Chapter 343: Defeat |
Listening to Little Finger's words, Yan Huan revealed a thoughtful expression. Myau-chan, however, thought this guy was just being alarmist. Curling his lips, he meowed,
"Can you say something we don't know, meow? You are just spouting things we already know. What use are you?! Useless trash!"
"..."
Myau-chan calling someone else useless trash?
That actually made a lot of sense.
"What did you say? You dare call me useless trash?!"
Little Finger cursed, wanting to fly over and settle the score with Myau-chan, but suddenly remembered that it was currently living under someone else's roof.
Especially since the Great Demon King An Le had not received her expected tribute tonight, her temper seemed quite bad...
Forget it. A wise man submits to circumstances. It would just endure this guy for now.
"We know."
"...Then did you know it can trigger 'future sight' when its host makes a wrong choice?"
"Future sight?"
Yan Huan and Myau-chan exchanged a glance, instantly understanding what Little Finger meant,
"Battle Defeat CG?"
"Ah, what is that?"
Thinking about it, wasn't this thing technically a form of future sight in a certain sense?
Earlier, when Yan Huan had given up resisting Ye Shiyu's night raid, he had seen the 'bad end' that would result from doing so. Therefore, Little Finger was not wrong.
"Hah, you know this too?"
Observing Yan Huan and Myau-chan's expressions, Little Finger did not know what else to say and could only add,
"As for the rest... I am not too sure either. The main thing is, after a Modifier attaches to a host, it is actually influenced by the host's own personality..."
"Influenced... by the host's own personality?"
Little Finger nodded, helplessly casting a glance at An Le behind it, and muttered softly,
"Yes, the influence between a host and a Modifier is actually mutual. That is why when we choose hosts, we do not just look at the Fate on them, but also whether their personality is compatible with ours...
"If a very powerful Modifier encounters a very stupid host, over time, it will gradually become stupid too.
"Conversely, if the host is very formidable, then even if the Modifier's inherent strength is average, the final abilities displayed will be incredibly exaggerated..."
Hearing this, Myau-chan seemed to realize something. He looked at Little Finger and said,
"Like you and An Le?"
"What the hell?! What did you say?! You want to fight?!"
Ignoring the interaction between Little Finger and Myau-chan, An Le took the noodles out of the pot, placed them into a bowl already prepped with seasoning, and poured in some steaming hot broth...
After serving it to Yan Huan, she used Little Finger's mouth to ask with concern,
"Then if Ye Shiyu cannot be defeated in the short term, won't Xiao Huan's body be greatly affected... Why do I feel like there's a hidden meaning in your words?"
"..."
An Le blushed slightly and did not reply. She merely pushed the noodles in front of Yan Huan and whispered,
"Xiao Huan, eat your noodles."
Seeing this, Little Finger gave a sinister smile and looked at An Le,
"However, by using my ability to grant pleasure, we might be able to forcefully break the Hypnosis the Index Finger placed on him... How about it? Want to give it a try?"
Hearing this, Yan Huan used the hand holding his chopsticks to smack its head.
Myau-chan also took advantage of the situation, acting like the fox borrowing the tiger's might, to mock Little Finger,
"What kind of nonsense are you dreaming about? Let you use the Modifier so you can grow stronger?"
"Hehe..."
Actually, that was not the only reason.
Yan Huan had reason to believe that Ye Shiyu knew An Le had definitely prepared a backup plan.
In case she anticipated that An Le would use her abilities to forcefully help 'Little Yan Huan' stand up, and then used her Hypnosis to make Yan Huan hallucinate Ye Shiyu throughout the entire process...
Honestly, that would be a nightmare to deal with.
"I will think of a solution first. Today is Saturday, and next Monday I will be going to the internship with Ye Shiyu, meow. No need to worry too much."
Yan Huan said this through Myau-chan's mouth, then lowered his head and began eating his noodles.
In just two or three bites, only the broth was left in the bowl.
Afterward, he smiled faintly, stood up, and looked at An Le,
"I will wash the dishes. I am going to take a shower first."
"Ah, okay."
An Le nodded, but she could only puff out her cheeks and swallow the bitter fact that she would not be getting a taste of anything tonight.
Ye Shiyu...
"...Phew."
Yan Huan placed the bowl in the sink and immediately turned to walk into the bathroom.
He set his mobile phone down, but just as he was about to start taking off his clothes, his movements stiffened slightly.
'The Index Finger... is a Modifier very similar to a program?'
Recalling what Little Finger had just said, Yan Huan froze for a moment before looking over at his phone.
Speaking of which, today he...
Seemed to have downloaded only one new App: the Yezi AI.
