Restricted Fantasy I Chapter 182: Overlap

"..."

Opening his eyes, when Yan Huan saw Ye Lan's familiar face right in front of him, he thought he was dreaming or seeing things in a daze.

After all, Ye Lan's slightly furrowed brows exuded a profound sense of oppression, rivaling even Ye Shiyu's. It felt as if a basin of cold water had been dumped over him to dampen his spirits, jolting him completely awake in an instant.

The person he was looking at was no hallucination—she was real!

Especially when he saw the early morning light spilling across the windowsill behind Ye Lan, Yan Huan realized that far more ti had passed than the ten or twenty minutes he had intended to sleep.

It seed he could never again trust his body when it told him he was 'just going to close his eyes for a mont'.

The last ti he slept beside Spencer, he ended up waking up late. This ti, he slept so deeply that Aunt Ye had literally marched right up to his bed.

"Aunt... Aunt Ye..."

Since he had only just regained consciousness, Yan Huan's entire body still lingered on the edge of a tingling sensation. It was only when he subconsciously tried to sit up that he realized sothing was draped over him.

"Mnn..."

A similarly groggy, muffled groan reached his ears, making Yan Huan freeze slightly.

Looking down, he discovered that Ye Shiyu, who had originally gone to sleep a fair distance away from him last night, had sohow nestled right beside him.

Not only was one of her legs draped over his waist like a clinging octopus, but her arm was also wrapped entirely around his neck, resting intimately on his shoulder.

"..."

Only then did Yan Huan suddenly realize that Ye Lan's furrowed, scrutinizing gaze wasn't fixed on him, but rather on Ye Shiyu.

"Ye Shiyu, get up."

The next second, Ye Lan's quiet, eerie voice broke the silence. The warm temperature of the hotel room, heated by the humming air conditioner, seed to drop several degrees.

Yan Huan blinked. Behind him, the previously dazed Ye Shiyu jolted and snapped fully awake in an instant.

"M-Mama?"

Watching Ye Shiyu sit up straight while clutching her head, looking perfectly innocent as if trying to recall what happened, Ye Lan felt her anger surge.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at Ye Shiyu, asking flatly,

"Did you sleep comfortably last night?"

"I..."

The mont Ye Lan's terrifying tone slipped out, Yan Huan instantly felt Ye Shiyu's body tremble behind him.

"Do you have any idea that I spent all of last night looking for you? You told

you were going to a class gathering. It was pouring rain in the middle of the night, and I was completely unable to contact you. I thought sothing terrible had happened to you!"

"I called the police. I contacted every single one of your classmates, one by one. And the result? Every one of them told

that absolutely no one had made plans with you yesterday. So this was your little sche all along..."

Ye Lan stared at Ye Shiyu, her anger boiling over to the point where she actually let out a dark, furious laugh.

"I have been incredibly busy lately, yet I still spent half the night searching for you. And the result? You never change!

"Last ti Xiao Huan ca to the house, you dared to sneak into his room. Now you're even more audacious—daring to bring him to a love hotel and check into a hotel room!

"Ye Shiyu, it seems you are truly tired of living! Get out of that bed right now. I am taking you back to pack your things, and you are getting the hell back to our ho country this afternoon!!"

Hearing this, Yan Huan finally realized what was happening.

Thinking about it carefully, it really wasn't surprising at all that Ye Lan had jumped to this conclusion.

Mainly because the perfect circumstances—timing, location, and the people involved—were all fully in play.

The timing: it rained heavily last night, and Ye Shiyu's Modifier had severed all mobile phone signals and disabled the electronic devices along the way, making it impossible for anyone to contact them.

The location: they were currently lying in a love hotel, sharing a bed. It was hard not to let one's imagination run wild.

And the most critical factor, the human elent, had unwittingly been maxed out by Ye Shiyu herself.

First of all, in Ye Lan's eyes, Ye Shiyu was a heavyweight contender who had a record of past offenses and was completely incorrigible.

