Restricted Fantasy Invasion

Chapter 12
"Ye Shiyu came over to open the door last night, meow."

In the morning, upon hearing Meow-chan's voice, Yan Huan paused slightly in the act of brushing his teeth.

He widened his eyes, turned his foam-filled mouth toward the little cat sitting primly in the bedroom, and asked in surprise,

"When did it happen?"

"After you fell asleep last night, it was very late."

Meow-chan turned its head toward the door, standing on its hind legs, moving its two front paws and little head up and down, as if describing the situation at the time,

"The doorknob suddenly moved, but because you locked the door, she couldn't open it."

"."

Someone trying to turn the doorknob and come in while you're sleeping in the middle of the night-guess what she'd do if she got in.

Seriously, sis, isn't this a bit too creepy?

Yan Huan kept his mouth open, was silent for a moment, then turned to spit out the foam, rinsed his mouth with the clear water in his cup, and washed his face.

He was just about to put on his shirt, but realized it hadn't been changed for two days and he'd been out all day yesterday; it felt sticky, and after showering he really didn't want to wear it again.

If only he'd grabbed his clothes from Aunt Chen after she dried them yesterday before showering and going to bed. Now he could only go downstairs to get the dried clothes to wear.

"."

He glanced at his phone-it was 5:50, even earlier than usual.

He pushed open the bedroom door; it was quiet outside, the morning light so faint it barely filtered through the living room's mesh window.

It seemed like everyone was still asleep.

So, relieved, he went downstairs shirtless, carrying the empty cup that had held milk last night, planning to find some clothes to wear in the laundry room.

The laundry room was right across from the kitchen, with the purifier set at the kitchen doorway. He rinsed his cup in the kitchen, then filled it with water and took a drink.

Drinking a cup of warm water in the morning really made him feel alive again.

After finishing the water, he washed the cup and placed it in the dish rack beside him, then turned toward the laundry room.

Where were the clothes put after drying?

He looked up at the hanging clothes, searching for the new clothes he'd bought just yesterday.

At that moment, a figure holding a cup of water also walked to the purifier at the doorway.

Ye Shiyu, about to fill her cup, instinctively turned her head when she heard rustling sounds from the laundry room.

In the cool morning light, watching Yan Huan's bare back searching for clothes in the laundry room, her eyes widened bit by bit.

Suddenly, the phone in her hand lit up.

Found it.

Yan Huan picked up a beige shirt he'd just bought yesterday; the fabric felt nice and comfortable, so he got ready to put it on.

After putting on clean clothes, he considered whether to take the dirty shirt down to wash, but thought it was wasteful to run the washing machine for just one item, so he decided to leave.

As he turned around, Ye Shiyu-standing at the doorway holding her cup like a ghost, who knows when she'd gotten there-suddenly came into view.

What the-?!

His expression changed instantly, and just as he was about to blurt out something rude, his Perfect Expression Management ability kicked in.

Yan Huan forced an awkward smile and greeted Ye Shiyu,

"Sister Shiyu, you're up early today too?"

"Mm-hmm."

Ye Shiyu's expression slowly returned to normal, but her reply to Yan Huan came out oddly halting,

Last night, after watching that strange video, she'd drunk a lot of water and had to get up before six in the morning to deal with it.

Even so, she still felt parched and restless all over, and couldn't sleep well.

Now she'd come down for water, only to run into Yan Huan changing clothes right after waking up-what a coincidence.

Her hand trembled slightly, and she unconsciously took another sip of water.

Her gaze lingered almost imperceptibly on the outline of his beige shirt, as if something she'd seen before he put the shirt on had caught her interest.

Yan Huan smiled slightly, walked out of the laundry room, and asked Ye Shiyu,

"Sister Shiyu, do you want breakfast? I'll make some."

"No need."

"Alright, then I'll head out for a bit. I'll be back before noon."

"Okay."

