The shout from his companion snapped the boy who was called Craig back to his senses. Craig, feeling a bit nervous and guilty, once again blocked Ariel’s path.
"Excuse me, could you sell us a few tickets you have in hand? My friends and I also want to go in and play." Craig was a bit afraid to make eye contact with Ariel, but he still mustered up the courage to say what he wanted to say.
"You mean these?" Ariel, as if discovering some amusing toy, waved the large number of tickets in her hand in front of Craig and asked.
"Yes." Craig nodded, his eyes filled with a touch of longing.
"Even though I have a lot of tickets, why should I sell them to you? Whether you want to go play or can go play has nothing to do with me. Why should I help you? I don’t even know you." Ariel’s face showed an innocent yet malicious expression.
Not expecting to be refused by Ariel, Craig’s face registered surprise as Ariel brushed past him, calling Xu Ke and Lin Mengyao forward, leading them inside without granting Craig another look.
"Actually, just now you had so many tickets. It wouldn’t hurt to sell him two." As they were about to enter, Lin Mengyao glanced back and saw Craig’s disappointed and lonely look, feeling a twinge of sympathy. She casually mentioned it to Ariel.
"But I don’t want to. Things I don’t want, even if I throw them away, tear them up, or destroy them, I wouldn’t give them to others." Ariel said possessively like a child, yet her eyes with a destructive intent told Lin Mengyao she was serious.
"Let’s not talk about unhappy things. Didn’t you say you wanted to play bumper cars? Let’s go play." Ariel winked at Lin Mengyao, as if the destructive intent in her eyes just now was all a mirage, something fake.
Due to Ariel’s special status, the three of them received a lot of privileges, with no need to queue up for any games and enjoying the fun first. Games that others might not finish in a day, the three of them finished almost all by noon.
"The sun’s out, I want to eat ice cream." Lin Mengyao shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand, saying.
"Then I’ll buy it for you." Xu Ke gently placed the hat he bought on Lin Mengyao’s head, speaking softly.
"Okay, I want matcha flavor." Lin Mengyao obediently stood in place and said.
Hearing the conversation between the two, Ariel raised her hands like a child, "I want strawberry flavor."
Xu Ke glanced at Ariel, nodded, "Take care of Yaoyao for me, I’ll go buy them for you." After Xu Ke finished speaking, he took one last look at Lin Mengyao, then turned and disappeared into the crowd.
"Your man really clings to you more than any cat I’ve ever had." Ariel said quietly to Lin Mengyao, watching Xu Jie disappearing into the crowd.
"You had a cat? Why haven’t I seen it in your house?" Lin Mengyao asked absent-mindedly.
"Ah, because it scratched me, so I turned it into a specimen and put it in the cabinet. You’ve seen it, but you didn’t recognize it. When we go home, I’ll introduce you to it." Ariel said with a smile.
"No need." Hearing Ariel’s words, Lin Mengyao’s smile stiffened slightly, and yesterday’s scenes flashed through her mind again.
While the two were chatting aimlessly, a strange voice interrupted, followed by a figure approaching them, "When we tried to buy those tickets from you outside, why didn’t you sell them? Do you know how much of our time you wasted?" A woman with a somewhat square face pointed at Ariel’s nose and said.
"Lanier, what are you doing?" Craig’s voice followed closely, accompanied by three men and two women.
"I’m sorry, Lanier didn’t mean it, she just said those things because she was in a bad mood, hope you can forgive her." Craig sincerely said to Ariel.
"Why are you apologizing to them? I wasn’t wrong. They have so many tickets, what’s wrong with selling us two? It’s not like we weren’t going to pay. Just because she’s pretty, what’s she acting all high and mighty for? Looking at her, you can tell she’s not a good person, probably someone’s kept woman or a streetwalker’s drink companion." Lanier folded her arms with jealousy, looking at Ariel and those beside her, Xu Ke and Lin Mengyao.
Ariel’s face suddenly bloomed with a smile, like the red spider lilies that Huanhuan spoke of in Hell, making Lanier involuntarily step back half a step out of fear. Although Lanier quickly recollected herself, the retreat left her looking even uglier.
Neither Xu Ke nor Lin Mengyao appreciated this woman named Lanier’s manner of speaking. They frowned slightly, disapprovingly looking at Lanier, not stopping Ariel from disciplining her. They stood holding hands, watching the scene unfold from the side.
Lanier needed some lessons, everyone thought alike.
"What do you want, stay away from me. You’re so close that I can smell your disgusting stench." Lanier pinched her nose with one hand, fanning herself with the other, her face full of disdain.
"Do you know? It’s been a long time since someone dared to speak to me , it’s almost nostalgic." Ariel slightly narrowed her eyes, but the light in her eyes couldn’t be hidden, the kind a Hunter would have when they see their prey.
"What?" Before Lanier could react, her cheek erupted in searing pain, while across from her, Ariel gently blew on her palm.
"Wasn’t that quite satisfying? That was just the first slap, there are plenty more to come." Ariel withdrew her hand, smiling, looking at the incredulous Lanier and said.
"You dare hit me?" Lanier covered the side of her face that had been slapped, pointing at Ariel’s nose with her index finger.
The next second, when Lanier’s face was still full of anger, Ariel’s small hand gripped Lanier’s finger, and before Lanier could react, Ariel gave it a sharp twist upward. A crisp sound followed, and Lanier’s finger bent in a strange shape. Lanier clutched her hand, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"I don’t like it when someone points at my nose while talking to me, and I also don’t like someone being this noisy. Your voice is terribly annoying." Ariel cast a disdainful glance at Lanier, then in a sudden action that nobody saw coming, effortlessly flipped Lanier over her shoulder.