Sunday, the third day of the Club War free battles.
Early morning, the teaching building of Far Moon Academy.
"The little pigs are naturally weak and cannot fly, so they need to use a slingshot to launch themselves to reach the castle where the birds live..."
"Oink, oink!"
Yan Huan held his mobile phone and launched the Golden Bomb Pig from the slingshot, smashing it ruthlessly into the birds' luxurious castle.
A flurry of explosions sent the birds, including the green peafowl and blue peafowl, fleeing in utter panic.
Myau-chan watched him play the ga and could not help but ask,
"You have been playing all night. Did you find any clues?"
Looking at the "Level Cleared" sign on the screen, Yan Huan shook his head and muttered,
"No... but I have a feeling that this ga is very important."
"ow?"
He was not surprised that there was an "Angry Birds" equivalent in this world.
As ntioned before, the Dragon Country in this parallel world had Kuafu, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and the Twenty-Four Histories. The rest of the theories were basically the sa as what he had learned in his past life.
The Newton-Leibniz formula had not changed nas; Adam Smith's works undoubtedly laid the foundation for modern economics; Einstein's mass-energy equivalence equation still governed special relativity.
This was a parallel world. The only stark difference was probably Linn, an artificial mariti city-state he had never heard of before.
Therefore, he was not surprised at all that the five Modifiers had gathered here.
There were two reasons why Yan Huan was truly paying attention to "Angry Little Pigs."
First, Spencer loved playing it and showed an excessive amount of focus on this ga.
Why did she call him a "peafowl" and An Le a "tender pink pig"?
These were all character models from the ga.
Second, Spencer's family had invested an unusual amount of attention into this ga.
The Golden Lion Group did not have any gaming business in its early years, and it still did not have any now.
But the fact remained that they had unprecedentedly acquired a gaming company that was not even located in Ying Country.
Not only did they defy market rules by taking down a ga that should have been a massive hit, but they also deliberately designed this new ga where the roles of the birds and pigs were reversed.
If this was not a personal endeavor, Yan Huan would eat his own shoes.
"Myau-chan, there are two conclusions I am very certain of right now."
"What is it, ow?"
"The criteria for the side effects of Spencer's Modifier are linked to her different 'bird and pig' nicknas for other people."
Yan Huan put his mobile phone away and held up one finger, followed by a second,
"Secondly, her mother has cared deeply for her since she was a child. Acquiring the gaming company and producing this ga must have been her mother's doing."
He stood up, glanced at the ti, and headed in a certain direction.
The four-legged beast, Myau-chan, trotted obediently behind him. He looked up at Yan Huan and asked,
"If her mother cares about her that much, did she not say she would send soone over last ti when Spencer was hit by the Modifier? In the end, you two were making out fiercely in the infirmary, and no one seed to care, ow."
'What kind of nonsense description is that?'
Yan Huan's mouth twitched stiffly, but he suddenly felt that the lips she had kissed had beco slightly sensitive, as if he were still savoring the aftertaste.
The First Law of Kissing: Even an idiot's lips are warm and soft.
"...So, Myau-chan, I am thinking... is it possible that the people from the Golden Lion Group had already co last ti?"
"Already co?"
Myau-chan tilted his head, but Yan Huan had already arrived at the door of the infirmary.
It was still early, so the faculty and staff probably had not arrived yet.
Because the Student Council needed to access dicines for ergency treatnts, Yan Huan had a spare key to the infirmary.
He unlocked the infirmary door. It was empty inside, with only Yelena's rather cluttered desk facing him.
After scanning his surroundings, Yan Huan walked over to Yelena's desk and inspected the items on top.
Aside from the doujinshi that Yelena had not finished reading, he found nothing.
"...Ms. Yelena has as terrible a personality as always."
Thus, he raised an eyebrow and looked at the parent contact book placed in the glass display cabinet.
He reached out to take it, but suddenly noticed a stack of clipped docunts next to the contact book.
On one side of the docunts, he faintly caught sight of half of Spencer's ID photo.
In the ID photo, Spencer was wearing a hoodie with an innocent, naive smile on her face.
Her entire face radiated a purity completely uncontaminated by knowledge.