Furthermore, when he was at the Sakuramiya household, it hadn't sent a push notification earlier or later—it had chosen exactly that specific moment...
Even if it could have been a coincidence, Yan Huan could not help but suspect:
Could that AI be related to Ye Shiyu?
"..."
He had to admit, with his primal desires suppressed by Ye Shiyu's Hypnosis, his mind was operating at lightning speed.
With this thought, he picked up his phone and unlocked the screen.
He pressed his finger against the Yezi AI App for a moment, then tapped the "Delete" button.
"Are you sure you want to delete Yezi AI?"
"..."
Yan Huan narrowed his eyes and tapped "Confirm".
Like this...
He wondered if the Hypnosis would be dispelled.
The moment the App was deleted, his surroundings seemed to grow even quieter.
Yan Huan locked his phone screen, immediately turning around to test his theory, and pushed the door open.
"Click~"
Outside the door, An Le was sitting on the sofa with her back facing him.
"An Le."
"Bzzzt..."
Yan Huan was just about to approach An Le, intending to test whether his body was still affected by the Hypnosis, or whether Ye Shiyu could still observe the situation on his end.
But the next second, the lights in Yan Huan's rental apartment...
...began to flicker wildly, as if the voltage was unstable.
"..."
This sudden anomaly did not bother Yan Huan much; rather...
The fact that An Le remained completely motionless with her back to him caused his heart to suddenly skip a beat.
"Bzzzt..."
What was even more terrifying was that Yan Huan only now noticed the computer screen in front of An Le was covered in static, flashing like an ominous omen.
"Xiao Huan..."
In this bizarre silence, An Le, still facing away from him, suddenly murmured,
"How did you know?"
"!!"
The moment these words left her lips, Yan Huan felt a bone-piercing chill wash down from the crown of his head.
Oh no!!
"An Le!"
Terrified, Yan Huan still looked at An Le with concern, wanting to check if she had been subjected to Hypnosis.
"Thud~"
However, the moment Yan Huan gently touched An Le's shoulder...
Her head tilted slightly to the side, and then it simply detached and fell.
"Clack~"
Yan Huan's pupils shrank in sheer horror, and he hurriedly looked down.
Only to discover that it was not An Le's head at all.
The figure sitting with its back to him was merely something wearing a black wig and dressed in identical clothes to An Le...
A doll?
And even as its head rolled across the floor, the doll's hollow, lifeless eyes remained fixed on Yan Huan as it continued to murmur,
"Xiao Huan... how did you know?"
"Xiao Huan... how did you know?"
An...
Where was An Le?!
Witnessing this horrifying scene, Yan Huan hurriedly whipped his head around to survey his cramped rental apartment, where everything could be seen at a glance.
But in the entire room, there was absolutely no sign of An Le!
It was as if she had simply vanished into thin air.
"Bzzzt..."
And even more terrifyingly, every electronic device with a screen in the room automatically powered on.
The television that Myau-chan and Little Finger used to watch dramas every night, the computer An Le used for drawing, the mobile phone An Le had dropped on the floor...
All of them began to emit an eerie purple glow.
"!!"
The moment that horrific light pierced his vision, Yan Huan gritted his teeth and hastily clamped his eyes shut.
He threw his own phone to the ground and sprinted out of his rental apartment as if fleeing for his life.
"Bang!"
He threw the door open. The South Ward, which should have been brightly lit and bathed in neon lights, was unusually pitch-black tonight.
Amidst the dead silence, Yan Huan could only vaguely make out the static noise of screens flowing rampantly throughout the city.
"Bang!"
The next second, the front door of his neighbor's apartment burst open.
A man with hollow eyes stepped out, staring blankly at Yan Huan, and muttered the exact same words,
"Xiao Huan... how did you know?"
"Ha... ha... ha..."
Yan Huan was so terrified that his hands and feet turned ice-cold, yet his sheer survival instinct spurred him to run.
But every single door in the entire apartment building began to open, and all the residents stepping out stared blankly at him, questioning,
"Xiao Huan... how did you know?"
"Bang!"
They blocked Yan Huan in the corridor, repeating that phrase endlessly while shambling toward him with crooked, disjointed movements.
Yan Huan's face was deathly pale. He even felt the desperate urge to just jump off the building.
But when he turned his head to look over the railing...
Below, a dense sea of people from the South Ward were all marching toward his public housing building with glazed, dead eyes.
Regardless of gender or age, regardless of who they were...
All of them simultaneously raised their heads in perfect synchronization, looked up at Yan Huan, and blankly asked,
"Xiao Huan...
"...How did you know?!"
