"Cough, cough."
On the path, after the Time Stop effect ended, Bai Yi clutched her stomach in agony and collapsed to her knees on the ground.
In just a few short seconds, she dry-heaved so violently that she could no longer throw anything up.
Yet vomiting seemed to be the mildest of her current agonies.
"Buzz..."
A piercing tinnitus made Bai Yi clutch her head, but the moment her hands made contact, a needle-like stabbing pain plunged deep into her brain.
"Hiss!"
Earlier, whether she was activating Time Stop or standing within it, Bai Yi had not felt much of anything, let alone any pain.
At most, the entire process had brought a slight numbness, coupled with feeling a bit cold.
She never expected that when time began to flow once more, it would bring such a heavy toll.
At this moment, whether it was the hand she used to stop the hour hand from turning, her internal organs, or her head, absolutely everything hurt like death.
"Sob..."
"Drip."
She tried to wipe the saliva from the corner of her mouth caused by vomiting, but upon a slight touch, a sudden warm current made contact with her skin.
"Eh?"
Bai Yi touched the space above her upper lip in disbelief, then looked down at her freezing cold fingers.
There, drops of scarlet bloomed like plum blossoms.
She had a nosebleed.
"Blood... blood... sob..."
Looking at the blood dripping onto her hand, Bai Yi's hemophobia immediately triggered.
Her consciousness instantly blurred, and the entire world began to spin.
Feeling extremely ill, she hugged her body, rolled sideways onto the nearby grass, and started to pant irregularly.
Feeling that intense pain, she still uselessly burst into tears.
"Boo-hoo-hoo, it hurts so much... I-I shouldn't have used it... I should have just run away, then I wouldn't be in so much... pain... boo-hoo-hoo..."
"Crack, crack, crack..."
The instant this thought emerged, the pocket watch did not even have time to react before it was heavily pummeled by Bai Yi's spineless regret, metaphorically knocked flat to the ground.
If the pocket watch possessed sapience like Little Finger, it would probably be screaming curses right now.
It had already warned her that the longer the duration, the heavier the burden. Yet she was even crazier than Dio, casually keeping it active for nearly ten minutes on her very first try.
Furthermore, to prevent her from swearing off Time Stop in the future, the pocket watch had done its absolute best to suppress the side effects.
Who could have known that this girl would instantly wimp out at the mere sight of a nosebleed, even uselessly generating thoughts of regretting using the pocket watch...
If this were a superpower battle anime, what would happen if any other Host possessed this Ability?
Being able to maintain Time Stop for so long, let alone a mere nosebleed, who wouldn't yell out 'Pocket watch is awesome!' even while bleeding from all seven orifices?
But the truth was, it could not speak. It could only watch helplessly as Bai Yi's thoughts landed like a heavy punch squarely on its face.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
Along with a phantom shattering sound, another emerald green Fragment fell from the pocket watch.
After that, the pocket watch seemed entirely dead, unwilling to let even its second hand tick a single time more.
"Little Finger, where are you going?"
An Le followed the leading Little Finger. Watching from her fifteen-meter limit, she saw its pink and white body weave nimbly through the woods, quickly stopping before a set of old, weathered steps.
Little Finger raised its head and flicked its tongue, staring at the emerald green Fragment floating in mid-air right in front of it.
"As expected, it's a Fragment from one of the other Finger-class Modifiers. I just don't know if it was dropped during a fight or..."
It muttered to itself, slithering in a circle around the Fragment, before whispering,
"Besides, whose Fragment is this? It looks so abstract after falling off; who could possibly recognize it?"
An Le bent down and pushed through the vegetation, arriving in front of Little Finger. She looked at the Fragment radiating a jade-green halo and asked in confusion,
"Wh-what is this? It looks so disgusting..."
"Disgusting?"
Little Finger paused slightly and looked back at An Le.
It quickly realized something:
The true essence of a Fragment would have its shape distorted in reality, which meant that what An Le was seeing was different from what it saw.
"Yeah... it looks like... some kind of green slime secreted by something... But why is it glowing?"
"Hmm."
Little Finger flicked its tongue, inspecting the Fragment for a long time. It still could not figure out who had dropped this Fragment, nor how it had fallen.
