Chapter 389: Made in Heaven |
"Tick... tock..."
In the underground secret room, Ye Shiyu leaned against the wall behind her with her arms crossed, looking at Yan Huan, who was tightly gripping the shield in front of her.
As the time slowly approached 4:44 in the afternoon, Yan Huan could not help but take a tense, deep breath.
After all, he could not guarantee this plan would be one hundred percent successful.
But...
He had no other choice.
If he failed, he would be forced to return to 4:44 in the afternoon on the day of his death, and then wait for a full seven days!
Seven days!
He had a thorough understanding of the several Modifier hosts. Once those seven days were up, all of Linmen would probably sink into the ground!
He could only take a gamble.
"Tick..."
On the wall, as the second hand pointed to twelve, the minute hand precisely aligned with forty-four.
"Tick... tock..."
At this exact moment, the sound of a ticking clock echoed abruptly all around them, resembling the dripping of water.
"Crack! Crack!"
The space around Yan Huan faintly manifested illusory, colorful scenes like flowing light, within which he could vaguely make out familiar figures and unfamiliar settings.
However, at this moment, he was wholeheartedly focused on the mirror in his hand; he was in no mood to pay attention to the scenery around him.
If his time travel had been caused by the power of Nameless Finger, then by extension, returning to his original worldline would inevitably subject him to the effects of Nameless Finger once again.
He was not sure of the nature of the world he was currently in, but the effects of the Modifier potion he had consumed here yesterday had indeed taken hold on his body.
Thus, he could only pray that the Rebounding Demon Mirror of this world would be just as effective.
If it worked, he could reflect the effects of Nameless Finger and gain a single use of the Nameless Finger Modifier.
He did not know much about the capabilities of Nameless Finger, and second-stage abilities like time travel were as complex as the theory of relativity.
So, choosing its most reliable first-stage effect would be enough!
"It's here!!"
In the very next second, the water-droplet ticking of the clock sound grew even heavier around them.
A power transcending time and space instantly pierced through the void, rushing straight toward Yan Huan.
Yan Huan could faintly see that it looked like something enveloped in a dark green glow...
Something like a toad's tongue?
"!!"
Yan Huan gritted his teeth and tightly gripped the mirror in his hand.
"Clang!!"
In an instant, Yan Huan felt the mirror in his hand become ten thousand times heavier.
When he looked down at the mirror, he saw a dark green spectral light flickering continuously within its reflection...
Soon after, that dark green light drove the mirror to slowly warp and change shape, gradually transforming it into a translucent green pocket watch.
The green pocket watch settled gently into Yan Huan's palm, seemingly waiting for his command.
"It worked!! Sister Shiyu!"
Clutching the pocket watch, Yan Huan joyfully raised his eyes to look at Ye Shiyu.
Before him, Ye Shiyu, gentle as a devoted wife, pinched her chin and glanced at the time beside them.
"It actually worked. Your magic mirror fended off the Nameless Finger ability that should have forced you back... It's already approaching 4:45, and you still haven't returned."
"Yeah..."
Yan Huan nodded and held the pocket watch as he stood up.
Just as he was about to speak, the clock above was already finishing the final seconds of 4:44.
"Tick... tock..."
"Sister Shiyu, I can take this chance to..."
As the second hand completed its revolution, the time exactly passed 4:44.
And in that instant, all the sights before Yan Huan's eyes shifted as if teleported.
"..."
"...Xiao Huan? Why didn't you cover yourself with a thicker blanket while sleeping? It's already autumn..."
He suddenly realized he was lying down again, and the scenery before him instantly changed back to the workshop where he had first arrived yesterday.
Ye Shiyu instantly appeared in front of the seven wedding photos, looking at him lying on the recliner with concern as she spoke.
"..."
Yan Huan stared blankly at Ye Shiyu, who seemed to have been completely reset, and sat up in bewilderment.
"Sister Shiyu?!"
"Wh-what's wrong?"
The Ye Shiyu before him seemed to have entirely lost the memories of their time together yesterday, looking in confusion at Yan Huan's bizarre expression.
"You really have burned your brain with a fever... Wait here, I'll go get you some medicine."
"..."
Yan Huan stared blankly at the digital clock on the desk. The time right now was exactly 4:45.
While he was still in a state of sheer shock, his hand hidden under the duvet brushed against something hard.
He finally realized he was still holding something.
He lifted the duvet to look. There, perfectly intact in his other hand, were four faintly glowing doses of Crab Medicine and several Crab Coins...
These items stuffed his left hand so full that he couldn't possibly hold anything else.