"..."
He blinked and reached out to pull the file.
Flipping through it, Yan Huan discovered that it was entirely composed of various physical examination reports and daily life logs covering Spencer's ti since arriving in Linn.
"Congenital neurodegenerative symptoms are now unapparent; the treatnt plan has shown significant results..."
There was also Spencer's household registration information. The section for her father was blank, while the mother's section read "Elvira Spencer."
As Yan Huan continued reading, he suddenly caught sight of sothing and muttered,
"What is this? AI backend managent files? Why would Yelena have this..."
Yan Huan pinched the paper, a look of confusion on his face.
But at that exact mont, he caught sight of the doujinshi resting on the desk from the corner of his eye.
"..."
He suddenly recalled when Spencer had asked the AI to buy doujinshi for her.
He had wondered back then what kind of AI could actually purchase adult comics online for soone, and how it even bypassed the age verification...
Now he finally understood—behind every illogical phenonon, there was a sneaky adult pulling the strings!
His train of thought instantly opened up. Just as Yan Huan was about to continue flipping through the pages, Myau-chan, who was perched on his shoulder, suddenly spoke up.
"Yan Huan, soone is coming outside, ow."
Yan Huan paused slightly, but he did not make any sudden movents, simply turning his head to look at the door.
"Hum-hum-hum~"
At the doorway, Yelena, dressed in her white lab coat, yawned as she walked into the office, casually tossing a Golden Lion Group badge in her hand.
As soon as she entered, she locked eyes with Yan Huan, who was holding a stack of docunts.
They both blinked. In the very next second, Yan Huan and Yelena simultaneously thrust a dramatic, accusatory finger at each other.
"Ms. Yelena, I never expected soone as seemingly upstanding as you to actually..."
"Do not say it out loud!!"
"..."
Far Moon Academy, comrcial street, inside a milk tea shop.
Yan Huan sat down with two cups of milk tea, handing one to Yelena, who sat across from him. He took the opportunity to ask,
"So, Ms. Yelena, you are the person Spencer's mother arranged to look after her in Linn?"
Hearing this, Yelena, who was stirring her milk tea, glanced at Yan Huan and simply said,
"Who else could it be but an unlucky fool like ? Instead of building a glorious career in my actual profession, I am stuck in this broken school acting as a health nurse, playing pretend as an AI every day to coax a child. Do you think I want to do this?"
"..."
Yan Huan looked at Yelena. After a mont of silence, he asked,
"Ms. Yelena, I actually have a few questions about Spencer that I want to ask you."
Yelena took a sip of her hot milk tea and gave Yan Huan a aningful smile.
"...Color
surprised. You are actually paying attention to that little idiot? Is it just because she is pretty? Or is it because you have never dated an Anglo-Saxon before and find it novel? What do you think of Slavs, by the way?"
Yan Huan's face darkened. He pointed a finger at himself.
"Are you crazy, or am I crazy?"
"Who knows..."
At this point, Yelena's expression gradually grew dangerous. She said,
"If her old lady finds out about you kissing her, heh, let
tell you, we are both completely dood."
"She was the one who forcefully kissed , okay?!"
Yan Huan was truly innocent. He would rather die than plead guilty to this charge.
At the sa ti, he belatedly realized sothing and imdiately interrogated her,
"Also, Ms. Yelena, how did you know she kissed ? Were you the one who told Spencer that people from the Dragon Country have to commit for life after a kiss?!"
"What else was I supposed to do?! Her mind is simple, and she absolutely cannot understand complex explanations! If I did not overcorrect the issue, and she went around casually kissing people for fun in the future, I would be a dead woman!"
"...Is her mother really that terrifying?"
At the re ntion of Spencer's mother, Yelena's face stiffened.
She curled her lip and said cautiously,
"You cannot even begin to imagine how terrifying her mother is! She is more frightening than a lion!! As for Aria? She is nothing more than a clingy little kitten in comparison."
"..."
Yan Huan opened his mouth, montarily at a loss for words as he watched Yelena's defense completely break down before his eyes.
She took a long sip of her milk tea, glanced at Yan Huan, sighed, and said,
"Forget it. It is rare to find a normal person she does not reject. Maybe you can actually help out and make my life a little easier... Ask away. What do you want to know?
