"Tick... tock..."
In the underground secret room, Ye Shiyu leaned against the wall behind her with her arms crossed, looking at Yan Huan, who was tightly gripping the shield in front of her.
As the ti slowly approached 4:44 in the afternoon, Yan Huan could not help but take a tense, deep breath.
After all, he could not guarantee this plan would be one hundred percent successful.
But...
He had no other choice.
If he failed, he would be forced to return to 4:44 in the afternoon on the day of his death, and then wait for a full seven days!
Seven days!
He had a thorough understanding of the several Modifier hosts. Once those seven days were up, all of Linn would probably sink into the ground!
Therefore...
He could only take a gamble.
"Tick..."
On the wall, as the second hand pointed to twelve, the minute hand precisely aligned with forty-four.
"Tick... tock..."
At this exact mont, the sound of a ticking clock echoed abruptly all around them, resembling the dripping of water.
"Crack! Crack!"
The space around Yan Huan faintly manifested illusory, colorful scenes like flowing light, within which he could vaguely make out familiar figures and unfamiliar settings.
However, at this mont, he was wholeheartedly focused on the mirror in his hand; he was in no mood to pay attention to the scenery around him.
If his ti travel had been caused by the power of Naless Finger, then by extension, returning to his original worldline would inevitably subject him to the effects of Naless Finger once again.
He was not sure of the nature of the world he was currently in, but the effects of the Modifier potion he had consud here yesterday had indeed taken hold on his body.
Thus, he could only pray that the Rebounding Demon Mirror of this world would be just as effective.
If it worked, he could reflect the effects of Naless Finger and gain a single use of the Naless Finger Modifier.
He did not know much about the capabilities of Naless Finger, and second-stage abilities like ti travel were as complex as the theory of relativity.
So, choosing its most reliable first-stage effect would be enough!
"It's here!!"
In the very next second, the water-droplet ticking of the clock sound grew even heavier around them.
A power transcending ti and space instantly pierced through the void, rushing straight toward Yan Huan.
Yan Huan could faintly see that it looked like sothing enveloped in a dark green glow...
Sothing like a toad's tongue?
"!!"
Yan Huan gritted his teeth and tightly gripped the mirror in his hand.
"Clang!!"
In an instant, Yan Huan felt the mirror in his hand beco ten thousand tis heavier.
When he looked down at the mirror, he saw a dark green spectral light flickering continuously within its reflection...
Soon after, that dark green light drove the mirror to slowly warp and change shape, gradually transforming it into a translucent green pocket watch.
The green pocket watch settled gently into Yan Huan's palm, seemingly waiting for his command.
"It worked!! Sister Shiyu!"
Clutching the pocket watch, Yan Huan joyfully raised his eyes to look at Ye Shiyu.
Before him, Ye Shiyu, gentle as a devoted wife, pinched her chin and glanced at the ti beside them.
"It actually worked. Your magic mirror fended off the Naless Finger ability that should have forced you back... It's already approaching 4:45, and you still haven't returned."
"Yeah..."
Yan Huan nodded and held the pocket watch as he stood up.
Just as he was about to speak, the clock above was already finishing the final seconds of 4:44.
"Tick... tock..."
"Sister Shiyu, I can take this chance to..."
As the second hand completed its revolution, the ti exactly passed 4:44.
And in that instant, all the sights before Yan Huan's eyes shifted as if teleported.
"..."
"...Xiao Huan? Why didn't you cover yourself with a thicker blanket while sleeping? It's already autumn..."
He suddenly realized he was lying down again, and the scenery before him instantly changed back to the workshop where he had first arrived yesterday.
Ye Shiyu instantly appeared in front of the seven wedding photos, looking at him lying on the recliner with concern as she spoke.
"..."
Yan Huan stared blankly at Ye Shiyu, who seed to have been completely reset, and sat up in bewildernt.
"Sister Shiyu?!"
"Wh-what's wrong?"
The Ye Shiyu before him seed to have entirely lost the mories of their ti together yesterday, looking in confusion at Yan Huan's bizarre expression.
"You really have burned your brain with a fever... Wait here, I'll go get you so dicine."
"..."
Yan Huan stared blankly at the digital clock on the desk. The ti right now was exactly 4:45.
While he was still in a state of sheer shock, his hand hidden under the duvet brushed against sothing hard.
He finally realized he was still holding sothing.
He lifted the duvet to look. There, perfectly intact in his other hand, were four faintly glowing doses of Crab dicine and several Crab Coins...
These items stuffed his left hand so full that he couldn't possibly hold anything else.
anwhile, in his right hand, an illusory pocket watch rested quietly in his palm, waiting for his command.
"Tick... tock..."
In front of him, Ye Shiyu, who was about to leave to fetch the dicine, heard that familiar clock sound like dripping water and could not help but freeze slightly.
She turned her head, and upon seeing the pocket watch in Yan Huan's hand, a look of surprise washed over her face.
"Xiao Huan? You... what exactly..."
"..."