Secondly, Ye Shiyu had indeed lied to Ye Lan yesterday about the class gathering.

Although she genuinely hadn't planned to seek out Yan Huan and was actually heading off to solo An Le, how could Ye Lan possibly know anything about the Modifiers?

All these factors combined into a situation where both the process and the result looked entirely damning.

Actually, if one looked closely, there were a few clues. For example, their clothes were mostly intact, which didn't exactly scream that a fierce battle had taken place.

Back at the Ye family ho, even with Ye Lan resting right upstairs, Ye Shiyu had dared to use drugs to try and steal a bite. Why would she suddenly hold back in such a perfect spot outside?

That was the unreasonable part of the whole scenario.

However, considering that Ye Lan had searched for Ye Shiyu all night and worked herself to the bone, only to finally find her lying beside the sworn younger brother she had repeatedly tried to infringe upon after lying to her mother...

The fact that she could still maintain her rationality earned a solid thumbs up.

"..."

Ye Shiyu naturally had things she wanted to say. Although her mory after the rain started was a bit dazed and blurry, she rembered her miserable defeat at An Le's hands perfectly clearly.

She could easily explain away things she hadn't done, especially since she wasn't so idiot who didn't know how to lie.

But why couldn't she force a single word of explanation out of her mouth right now?

Because her mother had just exposed the secret of her sneaking into Xiao Huan's room for a night raid the last ti he visited their house!

The mont she heard Ye Lan say that, Ye Shiyu's face turned completely pale, and her mind instantly went blank.

Because in her mind, Yan Huan still didn't know about that incident.

Hearing the revelation, she hurriedly looked toward Yan Huan, only to see him turning his head to look right back at her.

"!!"

Greatly alard, her pale face quickly turned away, dodging Yan Huan's gaze. She felt deeply ashad, wishing the ground would swallow her up.

'It's over...'

'Xiao Huan knows I sneaked into his room before...'

'My older sister persona in his eyes is going to...'

"Ugh..."

The sheer sha and deeply ashad feeling of being exposed left Ye Shiyu's brain completely blank. So much so that Ye Lan's threat to send her back to their ho country didn't even seem that terrifying anymore.

She bit her lip, eting her mother's angry glare, before finally unable to bear it any longer, she lowered her head.

Even now, Yan Huan's gaze was still fixed on her.

She didn't dare look back. She could only imagine that Xiao Huan's gaze must be extrely disappointed right now.

She subconsciously reached out a hand, seeming to want to pull closer to Yan Huan as a way to salvage the situation, as a silent plea for an explanation.

But even if she touched him and drew his attention, she still wouldn't be able to utter a single word, would she?

"..."

But in reality, Yan Huan already knew about all of this.

Where there had never been any expectations, how could there be any disappointnt?

'Sister Shiyu, your image collapsed completely a long ti ago...'

But officially, he wasn't supposed to know about this incident yet. Figuring out how to react left him quite hesitant.

Should he put on his mask and pretend everything was the sa as before?

But he feared giving her the wrong signal, making her think he didn't care about it, which might encourage her to use the Modifier even more aggressively later.

Should he put on his mask and act shocked, disgusted, and distant?

He was afraid that provoking her when she was at the end of her rope and completely flustered would make her lose her moral bottom line entirely and act recklessly.

Previously, every ti he faced a host of a Modifier, Yan Huan felt an overwhelming urge to call a police officer.

He couldn't move forward, and he couldn't retreat...

Yet for so unknown reason, as he thought about all this, Yan Huan bizarrely found that his usual annoyed feelings were absent.

Perhaps it was because he suddenly rembered the words she had spoken last night. Even though the rain had stopped, that trace of calm still lingered in his heart?

"Aunt Ye... actually, I'm the one who brought Sister Shiyu here yesterday."

In the end, he didn't activate his expression managent ability, opting instead to speak up and offer an explanation.

Hearing this, Ye Lan froze slightly, looking at Yan Huan in disbelief. Behind him, Ye Shiyu also raised her head, her gaze suddenly snapping toward him.