"But let
warn you in advance. I was rely the private doctor for Aria's mother in the past. I do not know much about Aria's personal matters, and I do not even know why she sent Aria to Linn all alone."
Hearing this, Yan Huan pondered for a mont before asking,
"Ms. Yelena, regarding the conclusion on that physical examination report..."
"...That is true, and my ntor was the one responsible for formulating her treatnt plan."
Yelena looked at Yan Huan and offered a faint smile.
"When Aria was born, she suffered from a very rare congenital chronic neurodegenerative disease. Its primary clinical manifestation was intellectual regression..."
'This...'
'Is that not just a polite way of saying she was ntally disabled?!'
"Hahahahaha!"
Seeing the absolute shock plastered across Yan Huan's face, Yelena laughed until her stomach hurt.
She waved her hand, wiping away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, and explained,
"What are you thinking? Do not forget, her mother is the wealthiest of the wealthy—the kind of rich you cannot even fathom. She poured astronomical amounts of money into fixing this.
"She underwent several years of comprehensive treatnt when she was a child, and she was cured a long ti ago. She may not be a brilliant genius, but she at least ets the passing grade. Taking care of herself in daily life is absolutely no problem."
Hearing this, the distorted, abstract expression on Yan Huan's face finally eased slightly.
But thinking of this, the confusion on his face remained unresolved. In fact, it grew even deeper.
"But, Ms. Yelena, that still does not explain why she is in her current state. Moreover, why do you have to pretend to be an AI to take care of her daily life?"
"I do not know much about the forr, but I can definitely explain the latter..."
Yelena handed a "Golden Bomb Pig" cookie to Yan Huan. It was the exact sa kind he had received from Spencer yesterday.
"Although that child is an idiot, she possesses a talent that even her mother feels inferior to: she has an extraordinary sensitivity to emotions, making her extrely picky about people. Because of this, she rejects almost everyone other than her mother."
"By sensitivity, do you an... detecting whether other people are being hypocritical?"
"Probably."
"Probably?"
Yelena had almost finished her milk tea. Only then did she stroke her chin and speculate,
"Your childhood sweetheart—the one nad An Le who gets along quite well with Aria—you should know her very well. Tell , is she really a completely sincere person who never lies?"
"..."
"Not necessarily, right? There has never been a person in this world who does not lie."
Yelena smiled faintly and continued,
"So if that is the case, then Aria also has a bit of a double standard.
"She is incredibly picky toward certain people, like you and ; but toward soone like your childhood sweetheart, she is extrely tolerant."
Yan Huan stroked his chin and muttered,
"Double standard..."
"Oh right, I have one last piece of intel I can share with you."
Yan Huan raised his eyes and looked at Yelena.
"What is it?"
Yelena rested her chin on her hand and smiled at him.
"When I was processing her enrollnt at Far Moon Academy, I could not find any past academic records for her in Ying Country." "...She has never been to school before?"
"Who knows?"
Yan Huan took a deep breath. Suddenly thinking of sothing else, he asked Yelena,
"Ms. Yelena, could the neurodegenerative disease you ntioned have left any lingering side effects like cognitive impairnt? For example, seeing people as pigs, birds, or sothing similar?"
Yelena blinked at his words and replied honestly,
"My duty is to ensure that Aria's body remains one hundred percent healthy. As for psychological issues, those are completely outside my scope of responsibility."
"..."
"What is up with the Doujinshi Club today? They are cooperating really well..."
"Who is that girl constantly dictating tactics? She is pretty cute..."
"The President's childhood sweetheart, I think... Her na is An Le."
"Who are the rest of them?"
"The one with acne is a second-year senior from the forr Astronomy Club. That chubby guy and the other gloomy creep who harassed soone's girlfriend are first-years..."
"Are we really going to let this bunch of stinky fish and rotten shrimp squeeze into the second round?"
Up in the stands, everyone was whispering amongst themselves as they watched the five mbers of the Doujinshi Club below.
It had to be said that the issue Yan Huan pinpointed yesterday was critical.
