Chapter 338: Spider |
"Click, click, click..."
Inside the High Table Dinner venue, the warm lights finally flickered back to life after the generator brought in by Nara was connected to the power supply.
Following Yan Huan and Sakuramiya Hitomi's highly anticipated opening dance, students with partners sought them out and began waltzing across the dance floor.
Naturally, the majority who lacked partners could still enjoy the gourmet food or find their own amusement around the hall.
As the evening deepened, the elders realized their continued presence might stifle the students' atmosphere. Tactfully, they boarded the boats and departed first after watching the opening dance.
In short, the night now belonged to the youth.
"Wow! There's so much yummy food here!!"
Over there, Yurianna stared at the dazzling array of ingredients in the buffet area and was eating up a storm.
With a Boston lobster in each hand, she busily peeled shells and tested various dipping sauces, thoroughly enjoying herself.
Fortunately, she was not the only one in such a predicament.
Or rather, at this moment, Yan Huan and Sakuramiya Hitomi were the only members of the Student Council who had danced, right?
Not to mention, there was also Yabashi Ki, who had already become the public enemy of the entire school.
"Ah, did he really play that in the multimedia room?"
"Yeah, but could it be part of a Student Council activity or something?"
"Huh? Even if it was an activity, playing that kind of thing is just too..."
Yabashi Ki sat alone at his seat. In the distance, students holding wine glasses and gossiping caught sight of him in their peripheral vision, naturally spreading the word about what had just happened.
He heard them, but he did not care in the slightest.
He merely looked at Plane on his mobile phone, where a message had arrived from a contact labeled 'President'.
"Yabashi, thank you."
"..."
Looking at the message, Yabashi Ki smiled faintly, and then leaned his entire body against the chair backrest.
The brilliant lights shone on his spectacles, reflecting the figure of Ashley standing nearby with a wine glass in hand.
"Where are the President and Vice-President?"
"They just escorted the school leaders back, and now I have no idea where they went. They are probably enjoying some private time together, right? After all, it was so romantic just now."
Yabashi Ki spread his hands as he spoke.
"Is that so..."
Ashley took a sip of wine, looking at Yabashi Ki in front of her.
She glanced at a few students chatting nearby and asked.
"Was that stunt earlier also part of your plan with the President?"
Meanwhile, receiving a glare from the 'violent woman' whose reputation preceded her even before becoming the Disciplinary Committee Head, those few students immediately turned their heads and scrambled to the other side of the room.
"Huh? What?"
"Playing that... whatever moon's... voice line?"
"It's Satsuki-chan!"
Yabashi Ki adjusted his glasses and corrected her righteously.
"Heh..."
Ashley merely responded with a cold sneer.
"Well, I suppose so. I don't know what the President's goal was in having me do that, either."
"You don't know..."
Ashley glared at him speechlessly and retorted.
"You did it without knowing? Your reputation is practically ruined now, you know..."
"My reputation was ruined a long time ago anyway."
Yabashi Ki looked completely indifferent. He pulled out his mobile phone again and opened a game he hadn't had time to do his daily quests on today.
However, as the game interface loaded, he still spoke up.
"Even though I don't know why, when the President asked me just now, it gave me the same feeling as when we first enrolled and he invited me to run for the Student Council with him."
"And what feeling is that?"
"How should I put it..."
Yabashi Ki pinched his phone, thinking for a moment before replying.
"A feeling that... if I didn't do it, something terrible would definitely happen... Or rather, a feeling that I would deeply regret it?"
"...I don't understand."
Ashley studied him and shook her head as she spoke.
Yabashi Ki looked at his mobile phone, his fingers rapidly manipulating the character on the screen.
"Well, actually, the President only needed me to plug that USB drive into the media room's equipment and ensure it stayed there for a while.
"But at the time, Vice-President Sakuramiya somehow knew I was there and mistakenly assumed I was planning to play voice lines through the multimedia system.
"If I didn't do anything, I was worried the others would just pull the USB drive out, so I had to find a way to draw their attention..."
Ashley's mouth twitched stiffly as she said in exasperation.
"So, you just countered her scheme with your own?"
"Yeah."
Yabashi Ki completed a daily quest and said nonchalantly.
"Anyway, I never planned on making strangers like me, nor am I begging for any girl to fall for me.
"I don't care how others view me. As long as I do what I find meaningful, that's enough."
Hearing this, Ashley let out a scoff and shot back.
"And what if Satsuki-chan actually exists?"
"That's a completely different matter."
Yabashi Ki replied, continuing to play his game.
Ashley looked at him and smiled speechlessly.
