"Last night, Ye Shiyu came to open the door, meow."
In the morning, hearing Miao Jiang's voice, Yan Huan paused while brushing his teeth.
His eyes widened, his mouth full of toothpaste foam as he turned to look at the dignified little cat sitting in the bedroom. "When?"
"Late last night, after you fell asleep..."Miao Jiang turned her head toward the door, standing on her hind legs while moving her front paws and little head up and down, as if describing the situation at the time. "The doorknob suddenly moved, but since you locked it, she couldn't pull it open."
"..."
Late at night, someone suddenly tries to turn your doorknob while you're asleep—guess what they plan to do once inside.
Seriously, sis, that's way too creepy, isn't it? Yan Huan stood with her mouth agape, silent for a moment before turning to spit out the toothpaste foam. She rinsed her mouth with water from the cup and then washed her face.
She was about to put on her shirt, but it hadn't been changed in two days, and after running around outside all day yesterday, it felt sticky. After showering, she really didn't want to wear it again.
She should've waited for Chen Yi to finish drying the clothes yesterday before coming upstairs to shower and sleep. Now, she had no choice but to go downstairs to get the freshly dried clothes.
"..."
She glanced at her phone—5:50 a.m., earlier than usual.
Pushing open the bedroom door, she found the hallway silent, the morning light so faint it barely filtered through the living room's sheer curtains.
Everyone seemed to still be asleep.
Reassured, she walked downstairs bare-chested, holding the empty milk glass from last night, heading to the laundry room to find clothes.
The laundry room faced the kitchen, with the water purifier placed at the kitchen entrance. She rinsed the glass in the kitchen before filling it with water to drink.
A warm glass of water in the morning really made her feel alive again.
After drinking, she washed the glass and placed it in the dish rack nearby, then turned toward the laundry room.
Where were the dried clothes kept?
She looked up at the hanging garments, searching for the clothes she had just bought yesterday.
At that moment, another figure holding a glass walked up to the water purifier by the entrance.
Ye Shiyu, about to fill her glass, heard rustling sounds from the laundry room and instinctively turned to look.
In the cool morning light, her eyes widened as she took in the sight of Yan Huan's bare back as he rummaged through the laundry room for clothes.
Her phone suddenly lit up in her hand.
Found it. Yan Huan picked up a beige shirt he had bought yesterday—the fabric felt comfortable against his fingers—and prepared to put it on.
After slipping into the clean shirt, he considered whether to bring down his dirty laundry too. But realizing it'd be wasteful to run the washing machine for just one item, he decided against it and turned to leave.
Only to lock eyes with Ye Shiyu, who stood by the entrance holding her glass like a ghost, silently watching him from who-knows-when.
Chapter
Holy shit?! His expression instantly changed, just as he was about to curse, his perfect expression management ability kicked in.
Yan Huan gave an awkward smile and greeted Ye Shiyu,
"Shiyu-jie, you're up this early too today?"
"Mhm."
Ye Shiyu's expression gradually returned to normal, but her reply to Yan Huan sounded oddly stilted.
Last night, after watching that strange video, she had ended up drinking a lot of water, forcing her to get up at barely 6 a.m. to relieve herself.
Yet even so, she still felt parched and uncomfortably warm all over, unable to sleep properly.
Now she had come down to get more water, only to coincidentally run into Yan Huan, who was changing his clothes. Her hands trembled slightly as she unconsciously took another sip of water.
Her gaze imperceptibly lingered on the outline of his beige shirt, as if she had seen something intriguing when it wasn't covering him earlier.
Yan Huan smiled faintly and walked out of the laundry room, asking Ye Shiyu,
"Shiyu-jie, want some breakfast? I'll make it."
"No need."
"Alright, then I'll head out. I'll be back before noon."
"Mhm."
Originally, he had planned to cook something if she wanted to eat, but since she declined, Yan Huan decided to grab breakfast outside.
After changing his shoes at the entrance, he quickly left with his phone in hand, trying to avoid being alone with her to prevent getting hypnotized.
Ye Shiyu watched him leave and finished the water in her cup.
The early spring morning was chilly. Yan Huan took a deep breath and jogged toward the neighborhood exit.
"Where are you going? Morning exercise?"
From behind, a black cat appeared out of nowhere, keeping pace with him.
Without turning his head, Yan Huan adjusted his breathing rhythm while running and shook his head.
"To the aquarium. I'll grab breakfast first, then take the bus. The first one leaves at 6:30."
A quick scan confirmed that none of the upscale neighborhood's breakfast stalls were open this early, so he had to venture further out.
Using a map app to navigate the bus route, Yan Huan soon found a Dragon Country-style breakfast spot outside the neighborhood.
In Scale Gate, only shops run by Dragon Country natives opened this early.
As he ate meat buns and pumpkin porridge, the shop gradually filled with more people.
Miao Jiang sat beside Yan Huan, licking its paws, and asked, "Why the aquarium?"
"To find Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Tools that might help with the Modifier."
"?"