Today, with An Le acting as an external brain to dictate tactics and allocate stamina resources, combined with Spencer's peerless strength and the deep participation of the other mbers, they had basically been winning all morning.
Spencer took a sip of water, looked at the whispering students on the edge of the stands, and laughed out loud with her hands on her hips.
"Hahaha, I won even without plundering your things, awooo!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the people above flushed red with frustration, and they muttered to themselves,
"The Doujinshi Club's division of labor is too clear today. There must be so sorcerer guiding them from behind the scenes!"
"Damn it! Can we still not beat them even if we all gang up on them?!"
Right at that mont, up in the stands, Ye Shiyu was pulled into the viewing area by her excited classmate Yumiko, who said to her,
"Let's find a close seat and watch how my baby teaches that annoying Spencer a lesson."
"..."
Ye Shiyu did not say a word. However, as she glanced around at the indignant crowd of students who all seed filled with absolute disgust for Spencer, a sliver of doubt crept into her mind.
She hated Spencer because of what happened between her and Xiao Huan. But why did all these other people hate her?
And why did Yumiko, who was usually kind to everyone, hate her so much?
"Yumiko... do you hate Spencer that much?"
"Huh? A-a little bit, I guess."
"Why?"
Yumiko was taken aback, completely unexpected that Ye Shiyu would ask sothing so straightforward.
But being put on the spot, her mind suddenly went a little blank. To her surprise, she could not actually pinpoint a specific reason.
She could only stamr out a few vague feelings intermittently,
"Um... I just feel like she is a bit arrogant and domineering? And, well, I heard that she has done a lot of bad things..."
"...I see."
Ye Shiyu pondered for a mont and did not press the issue further, turning her gaze back down to the competition field.
Ye Shiyu had previously completed her task, dealing a heavy blow to Spencer, and had claid quite a few rewards and new abilities.
She anticipated that if she used her new abilities on Xiao Huan, there might be a lot more ways to play around. However, because of what her mother had said, her conscience was plagued with guilt, and she could not bring herself to use them on him.
So for now, the contents of her new rewards were put on hold.
She simply followed the direction of Yumiko's pointing finger and watched as Owen, clad in his track and field uniform, stepped onto the field with a sunny smile on his face.
"Buzz~"
In that instant, her mobile phone screen lit up for a brief second.
She picked up her phone to glance at it and discovered that the App had actually issued a new task.
[Task Subject: Owen]
Ye Shiyu took one look, noticed there were no words related to Xiao Huan, and boringly prepared to delete it.
But the very next second, the phone screen frantically flashed with television static.
It was just like a platform terrified of losing a user, desperately popping up enticing, spicy advertisents to retain them.
And so, in an instant, the new task displayed above changed to:
[Task Subject: Yan Huan.]
[Task Reward: Yan Huan's Broken Expression CG and various other rewards]
"..."
'Tuner APP, is this what you use to test a person's willpower?'
'Who could possibly withstand a test like this?!'
Looking at the text above, Ye Shiyu still did not show much expression, but a faint blush of pink crept onto her fair cheeks once again.
Clearly, it had landed a precise hit right in her strike zone.
Imdiately afterward, she glanced around with a guilty conscience, acting as if she were terrified of soone else discovering her secret.
She lowered her phone and stealthily tapped the task with her index finger.
"..."
"Doujinshi Club, I want to challenge you."
Spencer was just about to leave the field when Owen's hearty voice drifted over from nearby.
"Awoo?"
The crowd from the Doujinshi Club all glanced over. The eyes of Little Pinky, resting on An Le's shoulder, narrowed slightly. It flicked its forked tongue and muttered,
"That is soone with a bit of fate too... Although it is much less compared to Yan Huan, but..."
Little Pinky glanced at An Le and pretended to ask casually in a low whisper,
"Who is this boy?"
"Huh? He is the Captain of our school's Track and Field Club. His na is Owen, and his girlfriend seems to be a second-year senior."
"..."
The mont it heard that this person had a girlfriend, Little Pinky's wicked little thoughts completely fizzled out.
Because it knew full well that with An Le's personality, let alone whether she would even use the Modifier,
Even if she did, she would absolutely never make a move on a taken man.