Soon after, she sat down next to him and crossed her legs.
But a second later, she suddenly asked.
"Do you want to dance together?"
"..."
Yabashi Ki's thumbs abruptly froze on the screen, causing his in-game character to stop dead in its tracks and get swarmed to death by mobs.
Yet, for the first time ever, he didn't look at the game on his phone. Instead, he turned his head to stare at Ashley beside him.
Ashley openly looked back at him, acting as if she had merely asked something as casual as 'Do you want to grab lunch together?'
"..."
Yabashi Ki opened his mouth, but just as he was about to speak, a shrill shout suddenly echoed from the entrance. It was a voice as beautiful as a skylark, yet piercing enough to tear through the melodious background music.
"Yan Huan!!!"
Yabashi Ki and Ashley were both slightly taken aback. They hurriedly stood up and turned to look at the entrance.
At the entrance, Bai Yi stood panting heavily, clutching her dress and her pocket watch. She stormed in, her eyes red as she scanned the students on the dance floor left and right.
Out on the sea beyond the doors, the boat that had just ferried the elders away was parked.
Clearly, Bai Yi had taken that very boat to march all the way back here.
"Bai... Bai Yi?"
Staring at the beautiful young artist who was obviously looking for trouble, Yabashi Ki suddenly realized what was going on and internally cried 'Oh no' on Yan Huan's behalf.
Having swept her gaze around the room and failed to spot Yan Huan or Sakuramiya Hitomi, Bai Yi only saw the three members of the Student Council. She immediately stomped over with an imposing aura.
"Where is Yan Huan?!"
"Uh, the P-President, he..."
Although Yabashi Ki seemed to have seen Yan Huan and Sakuramiya Hitomi take a speedboat alone to enjoy some private time together just a moment ago, his life-risking 'sixth sense' from earlier flared up once again.
His intuition told him that if he sold out the President right now...
There would definitely be severe consequences, or he would absolutely regret it!!
So at this moment, after a brief second of thought, he immediately pretended to be ignorant.
"I... I don't know..."
"Ahhh! Yan Huan!!"
Bai Yi frantically ruffled her black hair, her small face flushing bright red.
Clearly, she had also faintly gathered from the live broadcast that Yan Huan and Sakuramiya Hitomi's opening dance wasn't some fake performance orchestrated by the Modifier...
It was the real deal!!
Then what did everything between him and her mean?
Was she just overthinking things?!
Gritting her teeth, Bai Yi immediately whipped out her mobile phone, opened Plane, and began bombarding Yan Huan with messages.
"Tap-tap-tap-tap!!"
Watching Bai Yi's manicured nails clatter against the phone screen like a machine gun, Yabashi Ki and Ashley exchanged a glance. By mutual agreement, they slowly and silently backed away, attempting to flee the scene before the terrifyingly furious Bai Yi could notice them.
"Rumble!!"
Perhaps due to a guilty conscience, even a sudden clap of thunder amidst the dense storm clouds outside the venue made the two of them jump in fright.
Fortunately, however...
Neither of them were the ones involved!
'President, oh President, you're on your own now!'
"Ahhh, why... why isn't he replying?!! Yan Huan!!!!!"
"Rumble!!"
At this moment, far across the island on Sakuramiya Ryo's beach, a speedboat was beached on the shore, leaving a long trail in the sand.
Inside Sakuramiya Ryo's villa, it was pitch black. Her entire family had gone on vacation—of course, it was also possible they had just gone to avoid the recent heat.
As for the wooden house on the beach where equipment was stored, it had been left unlocked since it had been arranged with Sakuramiya Ryo beforehand.
Inside that wooden house, Yan Huan and Sakuramiya Hitomi snuggled together, enjoying a quiet, private moment.
Initially, Yan Huan had brought Sakuramiya Hitomi out just to go for a ride. She had just finished dancing, and the venue was noisy, so he took her out to relax and have a heart-to-heart talk—it just so happened that Nara had brought a speedboat along.
Who would have thought that they wouldn't get very far before the weather turned sour and it began to drizzle.
Thus, Yan Huan brought her to this quiet place to rest for a while.
"President, the feeling during this time... was truly wonderful... It didn't feel like falling asleep at all. How should I put it... it was like I was doing countless things all at the same time."
Between lovers, it seemed that simply staying together brought comfort.
She was tired from the dance earlier, so she had been hugging Yan Huan without speaking for a long time.
Now, her sudden words made Yan Huan put down the silenced mobile phone with which he had just messaged Yabashi Ki.
