Chapter 8: Mastering Time

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A heartfelt thanks to the Pure Fox Pear for their generous reward. By the way, aside from this update, there will be two more tonight, released together at midnight. Since next week marks a new beginning and these are the final two days of the New Book Rankings, I hope everyone can lend their support then! I am immensely grateful!

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“These kinds of Japanese people are just otaku fools. Loaded. Come quickly.” Qi Xi suddenly thought of this phrase, waved the wallet in his hand, and said, “Boss, bring two more desserts—whichever’s most expensive!”

The words rang with arrogance, steeped in the scent of wealth.

He tossed three hundred thousand yen to Xigua, saying, “Use it as you please.”

Those in the shop witnessed the scene with expressions of disdain—it was a blatant act of patronage! Students nowadays are so casual; so young and already being kept by others. And this boy, handing over a wad of nearly three hundred thousand yen without a second thought—when the average Japanese salary is barely two hundred thousand a month! The economy has been in decline for years, wages have dropped, and yet this rich kid can so casually hand over three hundred thousand to a female student. No wonder he was so brash just now.

Xigua accepted the money as a matter of course, provoking even more contempt from those inside. Yet beneath it all simmered envy and jealousy. If most here weren’t tourists with comfortable lives, someone would likely be plotting a robbery.

After eating their desserts, the two left.

At this point, readers may still be unsure what’s really happening.

How did Qi Xi get the wallet?

Is this a thief’s system?

Of course not.

Nor is it some magical ability to transfer wallets by mere complaint.

Let’s rewind to the moment after Qi Xi finished his rant.

He made no visible move—no act of theft.

As the fat otaku was preparing to leave, Qi Xi silently mouthed an English letter.

STOP!

In that instant, time froze.

The shopkeeper pouring tea stood motionless, water suspended midair. The mouths of chatting patrons hung open, tea halted as it reached their lips.

Everything stopped with the cessation of time.

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Qi Xi rose, walked to the fat otaku’s side, took the wallet from his pocket, then returned to his seat and tucked it in his own pocket.

Sixty seconds later, time resumed its course.

Qi Xi then took out the wallet and handed thirty thousand yen to Xigua.

This was one of Xigua’s three major time-based golden abilities—time manipulation! Worth four hundred thousand points and usable only once per world.

But it came with strict limits—time could only be stopped for sixty seconds. After all, the gods’ interference in a world could go no further.

Besides STOP, Qi Mo possessed the abilities BACK and REVERSE.

BACK rewinds time by sixty seconds.

REVERSE rolls back the time of a specified object. Unlike BACK and STOP, which are limited to sixty seconds, REVERSE extends the rollback for a specific item to an hour.

Each of these golden abilities may only be used once per day. Otherwise, endlessly rewinding within a day would be little different from total control over time.

Here, “a day” does not refer to a twenty-four-hour interval, but rather after midnight, the skill resets.

Qi Xi’s three golden abilities, brought over from his transmigration, were thus revealed.

Time manipulation (BACK, STOP, REVERSE).

Random skills.

Panic vanished.

After parting ways with Xigua, Qi Mo made his way to Kojima Muramasa and Mizukami Jiro’s place. To his surprise, neither was present. He paused, wondering whether they had lost interest in him. If so, things would be much simpler.

Standing still, Qi Mo lowered his head and fiddled with his phone, searching for a domestic novel website and started reading.

In this world, China is simply called China—not Huaxia, not the Huaguo, not Zhonghua, just China. This was similar to Qi Mo’s original world.

China had a website called Starting Point Chinese Web, which boasted a vast collection of novels. It was indisputably the top platform for web novels in the country.

Nearly ten percent of the site’s IP traffic came from Japan.

He spent about an hour reading, and in a daze, seemed to hear someone calling his name. Qi Mo blinked and looked up.

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“Baize!!”

“Baize! Huff, huff!”

Kojima Muramasa and Mizukami Jiro ran over, panting, and blurted out, “Where did you run off to just now? You took forever in the restroom and didn’t come out. We got worried and went to look for you, but you weren’t there at all. You scoundrel, where on earth did you go?”

Qi Mo was taken aback by their words, feeling a touch of emotion—though only a little. These two were friends of the body’s original owner; it was only natural for them to care. They weren’t acting out of concern for Qi Mo, but for Konda Baize. So Qi Mo felt no need to be moved.

“After the restroom, I went with my sister to the teahouse for a drink, a bite, and some conversation,” Qi Mo replied calmly.

“Huh?!”

“What? Did I hear you right?” The two were incredulous. Given Konda Baize’s relationship with his sister, exchanging a few words was surprising enough, let alone going to a teahouse together! How astonishing! When did Konda Youxi and her brother become so close?

“No mistake. That’s what happened.” Qi Mo replied, a hint of impatience in his voice.

“Youxi has finally grown up!”

“Haha! After all, you are her brother.”

“I suppose so,” Qi Mo said, nodding, and resumed reading his novel.

Baize had always had this temperament; Qi Mo, though similar, was far colder and not weak. But these two couldn’t tell the difference. They exchanged a glance and let it go.

Soon, the afternoon’s outing ended and everyone headed to the hotel.

Seated in the car, Qi Mo slipped his phone into his pocket and gazed at the scenery receding outside, anticipating the evening’s stay at the Dark Cloud Hotel.

The car quickly pulled into the hotel’s parking lot. The students all disembarked and followed the teacher to the Dark Cloud Hotel.

As the crowd of students pushed their way into the hotel, no one noticed that under the dazzling lights, all the shadows belonging to students and teachers had vanished. No matter the angle, no shadow could be found.

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