Dawn Grass

When Xia Liang finished his patrol and returned to the Secret Base, it was already getting dark.

Slightly tired, she put away her Heart Gem at the door, changed into her indoor shoes, walked into the living room, and immediately saw Lin Xiaolu lying on the sofa playing on her phone.

"Aren't you going to watch the TV?"

Xia Liang walked straight to the sofa and sat down next to Lin Xiaolu. She glanced around the living room and pointed to the television playing cartoons not far away. "Then I'll change it to something I like to watch?"

"Mmm." Lin Xiaolu stared straight at the screen, responding without looking up.

Xia Liang was quite surprised by her indifferent response, because in the past, if she had expressed her intention to take the TV from Lin Xiaolu would have strongly objected.

When the two of them watch TV together, they always end up arguing about what to watch. Xia Liang likes to watch idol dramas, variety shows, and news, while Lin Xiaolu only likes to watch cartoons and science programs. They've had quite a few battles over who gets to control the TV.

However strange it may be, opportunities to gain something for nothing are rare. Since Lin Xiaolu didn't mind, Xia Liang naturally didn't stand on ceremony, picked up the remote, changed the channel to a local TV station, and started watching the evening news.

Several minutes passed like this. Although Xia Liang was watching the news, she was subconsciously still curious about what Lin Xiaolu was doing. She hadn't originally planned to ask, but her curiosity grew stronger and stronger, and she finally couldn't resist, so she propped herself up and leaned her head close to Lin Xiaolu's phone:

"What are you doing?"

Lin Xiaolu glanced at her sideways, then turned her gaze back to the phone screen. "Games."

"A game? What game?"

Her words immediately piqued Xia Liang's interest. "Have you suddenly figured it out? Why are you playing games now?"

"A game related to magical girls." Lin Xiaolu said without looking up.

Is it fun?

"Have no idea."

"I didn't know you were so engrossed in playing?"

"... You're so annoying."

Lin Xiaolu finally looked at Xia Liang and tilted the screen in her hand. "Here, it's a game like this."

"Let me take a look. This interface... turn-based combat? And these characters... is this a gacha game?"

Xia Liang looked at Lin Xiaolu with the same eyes one would give a stranger. "Why did you start playing with this kind of thing?"

"We're just playing around."

Lin Xiaolu turned her phone screen back and continued tapping it with her thumb, "Anyway, I'm just killing time, so I'll just play around."

"Did you get anything good?"

"... Just playing around." Lin Xiaolu's face carried a calm indifference, as if she had seen through everything.

Is that so?

Although Lin Xiaolu seemed to be giving an irrelevant answer, Xia Liang understood what she meant from her words: she hadn't drawn anything good.

It's certainly not a happy thing to not get good items in a gacha game, so Xia Liang didn't say anything more. However, she didn't leave, but continued to squat next to Lin Xiaolu and watch.

The two of them, one playing and the other watching, continued like this for a while until Xia Liang finally realized something and pointed at the screen, "Why have you been asking others to borrow this character called Dawn Grass? I don't think she's very strong."

In the game "Magical Girl Squad," when new players encounter a level they cannot pass, they can request to borrow a "support character" from other players to help them clear the level.

During the game, Lin Xiaolu would borrow a character codenamed "Dawn Grass" regardless of the difficulty of the current level, which puzzled Xia Liang.

"Where is it not strong? Haven't we been passing through smoothly all along?" Lin Xiaolu turned her head to the side, somewhat dissatisfied.

"But she's not a damage dealer at all, she's clearly a support... You really like this character?"

"No, not at all."

"Then why don't you borrow different support characters from other players?"

"How I want to play is my own business, isn't it?"

"Eh--"

Drawing out her question, Xia Liang continued watching from the side. After a while, she realized what was going on and pointed at the magical girl named "Dawn Grass" on the screen, saying, "This pink color scheme, and this codename 'Dawn Grass,' could this character...?"

You're overthinking it.

Whether Xia Liang had hit the nail on the head or not, Lin Xiaolu's expression became somewhat complicated. "It's just a mobile game."

"But isn't 'Dawn Grass' another name for cherry blossoms?" Xia Liang continued to ask.

"... I don't know anything about this," Lin Xiaolu said in a muffled voice.

She rejected the idea decisively, so Xia Liang didn't say anything more. The silence between them continued for a while until Lin Xiaolu finished the game level she was working on.

Without saying a word, she entered the next level, searched through the "Request Assistance" screen, found the character named Dawn Grass, and then clicked on it.

[Number of assists remaining today: 0]

The game displayed the following message.

This caused Lin Xiaolu's hand to freeze in place.

