"Mgh! Let... let go!"
Bai Yi held her breath, her small face flushed red as she tugged at the hand Spencer had wrapped around Yan Huan's. However, no matter how hard she pulled, their hands seed welded together, impossible to pry apart.
After several fruitless attempts, Bai Yi finally chose to give up for the mont, panting as she wiped her lips.
With every breath she took in, the biting cold invaded her body through her mouth. When she exhaled, it carried away even more of her body heat, condensing into a freezing mist in midair.
"So cold..."
Bai Yi muttered, rubbing her arms once again.
But she didn't take it to heart. Although she felt a bit frustrated that Spencer was still holding Yan Huan's hand, overall, she was beyond thrilled by this ultimate weapon possessed by her pocket watch.
This was Ti Stop, after all!
And there were absolutely no limits on its duration or number of uses...
'Doesn't that an I am already invincible?!'
'I can do whatever I want, and teach a lesson to whoever I please!'
'To hell with the Jinshi Group and Ye International, they can all step aside!'
"Hehehe~"
Thinking this, Bai Yi covered her mouth, her face slightly flushed as she let out another smug, triumphant laugh.
A second later, however, she gave a light cough, telling herself inwardly to stay calm and act more like a proper lady.
Still, the corners of her mouth were harder to suppress than the recoil of an AK-47.
'So, what about this Spencer...'
'What exactly is going on with her?'
Just as Bai Yi looked at Spencer with a face full of confusion, Myau-chan appeared like a ghost on Yan Huan's shoulder and let out a ow.
Even though he couldn't move a single muscle, Yan Huan's consciousness remained incredibly clear. Disbelieving, he quickly called out in his mind,
'Myau-chan?! You can still move?'
Standing on Yan Huan's shoulder, it turned its head to look at him and said,
"I can't move, ow. Once I shift into a state where I can affect reality, I'll be frozen by the ti stop as well. But as long as I stay in this hidden state outside the physical plane, I can still move freely.
"Perhaps it's because we consud Spencer's fragnt, we've also gained a certain amount of Resistance.
"I can only chat with you and things like that."
'Doesn't that still make you a useless cat?!'
"Aside from you and Spencer, everyone else seems to be completely frozen in ti, ow. Even their consciousness."
Myau-chan studied Ye Shiyu, who was gripping her phone, her ti frozen in a single instant. Its chubby feline face looked sowhat helpless.
anwhile, Yan Huan was completely speechless.
'Doesn't this basically an that as long as Bai Yi uses this mutually assured destruction move, it's ga over for everyone?'
'What kind of Trisolaran chanic is this?'
'How are we supposed to play against this?!'
'Unable to move, unable to react, forced to let her do whatever she pleases...'
'Even the forr Trisolarans, Ye Shiyu and Spencer, are pinned down by her single-handedly. Am I supposed to rely on myself and this useless furball to be the Wallfacers?'
'This isn't even the most desperate alliance anymore...'
'It's the most hilarious fucking alliance!'
Thinking this, Yan Huan couldn't hold back his urge to complain,
'...I feel like our future is incredibly bleak, Myau-chan. How about we just pivot to the arts? As for resolving the Modifiers, let's just lay low and marinate for a few years, what do you say?'
"ow?!"
Myau-chan pushed at Yan Huan's face with its paw pads and spoke up,
"The level of her Modifier is still very low. How could she possibly keep using sothing like this? This ti is probably just a fluke."
Even though its paw pads were touching his face, Yan Huan couldn't feel a thing. He couldn't even move his eyes to look in Myau-chan's direction.
Therefore, he could only listen as Myau-chan's voice continued, issuing another reminder,
"Besides, Yan Huan, I've told you before: using a Modifier cos with a severe price."
"..."
While Yan Huan was playing Wallfacer inside his mind, over on the other side, Bai Yi had finally begun researching the properties of her newly acquired ability.
'Could it be that because ti is stopped, I can't move anyone either?'
'Then what's the point of this ti stop?'
'Is this a joke?'
'It shouldn't be like this...'