And in the next instant, amidst absolute, paralyzing terror, Yan Huan was overwhelmed by the countless neighbors behind him, pinned down firmly beneath their weight.
[Defeat~]
When these words abruptly manifested, Yan Huan's field of vision violently ripped away from that horrific scene, transitioning into a god-like third-person perspective.
[In reality, after deleting the Yezi App, you suddenly threw away your phone as if you had gone mad.]
["Don't come near me!! Stay away!!"] [Shouting these words, you bolted out of the bathroom, panicked and helpless.]
["Xiao Huan, what's wrong?!"]
[An Le looked at you with deep concern, wanting to ask what had happened, but you looked at her as if you were staring at a monster.]
[Ignoring An Le's attempts to stop you, you fled your rental apartment like a lunatic.]
[On the way, you encountered neighbors who had just stepped out to throw away the trash. They enthusiastically greeted you, a young man they had a good impression of, but this only intensified your sheer terror.]
[You rudely shoved past them, screaming as you fled the public housing building. But out in the world below, every person you met caused you to scream in terror, and you even lashed out and violently attacked them.]
[It wasn't until the passersby you had assaulted and insulted called the police that your neighbors finally confirmed a grim conclusion:]
[Yan Huan had completely lost his mind.]
[Under their sighing gazes, and despite An Le's tearful attempts to intervene, you were forced into a police car while struggling wildly, still screaming, "Don't come near me!"]
[And even locked away in a holding cell, you couldn't sleep at all. You constantly hallucinated that everyone around you had turned into doll-like monsters.]
[You tried every conceivable method to drive them away, but in their eyes, you were the monster bereft of rationality.]
[Fortunately, however, there was still someone who had not given up on you.]
[On your second day in custody, someone claiming to be your 'older sister' arrived, wanting to take you home.]
["We are sorry, miss, but your younger brother... seems to have suddenly developed some sort of mental illness. We recommend admitting him to a psychiatric hospital for a thorough evaluation..."]
[The visitor was clad entirely in white, her long black hair cascading down. She maintained an expressionless face as she gazed at you trembling with fear inside the cage, and spoke softly:]
["I know, officer... However, I will take him home and make sure he receives the best treatment."]
["Alright. Just make absolutely sure he doesn't wander around and cause trouble for others again."]
["Rest assured. He will never come out again... He will turn over a new leaf..."]
[The girl expressionlessly pushed open the cell door, then looked at the boy huddled in the corner, clutching his head and constantly trembling with fear, and opened her arms to him.]
[In the profound silence, she suddenly offered a faint smile. Looking at the broken, hollow shell of the boy, she whispered,]
["Come... it's time to go home, Xiao Huan~"]
[Battle Defeat CG Unlocked]
[Ending D: How Did You Know?]
[It seems you still haven't grasped your current situation, falling at the very first step before the game even truly began...]
[...]
[GAME OVER]
[Return to save point?]
"Ha!! Ha... ha..."
Back in reality, Yan Huan's pupils contracted sharply, and he hastily looked down at his mobile phone.
All the Apps on his phone screen were faintly vibrating, with a tiny "X" hovering in their top right corners...
And his finger was hovering directly over the "X" on the Yezi App. It was blatantly obvious that in the very next second, he would have deleted the App.
"..."
A fine sheen of cold sweat had already broken out on Yan Huan's forehead. He narrowed his eyes and swiftly donned his Mask of Perfect Poise, then pretended to calmly set the phone down.
In truth, his entire being was numb with shock on the inside.
Simply because...
This Battle Defeat CG had been far too realistic.
It felt entirely as if he had genuinely gone insane once, only to be thrown back to the very moment before his madness, right before making the fatal mistake.
[Battle Defeat CG triggered, but the highly possessive Index Finger has detected someone stealing its authority and intervened.]
[You now have only one Battle Defeat CG trigger remaining.]
[After the next Battle Defeat CG is triggered, the Index Finger fragment will no longer issue any warnings for erroneous actions that lead to your ruin.]
[Perhaps, you will meet your true...]
[BAD END]
The next second, lines of crimson illusory text abruptly materialized before his eyes, reminding Yan Huan of this crucial information.
Just as Yan Huan was staring with an ugly expression at his "one remaining" Battle Defeat CG attempt, the text suddenly shifted,
[However, each time the host of the Index Finger drops a fragment due to your actions, your available Battle Defeat CG triggers will increase by one.]
"..."
Seeing this, Yan Huan closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Yet with just that slight movement, he realized...
The inside of his clothes was completely drenched in cold sweat.
Evidently, that vivid, lifelike descent into madness had now crystallized into a thread of deep-seated terror, forever engraved into Yan Huan's heart.