He'd planned to cook something if she wanted breakfast, but since she didn't, Yan Huan would just eat outside.

He changed his shoes at the door, and to avoid being alone with her and possibly getting hypnotized, Yan Huan quickly left with his phone.

Ye Shiyu watched him leave and finished the water in her cup.

The early spring morning was cool; Yan Huan took a deep breath and jogged out toward the entrance of the neighborhood.

"Where are you going? Morning exercise?"

Behind him, a black cat had appeared out of nowhere and caught up to his pace.

Yan Huan didn't look back, adjusted his breathing as he ran, and shook his head,

"Going to the aquarium. First I'll buy some breakfast, then take the bus over-there's a bus at six thirty."

He looked around; there weren't any breakfast shops open this early in this fancy neighborhood, so he'd have to go farther out.

Using the map app to search for bus routes, Yan Huan quickly found a shop selling Longguo breakfast just outside the neighborhood.

In Linmen, only shops run by people from Longguo opened this early.

While eating meat buns and pumpkin porridge, the shop slowly filled with more people.

Meow-chan sat beside Yan Huan, licking its paw and asking,

"What are you going to the aquarium for?"

"To look for a Mickey Mouse tool that can help fix the modifier."

"?"

After breakfast, Yan Huan took Meow-chan onto the bus. Linmen buses were strict about animals; usually you needed a cage or a pet carrier.

But Meow-chan wasn't an ordinary cat-once on board, it became invisible to everyone except Yan Huan, so they got on smoothly.

There were few people on the first bus; Yan Huan casually picked an empty seat, put on his Bluetooth headset, and leaned by the window to pet the cat.

After swaying for dozens of minutes, he opened his eyes again because the Bluetooth headset played the alighting reminder.

He took off the Bluetooth headset, and the bus's announcement sounded as well,

"Aquarium stop, we've arrived."

There were already quite a few people around. Turning his head, he happened to make eye contact with a girl holding her phone, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"!"

Yan Huan blinked and said to her,

"Excuse me."

"Sure."

It was only a bit after seven; the shopping mall that had been bustling yesterday was now especially quiet-it wouldn't open until ten.

But the aquarium opened at eight, so he wasn't all that early, especially since he'd brought a little helper.

After getting off the bus, Yan Huan said to Meow-chan,

"Meow-chan, can you smell the scent of the thing Ye Shiyu lost?"

Meow-chan looked up at him with a "are you serious?" expression.

"Aren't you a cat? I heard if your own cat gets lost, you can give its toy to a stray cat to sniff, and the stray cat will help you find it."

"."

Meow-chan sighed, then lifted its nose and sniffed, running toward the shopping mall,

"There are still traces of her scent over here."

The shopping mall?

Not lost inside the aquarium?

Yan Huan jogged after Meow-chan to the plaza where the shopping mall and aquarium met.

This was also right at the aquarium's exit; from here, you could see the gift shop where Ye Shiyu bought the keychain yesterday.

Meow-chan sniffed around the edge of the bushes, then suddenly turned and "meowed" at Yan Huan.

"Here?"

Yan Huan raised his eyebrows and walked over, parting the bushes.

Strangely enough, a blue crystal-shaped jellyfish pendant was lying there, entangled in the damp grass.

The name tag on the side reading "Ye Shiyu" showed it was the one she'd lost yesterday.

"No way, how did it end up here? She didn't even come near this place yesterday."

Yan Huan picked up the keychain, and something even stranger happened.

The moment he picked it up, the keychain, no longer blocked by the bushes, trembled slightly in a certain direction, as if it wanted to move that way.

"What the heck?"

Yan Huan stared, turning to look at Meow-chan. Meow-chan sniffed the keychain and said,

"Ye Shiyu's scent is already faint, but another woman's scent is very strong."

"Another woman?"

"This keychain is almost turning into that woman's shape."

"?"

Yan Huan frowned, and the keychain in his hand gradually calmed down, finally stopping its trembling completely.