"Yeah, I can somewhat imagine it...
"On one hand, you felt that the unpleasant parts of yourself ought to disappear; yet on the other, you felt terrified of those parts dying away."
Hearing this, Sakuramiya Hitomi's small hand squeezed Yan Huan's palm, using a strength she herself found negligible.
Now that she had returned to her weak and sickly state, she felt very sleepy.
Still, she pouted her lips and looked up at Yan Huan.
"President, you actually know about my superpower, right? No... maybe about the others' as well, you also..."
Meeting her inquiring gaze, Yan Huan nodded and said softly.
"Yes, I know. To be precise, they should be called Modifiers."
Under the hazy moonlight, an ethereal black cat slowly materialized.
It yawned and then squatted down docilely in front of Yan Huan and Sakuramiya Hitomi.
"Modifiers?"
Sakuramiya Hitomi couldn't see Myau-chan, so she could only vaguely murmur and ponder the name.
Yan Huan originally wanted to explain more, but when he turned and saw the exhaustion on her small face...
It couldn't be helped; Hitomi's constitution was poor to begin with.
Moreover, she had exhausted herself enough today.
"Yeah... But for today, let's just get some good rest. Do you want to take a nap, Hitomi? I have the feeling you're very sleepy."
"I am a little bit. Maybe because it's going to rain?"
"What does that have to do with raining?"
"You don't understand, President! It's just... well, listening to the sound of rain always feels like it would make for a great sleep!"
"Like white noise?"
"Probably... or maybe you could call it the atmosphere... or something... Awooo~"
As she spoke, Sakuramiya Hitomi couldn't help but let out a yawn.
Seeing this, Yan Huan smiled faintly and pulled her a bit closer.
"Get some rest. I hope I won't disturb you."
"You won't..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi obediently closed her eyes. Soon, her petite frame snuggled entirely into Yan Huan's arms, her body slowly relaxing bit by bit.
However, just as Yan Huan thought she was about to fall asleep...
She suddenly opened her eyes and looked up at him.
"President..."
"What is it?"
"Um... thank you... Thank you for firmly choosing me..."
"..."
Yan Huan lowered his gaze to look at her.
For some unknown reason, he suddenly felt a strong urge to kiss her.
"Mhm..."
But just before Yan Huan, with a dry throat, could make a move, she suddenly gave a sweet smile and closed her eyes.
This time, she was truly going to rest...
"..."
Feeling helpless, Yan Huan had no choice but to avert his gaze to avoid being tempted.
As it turned out, he locked eyes right with Myau-chan, who was currently licking its paws, prompting the cat to tut.
"Things are going to be quite the dilemma later, meow~"
"What dilemma?"
"Should we continue to reproduce attribute points later, meow? If we do, how can Sakuramiya's frail body handle it, meow? But if we don't, then over on An Le's side..." "..."
Hearing this, Yan Huan's face immediately darkened.
He had come to realize that this guy, Myau-chan, was becoming increasingly inappropriate. Day in and day out, aside from acting cute, it only ever did these meaningless things.
"...Give it a rest. By the way, after you showed your face in Perfect Sakuranomiya's Barrier earlier, why did you disappear for so long?"
"Because of the Fragments, of course, meow!!"
Speaking of this, Myau-chan instantly perked up.
Its eyes lit up, and it immediately spat out several centipede-like fragments from its mouth.
Taking a closer look at the number... Whoa, there were a full five or six fragments!
"You have no idea! While you were talking to Perfect Sakuranomiya, Sakuramiya's Modifier was wavering violently! Every sentence you spoke dropped a fragment, and I was running all over the Barrier picking them up like I was collecting free money, meow!"
"...Why does that sound like you were begging for scraps?"
"Meow?!"
Myau-chan's eyes widened. It immediately leaped up and greeted Yan Huan with a flurry of Meow-Meow Punches.
"Dammit, meow! I was originally planning to praise you as the chosen one to resolve the Modifiers, meow!! Now I'm taking the praise back, meow!!"
"Like I care. Getting praised by a useless thing like you brings zero sense of accomplishment anyway..."
"Meow?!"
Yan Huan helplessly blocked Myau-chan's tantrum, while looking down at Sakuramiya Hitomi's sleeping face in his arms, and said softly.
"Besides, at that time I was just saying what I wanted to say to Sakuramiya. I wasn't even thinking about the Modifier."
"Meow..."
Yan Huan let out a sigh and gripped his mobile phone.
"Actually, I should have realized this the moment I saw that Sakuramiya's spying was only to understand me better.
"Unfortunately... I chickened out back then.
