Ignore the risks and continue browsing

Back in her room, a laptop sat lit up on Ye Shiyu's desk, displaying the Rice search engine's page.

Written unmistakably in the search bar was:

"Hypnosis"

Ye Shiyu sat down at the computer desk with her hot milk and lightly pressed Enter, bringing up a definition.

"Hypnosis: a special, artificially induced psychological state of trance that resembles sleep but is not sleep."

Ever since successfully hypnotizing Yan Huan yesterday, Ye Shiyu had become intensely curious about this function on her phone.

She had never known much about hypnosis before. She had only gleaned a little about how to use it from the app's description of "absolute obedience to you."

But after searching, Ye Shiyu discovered that the hypnosis mentioned here seemed vastly different in effect from the hypnosis in her app.

Or rather, there probably wasn't any technique in this world capable of doing something like that in the first place?

Ye Shiyu looked at her phone and opened that mysterious app. Amid the swirling purple vortex, illusory information appeared.

[Uses remaining this week: 1]

"..."

Then what exactly did you appear for?

Thinking this, Ye Shiyu gently rolled the mouse wheel, scrolling down the page and browsing the information on it.

"Debunking hypnosis: the facts about a distorted practice"

"Hypnotherapy appointments"

"Hypnosis: a term shrouded in myth"

The rest were all sorts of strange pornographic resources, but one glance at their titles left Ye Shiyu with no interest whatsoever.

She kept scrolling, one page, then two, until a particular title suddenly caught her eye.

"For women: after hypnosis, my annoying stepbrother became mine alone."

The keyword "hypnosis" was highlighted in red.

Ye Shiyu's scrolling faltered slightly. She blinked and leaned a little closer to the computer screen, intense curiosity flashing in her dark eyes.

She dragged the mouse toward the title. Because the sensitivity was so low, the pointer on the screen seemed particularly sluggish.

Ye Shiyu was a complete computer novice, but right now, she was moving the mouse with particular force.

"Click, click."

She clicked the title. The page flashed white, then a dense mass of colorful advertisements assailed her.

"Bookmark our website:

"Royal Casino, quality guaranteed. Get 888 chips just for logging in."

"Beautiful female dealers, dealing live."

Ye Shiyu's mouth fell open, and her brows drew together slightly as she struggled to maneuver the mouse and close the scam advertisements one by one.

A loading circle appeared in a video player, seemingly loading the content. Below it were the words "Server 1."

But as she waited and waited, a red browser warning suddenly popped up.

"Sensitive page detected. Continuing to browse carries a high risk of information leaks, Trojan viruses, and other threats."

"To protect your information, please close this page immediately!"

Below were two options.

"Close immediately"

"Ignore the risks and continue browsing"

A v-virus?!

Ye Shiyu jumped in fright. She was just about to click "Close immediately" below, but after a brief loading period, the player behind the warning had already begun playing.

It began with a monologue, a woman's voice speaking softly.

"My mother remarried, and the man she married brought along a stepbrother a little younger than me."

"Unlike a gloomy shut-in like me, he was a boy with great grades, incredibly handsome looks, and a wonderful personality."

"The moment he arrived home, I could feel that he'd stolen all of Mom's and my stepfather's attention."

"Hey, learn a little from your brother. You're his older sister, so don't give him that look. If you won't go out, I'll take your brother out to have fun."

"Ah, yes, I knew. It was perfectly normal for a kid like him to be popular with adults."

"But... why did I hate him so much?"

"With those thoughts in mind, I used that on him, on that annoying little brother."

"I was going to turn him into..."

Ye Shiyu's hand paused just as she was about to close the page. Her eyes flickered, and she involuntarily recalled the scene at the shopping mall earlier.

When she had come down the stairs, she had seen Yan Huan make Ye Lan laugh with just a couple of remarks, even though Ye Lan had grown tired from helping her look for something.

Her mother had stroked his head. Though her words were full of reproach, she simply couldn't stop smiling.

By comparison, my personality must seem really strange, right?

Although Mom said I was fine the way I was, when she saw someone as normal as Yan Huan, would she inevitably think that too?

Then turn all her attention to him.

As though...

He were stealing my mother away from me.

Ye Shiyu's breathing gradually quickened. Her hand on the mouse shifted slowly to the right, finally moving onto the other option.

"Ignore the risks and continue browsing!"

The warning closed, and the page opened again, but small advertisements still hung around its edges like flags, moving along with the page.

The video also seemed to stutter because of the connection speed, constantly showing a loading circle.

Could loading these ads be slowing down the connection?

