Restricted Fantasy Invasion

Chapter 30

"Oh dear, you all have to help me, you must find her and bring her back, she still has to attend an event on Sunday." As soon as she got out of the car, Zuo Jiangqin followed right behind the police, anxiously stressing the importance of finding Bai Yi.

The police officer listening to her adjusted his police cap, which bore a qilin emblem and the words "Jinghe District Police Station," then glanced back at Zuo Jiangqin and simply asked,

"Ms. Zuo, what you should be worried about right now isn't some event. If you can't find your daughter, nothing else matters. And according to what you've said, your daughter left home on her own, right?"

"I..."

Blocked by his words, Zuo Jiangqin opened her mouth but couldn't say anything else.

"Alright, Ms. Zuo, we'll do our best to find her, I promise. Don't worry, okay?"

That one sentence was enough, and the officer didn't show any other expression.

After all, he knew exactly whose money kept the local police station's benefits running smoothly.

They were here to serve these people.

The officer tactfully looked away and walked into the campus.

Several of his colleagues behind him spread out, some looking for security, some for teachers.

At the same time, he pressed his Bluetooth headset and spoke to someone on the other end,

"Xiao Light, did you check the security footage in the neighborhood?"

"Checked it, Captain Jianghu. They said they've gone through all the security cameras near the villa, and from five to seven yesterday afternoon, no one was seen going out."

The officer surnamed Jianghu frowned in surprise, paused for a moment, then continued,

"...Check a few more hours back, and have someone check for any blind spots in the surveillance?"

"Okay. But Captain, I don't think it's likely she'd go to school, judging from the information Ms. Zuo provided. She rarely goes to school."

"Yeah. But we searched all night, so we can only try our luck here. Ms. Zuo is especially anxious, and asking her for information is like squeezing toothpaste-she only gives us a bit at a time, there's nothing I can do."

"Mm, I know. After working so hard all night, only this morning did she mention that she often talks about a classmate named Yan Huan in front of her daughter, and it seems her daughter ran away because of this."

Jianghu let out a silent sigh, but with Zuo Jiangqin still in front of him, he didn't say more and could only whisper,

"Her mind is completely occupied with what to do about that grand event this weekend now that her daughter's gone. If they don't show up, won't the penalty fee be huge?"

"Ha, of course."

Jianghu originally wanted the other party to get back to work while he went looking for the boy called 'Yan Huan.'

But suddenly, new information came through his earpiece,

"Oh, Captain. The information department just reported that Bai Yi's ID wasn't registered at any hotels last night. If our little celebrity didn't lower herself to sleep under a bridge in Jinghe District, then-"

Jianghu suddenly stopped in his tracks, muttering,

"She has somewhere to stay?"

Jianghu turned his head and quickly asked Zuo Jiangqin, who was standing behind him holding a sun umbrella,

"Ms. Zuo, does your daughter have anywhere she can stay besides home? Or does she know anyone in Linmen who could put her up?"

Zuo Jiangqin was stunned for a moment by the question, then after a few seconds slapped her forehead, as if suddenly enlightened, and said,

"She seems to have a best friend! Much older than her, owns a place in Jinghe District, maybe..."

"...Why didn't you tell us about this earlier, Ms. Zuo?"

"She-aiya, mainly that woman looks so shady, covered in tattoos. I'd already cut off their contact and told them to stop being friends, afraid she'd be a bad influence on my Yiyi. Who knew if they still kept in touch in private-I just forgot."

...

Jianghu was utterly speechless by now.

Even someone as even-tempered as him felt his blood pressure rising, and he almost wanted to take some quick-acting heart pills.

Ah, damn it.

Rubbing his brow, he truly loathed his job at this moment.

Forget it.

Hard to earn money, hard to eat shit.

After all, none of these rich people in Jinghe District could be offended.

Seeing Jianghu fall silent for a long time, Zuo Jiangqin took out her phone from her designer handbag and asked tentatively,

"How about...I try contacting her?"

Jianghu nodded with a headache and glanced at this top school in Jinghe District.

Yuanyue Academy.

Then he forced a smile at Zuo Jiangqin,

"Sure, go ahead. We'll go look for her in the meantime, alright?"

"Okay, I... Oh no, I don't remember the number. I'll look for Yiyi's agent first, just wait a moment."

"Mm-hmm."

Daughter, watch closely!!

This is how your dad works so hard to make a living!!

You must study hard in the future, and Dad will save up money for you to attend this elite high school!!

