41 Superconductor Loser

"An Le, go downstairs and buy Dad a bunch of scallions, and pick up a bag of salt and some soy sauce too, would you? Otherwise, we won't have anything to eat tomorrow."

After dinner, An Le's father, An Bang, called from the kitchen, where he was washing dishes. An Le, who was examining her wardrobe in her room, quickly turned her head and answered,

"Okay, Dad~"

On her shoulder, a white snake flicked its tongue, glanced at the clothes in the wardrobe, and rolled its eyes.

"Look at you. What even are these clothes in your wardrobe? They're so frumpy. No matter what you pick to wear when you see Yan Huan next week, you'll just be choosing the best of a bad bunch."

"..."

An Le looked at Little Finger awkwardly, not knowing what to say. She could only murmur,

"Then I'll use my allowance to pick something out this weekend. It's been a long time since I bought any new clothes anyway."

"Exactly. You wear that school uniform every day. It's hideous."

Actually, An Le's family wasn't so poor that they couldn't afford clothes. There simply weren't many clothes that suited her.

The few pieces she occasionally found nice were things she didn't quite dare wear to school.

They were cheap, nothing like the expensive clothes her classmates wore with brand names written on them.

More importantly, she worried about being attacked for her figure.

The boys always secretly eyed her lecherously, then whispered among themselves.

Although she couldn't hear them clearly, she could easily guess what they were saying.

The girls often teased her about her figure too. Piao Shuwen and her friends, for instance, frequently insulted her by calling her a "dairy cow."

An Le didn't like that name.

So she could only go to school in her very conservative school uniform, just as she had when she attended school in the Dragon Nation.

Here, though, that made her the odd one out.

Now that she was home, An Le had changed into a white house dress and was choosing what to wear to see Yan Huan next week.

After repeated blows from Little Finger and reality, An Le had finally made up her mind to stop sending letters through Yatsuhashi Ki and go see him directly.

Of course, given An Le's inferiority complex, she wouldn't set out without making thorough preparations.

How should she style her hair that day?

Should she wear makeup?

Which outfit should she wear?

These were all things she needed to consider.

Little Finger, however, thought she only needed to activate Pleasure manipulation and charge straight in to win. Why go to all this trouble?

But An Le refused no matter what, and Little Finger couldn't overrule her. She was the host, after all.

Having agreed to her father's request, An Le prepared to leave. Before going, she called to her mother, who was watching television in the living room,

"Mom, I'm heading downstairs."

"Hey, bring me a milk tea too. Less sugar."

"Okay~"

An Le put on her shoes, stepped into the corridor of the old apartment building, and pressed the elevator button.

"Why don't you buy clothes while you're down there shopping?"

Watching the numbers on the elevator display, Little Finger suddenly suggested this.

But An Le quickly shook her head, raised her phone, and opened a shopping app.

"Huh? I-I was planning to buy them online."

"Online? Why not buy them in a store?"

An Le nodded and explained helplessly,

"Because... um... clothes are expensive in stores. They're a little cheaper online."

Little Finger narrowed its eyes at An Le, then suddenly erupted.

"I think you're just socially anxious! You're even embarrassed to buy clothes in a store, aren't you? I looked earlier. Loads of the clothes in your wardrobe don't fit, including your underwear, and you bought every last one online!!"

Little Finger had seen right through An Le long ago. This girl would spend days choosing online, wait several more days for delivery, then hesitate for another few days once it arrived.

Ugh!

Then she would get shy again and not dare go!

Just stall. Keep stalling!

Would she be happy if she stalled until it was far too late and the other fingers had already won?!

Little Finger angrily swatted An Le's face with its tail, making her squeak and reach up to try to block it.

"Your figure is already beyond standard proportions! How are clothes supposed to fit if you don't try them on in a store?! And when the clothes you buy online don't fit, you don't even return them. You just keep them?!!"

"Because... because returning clothes would cause trouble for other people... If they finally managed to sell them..."

"Oh, screw that!! Damn it, don't think I didn't see! Not returning them is one thing, but you leave the shop a good review without even wearing them?! Why the hell?!"

"Because the customer service person... spoke very kindly and seemed like a good person. They asked me to leave a good review, so I..."

"Are you a stupid pig?! They all get the same training in what to say! You actually think they're nice to you because they're good people?"

"I-I know, but..."

An Le pressed her lips together. In fact, she knew those customer service representatives all used standardized scripts, but she simply found it hard to refuse other people's requests.

Especially when they asked her again and again, saying they only needed a few more good reviews to meet their target that month.

She could help them finish their work with just a few taps of her finger. Why not?

That was what An Le thought.

And looking at An Le's spineless demeanor, Little Finger had lost count of how many times she had nearly made it boil over.