Meanwhile, in his right hand, an illusory pocket watch rested quietly in his palm, waiting for his command.
"Tick... tock..."
In front of him, Ye Shiyu, who was about to leave to fetch the medicine, heard that familiar clock sound like dripping water and could not help but freeze slightly.
She turned her head, and upon seeing the pocket watch in Yan Huan's hand, a look of surprise washed over her face.
"Xiao Huan? You... what exactly..."
"..."
Yan Huan stared blankly at the pocket watch in his hand, then glanced at the Ye Shiyu before him who had lost the memories of yesterday, his confusion deepening.
Here...
What kind of situation was this?
The Crab Medicine, Crab Coins, and the Nameless Finger pocket watch simulated by the Rebounding Demon Mirror had not been reset, but the clothes he had changed into last night had all been completely reverted.
Moreover, what exactly was going on with this world?
It was clearly so real, its cause and effect so distinctly logical. It should unquestionably be the future...
But why, after passing 4:44 and completing a full day, had time not moved forward?
Logically speaking, he had already used the mirror to nullify the forced return of the first day, so he should have been able to stay here for a second day...
Never mind, he shouldn't think about it anymore.
"..."
Yan Huan took a deep breath, looking at the virtual pocket watch in his hand that could only be used once. He inhaled deeply once more.
He gently reached out, placing his finger on the hour hand of the pocket watch.
Then, he spun it counterclockwise...
That is to say...
Time acceleration!!
One revolution, two revolutions, three revolutions...
Eight revolutions!
That is to say, a full eight days!
The first revolution was to accelerate his remaining day here!
And the remaining seven revolutions were to accelerate the time he needed to resurrect!
After doing all this, he used his little finger to block the hour hand, which was about to start spinning like a reversed mainspring. A drop of sweat faintly rolled down his forehead.
He didn't know if it would succeed, nor did he know what price he would have to pay...
But right now, time had to be accelerated.
"Sister Shiyu, I'm leaving."
"Xiao Huan..."
He smiled softly. As he spoke those quiet words, he released the blocked hour hand.
Then, he gritted his teeth and, as if in prayer, shouted a line known only from his past life:
"Made in Heaven!!"
Before him, the moment Ye Shiyu saw Yan Huan reverse the hour hand, she knew exactly what he was going to do.
She did not try to stop him. She simply stood there serenely, watching Yan Huan, and gave him a gentle wave goodbye...
"Tick... tock..."
A terrifying rumbling sound echoed from the pocket watch in Yan Huan's hand. The moment he let go, the hour hand began spinning rapidly around the clock face like a wound-up spring.
And bizarrely, under the hour hand's surreal rotation speed, the movement of the entire world seemed to be dragged along by that tiny needle.
Just like Father Pucci's Made in Heaven...
Up in the firmament, the clouds began darting across the sky at speeds visible to the naked eye.
The sun, originally teetering on the horizon, smashed fiercely into the earth, while from the opposite side of the firmament, a crescent moon launched into the sky, dragging a tail of starlight.
But unlike Made in Heaven...
Living creatures were also accelerating!
It was just that they were unaware of it!
At this moment, in the eyes of outsiders, Yan Huan was in a state akin to having activated Indifference, completely unnoticeable.
Only Yan Huan, who seemed to have ascended to a third-person perspective, could perceive it—
The entire world, including himself, was accelerating!
As the hour hand began to turn, the Ye Shiyu before him seemed to have been put on fast-forward. Following the rapid spinning of the clock on the wall, she flickered back and forth across the workshop.
At six in the afternoon, she brought over a stool and sat beside Yan Huan to eat her dinner.
A few seconds later, it was seven in the evening.
She lay down next to Yan Huan, clutching her lower abdomen while handling documents for Ye International.
Another few seconds passed. At eight in the evening, she went to take a shower.
Afterward, she brought out pregnancy test reports, resting her chin on her hand as if telling him something, but the accelerated Yan Huan had absolutely no idea what she was saying.
At ten o'clock at night, she turned off the lights.
The entire workshop plunged into darkness, yet she still did not leave, choosing to sleep right there.
Yan Huan watched her curl up in the exact spot he had originally occupied, clutching her lower abdomen, hugging herself, and slowly falling asleep.
Eleven at night, twelve, one...
Until the next morning.
Everything passed by for Yan Huan in nothing more than the snap of a finger.
But he found himself completely unable to move his body, left with nothing but agonizing pain.
The human body produced all sorts of sensations at every single moment throughout a twenty-four-hour day.
Hunger, thirst, pain, soreness, bloating, itchiness...