Jianghu cried tears of blood in his heart, silently screaming.

Escorted Zuo Jiangqin back into the police car, Jianghu also used the radio to call back all the colleagues who had spread out.

"Wee-woo wee-woo!!"

The police siren blared again as the car drove away from the school, leaving all the students inside utterly confused, watching them come and go in a rush.

Among them was Yan Huan, who arrived late.

He had originally wanted to find out what was going on, but since everyone had left, his wish was unfulfilled.

In essence, Yan Huan actually hoped the police wouldn't find out anything.

After all, if others discovered more anomalies caused by the modifier and started a thorough investigation-

That would be like walking a tightrope on the edge of exposing the modifier.

If she ever truly felt unsafe and the modifier self-destructed, then there'd be no way to operate at all.

Thinking carefully, among the known modifier owners, only Bai Yi's modifier was most likely to be exposed.

The other owners all took measures like memory modification after finishing, but Bai Yi's seemed to leave direct traces.

The marks on Zhou Bin's face, the paint on his own desk...

Once or twice is fine, but if it happens often, it's almost certain to draw attention.

Seriously-

Yan Huan took a deep breath, but his expression remained calm.

Just then, the security guard at the gate pavilion came over with a puzzled look, glancing at the entrance.

Yan Huan saw him, raised his eyebrows, and greeted him proactively,

"Uncle He!"

"Oh, Yan Huan, you're just in time... They said a student from our school named 'Bai Yi' ran away from home and went missing, so they came to the school to look for her-and specifically asked for you. Did they talk to you about anything?"

Look for me?

So Bai Yi running away from home is also likely related to me?

Plus, she holds such a grudge against me-

That's what Yan Huan thought to himself, but he smiled and shook his head on the surface,

"Nope, I just came by out of curiosity to check things out. Didn't see anyone, they'd all left."

"Strange, really... Well, let's hope nothing happens. She's just a young kid after all."

The security guard shook his head, waved, and turned to go back to his post at the gate pavilion.

Yet somehow, Yan Huan felt as if someone was watching him from behind.

He suddenly turned his head, but all he saw in the campus behind him were countless curious gazes from classmates.

Yan Huan silently turned away and left.

He didn't notice that, in a hidden corner of the teaching building, a lock of black hair was lifted by the breeze and then quickly settled back down.

Standing in that shadowy spot was Bai Yi herself, fully disguised with a bucket hat, sunglasses, and a mask.

She was not translucent, but her real self.

"Thump. Thump. Thump."

At this moment, the girl hiding there felt her heart racing and her mouth unbearably dry.

After all, it was her first time being searched for by the police like this, and on top of that, she already had all sorts of inexplicable superpowers.

If the effect of Indifference wore off while she was under a security camera, wouldn't that be as creepy as a ghost?

If someone found out-

"Tick-tock. Tap-tap."

Just as Bai Yi was worrying about being unable to explain herself and getting taken away for research, the sound of a clock, like dripping water, suddenly rang out, and words appeared before her eyes.

[Accumulated usage time: 3 minutes]

She had been using it continuously since last night, and the time was almost up.

Only ten minutes a day-couldn't it be a bit longer?

Even if time could be accumulated, it still seemed a bit too little.

Bai Yi pinched the pocket watch, and along with her previous worries, it turned into a simple question in her heart.

And at the very instant this thought popped up, the air around her seemed to grow colder, imperceptibly.

It felt as if everything had frozen solid.

"Crack crack crack."

[Congratulations, due to your continued use, the pocket watch has leveled up!]

[Level 1 → 2]

[The daily duration of the Indifference effect has increased to 20 minutes!]

[You have gained a new trait: Invisible Person Correction]

[Any unreasonable phenomena that might be discovered before or after you use the Indifference effect will be corrected by the pocket watch.]

[Corrections include but are not limited to technological products such as security cameras, phones, cameras, or other recording methods. However, human and animal eyes can still notice abnormalities, so please continue to be careful and cautious to ensure the pocket watch is not exposed.]

Bai Yi's beautiful eyes, hidden beneath her sunglasses, widened bit by bit, and then, seeing the accumulated time suddenly jump up by 20 minutes-

.

She didn't say anything, and her expression couldn't be seen under the mask.

The only thing visible was that her hand holding the pocket watch was gripping it tighter and tighter.