"Useless! Go downstairs and buy yourself a new outfit right this instant! Stop buying online!"

It wished it could burrow into this silly girl's brain and see what was inside that made her thought processes so bizarre every single day.

A tumor?

"And get your hair cut too! You look like a female ghost every day. Don't you scare yourself when you get up at night? Besides, washing it is such a hassle. Watching you agonize every evening over whether to wash your hair is driving me crazy..."

"O-okay..."

An Le touched her long hair and nodded. This was one of the few things she and Little Finger agreed on.

Washing a girl's hair was a hassle. Leave it unwashed and it got greasy; wash it and it took forever, then you had to blow-dry it section by section. It was a troublesome job.

All the more so with An Le's thick, long hair.

"Ding-dong~"

The elevator had arrived.

Smoothing her hair, An Le stepped inside and pressed the button for the ground floor.

Quite a few little advertisements were pasted inside the elevator. Like the aging corridor outside, it looked thoroughly battle-worn.

Housing in Linmen was expensive. Part of Luoqiao District and most of South District belonged to Linmen's old town, where property prices were relatively low.

After returning from a failed business venture in the Dragon Nation, An Le's father, Comrade An Bang, had spent everything he owned on a secondhand apartment of just over sixty square meters in Luoqiao District. Only then had they barely managed to settle down.

They weren't wealthy, but they did at least own a home in Linmen, making them a moderately well-off family.

After passing through the somewhat narrow, dark corridor on the ground floor and emerging from an alley, she finally stepped back onto Linmen's bright, glamorous streets.

Little Finger glanced around and pointed in a direction.

"Over there first. Haircut!"

"Oh, okay."

An Le nodded, walked a little way, and pushed open the salon door. As she entered, she even lowered her head and murmured,

"S-sorry to bother you."

"Sorry, my ass! You're the customer! You're God! Stand up straight!"

"Oh..."

An Le foolishly straightened her back, but when the hairdresser looked over, she shyly lowered her head again, nearly making Little Finger faint.

"Hi there. Let's wash your hair first, okay?"

"Mm..."

She went to the back to have another apprentice wash her hair. When she sat up again, her undried hair hung down, truly making her look no different from a female ghost.

The kind that could perfectly recreate Sadako, at that. Even the customer getting a haircut stared.

"How would you like it cut today, miss?"

"C-cut it a little shorter... Thank you."

"Sure. How about I give you a more normal hairstyle?"

"Mm, thank you..."

An Le nodded. Even with the cape draped over her, the swell of her chest remained extremely obvious.

"Snip, snip, snip."

Her severed bangs fell, only to be stopped by those mountains and remain on top.

"Miss, would you like a membership card? You get twenty percent off if you top up now. It's a really good deal!"

"Ah... huh?"

An Le blinked her bright, dewy eyes and turned to look at the smiling hairdresser behind her.

Her lips moved hesitantly. Just as she was about to speak, Little Finger thrust its expressionless snake head right in front of her eyes.

Its scarlet snake eyes suddenly loomed large, mere inches from her own.

It looked as though it were saying, "I'll be watching you. Forever."

"An Le, if you dare say yes, do you believe I'll kill you right here and now?!"

An Le's little face went pale with fright. Pressing her lips together, she quickly turned back and told the hairdresser in a trembling voice,

"I-I'd rather not... Thank you."

"Sure."

Oh.

Watching the hairdresser in the mirror continue cutting as though nothing had happened, An Le cautiously withdrew her gaze.

So...

Nothing happens if I say no.

The thought suddenly surfaced in her mind.

It was an utterly ordinary idea, yet thinking it felt like a weight had lifted from her heart, leaving her with mixed feelings.

The results of a haircut were most obvious on customers like An Le. When the hairdresser behind her said, "See what you think," the person An Le saw in the mirror seemed like a stranger.

Her trimmed black bangs could finally no longer conceal her fair, lovely face. Her heavy, long hair had finally become light, as though weights had been removed so her head was no longer weighed down.

She had bright, dewy eyes, yet they seemed to lack a little liveliness, making her look adorably dazed.

Her pink lips parted slightly in surprise. Without any makeup, they still shimmered with moisture, making anyone who saw them unable to resist exclaiming,

"Who would dare kiss those?!"

An Le blinked, and the beauty in the mirror blinked too.

Only after doing that did she seem to realize the person in the mirror was herself.

"Th-this is fine... Thank you."

"Okay, let's wash it once more."

"Mm, thank you..."

Another wash, followed by a blow-dry.

After paying, a much fresher-looking beautiful girl finally walked out of the salon in relief.

Having left the situation that required her to interact with people, she exhaled and touched her chest.

But Little Finger on her shoulder was outrageously bossy. Flicking its tongue, it immediately pointed in another direction.

