When did Ye Shiyu obtain this app?
She remembered—it was the morning after she had just moved to Scale Gate. When she woke from sleep and checked her phone for the time, the purple app had abruptly appeared on her home screen.
Was it a phone malfunction? Or a virus? Ye Shiyu wondered, because when she long-pressed the app, she found there was no option to delete it.
Out of curiosity, she decided to open the app and see what was inside. The moment she did, countless illusory messages flooded her mind, fantastical text materializing before her eyes:
[Welcome to the Modifier App, Host Ye Shiyu.]
[Current App Level: 1—Level increases with frequency and usage. As the level rises, app effects, duration, and other attributes will strengthen.]
[App Effect: Individual Hypnosis—Places a single target in a brief hypnotic state. The subject will fully obey your commands during this state and forget everything that occurred afterward.][Usage: Twice a week, 15 minutes per session. Simply visualize the desire to use the app in your mind, then display the phone screen to the person you wish to hypnotize.]
[Precautions]
Do not disclose the existence of the app. The app will appear on the phone you use most frequently, but ensure the device has sufficient battery when in use. Any delayed commands issued during hypnosis will not persist after the 15-minute session ends.
[4. Although after the effect ends, the APP will automatically correct the unreasonable memories of the hypnotized subject without them noticing anything amiss, the host must still remain cautious of third-party presence. Please avoid making any mistakes that could expose the APP.]
Ye Shiyu's pupils dilated slowly, her face filled with disbelief as she stared at the last line of the illusory text, where a pink, flowery font read:
[Please use it without any reservations!]
Could this just be a stupid joke?
Her phone must have been infected with a virus. Back in the country, she had heard that Scale Gate was notorious for such cybercrimes. Until this moment, with Yan Huan's arrival, she had nervously used it for the first time, even disguising the process as "exchanging contact information."
If it didn't work and the other person showed confusion, she would simply say,
"Sorry, wrong button."
Then she could just open plane instead.
But now, as she watched the handsome young man standing completely still, his eyes utterly vacant, her heartbeat began to quicken—thump... thump...
The sound was like the frantic beating of war drums, mirroring her disbelief.
"It's... actually real!"
Meanwhile, Yan Huan, looking at the wide-eyed Ye Shiyu before him, realized that she, like Bai Yi, must be using the Modifier for the first time.
Due to his resistance, though he had felt a slight discomfort upon seeing the APP interface earlier, he had mostly recovered by now. The only lingering sensation was a faint tingling throughout his body, like the slow recovery after hitting a funny bone—unpleasant but bearable.
Yan Huan was speechless. He had naively held out hope because of Auntie Ye, thinking Ye Shiyu might not have the Modifier. Yet here he was, turned into a victim on the very first night. And unsurprisingly, the content of these Modifiers was always this kind of unspeakable, restricted material.
Fine, if this was how she wanted to play—she started it! Activating his perfect expression control, he flawlessly mimicked the dazed state of being hypnotized, his body frozen in place.
Ye Shiyu took a deep breath and cautiously glanced down the dimly lit hallway.
Confirming no one had noticed anything, she gently pressed her hand against Yan Huan's chest, intending to push him into the room to proceed further in a closed space.
But the moment she touched him, it was like pressing against a scorching wall—not only did he not budge, the heat of his body made her recoil as if burned.
Are boys always this warm? Accustomed to the coldness of dolls, she now realized the stark difference between humans and inanimate objects.
What to do? If she couldn't move him... Oh right, he was supposed to obey her now! Remembering this, Ye Shiyu tentatively whispered to Yan Huan,
"Go into the room."
"..."
Yan Huan instantly felt a faint pulse of movement in his tingling body, as if urging him to walk back into the room.
Maintaining his vacant, hypnotized expression, he obediently stepped inside, then turned to look at Ye Shiyu.
Ye Shiyu stole another glance toward the staircase before following him into the room. She turned and shut the door firmly—click.
Still feeling uneasy, she twisted the lock softly, securing it.
"Hah..."In the confined space, the floral scent of the girl's body wafted through the air, compelling Yan Huan to seek its source until his attention settled on her long, dark hair.
When Ye Shiyu turned around with a sigh of relief, Yan Huan quickly averted his gaze, feigning emptiness in his eyes.
In this seemingly isolated moment, the expression on Ye Shiyu's face was no longer the emotionless mask of daytime but showed clear fluctuations. Her brows would furrow, her snow-white skin flushed slightly with the quickened pace of her heartbeat, and her calm, watery eyes now scrutinized him up and down—as if a painting had suddenly come to life before him.