As the sunset gradually sank in the west, Yan Huan came out of the changing room with his backpack, having already changed out of his volleyball gym uniform. Sakuramiya Hitomi didn't return for elective class that afternoon, because of the little cat at home named Meiyue, so she had taken the afternoon off.

Yan Huan bought a bottle of sports drink from the vending machine and drank as he walked toward his class.

Just like Monday, there weren't many people in the teaching building; everything was quiet and peaceful.

Along the way, aside from the shadows cast by the pillars in the sunset, there was only the half-transparent masked girl standing in the hallway with her arms crossed.

Wait a minute, did something strange sneak in here?

The moment he realized something was off, Yan Huan nearly spit out his sports drink in one go.

Luckily, at the crucial moment, Perfect Expression Management activated instantly.

He walked right past her very naturally, while the girl with her face tightly covered just kept watching him, as if she wanted to do something.

And isn't this person's modifier usage time a bit too excessive?

He shouldn't have misheard in the exam room last Friday-there was a fifteen-minute countdown.

By lunchtime today, those fifteen minutes should have been up, so why can she still use it in the afternoon?

Hey, hello, I'm a parent, I want to report something!

Please set up an anti-addiction system for the modifier, it's corrupted my child Zihan!!

Although he didn't know what Bai Yi wanted, Yan Huan realized that he had to make his move.

Drinking his beverage, his expression became even more natural as he slowly walked toward Class A.

.

He hadn't even reached the classroom yet, but the 500ml drink in Yan Huan's hand was already just an empty bottle, leaving Bai Yi behind him a bit dumbfounded.

Was he that thirsty?

He finished all that in one gulp?

She crossed her arms, watching Yan Huan throw the empty bottle into the recycling bin, and once again the dark thoughts from noon surfaced in her mind.

After a moment of silence, she quietly followed in his footsteps.

The sun set, and the two of them walked down the corridor bathed in red.

One person's shadow stretched out long, while the other stood completely in the red light, as if she herself had become the shadow.

Yan Huan opened the classroom door and entered; after reporting the desk by the window that had been splashed with paint, the school had already replaced it.

Was he here to pack up his things?

But wasn't he already carrying his backpack?

In the next moment, Yan Huan pulled out the newly replaced desk and chair, revealing the wall behind them that had been hidden by the desk.

There were still quite a few traces of multicolored paint left on the wall.

Yan Huan just stared at the marks on the wall, then silently set down his backpack and took off his coat, revealing the black short-sleeved shirt underneath.

He turned and walked out of the classroom, and soon returned with a damp rag and a bottle of disinfectant spray from the restroom entrance.

In Bai Yi's puzzled gaze, Yan Huan slowly rolled up his sleeves.

First, he sprayed a line of disinfectant on the paint stains on the wall, then squatted down and carefully wiped the marks with the wet rag.

This guy-he's actually cleaning the paint marks off the wall?

Bai Yi was slightly stunned, and her original plan to act on her dark thoughts paused for a moment.

Because the paint had already dried, even with the help of the disinfectant, it was quite a bit of work to wipe off, but Yan Huan was meticulously scrubbing the marks again and again.

And those marks had been left behind for no reason at all because of her own resentment.

Maybe in his eyes, just like that girl from Class A, he probably thought he'd encountered a supernatural event, right?

Getting splashed with paint for no reason, and then having pebbles thrown at the window for no reason...

.

At that moment, as he was scrubbing the tiles, Yan Huan suddenly thought of something and took out his phone.

The phone he used was a pretty ordinary brand. Although in recent years smartphones have become highly competitive with many cost-effective models, it wasn't too shabby-

But his model did look like it had been used for quite a long time.

Bai Yi was very knowledgeable about electronics.

She saw him dial a number, then tilt his head to clamp the phone between his ear and his shoulder.

"Beep-"

"Sister Tong, it's me. Mm... I'll be a bit late getting to work at the shop tonight."

"...Mm, there's something I need to take care of at school first. I probably won't make the school bus and will have to take another bus back."

"Sorry, really sorry."

Smiling as he called in to take leave at his part-time job, he continued to wipe the paint off the wall with the rag.

Meanwhile, upstairs at the bar, Tong Yingtong was sprawled out on the bed, half-asleep and holding the phone in confusion.

Huh?

What's gotten into this kid?

Why is he suddenly being so polite?

Could it be that I'm dreaming?

I must be groggy from sleep.

"Mm-hmm... mm."

Thinking she was dreaming, Tong Yingtong casually agreed a few times and hung up the phone.

