Chapter 85
"Feels like business has been sluggish lately."
Sunday night, South District, Tongyao Bar.
Near closing ti, Yan Huan—dressed in his bartender uniform and wiping down tables—heard Tian Li's remark from behind the counter and looked thoughtful.
Yesterday morning, the evil hypnosis demon king Ye Shiyu had been smashed back to reality by two clothes-hanger swings from the all-powerful Auntie Ye; she was probably still grounded for reflection in the villa.
Yan Huan did have plans for the next stage, but they couldn't be carried out on a weekend.
With Ye Shiyu's terrifying pressure gone, he'd finally enjoyed two quiet days—and, of course, hadn't skipped a single workout.
Thanks to Bare Skin's recovery boost, his stamina bounced back so fast that even a hard-ass coach like Tong Yingying had to call ti-out.
So on Sunday he'd picked up a full shift at Tongyao Bar.
Hearing Tian Li's comnt, he wrung out his rag and walked over.
"Brother Li, has business been bad while I was gone?"
"Ah." Tian Li folded his arms and nodded.
"Didn't Sis Tong say she wanted to hire one more person? Turns out with the current traffic, the two of us can handle it just fine."
Only then did Yan Huan realize today was the weekend.
On normal Saturdays and Sundays the place was packed, which was why Tong Yingying used to dock his pay if he asked off.
Tonight, however, the flow of custors felt like an ordinary weekday—maybe even lighter.
"Outside tables are set up. What're you two whispering about?"
Guan Rong clapped her hands as she stepped back inside and eyed the two guys at the bar.
"Talking about why the crowd's thinned out lately."
"Yeah, Sis Rong, any idea why?"
Guan Rong looked puzzled and shook her head.
"No clue. We all live nearby, and there's no new competition. Prices haven't changed, and the drinks are still at Tian Li's half-baked level—so what gives?"
"Hey, I'm standing right here!"
Yan Huan thought for a mont, then pulled out his phone.
"Sis Tong knows about this, right?"
"She does. Isn't she over there going over the books?"
"I've already talked to her."
Yan Huan waved to the couple and headed over.
"All right, I'll dig into the reasons later. I'm off for today—bye, Brother Li, Sis Rong."
"Bye, Xiao Huan."
Phone in hand, Yan Huan walked toward the back door.
In her usual recliner, Tong Yingying wore a loose black tee and faded jeans. One long leg crossed over the other, bathed in the bar's warm light, she scowled at the account book.
"Sis Tong."
She set the ledger aside and glanced up.
"Finished closing?"
"Mm. Brother Li says traffic's down this week?"
"Yeah, a bit."
Tong Yingying didn't seem bothered. Instead she studied Yan Huan, head to toe, and nodded.
"Looks like progress—you're actually filling out that uniform now."
Yan Huan looked himself over, excited.
"True, but it still feels a bit show-muscle. Sis Tong, should I add so other training?"
Tong Yingying chuckled, sothing sly flickering across her face.
"I've got programs for everything. Harder, though. With your week-long, never-tired stamina, you'll probably level up fast."
Yan Huan smiled at his phone.
"Thanks to you, Sis Tong—thank you!"
"Cut the sweet talk. If you really want to thank , bring sothing concrete. Like..."
Out of Yan Huan's sight, Tong Yingying's tongue briefly brushed her lip.
Crack! Crack!
In his mind, the phantom hiss of a whip sliced the air.
But Yan Huan just nodded.
"Exactly—I'm already bringing sothing concrete."
"Huh?"
He handed her his phone. On the screen was a lifestyle-app search page: the keyword was "Tongyao."
The first user review scread:
"AVOID! Sisters, steer clear of this South-District dive called Tongyao!!"
Tong Yingying's eyes widened as she read on:
"Ca for an after-work drink—prices made my head spin. Limited nu, diocre taste, shabby vibe, terrible service!
"Special call-out to the owner: I asked for the check and she glared like I was begging her to take my money. AVOID AVOID AVOID!"
Tong Yingying scrolled, brow twitching.
"Lol, first ti here, sis? We only co to eye the hot waiter. Who drinks at Tongyao for real?"
"Right? Their server—omg, top-tier high-school hottie! Drool~"
"I order three caral puddings every visit. Not for the sugar—just to watch him sweat while he makes them."
"But I heard the hottie quit? Was gonna swing by this weekend. The photo so sis posted—so tempting~"
"Live nearby, will investigate. Follow for updates."
"CY"
"CY"
"Bless you, good Samaritan~"
The phone creaked in Tong Yingying's tightening grip, veins popping at her temples.
"Sis Tong, check the other posts too—"
Luckily, Yan Huan hadn't seen the comnts before handing it over.