"Next stop! Clothes shopping!!"

An Le blinked and followed Little Finger's directions to a clothing shop.

Little Finger's discerning gaze swept over the mannequins in the window, and it seemed to spot an outfit it liked immensely.

It turned back and instructed An Le,

"Quick! This shop!! That outfit is fantastic. It'll definitely suit you!"

But An Le opened her mouth, looking somewhat hesitant to speak.

Seeing her like that only made Little Finger furious. It began shouting as though its hackles had risen.

"Stop being scared already! Are you going to live your life or not?! You don't even dare try on clothes in a store? All the staff inside are women! What the hell are you afraid of? Get in there!!"

"O-okay."

An Le swallowed and finally worked up the courage to walk inside.

"Welcome. If you see anything you like, we can take it down for you to try."

"Not this one! That one! Yes, that dress. Have her take it down for you to try."

At Little Finger's urging, An Le reached out with trembling hands for a hanging, high-waisted floral dress, asked the saleswoman for a suitable size, and entered the fitting room.

When she emerged, even the saleswoman waiting outside couldn't help covering her mouth in surprise.

The fitted, high-waisted dress revealed the shape of An Le's waist perfectly. The curves formed by her ample chest wound downward along the contours of the fabric, finally flowing into the slightly pleated little princess skirt.

Her figure was voluptuous without looking bulky, making her look youthful, pure, and beautiful.

Yet although everything suited her so beautifully from top to bottom, the girl's face bore a shy blush, and her gaze kept darting away...

Like the cherry adorning a cream cake, that tempting touch of red against snowy white made mouths water.

"Oh my, young lady, you have excellent taste. Your bust is so large that clothes are hard to find, but this one really suits you."

"D-does it...?"

Standing in front of the mirror, An Le swayed her skirt back and forth, while Little Finger on her shoulder nearly stuck its nose in the air.

"Of course! I'm the smartest Little Finger, after all. My taste and brains are both first-rate. Well, little An Le? Impressed yet?"

"Huh?"

An Le blinked, still looking as though she wanted to say something but hesitated.

But seeing how smug it looked, she kindly refrained from interrupting and nodded very obligingly.

"Mm..."

"All right, buy it! This is what you'll wear to see that Yan Huan next week. I guarantee you'll knock him dead!"

Knock him dead?

Xiao Huan?

With her looking like this?

An Le's face grew even redder. She hardly dared look at herself in the mirror, yet she couldn't hide her excitement at the rosy picture Little Finger had painted.

She always got like this whenever she thought about Yan Huan.

"Oh, stop thinking about it. You've got this! Go pay. We still have another stop! And your underwear, too-you need to change that right away! We need to put some serious thought into your special underwear for doing that sort of thing."

"Doing th-that sort of thing?!!"

An Le's face instantly turned scarlet, turning her into a boiling kettle and startling the sales assistant beside her.

"What's wrong, miss?"

"N-nothing!"

An Le answered the sales assistant in a panic, then stared at Little Finger on her shoulder and said in her mind,

"Little Finger, y-you... you've already thought that far ahead? I... I'm not going to see Xiao Huan to..."

"Huh?"

Little Finger merely gave her a sidelong glance and calmly asked,

"Don't tell me you've never thought about doing that sort of thing with Yan Huan."

"I..."

That single question shut An Le down completely.

Her face flushed red, and her lips trembled like a leaf, but she couldn't squeeze out a single word for the longest time.

"Or are you saying you want a platonic relationship with Yan Huan?"

"O-of course not!"

All right, all right, so now you're admitting you want to date Yan Huan, huh?

You were still stubbornly insisting earlier that you only wanted him to recognize you.

Well, well, well, what a good girl~

Little Finger turned into a ruthless judge presiding over the court and dealt An Le, standing below, a fatal blow. It asked bluntly,

"Let's be direct. Just tell me: since starting college, have you ever used Yan Huan as material at night?"

"..."

After hemming and hawing for ages under Little Finger's scrutinizing gaze, An Le finally blushed and gave an extremely quiet "Mm" in her mind.

An Le was an honest girl.

"Heh."

Little Finger gave a scornful laugh, then flicked out its forked tongue.

"There you go. Come on, pay. We're going to the next stop!!"

"B-but..."

"But what? How much more mental preparation do you need me to give you?!"

Before Little Finger could bristle again, An Le glanced around and whispered,

"This outfit... I can't afford it."

"Huh?"

The excited Little Finger suddenly froze in shock. It turned its head blankly to look at An Le.

Then it poked its long head into An Le's black hair to glance at the tag at the back of her neck.

A second later, it withdrew its head as though it had attained enlightenment on the spot.

"..."

"..."

The girl and the snake exchanged a look.

An Le broke into a nervous sweat, and Little Finger guiltily broke into one too.