Especially the moment he saw An Le's head fall off, he truly...
Almost lost his mind completely.
"..."
Taking several more deep breaths, Yan Huan finally managed to regain some of his composure.
He turned around, intending to take a shower, but suddenly stopped in his tracks.
In the ensuing silence, a trace of hesitation flickered across his Mask of Perfect Poise.
Turning back, he picked up his phone again.
First, he opened his plane chat history with Ye Shiyu.
He sent a message:
"Sister Shiyu, could you reply to my message?"
This time, he didn't include any emoji.
"..."
He waited for a minute, and just as expected, there was absolutely no response.
This did not exceed Yan Huan's expectations.
He narrowed his eyes, lowered his gaze, and displayed a helpless expression.
He stared at the plane chat interface for a while longer before closing the app, intending to lock his screen and finally go take his shower.
But a second later, his eyes happened to fall upon the Yezi AI icon on his home screen.
Promptly, he opened the Yezi AI interface.
"Your exclusive AI assistant, Yezi, is happy to serve you~
"What would you like to ask me?"
Yan Huan narrowed his eyes, his fingers tapping lightly:
"Yezi, I have an older sister with whom I share no blood ties. She seems to harbor special feelings for me, and I don't know how to face her."
"(Deep Thinking...)"
A second later, the digital girl in the app tilted her head and provided her answer:
"It sounds like the user wants me to handle family-related matters. I am currently unsure what 'special feelings' refers to. May I ask the user some questions?"
"Of course."
"What kind of feelings does your older sister have for you?"
"I'm also... not very sure. Perhaps love? But she rarely interacts with others. It's possible she simply mistook the first close person of the opposite gender she met as the object of romantic affection."
"I understand. However, I need to ask more questions to formulate an accurate analysis. May I ask, in the user's opinion, is the user's older sister someone so immature that she cannot distinguish between different types of emotions?"
"No."
"Understood. Then here is my advice. From a legal aspect..."
Just as Yezi was typing out a lengthy reply, Yan Huan tapped his fingers on the screen again,
"It's also possible that it is my fault."
"..."
The long-winded generated response abruptly ceased.
But Yan Huan remained fixed on the screen, offering no further explanation.
Instead, treating it just like any ordinary AI tool, he suddenly typed another question:
"How can I make up with my older sister?"
"(Deep Thinking...)"
On the phone screen, Yezi remained suspended in "Deep Thinking".
On the other end of the network cable, a pair of eyes as profoundly dark as the night itself were silently watching the AI's code execute.
Except...
Upon seeing the questions being transmitted over, her eyes couldn't help but waver slightly.
It seemed...
She had been touched by them.
"Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep—"
The following day. Early morning, 6:00 AM.
"Eldest Miss, time to wake up~"
Nara gently pushed open the door, entering Sakuramiya Hitomi's boudoir right on the dot.
Inside the boudoir, Sakuramiya Hitomi had already risen early and was sitting at her vanity table, neatly arranging her appearance.
She had also changed into a set of athletic wear.
"My, you truly are punctual, Eldest Miss."
Seeing this, Nara smiled faintly and remarked.
Sakuramiya Hitomi turned her head and took a deep breath.
"Of course. I said I didn't want to end up like before, so I will definitely back up my words with actions."
"Hehe~ Shall we set out right now then?"
"Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep—"
At that exact same moment, in a certain villa in the Kyogo Ward.
"Yiyi... Yiyi, time to get up..."
"Mngh..."
Her agent was yawning widely, yet she still faithfully carried out Bai Yi's instructions from yesterday, coming to wake her up.
However, on the bed in front of her, she could only see the bedding wriggling slightly.
The air conditioner was running in the bedroom, making the ambient temperature quite low. Naturally, despite it being early summer, she had wrapped herself up completely in her blankets like a burrito.
Consequently, a muffled voice filtered out from within:
"Mngh... just... just a little bit longer..."
"Get up already!"
"Mngh, who told you to wake me up so early... So sleepy... Let me... sleep a bit more..."
"...Didn't you tell me to wake you up yesterday?! What was all that talk about 'turning over a new leaf'?!"
Her agent's face darkened. Watching Bai Yi fiercely refusing to even emerge from the blankets, she couldn't help but clench her fists.
"Uuu... That was yesterday's me talking..."
"..."
"I... I'll just sleep a bit longer... Just a tiny bit... Turning over a new leaf and all that... Let's do it tomorrow... tomorrow..."
As she mumbled her excuses, Bai Yi's voice, usually as sweet as a skylark, gradually began to fade.
Until finally, as she fell back into a deep slumber, her words became completely indistinguishable.