She closed the app and shoved the phone back.
"So what?"
Yan Huan faced her irritation calmly.
"Brother Li knows his mixing's half-baked. You won't teach him, so he's learning online. That's why the drink list is tiny. It didn't matter before, but we've hit a wall."
He took the ledger she'd been reading and pointed at the red ink.
"You bought the place outright—no rent, yet you're still in the hole. Impressive, in a bad way.
"I'll figure out how to turn this around, repaynt for all the training you've given ."
Tong Yingying opened her mouth to refuse, already picturing the whip she'd bought for "motivation."
You're telling this now?
But Yan Huan was already on his feet, smiling.
"Until I co up with a plan, I'll drop by more often—maybe inspiration will strike."
Hearing he'd be around more, Tong Yingying propped her chin on her hand and thought a mont.
Finally she sighed, resting her cheek in her palm.
"Fine, have it your way. All that endless energy—don't you ever... relieve yourself? With this much training, how do you sleep at night?"
ow-chan popped onto Yan Huan's shoulder, tilting her head.
Yan Huan's smile froze.
"Sis Tong, crude is okay, but you're on another level. A bit of refinent and you wouldn't still be single."
Tong Yingying snorted, flicking her lighter.
"Refinent? What's that worth? Or do you prefer the refined type?"
Yan Huan pictured Sakuramiya Vice-President's elegant smile.
"President~"
He nodded, honest.
"Should be... I guess."
Tong Yingying clicked her tongue, exhaling smoke.
"Then you'd better stop falling for proper ladies from now on."
"Tong sis, let's keep business and private life separate. A boss can't interfere with her employee's personal life. Besides, why? Just because you're not the ladylike type?"
"You think I'm that petty? Kid, it's because proper ladies are the best at deceiving people and stabbing you in the back, understand?"
She waved her hand with a "what would a brat like you know" expression.
"Alright, alright, go get so rest. You've got school tomorrow, don't you?"
He assud Tong sis was just being a sore loser, badmouthing other girls with ladylike personalities.
But while changing clothes, Yan Huan thought it over carefully and realized she might have a point.
Take Ye Shiyu for example - if you ignore her excessive possessiveness, she definitely has the air of a proper young lady.
Though that seems impossible to ignore.
It had that "ignoring reality" kind of beauty to it. After changing, Yan Huan shook his head, deciding to focus on "helping the tavern recover business" for now.
Since it was Sunday night, he had sothing important to do.
At midnight tonight, the Modifier rewards would refresh!
"Yan Huan, did you forget? As the Modifier's level increases, you'll need more and more Modifier fragnts to upgrade, ow."
Just before twelve, in his rented flat, ow-chan sat primly before Yan Huan on the bed, its tail curling around its tiny paws.
"So the fragnts Ye Shiyu dropped aren't enough to level up?"
"That's right, ow. You're still at least one fragnt short of an upgrade."
Yan Huan was slightly taken aback, but thinking carefully, the original plan had been to reach step three before fragnts dropped.
He just hadn't expected Auntie Ye to be so terrifying - three moves and she'd beaten the hypnosis domain expert senseless, dropping a fragnt.
There would be more chances.
Besides, he couldn't keep fleecing Ye Shiyu forever, right?
He'd gotten three fragnts total - two from Ye Shiyu, and one from a Modifier he couldn't even identify.
As punishnt for the night raid, Ye Shiyu had shouldered everything.
"Fine, no upgrade then. Let see this week's rewards."
"ow~"
With an adorable ow, as ti ticked into Monday, ethereal golden mist drifted from ow-chan's mouth.
[Modifier Level: 3]
[Reward Tier: 1]
[Evolution Path: Light-Dark Contract]
Yan Huan watched nervously as three golden orbs of different sizes erged from ow-chan.
From left to right, they increased in size. The smallest had a pure white halo, while the largest was shrouded in ominous darkness - symbols of permanent blessing and curse.
[Blessing: Muscle-Enhancing Body Wash. Once daily, your body wash will slightly amplify your workout results.]
[Reward Tier: 1]
[Description: What? You got it on your traps?!]
[Bonus: Imdiately gain three attribute fragnts and two attribute points.]
Yan Huan blinked and asked the adorable ow-chan before him, "ow-chan, what's the difference between attribute points and attribute fragnts?"
ow-chan nodded. "Attribute points are like super-sized fragnts, ow. Fragnts give tiny boosts you can't notice without paying close attention. But points give imdiate, noticeable increases to specific attributes."
Sitting on his bed, Yan Huan rubbed his chin. "So that's how it works. Speaking of which, what attributes are there exactly? We know there's stamina, strength, intelligence, charm... and reproduction?"
