Chapter 47: Don't Die First
"…What's going on? This book?"
Opening thunder strike .
Why is the first step in dating 'don't die first'?
Sitting in a coffee shop having ordered a coffee, Li Lin almost spat out his drink upon reading the first sentence of the suspicious book recommended by Proprietress Chongyue.
Although he had spent a considerable amount of time here and felt he had some understanding of Terra's various customs and traditions, when it came to this kind of 'opening thunder strike' dating book, he felt his data reserves were still a bit lacking.
'First step of the laws of love: ensure your own life first. Don't be like a moth to a flame, abandoning restraint and shamefully rushing towards an attractive member of the opposite sex upon seeing them. Know that everyone has their own personality and dignity; losing these is like losing life, this is a great taboo. Even if you love that person to death, you must remember, absolutely remember, to ensure your own independence and personality; safeguarding your own personal life is the first step~'
"This looks a bit more normal…"
Li Lin sipped his coffee, sat on the chair, and continued flipping through.
Although this dating guide, which looked quite old, was truly very suspicious, and was filled with some pretentious, somewhat nauseatingly cute words, and a pink style with various star decorations that almost blinded Li Lin, for the sake of his happiness in the latter half of his life, he still braced himself and read on.
But what this book introduced next, how should I say, was indeed a bit troublesome for Li Lin. Many parts talked about holding hands with others, interacting, playing games, and then confirming one's charm through the other person's various feedbacks. On this point, Li Lin felt the compiler of this book might have some problems with their head. If I could summon the courage to chat with girls and sing K, feel my heart pound in a dimly lit place, would I still need your crappy book?
This is completely a guide for popular people to flirt with each other, not at all a guide for pitiful otaku like myself.
Li Lin sat there flipping through for a long while; the contents of the thin book were basically memorized. But apart from some relatively basic methods, he felt the rest of an
the stuff, rather than being some dating guide, was more like a bitch cultivation manual.
Now dating has to start with holding hands and hugging? Isn't that already in the middle of a relationship?
Li Lin looked at the things described in the book and quickly drank a mouthful of coffee to calm his nerves. But as soon as he looked up, he saw a jade-green figure flash past his eyes.
"That is…"
Hoshiguma?
Seeing the tall figure riding an electric scooter for a joyride, Li Lin raised an eyebrow.
That Heracles who tore apart the entire steel defense line single-handedly in the camera feed was straddling a small electric scooter, wearing a specially made Oni-exclusive helmet. The contrast between her whole person and the electric scooter, due to proportion issues, even made the art style look somewhat uncoordinated.
Police officers generally don't have holidays, just rotating days off. But now it seemed to be Hoshiguma's turn for a day off. She rode her little electric donkey sputtering to a shop, speaking to the store manager with a troubled expression. Looked like she didn't bring enough money. Li Lin originally wanted to go up and help, but seeing the dating guide's warning that any action could cause the other party to make assumptions, he thought about it and decided against it.
Hoshiguma is also a colleague; colleagues should have interactions appropriate for colleagues. Going out shopping together on a day off, that's a bit much.
However, Li Lin himself didn't intend to actively communicate, but Hoshiguma opposite saw Li Lin and waved directly.
"Yo, is this Li Lin? Are you spending your day drinking coffee here?"
"Yeah. Gotta relax during holiday time after all."
"That's right, Old Ch'en also has to go shopping around this time."
"Work hard during normal times, have a good vacation when there's nothing to do, this is normal life."
Since she took the initiative to greet him, he couldn't pretend not to see. Li Lin raised his coffee cup, gesturing to Hoshiguma.
But clearly, Hoshiguma didn't seem to have any intention of borrowing money from Li Lin or anything similar. This Oni looked tall and mighty, but was surprisingly very calm and decisive, having her own views on various matters. The initial workplace indifference was also broken by her.
Better ignore the guide's nonsense; people who have shown kindness should always be repaid. Li Lin looked at Hoshiguma and pointed at the sign above.
"Want me to treat you to a drink?"
"Forget it, I need to meet up with Old Ch'en later."
Hoshiguma waved her hand and said directly:
"The money Old Ch'en gave isn't enough at all, I still have to chip in some myself. This thing needs to be sent to the police station soon. That fellow always makes mistakes in strange places. She's having her holiday, and I end up cleaning her ass."
"Eh? Officer Ch'en also takes normal holidays? I mean, her shopping shouldn't be some kind of patrol, right?"
"…In your eyes, what level of monster is Old Ch'en?"
"How should I put it, a perfect superman, hero template kind of figure?"
"Old Ch'en would probably be very sad to hear you evaluate her like that…"
Looking at Li Lin's disbelieving expression, Hoshiguma scratched her head, not knowing what to say.
Facing the somewhat awkward Hoshiguma, Li Lin thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered a certain ritual he had just read about. Then he slowly lowered his head, gazed at the tall Hoshiguma before him, looking at her silently without a word. The gaze from the 'butcher' made Hoshiguma suddenly shiver, the smile on her face becoming even more awkward; she touched her face somewhat unnaturally, breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Wh-what's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
"…Nothing. It's indeed quite accurate."
This actually wasn't wrong.
Retracting his gaze, Li Lin recalled the description in the book at hand, feeling this thing was quite reliable.
'When chatting with the opposite sex, if you look straight at them, often many unexpected surprises will occur. Your 'it' might very likely blush, become hesitant, or even look away. But if there's no wavering at all, even curiously wondering what you're doing, then you need to be careful, okay? This means you are just a friend in 'its' heart; you must deepen your own personality, leave a deep impression on that 'it'. Otherwise, it's a big crisis~'
Although this description, no matter how you looked at it, seemed problematic somewhere, dating guides like this mostly had this kind of speaking style. After receiving Hoshiguma's inexplicable gaze, Li Lin felt this seemingly unreliable thing might very likely be quite useful, just as Proprietress Chongyue said.
Anyway, let's go back to Penguin Logistics and try it out first, what if there's a harem or something?
"Just testing a certain ritual, no problem."
"What? What ritual?"
"Gaze ritual."
"What kind of strange thing is that???"
"Nothing major, just a small test."
Looking at the bewildered Hoshiguma, Li Lin shook his head, tidied up his table, took the strange dating guide, and prepared to head back to Penguin Logistics to experiment.
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