Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Talulah, You Are the Leader!
"!"
Even before she saw it, the warm touch on her hand made Yelena's first reaction to shake it off and say seriously, "Don't touch me."
"Um..."
After her hand was shaken off, Griseo didn't react much. She didn't feel lost; she just continued to look at Yelena with her big eyes quietly.
Others might not know Yelena well, but Griseo knew that the person in front of her reacted this way out of fear of causing frostbite.
"Sorry... Is your hand okay?"
Yelena looked at Griseo, who had been shaken off but didn't cry or fuss. Her expression remained unchanged as she quietly looked at Yelena. A trace of apology flashed in Yelena's eyes, and her voice softened.
Hearing this, Griseo gently shook her head and then said seriously, "... Is Sister Yelena cold? I'm not afraid of the cold. I'll warm you up."
With that, Griseo used the same hand that was just shaken off to hold Yelena's hand again, which was still cold despite the gloves.
As Griseo had always said, she was indeed not afraid of the cold, showing no sign of frostbite.
After observing for a while and confirming that there was nothing abnormal, Yelena relaxed. However, she didn't dare to move her hand, just letting the little girl hold it.
After all, who would have the heart to hurt such a cute and well-behaved child like Griseo?
"She can touch our elder sister without getting frostbite!"
"Someone can touch our elder sister! That's great!"
"No, stick to me, stick it to me instead!"
The snow monsters were initially dumbfounded by the scene, but then they were happy for their elder sister. They knew their eldest sister, the Yeti princess, had not been in contact with people for a long time. Normally, even they could not touch her without getting frostbite.
Now, a little cutie who was not afraid of the cold and could touch their eldest sister had suddenly appeared. How could they not be happy?
Just a few minutes after making contact with Yelena, the system's voice suddenly sounded in Griseo's mind.
[Character: [Setsuna] Sakura, unlocking, unlocking progress 1%, please try to keep in contact with the target person.]
"...?"
A question mark slowly appeared on Griseo's cute little head after hearing the system's prompt.
No matter how hard she thought, she didn't expect that the unlocking under certain conditions marked on the system panel actually referred to rubbing so close to someone? And she had to try one by one, without prompts.
Although Griseo really liked rubbing close with beautiful girls, trying one by one and sticking to them like glue was really a lot for her.
She didn't like deliberately contacting others for some purpose, not to mention she was still influenced by Griseo's innocence.
Griseo could choose to contact someone because she liked him or her color, but it wasn't necessary just to unlock the character.
So after figuring out the unlocking method, she decided to just go with the flow...
After thinking it through, Griseo stopped struggling and took Yelena's hand, sitting down together by the campfire.
"Sister Yelena... can you tell me the story of your Yeti Squadron?" After sitting down, Griseo gently shook Yelena's hand and asked softly.
Although she knew a lot about [Frostnova] and the Yeti Squadron through the game, now that everything had become a reality, Griseo preferred to learn about their past directly from them. Many things couldn't be explained clearly in the game...
"Well... OK."
After a slight pause, Yelena agreed, gently stroking Griseo's little head with her other free hand.
"Telling stories? I'll come too! Our eldest sister has many legendary stories!"
"Count me in!"
When it came to telling stories, the Yeti Squadron members became interested again and gathered around.
So far, the atmosphere around the campfire was lively and peaceful, and Griseo successfully integrated into it.
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In the tent——
"It turned out... it was them..."
After listening to Alina's story, Talulah's expression became a mix of complication and self-blame.
She guessed that people attacked her best friend, but she didn't think deeply about who it was... or she didn't dare to think about it.
However, under Talulah's questioning, Alina directly revealed the bloody facts.
Those infected people who hurt their best friends and wanted to kill her for a little food were the infected people in the original Reunion! They were the infected people that Talulah agreed to leave the camp!
This fact directly questioned Talulah's previous decision to allow the infected to withdraw from the organization at will without punishment.
It also made Talulah's belief that most people are kind and good if placed in a good environment begin to crack, a crack she herself did not notice.
"Hehe, Talulah, I asked you to promise not to go for revenge, right?"
Looking at the draco in front of her, with a complicated expression and a hint of self-blame in her eyes, Alina chuckled, patted her on the shoulder, and asked an inexplicable question.
"Yes."
Hearing this question, Talulah nodded slightly and then looked at Alina in confusion.
"But in fact, I asked you to promise not to take revenge because I didn't want you to hate me because of what happened... not even the slightest possibility."
At this point, Alina paused, put away her smile, and became serious, then continued, "But, Talulah, you are a leader, the leader of the Reunion Movement... the person who many infected people voluntarily follow."
"When you make a mistake, correct it. When you find a loophole, fill it."
"In the eyes of the outside world, our Reunion has long been linked to the infected here. Regardless of any factors, whether those people have withdrawn from Reunion or not, you, as a leader, have the responsibility to restrain them and bring them back on track!"
"..."
Alina's words directly made Talulah lose the complexity and self-blame in her eyes and fall into deep thought.
"Huh... You are right, this is my responsibility as a leader." After thinking for a while, Talulah exhaled a breath of turbid air, stood up, and said seriously.
At this moment, all other emotions in her eyes disappeared, leaving only firmness.
"Thank you, Alina..."