"Xiao Huan's boss?"
Sitting on the sofa, An Le chewed over the title. A second later, the image of a red-haired demon flashed through her mind—the very sa woman who had single-handedly chopped off all her tentacles with a blade back in Kyoto.
Her body trembled slightly as she imdiately looked up at Yan Huan.
Yan Huan glanced back at her with a sigh before straightening his posture.
"Coming, Sister Tong!"
Just as he was about to get up and open the door, Yan Huan caught sight of the boxes of condoms resting on the sofa from the corner of his eye.
He looked back at An Le and blinked. Understanding his silent cue perfectly, An Le quickly grabbed the two small boxes and whispered,
"I... I will hide them."
"Ah, good."
Even without worrying about Tong Yingying catching them in a compromising situation, leaving those things out in plain sight for guests to see was simply unseemly. An Le had likely taken that into consideration.
In any case, Yan Huan breathed a small sigh of relief at her quick reaction and turned toward the door.
"Click."
He pressed down on the handle and gently pushed the door open, revealing Tong Yingying. She was standing in the doorway, yawning and looking as lethargic and dispirited as usual.
"You brat, why didn't you contact
imdiately after coming back from Tokyo? Didn't you say you were going to..."
As she spoke, her lifeless eyes suddenly drifted past him, landing on An Le. The girl was standing behind him with slightly disheveled clothes and a flushed face, shyly running a hand through her hair.
"..."
For a brief second, Tong Yingying's mind went completely blank.
Her consciousness scoured through her completely inexperienced brain, ultimately arriving at a single conclusion:
'This girl must have used her superpowers on Yan Huan again!'
The mont that thought surfaced, the lethargy in Tong Yingying's eyes vanished, replaced instantly by sheer murderous intent.
A surging dark aura cast a shadowy gloom over her face. She casually reached into her coat, the distinct outline of a taser becoming unmistakably clear.
Yan Huan jumped in fright, and An Le was even more terrified.
After all, Tong Yingying was completely immune to all of Little Finger's effects, save for the physical damage inflicted by the tentacles.
Right now, An Le's progress bar had reset to zero. She could only use Pleasure Manipulation, aning she would be instantly crushed if she went up against Tong Yingying.
An Le pursed her lips and nervously took a step back. But in the next second, Yan Huan stretched out his arm, stepping in front to shield her.
"Sister Tong, stop, stop! An Le isn't an enemy anymore!!"
Tong Yingying glared at Yan Huan, genuinely unable to tell if his words ca from a sincere heart or if his mind had been corrupted by her superpower.
Deep down, however, she firmly believed that Yan Huan was under the influence of her abilities.
Perhaps it wasn't entirely driven by a desire to help resolve the Modifier either, but rather because of...
'Jealousy?'
Just then, feeling Yan Huan's youthful body desperately clinging to her in a frantic attempt to hold her back, Tong Yingying's heart fluttered slightly. She was clearly enjoying the contact.
Outwardly, though, she still needed a high-sounding excuse, didn't she?
So, she tightened her grip on the taser and glared hostilely at An Le behind him, demanding,
"How do I know you're not being controlled by her superpower? Those sky-blotting tentacles and that teor shower back in Tokyo were her doing, weren't they?!"
Behind him, however, An Le was incredibly perceptive.
With just one glance, she saw right through the hidden aning beneath Tong Yingying's words.
As a result, she secretly puffed out her cheeks.
Imdiately after, she stepped forward and took the initiative to explain, looking perfectly harmless.
"It truly was my fault before, Auntie... but now—"
Hearing that word, both Tong Yingying and the Yan Huan shielding her froze.
Tong Yingying, in particular, had a face as black as coal.
Fortunately, Yan Huan reacted quickly, imdiately cutting in.
"Sister Tong, that really was An Le's doing before, but now she... uh, she has turned over a new leaf."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Yan Huan had to fight the urge to smack his own forehead.
"I don't even know how I managed to say that with a straight face," he muttered to himself.
Pausing for a mont, Yan Huan carefully weighed his next words. He looked up at Tong Yingying.
"Sister Tong, please calm down. An Le might be a Modifier Host, but she's on our side now."
"A Modifier?"
Tong Yingying narrowed her eyes, finally pulling so of her attention away from the grudge over her age.
"Yeah... I'll let it explain the details to you."
Yan Huan nodded, and in the next second, he called out softly,
"Myau-chan, co out to work!"
The mont Yan Huan spoke, a small black furball abruptly materialized on his shoulder.
It twitched its cat ears before opening its erald eyes, looking straight at Tong Yingying.
"Hello, Tong Yingying. I am Myau-chan, the deity of this world—eek!!"
However, hearing a cat speak out of nowhere scared the living daylights out of Tong Yingying.
