Annie hung her head, her eyes vacant, her body still trembling slightly.
Lilith sighed, knowing that Annie wouldn't trust her based on just a few words.
Trust needed time to develop.
"How about this—let's talk first. Where are you from? How did you become a slave?" Lilith sat opposite Annie, her voice gentle and soft.
This was a racial ability of the Succubus race. Not only were they naturally alluring, but their voices, under their control, could also subtly influence the emotions of others—calming them, making them nervous, or even igniting passion.
The gentle tone helped ease Annie's tension a little, though she still sat stiffly in her chair.
"Annie... Annie was in the mines... looking for... ore... when... when someone... caught me... locked me... in a starship...
No food... if I disobeyed... that... that bad woman... would... would... hit Annie..." Annie whispered softly.
Lilith immediately grasped the information in those words.
Annie had been captured by that Adventurer Fleet while living on a planet.
Adventurer Fleets engaged in all sorts of work—stellar pioneering, mercenary missions, bounty missions, and more on the surface, but they also dabbled in gray business, such as human trafficking.
And since Annie had been living on a planet, there must have been many of her people there!
A group of Dwarves...
Lilith continued probing gently.
But Annie clearly kept tight-lipped about the planet she had lived on before.
Seeing this, Lilith didn't press further. Digging too deep would only make Annie resentful; it was better to let her guard down first.
From their conversation, Lilith learned that Annie had been captured and imprisoned for over three months.
Because the leather-clad woman had set a high price, many were unwilling to buy her.
After all, although Dwarves were natural Stellar Artisans, to make use of her abilities, one needed a complete set of industrial equipment, technical blueprints, and more.
Ordinary factions lacked such resources.
And those who had such resources wouldn't want a Dwarf of unknown origin—what if she was a spy sent to steal their technological expertise?
As the two chatted for a while, two plates of fragrant fried rice were placed before Lilith and Annie.
Lilith was already accustomed to this fried rice. She skillfully picked up a spoon, scooped a full spoonful, and put it in her mouth to chew.
But Annie across from her stared wide-eyed, unable to believe the food before her...
This was... real rice?
And vegetables... and minced meat...
Just from what she could see, there were at least five ingredients!
"Don't you like it?" Lilith asked.
Annie shook her head, swallowing hard. Her eyes timid yet longing, she whispered, "Annie... can... eat this?"
"Of course, this is just the most ordinary food on this starship," Lilith said with a smile.
This seemingly ordinary exchange was already subtly influencing Annie.
Because no one could resist the food of the Fierce Dragon Fleet!
Annie hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she couldn't withstand the assault of her appetite. She reached out, grabbed a handful of rice, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Because of her short stature, Annie's head was basically level with the dining table. At one point, she even knelt directly on the chair, her mouth full of rice grains.
"Wait a moment..." Lilith suddenly called out.
Annie immediately shrank back fearfully, the rice in her mouth neither chewed nor swallowed, looking as pitiful as a little girl who had made a mistake.
Lilith walked over to Annie, pressed a button on the chair beneath her, and the chair began to slowly rise.
"This chair can be adjusted for height," Lilith said as she set it to a suitable level for Annie.
Then she took out a tissue and wiped Annie's hands and the rice grains from the corners of her mouth.
Finally, she placed the spoon that Annie had overlooked beside the bowl.
"Don't use your hands to eat; use the spoon," Lilith said gently, looking at Annie as if she were her own little sister.
Although she had the intention of recruiting her into the fleet, she also genuinely pitied this poor little dwarf.
"Alright, you can keep eating now.
Just don't eat too fast," Lilith added.
Hearing Lilith's permission to continue eating, Annie finally relaxed, swallowed the food in her mouth, and obediently sat on the chair, using the spoon to eat the fried rice from her bowl.
As she ate, tears began to stream down Annie's face.
She had never tasted such delicious food before. On the planet where she lived, resources were scarce, making it difficult to grow crops. They could only gather low-grade ores to trade with passing interstellar merchants in exchange for artificial nutrient meals.
During the three months she had been abducted, she had no idea how her family was doing or whether they had enough to eat.
If only they could taste this delicious food too.
Happy moments are always fleeting, and soon, every grain of rice on Annie's plate was gone.
But she still glanced toward the serving counter. Earlier, she had been too self-conscious to look, but during the meal, she noticed that everyone entering the dining hall went there to order, and then mechanical waiters delivered the food to their seats.
Besides fried rice, there were all kinds of delicious dishes.
Another thing she noticed was that there wasn't a single member of the Human Race among these people—they were all beastmen!
Suddenly, Lilith tapped Annie on the head.
Annie winced and rubbed her head.
"Stop looking. You can't eat any more. Your little body has already had plenty.
If you eat too much of this kind of food for the first time, it can put a lot of strain on your stomach," Lilith recalled how, when her own Succubus clansmen first tried such meals, most of them ended up with bloated stomachs after wolfing down their food.
One by one, the once beautiful and charming Succubi were left with slightly swollen bellies. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought Zhao Chen had gotten them into trouble in just a few days.
"Mhm..." Annie nodded obediently.
"Let's go take a bath first," Lilith said, leading Annie out of the dining hall and to the starship bathhouse.
Soon, Annie was completely transformed. Her messy hair and dirty skin were now clean and fresh.
After changing into a neat set of clothes, a brand-new little girl stood before Lilith.
"So adorable," Lilith said, looking at Annie's round cheeks, feeling an urge to pinch them.
Annie sniffed the fragrance on herself, having long forgotten when she last took a bath.
She had even grown accustomed to the sour odor on her body. Now, suddenly washed clean and dressed in fresh clothes, she felt somewhat unaccustomed to it.
After the bath, Lilith led Annie to her bedroom.
As a Secretary Officer, Lilith had a fifty-square-meter single bedroom. Though not as large as the Captain's quarters,
it still came with a Private Bathroom and shower, a large bed, and a desk.
"Rest here for now. I need to get back to work," Lilith settled Annie in the room before heading off to her duties.
This was Lilith's deliberate arrangement. Exposing Annie to so much at once required time for her to process everything on her own.
This way, the efficiency of the strategy to win over Annie, the Stellar Artisan, would greatly increase.
Alone in the clean and tidy room, Annie walked over to the fluffy bed, pressed her hand against it, and sniffed its scent.
Carefully, she lay down and closed her eyes.
She was exhausted, but Annie couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard she tried.
In the end, she got up from the bed, walked to a corner of the room, wrapped her arms around her knees, and curled up against the wall.
This time, Annie fell asleep quickly.
A faint smile lingered on her face, as if she were having a pleasant dream.
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