Thinking up to this point, Bai Yi turned her head to look at Ye Shiyu, who was standing there like a statue, and reached out to grab her hand.
Sure enough, she grabbed Ye Shiyu's hand with ease and lifted it.
'I can manipulate things.'
'Then the issue lies with this Spencer.'
"Fine, fine, fine... Even so, you still want to oppose ..."
Seeing Spencer still gripping Yan Huan's hand tightly, the expression on Bai Yi's face gradually turned dangerous.
She stepped closer to Yan Huan, her fingers tracing the outline of his figure...
Then, in the next second, her fingers fluttered over and landed on his buttons.
"Pop~"
With a gentle flick, resembling the snap of a finger, the fastened button ca undone.
Seeing this, Bai Yi's beautiful eyes lit up. With a faint smile, she raised both of her hands...
"..."
Following that, a faint tingling sensation spread across Yan Huan's body. He could only vaguely deduce what she was doing.
He realized that her arms were wrapping around his waist.
A second later, as if she had startled herself, her face flushed red.
"So... so warm... And why do I feel like there's this... really good scent coming from you..."
She hugged Yan Huan even tighter. It seed that because the ti stop environnt was already freezing cold, she grew increasingly dependent on drawing warmth from his body.
"What a solid physique... Do you work out often?
"Hehe, you must be working hard for my sake, the girl you like, right? I've seen all your efforts, you know~"
Bai Yi held Yan Huan close, resting her head against his clothes as she spoke in a muffled voice.
She didn't want to pull her hands out from inside Yan Huan's clothes, but she had forgotten to unbutton his collar earlier.
And so, she cast a mocking glance at Spencer standing nearby.
Then, she parted her lips, caught Yan Huan's collar buttons in her teeth, and undid them one by one.
"Spencer, if you won't let go, then so be it... This is perfect. Let
show you how I touch the places you'll never be able to reach, right in front of your very eyes..."
"..."
Beside her, Spencer's vision was a chaotic ss, and afterimages continuously materialized around her body. It seed she had heard bits of Bai Yi's blurry murmurs, causing her to struggle even more violently.
"Hahaha, it's useless~"
Bai Yi tapped her chin with smug satisfaction. Resting her face against Yan Huan's exposed chest muscles, she curled a finger at Spencer and provoked,
"Can't take it anymore already? Don't rush, there's even more thrilling stuff to co..."
As she entertained these thoughts, Bai Yi glanced at Ye Shiyu and Spencer from the corner of her eye.
"The two of you, do you really think that just because you have money and power, you can casually lay your hands on a guy who likes ? Are you kidding ?!
"And now? How does it feel? Is your money useful? Is your power useful? Aren't you just forced to watch helplessly as I reap all the rewards right in front of you?"
Leaving aside the completely oblivious Ye Shiyu for a mont, even though Spencer's consciousness was extrely muddled as if she were poisoned, the agony of what could only be called 'the ultimate humiliation' still triggered her instinctive resistance.
As a result, her battle against the ti stop effect unleashed by the pocket watch grew increasingly fierce.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
The sounds of space collapsing and reshaping beca even more pronounced. Like Spencer's impotent, helpless roars of anger, it served only to heighten Bai Yi's amusent.
Bai Yi smiled mockingly. Watching Spencer struggle more and more fiercely, she pinched Yan Huan's chin and declared,
"Then for the next act, Yan Huan's first kiss will be claid by . The two of you... oh, especially you, Spencer, watch closely~"
"..."
Bizarrely, as soon as those words left her mouth, the violently struggling Spencer instead gradually quieted down, returning exactly to her original frozen state.
"???"
Bai Yi blinked, montarily dumbfounded.
'Could it be that she got tired from struggling?'
'Hey, keep moving! I'm about to steal Yan Huan's first kiss, you know?!'
'Tsk...'
'Whatever!'
Too lazy to ponder the underlying reasons, Bai Yi simply pouted and turned her head back to Yan Huan, whose shoulders she had wrapped her arms around.
