Grab the Toy

Ignoring the fleeting look of disappointment on Tang Manman's face, Lin Yu stretched out his hand in front of her, rubbing the pads of his thumb against his index and middle fingers—a classic gesture asking for money.

Tang Manman immediately frowned, pouting slightly. She pulled out a cartoon-themed wallet from her pocket and took out a stack of "Lin Yu vouchers."

Gently tearing off the top voucher, she reluctantly handed it over.

Lin Yu took the voucher, slipped it into his pocket, then grinned mischievously as he reached out his hand again, rubbing his fingers and saying,

"Still need one more voucher for the movie."

"Huh?"

Tang Manman was so surprised she couldn’t close her mouth. Quickly recovering, she protested,

"You never said we needed vouchers for the movie too!"

"Of course, watching a movie requires vouchers."

"Are you trying to get a free ride?"

"I already paid for the movie ticket."

"Don’t try to renege on your debt!"

Lin Yu argued, trying to sound confident despite the flimsy excuse.

"I..."

Tang Manman was about to retort but was immediately cut off by Lin Yu:

"Once the ticket's bought, no refunds. Whether you watch it or not, you have to."

Tang Manman furrowed her delicate brows, her soft lower lip pouted in a mix of grievance and anger, looking like she was being bullied by a villain.

"Hurry up, hurry up."

Lin Yu rubbed his fingers impatiently, urging her on.

"I, I don’t have any left. The rest of my vouchers are at home!"

Tang Manman was reluctant and started to throw a tantrum in frustration.

Lin Yu almost laughed at her.

Vouchers at home?

Then what was that stack you just pulled out?

Do you think I’m blind?

"Don’t stall!"

"Hurry up!"

"I’ll take you to play claw machines after."

Lin Yu kept rubbing his fingers, pressing her.

Maybe because the claw machine games were free, Tang Manman’s resistance softened, and she finally handed over another voucher.

Taking the second voucher, Lin Yu smiled with satisfaction, pocketed it, and led Tang Manman toward the waiting area where the claw machines stood.

Claw machines aren’t hard to play.

You just need to insert coins, use the joystick to move the claw, and drop it at the right spot.

That way, you can experience firsthand the feeling of throwing money down the drain.

Watching the mechanical claw, which looked so weak it couldn’t even lift one of the doll’s legs, Lin Yu told Tang Manman to wait a moment and then walked over to the counter to exchange game coins.

*Knock knock knock!*

He tapped the counter a few times, then called out to the female attendant who looked over,

"Call your manager over, just tell him Lin Yu’s here."

The attendant used her walkie-talkie to contact the manager. Soon, a man in a suit walked in.

"Turn all the claw tensions to the tightest setting."

Lin Yu whispered beside the manager.

The manager frowned, seeming to have to strain a bit before recognizing Lin Yu.

Once he did, he quickly smiled and went behind the counter, fiddling with the computer.

“All set.”

The manager gave an ‘OK’ sign.

Lin Yu nodded. Within the territory of the Black Blood Gang, his name still carried some weight.

Back at the claw machine, Lin Yu couldn't help but smile at Tang Manman's worried expression.

She had fewer game tokens in her hand now, clearly having tried a few more times just moments ago—and the result was obvious.

Empty-handed.

“Here, let me try,” Lin Yu said.

He stepped up beside Tang Manman, took three tokens from her, and fed them one by one into the coin slot.

After inserting the coins, Lin Yu turned to Tang Manman and asked, “Which one do you want?”

Tang Manman seemed to have already seen through the claw machine’s true nature, her face showing little hope. But when Lin Yu asked, she still pointed to her favorite—a cute whale plush.

“This one?” Lin Yu confirmed.

“Yeah,” Tang Manman nodded.

Having locked onto the target, Lin Yu skillfully maneuvered the reinforced mechanical claw. It easily grabbed the whale plush, which looked tricky to catch.

The silver claw tightly gripped the round, plump whale, slowly moving it above the prize chute before releasing. The plush dropped with a soft thud and slid down the channel to the prize window.

Lin Yu bent down, picked up the plush, and shook it playfully in front of the stunned Tang Manman, grinning as he asked, “Pretty good, huh?”

“Awesome, awesome!” Tang Manman’s eyes sparkled with admiration, nodding enthusiastically.

“Here you go.”

Handing over the whale plush, Lin Yu asked again, “Is there another one you like?”

“I’ll get you to grab more!” Tang Manman said excitedly.

“Yes!” she nodded happily.

Under Tang Manman’s direction, Lin Yu transformed into an unstoppable claw machine. In no time, he’d grabbed so many plush toys that Tang Manman was almost struggling to hold them all.

Lin Yu basked in his moment of glory; nearly everyone waiting to enter the theater was watching them.

Weighing the three tokens left in his hand, Lin Yu looked at Tang Manman and smiled, “One more round. Which one now?”

Tang Manman’s beautiful, bright eyes lit up. Hearing she could grab one more, she didn’t even think about how she’d manage during the movie. She lifted her chin and pointed roughly in a direction.

“I want that colorful one—the one that looks like an alpaca!”

Lin Yu glanced inside the claw machine and quickly spotted the rainbow alpaca plush. He nodded and gave an OK sign.

He fed the last three tokens into the machine one by one, focusing intently on the plush toys inside, carefully controlling the claw.

Although the movie theater was crowded, it was impressively clean.

The floor was spotless, the ticket counter immaculate, and the popcorn stand free of a single grease stain.

Even the glass of the claw machine was polished to a crystal-clear shine by the diligent staff, reflecting like a mirror.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Lin Yu pressed the grab button.

The silver claw descended, its fingers closing between two plush toys—and then, it rose empty-handed.

A wave of disappointment spread across the faces of most people present, Tang Manman included.

But Lin Yu no longer had the energy to care about any of it.

Staring at the two familiar faces reflected in the clean glass window, Lin Yu didn’t even know why, but a strong sense of guilt welled up inside him.

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Yu stiffly turned around to look at the two people behind him, forcing an awkward smile as he greeted them,

“Sister Zhuzi, Xia Yueshan, you two came to watch the movie too?”