Restricted Fantasy Invasion

Chapter 8

Yan Huan walked into the gift shop carrying three freshly made drinks in his left hand. Since the shop was semi-open, he entered through another door.

Although it was quite a distance, Yan Huan could already see Ye Shiyu and, standing in front of her with her head raised and a cold sneer, the golden-haired beauty.

Yan Huan raised his eyebrows, quickly realizing that Ye Shiyu was having a conflict with someone.

He hurriedly stopped in his tracks, placing the other two drinks on a nearby shelf.

While picking up his own Lemon Blue Brew and inserting the straw to take a sip, he sneakily watched the increasingly tense scene over there.

Eating melon.jpg.

Oh, it seems that Contestant No. 1, Ye Shiyu, and the unknown No. 2, the golden-haired contestant, are arguing over the ownership of some item!

Judging by physical fitness, Contestant No. 2 is far superior to Contestant No. 1. Not only that, but even her words are more numerous and more oppressive than No. 1's?!

"What do you mean, just because you say no it's a no? What can you do if I want to take it?"

"."

Facing the aggressiveness of that golden-haired lioness, Ye Shiyu stood as immovable as an iceberg-or rather, she simply didn't know how to respond.

Oh dear, this is really tricky for Contestant No. 1, who isn't good at dealing with people. She's at a disadvantage for the moment!

Against such an opponent, can you win, Sister Shiyu?

Yan Huan kept up his lively commentary in his head while happily sipping his drink.

What a joke, just last night Ye Shiyu came to hypnotize him, making him have nightmares all night.

Yan Huan had already given her enough face in front of Ye Lan; now that he had a chance to see her stumble, there was no way he'd step in.

But in terms of strength, Ye Shiyu really was at a big disadvantage compared to the girl in front of her. The hand she used to grip the keychain was turning whiter and whiter.

"It's about to get snatched, the keychain."

"."

The cold sneer on the golden-haired girl's face deepened, even tinged with a strange excitement.

Watching this, the bystander Yan Huan bit down on his straw, feeling speechless.

What the heck, just arguing over a keychain?

It was normal for Ye Shiyu to be so obsessive. Given her habit of putting her name on everything, Yan Huan wasn't surprised she wouldn't give up once she set her sights on something.

But what's with the contestant on the other side?

She's not normal, and you're not normal either?

Yan Huan marveled at this excellent matching mechanism, and in the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw Ye Shiyu's left-hand phone light up.

"."

Can't beat the opponent, so Contestant No. 1 is going to cheat?

So, Coach Yan Huan's reaction is...

The coach, the coach is warming up!!

Yan Huan picked up the drink he'd set aside and walked toward the battlefield, speechless.

Here's the theory:

The modifier helps the host achieve their goals by cheating, and once the host gets a taste for it, they'll use the modifier more and more to satisfy their desires.

This, in turn, makes the modifier stronger, able to fulfill even more of the host's wishes, and its impact on reality grows deeper.

In short, it's a vicious cycle that drags daily life straight into hell.

Yan Huan felt that there were two key points to breaking this cycle:

First, quantitative change leads to qualitative change, so the frequency of using the modifier should be reduced as much as possible, so it doesn't get to the point where they need the modifier for everything.

Second, even if they use the modifier, they shouldn't get what they want, so they'll eventually realize that this path doesn't work and they'll have to solve problems in a more normal way.

Honestly, both are as hard as reaching the sky, but at least for now, Yan Huan could stop Ye Shiyu from using the modifier to deal with this problem.

After all, he was a model youth, especially with good morals.

Yan Huan's face, full of resentment, was hidden by the ability of Perfect Expression Management, transforming into the same expressionless look as Ye Shiyu.

He strode over, and it wasn't until he got close that the golden-haired girl, still caught up in the argument, realized someone was approaching.

She looked up and saw a handsome boy who seemed a bit... familiar walking over.

She subconsciously loosened her grip, causing the still-struggling Ye Shiyu to stumble back a step.

And that step back made Ye Shiyu bump right into Yan Huan's arms.

Feeling the burning warmth, Ye Shiyu's body stiffened, but she couldn't even stay in his arms for a moment before a hand firmly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her behind him, separating her from the other girl.

It looked like he was protecting Ye Shiyu, but in reality, he was preventing her from hypnotizing anyone else.

Last night, he'd heard the illusory sound from her, which was [Individual Hypnosis], meaning it could only be used when alone with someone.

With a third party present, her current modifier was useless.

Ye Shiyu blinked, her beautiful eyes gazing at the back in front of her.

