfortable.
She enjoyed watching a lively scene from the sidelines, not participating in it.
People were all around her now. Though no one was actually pushing against her, the closest were only two fists’ lengths away. This lack of personal space and security made her extremely uncomfortable.
The general situation was that everyone was packed shoulder-to-shoulder in a wide-open plaza. The sky above was bright, dotted with low-floating clouds of various shapes and colors.
If it weren’t for the crowd and the chaotic noise, Faye Yardley might have been able to appreciate the beauty of the scene.
Cheerful music soon rang out from the sky.
"You have a little red flower, you have a little red flower..."
The phrase began to echo in Faye Yardley’s ears. She then noticed the distance between herself and the others widening. She was gradually ascending into the sky.
The chatter from the crowd had already started to fade when the music began. Silence spread out from her original spot, and by the time she had ascended to one of the low-floating clouds, everyone had fallen completely quiet.
[The child with the little red flower gets to rest for half an hour! Come on, everyone, congratulate this child!]
[The game is about to start! First, we’ll play Red Light, Green Light! No talking, no moving!]
In fact, the cheerful music never stopped, not even when the system announced the start of the game.
So, while playing, you had to pay attention not just to the counting, but also to the music.
Faye Yardley was now lying prone on a cloud, looking down at the scene below.
The music wasn’t particularly loud, but it was exceptionally clear and seemed to be in surround sound—impossible to escape.
Four roads stretched out from the wide plaza below. From her aerial view, they didn’t seem that long. ’Probably about a kilometer,’ she estimated.
Then, four giants appeared.
[Friendly Tip 1: During the game, as long as you don’t break the rules, touching any of the giants will count as a victory.]
[Friendly Tip 2: After the count of three, freeze in your last position. The consequences of being spotted by the giants are very serious.]
[Friendly Tip 3: The giants are not robots.]
Immediately after the three tips, the counting began.
Faye Yardley lay there and watched. She saw someone pull out a small toy car, and to her surprise, the person shrank down and climbed right inside.
’No way. You can drive a car in Red Light, Green Light?’
’But controlling a toy car can’t be easy. With so many people around, it could easily get stepped on and crushed.’
’What did the third tip mean?’
’If the giants aren’t robots, does that mean they’re Otherkin? Do they have preferences? Weaknesses? Do they get distracted?’
The first count of "one, two" was incredibly slow, allowing many people to cover a good distance before "three" was finally called.
Then, from her perch on the cloud, Faye Yardley watched as plumes of blood mist erupted from the ground below.
Amidst the bursting clouds of blood, the cheerful music seemed to grow even more jaunty.
"You must be tired watching like that. Why don’t you lie on your back or sit up? It’s easier to watch on the screens."
A voice suddenly spoke up beside Faye Yardley.
Faye Yardley suppressed her shock and fear. Turning her head, she saw a palm-sized little sprite girl with a pair of transparent wings.
"Hello, who are you?"
"I’m Dahlia White, the Cloud Sprite holding you up."
Faye Yardley scrambled to a sitting position, not bothering with pleasantries. "Dahlia White, hello. I’m Faye Yardley. Can you bring up the screens so I can see what’s happening down there?"
"Sure."
Four screens promptly appeared in front of her, showing the perspectives of the four giants.
’They’re not robots, yet the Cloud Sprite can share their vision. Does that mean they aren’t Otherkin either?’
The person in the toy car was perfectly visible from their perspective, but strangely, even though the person inside was trembling with chattering teeth, the giants didn’t attack. ƒrēewebnovel.com
A girl next to the toy car, clutching a puppet doll, was also trembling in fear, but the giants’ gazes merely swept past her. The burly man behind her, however, blinked and exploded into a cloud of blood mist with a loud POP.
’Toys are protection!’
"Can you give me a megaphone?"
Dahlia White asked curiously, "What are you going to do? Play music? It has to be happy music, you know."
"I just want to say one thing."
"Only if you sing."
Faye Yardley’s expression froze for a second before she said, "I’ll sing."
A megaphone appeared before her. Faye Yardley took a deep breath and began to sing a nursery rhyme: "Two tigers, two tigers, run so fast... Toys are protection, run so fast!"
Dahlia White angrily snatched the megaphone away and flew right in front of her. "What was that you were singing?!"
"A nursery rhyme," Faye Yardley replied, steadying her nerves and putting on an innocent expression.
Then, looking at the pouting Dahlia White, she added, "If you don’t believe me, I can sing another one."
As she was singing, the interval between counts below grew shorter, while the pauses themselves grew longer.
Dahlia White stared at the little red flower on Faye’s chest for a long time before finally speaking. "You received a little red flower, so I’ll believe you’re a good child. Good children don’t lie. Just watch. And stop singing. Your singing is terrible."
’Good heavens, I had no idea the little red flower award was this important.’
Still, she immediately puffed out her chest and said proudly, "Of course. I’m a good child who wears a little red flower."
When Dahlia White didn’t argue, Faye Yardley breathed a silent sigh of relief. She had genuinely been afraid that the sprite would get angry and just toss her off the cloud.
’Faye had actually considered tossing the come on beans down below. If she could get the giants to fight over them, they would naturally be too distracted to watch for anyone breaking the rules.’
’But if it did work, the giants were just too big. If they started moving around, they might trample more people to death than the game itself would kill for rule violations.’
’So it remained just a thought. She didn’t dare act rashly and experiment with people’s lives.’
In fact, the people below had heard her song, and the quick-witted ones had used the time during the count to pull out toys.
’Still, Faye couldn’t help but wonder if her Damage Reflection Card would be of any use here.’
Watching the plumes of blood mist that erupted from time to time, Faye Yardley felt a strange pang in her heart.
’It was the sorrow of being a fellow human.’
’You couldn’t escape the giants’ line of sight just by keeping your head down. Faye knew this because she was sharing their vision. She could see with perfect clarity the faces of people crawling on the ground.’
"Are you worried about them?"
Faye Yardley didn’t deny it. "Yes. We’re from the same people, the same country."
Dahlia White just said, "Oh," not really understanding what Faye meant. For The Cloud Sprite Clan, it was common practice to devour their own kind to evolve and grow stronger.
"Your people are interesting."
Faye Yardley turned and smiled at her. "So are yours."
"If you’re so worried, why don’t you find a way to help them?" Dahlia White’s smile suddenly turned demonic. "You could always take off your little red flower and toss it down to one of the giants."