He was much taller than her, so she had to stand on her tiptoes just to barely bring herself closer to him.
Yet at this mont, as she gazed up at his frozen expression facing her head-on, the rest of the impatience, competitiveness, and mockery seed to vanish from Bai Yi's face.
Her starlit eyes shrank slightly, her cheeks turned pink, and she averted her face slightly from Yan Huan.
After a second of silence, she whispered under her breath,
"Honestly... if you like , why didn't you just tell
openly? It's not like I wouldn't have said yes to you..."
"..."
"Or... would it be better if I took the initiative?"
Bai Yi's face blossod with a faint blush as she slowly raised herself on her tiptoes.
The gap between their lips closed inch by inch, right in front of Spencer and Ye Shiyu.
Yan Huan could faintly feel that her grip on his clothes had tightened significantly.
Since he couldn't close his eyes, Yan Huan easily witnessed the sight of her shutting her own eyes, savoring the kiss.
'She truly is beautiful, and she possesses an enviable talent.'
This sudden realization sparked a sense of relieved optimism in Yan Huan's heart.
'At the very least, Bai Yi activated a ti stop just to pull off this trivial little stunt.'
'If I had a ga-breaking ability like ti stop, I would at the very least...'
'Wait, that's not right.'
'Thinking about it, Bai Yi as the Host completely lacks the conditions to commit any cris!'
'When my body is frozen, it won't react at all. So no matter how far she pushes things, it will only ever amount to petty antics like this.'
'Aside from covering
in drool, what else can you even do.jpg'
As he pondered this, that lengthy kiss finally broke off.
Bai Yi's eyes were sowhat glazed, her face tinged with red. Touching her lips, she said with a trembling voice,
"Just... just consider this... a reward for helping
at the ani convention earlier..."
"Tick... tock..."
Just as Yan Huan was secretly feeling relieved, the pocket watch resting against her chest suddenly began to spin once more.
[Host's Desire detected. Would you like to consu one use of 'Indifference' to alter the current target into a more suitable state?]
"A more suitable state?"
Not only was Bai Yi filled with confusion, but even Yan Huan heard the illusory voice emanating from the pocket watch against her body, growing equally puzzled within.
Thus, in the next second, Bai Yi tentatively nodded and replied,
"Yes."
"Click-clack-click-clack~"
After she issued the command, the hour hand violently began to spin.
It was as if Yan Huan's body in that very mont was being adjusted to the state of early morning before waking up—brimming with vitality and completely beyond his control.
When he realized this, Yan Huan's heart was instantly thrown into sheer terror. 'Wait a minute!!'
'If it's the morning, while my Brain Command Center is still in a state of chaos, Little Yan Huan might just usurp the throne and crown himself king of the mountain!!'
"..."
Bai Yi blinked, curiously inspecting the Yan Huan in her embrace from head to toe, and muttered,
"What state? There doesn't seem to be any change. What a waste of my—"
Mid-sentence, she suddenly felt sothing against her lower abdon.
Her eyes abruptly shrank. She looked down in disbelief for a glance, then jerked her head back up as if she had been burned.
In the next second, her entire face flushed crimson.
"No, no, no, no, no... This... this... this is way too..."
Startled, she quickly took a step back. Covering her body, she continued to retreat, picking up the pocket watch and cursing,
"Why is it this kind of state?! Am I really that desperate?! Besides... besides, things like this need to be treated with caution, and... handled a bit more formally...
"Although... although devouring Yan Huan wouldn't put
at a disadvantage, and although this state is undeniably convenient... but if I actually did it, wouldn't Yan Huan instantly just... as soon as this ends..."
As she spoke, it was unknown what thought crossed her mind, but those starlit eyes suddenly shot up, stealing a glance at Yan Huan.
"..."
That gaze was complex, containing far too many implications.
Shyness, panic, curiosity, heart-pounding anticipation, and...
Excitent?!
Then, in the very next second, Bai Yi's throat bobbed slightly, as if she were swallowing a gulp of saliva.
Who knew if she had just concocted so bizarre sche in her head.