Yan Huan also turned his head slightly at the right moment, as if he'd just bought his drink and didn't know what was going on, and asked with both concern and confusion,

"What happened, Sister Shiyu?"

"...Nothing."

Ye Shiyu gripped the keychain and replied.

Yan Huan's expression didn't change, but the golden-haired girl behind him bristled and said,

"Nothing? The keychain in her hand was mine first!"

Yan Huan turned his head, looked expressionlessly at the golden-haired girl, and asked,

"You got it first, really?"

The golden-haired girl froze at the question. Maybe because she found him familiar, she didn't continue the lie, but sneered instead,

"Even if we grabbed it at the same time, didn't I already compensate her? I said she could pick anything else of the same price, and I'd pay for it."

Yan Huan glanced at the price on the shelf-this tiny keychain was nearly a hundred, more expensive than many things in the store.

The tourist trap markup plus the decent craftsmanship made the only jellyfish keychain hanging there seem that much pricier.

"I'll pay double the price. Pick anything else you want, I'll pay. Will you accept?"

Hearing this, Ye Shiyu replied from behind, neither hurried nor slow, making it impossible to tell if she was suggesting or provoking.

Either way, the golden-haired girl took it as the latter.

Her sneer grew even more chilling: "Heh, I'm warning you, don't think you can act so fearless just because you brought your boyfriend for backup..."

Ye Shiyu shook her head at first, just looking at her, seemingly not understanding what she meant, still waiting for her reply.

"Snap!"

At that moment, Yan Huan expressionlessly snapped his fingers in front of the golden-haired girl, not only drawing her attention but also, like a match, igniting her rage meter.

"What are you doing?!"

The golden-haired girl was about to explode with anger, but Yan Huan couldn't even be bothered to respond, turning instead to give Ye Shiyu a helpless smile.

That smile, directed at the black-haired girl, was clearly helpless yet so patient, making the golden-haired girl's expression pause for a moment.

She weirdly broke off her angry outburst, and just watched as Yan Huan raised his hand and shouted loudly toward the entrance,

"Hello, we need some help here!"

"Coming, what can I help you with?"

The shop assistant at the door hurried over at the sound. Yan Huan pointed to the jellyfish keychain in Ye Shiyu's hand and said,

"There's only one of these keychains left on the shelf. We both want it. Do you have any more in stock?"

"Yes, yes, please come to the register first. The other customer, please wait a moment, I'll get one for you right away."

Yan Huan turned his head and looked at the golden-haired girl, whose outburst had been cut short. His expression was as speechless as that meme of a shrugging black streamer from his previous life.

Such a trivial thing, and you just had to make it so troublesome?

He almost wanted to say "idiot," but then thought it might splash onto the girl he was protecting behind him, so he let it go.

Yan Huan didn't say another word to the golden-haired girl, didn't even look at her, just picked up his drink, smiled at Ye Shiyu, and said,

"Sister Shiyu, let's go."

Ye Shiyu looked at him, and this time, she actually avoided Yan Huan's gaze, as if she also realized what she'd just done was a bit silly.

"Mm."

Yan Huan stood behind her, still keeping her separated from the golden-haired girl, and walked toward the counter.

The golden-haired girl didn't pursue them, just silently watched as they left, her gaze shifting back and forth between Yan Huan and Ye Shiyu's backs.

At the counter, the jellyfish was scanned for its price, ready for payment. Honestly, the service was pretty good-they even wrapped the keychain, which felt a bit wasteful for such a small thing.

Ye Shiyu picked up her phone, and only then did Yan Huan see a notification from a few minutes ago-it was a message from Ye Lan.

Sensing Yan Huan's gaze, Ye Shiyu opened plane and glanced at it, then turned to him and said,

"Mom just messaged, said we should wait a bit longer and find somewhere to sit and rest."

Wait a minute, could it be that the phone lighting up earlier was because...

"."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Realizing that Ye Shiyu might not have planned to use the hypnosis app just now, Yan Huan's smile almost cracked from the effort of holding it together.

"Beep!"

"Plane payment received, 99 yuan."

"Thank you for your purchase. Have a nice day."

Ye Shiyu carried the bag out the door and sat down on a bench with Yan Huan to rest.

As soon as she sat down, she couldn't wait to tear open the packaging, then took out a small sticky note from her own handbag.

Yan Huan caught a glimpse-each sticky note had her name printed on it,

"Ye Shiyu."