So thought Ye "Computer Novice" Shiyu.

She hurriedly dragged the sluggish mouse toward the little advertisements.

Those little advertisements even had two X buttons, one inside and one outside. One actually closed them, while the other was a "trap" designed to lure her into clicking another link.

Fortunately, Ye Shiyu wasn't stupid. Leaning very close to the screen and controlling the mouse precisely, she could still click those tiny close buttons.

One... two, three, four.

After patiently repeating this four times and closing all the little advertisements in the page's four corners, she eagerly turned her attention back to the player.

But it was still showing a loading circle.

"Playback stuttering? Try switching servers."

Servers?

Ye Shiyu stared blankly at Server 1 and Server 2 below.

She clicked Server 2.

Then the page seemed to refresh.

And those four annoying little advertisements refreshed along with it.

Watching the little advertisements she had spent several minutes closing reappear on the screen, bouncing around again, Ye Shiyu's pink lips slowly puckered into an involuntary pout.

"My mother remarried, and the man she married brought along a stepbrother a little younger than me."

Fortunately, after she switched servers, the video in the player finally ran smoothly.

Ye Shiyu switched to full-screen mode and watched the story unfold with wide eyes.

The story on the screen unfolded at an unhurried pace. Its setup and scenes of fierce action followed one after another, reflected in Ye Shiyu's eyes.

It was as though the door to a new world were opening before her.

As soon as the scenes on the screen turned passionate, her face grew slightly red.

She hurriedly glanced back to check that her bedroom door was shut, then grabbed the headphone cable beside her and plugged it into the computer.

As the story progressed, Ye Shiyu unwittingly became engrossed.

After who knew how long, the image on the screen gradually faded to black, and the woman's narration sounded through her headphones again.

"In the end, I used hypnosis to turn him into a helpless wreck who could only say 'Sis.' My adorable little brother was mine now."

"Though it might have been nothing more than an excuse, I used it to deceive myself over and over in my heart."

"Hypnosis must have come into being to satisfy my filthy wishes."

"I know this is despicable and sordid, but right now, I'm very happy."

"That's enough."

"The end"

Ye Shiyu stared wide-eyed, unable to recover for a long time.

That was far too despicable and obscene.

All I wanted was to drive him away. Nothing more.

But the older sister in this movie did all those things to her little brother?!

Though, admittedly, seeing that normally cheerful, handsome little brother become like that and make those pitiful sounds...

No, no, that was just a fictional story in a movie.

Ye Shiyu, all you need to do is drive him away.

All you need to do is drive him away.

Ye Shiyu leaned gently back in her chair, panting softly, an unnatural flush rising on her fair face.

She felt a little thirsty.

She stood up and turned to go downstairs for some water.

Over the course of the movie, all the lights in the house had gone out. Presumably, everyone had gone to sleep.

Ye Shiyu got some water from the purifier on the first floor and drank several cups before the heat inside her subsided considerably.

She breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to fill another cup to take upstairs.

When she reached the second floor, her gaze inevitably drifted toward Yan Huan's room again.

The phone in her hand lit up on its own once more, emitting an eerie purple glow.

Without realizing it, ever since she had started using that app, she had become someone who never let her phone leave her hand.

"..."

She hesitated for a moment in the stairwell. In the end, she actually began taking light steps toward Yan Huan's room.

Looking at the tightly shut door, she gently raised her hand, preparing to knock.

But then she seemed to remember that he was probably asleep by now.

So her hand lowered to his door handle instead.

Strange thoughts were driving her to do strange things.

In the past, wherever she went, she always knocked before entering. It was a habit she had developed.

But now, she actually wanted to go straight in without knocking.

"Click."

The door handle turned slightly, all the way down.

Inside the room, Yan Huan was already fast asleep, while Meow-chan, held in his arms, suddenly opened its eyes. In the darkness, its emerald eyes looked so bright.

"Meow~"

It gave a soft cry, but Yan Huan beside it did not move.

However, because Yan Huan had locked the door, once the handle was pushed all the way down, no amount of pushing from outside produced any response.

"..."

Holding her cup of water, Ye Shiyu stiffened slightly. Only then did she realize that she had gotten a little too excited.

I actually...

Would do something like this?

She pressed her lips together, drained the cold water in her cup again, and took a deep breath before releasing the door handle.

Then she slowly turned away and returned to her own room.

"Meow?"

Meow-chan blinked, watching the door handle return to its original position, then slowly settled back into Yan Huan's arms.

It did not close its eyes, only kept watching the doorway.