Inwardly, Yan Huan nearly passed out.
'Fine, fine, fine. Just to show the difference between yourself and 'Za Warudo', you had to throw in an even more baffling and bizarre developnt, didn't you?!'
"..."
Fortunately, Bai Yi hadn't completely lost her mind. Having already feasted her eyes and hands, she started to realize that her surroundings were growing increasingly colder.
Bai Yi recalled her original objective.
'I need to extract the evidence of Ye Shiyu secretly violating Yan Huan!!'
"That's right! I was so focused on teaching Spencer a lesson that I completely forgot about you, you perverted brocon who goes in heat for your own younger brother!"
Bai Yi coughed lightly. She first walked forward and reluctantly restored Yan Huan's clothes to their original state, not forgetting to take another selfie together as a keepsake midway through.
Witnessing this, Yan Huan almost fainted from sheer exasperation.
'Heh, the two of you are exactly the sa. The pot really shouldn't be calling the kettle black, alright?'
With the clean-up work finally done, it was ti to deal with Ye Shiyu.
Bai Yi's gaze fell upon Ye Shiyu's mobile phone. The mont she reached out to touch it, a bone-chilling coldness surged up her spine.
Although Ye Shiyu couldn't move, the shadows surrounding her seed to open a gaping, bloodthirsty maw, lunging violently to bite at Bai Yi.
"Ah!"
Before Bai Yi could even realize what was happening, she suddenly felt the pocket watch on her tremble violently.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
In the next second, all the color drained from Bai Yi's face as she clutched her palpitating chest.
Her grip went slightly limp, and Ye Shiyu's phone clattered to the ground.
Seeing this, Bai Yi looked down at her pocket watch in utter confusion and murmured,
"What happened all of a sudden...? Don't tell
this is the consumption the pocket watch ntioned about lasting too long?"
Bai Yi harbored such suspicions, but only Yan Huan and Myau-chan had seen it clearly.
It was Ye Shiyu's Modifier that had taken a vicious bite out of Bai Yi...
Moreover, it actually bit off a fragnt just like that?!
"Click-clack-click-clack~"
A fragnt radiating a dense green glow fell to the floor alongside Ye Shiyu's phone, and it was even larger than the one Spencer had dropped previously.
No...
Perhaps they were exactly the sa size.
It was just that the reason Spencer's fragnt had been so small earlier was likely because Ye Shiyu's Modifier had devoured a piece of it.
Because at this very mont, with his enhanced perception, Yan Huan watched helplessly as the shadow lingering within the phone on the ground opened its abyssal maw and steadily encroached upon the fragnt.
But before it could devour it, the phone was snatched back up by Bai Yi.
"It... it didn't eat it, ow!!"
Myau-chan's voice grew excited as it hurriedly told Yan Huan,
"This way, once the ti stop ends, the two of us can pick it up!"
'...Why does that make the two of us sound like beggars, Myau-chan!'
"ow~"
Bai Yi remained oblivious to the fact that her Modifier had invisibly suffered a critical hit from Ye Shiyu's phone. She only felt that it was getting even colder.
Yet, she paid it no mind. She simply used Ye Shiyu's face to unlock the phone and then opened the photo gallery.
Inside, packed densely together, were thousands of photos of dolls.
"What the hell? The things you like are way too perverted, Ye Shiyu."
Bai Yi couldn't even be bothered to roast her properly. She rely scrolled through the albums until, at long last, she spotted a standalone folder in the corner containing a single photograph.
Inside was none other than the photo of a disheveled Yan Huan sleeping.
"..."
Bai Yi gulped, then tapped on the picture to open it.
After studying it for a mont, she couldn't help but click her tongue and say,
"...Unexpectedly, it's actually quite a well-taken shot..."
"..."
'Right.'
Looking at the picture, Bai Yi used Bluetooth to transfer the photo to her own mobile phone.
Afterward, while checking her newly acquired 'evidence', she sneered at the motionless Ye Shiyu.
"Evidence obtained. Ye Shiyu, hmph, you're in for a world of hurt later."