"So, what should I do with you?"
She stroked her chin, pacing back and forth in front of Yan Huan, as if she hadn't even decided what to do after hypnotizing him. She muttered to herself,
"Should I hypnotize him tomorrow to make him tell Mom to cut ties? No... even if the app can modify his memories, Mom would keep calling to check on him. If something goes wrong and she notices..."
Yan Huan watched her, listening quietly like a doll, silently storing every word in his heart.
"Or hypnotize him into doing something bad at home? Make Mom dislike him... Yes, that's it. And this guy definitely..."
Ye Shiyu lifted her head, seemingly having made up her mind. She turned abruptly and locked eyes with Yan Huan.
With a fragrant breeze, she leaned closer, studying his face before whispering, "What's your purpose in coming here?"
"To have dinner at Auntie Ye's house."
Hearing Yan Huan's flat, emotionless voice, Ye Shiyu seemed dissatisfied. She hesitated, then rephrased her question, "Then... how do you feel about being here?"
Yet the question remained vague—if he were truly hypnotized, he probably wouldn't know how to answer. It was clear she wasn't good at interacting with people, evident even in her fragmented speech.
Yan Huan's dazed eyes flickered slightly as he murmured, "I'm... a little scared..."
"Scared? What do you mean?"
Ye Shiyu froze, completely failing to grasp his words. He continued,
"I'm afraid of interacting with people connected to my parents... Back then, they stood right in front of me and took everything—my home, my parents' belongings—as if I didn't exist. They were all my parents' relatives and friends... Why...? I don't understand why it happened... I'm afraid this time will be the same. I only just managed to leave the orphanage..."
Ye Shiyu's fingers clenched slowly. Watching Yan Huan tremble even under hypnosis, as if trapped in painful memories, she couldn't help but blurt out, "Enough! Stop—don't think about it anymore!"
"Yes."
His expression gradually returned to its usual blankness, pulling free from the mire of suffering and reverting to a hazy stupor.
Only then did Ye Shiyu exhale deeply, muttering to herself,
"Mom would never do something like that..."
Despite her words, Yan Huan's seemingly heartfelt confession had disrupted her thoughts, leaving her momentarily unsure of what to do next. She lifted her gaze to study him again.
Ah, right—she needed to add the plane first. That way, once the hypnosis ended, the memory app would help him self-correct.
After all, today was just a test to see if the hypnosis worked. As for the rest... there was plenty of time."Unlock your phone, open Plane, and hand it to me."
Yan Huan watched as Ye Shiyu stood there, lost in thought, but upon hearing her request, he still pulled out his phone from his pocket.
A fingerprint unlocked it, revealing a desktop background of a vast blue ocean.
As Plane opened, Ye Shiyu was startled by the dense clusters of chat windows and red notification dots.
This... so many chat windows?
What kind of groups are these?
Student Council Management Group? Math 1001 Group One? Martial Arts Club Exchange? Track and Field Club? Fencing Group? Drivers' Group? Mahjong Group... Ye Shiyu had never seen a Plane like this before. She usually only had a handful of chats—with her mom, with Chen Yi—and back when she was studying in the country, she hadn't even joined any classmates' groups.
"Ding!"
Just then, Yan Huan's phone suddenly chimed.
"!"
Ye Shiyu jumped in surprise and quickly looked down, only to see a message from someone with the note "Vice President Sakura Palace," whose profile picture was a white cat.
"I need to discuss something with the president. Is he available now?"
What should I do?!
Who is this person... Ye Shiyu stared at the screen, then lifted her gaze to Yan Huan, whose eyes were dazed and unmoving.
Ah, whatever. Once the hypnosis is over, he can reply himself.
She ignored it and was about to tap the "Add Friend" button in the top-right corner.
Watching this, Yan Huan couldn't help but feel secondhand embarrassment for her.
How about... you let me reply for you? Didn't you already hypnotize me? So why just leave me standing here like a mannequin?
But this also suggested that Ye Shiyu was different from Yan Huan, who had been steeped in gentlemanly conduct in his past life. She clearly knew nothing about this, making her first attempt so clumsy.
Just as Ye Shiyu's finger was about to touch "Add Friend," the entire screen suddenly went black, replaced by an incoming voice call interface.
"Ding-ding-ding~"
"Incoming Call: Vice President Sakura Palace"
!!!
