"Click."
"Meow~"
Just as the door was pushed open, Myau-chan leaped down from Yan Huan's shoulder and scurried into the room.
Yan Huan changed his shoes at the entryway. At that moment, his mobile phone chimed softly. He opened it to find an email from the secretariat of the Jinshi Group in his inbox.
It detailed the responsibilities of an educational counselor at Far Moon Academy, primarily focusing on academic duties.
This included creating a study plan for her and supervising her academic discipline.
After reading the entire message, Yan Huan couldn't help but glance at the heavy suitcase in his hand.
In other words, Spencer would still be returning to Far Moon Academy from now on.
Then his guess had been entirely correct. Letting Spencer handle her academic status herself was exactly what her mother had wanted.
Finally confirming that Spencer wouldn't be leaving the school, Yan Huan breathed a sigh of relief.
Yan Huan shook his head. Just as he stood up to head back to his room, Myau-chan came running back.
"Yan Huan, all of Spencer's things are gone, meow."
"...That's normal."
Yan Huan walked into the bedroom and took a look. Sure enough, the suitcase she had brought, along with the Golden Bomb Pig toy that had been sitting at the head of the bed, were entirely gone.
From the looks of it, Spencer's mother had already determined that she would return the moment her academic status was restored, and had thus prepared in advance.
Yet even so, Spencer's mother had still allowed her to return to the South Ward after finishing up.
After all, Spencer had completed her academic status reinstatement in the Kyogo Ward by two or three in the afternoon.
This meant that if An Le hadn't used her powers, Spencer's mother would have left enough time for her to have one last dinner with him...
Although the other party seemed fond of making him guess her intentions, which was honestly a bit troublesome at the moment.
But realizing this, Yan Huan at least formed a basic impression of Spencer's mother.
"Phew, this small case of money, plus the White Card Aunt Ye gave me... I've truly never fought such a well-funded battle."
Feeling the weight of the heavy case, Yan Huan raised an eyebrow and turned to Myau-chan.
"Hiss, this isn't good. Am I really going to end up living off a woman like a gigolo from now on?"
"There's no need to think like that, meow! Just treat it as the reward I'm giving you to resolve the Modifier, and accept it generously!"
Hearing this, Yan Huan looked speechlessly at Myau-chan, who was looking up from his feet with sparkling eyes, and retorted,
"...Myau-chan, you really have no shame."
"Meow?!"
Ignoring Myau-chan, who was standing there doubting his feline existence, Yan Huan temporarily shoved the money case under his bed, planning to figure out what to do with it at the bank over the weekend.
The main problem was that because of An Le's stunt, Yan Huan hadn't even gotten to eat dinner.
Going downstairs to eat was too troublesome, so Yan Huan decided to order takeout and make do.
After changing into comfortable loungewear, Yan Huan had just taken out his mobile phone to order food when he caught sight of several white garments fluttering outside the windowsill.
A complete set of athletic wear, a decently sized white bra, and a triangular piece of fabric printed with cartoon patterns...
"Hmm?"
On the table, Myau-chan paused licking his paw pads and followed his gaze outside.
"It seems even the most careful plans have a loophole, meow."
Right. When Spencer had come over the day before yesterday, she had gotten soaked in the rain and changed her clothes.
The wet clothes had been washed and hung outside the windowsill to dry but were never brought back in. As a result, when the Jinshi Group's people came to pack up, they completely missed the clothes hanging outside.
Thus, they had left behind a precious holy relic for Yan Huan.
As he stared, Myau-chan turned his head to look at Yan Huan and asked,
"Yan Huan, are you going to use that as material tonight?"
"Material my ass! I think you're just begging for some tough love!"
Hearing this, Yan Huan's face instantly darkened.
Immediately, he grabbed the chubby Myau-chan and began to rub and squeeze him aggressively, causing the cat's face to wrinkle as he struggled in his arms.
"I was just thinking of you, meow! You held back so painfully during the two days Spencer was here. Venting a little is good for your health!!"
"Tormenting you right now is plenty of venting, you know?"
Yan Huan gritted his teeth, squeezing Myau-chan's paw pads and making the cat repeatedly smack itself in the face.
"If you really care so much and want to help me, then you might as well unlock some good items for me!"
"But didn't you really enjoy using the Kiss God ability I unlocked for you last week, meow?!"
Yan Huan paused slightly, loosening his aggressive grip on Myau-chan.