Facing Ye Lan's suspicious glare—which practically scread, 'Xiao Huan, there's sothing wrong with you, are you actually enjoying what Shiyu did?'—Yan Huan found it hard to maintain his composure as sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Sister Shiyu didn't co looking for

yesterday. I ran into her under the teaching building. She seed to be feeling unwell; I wasn't sure if she had a fever...

"Neither of us brought an umbrella, and perhaps because of the torrential rain, neither of our mobile phones had any signal. We couldn't make any calls.

"So, I really had no other choice but to bring Sister Shiyu here to take shelter from the rain temporarily and get so rest."

At this point, Yan Huan looked squarely at Ye Lan and continued,

"Aunt Ye, I can promise you that last night, I didn't do anything to Sister Shiyu, and she didn't do anything to ."

"..."

Ye Lan stared at Yan Huan for a long ti before lifting her gaze to Ye Shiyu behind him.

"Is what Xiao Huan said true? What exactly is going on with you, and why did you lie?"

Ye Shiyu nodded subconsciously, but just as she was about to explain what she was originally trying to do, she suddenly rembered yesterday's events.

And the mont she thought back to yesterday, the very first thing that flooded her mind was that extre pleasure, lingering like a gangrenous sore.

Even now, after a whole night had passed, every ti she recalled it, her body would still go limp. She felt a faint urge to give up everything just to chase after that extre bliss.

'An Le...'

'What kind of terrifying existence is surrounding that An Le?'

'Could that thing be the exact sa kind of entity as the Hypnosis App on ?'

'Does that an there are others who possess this kind of superpower just like ?!'

"..."

Realizing this, Ye Shiyu didn't dare reveal the truth to Yan Huan or her mother. She had no choice but to play dumb and follow Yan Huan's lead.

"I don't rember it very clearly. I just wanted to go out for a walk by myself yesterday to clear my head... but then I felt sick and unwell. I think I ran into Xiao Huan halfway, and I can't really recall what happened after that..."

Hearing this, Ye Lan's brows furrowed slightly.

"Knock-knock~"

At that mont, the hotel room door was still open. A police officer from Linn knocked on the door fra, tipped his police cap, and called out to Ye Lan from a distance,

"Ms. Ye, we've checked the surveillance caras. It seems the heavy rain and lightning caused a power malfunction in the hotel yesterday, so no records were saved."

"...Alright, I understand."

"Ms. Ye, if there's nothing else, we will be taking our leave."

"Thank you for your trouble, officer."

"Not at all, it's our duty."

"Click~"

Listening to the exchange between Ye Lan and the police officer, Ye Shiyu narrowed her eyes and glanced at her mobile phone, looking thoughtful.

anwhile, Ye Lan, who had been busy running around the entire night, couldn't help but rub the space between her eyebrows. She sighed in resignation and said,

"Xiao Huan, Auntie believes what you said. You don't need to be nervous, Auntie never doubted you."

Saying that, she turned her head back to Ye Shiyu. After repeatedly scrutinizing the expression on her face, a cald-down Ye Lan finally concluded that Ye Shiyu truly hadn't done anything last night.

And having confird that, she actually apologized to her daughter.

"I'm sorry, Shiyu. It was my misunderstanding.

"I've been extrely busy lately. I searched for you all night with no news, so seeing you two like this in the morning really made

angry...

"Since nothing happened, as long as you're both fine, that's what matters."

Yan Huan watched Ye Lan apologize to Ye Shiyu, then glanced at Ye Shiyu, who was pursing her lips. He couldn't help but think she really didn't realize how incredibly blessed she was...

Yesterday was Friday. Ye Lan had worked the entire day, and then spent the whole night searching for Ye Shiyu. Now that she could finally relax, a deep wave of exhaustion washed over her.

She glanced at Ye Shiyu's socks scattered on the floor, and then at the sowhat wrinkled, ssy clothes they were wearing. Deliberately looking away, she turned and started walking toward the door.