Oh, no. It was a snake. It couldn't sweat.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier that this store was so expensive!?"

"I-I wanted to tell you, back at the entrance, but you kept interrupting me, so..."

"..."

Little Finger blinked guiltily, then sighed helplessly and muttered,

"This ability was only supposed to unlock later, but this one's desire is just about strong enough to use it now..."

"Huh? Little Finger, did you... say something?"

Little Finger turned toward her and said with a sigh,

"I'll teach you a new way to use your ability. It'll let us take this outfit away, and afterward, it'll also make it easy for your Xiao Huan to fall for you. Want to hear it?"

"G-go ahead."

"Later, once your ability evolves, you'll have to choose between manipulating pleasure and pain to unlock further abilities. First, tell me: do you want to keep manipulating pleasure or manipulating pain?"

An Le opened her mouth and said almost instinctively,

"...Pleasure, I guess."

Little Finger wore an "I knew it" expression and simply continued,

"Then that's right. This so-called pleasure-like when you poured it into Yan Huan earlier-actually comes on suddenly, making it very easy to notice something is wrong, right?"

"That's right. That's exactly what I was worried about earlier..."

"And now, to a certain extent, you can establish yourself as the source of that pleasure."

"Myself?"

Little Finger blinked and said, word by word,

"People often say, 'Being around someone feels comfortable.' In reality, that's because being around that person often gives them positive feedback from what that person does.

"But you can use the ability I granted you to bypass that process and give people positive feedback directly-in other words, pleasure."

An Le wasn't stupid. She understood Little Finger's meaning almost instantly.

"So, in other words, I... can use this ability to make myself popular?"

Little Finger gave a sinister smile and said meaningfully,

"More than that... Anyway, try it and you'll see."

With that, a line of illusory text appeared before An Le.

[Would you like to choose the pleasure evolution path?]

Yes.

That was An Le's choice.

Then the illusory text before her changed slightly.

[Congratulations, you can now activate "Superconductor Mode"!]

[In this mode, you can designate one target within 15 meters. Whenever you are beside him, he will experience an unending stream of pleasure. In addition, his consciousness will automatically adjust, subconsciously regarding you as the source of that pleasure.]

[Duration: 15 minutes. Once everything ends, his memories will automatically correct any inconsistencies. However, please be aware of the risk of exposure caused by uncontrollable factors such as third parties.]

[Activate "Superconductor Mode"?]

An Le blinked, then tapped confirm.

Little Finger glanced back at the sales assistant and said,

"Her. Select her as the target."

"Huh?"

An invisible circle with a fifteen-meter radius suddenly expanded. When she selected the sales assistant behind her, a white mist instantly formed a bridge between An Le and the woman, flowing continuously.

"!!"

The sales assistant froze slightly, then her face instantly flushed, and the look she directed at An Le immediately grew eager.

An Le blinked, seemingly still unaware of what had happened, but Little Finger had already spoken up beside her.

"Now's the time. Ask her if you can take the outfit you're wearing!"

An Le instinctively spoke after Little Finger.

"Can I take this outfit?"

"Of course!"

The sales assistant blushed, her fingers making faint movements as though she wanted to reach toward An Le, as if An Le possessed some kind of magnetic field that made her feel comfortable just by drawing closer.

"Hah... just take it. You don't need to pay! I'll pay for it later... hah... hah..."

An Le opened her mouth, while Little Finger swayed its snake head sinisterly and said to her,

"What are you standing around for? Go!"

An Le blinked, looking at her previous clothes draped over her arm.

She glanced at the sales assistant behind her, whose face was flushed and whose eyes were hazy, and instinctively wanted to obey Little Finger's instructions and leave the store.

Taking an outfit with a four-figure price tag for free-however she looked at it, wasn't that an enormous bargain?

An Le walked toward the entrance, panting, but when her outstretched hand closed around the icy door handle, she abruptly stopped.

That chill seemed to travel slowly back into her body through her fingers.

"What are you doing? Go!"

Little Finger turned its head toward her and urged her loudly.

But An Le's eyes widened, and she was panting too.

Her long lashes fluttered like butterfly wings, her pink lips pressed lightly together, and her gaze fell on the recruitment notice posted at the entrance.

"Sales assistant wanted. Monthly salary: 4,000-6,000."

The outfit she was wearing cost more than a quarter of that sales assistant's monthly salary.

An Le's little hand slowly loosened around the door handle, while Little Finger beside her slowly began to bristle.

Yet An Le still turned her head hesitantly, her gaze lifting little by little, growing steadily firmer as she looked at Little Finger.

After a moment of silence, she stared into Little Finger's slightly stunned scarlet eyes and spoke timidly, but with no room for doubt.

"I...

"I can't do this, Little Finger."