Restricted Fantasy Invasion

Chapter 2

"Holy crap, is this true? Someone painted Zhou Bin's face without anyone noticing?"

"Of course! You heard his miserable scream too, right? That was hilarious-probably the whole teaching building heard it. I have no idea which genius cultivator did it, or how they pulled it off."

"I heard someone took advantage of his lunchtime nap and used one of those pens that delay the ink from showing up. So satisfying! By the way, wasn't President Yan himself in that classroom?"

The hallway was abuzz with noise just after the exam ended. Math was the last test of the spring semester's opening exams, and it felt like a spring compressed to its limit, about to burst with energy. Now, with the added amusement of Zhou Bin's face being drawn on, the whole building inside and out was filled with a sense of joy.

But Yan Huan, the eyewitness to everything, quietly grabbed his bag and slipped away as soon as the exam ended. Just before school let out, he found an empty classroom high up that nobody usually visited and ducked inside.

"Click."

He turned and closed the door, shutting out the noise from below. Yan Huan tossed his bag carelessly onto a chair behind him and sat down.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the empty classroom and tentatively spoke up,

"Just now, the one who spoke in my head... are you there? Whether you're a system or some kind of cheat, shouldn't you at least introduce what's going on?"

"Meow~"

As if in response, a clear, ethereal cat's meow suddenly echoed through the empty classroom.

Yan Huan turned a little to look and saw a long-haired black cat, head tilted, tail raised, standing in the aisle by the desk, staring at him with eyes as green as emeralds.

A stray cat that snuck in?

The moment that thought appeared, the black cat darted forward with light steps, first leaping onto the chair in front, then springing up to settle on the desk right in front of Yan Huan.

The black cat spun its chubby body around, licked its paw, and then sat upright before Yan Huan.

At the same time, the same voice from his mind spoke up again,

"Hello, Yan Huan."

Great, a black cat that can talk in your head-yet another touch of fantasy.

But having just experienced Bai Yi's bizarre incident, Yan Huan's ability to accept the strange was now alarmingly high. He simply leaned his face closer to the cat's round face and stared it in the eyes,

"What exactly are you? And what just happened?"

"I am the god of this world. As for just now... please allow me to explain the current situation."

The black cat looked up at him cutely, and the voice in his mind continued,

"To put it simply, this world is under invasion, and I need your help."

Yan Huan was taken aback by the black cat's serious tone,

"Are the Trisolarans really invading?"

"No, it's another world's fantasy power invading the world you live in right now."

The black cat shook its head, and a phantom glow instantly blossomed before Yan Huan's eyes.

First appeared a menacing phantom crab, which seemed to be, like the cat, a god from another world.

Then that phantom faded, replaced by more information introducing the other world,

[Invasion Source World Number: 114514, Definition: Female-Oriented Fantasy World, Name: Cruel Meat X Training]

"Stop, stop, enough!"

Before any more dangerous words could pop out, Yan Huan waved his hand with a dark expression, dispersing the glow before his eyes and making the text above vanish like mist.

He took a deep breath, suddenly recalling the strange sound that had just come from Bai Yi.

It was as if he suddenly remembered something-something about Bai Yi's superpower that made her ignored by everyone no matter what she did.

Indifference.

No wonder it sounded so familiar!

At that moment, the dirty memories long dead in his mind suddenly began to assault the gentleman Yan Huan.

Damn, so it's basically the god of lust from ancient Greece that's invading!

The black cat let out another adorable "meow" and said to Yan Huan in his mind,

"The invading power has caused abnormalities in this originally normal world, eventually giving rise to five extremely dangerous [modifiers]. What you just saw on Bai Yi was one of them. They attach themselves to women blessed with fortune, feeding on their desires to grow stronger. In the end, they'll throw the world-line into chaos-and completely ruin your current life as well."

Yan Huan blinked, wanting to say, "And what does that have to do with my life?"

But then he suddenly remembered how Bai Yi, whom he barely knew, had inexplicably tried to doodle on his face just now, saying weird things like "there's plenty of time ahead," and he swallowed back his words.

Besides, if he had an "Indifference" ability that could break the rules of reality, he'd probably do a lot more than just draw on Zhou Bin's face.

Putting himself in the other's shoes, he didn't think she'd keep playing harmless tricks forever...

Judging by Bai Yi's words, she'd probably only just gotten that modifier and was still in the stage of tasting forbidden fruit for the first time, so her actions were still relatively restrained.

But given time-

The black cat blinked its emerald vertical pupils, as if seeing through his doubts and gloom, and explained while licking its fur,

"Over the past decade or so, thanks to your self-discipline and diligence, you now have unimaginably handsome looks, a super-intelligent mind, excellent social skills, and you're the only transmigrator in this world-the only one I can communicate with. In other words, fortune is also with you, perfectly fitting the desire-driven power of that other world. You should understand."