At that moment, Meow-chan also looked up at just the right time and said,

"The scent of that woman is completely gone."

"."

Sensing the supernatural phenomenon in his hand, Yan Huan exchanged a glance with Meow-chan and suddenly said,

"Modifier?"

"Did you meet anyone yesterday?" Anyone?

As Yan Huan tried to recall, the image of a golden-haired Caucasian girl with a mischievous grin suddenly flashed through his mind.

No way.

Yan Huan opened his mouth, then hurriedly asked Meow-chan,

"Will the effect of a modifier work on the host of another modifier?"

"I'm not really sure either, but from the looks of things, maybe it does."

"."

Realizing that there really weren't any factions among modifiers, and that they could even get tangled up with each other, Yan Huan's expression didn't relax at all-instead, it became even more serious.

Because he keenly sensed that not only would this not create a 'let the tigers fight' situation, but it would actually make resolving the modifier problem even harder.

"Make them willingly give up their modifiers"-that's the requirement for solving the modifier problem.

But if you know that someone else also has a cheat, and they're not giving theirs up, would you give up yours?

So what could have been picked off one by one now requires Yan Huan to make them all give up their modifiers at the same time!

Likewise, even if conflict is stirred up between hosts, it will only cause the modifiers to grow at an abnormally fast rate.

If a bug-level modifier only needs to use ten percent of its power to solve real-world problems, then a war between modifiers would probably require all of it, or even more.

So the originally slow-growing desires will only get bigger and bigger-even without Meow-chan saying so, Yan Huan could see that.

Desire to win," "competitive drive," "exclusivity.

Don't those words scare you?

Good grief, are we about to have a Holy Grail War in Linmen?!

Those all-powerful modifiers are basically Heroic Spirits, and the hosts are the masters!

And just my luck, Yan Huan is probably the Holy Grail in all this!!

Damn.

I declare-the first Holy Grail War in Linmen starts now!

With a look of utter despair, Yan Huan glanced at Meow-chan beside him, then rubbed its head and sighed,

"Saber Meow-chan, let's hide away with your master and live out the rest of our days."

"?"

Holding the jellyfish keychain in his hand-which was especially cold after spending the night outside-his heart felt cold too.

"Dear visitors, welcome to the Haishang Linmen Aquarium tourist site. Our aquarium uses professional marine ecological simulations to present a wealth of marine life to our guests-"

The aquarium's announcement sounded. Yan Huan stood up and saw that it looked like they'd be opening for business soon.

The gift shop that had opened yesterday also had its shutters pulled up by the staff, who then took out a broom to sweep the entrance.

Pinching the jellyfish pendant, Yan Huan thought for a moment, then walked over.

"Welcome, customer!"

Apparently not expecting anyone to come so early-since even the aquarium hadn't opened yet-the staff's greeting was a bit rushed.

Yan Huan nodded and casually glanced around the shop, then seemed to spot a small gift box.

On the gift box, the word "jellyfish" could just barely be seen.

Yan Huan blinked, thought for a moment, then took down the gift box and picked up another jellyfish-shaped plushie.

"I'll take these. Could you help me bag them?"

"No problem-cash, bank card, or-"

"Plane."

Yan 'Holy Grail' Huan raised his phone and made the first payment since the Linmen Holy Grail War began.

"You mean, you've been hearing voices-someone talking in your head?"

Linmen, in a certain high-end apartment in Jinghe District, in a huge sunlit living room, a woman in a light knit coat raised her eyebrows.

She looked at the golden-haired girl by the window, holding a dumbbell, and asked.

That girl was none other than Aria Spencer, who had clashed with Ye Shiyu yesterday.

Spencer nodded-the dumbbell in her hand seemed quite a challenge for her, so every repetition looked tough.

Spencer panted and said,

"Yeah, and it keeps saying weird things-"

The woman listening blinked and silently wrote something in her notebook,

"Suspected addiction to explicit content."