"..."
'Although it feels a bit strange for , the victim, to be the one pointing this out...'
'But just this one photo alone doesn't seem like enough to nail Ye Shiyu to the wall, right?'
'After all, she has countless excuses to brush it off and argue her way out.'
'She could say it's Photoshopped, or claim that she never even had it on her phone...'
'Ah, I have an idea!'
'Send this photo to Aunt Ye!'
'After all, only she and Ye Shiyu are in the loop about what Ye Shiyu actually did.'
'As long as she sees this photo, she'll know that Ye Shiyu still hasn't given up on her wicked intentions.'
'When that happens, Heavenly Emperor Ye will be able to flex her almighty power again, and that's what'll really make Ye Shiyu pay.'
"..."
Even as he thought this, Bai Yi had already placed the phone back into Ye Shiyu's hand.
Looking at Ye Shiyu's face, she felt increasingly irritated and spat,
"And you dared to say my singing was bad, ptui!"
Bai Yi shot her a furious glare, looking as though she wanted to teach her another harsh lesson.
However, as she raised her hand, she finally realized that her fingers had grown so cold they were losing sensation.
Bizarrely, she didn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest.
"..."
Her intuition told her it would be best to end the ti stop imdiately, otherwise, there would be other consequences...
With that in mind, she pulled out her pocket watch and sprinted toward the door,
"I need to get outside first, I can't leave any openings."
anwhile, once she dashed out of the glasshouse, she brought out the pocket watch again and looked down at the ceaselessly ticking hour hand.
'As long as I can halt this hour hand, the ti stop should end, right?'
As she sprinted further and further away from the greenhouse, she finally placed her fingers atop the hour hand, attempting to stop its rotation.
"Click-clack-click-clack~"
A surge of intense agony instantly pierced her previously frozen, numb fingers. She gasped in shock, yet she forcefully pushed through the pain and jerked the hour hand to a sudden halt.
"Bzzzt!!"
A sharp hum violently shrieked from the horizon. Even though they were still within the ti stop, a piercing crack echoed right beside Yan Huan's ears.
The shattering sound of a thousand feet of solid ice reverberated as the transparent ripples—which had previously expanded outward like a nuclear blast—began to contract back toward Bai Yi, the epicenter.
"Oh no, the Fragnt, ow!!"
However, those transparent ripples unexpectedly exerted a physical force upon the Fragnt.
The mont the ti stop ended, the Fragnt that Bai Yi had dropped earlier was swept away entirely, phasing straight through the transparent glasshouse and drifting toward a specific direction in the sky.
Myau-chan imdiately flew up into the sky, attempting to snatch it back, but it only managed to fly exactly fifteen ters away from Yan Huan before it could no longer advance a single inch.
The Fragnt drifted unsteadily through the air, but it didn't float too far, instead descending toward the Far Moon Teaching Building.
Over there, Little Finger, who was resting on An Le's shoulder just as she was about to head into the Teaching Building, suddenly sensed sothing and looked up in that direction.
Its serpentine eyes shrank slightly. Then, the entire snake darted out, slithering rapidly toward the spot where the Fragnt was falling.
"Co here, An Le!"
"Ah? Little... Little Finger, where are you going? Wait for ..."
An Le had no idea where Little Finger was headed, so she had no choice but to chase after it, ensuring the distance between them remained within fifteen ters at all tis.
anwhile, on a narrow path in the forest park.
"Urgh!"
Having ended the ti stop, Bai Yi collapsed to her knees, her face deathly pale. She was overco by uncontrollable nausea, nearly throwing up her breakfast.
"Urgh..."
Her hair and limbs slowly shifted from semi-transparent back to solid matter, yet a single lock of hair at the tips remained permanently transparent.
"Urk!!"
It wasn't until she painfully retched so hard she nearly brought up bile that the very end of that lock of hair slowly reverted to reality.
"Tick... tock..."
Following that, the illusory, rhythmic ticking of the clock echoed out once again.
Reviews
All reviews (0)