Her eyes widened in shock, and she subconsciously raised her fist.
That sandbag-sized fist descended upon the wide-eyed Myau-chan's face, casting a physical shadow over it.
"Thud!"
Unable to dodge in ti, Myau-chan was nearly flattened into a Doraemon lookalike.
"ow!"
Yan Huan and An Le were both slightly stunned. Only Little Finger, perched on An Le's shoulder, sprang up and started hollering as if it were popping champagne.
"Yes, exactly!! That's the way, that's the way!! Hahahahaha! Doesn't that feel great?! Doesn't it?!"
"..."
In the next second, the room fell dead silent.
Everyone's gaze simultaneously shifted toward the overly excited Little Finger.
"So... that's basically the situation."
Inside Yan Huan's rental apartnt, Little Finger, now sporting several lumps on its head, lay coiled on the coffee table with a lifeless expression.
From ti to ti, it shot resentful glances at the fat black cat cradled in Yan Huan's arms, getting its head rubbed in consolation.
Yan Huan watched Tong Yingying stroke her chin in thought before she softly said,
"So, you're telling
that if I hadn't rejected this snake back then, I would have the ability of Pleasure Manipulation right now?"
'Why is that your takeaway?'
Despite his exasperation, Yan Huan nodded helplessly.
"Pretty much."
"Tsk, what's with that look? Do you think I actually care about so trashy Pleasure Manipulation ability? I have zero interest in that sort of thing."
Right at that mont, Little Finger spoke up faintly from the coffee table.
"The ability is determined by the host's personality. That's why An Le's ability is Pleasure Manipulation... If it were you, you'd most likely get Pain Sensation manipulation."
"Pain Sensation... manipulation?"
Tong Yingying opened her mouth and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. She was clearly tempted.
"..."
Seeing this, Yan Huan shot an annoyed glare at Little Finger and threatened it with his fist, silently warning it to shut up.
Then, turning back to Tong Yingying, he spoke in a completely serious tone,
"Sister Tong, the top priority right now is that we must resolve the Modifiers without exposing their existence."
"Um, fruits..."
At that mont, An Le approached carrying a plate of peeled and sliced oranges and other fruits she had bought.
Watching An Le act like a gentle and caring hostess, the corners of Tong Yingying's mouth twitched stiffly. She turned back to Yan Huan.
"Well, she got exposed, didn't she? So why is she perfectly fine?"
Left with no choice, Yan Huan explained the underlying logic to Tong Yingying.
"It's not that exposure is absolutely fatal, it's just that typical exposure triggers severe anxiety in the Host. This anxiety stems from two main sources:
"First, the anxiety of their Cheat being discovered by soone other than a competitor. Second, the fear of all the bad things they've done using the Modifier coming to light.
"If you put yourself in the shoes of a Modifier Host, Sister Tong, it's actually very easy to understand."
Tong Yingying pondered this for a mont and realized it made perfect sense. If she had so sort of Pain Sensation manipulation ability and used it to make Yan Huan gleefully succumb to agony, she would absolutely...
"Sister Tong?"
"Ahem."
Tong Yingying wiped the corner of her mouth, snapping back to reality and struggling to get back on topic.
"Alright, no need to worry. We just can't expose them, right? I'll help you resolve those... Modifiers."
Yan Huan stared at Tong Yingying with a highly suspicious expression.
"I haven't even told you how to resolve them yet."
Yet in the very next second, Tong Yingying's eyes lit up, and she raised her right index finger.
"No need, I've got an idea!"
"..."
Yan Huan opened his mouth and, before Tong Yingying could elaborate, imdiately shot her down.
"You are not allowed to use any weird thods to secretly assassinate the Hosts. That only gets rid of the Host; the Modifier will just reincarnate and choose soone else."
"..."
Tong Yingying's beaming smile stiffened for a second, but then it brightened up again as she raised her left index finger.
"Ah, I have another idea!"
"You also cannot drive the tiger to swallow the wolf by making the Hosts fight each other. That will only feed their Desires and increase the Modifiers' strength, just like what happened with An Le."
"..."
Tong Yingying's bright expression froze once more. Then, she curled her lips in a scoff, propped her chin on her hand, and muttered with deep resentnt,
"Then I'm out of ideas."
"...I knew it, Sister Tong."
"What kind of garbage chanics are these? This isn't allowed, that isn't allowed? How is that fair?!"
Still resting her chin in her hand, Tong Yingying grew increasingly furious the more she thought about it, finally bursting into a rant.
"Tell whichever stupid deity made up these idiotic rules to get out here! Why do they get to run rampant with zero restrictions, while we have to jump through all these hoops just to fix the problem?"
"..."
Myau-chan stayed utterly silent, opting to just bury itself deeper into Yan Huan's embrace.