Under normal circumstances, a person would hardly notice them.
But caught in the midst of time acceleration, these sensations crashed over him like a flash flood. In just a few short seconds, all the physical feedback of an entire day was crushing down upon him.
What followed was an endless torrent of suffering.
"Hiss!!"
As time rapidly spun forward, the sheer weight of sensory input crushed down like Mount Tai, forcing Yan Huan to double over in agony.
His eyes became bloodshot, and every muscle in his body began to convulse.
The suffering of not having eaten or drank anything could not be resolved at all, and the time acceleration seemed to impose an additional layer of pressure.
It was akin to being plunged into the deep sea, feeling the crushing weight of the water at every moment. It left Yan Huan with reddened eyes and taut muscles.
No wonder...
No wonder Bai Yi was almost killed by him after accelerating time for just a single day.
And for Yan Huan, he still had a full seven days ahead of him!!
"Ahhhhh!!"
If he wanted to break free, the only way was to stop the rapidly spinning hour hand in his grasp!!
With bloodshot eyes, Yan Huan lowered his head, tightening his grip on the Crab Medicine and Crab Coins.
Immediately after, he reached out again—and pushed the spinning hour hand even faster.
"Tick... tock!!"
"Rumble!!"
As Yan Huan pushed the hour hand even faster, the speed of everything operating around him reached an entirely new level.
Ye Shiyu's entire night of sleep passed in a flash...
Upon waking up, she glanced at the spot where Yan Huan used to be, gave a soft smile, and got out of bed to start her day.
"Hum!"
Immediately following that, the sun in the firmament rose from the east once again.
Within mere seconds, it climbed to the middle of the sky and began setting toward the west.
The hour and minute hands on the wall clock were spinning so fast they nearly threw sparks. Very quickly, it approached 4:44 in the afternoon once more.
Through excruciating agony, Yan Huan lifted his trembling eyelids, just in time to see Ye Shiyu re-enter the room.
She glanced at the clock, then at the recliner where Yan Huan had previously been.
And then...
She revealed a beautiful smile.
It was as if she were saying,
"Goodbye."
Yan Huan simply watched her, watched the seven wedding photos displayed behind her...
Then, he tightened his grip on the pocket watch in his hand bit by bit.
"Tick... tock..."
The very instant it reached 4:44 in the afternoon, a great power transcending time and space dragged Yan Huan's consciousness away, instantly detaching him from that place. He returned to a void of complete darkness.
He was back!!
Yet in his hands, those four crystalline doses of Crab Medicine, the several Crab Coins, and the illusory pocket watch...
They still existed!!
"Yan Huan! You're back, myau! I know now!! I finally know how Nameless Finger operates, myau!! Wait, where did you get so much Crab Medicine, myau?!"
This was the interior of Yan Huan's Modifier.
The afternoon of the day he died, at 4:45.
But Yan Huan was still accelerating.
Forcing himself to endure the pain of time acceleration, Yan Huan painstakingly squeezed a question out from the depths of his throat:
"Myau... Myau-chan! Has the outside world accelerated?!"
"N-no, meow!"
"The gamble paid off!!"
Yan Huan lay prostrate in the darkness, writhing in immense agony. The illusory pocket watch he held was still spinning.
Meanwhile, out in reality, absolutely everything remained as normal.
It was as if he were the only one undergoing acceleration.
Beside him, however, Myau-chan was bizarrely able to keep pace with his accelerated time and even communicate with him.
"Yan Huan, listen to me, I'll tell you how Nameless Finger actually works, meow!!"
"Do you really have to say it right now?! I'm dying from the pain!!"
"Meow?! If I don't tell you now, it will be too late!!"
Yan Huan's eyes widened as he lay there, gasping incessantly for breath.
That miraculous power was slowly rebuilding his body piece by piece—mending shattered bones, reforming torn muscles...
It was as if magic had been cast upon his corpse, gradually reversing it back to its absolute physical peak of the past year.
But the process of regenerating bones and re-forging flesh and blood came with extreme suffering.
"Yan Huan, don't forget, resurrection isn't without a price, meow!
"You owe an amount of fragments capable of upgrading the Modifier! If you don't pay it back, you won't be able to use the Modifier in the meantime!"
Before him, Myau-chan tilted its head and hurriedly explained,
"And I only exist through the Modifier, so until you repay that debt, I won't be able to appear, meow!"
"It's that underhanded?!"
"...Earlier, did you go to a place incredibly similar to a 'Parallel World', and there was a high probability I wasn't there?"
"Yes..."