Yes, thinking back, even though he started out as an orphan with no prestigious family, Yan Huan still maintained a disciplined life.

His studies went without saying-his grades in his previous life were outstanding, and if it weren't for his terrible health, he wouldn't have died suddenly and restarted.

So this life, he started working out early to build a solid foundation.

By exercising every day, he not only gained a healthy body, but not a single hair had fallen out-breaking the curse of "you have to go bald to get stronger"!

But it was precisely because of this that he'd caught the attention of that so-called invading power?

Yan Huan shivered. In an instant, countless images from arts and literature marked by desire flooded his mind.

Top students, cold and stunning flowers on the mountain, gentle and kind next-door sisters with curves, tsundere young ladies as pretty as flowers...

These outstanding, attractive girls, maybe they did nothing at all, but then got strangely affected by some mysterious item and were inexplicably defiled-or worse, fell completely...

Hmm, or maybe they really did do something inappropriate, then got violently "punished" by whoever had that power.

No matter the scenario, right now he was basically the gender-swapped version of the first type!

His expression stiffened. Thinking that all his years of hard work had ended up putting him in danger, he felt a strong sense of "good people always end up with a gun to their head."

At this moment, Yan Huan couldn't bring himself to "Yan Huan" anymore. He leaned back in his chair, feeling like life had lost all meaning.

He couldn't help but ask: Yan Huan at age six, why did you make that birthday wish?

But soon, he straightened up a bit,

"Wait, why do you need my help? Aren't you a god? Can't you just get rid of these modifiers yourself?"

But upon hearing this, the black cat looked at Yan Huan helplessly, as if to say:

"Are you serious? You want me, a cat, to do it?"

Luckily, the black cat still gave a proper explanation,

"I don't have the power to directly interfere with the world, and neither do gods from other worlds. That's why modifiers choose hosts within the world to attach themselves to."

Yan Huan raised an eyebrow, as if catching a loophole, and stroked his chin while glancing at the black cat,

"So, you can also give me a similar modifier, right?"

"Correct. But unlike the evil modifiers they have, I can only grant you two simple things."

The black cat admired Yan Huan's sharp mind, raised its left paw like a beckoning cat, and introduced,

"First, I can grant you [resistance to the effects of modifiers]. This means that no matter what modifier it is, only part of its effect will work on you. But this resistance isn't invincible-the modifier's power will keep growing as it feeds on desire, and your resistance will gradually diminish until it fails completely. When that happens, you'll be totally doomed."

Then, lowering its left paw, the black cat raised its right paw,

"Second, every week I can randomly give you [one permanently retained reward], including various abilities, attributes, and skills-usually you'll choose one out of three.

"These rewards might be enhanced as you absorb the power of modifiers during the process of dealing with them. Even after you've completely resolved all five modifiers, the abilities I grant you won't disappear-they're your reward for helping fix the world-line."

Yan Huan narrowed his eyes, not swayed by the black cat's big promises, and instead pressed for details,

"Deal with the modifiers? How do I do that?"

The black cat lowered its paw and sat upright again, then said to Yan Huan, word by word, very solemnly,

There's only one way to deal with modifiers, and that is: [make the host willingly give up their modifier].

"Also, remember this: under no circumstances can you [let it be known you're aware of the modifiers]. If the host realizes you can perceive the modifier, their desire to 'overcome anxiety' will skyrocket exponentially, turning the modifier into its perfect form that your resistance can't touch. At that point, it's game over!"

Got it, got it-cheat powers must not be exposed. Imagine thinking you've got the "Indifference" ability and try to mess with the campus belle, only for the whole class to suddenly notice right before you make your move, exposing you to everyone.

In the dead silence, you watch as they all raise their phones at your naked self-

That's not an amateur movie, that's pure horror!

Yan Huan forced a bitter smile and muttered,

"So, I need to make them willingly give up their modifiers without letting them know I'm aware of them? You might as well just kill me. If I had Bai Yi's modifier, I'd never give it up, not even if I died-okay?!"

"."

The black cat blinked its big cute eyes, not knowing what to say to comfort Yan Huan-because it was the truth, no room for argument.

He loved watching Japanese anime, but living in one? Absolutely not. Especially when he'd be the one playing the victim!

After a long silence, Yan Huan gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, sat up straight with a blank face, and looked at the black cat in front of him, reaching out his hand,

"Give it here."

"...What?"

"This week's random ability. It's Friday-you're not making me wait until next week, are you?"

"..."

The black cat flicked its tail, a little impressed by his adaptability.