"I used Devil's Mind-Reading on Sakuramiya, and was terrified when her image completely shattered..."
Hearing this, Myau-chan stopped its Meow-Meow Punches. It sat on his shoulder, shaking its head as it spoke.
"Don't dwell on those things anymore, meow. Isn't it completely normal to shrink back when facing someone you like, or to get scared by the fact that you were being stalked, meow?"
Feeling Myau-chan's comfort, Yan Huan looked at it again.
Simultaneously, Myau-chan looked back at Yan Huan.
"Wanting to become more excellent is naturally a good thing. After all, human history has always progressed through the pursuit of being 'better'..."
But at this moment, its pair of emerald-like eyes was once again filled with a divine presence.
Within them, Yan Huan's reflection was cast.
"However, Yan Huan, objectively perfect things do not exist in this world.
"Even an entity adored and praised by the majority will have its detractors; an object universally condemned and despised will still have its loyal followers.
"The so-called 'perfect' is merely a subjective 'ideal' sketched out within the mind.
"Countless people constantly strive and explore outward, pursuing objective perfection as if seeking the ultimate truth, exhausting their entire lives, only to end up severely disappointed..."
As it spoke, Myau-chan slowly swallowed the fragments into its stomach, tilted its head, and looked at Yan Huan.
"So, there is no need for self-pity. At least tonight, in Sakuramiya Hitomi's eyes, you are undoubtedly perfect... and that is enough, meow."
"Is that so..."
Yan Huan lowered his head, seeming to acknowledge this statement.
But a second later, he raised his head again, completely expressionless.
"But why do I get the feeling that you're just making excuses for being useless? As long as you believe you are strong enough, it doesn't matter if everyone else thinks you're a piece of trash, right?"
"Meow?!"
Myau-chan chewed on the fragments with a guilty conscience, its eyes darting around before it immediately changed the subject.
"More importantly, at least I got the fragments, meow! This way, we can better ward off future risks!!"
"Risks..."
Right. Speaking of risks...
Yan Huan picked up his mobile phone and glanced at it.
Looking at the silenced phone, notifications from Plane continued to pour in.
From An Le's side...
Well, aside from mentioning that she was with Spencer and that they were safe and sound, she hadn't asked anything else.
But Yan Huan knew that An Le had definitely seen the live broadcast.
So ironically, her unquestioning attitude only made Yan Huan feel increasingly guilty.
On the other hand...
Yabashi Ki had frantically tipped him off in a critical emergency, saying that Bai Yi was searching the entire venue for him and Sakuramiya Hitomi.
As a result, before Yan Huan could even reply, Bai Yi's Plane bombardment hit.
All sorts of interrogations demanding to know where he was, demanding to know what he meant by dancing with Sakuramiya Hitomi in front of the whole school just now...
Death... The only scent in the air here was the stench of death.
"..."
Staring at the messages from a clearly enraged Bai Yi, Yan Huan couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Now, he was completely screwed.
Pulling that romantic stunt for Hitomi in front of the entire school was undeniably awesome... but at what cost?
For a moment, Yan Huan had no idea how to reply to Bai Yi's interrogations, so he could only temporarily close the chat window.
Yet, compared to Bai Yi's bombardment...
Honestly, there was something else that terrified Yan Huan even more.
"..."
Trembling, Yan Huan opened the chat window with Ye Shiyu.
There...
Eerily, there were absolutely no messages sent.
Zero.
It was like a sea of dead silence.
"Rumble!!"
But in stark contrast to that Plane window, which resembled a stagnant abyss...
Accompanied by a clap of thunder, a torrential downpour abruptly fell from Linmen's gloomy sky.
At this moment, inside Ye International.
Ye Shiyu sat blankly inside a pitch-black office.
Her eyes were empty, her face expressionless, as she just stared blankly at a lit office computer.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
On the illuminated office computer screen, there was actually an AI chat window.
On it, several lines of conversation had already been exchanged.
"I have someone I like. Xiao Huan, he... he's my sworn younger brother. I did something wrong to him in the past."
"..."
"I just felt afraid... afraid that the beauty he brought me would vanish and leave as his thoughts changed..."
"..."
"I wanted to keep that beauty, which was why I did that to him..."
"..."
"I know it was wrong, truly wrong. That's why I wanted to turn over a new leaf. I wanted to become a better person, to believe that his heart wouldn't change, to trust that such beauty would never abandon me..."
"..."
"But just now, I suddenly felt incredibly terrified again..."
"..."
Yes, at this moment, Ye Shiyu was so driven into a corner that she had resorted to pouring out her innermost thoughts to a half-finished AI.