After breakfast, Yan Huan boarded the bus with Miao Jiang. Scale Gate's public transport was strict about pets—normally requiring carriers or cages.
But Miao Jiang wasn't an ordinary cat. It made itself visible only to Yan Huan, allowing them to board without issue.
The first bus was nearly empty. Yan Huan casually took a seat, donned his Bluetooth earbuds, and leaned against the window while petting the cat.
After a bumpy ride lasting dozens of minutes, he opened his eyes when the earbuds signaled his stop.
Removing them, he heard the bus announcement: "Aquarium Station, now arriving."
The bus was now crowded. Turning his head, he accidentally locked eyes with a slightly flushed girl holding up her phone.
"!"
Yan Huan blinked at her and said,
"Mind letting me through?"
"O-okay."
It was just past 7 a.m. The shopping center, bustling the day before, was eerily quiet—it wouldn't open until 10.But the aquarium opened at 8 AM, so they weren't particularly early. Besides, he'd brought a little helper along.
After getting out of the car, Yan Huan asked Miao Jiang,
"Miao Jiang, can you sniff out the scent of what Ye Shiyu lost?"
Miao Jiang looked up at him with an expression that clearly said, "Are you serious?"
"Aren't you a cat? I heard that if your own cat goes missing, giving its used toys to a stray cat can help you find it."
"..."
Miao Jiang sighed, then lifted her nose to sniff before running toward the shopping center. "There are traces of her scent over here."
The shopping center?
Not in the aquarium? Yan Huan followed Miao Jiang at a jog until they reached the plaza connecting the shopping center and the aquarium.
This was also right by the aquarium's exit. From this angle, they could even see the gift shop where Ye Shiyu had bought the keychain yesterday.
Miao Jiang sniffed around the grass before suddenly turning to Yan Huan with a "meow."
"Here?"
Yan Huan raised an eyebrow and walked over, parting the grass.
Bizarrely, a blue crystal-shaped jellyfish pendant lay tangled in the damp grass.
The name tag on the side reading "Ye Shiyu" confirmed it was the one she'd lost yesterday.
"...No way, how did it end up here? She definitely didn't come near this area yesterday."
Yan Huan picked up the keychain, and something even stranger happened.
The moment it was lifted, freed from the grass, the keychain trembled faintly toward a certain direction, as if trying to move that way.
"What the hell?"
Yan Huan's eyes widened as he turned to Miao Jiang, who sniffed the keychain and said, "Ye Shiyu's scent is very faint now, but another woman's scent is strong..."
"Another woman?"
"This keychain is almost taking on that woman's shape."
"?"
Frowning, Yan Huan watched as the keychain gradually stilled in his hand until it stopped trembling completely.
At that moment, Miao Jiang looked up and said, "That woman's scent has completely faded."
"..."
Feeling the supernatural phenomenon in his hand, Yan Huan exchanged a glance with Miao Jiang before suddenly saying,
"Modifier?" "Did you meet anyone yesterday?"
Anyone?
As Yan Huan tried to recall, the image of a smirking blonde foreign girl flashed through his mind.
No way... Yan Huan's mouth fell open as he hurriedly asked Miao Jiang,
"Can a Modifier's effects work on another Modifier's host?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems possible now."
"..."
Realizing that Modifiers didn't belong to factions and could even tangle with each other, Yan Huan's expression didn't lighten—instead, it grew more serious.
Because he keenly sensed that this wouldn't create a situation where enemies cancel each other out, but rather make resolving the Modifiers even harder.
"Making them willingly give up their Modifiers"—that was the requirement for resolving them.But if you knew others also had cheat abilities, would you give up just because they didn't? So what could have been dealt with one by one now required Yan Huan to make them all abandon their Modifiers simultaneously! Similarly, even if conflicts arose between hosts fighting each other, it would cause the Modifiers' growth speed to become insanely fast.
If bug-level Modifiers only needed to use 10% of their power to solve real-world problems, then battles between Modifiers would likely require 100% or even more.
This would also cause the originally slow-consuming desires to grow increasingly voracious. Even without Miao Jiang pointing it out, Yan Huan could figure that out.
"Competitiveness," "desire to win," "exclusivity"—don't these terms scare you? Damn, this is like fighting a Holy Grail War at the Scale Gate! Those omnipotent Modifiers are basically Servants, and the hosts are the Masters! And wouldn't you know it, Yan Huan is probably the Holy Grail itself! Holy shit, I declare the first Holy Grail War at Scale Gate has begun! With a deadpan expression, Yan Huan looked at Miao Jiang beside him, rubbed its head, and sighed:
"Saber Miao Jiang, go hide away with your Master and live out your days."
"?"
Clutching the jellyfish keychain that had turned icy cold from being outside all night, his heart felt just as chilled.
"Welcome to the Scale Gate Marine Aquarium tourist attraction. Through professional marine ecosystem simulations, our aquarium showcases a rich variety of marine life to all visitors..."
As the aquarium's announcement played, Yan Huan stood up and noticed the place seemed about to open soon.
The gift shop that had opened yesterday had its rolling shutter pulled up by the staff, who then began sweeping the entrance.