An Le squatted in front of the Fragment and turned her head to look at Little Finger, her face full of doubt.
"It looks really supernatural... Little Finger, is this thing related to you?"
"...No."
Little Finger flicked its tongue, feeling exceptionally conflicted upon hearing this question.
Indeed, it was only a matter of time before the Hosts realized the existence of other Finger-class Modifiers and other Hosts.
Because as the Hosts' Desires and authority gradually expanded, they would inevitably come into a conflict of interests with the other Hosts.
However, An Le's situation was extremely complicated...
She possessed a strong moral compass. Even though it had repeatedly tempted her to try a few times, she still had not tasted any of the sweet benefits of using her Abilities.
Coupled with her inherently weak personality, it was very difficult for her to develop the willpower to fiercely compete against others.
Under these circumstances, if you told her about the existence of other Hosts and Finger-class Modifiers...
She would probably just surrender immediately at the fifteen-minute mark.
Thinking up to this point, Little Finger speechlessly flicked its tongue and was forced to explain,
"This is naturally generated... Hmm, something akin to a spirit entity or Resentment."
An Le blinked, immediately speaking with a worried expression,
"Then if we just leave it alone... will it latch onto other people, or turn into some supernatural event? Is there any way to fix it?"
"..."
Hearing her worried words, Little Finger practically rolled its eyes so hard they could reach the heavens.
Sometimes, as a Modifier meant to wreak havoc on the world, it felt quite helpless.
It had no idea why it had chosen such a compassionate, warm-hearted girl who loved to grieve over the universe and pity mankind to be its Host.
It also didn't know why An Le would subconsciously consider others like this.
Was it because she wanted to receive a silk banner?
Or did the village hand out gold bars for acting this way?
When the time comes and every other Host manages to get a chicken dinner, you can just hug your 'heroic citizen' silk banner and cry for the rest of your life!
"Well... That is true. Let's take it away and find a secluded place to hide it."
Despite saying this, Little Finger had originally rushed over with the intention of dealing with this Fragment anyway.
It needed to prevent Index Finger from devouring this Fragment.
Little Finger did not possess the Ability to Devour the Fragments of other Finger-class Modifiers to evolve; that was a unique characteristic belonging only to Index Finger.
Index Finger was the most aggressive among the five fingers. Even if the Thumb Modifier, which possessed full Resistance, approached it, it would still have a Fragment viciously bitten off.
Index Finger could transform devoured Fragments into a substitute for Desire to strengthen itself, while this strengthening effect would, in turn, amplify its Host's Desire to demand even more.
It could rightfully be called a Desire Perpetual Motion Machine.
However, Index Finger was also the most fragile of all the Finger-class Modifiers. If its Host's emotional fluctuations were even slightly too strong, it would react extremely violently, making it very prone to dropping Fragments.
And once a Fragment was dropped, Index Finger would inevitably fall into a weakened state, completely unresponsive to its Host's summons for a period of time.
Thinking of this, Little Finger couldn't help but chuckle sinisterly, saying inwardly,
'This is the absolute information advantage possessed by my brilliantly clever self!! It's my greatest reliance for victory!!'
'Aside from that completely unnoticeable Nameless Finger, I know the strengths and weaknesses of the other Finger-class Modifiers like the back of my hand!!'
At the same time, it cast an extremely dissatisfied glance at An Le beside it, who was still worrying about whether someone else might come along, and thought with a feeling of unappreciated talent,
'I spent a long time carefully selecting Tong Yingying. She would have been an absolutely perfect Host.'
'Who knew she would actually reject me? Now I'm a tiger fallen on flat ground, forced to accept a useless piece of trash like An Le as my Host...'
But it had no other choice now; it could only bite the bullet and carry on.
Little Finger moved a bit closer to the Fragment, opening its large mouth wide while speaking to An Le,
"I'll swallow it into my stomach to hide it for now, then we can find some time later to go to some barren mountain in the middle of nowhere... Oh, wait, Linmen doesn't even have any mountains.
"If all else fails, we'll just throw it into the sea, and then it won't matter."
The next second, it swallowed the Fragment into its belly in one single gulp.