Yan Huan sighed as well. He used a toothpick to spear a piece of fruit and popped it into his mouth.
"That's the situation we're stuck with. It really is that difficult..."
As he chewed lightly, the sweet, refreshing juice of the fruit burst into his mouth, making him pause in surprise.
'Delicious.'
Yan Huan blinked, first glancing down at the fruit on the plate, then turning his head to look at An Le sitting beside him.
Sensing his gaze, An Le offered a sweet smile, silently mouthing the words,
"Is it yummy, Xiao Huan?"
"..."
Seeing this, Yan Huan couldn't help but smile faintly and nod.
But when he turned back around, he suddenly paused and felt compelled to say,
"It's not entirely hopeless, though. There is still a way..."
"Huh?"
Tong Yingying looked up at Yan Huan. Seeing his smile, she had no idea what he found so optimistic.
But then Yan Huan popped another piece of orange into his mouth. He pulled out a pen and paper and spoke earnestly,
"Fortunately, the other Hosts aren't irredeemably evil. Their current use of the Modifiers is still within reason... Except for Ye Shiyu."
"Uh-huh."
"There's only one way to resolve a Modifier: make them willingly abandon it themselves."
Yan Huan crossed out a few nas on the paper and calmly stated,
"The thodology is simple. We help them fulfill their Desires without using the Modifiers; but if they ever try to use the Modifiers to achieve sothing, we secretly sabotage it."
After he finished speaking, An Le pursed her lips and added,
"Vice President Sakuramiya and... Spencer rarely seem to use their Modifiers, so we can start with Bai Yi and Senior Student Ye for now.
"Also, because of what happened before, they're actually quite guarded against ... I was thinking, could we continue what we did before? I'll play the bad cop, and Xiao Huan can play the good cop."
Yan Huan looked over at An Le, watching her offer a shy smile as she explained,
"That way, I can intimidate them whenever they try to use their Modifiers, and it'll make it harder for them to realize we're working together."
"True. We just need to handle the execution carefully, otherwise it might backfire..."
"Mhm, I should be able to do it."
As Yan Huan and An Le discussed their plans, Tong Yingying crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
She picked up a toothpick, speared a piece of orange, and put it into her mouth.
After chewing for a mont, she abruptly asked,
"You listed a bunch of abilities just now, but it sounds like only that girl with the barrier can set off fireworks, right? So, back in Kyoto, the one who blew up that assassin was Sakuramiya Hitomi?"
"No, Sister Tong. I'm the one who set off those fireworks."
"You?"
"Yeah."
Yan Huan snapped his fingers. At his fingertips, the faint scent and spark of gunpowder began to coalesce, leaving Tong Yingying montarily stunned.
"I have a Modifier too, but it's one that Myau-chan cobbled together using fragnts of theirs. It has a lot of functions, but it's incredibly weak."
"..."
Myau-chan remained silent once again, rely burrowing deeper into Yan Huan's chest.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, a rare and genuinely beautiful smile blossod on Tong Yingying's face.
"So that's how it is..."
"What's wrong, Sister Tong?"
"Nothing."
Yan Huan had no idea that the person he had accidentally blown up was, in fact, the murderer of Tong Yingying's mother.
But in this mont, Tong Yingying clearly had no intention of explaining. She just smiled and said,
"Speaking of which, all those Hosts are from your Far Moon Academy. As an unemployed drifter living all the way out in the South Ward, I'm quite far from your Kyogo Ward. It's going to be a bit difficult for
to help."
Hearing this, Yan Huan thought about it for a second and laughed.
"That's fine, Sister Tong. If there's ever anything specific outside of school that I need help with, I'll contact you. How does that sound?"
"Save it. I barely have anything to do at my place anyway, so the timing is perfect..."
In the next second, Tong Yingying pulled out her phone and started scrolling for a specific contact.
"I happen to have a connection. It might just do the trick."
"...What connection?"
Tong Yingying subconsciously took out her lighter, but after glancing up at Yan Huan, she smoothly slipped it back into her pocket without a word.
She placed her phone on the coffee table and dialed a number saved as 'Lin Wanwan' right in front of him.
While waiting for the other party to pick up, Tong Yingying rested her chin on her hand and said in a bored tone,
"Lin Wanwan. A college classmate of mine, and your Social Studies teacher.
"When I invited her out for drinks a while back, I think she ntioned that a physical education teacher at your school resigned recently, and they're currently hiring."
'Hiring?'
'Wait, don't tell ...'
Yan Huan blinked, looking up at the red-haired Tong Yingying.
He watched as she tilted her head and gave him an evil smirk.
"Who knows? From now on, you might just have to start calling
Teacher Tong, Student Yan~"
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