Yan Huan stared blankly at the pocket watch in his hand, then glanced at the Ye Shiyu before him who had lost the mories of yesterday, his confusion deepening.
Here...
What kind of situation was this?
The Crab dicine, Crab Coins, and the Naless Finger pocket watch simulated by the Rebounding Demon Mirror had not been reset, but the clothes he had changed into last night had all been completely reverted.
Moreover, what exactly was going on with this world?
It was clearly so real, its cause and effect so distinctly logical. It should unquestionably be the future...
But why, after passing 4:44 and completing a full day, had ti not moved forward?
Logically speaking, he had already used the mirror to nullify the forced return of the first day, so he should have been able to stay here for a second day...
Never mind, he shouldn't think about it anymore.
"..."
Yan Huan took a deep breath, looking at the virtual pocket watch in his hand that could only be used once. He inhaled deeply once more.
He gently reached out, placing his finger on the hour hand of the pocket watch.
Then, he spun it counterclockwise...
That is to say...
Ti acceleration!!
One revolution, two revolutions, three revolutions...
Eight revolutions!
That is to say, a full eight days!
The first revolution was to accelerate his remaining day here!
And the remaining seven revolutions were to accelerate the ti he needed to resurrect!
After doing all this, he used his little finger to block the hour hand, which was about to start spinning like a reversed mainspring. A drop of sweat faintly rolled down his forehead.
He didn't know if it would succeed, nor did he know what price he would have to pay...
But right now, ti had to be accelerated.
"Sister Shiyu, I'm leaving."
"Xiao Huan..."
He smiled softly. As he spoke those quiet words, he released the blocked hour hand.
Then, he gritted his teeth and, as if in prayer, shouted a line known only from his past life:
"Made in Heaven!!"
Before him, the mont Ye Shiyu saw Yan Huan reverse the hour hand, she knew exactly what he was going to do.
She did not try to stop him. She simply stood there serenely, watching Yan Huan, and gave him a gentle wave goodbye...
"Tick... tock..."
A terrifying rumbling sound echoed from the pocket watch in Yan Huan's hand. The mont he let go, the hour hand began spinning rapidly around the clock face like a wound-up spring.
And bizarrely, under the hour hand's surreal rotation speed, the movent of the entire world seed to be dragged along by that tiny needle.
Just like Father Pucci's Made in Heaven...
Up in the firmant, the clouds began darting across the sky at speeds visible to the naked eye.
The sun, originally teetering on the horizon, smashed fiercely into the earth, while from the opposite side of the firmant, a crescent moon launched into the sky, dragging a tail of starlight.
But unlike Made in Heaven...
Living creatures were also accelerating!
It was just that they were unaware of it!
At this mont, in the eyes of outsiders, Yan Huan was in a state akin to having activated Indifference, completely unnoticeable.
Only Yan Huan, who seed to have ascended to a third-person perspective, could perceive it—
The entire world, including himself, was accelerating!
As the hour hand began to turn, the Ye Shiyu before him seed to have been put on fast-forward. Following the rapid spinning of the clock on the wall, she flickered back and forth across the workshop.
At six in the afternoon, she brought over a stool and sat beside Yan Huan to eat her dinner.
A few seconds later, it was seven in the evening.
She lay down next to Yan Huan, clutching her lower abdon while handling docunts for Ye International.
Another few seconds passed. At eight in the evening, she went to take a shower.
Afterward, she brought out pregnancy test reports, resting her chin on her hand as if telling him sothing, but the accelerated Yan Huan had absolutely no idea what she was saying.
At ten o'clock at night, she turned off the lights.
The entire workshop plunged into darkness, yet she still did not leave, choosing to sleep right there.
Yan Huan watched her curl up in the exact spot he had originally occupied, clutching her lower abdon, hugging herself, and slowly falling asleep.
Eleven at night, twelve, one...
Until the next morning.
Everything passed by for Yan Huan in nothing more than the snap of a finger.
But he found himself completely unable to move his body, left with nothing but agonizing pain.
The human body produced all sorts of sensations at every single mont throughout a twenty-four-hour day.
Hunger, thirst, pain, soreness, bloating, itchiness...
Under normal circumstances, a person would hardly notice them.
But caught in the midst of ti acceleration, these sensations crashed over him like a flash flood. In just a few short seconds, all the physical feedback of an entire day was crushing down upon him.
What followed was an endless torrent of suffering.
"Hiss!!"
As ti rapidly spun forward, the sheer weight of sensory input crushed down like Mount Tai, forcing Yan Huan to double over in agony.
His eyes beca bloodshot, and every muscle in his body began to convulse.
The suffering of not having eaten or drank anything could not be resolved at all, and the ti acceleration seed to impose an additional layer of pressure.
It was akin to being plunged into the deep sea, feeling the crushing weight of the water at every mont. It left Yan Huan with reddened eyes and taut muscles.
No wonder...
No wonder Bai Yi was almost killed by him after accelerating ti for just a single day.