She stared at the screen in silence. After a short while, she suddenly returned to the game's main menu and, without lingering, clicked on the card draw option.

Under Xia Liang's watchful gaze, she used all the rewards she received from clearing the game level to draw cards, repeating this process over and over again, with all sorts of characters being drawn from the card pool.

However, even after all the rewards were exhausted, it seemed that among the characters drawn, there was none of "Dawn Grass," which Lin Xiaolu had been paying attention to.

Lin Xiaolu fell silent again, her fingers tightening slightly around her phone, as if she were enduring something. Finally, she sat up abruptly and tossed the phone aside.

"This is boring, I'm not playing anymore! Let's watch TV!"

She snatched the remote from Xia Liang's hand and, before Xia Liang could react, quickly pressed the buttons, switching back to the animation channel.

"What?! I haven't finished reading the news yet! Switch back!" Xia Liang protested.

"Anyway, you weren't watching," Lin Xiaolu said matter-of-factly.

"You were the one who didn't look first!"

"I want to see it now!"

"You're not playing games anymore?" Xia Liang raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not playing anymore!" Lin Xiaolu said decisively.

"Aren't there still characters you want that you haven't gotten yet?"

"It's just virtual data, it's fine if it's not real!" Lin Xiaolu stared at the TV, slightly raising her chin.

"But I clearly saw on the gacha screen that it said, '[12 draws remaining to summon a specific magical girl]'"

Xia Liang picked up Lin Xiaolu's phone from the sofa cushion beside her and pointed to a line of small print on the screen. "Look."

Lin Xiaolu's originally resolute expression wavered slightly. She tried to appear focused on the television, but her constantly glancing sideways betrayed her. Realizing this, she finally gave up pretending, silently reached out, and somewhat resignedly took the phone from Xia Liang.

She looked up at the screen and saw that there was indeed the line of text Xia Liang had mentioned. She then clicked on the list following that line and quickly found the "Dawn Grass" she had been longing for. Her eyes immediately lit up again.

"12 more draws, 12 more draws..."

She started thinking hard, "But how can I collect enough for 12 draws?"

She had obtained most of the rewards for completing the early game levels, but the difficulty of the later levels increased, and without the help of "support characters," she was definitely out of luck.

In a gacha game, it seems there's only one way to obtain resources for gacha pulls outside of the rewards.

"Why not just top up your account?" Xia Liang tilted her head.

"No, I know I can pay for it, but spending money on something like this seems..."

Lin Xiaolu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Wouldn't that make it seem like I'm wasting my time on trivial pursuits?"

"Indeed, we often see news reports about the dangers of game addiction."

Xia Liang nodded again. "So? Maybe we shouldn't play anymore?"

"This... that..."

Lin Xiaolu stared at the gacha interface in the game for a long time, unable to make up her mind. Her rationality told her that she shouldn't spend money on this, but her emotions kept urging her to click.

A fierce internal struggle raged within her. Her eyes, fixed on the screen, grew increasingly vacant, a thin layer of cold sweat beading on her forehead. She pursed her lips, and a vortex gradually formed in her dark eyes.

So, three minutes later...

Lin Xiaolu selected the payment option on the store interface.

After careful calculation, she discovered that choosing the 68 yuan option would satisfy her need for 12 draws. Therefore, for the first time in her life, Lin Xiaolu chose to pay in a game.

She first repeatedly checked the option buttons on her phone screen, read the payment instructions, and made sure that she could indeed qualify for the "first-time discount" by topping up her account before finally nodding, reaching out, and placing her finger on the fingerprint sensor.

Then, she suddenly heard a scream from the television.

Lin Xiaolu subconsciously looked up to see what was happening in the animation, only to find that the main character on TV had simply broken something. Disappointed, she looked down again and saw the words "Payment Completed" pop up on the screen.

Spending money in a game for the first time in her life made Lin Xiaolu feel a little guilty, but along with the guilt, there was also a bit of inappropriate excitement. With these complicated feelings, she returned to the gacha interface, wanting to make up the remaining 12 draws to exchange for the character she wanted. But when she tapped the draw button, she suddenly realized that the number of draws seemed a little off.

If she remembers correctly, the resources she bought with real money should have been enough for about 15 draws, but why does she have 150 draws now?

Staring at the numbers displayed on her phone screen, Lin Xiaolu was momentarily stunned.

"What's wrong?"

Xia Liang, who was standing nearby, noticed that Lin Xiaolu's expression seemed a little off, so she leaned closer. When she saw the number on the screen, she couldn't help but cover her mouth and ask, "How much money did you recharge?"

"It should be 68 yuan... right?"