Yan Huan stared blankly at Myau-chan, finally remembering that resurrection truly demanded a toll paid in fragments.
"The place you went to before wasn't some Parallel World. Parallel Otherworlds don't even exist!
"If anything counts, the world where those invading evil gods reside is the true Otherworld!!
"This world only has one true worldline, which is the one you are on right now!!"
Hearing this, Yan Huan was slightly taken aback.
"So, the place I went to..."
Myau-chan paced anxiously in circles, hurriedly using its cat paws to draw streaks of brilliant golden light in midair.
It drew something resembling the trunk of a great tree, or perhaps a flowing river.
"The worldline we are currently on is like this: a great river or a tree trunk spanning across the past and the future...
"This is the real, singular, and factual sequence of events!
"However, just as a human brain imagines possibilities based on what has already happened, my subconscious also does the same thing..."
Myau-chan blinked, and suddenly, tributaries or branches appeared alongside that great river...
"The world's subconscious will sometimes imagine:
"'If I hadn't done this back then', or 'If I had done this back then', what would have happened...
"In other words, it constructs false 'possible worldlines' one after another.
"However, they only possess a result. There is no process!"
Just like what people thought of when they felt regret or engaged in daydreams...
People usually only imagined a "result" in their minds based on a "possibility", lacking any detailed process.
Marrying a rich, beautiful woman, becoming a CEO, reaching the absolute peak of life...
These were all results.
They were things that could have happened, but never did.
And imagination generally remained nothing more than imagination...
Even the imagination of the world itself was no different.
Unless...
The Modifier someone possessed could enter another person's imagination and temporarily turn it into reality.
"And the power of Nameless Finger can pry open the only true worldline of reality, allow you to enter these 'what-if' lines, and even manifest them into reality!
"Because it was a fake worldline to begin with, once you entered that 'what-if' line, you directly replaced the Yan Huan inside it.
"Otherwise, if that worldline were real, you would have seen another independent version of yourself!
"I couldn't enter it because I simply no longer existed within that result.
"Furthermore, since that 'what-if' line only contains a result, it possesses no past and no future.
"So if you were able to stay inside for a long time without being thrown back out, you should have noticed that the 'what-if' line would continuously loop that exact 'result'."
Hearing Myau-chan's words, Yan Huan finally realized why everything had looped after reaching 4:45 just now.
"So... those are all things that could have possibly happened?"
Yan Huan remained silent for a second before suddenly asking.
Myau-chan blinked, not understanding why Yan Huan would ask that, but nodded nonetheless and replied,
"Yes, meow... The world's subconscious won't conjure up absolutely impossible imaginations. Those imaginations are all based on things that have happened in reality, either in the past or in the future..."
"..."
Hearing this, Yan Huan seemed to endure the pain forcefully, lowering his head once again.
The next second, he remembered something else and raised his head in confusion.
"So... Bai Yi's Nameless Finger simply allows her to enter false worldlines and make fantasies come true?
"But I learned while I was in there that Bai Yi supposedly has the ability to change things that have already happened in the past using Nameless Finger?"
Myau-chan immediately shook its head in denial upon hearing this.
"How is that possible, meow? The worldline is irreversible!
"You are situated within the river of time; skipping downstream or moving upstream against the current are both impossible, meow!
"Even I don't have the power to travel through time to change what has already happened or alter the future..."
Yan Huan narrowed his eyes, staring at Myau-chan.
And Myau-chan also realized that Yan Huan was telling the truth, its eyes instantly going wide in sheer shock.
"Really, meow?!"
But before Yan Huan had the chance to speak, Myau-chan's body began to grow fainter and more illusory.
It looked at Yan Huan, panicked and helpless, and hurriedly said,
"Yan Huan!"
But the very next second, it gradually faded away on the spot.
Yan Huan's pupils shrank, and the next second, the surrounding darkness began to slowly brighten up...
As the seven days flashed by rapidly, his body was restored by the Modifier's power, and he was already able to see many of the sights outside through his corpse.
He saw everything he had experienced in the morgue.
He saw An Le go completely out of control, and he saw the Modifier that had been reset violently erupt once more.
He saw Sakuramiya Hitomi stopping An Le, and he heard the words she had spoken to her.
He saw Sakuramiya Hitomi's hardship and torment, and his heart could not help but ache for her.
"Hitomi..."
"Tick... tock..."
Time spun forward in a flash. Very quickly, it reached the afternoon at the funeral home, the exact moment Aruiya went berserk.
Amidst countless glowing electronic information screens, a faint purple light flickered, intertwining like spiderwebs to form the Internet.