The road ahead is long and arduous indeed...
Owen walked right up to Spencer, offered a slight smile, and said,
"I am not very good at anything else, but my running is decent. I know you have a shortcoming when it cos to stamina, so how about we compete in a 100-ter dash?
"If I win, the Doujinshi Club loses one point to the Track and Field Club; if I lose, the Track and Field Club loses ten points to the Doujinshi Club."
Spencer paused for a mont as her IQ claid the high ground. She asked suspiciously,
"Wait, aren't we supposed to draw lots? Have you guys been cheating this whole ti, awoo?"
"..."
Hearing this, Owen's face darkened slightly, and his smile beca rather forced.
"We will just compete directly, and after the result is decided, we will draw lots. Whichever side loses the race will intentionally throw the actual event to give up the points."
"You can play like that, awoo?"
"...Yes."
Owen crossed his arms. Looking at the infuriating Spencer in front of him, he offered a chilly smile and asked,
"So, are we racing or not?"
Spencer sized up the 100-ter distance with her eyes, knowing her own physical stamina perfectly well.
Even if she sprinted this 100 ters at full throttle, her stamina would be more than enough!
"Then let's race, awoo!"
Thinking this, she smiled confidently and fired back her answer.
"Great, I will go find a student from the Student Council to act as the referee!"
Owen rolled his shoulders and chuckled mischievously.
Having gathered quite a bit of intelligence, Yan Huan stepped onto the athletics field, holding his phone as he played "Angry Little Pigs."
As he cleared level after level, a thoughtful expression erged on his face.
"Bang!!"
The very next second, the crack of a starting gun drew his attention.
He looked up just in ti to see Spencer shooting off the starting line like a bolt of lightning.
'Such a fast yellow flash!'
'Are you trying to outrun a splash of boiling hot pepper soup?'
Yan Huan blinked, just about to ask who on earth was bold enough to challenge the absurdly powerful Spencer to a sprint.
But in the next second, he watched helplessly as Owen, starting later but moving faster, pushed his legs to a frantic sprint and caught right up behind Spencer.
Amidst her light panting and the rushing wind, Spencer suddenly heard a familiar phrase from her holand whispered right by her ear,
"On your left!"
Her sky-blue eyes contracted slightly, and she turned her head to the left.
However, even the act of turning her head seed too slow. By the ti she heard the voice and looked over, all she could see was Owen's back as he pulled ahead in the left lane.
"??"
Spencer's eyes narrowed. Even though her body was not slow by any ans, she crossed the finish line a full second behind Owen.
"Beep!"
"Spencer, 11.02!"
"Captain Owen!! Captain Owen!!"
"Aweso, so aweso!"
Exclamations of awe erupted from the surrounding stands, while a panting Spencer slowed to a walk just past the finish line.
Then, she looked up in sheer disbelief at Owen's back in front of her.
She saw him turn his head, raise his index finger at her, chuckle, and say,
"I am not taking any apprentices."
The mont she heard these words, Spencer's panting face turned as red as if she had been suffocated, and thick veins bulged on her forehead.
"Say that to my f—"
"Spencer!! You cannot hit people!"
"Calm down!!"
An Le already knew Spencer's temperant inside out. The second Spencer raised her hand, An Le knew she was about to punch soone.
So she imdiately sprinted over and wrapped her arms tightly around Spencer, terrified that the blonde girl would launch a direct Leo Flying Kick right into Owen's face.
Yan Huan raised an eyebrow, locked his phone screen, and walked over.
"President."
"President Yan..."
"The President is here."
Seeing Yan Huan approach, the others greeted him one after another.
Yan Huan walked to Spencer's side and reached out to pat her shoulder, making the seething, puffy-cheeked girl turn around.
Her sky-blue eyes swept over Yan Huan, who was currently not wearing his Perfect Expression Managent mask. Her face froze slightly, and her fury began to slowly recede, ultimately allowing An Le to hold her back with ease.
"..."
After calming her down, Yan Huan finally raised his eyes and looked at Owen.
He watched as Owen gave a cheeky laugh, looked right back at him, and offered his own greeting:
"Yan Huan."
"..."
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