She took one, peeled off the backing, and stuck it to the side of the jellyfish keychain, pressing it down firmly with her finger to make sure it wouldn't fall off.

Just like that, this thing now belonged to her.

Yan Huan watched her movements, saw how smoothly she stuck on the name tag, played with it lovingly for a moment, and then put all her things back into her bag.

After finishing all this, Ye Shiyu finally looked up, meeting Yan Huan's gaze head-on.

"."

They looked at each other, neither looking away, but her pupils shrank ever so slightly.

Still smiling, Yan Huan was the first to hand over the drink they had just bought and said,

"Shiyu-jie, here's the drink we just bought. I didn't know what you liked, so I just picked something at random."

"Thank you."

Ye Shiyu nodded, glanced at the drink, and without hesitation reached into the bag for the banana sweet drink.

That was meant for Aunt Ye.

Yan Huan blinked, just about to say so, but suddenly thought of something and shut his mouth. Ah, could it be that Ye Shiyu actually likes banana-flavored drinks too?

But after taking the drink, Ye Shiyu didn't drink it right away; instead, she stared blankly ahead once more.

Her pale fingers traced the paper cup, outlining a hesitation no one else could read.

After a moment, that hesitation finally came to an end.

She looked up at Yan Huan and suddenly said,

"About earlier, thank you."

"It's nothing, it's what I should do, Shiyu-jie."

Yan Huan smiled slightly, just like his name.

Is he a person who likes to smile? But just now, he didn't look very friendly to that girl.

"."

Ye Shiyu showed no expression, turning her head to open the straw's packaging.

Well, even though I misunderstood about Ye Shiyu using the APP, it's not like I did anything wrong.

Ye Shiyu got what she wanted, the modifier wasn't used, and a potentially stupid dispute was avoided-a win-win.

Oh, wait, didn't that girl just now also get a jellyfish keychain?

Triple win, triple win.

Sipping his drink, Yan Huan thought so.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ye Shiyu gently pinch the straw and take a sip of the banana sweet drink.

Right after, her eyes gradually lit up, and her lips pressed together as if savoring the sweetness, unconsciously revealing a faint smile.

As expected, just like Ye Lan, Ye Shiyu also loves banana milk.

"Beep!"

"Plane payment received, 99 yuan."

"Thank you for your purchase. Have a nice day."

Having paid, the golden-haired girl took the jellyfish keychain that the shop assistant had finally fetched from the storeroom and exited the souvenir shop through another door.

She headed toward the plaza at the aquarium exit, so she didn't bump into Ye Shiyu and Yan Huan at the entrance.

As she walked, she held the jellyfish keychain up to the sunlight to examine it closely.

After a moment of silence, she curled her lips and commented,

"So ugly."

With that, she headed toward the nearby trash can, ready to throw it away.

But halfway there, a little girl in a grade-school uniform, clutching a cheap plastic pinwheel, ran past her, looking delighted with her toy.

Watching the little girl run, the golden-haired girl's bored expression was gradually replaced by an interested, mischievous grin.

"Hey~"

With that, she walked over to the little girl,

"Hey, kid."

"Huh?" The little girl with the pinwheel stopped running at the sound, turning to look at her in confusion, "What is it, big sister?"

The golden-haired girl crouched down with a smile and asked,

"Hey kid, what's your name?"

". Mom said I'm not supposed to tell strangers my name."

"Aria Spencer. You can call me Spencer."

".I-I'm Wenwen."

Is exchanging names some kind of ritual among kids?

"I really like your pinwheel. How about I trade you this pretty jellyfish keychain for it?"

"Huh?"

Spencer took out the exquisitely crafted crystal jellyfish, and for a moment, the sparkling crystal drew all the little girl's attention.

Even as a fourth or fifth grader, she knew something made this well must be expensive.

Yet, she glanced at the spinning pinwheel in her hand and still looked very hesitant.

But Spencer just sneered, shoved the jellyfish into her hand, and snatched the cheap plastic pinwheel she'd played with all morning.

"The pinwheel's mine now. Take the jellyfish and go play."

The little girl looked timidly at the domineering Spencer, then lowered her head, clutching the jellyfish keychain, and quickly ran off.

Spencer stood up, satisfied, and casually blew on the pinwheel in her hand.

But since it was cheaply made, the plastic pinwheel didn't move at all-it probably needed a lot of running to spin.

In short, trading a nearly hundred-yuan jellyfish keychain for this thing worth less than five yuan was a huge loss.

But even so, Spencer didn't seem upset-on the contrary, she was quite happy.