"...That is true."
However, bringing this up reminded Yan Huan of Sunday. When he had been favored by the Lustful Demon, it had mentioned that intimate actions with young women would be rewarded by the Demon's Shop.
Thinking of this, Yan Huan first released the useless Myau-chan and silently chanted in his mind.
'Demon's Shop...'
After calling out three times, illusory mist began to rise around him, just like before.
Only this time, the mist seemed as if it had been polluted by neon lights—it was entirely an ambiguous shade of pink.
"Hehehe..."
Entering that night-dark sea once again, Yan Huan didn't have to wait long before a statue of a completely nude woman surfaced from the pitch-black water before him.
Three pink crabs clung to the three crucial points of the statue, acting like a makeshift set of lingerie to slightly obscure the blood-pumping sight.
[Congratulations. You have completed the intimate actions "Sharing a Bed" and "Sleeping in an Embrace" with the young woman, Spencer.]
[Your actions have pleased the Lustful Demon. She will grant you a free reward and reset the penalty for not purchasing any items for two weeks.]
The next second, a pink orb of light emerged from the surface of the sea in front of the female statue.
The orb of light hovered in front of Yan Huan and eventually materialized into the shape of a pair of spectacles and a compass.
[Black-rimmed Glasses]
[By wearing these glasses, you will receive the following bonuses:]
[Your vision will be enhanced to the absolute human limit. Your Intelligence and Charm will be increased by 25%.]
[However, while wearing these glasses, your stamina consumption will double.]
[Love's Compass]
[Once a day, silently chant the name of the object or person you wish to find, and it will guide you in their direction.]
[Its cooldown will be instantly reset whenever you perform the following actions:]
[Kiss a member of the opposite sex whom you have never kissed before for one minute; or engage in intercourse with a member of the opposite sex whom you have not yet been intimate with.]
[Furthermore, it possesses a special property: its effects will absolutely never be influenced by any Modifier.]
Looking at the palm-sized compass slowly descending into his hand, Yan Huan's brow twitched.
'Isn't this thing just Captain Jack Sparrow's magic compass?'
'Do you think slapping a traditional bronze skin on it means I won't recognize it?'
'Well, it's better than nothing. It should be pretty useful when I lose things and can't find them.'
How should he put it? This reward business was exactly like Yan Huan's tolerance for the behavior of Modifier Hosts.
The more outrageous the Hosts' behavior, the more effort Yan Huan had to spend dealing with it. The more he dealt with it, the handier he became. The handier he became, the more used to it he got. And the more used to it he got, the less outrageous it seemed.
Therefore, the more outrageous the Hosts were, the less outrageous they became.
The same logic applied to Myau-chan.
Myau-chan might be quite useless, but it was also unlikely that Myau-chan was entirely useless.
Accepting this reward, Yan Huan looked up at the three Demon's Shop items that refreshed weekly.
First was the free gift item presented every week:
[Fertility, Super Evolution!]
[Your hardware facilities related to fertility will receive an approximately 10% enhancement.]
[Your software attributes related to fertility will receive an approximately 15% enhancement.]
[Your desire related to fertility will receive an approximately 5% enhancement.]
[The above bonuses will be rounded to the nearest whole number.]
The moment he saw the first free item, Yan Huan closed his eyes with an "I knew it" expression.
'I knew it...'
'The first week, it handed out a god-tier ring that could silence a Host, making me think this demon was running a charity.'
'Now look at it. The next week's free item is just a giant slap in the face!'
But looking at the vividly described massive enhancements to the first two categories, contrasted with the mere 5% increase to his desire at the bottom, Yan Huan pondered and decided it wasn't entirely unacceptable.
'Anyway, it's a weekly freebie. I'd be a fool not to take it.'
With this thought, Yan Huan ultimately reached out and touched the pink orb, letting all the pink streams of light surge into his body.
Feeling certain obvious changes occurring in his body, he raised his eyes to look at the remaining two orbs of light.
[Modifier Fragment Refiner]
[Price: From now on, An Le's Modifier will achieve a 70% Resistance penetration against you.]
[Regardless of what Fragment you obtain, you can choose to refine it once. Refining will result in one of the following three possibilities:]
[Randomly convert the Fragment into 2 Fragments of any other type.]
[Convert the Fragment into 3 Fragments of the same type.]
[Convert the Fragment into 0 Fragments of that type, but gain an extra lottery draw opportunity.]