Then, like magic, three illusory golden orbs popped up before Yan Huan's eyes, each swirling with text.

[Ability: Perfect Expression Management-Your face, once the window to your emotions, is now your ever-changing mask.]

[Skill: Catching Blades Barehanded-If there's more than one blade, you won't catch them all... unless you have four hands!]

[Skill: One Hundred Percent Successful Backflip-Hey, want to come to my place and watch me do a backflip?]

Yan Huan, face dark with exasperation, grabbed the black cat's chubby face and demanded,

"What are these things you're giving me? How are these supposed to help with the modifiers?!"

The cat meowed innocently, making Yan Huan's mind buzz with frustration,

"This isn't up to me! I told you, it's random, random!"

"Just you wait-if one day those girls finish me off, I'll finish you off too!"

As Yan Huan vented his frustration by squeezing the black cat's chubby cheeks, a sudden knocking sounded at the empty classroom door,

"Knock knock knock."

Yan Huan's body stiffened, and together with the black cat, he turned to look at the classroom door.

The doorknob turned, and the door was slowly pushed open, revealing a boy outside wearing a gray Yuanyue school uniform and black-rimmed glasses.

Seeing it was a male, both Yan Huan and the black cat breathed a sigh of relief-and as luck would have it, Yan Huan recognized the boy at the door.

That was their student council's accountant and tech support, Yaqiao Mu.

His hair was thick, his bangs a bit long, and his face slightly pale; behind the faint reflection of his glasses, an anxious look could be seen in his eyes,

"President, why aren't you answering messages! You've been @'d so many times in the group, and you're not picking up your phone either. What are you doing here alone? If someone from your exam room hadn't told me you went upstairs-hey, cat? Where did that come from?"

As Yaqiao spoke, his attention was drawn to the chubby black cat in front of Yan Huan. Yan Huan shot it a disgruntled glance, then turned to pick one of the three illusory golden orbs floating before him, choosing the one that seemed most useful.

[Ability: Perfect Expression Management]

In an instant, it was as if the meridians in his face had been cleared-his facial muscles became incredibly nimble.

It was like the control panel for his expressions had suddenly jumped from 61 keys to 107, with a whole new range of notes; not only that, the sensation of perfectly controlling every inch of his face was so novel that Yan Huan found it fascinating.

The muscles on Yan Huan's face rippled from top to bottom, finally settling into an apologetic smile. Taking the opportunity, he picked up the black cat and asked,

"Stray cat, just picked it up-cute, right?"

"Meow~"

"It really is cute. Does it have a name? But is it really a stray when it's this fat?"

"Meow!"

"I'm planning to call it Meow-chan."

"Meow?"

"Meow-chan, that's a great name. Wait, no! President, now's not the time for this! Check your phone! Yuan Lina is about to have a meltdown!"

Hearing this, Yan Huan hugged the black cat to his chest and pulled out his smartphone, which had been set to airplane mode for the exam.

The moment he connected to the school network, a barrage of notifications exploded like a bombardment.

Here, the most commonly used social app is called "plane"-it has online payment, social feed, and even short-form videos, so Yan Huan always thought of it as the other world's WeChat.

"Ding ding ding~"

"Yuanyue Student Council General Management Group (5)"

Secretary-Yuan Lina: "Has anyone seen the president? It's urgent!"

Accountant-Yaqiao Mu: "Nope, I don't think any of us share an exam room with the president? But the test just ended, he should still be at school..."

Secretary-Yuan Lina: "That's exactly why we need to find him! Hurry, help me contact the president, the principal wants to see him!"

Vice President-Sakuramiya Hitomi: "The president isn't in the student council office."

Accountant-Yaqiao Mu: "Ah, can't get through on the phone either. Maybe he's secretly meeting up with some girl and has no time to check his messages."

Vice President-Sakuramiya Hitomi: "Yaqiao, please don't make jokes about classmates' private lives."

Accountant-Yaqiao Mu: "Sorry, my bad, Vice President."

Vice President Sakura really is as stiff and serious as ever.

The rest of the chat was way too long-Yuan Lina had @'d him in several other big student council groups as well-so Yan Huan simply put down his phone and asked Yaqiao Mu directly,

"It's too much to read. The principal's looking for me-what's up?"

Yaqiao Mu took a deep breath and said to Yan Huan,

"Well, the principal said your mom came to school to find you and wants you to go over right away!"

Mom?

Yan Huan's movement as he held the cat froze, turning him into a statue.

A parent coming to school to find their child wasn't that unusual, but the problem was-

In this life, his parents had died in a plane crash not long after he transmigrated; he'd grown up in an orphanage!

Out of nowhere, where did this "mom" come from?!

(End of chapter)