Lin Xiaolu said somewhat uncertainly, turning back to the game's shop interface and looking at the previous recharge options. She found that the "first-time discount" sign for the 68 yuan option was still clearly visible. On the other hand, the "first-time discount" sign for the 648 yuan option had disappeared, and the abruptly empty button seemed to be foreshadowing something.

Staring at her phone screen, Lin Xiaolu fell into a long silence once again.

It seems she pressed the wrong button.

Where did you get so much money?

Xia Liang couldn't help but ask, "Does your dad give you pocket money?"

"Well... how should I put it..."

Lin Xiaolu gradually snapped out of her daze and stammered, "If I remember correctly, this was given to me by Larkspur a few days ago."

What are you doing?

"She asked me to buy the supplementary textbooks... but she said she didn't have time to buy them herself, so she gave me the names of the books and told me to buy them myself, and she would pay for them."

Lin Xiaolu's voice trailed off. "I haven't had a chance to buy it these past few days."

"Buy educational supplements?"

Xia Liang asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why haven't I heard about this before?"

"Were you just joking around? But Larkspur should have transferred that part of the money to you."

Lin Xiaolu asked, somewhat puzzled, "Didn't you notice there's an extra sum of money in your personal account?"

"The extra money in my personal account..."

Xia Liang Xia Liang her lower lip, a thoughtful expression on her face. After a while, as if suddenly remembering something, she clapped her hands together abruptly. "Ah, that explains why I feel like I've spent more money lately, but my balance hasn't decreased at all!"

"You spent it too?"

"Perhaps?"

Xia Liang chuckled dryly, "I just got my hair done a few days ago. Thinking about it, I guess I... spent the money the junior colleague gave me, right?"

The more she spoke, the more uncertain she felt, and in the end, she fell silent along with Lin Xiaolu.

For a moment, only the sound of animation from the television filled the living room.

However, misfortune never comes singly. Just when the two were at a loss for what to do, they heard the sound of a door closing from the entrance hall not far away. The two quickly ran behind the wall in the living room and peeked out into the entrance hall. They saw Larkspur leading Bai Jingxuan into the room.

Larkspur walked in front, with Bai Jingxuan following behind. The two talked as they walked into the living room. Larkspur looked around and saw Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang sitting upright on the sofa, seemingly watching TV attentively.

The scene seemed perfectly normal, but Larkspur felt something was off: usually, these two were either lying or leaning back, looking completely lazy, so why were they suddenly so well-behaved today?

"I'm back."

Without thinking twice, she waved to the girls in the living room. "How did the patrol go today?"

There's nothing there!

As the Larkspur spoke, Lin Xiaolu's ponytail jumped. She stammered, "Everything... everything is normal. There are no Aberrant Beast, and no dangerous incidents!"

"That's good, no problem. And you don't need to shout so loudly."

Larkspur nodded expressionlessly, then turned her gaze to Xia Liang: "How's Little Brocade? Is there any situation?"

"Ah, no, no." Xia Liang also looked away, feeling inexplicably guilty. "Just to report to you, the last time Aberrant Beast appeared in the Sunset District was last week. This week has been very peaceful."

Why use honorifics?

The two's strange behavior made Larkspur even more puzzled, but she couldn't figure out what could have happened, so she didn't press the matter. "Alright, thank you for your hard work. I'll go to the kitchen to prepare dinner first. You two continue to rest."

The two girls in the living room could only respond with a muffled "Yes." Bai Jingxuan shouted, "I'll help!" and ran to the kitchen with Larkspur.

After Larkspur left, the two people in the living room looked at each other, seemingly wanting to say something, but neither of them spoke first. Just as Lin Xiaolu was about to say something after a long pause, Larkspur suddenly came out of the kitchen.

"Oh, right, tonight is tutoring day, you guys should remember, right?"

As she put on arm sleeves, she instructed, "I think I asked you to prepare the supplementary textbooks last time. You can preview them if you have time."

"The second-year final exams are coming up soon, and your grades haven't been very stable lately, so I gave you a suggested study range. Please refer to this range for now."

"You don't have to preview the material, but I might ask a few more questions to make sure you understand... Hmm? What's wrong? Why do you all look so pale? Are you too tired? And why did you suddenly stand up? Why are you standing so close together?"

"I'm sorry, Larkspur!"

"I'm sorry, junior!"

Larkspur hadn't thought much of it at first, but before she could finish speaking, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang suddenly stood up from the sofa and ran up to her. Then, they both lowered their heads and said the words in unison.

Looking at her daughter, who seemed to be apologizing, Larkspur was momentarily speechless. She blinked, and after a long pause, she spoke somewhat blankly:

"... ha?"