Yan Huan fiddled with the jellyfish pendant thoughtfully before walking over.
"Welcome, customer!"
The clerk seemed surprised to have a visitor this early, especially since the aquarium hadn't even opened yet, making their greeting somewhat rushed.
Yan Huan nodded, casually scanning the shop before his eyes landed on a small gift box... with the word "jellyfish" faintly visible on it.
Blinking, he thought for a moment before taking the gift box and another jellyfish-shaped plushie.
"I'll take these. Could you bag them for me?"
"Of course! Will that be cash, card, or—"
"Plane."
Yan·Holy Grail·Huan raised his phone, spending the first funds of the Scale Gate Holy Grail War.
"So you're saying you hear voices, someone talking in your head?"
In a sunlit living room of a high-end apartment in Scale Gate's Jinghe District, a woman in a thin knitted jacket raised an eyebrow.
She addressed the golden-haired girl doing dumbbell lifts by the window—Ariya Spencer, who'd clashed with Ye Shiyu the previous day.
Spencer nodded, struggling visibly with each lift as the weight seemed challenging for her.
Between labored breaths, she said,
"Yeah, and they keep saying weird stuff..."
The listening woman blinked, jotting down in her notebook:
"Suspected excessive consumption of adult content."Then, she asked again, "Apart from that, do you feel any discomfort? Are you sleeping well? Has your appetite been affected? Do you feel irritable?"
Spencer put down the dumbbell, stroked her chin thoughtfully, and said,
"Well, as for appetite, there might be a slight effect—I've been eating less lately. Sleep is still okay."
The woman raised an eyebrow again, glancing at the countless snack bags piled on the coffee table in the living room—expensive chips, chocolates, and more, scattered everywhere.
The question was redundant.
The woman wrote in her notebook,
"Appetite good, exercises frequently, sleeps normally."
"So, when do you usually hear these voices more often? At certain times of the day, or when doing certain things?"
"When..."
Just as Spencer was pondering, a surreal interface suddenly flashed into her mind.
[Plunder Mode effect has ended. This time's harvest: Plunder Energy +0.1]
[Current Plunder Energy: 0.1]
[Accumulate Plunder Energy to obtain Plunder Power. As Plunder Energy increases, you will gain the following benefits:]
[Your attractiveness to the plundered target will gradually increase.]
[The resistance of the victim will gradually weaken.]
[Your physique, resistance, and charm will gradually improve.]
Spencer's mouth fell open. Just as she was about to loudly tell the visiting psychologist,
"It's happening now! I hear that voice!"
But at that moment, the previously heavy dumbbell in her hand suddenly felt lighter.
She froze momentarily, thinking it might be her imagination, and flexed her muscles to lift the dumbbell again.
Yet it was no illusion—she genuinely felt it had become easier, as if her strength had slightly increased in an instant.
This... Spencer stared in disbelief at the surreal text before her, watching as the distorted words finally solidified into a sentence:
[Please use it without restraint.]
As she read those words, her initial shock gradually transformed into a flicker of excitement.
"Miss Spencer?"
Just as the psychologist spoke in confusion, Spencer threw the dumbbell to the ground with a loud "clang."
The psychologist jumped at the heavy sound, glancing down nervously. Before she could speak, Spencer sneered,
"Don't worry, my mom owns this entire building. No one lives below."
"Yes, I know. I was just—"
"No need to ask. I'm fine now."
"Miss Spencer—"
Spencer's expression suddenly turned cold as she glared at the psychologist. "I said I'm fine. Just report that to my mom, and I'll go back to school normally. Isn't that your job?"
The psychologist opened her mouth, then sighed and closed her notebook.
She slowly stood up and bowed slightly to Spencer. "Alright, I understand. I'll take my leave now. If you have any other concerns, Miss Spencer, feel free to contact me anytime."
"Yeah, yeah, got it."
Spencer didn't even look at her, instead turning to gaze out the floor-to-ceiling window at the city gradually awakening in the morning light.
Scale Gate.
From the high-rise apartment, Spencer could even faintly see the distant edge of the ocean.
Her eyes burned with growing excitement, as if a strange fire had begun to ignite within her."Click."
The sound of the door closing behind her signaled that the psychiatrist had left.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Spencer clenched her fists and began bouncing excitedly.
"Hehe..."
"Thud!"
In her excitement, she forgot about the dumbbell she hadn't put away earlier and ended up kicking it barefoot.
"Oww!!"
Her face scrunched up in pain as she fell to her knees, clutching her big toe in agony.
"Ouch... ouch..."
She rolled around on the floor, hugging herself, tears welling up from the pain.
Outside the window, bright sunlight had fully risen above the horizon, flooding her spacious room with light.
It illuminated a letter casually placed among snacks and game controllers on the coffee table in her living room.
The letter read:
"Yuanyue International High School Admission Notice"
"Dear Ariya Spencer, after careful consideration by the School Committee and Academic Affairs Office, we are pleased to inform you that you have been approved for enrollment in the upcoming spring semester..."