Reverse Time Stop

"Alright, that's everything you need to keep in mind."

Zhang Qiuqiu finished speaking and turned back to Ms. Zhang, a hint of seeking confirmation in her eyes.

"Mom, I didn't get anything wrong, did I? I covered all the bases?"

"Yes, you explained it very clearly."

Ms. Zhang nodded approvingly, then turned to Ren Yi, her tone gentle but rigorous.

"Ren Yi, this time you can slightly increase your energy output. Not too much, just enough for the effect to manifest."

"That way, we can judge the Anomaly Artifact's effect more accurately. That last attempt was indeed too fast and too faint."

"Alright, Ms. Zhang. I understand."

Ren Yi agreed, tightened his grip on the marble in his palm, took a deep breath, and prepared himself.

"I'll count to three and activate it on one. Three, two, one..."

The moment the last word fell, Ren Yi immediately channeled the Anomaly energy within him, letting it flow steadily through his fingertips and into the marble.

This time, the sensation of energy draining was much more pronounced than before.

It felt as if a large chunk of his body had been scooped out, and the hollow discomfort was exceptionally clear.

Ms. Zhang and Zhang Qiuqiu held their breath, staring at him without moving an inch, even softening their breathing for fear of missing the slightest detail.

But in Ren Yi's own field of vision, "nothing happened" yet again.

Everything around him remained exactly as it was—the desk, the water cup, the expressions of the two women—nothing changed.

Time seemed to flow normally; there was no standstill, no hitching, not even a hint of abnormality.

Puzzled, he looked down at the marble in his hand, then up at Zhang Qiuqiu, who was holding her phone. With a face full of confusion, he spoke: "It seems like it still didn't—"

Before he could finish his sentence, he was abruptly interrupted by a startled cry from Zhang Qiuqiu.

"Holy crap!"

Zhang Qiuqiu's eyes went wide, and she shouted excitedly, "I saw it! I recorded it!"

"What? What did you record?" Ren Yi was startled by her shout, and his confusion only deepened.

"Come look at this!"

Zhang Qiuqiu hurriedly shoved the phone in front of Ren Yi, her fingers flying as she tapped the video she had just recorded and pressed play.

Ren Yi focused on the screen. The video was crystal clear.

In the footage, he was holding the marble, and as soon as he finished counting to three, he vanished into thin air the very next second!

Only the empty floor remained where he had stood; not even a trace of a shadow was left behind, as if he had never been there at all.

The video's progress bar slid slowly, and a full three seconds passed.

Then, maintaining the exact same posture of holding the marble, he reappeared out of nowhere, completely unchanged, before opening his mouth to say: "It seems like it still didn't—"

"This effect is too weird. I don't understand it at all."

"Mom, do you understand what's going on here?" Zhang Qiuqiu turned to Ms. Zhang, her face full of bewilderment.

But as soon as she turned, she met her mother's "kindly" gaze.

There was a clear look of displeasure in those eyes, making her heart skip a beat.

"...Mom?"

"Qiuqiu," Ms. Zhang said calmly, yet with an unquestionable authority. "What did you just say?"

Zhang Qiuqiu blinked, trying to recall. "I said, 'I saw it'?"

"The sentence before that."

"I..." Zhang Qiuqiu suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth, her face instantly falling as she realized she was in trouble.

She had been too excited just now and accidentally let a curse word slip.

Ren Yi watched this scene silently, casting a look of pity at the class monitor whose "good student" persona had just collapsed right in front of their homeroom teacher.

He ignored the mother-daughter interlude for the moment and replayed the video several times.

Staring at the footage of himself vanishing and reappearing, his brow furrowed tighter and tighter as a ridiculous theory began to take shape in his mind.

It was just that... how was this situation so different from what he had expected?

In his perception, other than the energy consumption, there was no abnormality, and time flowed normally.

But in the lens of the outside world and the eyes of others, he had vanished for three seconds.

This was indeed a time-related ability.

But this wasn't Time Stop at all; this was clearly a "Reverse Time Stop"!

Other people's Time Stop freezes the world's time while they move freely.

His Time Stop, on the other hand, seemed to pause his own time.

Three seconds passed normally for the outside world, but he himself was completely unaware of it.

It was as if he was the one being frozen.

The more Ren Yi thought about it, the more stunned he became. He explained this absurd theory in detail to Ms. Zhang and Zhang Qiuqiu.

When he finished, the office fell silent for a second, and the atmosphere became a bit awkward.

"Um, Ren Yi..."

Zhang Qiuqiu was clutching her head where her mother had just rapped her knuckles, wincing in pain. She spoke up hesitantly, instinctively trying to distance herself from the outcome.

"I should state for the record that since you don't know much about Anomaly Artifact crafting, the final effect is only related to the core materials. It has nothing to do with us crafters."

"We're only responsible for polishing it into shape. What effect comes out is purely like opening a mystery box... Ow!"

Before she could finish, her head was rapped again.

Ms. Zhang glared at her disapprovingly, signaling her to stop talking nonsense.

Ren Yi's face was lined with frustration as he looked at Zhang Qiuqiu helplessly.

"Monitor, I never said I was dissatisfied, nor am I blaming you. Why are you already trying to shift the blame?"

Ms. Zhang ignored their bickering. She stared at the video on the phone for a moment, then a look of realization dawned on her face. She turned to Ren Yi and spoke slowly.

"I think I understand, Ren Yi."

"You're saying that this Anomaly Artifact's effect is applied to the 'user's own time,' right?"

"Once you activate the ability, your time flow is stripped away from the reality time flow."

"During that period of detachment, you do not exist in this physical world."

"And the duration should be directly proportional to the amount of energy you input."

Ren Yi nodded immediately; this matched his theory perfectly.

The first time he input a small amount of energy, he only vanished for an instant, which was why Zhang Qiuqiu only felt like he had glitched.

The second time, with increased energy, he vanished for a full three seconds.

Though he felt a bit of a letdown—his dream of an overpowered Time Stop ability was thoroughly crushed.

But on second thought, Ren Yi's eyes slowly began to light up.

How was a Reverse Time Stop not a Time Stop?

During the time the Anomaly Artifact was active, he "did not exist in this world."

That meant that any attack, any rule, and any danger in this world couldn't affect him—they couldn't even touch him!

This wasn't some useless ability; this was clearly a different version of invincibility!

A life-saving item that even his older brother hadn't managed to make for him had actually been obtained through this mystery box artifact!

The only downside was that the energy consumption was too heavy.

Even a split second of activation left a noticeable gap in his energy reserves.

At this point, Zhang Qiuqiu also realized the potential, and her eyes lit up.

But then she thought of a critical question, and her expression turned serious.

"Hey, Ren Yi, this effect is seriously powerful, but there's one thing I have to clear up."

"Every time you vanish and reappear, your position is exactly the same as when you activated the ability, right?"

Seeing Ren Yi nod, she continued her questioning.

"Then what would happen if, during the time you're gone, something else appears in the spot where you were standing? What happens when you reappear?"