"You two tidy yourselves up. It's too stuffy in here. I'm going downstairs to properly thank the police officers and get a breath of fresh air... Co down when you're ready."

"Alright, Aunt Ye."

As they watched Ye Lan turn, leave the room, and close the room door, the atmosphere in the room descended into silence once more.

Yan Huan retracted his gaze and turned his head to look at Ye Shiyu, who was sitting sideways on the bed behind him.

She was looking right back at him.

"..."

Amidst the silence, the two of them actually spoke up at the exact sa ti.

"Sister Shiyu, last night..."

"Xiao Huan, just now..."

Like a sudden collision, the overlap made Ye Shiyu pause. She had no choice but to say softly,

"Xiao Huan, you go first."

Hearing this, Yan Huan couldn't help but smile faintly.

"Alright... though I have a feeling we're about to talk about the exact sa thing."

"?"

Ye Shiyu tilted her head, looking at Yan Huan in confusion.

Having slept all night, her originally smooth, long, straight, black hair now had several ssy cowlicks sticking out at odd angles.

It wasn't exactly picturesque, but it added a touch of grounded, human slice-of-life charm, transforming her from an ethereal, terrifying demon into sothing far more real and approachable.

'Could An Le's Modifier really be that terrifying, that its aftereffects are still lingering even now?'

That was what Yan Huan thought, but the truth was quite different.

What was truly troubling Ye Shiyu was the sheer anxiety caused by Ye Lan blurting out her secret night raid just monts ago.

"Do you still rember what happened last night, Sister Shiyu?"

"I... I don't really rember it..."

That statent was half-true and half-false.

She rembered her battle with An Le, but she had no intention of talking about it. As for the latter half, where she was rcilessly tortured by pleasure, she truly couldn't rember much of it clearly.

All she rembered was that, while in a daze, she had recalled An Le's words about Xiao Huan hating her, and then she...

"Did I... say sothing to you, Xiao Huan?"

Raising her head uncertainly to look at Yan Huan, Ye Shiyu asked this question.

Yan Huan blinked, then nodded.

"Yeah, you did."

Hearing Yan Huan confirm it, Ye Shiyu's heart began to pound wildly. Shifting from sitting sideways to kneeling on the mattress, she hurriedly pressed to question closely,

"Then... what exactly did I say?"

Yan Huan looked at her nervous, hyper-anxious deanor and her desperate need for the answer. Eventually, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up a bit.

eting Ye Shiyu's gaze, Yan Huan stood up with his back to the morning light, buttoning up his collar that had sohow co undone during the night.

"Hmm..."

Pondering for a second, Yan Huan looked down at Ye Shiyu kneeling on the bed and smiled.

"It's a secret, Sister Shiyu."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Ye Shiyu first widened her eyes a fraction, but then, she suddenly recalled what Yan Huan had just said earlier.

'The issue we wanted to talk about might be the sa thing?'

'Then what exactly...'

'Could it be that, last night, I already confessed the whole night raid process and my feelings to Xiao Huan, and he actually doesn't mind?'

'So right now, even after hearing my mother say all that, he still doesn't hate ?'

'No wonder he stood up for

and explained things to her earlier.'

'Wait, that's not right...'

'Then why did he look back at

when my mother said it? He looked like he was deep in thought and hesitating.'

'Was he hesitating because he was worried that rejecting

would make my mother sad, or that I might do sothing even more outrageous?'

'Or is this smile right now entirely fake?'

'The mont we step out of this door, will he start to slowly distance himself from

and stop coming to our house altogether?'

'I don't understand...'

'I don't understand it at all...'

'What in the world is going on...'

Even though the thought that Xiao Huan might despise her made her heart tremble with dread, whenever she rembered how he had actively stepped up to explain things to her mother on her behalf, her heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate wildly once more.

"..."

Lost in this deep confusion, Ye Shiyu stared blankly at Yan Huan as her cheeks slowly beca dyed a cherry-blossom pink.