"Burp~"
Letting out a loud burp, Little Finger flicked its tongue and returned to An Le's shoulder in deep satisfaction,
"Alright, let's retreat!"
An Le pursed her lips and nodded, bringing Little Finger out of the small woods.
She looked at Little Finger's stomach, which remained completely flat even after swallowing the Fragment, and couldn't help but ask,
"Little Finger... is this kind of supernatural power very common? Or rather, do things like ghosts actually exist?"
Little Finger flicked its tongue, glancing at her before answering with a question of its own,
"Do you want them to be common?"
"H-How should I put it..."
"Let's ask this another way: What if one day, people with superpowers just like yours appeared? What would you think of them?"
"Eh?"
An Le blinked, answering sincerely,
"I'd want to try to make friends with them or something like that?"
"...And what if they absolutely don't want to be friends with you?"
"Then... then forget it, it's fine if we don't become friends..."
Little Finger almost choked on its breath, forcing itself to ask another question,
"And what if they go even further? What if they use their superpowers to steal your things? What will you do then?"
"I-I don't really have anything worth stealing..."
"What about Yan Huan?"
"X-Xiao Huan..."
An Le pursed her lips, remaining completely silent for a long moment before saying,
"I-If they want to hurt Xiao Huan... I will protect him!"
"Protect him, my foot! You can't even protect yourself!"
"Ugh..."
An Le was scolded so hard she couldn't lift her head, so she had to change the subject, saying,
"But Little Finger, aren't you assuming the worst in people? Even if they have superpowers, it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad people, right?"
"Heh."
Little Finger and An Le—one a realist who firmly believed in the zero-sum game, and the other a liberalist who fully believed in win-win cooperation—were fundamentally completely unable to find common ground.
Little Finger merely felt that not telling her about the existence of the other Hosts was an absolutely correct decision.
Otherwise, when the time came, this idiot would definitely carry it right up to their front doors to 'make friends', and it would be a miracle if they didn't get brutally beaten to their knees by the other Finger-class Modifiers.
"..."
Seeing that Little Finger had stopped speaking, An Le carefully cast another glance at it.
To her sudden surprise, a lump seemed to be bulging out of Little Finger's head, making it look pointy.
Her eyes widened in shock, and she hurriedly spoke up to warn it,
"L-Little Finger, y-your head! Why is the top of it so pointy?!"
Little Finger thought An Le was just feeling awkward and making up conversation, so it replied impatiently,
"Then let me ask you..."
But as it spoke, it suddenly felt as if it had been poisoned by a toxic mushroom. The entire world before its eyes began to distort into a bizarre, kaleidoscopic swirl.
It wobbled its head dizzily, and even its entire speech center seemed to have been poisoned as well,
"Ugh... I ask... Eh? I... um..."
Little Finger spoke in a daze, its eyes already swirling into spiraling coils.
Unable to hold on for even a single second, the entire snake began foaming at the mouth and tumbled straight off An Le's shoulder.
"Bleh!!"
"Little Finger! Are you okay?!"
An Le hastily reached out, catching the falling Little Finger in mid-air.
However, she failed to realize that at this very moment, a phantom, ghostly green smoke was continuously leaking out of Little Finger's body.
Those faint wisps of smoke that Little Finger had failed to absorb completely surged straight into her own body.
Consequently, An Le's worried little face instantly turned a shade paler,
"Achoo!!"
Immediately after, she violently let out a huge sneeze.
Meanwhile, inside the flower room, right after the Time Stop had ended.
The very moment the Time Stop concluded, all the tactile sensations from Bai Yi madly groping him during the frozen time flooded over him like a tidal wave.
He let out a muffled groan, his body going soft, yet the force of his grip on Spencer's hand only intensified.
"Mmph!"
Beside him, Spencer's pupils also shrank as she finally broke free from that constantly struggling, psychedelic trance.
Just as she regained her senses, she saw the limp Yan Huan leaning over toward her. She hastily reached out to hold him up and asked,
"Yan Huan, are you okay? Just now..."
The faint scent of Spencer's body wash washed over him, clearing Yan Huan's mind a little.
He patted Spencer's waist, gesturing for her to let him go, but with just this light touch, Spencer's expression shifted in startlement. She flushed slightly and whispered,
"T-That tickles... Wh-why are you touching my waist?"