Then she scratched her belly, exposed between her pajamas and pants, rolled over, and hugged her pillow to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile, in Yuanyue's Class A classroom.

Hearing Yan Huan's phone call, Bai Yi finally realized that the rumors she'd occasionally heard at school were actually true.

Yan Huan, the student council president at Yuanyue Academy, the one so many people admired, really was working part-time to support himself?

And even for being a little late to work, he had to apologize to his boss so "meekly."

Seeing this, a despicable sense of superiority suddenly surged up in Bai Yi's heart.

She'd participated in quite a few variety shows over the years and even acted in movies-she was somewhat famous.

She'd earned a lot of money for her family, wore nice clothes, used good things, and lived in a good place-

So what if her mom always said he was smart and hardworking?

So what if she'd been picked out by the station's leaders at a glance?

So what if she was-

Maybe, probably, perhaps-

Very outstanding.

Yet she still had to struggle so hard just to get by?

That's what Bai Yi thought as she watched Yan Huan hang up the phone.

She watched him put his phone away, but he seemed unable to hide a tired yawn.

Even so, he still carefully cleaned off the paint from the wall, not showing the slightest impatience.

Looking at him like this, the superiority Bai Yi felt inside seemed to burst like fireworks-dazzling for a moment, but impossible to sustain.

Hidden under Indifference, she would never be noticed by anyone, so in this state, she was her truest self.

That despicable sense of superiority was more like a spring suddenly released after being compressed for a long time, just like the anger that drove her to act impulsively.

If you just think rationally, it's easy to see-she and Yan Huan really had nothing to do with each other.

From his perspective, he probably hadn't done anything at all, yet had to go through all this.

Normally, he had to study hard, handle all kinds of student council chores, and work after school to make ends meet-

And on top of that, he had to be haunted by "supernatural events" for no reason, so that even after school he'd come back quietly to clean up the colorful paint stains.

This really was Bai Yi's fault.

Economic theory assumes everyone is rational and always chooses the most reasonable option.

But in reality, people can't be rational all the time.

Especially when, day after day, you're compared to someone else-told that he's better than you, works harder than you, is more valuable than you-

Of course you'd hate the person you're being compared to.

But it's also hard to avoid, deep down, a surge of disgust and resistance toward him.

Especially when you have a pocket watch that lets you enter the Indifference state.

It's a magnifying glass, a tool that silently enlarges the filth inside you.

But reality is also that people can't always be irrational.

For example, right now.

Bai Yi, caught in the Indifference state, parted her lips slightly, but the dirty plan she had meant to carry out remained impossible to execute.

Yeah.

Wasn't it herself who hated the path arranged by her mother and agent the most?

"With conditions like yours, of course you should leverage your advantages and capture the looks-based fan market."

That's why she had always wanted to write songs, to create.

And yet, seeing the other person, who had the same, or even better, looks than herself but hadn't taken that route, did she actually feel superior because of the status she'd gained through her appearance?

Bai Yi felt regret, jealousy, and confusion all at once.

She regretted using the modifier on him, an innocent person, and mocking his situation so smugly before.

She was jealous because she seemed to truly understand what her mother had said, to understand his hardship and excellence.

People can't teach people, but events can teach people in an instant.

But why did someone like that have to appear in her life?

Since there is Yi, why must there also be Huan?

Bai Yi clenched her teeth, her delicate fists slowly tightening.

And finally, what confused her was-

Back then, he'd already been noticed by the higher-ups at the station, so why would he rather struggle like this now than go there?

No matter what, wouldn't that at least be easier than now?

It really makes one curious-

Are you truly that outstanding and hardworking, or...

Then let me see for myself, just what kind of person you are-the one my mother has been nagging about in my ear all this time.

"Phew, finally done."

After quite a while, Yan Huan finally wiped all the paint off the tiles.

He took a deep breath and stood up, patting his hands, which reeked strongly of alcohol.

Then he turned around, pretending to pack up and get ready to leave.

In reality, he just wanted to check on Bai Yi's state behind him.

Yet when his gaze swept over, the classroom was already empty-there was no sign of that girl anywhere.

.

Hmm, looks like this round of attacks has been temporarily defused.

Yan Huan rubbed his wrist and glanced at the time on his phone. It was just about time to head out for his part-time job.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder, but inwardly remained on guard.

Because he had a feeling that things with Bai Yi weren't over yet today.

(End of this chapter)