[Super Freeze Gun]
[Price: Hold a large, public wedding with Ye Shiyu.] [Once a day, you can use this item to fire a freeze ray at an individual. Upon a successful hit, the individual will be affected as follows:]
[Their desires will be frozen, making them lose interest in absolutely everything.]
[Their actions will be frozen, reducing the individual's physical attributes by 60%.]
Looking at the two pink orbs before him, Yan Huan gasped in shock.
It was primarily the first pink orb that genuinely tempted him.
The second one was a complete trap. Never mind that it was far too early to discuss marriage—even if it were possible, holding a wedding with Ye Shiyu would spell the end of his peaceful life.
But the first one...
The effect was incredibly good. It would be highly beneficial for his ever-growing need for Fragments.
'Besides, An Le is so soft and sweet. She's very kindhearted, and it doesn't seem like she would use her Modifier on me...'
As he thought about it, Yan Huan couldn't help but recall their first reunion at the anime convention, how she had later drugged his water, and how she had acted against Spencer just today...
'Would she do it, An Le?'
Asking himself this, Yan Huan suddenly wasn't so sure of the answer anymore.
After all, she was already capable of penetrating roughly twenty to thirty percent of his Resistance. And even with just that, she had managed to turn both him and Spencer completely delirious.
'If her Resistance penetration reached seventy percent...'
'I'd definitely die, right?'
'And my life would end in a pathetic, manga-levels-of-depravity tragedy!'
Yan Huan swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He really didn't dare to take that gamble.
'Well, the week is only half over anyway. Tomorrow and the day after are midterms, followed by the two-day weekend.'
'I'll wait until I can chat with An Le and test the waters before making a decision.'
'For now, I'll just take the three free rewards and retreat.'
With this thought, Yan Huan silently chanted 'Exit' in his mind, causing the pervasive pink mist to slowly dissipate.
"Meow~"
Myau-chan sat elegantly on the coffee table, watching Yan Huan take down Spencer's drying clothes and carefully fold them one by one.
On the very top, the cartoon small animal in the center of the triangular fabric smiled brightly at Yan Huan, making him sigh helplessly as he flipped the garment over. Only then did he get up to grab a bag.
"I'll pack these up and return them to Spencer later."
"Okay, meow."
Once they were packed, Myau-chan grabbed the bag in his teeth and trotted into the bedroom to help stuff it into Yan Huan's school bag.
Aside from acting cute, this was one of the few things the useless Myau-chan could actually do.
Yan Huan then took out his laptop and mobile phone. After all, tomorrow was the midterm exam. Even though he was quite confident, he had nothing else to do, so he figured he might as well review a bit more.
He picked up the newly acquired glasses case beside him. Opening it, he found a pair of beautiful black-rimmed glasses with golden accents resting quietly inside.
This was the perfect opportunity to test the glasses' effects while studying.
Along the way, Yan Huan also planned to send a message to both Spencer and An Le.
But before he could act, a sudden knock echoed from the door of his rental apartment.
"Knock-knock~"
Yan Huan paused slightly and glanced at the clock.
"At this hour? Could it be that the Jinshi Group's people realized they left Spencer's clothes behind?"
He stood up, intending to peek through the peephole to see who it was while calling out to ask.
It saved him the trouble. Before he could even look, a familiar female voice drifted in from outside.
"It's me."
It was Tong Yingying's voice.
Yan Huan blinked and quickly opened the door, revealing the beautiful red-haired woman standing outside in a thick coat.
"Sister Tong, what brings you here?"
Tong Yingying scanned the smiling young man dressed in loungewear and wearing spectacles. Her throat involuntarily bobbed as she swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
Clearly, she liked what she saw.
She shifted her gaze away somewhat unnaturally, then jerked her thumb over her shoulder and said,
"I heard from a friend that there was some kind of situation downstairs at your apartment building earlier. It sounded like a pretty big scene. I was worried you might have been affected, so I came over to check."
As she spoke, Tong Yingying peered into the dimly lit apartment behind Yan Huan and added,
"Besides, I've never actually been to your place before. This is the perfect chance for a visit."
As mentioned previously, Spencer was the third member of the opposite sex to visit this place, aside from Ye Lan and Ye Shiyu.
Logically speaking, given how well Tong Yingying and Yan Huan knew each other and how close they lived, she should have visited at least once.