"There are tons of attributes, but they're broadly divided into 'internal' and 'external' aspects. The specific enhancents depend on the literal aning. I don't even know how many types there are, ow~"
Yan Huan gave the sincere ow-chan a skeptical glance, but let it go and continued examining the remaining rewards.
[Ability: Bloodthirsty Berserker. After drinking any creature's blood, you'll lose all rationality while increasing physical stats by 300% for one hour. During this state, you can extend the duration by drinking more blood, up to 1.5 hours maximum.]
[Reward Tier: 3]
[Description: FOR THE GREAT BLOOD EMPIRE!!]
This was the second reward. Yan Huan's expression was already cracking.
But this wasn't even the most absurd - the next one was truly heavyweight.
[Form: Ascetic.]
[Reward Tier: 5]
[Gain these two effects at the cost of 75% reduced enthusiasm for everything.]
[Effect 1 - Rootless: Your brain-related attributes like intelligence and willpower gain 150% bonus enhancent.]
[Effect 2 - Iron Body: Your physical attributes like stamina and strength gain 150% bonus enhancent.]
[Description: No worldly desires.jpg]
[Curse: Complete loss of libido and reproductive ability.]
When he reached the last line, Yan Huan's face darkened completely.
Especially with the golden warning text below:
[Warning: You can only have one Form. Choosing a new Form will remove your previous Form's effects.]
[When you do this, its accompanying curse will also disappear.]
[Your current Form: Naturalist.]
After reading every word of the final orb, both Yan Huan and ow-chan looked up.
After a second of silence, ow-chan clearly anticipated what was coming.
"ow!"
It tried to flee in panic but was too slow. The evil human with the dark expression grabbed it, about to render it down imdiately.
"ow-chan! Explain these trash rewards you gave ! These useless boosts won't help at all!"
"I've told you many tis, ow! It's random! Random! RANDOM!!"
Yan Huan's ruthless hands kneaded ow-chan's chubby face into various shapes, but then rembered it had saved him multiple tis this week.
Fine, one reprieve.
He released the pitiful ow-chan and turned to face the harsh reality.
The second reward, "Bloodthirsty Berserker."
Might be useful if transported to so dangerous Western fantasy world.
But in Linn...
He'd barely eaten blood tofu growing up, let alone drunk raw blood.
Eliminated.
The third reward, "Ascetic."
Just reading the description made Yan Huan crack.
In his brain's command center, Short-Brain Yan Huan nervously faced the "tribunal" of several Mini Yan Huans, sweat dripping down his cheeks.
"You... you wouldn't really make a eunuch, would you?! Please... at least wait until after I'm no longer a virgin..."
Under the spotlight, Short-Brain couldn't see their faces clearly, only watching Mini-Wisdom adjust his glasses and say coldly:
"What are you thinking? While you are sowhat troubleso, especially in the mornings..."
Mini-Emotion smiled gently: "But you'll always be part of us."
Mini-mory yawned with heavy dark circles: "Indeed, indeed."
Short-Brain opened his mouth, touched by the Mini Yan Huans above: "Everyone..."
Mini-Wisdom frowned at the options and finally decided: "No choice but the first option! At least it gives fragnts and attribute points."
There really was no other choice. Here goes!
[Hum~]
[Congratulations on receiving the following rewards]
[Attribute Fragnts: Stamina Fragnt ×1, Strength Fragnt ×2]
[Attribute Points: Reproduction Attribute Points ×2]
[Your reproduction attribute has been greatly enhanced!]
Yan Huan stared blankly at the golden text floating before him.
In his brain's command center, all the Mini Yan Huans stared in shock at the rewards, panic spreading.
"This is terrible! This week's rewards are garbage!"
"Yeah, without powerful Modifier rewards, how can we compete against other Modifier hosts?!"
Inside Yan Huan's brain's control room, while everything was in chaos, a growing shadow slowly spread over their tiny figures. Everyone looked up in shock to see Short-Brain Yan Huan getting bigger and bigger, grinning maliciously at all the Short-Brain Yan Huans.
"Simple—I'll just take the C myself, won't I?"
"Eek!"
"Short-Brain got stronger!!"
"No way!"
In reality, Yan Huan's face darkened as he glanced at his own body, then turned to look at ow-chan sitting behind him with a guilty expression. Before he could speak, ow-chan started owing frantically, trying to explain.
"Well... how should I put it, ow... these attributes are really useful! You'll definitely need them in the future—no, maybe even today—"
"ow-chan, co here."
"ow! It's not my fault, ow!!"
In the rented flat, a boy and a cat chased each other around.
And so, another noisy week ca to an end.
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