"..."
Hearing this, Yan Huan almost choked on his own breath.
Because right behind him, a bone-piercing chill had already come howling his way.
For Yan Huan and Spencer, they had spent roughly ten minutes inside the Time Stop.
But for Ye Shiyu, it had only been a single second.
To her, one second she saw Xiao Huan holding onto Spencer's hand, and the very next second, she saw Xiao Huan throwing himself entirely into Spencer's embrace.
'Fine, very fine...'
'Since it has come to this, I have no desire to distinguish right from wrong anymore!'
'Hypnosis, activate—'
Just as she was about to activate her Hypnosis, she failed to notice a phantom green mist suddenly leaking from her mobile phone—the very phone that had bitten off a Fragment of Bai Yi's Modifier during the Time Stop earlier.
Although it was only a tiny amount, the moment that green mist entered Ye Shiyu's body, she went completely weak almost instantaneously.
"Thump!"
Her skin physiologically flushed with a rosy red hue. The hand that had originally meant to raise her mobile phone felt as if it were burdened by a thousand pounds, rendering it completely immobile. Instead, her entire body went limp, dropping to one knee on the ground.
"..."
"Sister Shiyu?"
Yan Huan heard the sound, turning back to look, his expression immediately shifting into one of pure disbelief.
He saw tiny, dense red spots breaking out all over Ye Shiyu's hands, as if she were having an adverse allergic reaction.
The mobile phone dropped uncontrollably to the floor, acting as if it were poisoned right alongside Ye Shiyu; its screen flickered poorly with static noise.
Ye Shiyu began to pant with extreme discomfort, but bizarrely, she still maintained her expressionless face, like one of her Dolls.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
Her face was flushed red, and she was panting heavily, yet her expression remained perfectly dull and calm...
For some reason, seeing this sight caused Yan Huan's Adam's apple to bob slightly.
It was as if it reminded him of those adult manga featuring aloof, emotionless heroines that he used to read in his previous life.
Something along the lines of: 'The Gyaru who came over to read manga at my house'?
Anyway...
It was pretty appealing.
Seeing this, Myau-chan, who was standing on Yan Huan's shoulder, looked confused and meowed at him,
"What happened to Ye Shiyu, meow?"
"...I don't know, but my intuition tells me it has something to do with Bai Yi."
Yan Huan replied to Myau-chan in his mind, then immediately broke free from Spencer's embrace and hurriedly said to Ye Shiyu,
"Are you feeling sick, Sister Shiyu? I'll call an ambulance; hold on for a moment."
The school infirmary was obviously ill-equipped to handle an illness of this magnitude, and Yan Huan doubted that Ye Linna, who was only good at writing sick notes for students, could do anything about it.
"X-Xiao Huan..."
In Ye Shiyu's eyes, Yan Huan's worried face became increasingly seductive, radiating an alluring scent like an irresistible treat.
As her body temperature grew hotter and more feverish, she groggily beckoned Yan Huan with her finger.
Yan Huan, who was dialing the phone, paused slightly and was just about to step toward her.
But Spencer blocked the space between them, speaking out to Yan Huan,
"It's fine, I'll watch her. You just go call for help."
"...Sp... Spencer..."
Seeing Spencer's back completely blocking Xiao Huan's body, Ye Shiyu's extremely feverish consciousness grew even more chaotic.
"What do you want?"
"Get out of the way, I want Xiao Huan... to come over..."
Spencer looked at her, thought for a second, then gave a cheeky laugh,
"Nope."
"..."
Hearing this, and staring at Spencer's incredibly punchable, evil smile, Ye Shiyu finally failed to maintain even her expressionless face; her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
She was actually so furious that she fainted on the spot, collapsing flat onto the ground.
"Wee-woo, wee-woo..."
At the gates of Far Moon Academy, the siren of an ambulance blared loudly.
Fortunately, the afternoon elective classes had already begun; otherwise, there was no telling how many students would have crowded around to gawk at the commotion.
"Shiyu, are you okay?"
"..."
Several paramedics loaded the flushed and heavily panting Ye Shiyu onto a stretcher. Ye Lan had rushed over immediately after receiving the news.