Pinching the little pinwheel, Spencer suddenly recalled what had happened just now in the souvenir shop.

After all, Spencer hadn't been interested in the jellyfish ornament while wandering the shop.

She'd only noticed the black-haired girl eyeing the jellyfish ornament and realized she really liked the jellyfish keychain.

So, she got interested-just like now, using the keychain to snatch a pinwheel the grade-schooler liked.

That's how the conflict over the keychain with Ye Shiyu happened earlier.

Well, now she had the keychain, but that wasn't what she really wanted-she wanted the one Ye Shiyu had.

Still, who would've thought that weird girl actually had such a doting boyfriend?

Speaking of which, doesn't that handsome guy look kind of familiar?

Where have I seen him before?

Spencer touched her chin, thinking hard, but in the end, she gave up-maybe because it was too much trouble.

Well, whatever, if I can't remember, then forget it.

Still, it's annoying not to have snatched it from that girl, and she even got what she wanted.

Tsk, didn't that voice say I could have anything I wanted to snatch? So it really was just an illusion?

Oh, wait-

I have to activate some kind of mode myself, and there's a side effect while it's on?

Can't remember.

Just as Spencer was blowing on the pinwheel and thinking, a familiar virtual interface suddenly popped up in front of her eyes,

[Activate Plunder Mode?]

Ah, right, right, right, this is the mode.

But staring at the virtual prompt in front of her, Spencer paused, suddenly recalling Ye Shiyu's expressionless face earlier.

After a moment, a mischievous grin suddenly appeared on her face-almost identical to the one she'd worn before snatching the little girl's pinwheel.

Well then, let's give it a try?

At that, she silently recited in her heart,

"Yes."

In just an instant, her stunning face was obscured by the shadow of her baseball cap, leaving only her golden hair shining even more brilliantly.

Immediately after, two yellow phantoms appeared above her head, like a pair of antennae-or maybe a pair of horns.

The phantoms burst with light, sending out an invisible, strange wave into the distance.

It seemed some kind of effect was being activated.

But she herself had no idea, even glancing doubtfully around her,

"Seriously? Feels like nothing happened at all?"

[Effect has been activated]

"."

Spencer could only choose to believe it for now.

Walking over to a trash can, she looked at the pinwheel in her hand and already felt bored with it.

Besides, this pinwheel isn't even that interesting-if it weren't for seeing that little brat playing so happily with it, she wouldn't have bothered to snatch it.

Boring, might as well throw it away.

Spencer wore a bored expression, preparing to toss the little pinwheel into the trash can.

"Mom, wuwuwuwu, it's her, she took my pinwheel! I didn't want to trade at all, but she forced me to, wuwuwuwu!"

Just then, behind her, the loud crying of a little girl abruptly interrupted her movement.

She turned her head in a daze and saw that same elementary school girl with tears streaming down her face, accompanied by an Auntie whose face was red with anger, glaring at her furiously,

"Damn it, you even steal a little girl's pinwheel-get over here!"

"Huh?"

Spencer was so frightened by the other's imposing manner that her body froze; she wanted to say, "I clearly traded your daughter my jellyfish keychain for it," but thinking about it, she hadn't actually heard the girl agree.

Besides, what's the point of taking it if the other party agrees?

At that moment, there were also a few security guards standing next to the Auntie, which made her panic instantly.

What the heck?

What did that little girl tell her mom to even get the security guards involved?

Her body trembled slightly with fear; not daring to respond, she clutched the little pinwheel in her hand and turned to run.

As she ran, she cursed wildly in her heart,

"Didn't it say the effect was already activated? Why can't I even snatch a little brat's pinwheel?!"

[Effect has been activated]

"You liar! What did you activate? I want to cancel it!"

[Effect has been deactivated]

"Damn it, you only respond at times like this?!"

[Effect has been deactivated]

"Aaaaaah!"

She completely relegated that illusory voice in her mind to the realm of hallucinations, and decided she needed to see a psychiatrist.

Of course, her legs didn't slow down at all as she ran.

"Huff huff~"

The little pinwheel spun with a creak and a whoosh.

As she dashed away, the pinwheel that wouldn't spin no matter how hard she blew on it earlier finally started to turn-quite miraculously.

"Still running, huh? Still running!? You shameless thing, bullying my daughter! I'll beat you to death, you little bastard!"

Up ahead, Spencer ran at an incredible speed, leaving the Auntie behind gasping for breath and furiously shouting after her retreating figure.

Hearing this, Spencer ran even faster.

(End of this chapter)