Then she asked again,

"Other than that, have you felt anything uncomfortable? Sleeping well? Has your appetite changed? Feeling irritable?"

Spencer put down the dumbbell, rubbed her chin in thought, and said,

"Hmm, as for appetite, I think it's been a bit affected-I've been eating less lately. But my sleep's been okay."

The woman raised her eyebrows again, glancing at the piles of snack bags on the coffee table-expensive chips, chocolates, all over the place.

No need to even ask.

The woman wrote in her notebook again,

"Appetite is good, exercises regularly, sleeps well."

"So, when do you usually hear these voices? At certain times, or when doing certain things?"

"When, huh..."

As Spencer pondered, a phantom interface suddenly flashed through her mind.

[Plunder Mode effect has ended. This time's gain: Plunder Energy +0.1]

[Current Plunder Energy: 0.1]

[Accumulate Plunder Energy to obtain the Power of Plunder. As your Plunder Energy increases, you will gain the following bonuses-]

[Your attractiveness to plunder targets will gradually increase]

[The victim's will to resist will gradually weaken]

[Your physique, resistance, and charm will gradually increase]

Spencer opened her mouth, and just as she was about to exclaim to the visiting psychiatrist,

"Right now! I can hear that voice!"

But at that moment, the dumbbell that had felt so heavy suddenly became a bit lighter.

She froze, thinking it was her imagination, so she flexed her muscles and lifted the dumbbell again.

But it wasn't her imagination-she really did feel it was easier, as if her strength had suddenly increased a little.

This...

Spencer stared in disbelief at the phantom text before her, watching as the distorted words finally formed a single sentence-

[Go ahead and use it without hesitation]

Looking at those words, her initial daze gradually turned into a trace of excitement.

"Miss Spencer?"

As the psychiatrist spoke in confusion, Spencer dropped the dumbbell to the floor with a "clang".

The psychiatrist was startled by the heavy sound, looked nervously downward, and was about to speak when Spencer coldly sneered,

"No need to worry-the whole building belongs to my mom. No one lives below."

"Yes, I know. I just wanted to ask-"

"No need to ask. I'm fine."

"Miss Spencer-"

Spencer's face suddenly turned cold. She looked at the psychiatrist and said,

"I said I'm fine. Just tell my mom I'm okay, and I'll go back to school like normal. Isn't that your job?"

The psychiatrist opened her mouth, then sighed and closed her notebook.

She slowly stood up, bowed to Spencer, and said,

"Alright, I understand. Then I'll take my leave. If you have any other issues, Miss Spencer, you can contact me anytime."

"Mm-hmm, got it."

Spencer didn't even look at her, just turned to gaze out the floor-to-ceiling window at the city gradually waking in the morning light.

Haishang Linmen.

From the high-rise apartment, Spencer could even make out the faint edge of the sea in the distance.

Her eyes grew more and more excited, as if some strange fire was gradually igniting.

"Click."

The door closed behind her-the psychiatrist had already left.

Spencer could no longer hold back and started jumping up and down, clenching her fists in excitement.

"Hehe."

"Bang!"

As she was jumping, she forgot she hadn't put the dumbbell away, and ended up kicking it barefoot.

"Hiss!!"

Her little face scrunched up in pain as she knelt down on the floor, clutching her big toe in agony.

"Oww... oww..."

Hugging herself, she rolled back and forth on the floor, the pain nearly bringing tears to her eyes.

Meanwhile, outside the window, the bright sunlight had finally broken past the horizon, shining into her spacious room.

It illuminated the coffee table in the living room behind her, where a letter lay casually beside some snacks and a game controller.

On it was written,

"Yuanyue International High School Admission Notice"

"Dear Aria Spencer, after careful consideration by the school board and the academic affairs office, we are pleased to inform you that you have been approved for admission for the spring semester of this year."

(End of this chapter)