Looking at the semi-conscious Ye Shiyu on the stretcher, she couldn't help but ask Yan Huan and Spencer, who had accompanied her the entire time,
"Xiao Huan, what happened to your sister?"
"I don't know either, Aunt Ye. Just a moment ago, Sister Shiyu was perfectly fine, but then she suddenly acted like she felt sick and fainted."
Ye Lan then looked toward Spencer, which snapped the dazed girl back to her senses. Spencer spoke with a somewhat unnatural expression,
"That's right."
"..."
Yan Huan looked past Ye Lan at the closing doors of the ambulance behind her and offered,
"Aunt Ye, let me go to The Hospital with you, to wait until Sister Shiyu's test results come out."
Hearing this, a faint smile appeared on the worried Ye Lan's face. She shook her head and said,
"It's fine, it will just be me and her going. You stay at school and focus on your classes. I'll let you know the minute the results are out."
"Alright then."
Yan Huan smiled slightly and didn't insist further.
After asking Yan Huan a few more questions, Ye Lan dialed a work-related phone call as she climbed into her black electric car.
It was obvious that she had dropped a significant amount of work to rush over.
"Well then, Xiao Huan, Auntie is leaving now. I'll contact you later."
"Got it, Aunt Ye."
Yan Huan waved his hand, watching as Ye Lan's black electric car and the ambulance vanished from sight together.
Only then did he stuff his hands into his pockets, intending to head back into the school.
But out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed that Spencer was still staring blankly in the direction Ye Lan had left, lost in thought.
"..."
Looking into her sky-blue eyes that seemed to gaze through reality itself, Yan Huan stayed silent for a long moment before finally speaking up to remind her,
"Let's head back, Spencer."
"...Alright."
Hearing this, Spencer barely returned to her senses, hurrying to catch up to Yan Huan as he turned and walked back onto the campus.
Hands still in his pockets, Yan Huan strolled through the Commercial Street, which was incomparably quiet in the afternoon due to classes being in session.
Spencer followed close behind him, glancing up at the heavy preoccupation clearly written on his face.
With Yan Huan's figure reflected in her clear gaze, Spencer stayed silent for a second before asking somewhat hesitantly,
"Yan Huan... did I mess things up again?"
"..."
Yan Huan raised an eyebrow and turned back to look at her.
"...What did you mess up?"
Spencer stood frozen in place, looking at Yan Huan while unnaturally scratching the back of her head.
"I originally said I wanted to stay and help you... But it feels like I didn't accomplish anything, and instead, I just made your mood even worse..."
Yan Huan simply looked at her without a word.
Spencer held out her hands, explaining in a flustered haste,
"At the time, that Ye Shiyu looked like she had already spotted me. I wasn't afraid of her, so I just stood up...
"Even though I didn't know what I was going to do when I stood up, I wasn't lying. I really did see that Bai Yi back there."
Spencer hurriedly trailed after Yan Huan. As if afraid he wouldn't believe her, she began mimicking Bai Yi's sneaky behavior from earlier,
"She was just standing there, acting all sneaky and suspicious, looking like she was full of bad intentions...
"And when I wanted to grab her and drag her back to show Ye Shiyu, I suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable... Ugh, I don't know how to describe the feeling...
"Anyway, it felt like I was completely bound up... like my whole body was stuck in chewing gum, so I just had to hold onto your hand tightly and stuff..."
Hearing this, Yan Huan finally couldn't hold back a chuckle.
It seemed he had thought of how Bai Yi's defenses had been broken by Spencer clutching his hand in a death grip during the Time Stop earlier.
Seeing Yan Huan flash a smile, Spencer curled her lip and said,
"Anyway... I really did see that Bai Yi, I wasn't ly—"
But before she could finish, Yan Huan spoke up.
He said:
"I believe you."
Spencer's original explanation instantly caught in her throat. Her expression seemed to melt away under the slight heat rushing to her cheeks, turning into a blank daze.
Along with that, the figure of the peacock in her eyes seemed to blur and distort even further.
And so, as if her eyes were feeling dry, she reached up and rubbed them,
"Okay... Then I-I'm going to go train now, I'll be leaving first..."