All sorts of repressed emotions—feelings entirely separate from her usual possessiveness and desire for control—suddenly burst forth.

Her face burning hot, she turned her head slightly to the side, avoiding Yan Huan's gaze...

Just as she had done that day when she chased after him from her ho.

The only difference from back then was that this ti, Yan Huan wasn't wearing his mask; he was speaking to her with a sincere heart.

The girl sitting on the bed had regressed to the past, while the boy standing before her was no longer the sa as he once was.

One moving forward, one stepping back.

It seed as if, in this very mont, they perfectly overlapped.

"Sister Shiyu, I'm ready. Do you want to tidy up too? These socks..."

Yan Huan didn't continue their previous topic. Instead, he turned his head to look at the discarded stockings on the floor and asked.

Ye Shiyu, not holding her mobile phone, balled her hand into a light fist and rested it against her chest.

She glanced at Yan Huan and said,

"Um, Xiao Huan, just throw them away for ..."

"Huh?"

Yan Huan froze for a second before finally saying,

"Oh, alright. I'll toss them for you."

"Mhm... I'll... straighten up my clothes."

Yan Huan pinched the now-dry stockings and tossed them into the trash can. Behind him, Ye Shiyu stared at Yan Huan's back view while she tidied up her own clothing.

"Xiao Huan, do you want to co by the house for a bit?"

"Ah, no need. I have so things to do this afternoon."

"This afternoon?"

"Yeah..."

The mont this was brought up, Yan Huan's expression beca sowhat unnatural.

This afternoon, he still had to et up with An Le and head to the Luoqiao District to attend Bai Yi's charity concert at the hospital.

Speaking of which, if An Le was also at the school yesterday hunting down Ye Shiyu...

With the rain pouring so heavily last night, where did An Le spend the night?

"Ngh..."

Far Moon Academy, the infirmary.

The infirmary was completely empty on this weekend morning. The door, which should have been securely locked, had its lock seemingly drilled out by sothing incredibly hard, the broken chanism now lying on the floor.

The door was left slightly ajar. Through the crack, past the hanging white curtains, one could faintly make out An Le curled up under the blankets on one of the hospital beds.

Her eyes were closed, resting peacefully.

Yet, slithering out from beneath those blankets were three ethereal, squishy-looking tentacles.

Two of them were as soft as tender flesh, while the third was sowhat more rigid and appeared distinctly paler.

That rigid one was the exact sa tentacle that had previously been bitten off by Ye Shiyu's Modifier.

"Mnn..."

After an unknown amount of ti had passed, An Le finally let out a soft moan, her consciousness beginning to return.

The three tentacles drooping on the floor twitched slightly, surging with renewed vitality.

An Le groggily opened her eyes; the pink, snake-like pupil in her left eye remained starkly visible.

She subconsciously tried to shift her body, only to realize that she had absolutely no feeling from her spine downward. The terrifying sensation instantly shocked her wide awake.

"Waaah!"

As if receiving a sudden signal, the three tentacles instantly began thrashing wildly.

"Smack~"

"Smack~"

"Bang!"

The two flesh-like tentacles slapped limply against the wall, but the rigid tentacle whipped out with imnse force, sending a nearby chair flying across the room.

Hearing the loud crash, An Le finally realized that she hadn't deactivated her tentacles yet.

The pain of getting her tentacle severed yesterday had simply been too excruciating. It was pouring outside, and she would have gotten drenched waiting in the corridor.

So, she had actually subconsciously used that newly regenerated, rigid tentacle to drag herself all the way to the infirmary to rest...

"Phew..."

Deactivating the tentacle ability in her mind, the pale skin below her neck gradually regained a faint, rosy flush as her bodily sensation finally returned.

'Senior Student Ye has been deeply eroded by my pleasure. Just a few more tis...'

Thinking this, An Le finally sat up. She glanced at her mobile phone and suddenly rembered sothing extrely important.

"Ah! I'm supposed to go on a date with Xiao Huan this afternoon!!"