Power Bank

Above, six usable badges gleamed with golden light.

Aside from the ever-present "Hound of the Baskervilles," which greatly enhanced Ren Yu's physical abilities, and the "Faceless One," which could only be used while sneaking, the remaining badges were—Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon; Heroic Spirit Killer; Flowing Cloud Coiled Dragon Pendant; and Berserker Heart.

The longer Ren Yu looked at them, the stranger they seemed.

What exactly had changed?

He couldn't put it into words, but he had a feeling.

As Ren Yu watched the silver-white sphere in the sky, Sie looked over as well. Her expression was somewhat dazed as she murmured, "Th-this... what is this thing? Why does it feel so familiar?"

Ren Yu turned his head and discovered it was Sie. She was actually still awake.

Sie lay on the bed with her fair little legs raised behind her, looking nostalgic as she said, "It feels like... I can control them."

She stretched out her slender white arm and curled her fingers into a fist toward the enormous silver-white sphere.

At that moment, a change occurred.

The silver-white sphere gradually turned light blue. Several gentle beams of light descended, connecting to Sie as though they were drawing something from her.

Ren Yu could clearly feel the badges replenishing their energy faster.

Previously, they could recover at most one point of energy a day. Now, the recovery rate had increased by at least four or five times.

He stared in astonishment at the dark figure on the other bed.

Something was wrong!

Ren Yu realized it too.

Besides the faster energy replenishment, the important thing was that Sie could actually see the white sphere?

Wasn't this thing supposed to be visible only to him?!

He had shown it to other people before, but all they saw was empty air. They even thought Ren Yu was messing with them.

Just then, Sie suddenly felt dizzy, and a voice abruptly surfaced in her mind. "Sie, what are you doing?!"

"Why is the energy in the stigmata decreasing? We worked so hard to gather that!"

"Sie" had awakened.

She had fallen asleep from exhaustion, but the actions of her other self had startled her awake.

What was going on?

Why was the energy constantly draining away?

When she saw the translucent light-blue sphere floating in midair, her pupils contracted slightly.

"This thing is draining our energy. Why aren't you resisting at all?"

As she spoke, several chains shot out of thin air and lashed toward the sphere floating in the air.

But the instant the sound of metal scraping rang out, the sphere transformed into countless specks of light and vanished before Sie.

Boom

The chains, having lost their target, pierced straight through the ceiling, punching holes in it with a tremendous crash.

"?!"

Ren Yu's eyelid twitched. Good thing nobody lives upstairs.

Otherwise, they would be getting complaints.

With a snap, he flipped the light switch by the bed and asked with a frown, "Sie, what are you doing?"

A huge hole had appeared in the ceiling, revealing the furniture upstairs.

Fine dust continued to fall from the broken edges.

At that moment, "Sie" turned around as well and looked at him with a half-smile. "I'd like to ask what you did."

"Mr. Ren Yu."

"So your goal was the energy I accumulated in the Sea of Quantum."

Ren Yu's expression remained calm as he said blandly,

"I don't know what you're talking about. I never forced Sie to do anything, right, Sie?"

Inside her mind, Sie, the primary personality, immediately chimed in.

Yes, I did it all. It has nothing to do with him, so stop already.

Chapter 21: Power Bank

After sensing Sie's response, "Sie," the alternate personality, immediately frowned and muttered unhappily, "We're the ones losing out here. Why are you protecting him so much?"

She knew she was the alternate personality, the embodiment of Sie's negative emotions.

But she had to handle situations like this.

Otherwise, with that version of herself who only knew how to hide and worry whenever something happened, they would have long since become someone else's punching bag.

As Sie stared at Ren Yu, Ren Yu stared back at her. Spreading his hands, he said helplessly, "I didn't do anything to you. Sie never intended to damage my things, either. On the contrary, you were the one who attacked on your own. Don't you feel even a little guilty?"

He looked calm on the surface, but inwardly, he was anything but.

Sie... is actually a power bank?!

In an instant, another bold idea sprang into Ren Yu's mind.

I need to find an excuse to keep her here!

But how was he supposed to deal with this troublesome alternate personality?

She wasn't as innocent and easy to fool as Sie.

If he handled this poorly, she might even go berserk.

Speaking of going berserk, he couldn't help thinking of another brat who had been traumatized by Inner Sie—Xing Mar.