Yan Huan nodded subconsciously, and Spencer turned and headed toward the Athletics Field.
But they hadn't been separated for even a second before Yan Huan suddenly realized something.
His face darkened, and he whipped his head around, shouting a question at Spencer's back,
"Hold on, what are you training for? Isn't it class time right now? If you're not going to class, what exactly are you doing?!"
"..."
Hearing Yan Huan's words, Spencer's back stiffened slightly.
She then turned around to look at Yan Huan, blinked, and broke into a mischievous smile,
"Ehe~"
The next second, she bolted into a mad sprint, quickly vanishing completely from sight.
"Ehe, my foot..."
Yan Huan curled his lip, speechlessly massaging the space between his eyebrows.
But then again, after experiencing all that drama at noon today, he had completely lost the mood to attend his elective classes anyway.
It was all Spencer's fault; she had infected him with the 'hating to study' virus!
He absentmindedly pulled out his mobile phone to check the time, then headed back in the direction of the flower room.
He planned to go look for that Fragment of Bai Yi's that had been blown away.
'If this is begging, then so be it. The girls are all using cheat codes and doubling their stats; what's wrong with me scrounging for some scraps to survive?'
'Trying to stay alive isn't anything to be ashamed of.'
"That Fragment shouldn't have been blown too far. It's definitely still in the school... assuming someone else hasn't already picked it up."
"Could someone else actually pick it up?"
"Hmm, but actually, only the other Modifier Hosts would be able to do it, meow. Normal people can't see it at all."
Myau-chan revealed his figure, sniffing around in front to lead the way while Yan Huan followed behind.
"And besides Ye Shiyu, it seems the other Modifiers don't have the Ability to digest Fragments. Picking it up would only serve as a decoration, meow."
Sniff, sniff~
As he kept sniffing, Myau-chan's eyes suddenly lit up, and he sprinted wildly in a specific direction.
"Yan Huan, over here!"
Yan Huan followed close behind. Before long, on the path not too far from the flower room, he spotted a glowing green orb floating above the grass by the roadside.
Next to the glowing green orb, there was also a pile of vomit.
"..."
Yan Huan glanced at the vomit and rubbed his chin.
"This much... Did Bai Yi throw all of this up? It looks like she threw up everything she ate since yesterday..."
"Meow?"
"It seems that using Time Stop isn't entirely without a price, Myau-chan."
Myau-chan blinked and turned to look at the Fragment in front of him. Subconsciously, he opened his mouth, wanting to swallow it whole as usual, saving it to upgrade Yan Huan's Modifier this weekend.
But just as he was about to make a move, Yan Huan suddenly reached out from behind, forcefully pressing down on Myau-chan's head.
"Meow?"
"Wait, Myau-chan."
Yan Huan studied the floating green orb before him. Empowered by the Sakuramiya Fragment, his inspiration allowed him to see it clearly...
Atop what looked like the pus secreted from a toad's back, countless wisps of phantom green smoke were attached.
"This Fragment... It feels entirely different from the previous ones, Myau-chan. If we touch it directly..."
While speaking, Yan Huan tentatively reached out a finger.
Just as he made this motion to approach, the green smoke contained within the Fragment grew restless, immediately surging toward Yan Huan's finger.
With just a tiny wisp touching his hand, Yan Huan instantly felt a numb sensation in his finger and violently snatched his hand back.
"This familiar feeling... It's a Debuff."
Because of the Evolution Path that Yan Huan had chosen, he was far too familiar with this sort of thing.
This smoke... wasn't this the exact same smoke that coated the higher-Level option whenever he had to choose from three rewards?
It meant:
It would randomly inflict you with a curse.
"Hiss... could this possibly be a special characteristic of Bai Yi's Modifier?"
"Meow?"
Myau-chan turned his head back. Staring at the Fragment right in front of him—one that could be seen but not eaten—he turned into a little glutton.
"Then what should we do, meow?"
Yan Huan rubbed his numb finger together and analyzed the situation,
"This smoke isn't as condensed as mine. It doesn't look permanent; meaning it's a curse with a time limit.
"In other words, right now we need to find some unlucky bastard to endure the curse before we can safely consume this Fragment."