She didn't dare tell her mama, because she knew that, deep down, her mother actually disapproved of her relationship with Xiao Huan.
It was only because she was abnormal, only because she was her mother's daughter...
To allow her to become better, her mother had ultimately agreed to it.
Ye Shiyu...
Knew it all.
She even knew herself that, since she was a child, she had been different from normal people.
That was why she had always locked herself in her room, spending every day with her dolls, driving away anyone who tried to get close to her.
But...
It was clearly Xiao Huan who had brought her out of that room. It was only after meeting Xiao Huan that she had made a firm resolution to turn over a new leaf.
She had also...
Truly tried her hardest to change for the better...
"..."
Ye Shiyu laid expressionlessly on the desk, staring unblinkingly at the thoughts she had expressed to the half-finished AI, like a completely futile effort.
"I suddenly feel like Xiao Huan is almost like a stranger..."
"..."
"Could it be that everything Xiao Huan showed me was fake?"
"..."
Yet, just as Ye Shiyu was merely typing out her frustrations to the AI as a way to vent...
The very next second, the other side of the screen suddenly replied with a line of text.
"Do you want to know the answer?"
Ye Shiyu remained expressionless, but her pupils constricted slightly.
"Do you know the answer?"
"I do not know yet."
"Then what do you know?"
"Well... I just feel..."
The computer screen in front of her flickered slightly, as if it was connecting to the internet to process.
But a few seconds later, it suddenly replied.
"It seems... the one who needs to turn over a new leaf... is someone else, isn't it?"
"Rumble!"
Inside an elevator at the Ye International Building, a security guard was speaking into his walkie-talkie.
"Alright, I am inspecting floor by floor to troubleshoot the malfunction..."
"Ding-dong~"
The next second, the elevator doors slowly opened, revealing an office outside where every single computer monitor was flashing with static.
"Holy crap..."
"Bzz... Bzz..."
Late at night, in an unlit office, every computer screen was blaring static...
This scene startled the guard, and he subconsciously tried to report to the other end of the walkie-talkie.
"Damn, what's going on with this floor? They're all static screens, did you guys see—oh, I forgot, the surveillance cameras for the whole building are down."
He swept his flashlight across the office and slowly stepped out.
There was no response from the other end of the walkie-talkie for a long time, causing a confused expression to surface on his face.
"How weird. Just a moment ago, all the surveillance cameras in the building broke down? And now even the walkie-talkies are dead... All because of a little rain?"
The guard frowned, but staring at the eerie office before him, he didn't dare to proceed any further.
He only intended to glance at which floor this was, and then head down to report to his superiors.
"Making just this little bit of money a month, who's gonna risk their life? Let me see... Artificial Intelligence R&D Center. OK."
Just as the guard noted down the malfunctioning floor and was about to turn around and press the elevator button, he suddenly noticed that all the computer screens had eerily stopped displaying static, instead glowing with a deep and secluded purple light.
"Your exclusive AI steward, Yezi, is happy to serve you..."
Following a soft chime from the computers, lines of code began running on their own, as if a ghost were operating them.
Immediately after, it wasn't just one machine; one after another, that eerie voice echoed throughout the room.
"Your exclusive AI steward, Yezi, is happy to serve you..."
"Your exclusive AI steward, Yezi, is happy to serve you..."
"..."
And as the voices rang out on their own, the originally sweet female AI voice seemed to distort bit by bit, becoming increasingly bizarre.
"Your exclusive AI steward...
"Yezi...
"Is happy to serve you..."
The more the guard looked, the more cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
"Holy shit! What the hell?!"
Thoroughly spooked, he hurriedly pulled out his mobile phone, planning to call the police.
But the moment facial recognition unlocked the screen, he was horrified to find that a 'Yezi AI' icon had suddenly appeared on his home screen.
"What?"
The guard didn't move, but a second later, the APP suddenly launched on its own, completely overtaking his phone screen and radiating a deep purple hue...
Along with a sweet female AI voice.
"Your exclusive AI steward, Yezi, is happy to serve you..."
"Crackle... Crackle..."
A torrential downpour drenched all of Linmen.
Under the veil of night, Linmen's originally radiant nightscape suddenly began to flicker intermittently.
Most monitors and lights either blacked out entirely or began flashing with static...
Thus, looking down from high above through the curtain of rain...
Faintly, the lights across the entire island of Linmen converged into the colossal phantom image of a spider.
"Pitter... Patter..."
"Your exclusive AI steward, Yezi, is happy to serve you~"