And right inside that sky-blotting web, the hosts and the bystanders were about to face unprecedented destruction.
"Tick... tock..."
The time acceleration stopped precisely at this very moment.
It stopped the second before Aruiya was about to grasp the door handle and turn Linmen into the "Kingdom of Aruiya."
"Hum!"
"Aruiya!!"
"Don't!!"
In the corridor, An Le was violently shoved back by Aruiya. She collapsed on the floor, staring wide-eyed at Aruiya.
At this moment, golden cracks were slowly starting to form on Aruiya's body.
She was about to seize everything in the world.
Yet she was also about to lose everything she held dear.
Even though she didn't know how to use guns, even though she didn't want to turn Linmen into her kingdom at all...
She was still on the verge of seizing it all.
Even though what she truly liked was "Angry Little Pigs", even though what she really wanted was her mama's love...
She was about to lose it all.
"The side effect..."
Modifiers truly would destroy everything...
Including the hosts themselves.
"Clack!"
At this moment, due to the previous battle, it had dropped from An Le and Sakuramiya Hitomi.
Little Finger writhed on the ground in pain, cursing loudly,
"Motherfucker! I freaking told you to stop a long time ago, so why am I still the one taking the heavy damage?! Ah, it hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts!!"
But at this moment, An Le gritted her teeth and finally struggled to stand back up.
She was the only one who could stop Aruiya.
Because only her resistance penetration could take effect on Aruiya!!
"Aruiya!!"
As An Le called out in a hoarse voice, she tremblingly raised her hand and aimed it straight at Aruiya.
At this exact moment, as An Le unleashed her attack, the ethereal, deep purple spiderwebs began to tremble slightly.
"Superconductor Loser!!"
"Hum!"
A Superconductor beam pierced through the void and struck Aruiya dead-on.
Her hand, which was just about to grasp the door handle to open it, paused for a brief fraction of a second.
"Ugh..."
And it was this exact one-second pause that caused the progression of Aruiya's Modifier to halt ever so slightly.
"Hum..."
Also in that very same second, inside the room, held tightly in the arms of a terrified Ye Shiyu...
Yan Huan's corpse was miraculously regaining its rosy hue, bit by bit.
"Wu... Xiao... Xiao Huan..."
Feeling the once ice-cold corpse in her arms slowly warming up, until it was hot enough for Ye Shiyu to actually feel its warmth...
She finally realized what was happening and looked down.
She saw that Yan Huan's previously mangled body had unexpectedly become flawless once again.
He had completely returned to life.
She saw Yan Huan tightly clutching an illusory pocket watch. With his head lowered, he looked like Jesus resurrecting from the dead...
Bathed in pure white light, with the white shroud continuously slipping down from his body, he slowly stood up.
"Hum..."
"Xiao... Xiao Huan?"
Ye Shiyu's eyes went wide. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at the young man slowly rising before her, feeling as though she must be dreaming.
Her face covered in tears, she lowered her head as if in confession,
"I... I didn't mean to imprison Xiao Huan...
"I just saw the future... I saw that if I let you go outside, you would end up in a vegetative state...
"I was just so scared... I didn't want to lose you...
"Wu... Even if... wu... even if you don't like me..."
Right before her, the young man slowly exhaled a heavy breath.
He lowered his gaze to look at the trembling, completely disheveled girl in front of him...
Unconsciously, the beautiful smile Ye Shiyu had shown him in that "future" he had witnessed kept flashing before his eyes.
"..."
And so, Yan Huan's eyes trembled slightly as he spoke in a soft voice,
"I know, Sister Shiyu."
"!!"
At Yan Huan's soft words, Ye Shiyu, who had seemed immersed in an illusionary confession, gave a slight shudder.
"Hum..."
"Xiao Huan..."
Filled with fear, she looked up in sheer disbelief, gazing at the sight before her...
"You... you aren't dead?"
She saw Yan Huan, draped diagonally in a white shroud, giving her a gentle smile.
At this moment—
In his right hand, the illusory pocket watch whose hour hand had just stopped spinning was slowly crumbling into powder, vanishing Without a Trace.
However—
In his left hand, the faintly glowing doses of Crab Medicine and the Crab Coins still existed in reality, declaring their undeniable presence to the world.
Yan Huan stood vibrantly alive before Ye Shiyu. The faint light of the Crab Medicine flickering in his hand suddenly felt like a terrifying storm—
Blowing a massive, irreparable hole right through the illusory, woven deep purple web hanging from the void.
"Yeah, Sister Shiyu.
"I'm back."