A... a call?! The suddenly enlarged white cat profile picture startled Ye Shiyu. The loud ringing made her flinch, her panic obvious.
Guilt weighs heavy on a thief's heart—and right now, Ye Shiyu, in the middle of mischief, was exactly that.
She quickly reached out and pressed the decline button, cutting off the noisy ringtone.
"Beep-beep—"
"Phew..."
With the ringing finally gone, Ye Shiyu let out a sigh of relief.
To prevent another call, she hesitantly typed in Vice President Sakura Palace's chat window, "Sorry, I'm busy right now and can't take the call."
There was no immediate reply. Thinking she had dodged a bullet, Ye Shiyu reached out to close the chat window.
But just then, the other person's Plane status changed to "Typing..."
"Ding~"
A notification sounded, and the other person sent a message—just three simple words: "Who are you?"
!!?? Ye Shiyu froze, as if struck dead on the spot.
This is hilarious... Seeing her thunderstruck expression, Yan Huan almost lost his composure.
At that moment, deep within Yan Huan's dazed eyes, a flicker of sympathy emerged. Her soft pink lips even began to pout—just slightly, but unmistakably—as if she had suffered some unbearable injustice.Huh? Only now did Yan Huan realize that Ye Shiyu could actually make the same expression as Ye Lan!
Vice President Sakura Palace, you've done well, you've done well! Ye Shiyu's hand trembled as she raised it, wanting to scroll through their previous chat history in an attempt to find any distinctive features in Yan Huan's conversations with this Vice President Sakura Palace. But all that met her eyes were numerous call logs—no wonder she had called directly!
As for the rest, they were mostly various documents issued by the school. The two of them had barely chatted at all? Then how did the other party know with just one sentence that it wasn't Yan Huan on this end of the phone?
No... never mind, let him deal with it himself.
Ye Shiyu chose to deceive herself and promptly withdrew the message she had just sent.
"?"
After she did this, the other party sent another question mark. That question mark was like the scythe of death—just seeing it sent chills down one's spine.
But Ye Shiyu pretended not to see it and exited the chat window. She opened his plane QR code, scanned it with her own phone to add him as a friend, then clicked to accept. "Ding~"
Done.
"Phew."
Ye Shiyu let out another sigh of relief, closing Yan Huan's phone as if shutting the gates of hell.
After finishing all this, Ye Shiyu glanced at her own phone and realized ten minutes had already passed. Hmm, an incredibly long ten minutes.
For today, this was enough.
Looking at Yan Huan before her, she slipped the phone back into his pocket, but at the same time, a hint of hesitation flashed in her eyes.
In truth, her mother had been inquiring about Yan Huan's whereabouts for days before coming to Scale Gate, and of course, she had shared all that information with her. Moreover, ever since she was little, her mother had told her about a very good friend she had.
Ye Lan had said so much, yet it was only now, face to face, that Ye Shiyu felt she had gained some understanding of this young man.
He might indeed be an outstanding person, and his circumstances were pitiable, but the hesitation in Ye Shiyu's eyes was gradually swallowed by a certain desire. She picked up the phone again and said to Yan Huan,
"Sit here and don't move. After you wake up, you should forget everything that's happening now, and then just like this..."
"Yes."
Once Yan Huan sat down, Ye Shiyu turned and left, unlocking the door again and stepping outside.
"Click."
Yan Huan glanced at the door, stretching his numb limbs as he waited for the effects of the Modifier to wear off completely.
A few minutes later, the numbness in Yan Huan's body receded like the tide. Exactly fifteen minutes had passed since the hypnosis began.
In an instant, a new memory surfaced in his mind.
In this memory, Ye Shiyu had knocked on his door. After he opened it, she took out her phone and added him as a friend. They exchanged a few casual words before she turned and left.
For some reason, after returning to his room, he felt drowsy and decided to sit down for a rest, nearly dozing off.
In his daze, he heard the message from Vice President Sakura Palace on his phone, but because he was too tired, he declined the call and sent a message he would never normally send.
After receiving the vice president's strange inquiry, he belatedly withdrew the message. Now, he was fully awake again.
Yan Huan chewed over the new memory in his mind, feeling a sense of dread creep over him.The key wasn't just that Ye Shiyu's Modifier could add memories, but that these extra memories made Yan Huan feel they were things he would and had actually done.
The memories perfectly covered up what had happened in the past fifteen minutes, and Yan Huan felt that if he didn't have resistance, he would never have noticed anything amiss.
