112 Chapter 112: Mute Girl

"It's impossible to work hard for something you don't enjoy."

—Silica (SAO)

...

"Complete Guide to World Language Vocabulary"

As the name indicates, this is a dictionary that covers several of the world's most widely used languages and provides vocabulary comparisons between different languages.

In short, it's like adding Russian, French, Spanish, and other languages into a Chinese-English dictionary.

Moreover, this book likely contains common vocabulary; otherwise, its thickness wouldn't be just this small.

Even if anyone considers students studying language-related majors, there probably aren't many normal people who would read something like this.

'Do girls these days really like reading these... kinds of books?'

Watching the girl flip through that super-thick dictionary with a serious expression, Dean couldn't help but think to himself.

'Oh well, it's none of my business what other people read. Just keep a poker face and pretend I didn't see anything.'

Dean shook his head inwardly and lowered his head to continue reading his own book.

After a while, Dean suddenly felt a gaze on him, and it happened to be coming from across the table.

Dean curiously raised his head to look at the girl sitting across from him.

She showed a brief look of surprise in her eyes and quickly lowered her head into that massive dictionary again when she noticed Dean's gaze.

'What's going on?'

Dean couldn't quite understand.

Ever since he had bought the talent of Superhuman Reflexes into the system, Dean realized that in addition to improved reaction speed, his observational skills and certain forms of perception had become a little bit more sensitive.

He could even more intuitively sense others' 'gaze' now rather than just experiencing some vague and indescribable feeling.

At first, when Dean read the system's description of "'Superhuman Reflexes,' it mentioned 'a significantly enhanced body's reaction ability for a short period of time, with the duration of the ability consuming more stamina.'

This description made Dean think that this talent might be a skill that consumed a lot of stamina and needed to be manually triggered.

However, as he learned it over time, he began to understand its true purpose—it could enable Dean to break through the human body's limits of reaction!

The ability to significantly increase reaction ability in a short period of time is not the greatest advantage of 'Superhuman Reflexes,' nor is it its only effect.

In Dean's daily life, his reaction abilities still showed performances beyond his previous self, even if the improvement was slight.

The fact remained that Dean's reaction speed was continuously increasing.

In other words, through continuous training and the passage of time, Dean's brain and body's reaction speed would become faster until they reached the limits of human capability or even exceeded them!

In comparison, the role of the short-term, substantial reaction enhancement was more like the adrenaline rush people experience in specific situations—using a lot of physical energy to gain a momentary reaction far beyond human limits.

Compared to that, the short-term significant increase in reaction ability is more like an adrenaline surge that happens in special situations for humans; by consuming a lot of physical energy, it can exchange for a brief period of reaction power that far exceeds human limits.

The cost and benefit are directly balanced.

In short, the existence of 'Superhuman Reflexes' opened up entirely new possibilities for Dean's future.

However, no matter how strong Dean's reaction power is, at the moment, there's no way for him to figure out what the girl opposite him is thinking of doing.

Following the principle of "better safe than sorry," Dean didn't pay too much attention to the girl's sneaky glances at him.

After all, he used to be a talented magician in Gotham, and with his handsome face, he naturally attracted a lot of fans.

Dean was often known on the street and asked for autographs or pictures. This happened so often that he often had to put on a disguise before going out.

For a girl in her prime, like the one across the table, becoming a fan of Dean Thurston was just a normal thing.

Seeing a real person now, she felt both excited and shy at the sight of him and did not know what to say, so it made sense for her to sneak a glance!

Dean was aware of this and understood it well.

Therefore, in order to avoid any awkwardness, Dean chose to forget about it and read his book in peace, letting his young fan admire his handsome face...

Just kidding; of course that wasn't possible.

Dean quickly realized that things were not as simple as they seemed.

The girl across from him didn't seem to be one of his fans because, after Dean lowered his head, she stole another glance at him.

When Dean looked up, she lowered her head again, repeating this action in a continuous loop.

In the occasional eye contact, Dean didn't see the admiration in her eyes but rather the look of someone seeking help.

Under the request for help, there was a hint of caution... or perhaps even wariness?

'A fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girl should naturally be cautious of a stranger, but what's with the constant glances at me?'

'If you have something to say, just say it. Why not use your mouth to speak?'

'I know I'm handsome, but I don't think I'm so handsome that people are afraid to talk, right?

"What's wrong? Do you need something?"

Dean shook his head helplessly and asked.

Suddenly, a glimmer of hope appeared in the girl's eyes. She instinctively began making a few hand gestures towards Dean, but then she stopped halfway.

Huh?

Seeing these gestures, Dean's expression slightly froze.

'Those hand gestures seemed to be sign language!'

'Why is this girl not speaking and only using sign language?'

After seeing her use sign language, Dean understood why.

Dean had learned some sign language before, and although he wasn't very proficient, he could somewhat understand what the girl meant.

"May I ask you a few questions? There are a few words..."

The rest of the words are unclear because the girl stopped making gestures.

"What do you want to ask? Let me see."

At this point, Dean also used sign language with the girl.

He had quick fingers, but he had never used sign language to communicate with anyone before, so it was a little slow for him.

But before Dean could finish all of his gestures, the girl's face lit up as she quickly made the sign for gratitude.

The girl then moved to the seat next to Dean and took out the 'Complete Guide to World Language Vocabulary.'

She then pointed to a few words that were easy to understand.

Moreover, they were English words, not French, Russian, or Spanish.

Dean's expression froze again. If he remembered correctly, any elementary school student who can read should be able to understand words like these.

But the girl in front of him couldn't understand the meaning of the words.

Either she hadn't paid attention in school since day one, or she had never been to school at all...

After a simple explanation, Dean curiously made a few sign language gestures.

"Did you often come here before? Who helped you with the questions you didn't understand?"

The girl nodded at first, showing that she did indeed come to the library often. Then, after a pause, she tilted her head and thought for a moment.

Suddenly, she began rapidly flipping through the dictionary, found the term "librarian," pointed it out to Dean, and continued flipping until she pointed to an English word.

Barbara.

Putting it all together, it meant-

The librarian, Barbara.

...

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