But Tong Yingying was honestly rather lazy. Coupled with the fact that Yan Huan frequently went to her place for his part-time job, there had never been a need for her to make the trip. Thus, it had been put off until today, when she finally had the pleasure of seeing his place in person.
"Sure thing. Please come in."
Since Tong Yingying had come to visit, Yan Huan naturally had no reason to refuse. He turned and stepped aside, playfully putting on a highly respectful act as he invited her in.
Tong Yingying accepted the gesture, walking in with her arms crossed. As she surveyed her surroundings, she chuckled and said,
"A room this neat and odorless... you're either a crossdresser or gay."
"What kind of nonsense is that? Do I look like either of those to you?"
Tong Yingying turned her head to look at Yan Huan, raising an eyebrow.
"How would I know without trying?"
He felt like he was being harassed by an older sister.
"Why is your place so dark? It's bad for the eyes."
Hiss, while Spencer was staying over, Yan Huan had gotten used to only turning on one small light. Now that she was gone, he hadn't quite adjusted back yet.
"Isn't it to save electricity?"
Yan Huan flipped on the hallway and living room lights, finally restoring brightness to the entire apartment.
"Oh, you even keep a cat?"
"Meow~"
"He was a stray. He's incredibly well-behaved, you can pet him all you want."
Myau-chan approached, acting cute, but Tong Yingying looked thoroughly disgusted and said,
"I'm not petting him. I heard cats shed like crazy. It's annoying."
"Meow?!"
Tong Yingying wandered around like a curious child, but after seeing that Yan Huan's place was immaculate and entirely devoid of any hidden adult films, she quickly lost interest.
It made sense. This guy complained about how messy her bedroom was every time he visited. It was highly unlikely that he wouldn't be clean himself.
But speaking of which, since he was such a neat freak, would she have to put in more effort if she ever got together with him?
Tong Yingying rubbed the space between her eyebrows, a genuine headache coming on.
If she wanted to be with Yan Huan, she'd have to quit smoking and drinking, right? She'd need to learn how to dress up and tidy her room too, wouldn't she?
No wonder people said dating was troublesome. It completely ruined one's freedom.
"Sister Tong, figure out what you want to drink. But let me make it clear up front—I don't have alcohol here, only soft drinks."
"..."
However, as she turned her head and gazed at Yan Huan's back view while he stroked his chin thoughtfully in front of the refrigerator, she suddenly felt that those changes might not be such a bad thing after all.
She couldn't help but smile faintly. Sitting down on Yan Huan's bed, she said casually,
"Plain boiled water is fine. Make it hot, thanks."
"Alright, I'll boil some for you."
Watching Yan Huan turn back to boil the water, Tong Yingying curiously inspected the bedroom's environment and said,
"I heard that people from the Jinshi Group surrounded this place this afternoon. I have no idea what the local tyrants of Linmen were doing in a dump like this."
"...Yeah."
Outside the door, Yan Huan's expression as he boiled the water was a little awkward.
'It's probably because their daughter slept here with me for two whole nights...' he thought to himself.
Tong Yingying massaged her shoulder and took another look around, just about to stand up and go check on Yan Huan outside.
But right at that moment, from the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a faint golden gleam on the bed...
"Hmm?"
Tong Yingying paused slightly. She took a quick glance and discovered that it was actually a long strand of hair.
See, what did she say about the cat shedding?
Tong Yingying was just about to stand up in disgust. She absolutely hated loose hair.
It was probably because every time she took a shower and saw her own hair falling out, she grew incredibly anxious, terrified that she might go bald one day.
However, as she stood up and her perspective shifted upwards, Tong Yingying finally saw the full extent of that hair.
The strand was long but curly. It didn't look like cat fur in the slightest.
Could it belong to that boy?
Wait, is that boy's hair even this long?
The more she looked at it, the more suspicious Tong Yingying's expression became.
She narrowed her eyes, then gently pinched the long, wavy strand of hair with her manicured nails.
Pinching the hair and holding it up to the bedroom light, she finally realized that the strand shimmered with a dazzling, beautiful golden hue under the illumination.
When she saw that the golden thread was clearly not black, Tong Yingying's expression shifted slightly.
"..."
Golden hair?
What on earth was this...
Thinking this, she cast a suspicious gaze around the room, growing increasingly convinced that there was something bizarre about this impeccably neat apartment.
She couldn't help but feel that there was a faint smell lingering in the air...
The scent of NTR.