And for Yan Huan, he still had a full seven days ahead of him!!
"Ahhhhh!!"
If he wanted to break free, the only way was to stop the rapidly spinning hour hand in his grasp!!
With bloodshot eyes, Yan Huan lowered his head, tightening his grip on the Crab dicine and Crab Coins.
Imdiately after, he reached out again—and pushed the spinning hour hand even faster.
"Tick... tock!!"
"Rumble!!"
As Yan Huan pushed the hour hand even faster, the speed of everything operating around him reached an entirely new level.
Ye Shiyu's entire night of sleep passed in a flash...
Upon waking up, she glanced at the spot where Yan Huan used to be, gave a soft smile, and got out of bed to start her day.
"Hum!"
Imdiately following that, the sun in the firmant rose from the east once again.
Within re seconds, it climbed to the middle of the sky and began setting toward the west.
The hour and minute hands on the wall clock were spinning so fast they nearly threw sparks. Very quickly, it approached 4:44 in the afternoon once more.
Through excruciating agony, Yan Huan lifted his trembling eyelids, just in ti to see Ye Shiyu re-enter the room.
She glanced at the clock, then at the recliner where Yan Huan had previously been.
And then...
She revealed a beautiful smile.
It was as if she were saying,
"Goodbye."
Yan Huan simply watched her, watched the seven wedding photos displayed behind her...
Then, he tightened his grip on the pocket watch in his hand bit by bit.
"Tick... tock..."
The very instant it reached 4:44 in the afternoon, a great power transcending ti and space dragged Yan Huan's consciousness away, instantly detaching him from that place. He returned to a void of complete darkness.
He was back!!
Yet in his hands, those four crystalline doses of Crab dicine, the several Crab Coins, and the illusory pocket watch...
They still existed!!
"Yan Huan! You're back, myau! I know now!! I finally know how Naless Finger operates, myau!! Wait, where did you get so much Crab dicine, myau?!"
This was the interior of Yan Huan's Modifier.
The afternoon of the day he died, at 4:45.
But Yan Huan was still accelerating.
Forcing himself to endure the pain of ti acceleration, Yan Huan painstakingly squeezed a question out from the depths of his throat:
"Myau... Myau-chan! Has the outside world accelerated?!"
"N-no, ow!"
"The gamble paid off!!"
Yan Huan lay prostrate in the darkness, writhing in imnse agony. The illusory pocket watch he held was still spinning.
anwhile, out in reality, absolutely everything remained as normal.
It was as if he were the only one undergoing acceleration.
Beside him, however, Myau-chan was bizarrely able to keep pace with his accelerated ti and even communicate with him.
"Yan Huan, listen to , I'll tell you how Naless Finger actually works, ow!!"
"Do you really have to say it right now?! I'm dying from the pain!!"
"ow?! If I don't tell you now, it will be too late!!"
Yan Huan's eyes widened as he lay there, gasping incessantly for breath.
That miraculous power was slowly rebuilding his body piece by piece—nding shattered bones, reforming torn muscles...
It was as if magic had been cast upon his corpse, gradually reversing it back to its absolute physical peak of the past year.
But the process of regenerating bones and re-forging flesh and blood ca with extre suffering.
"Yan Huan, don't forget, resurrection isn't without a price, ow!
"You owe an amount of fragnts capable of upgrading the Modifier! If you don't pay it back, you won't be able to use the Modifier in the anti!"
Before him, Myau-chan tilted its head and hurriedly explained,
"And I only exist through the Modifier, so until you repay that debt, I won't be able to appear, ow!"
"It's that underhanded?!"
"...Earlier, did you go to a place incredibly similar to a 'Parallel World', and there was a high probability I wasn't there?"
"Yes..."
Yan Huan stared blankly at Myau-chan, finally rembering that resurrection truly demanded a toll paid in fragnts.
"The place you went to before wasn't so Parallel World. Parallel Otherworlds don't even exist!
"If anything counts, the world where those invading evil gods reside is the true Otherworld!!
"This world only has one true worldline, which is the one you are on right now!!"
Hearing this, Yan Huan was slightly taken aback.
"So, the place I went to..."
Myau-chan paced anxiously in circles, hurriedly using its cat paws to draw streaks of brilliant golden light in midair.
It drew sothing resembling the trunk of a great tree, or perhaps a flowing river.
"The worldline we are currently on is like this: a great river or a tree trunk spanning across the past and the future...
"This is the real, singular, and factual sequence of events!
"However, just as a human brain imagines possibilities based on what has already happened, my subconscious also does the sa thing..."
Myau-chan blinked, and suddenly, tributaries or branches appeared alongside that great river...
"The world's subconscious will sotis imagine:
"'If I hadn't done this back then', or 'If I had done this back then', what would have happened...
"In other words, it constructs false 'possible worldlines' one after another.
"However, they only possess a result. There is no process!"
Just like what people thought of when they felt regret or engaged in daydreams...
People usually only imagined a "result" in their minds based on a "possibility
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