It was now two in the morning.
I looked up at the electronic clock provided in the E3 district BHAO club room and couldn’t help but sigh softly.
Normally, at this hour, my body should gradually feel fatigued, my eyes bleary from lack of sleep and blinking drowsily, but right now, I was exceptionally awake, even overly energetic.
I couldn’t completely deny the credit to that cup of snow-top coffee— of course, it played some role.
However, the real reason I couldn’t sleep was the change that had happened to my own body.
“Ah~~”
I deliberately dragged out the tone, letting my vocal cords vibrate in the most natural way, and what entered my ears was still that childish voice that was no longer unfamiliar.
If it were just a simple voice change, I might barely accept it— at most, when I returned to campus, I’d get an extra nickname like “sissy” or something, becoming new material for mockery.
But the problem was, the changes to my body went far beyond that.
My brain was unusually clear, my thoughts running without any lag, and I could clearly distinguish the difference in my line of sight height.
It was precisely because of this that I was even more certain of one thing—
My originally not particularly boast-worthy height had shortened by another notch.
Although it wasn’t obvious at a glance, when this change started affecting daily life, it couldn’t be ignored anymore.
For example, not long ago, when taking that bottle of snow-top coffee from the unmanned vending cabinet, I had to stand on tiptoe to barely reach the dispensing slot.
In normal days, this height was never a problem for me.
Next, the hair.
It had clearly grown longer, and not by a little.
Falling from the back of my head, it extended all the way to near my waist, the length completely exceeding my habitual range.
The color was still deep black, but the texture was unusually smooth, looking unrealistically good in both color and feel.
Yet, this sense of reality was irrefutable.
Since I wasn’t good at socializing, the number of girls I’d truly been in close contact with was countable on one hand.
And the only one I remembered touching hair texture from was my little sister— Yae Hatsuyuki.
Her hair was almost identical to how mine felt now.
Except, Hatsuyuki was a child full of energy; rather than long hair, she preferred neat short hair to show her vitality.
“Ha…”
I sighed again, as if finally resigning myself, temporarily forcing myself to stop unnecessary thoughts and accept the undeniable reality before me.
As for the chest, and even more private areas, there was actually no need to confirm further.
Just from the strange and shameful empty sensation when fabric rubbed, it was enough to draw a conclusion—
I, Yae Yoruichi, had completely turned into the “Night Witch.”
That dark idol existing in the BHAO virtual world.
My current mood was more complex than chaotic; there was confusion about the unknown situation, mixed with an indescribable sense of lag.
However, setting these emotions aside for now, my sense of unfamiliarity with this body wasn’t as strong as imagined.
After all, this was the virtual character I controlled in BHAO.
BHAO’s sensory simulation was always excessively real— whether it was the feel of wind slapping against the skin or the subtle differences brought by clothing materials, it was almost indistinguishable from reality.
It was precisely because of this that I could barely accept the existence of the “Night Witch” body.
So, next…
I lay back on the simple bed in the BHAO club single room.
Normally, what I should do now was calmly sort out everything that had just happened, find the cause of the body change, and then try to find a way to recover.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t that thorough “rational type.”
Once I forced myself into systematic reasoning, it would instead make my scalp tingle faintly.
Originally, I just wanted to use the stimulating adventure of ENDLESS WORLD to vent the emotions accumulated at school during the day, but I didn’t expect things to evolve into an even more mentally taxing “reasoning puzzle,” which was somewhat putting the cart before the horse.
“It might be more reliable to check the BHAO forum on my phone.”
My ears hadn’t fully adapted to this sweet voice yet, and the gradually incoming noisy sounds took its place.
This BUG incident in ENDLESS WORLD was obviously not an isolated case.
In BHAO, I personally saw almost the entire E3 district collapse, turning into countless data cubes floating in mid-air.
If my vision wasn’t mistaken, then other players were either forcibly logged out or actively exited after noticing the anomaly.
The current clamor was probably caused by those players who were “driven out” together.
_Whatever, I’ll browse the forum first, wait until there are fewer people before leaving. The E3 district is too far from school; it’s more convenient to go from the rental apartment._
From the pocket of the pants that now seemed slightly loose for this body, I took out my sister’s pink phone.
The BHAO forum APP was placed in the most prominent position on the home screen, while the remaining few apps were social software that had gradually declined with BHAO’s rise.
The forum interface was as concise as ever.
With light yellow and light blue as the main tones, supplemented by pure white as a backdrop, it looked like it had a bookish aura.
All sections were neatly arranged in vertical rectangles, discussion post titles uniformly used bold black text, and keywords were marked below with red wavy lines.
No extra decorations, no dynamic sprites.
The overall style was more like an old-era teaching interface used by teachers than a forum.
“I heard the creator of the BHAO forum is also a KING; could it be one of those old-school ‘scholarly’ elderly players?”
An image of a middle-aged uncle wearing thick-rimmed glasses emerged in my mind, and I shook my head, shaking off the picture.
After a brief pause, my gaze fell back on the screen.
Emergency AM 1:30
This was the pinned post, its position even overriding many duel records posted by high-end players.
I clicked in without hesitation.
★Hello everyone, this is your familiar “UNDEAD FROG.” I won’t bother with much chit-chat for the opening this time.
●To grasp this exclusive major event in the BHAO world, I really didn’t have time to prepare a script.
UNDEAD FROG… is quite a famous real-event recorder in the BHAO world; whenever a lord-level BOSS or major event appears, he’s almost always there.
I recalled this name in my mind while continuing to scroll down.
●No more nonsense, straight to the point.
At 1:30 AM, ENDLESS WORLD was eroded by an unknown virus, and the world underwent comprehensive collapse.
●Regarding this, UNDEAD FROG expresses confusion. As we all know, since BHAO’s open beta, THE EARTH RING company has never had a precedent of virus invasion, yet this time it happened without any warning.
●But fortunately, THE EARTH RING company completed the repair within ten minutes. Perhaps in my view, this so-called virus was just seemingly grand in scale.
“Where is it just seemingly grand… It turned me into this.”
I couldn’t help but mutter a quip.
A game affecting reality sounded absurd to the extreme, almost impossible to explain with normal science.
Calling it a “supernatural phenomenon” would actually be more fitting.
UNDEAD FROG was as unreliable as ever.
With a bit of disappointment, I flipped a few more pages; the remaining content was nothing but player complaints and the usual wrap-up.
No value at all.
I rolled over on the bed, complaining as I changed position, but unexpectedly, my body lost balance in an instant.
Thud—
The whole person rolled straight off the bed.
“Ow— that hurts!”
A stinging pain came from my arms and waist, and my eyes uncontrollably welled up with moisture.
_No… A fall of this degree shouldn’t hurt this much before._
I gritted my teeth, slowly standing up while holding onto the chair, and the surroundings gradually quieted down.
“I should leave here soon…”
Enduring the inexplicable pain, I pushed open the door of the BHAO club single room.
And outside the door, there stood another person.
“You are…?”
I subconsciously asked.
The other party blocked the central corridor, as if waiting here already.
He didn’t answer immediately, just looking at me with a gaze calm to the point of scrutiny, then said in a low and restrained tone:
“Night Witch.”
In that instant, my breathing completely stopped.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”