Unless an unaffected third party pointed out the contradictions between the fabricated memories and reality, the individual with the implanted memories might start to doubt.
How ruthless. Yan Huan's expression grew more serious as he examined his fully healed hand while piecing together the details of what had actually just happened.
It seemed Ye Shiyu didn't want him to stay—or rather, it wasn't just about him staying. She didn't even want him interacting with Ye Lan.
Hmm. If the Modifier was related to desires, then Ye Shiyu using it to hypnotize him was also to fulfill some kind of desire of hers.
Desires... desires... Yan Huan couldn't help but recall what Chen Yi had mentioned earlier—that Ye Shiyu wrote her name on everything.
He raised an eyebrow, a vague answer forming in his mind. But just then, there was another knock at the door.
Knock knock knock~
Seriously? Again?
Yan Huan steadied himself against the sofa, pausing briefly before calling out, "Who is it?"
"It's Chen Yi, Xiao Huan. I heated up some milk for you."
"Coming."
Hearing this, Yan Huan relaxed completely and got up to open the door.
Outside, Chen Yi stood smiling warmly, holding a cup of milk. Not far behind her stood Ye Shiyu, also holding a cup of milk, her expression blank as she stared at him.
There was a theory that criminals often returned to the scene of the crime to observe the aftermath.
Ye Shiyu was likely doing the same—checking whether Yan Huan had noticed anything unusual after the effects wore off.
"Here, both of you drink your milk. It'll help you sleep. I added a little honey—try it and see if you like it. If not, I won't add any tomorrow."
"No problem, Chen Yi."
Yan Huan played the part of someone completely unaware of what had just happened. Seeing his unchanged expression, Ye Shiyu finally seemed satisfied, silently turning away with her milk.
Chen Yi added, "Xiao Huan, take yours inside. There's a new toothbrush and toiletries in the bathroom. Let me know if you need anything else."
"Got it. Thanks, Chen Yi."
"Sleep well, Xiao Huan."
Yan Huan took the milk back to his room, setting it on the desk before pulling out his phone.
First, he opened the chat window with Ye Shiyu, which was empty since they had just added each other.
After a moment's thought, he sent a message: "Shiyu-jie, if you have any questions about school, feel free to ask me."
He paired it with a smile emoji that carried a hidden meaning in his past life.
A pause. Then, an "OK" gesture came in reply.
The exchange painted a picture of harmonious sibling affection, as if the bizarre Japanese anime-like events from earlier had never happened.
Yan Huan leaned back on the sofa, exasperated, and took a sip of milk. Then, remembering something, he quickly opened his chat history with the vice president of Sakura Palace.
There, a single question mark still stood out conspicuously.
Yan Huan couldn't help but chuckle. He opened the chat box and pulled up the emoji list.Inside, it was loaded with countless categorized emojis—cats, anime, panda memes, GIFs—you name it.
His fingers swiftly scrolled through them with practiced ease, sending a sweating, bowing cat emoji with the text:
"Sorry."
The other party is typing... "Was the president's phone in someone else's hands just now?"
An instant reply? Was she worried he'd been taken out by some criminal?
He sent a nodding cat emoji: "Yeah."
"Was at work. A friend replied for me. Had something to handle."
Come to think of it, did he usually spam too many emojis? The vice president Sakuraomiya had seen through him the moment he didn't send one. Well, but then again, Sakuraomiya knew the management team inside out—her memory was sharp, so this wasn't surprising.
Thinking this, Yan Huan typed, "What was the urgent matter you mentioned earlier?"
Accompanying the message was a cat emoji with a question mark.
The other party is typing... But after a long while, no message came through, nor did she call—she preferred phone calls, claiming they were more efficient.
Just as Yan Huan was about to check other group chats and wait for her reply, she finally responded:
"It's been resolved, President."
Yan Huan glanced at the chatbox and resent the earlier nodding cat emoji. "Good, rest early, Sakuraomiya."
"Okay."
The milk was finished, and his phone tossed aside. Yan Huan finally relaxed a little, stretching out on the sofa.
"Meow~"
Plump Miao Jiang reappeared silently, tilting its head at him with concern.
Yan Huan glanced at it and patted the sofa beside him.
Miao Jiang understood instantly, leaping up and nestling its soft, furry body against his chest.
As he stroked its smooth fur, Yan Huan smiled wryly. "Seems like if I don't act soon, there might be no way out, Miao Jiang."
"Meow~"